The Whole Gospel

We listened to a great lecture about the Missional Christian driving to Santa Cruz today.

It incorporated the power of the Holy Spirit speaking directly to us and moving us to a very specific mission in each of our lives. I can't agree more with the speaker. I could complain that he played on our emotions, but he had basic truth. God does still speak direct to us. This is the greatest joy of our faith. God is personal.

The speaker mentioned but didn't fully play out the idea that we are all called in many different ways. He didn't say this but most important is that we don't become offended by the Gospel, or by rejecting the foundations of the Church.

When I hear the words Missional or even more so Emergent Church. My heart leaps with gladness and sorrow. The mission to serve the world or be open to all is a great idea. But we must remain true to the whole teaching about God.

I always come back to the passage in Romans 1:16-17

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." ESV

We are also called in an amazing way, we must love our God with all our heart, soul, mind and stength.

Do everything we can to love and serve him, but not fall away from basics of the faith. So offen I read that in today's church all we have to do is serve and be a good example.

But our works are not the end God desires...

Even in the great passage on love we see that the actions we do are not enough.

1 Cor 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. ESV

I found today's post on Tim Challies (check 3/20/2010 post) on Without the Gospel useful for some deeper insight.