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Over the years it has become increasingly clear that I have had a “reductionist” view of the gospel. I am recovering by God’s grace manifest through the Spirit, His Word and His people. Heaven and Hell are still a big deal to me because we are referring to permanent destinations; that is serious! However, the invitation of Jesus is NOT, “Would you like to go to Heaven when you die?” To make the gospel into an announcement for free tickets to Heaven is “reductionist” thinking. There is so much more to God’s plan and the good news than our destination. Jesus is not a travel agent. Sadly, I seem to meet a lot of people who are content to have their passage booked but relatively uninterested in what Jesus Christ wants to do right now for those who recognize His reign and want to be a part of His Kingdom. As we see in Matthew 9:9 the invitation of Jesus is, “Follow Me.” Vines dictionary defines this word, “union with, likeness and way of life.” Receiving Jesus is about a change of life that starts now and ends up in Heaven. To accept the latter without the former is reductionist thinking and in the worst case scenario may not result in salvation at all. Jesus is not a conductor for the gospel train. He is the Lord of glory, the King of the universe and the Master Teacher who is looking for apprentices. His intentions are to make us like Himself and if that is not our expectation, we will be disappointed. Too many people want Jesus to work for them, to fix their family, to fix their business, to give them the American Dream—this is not and never has been His primary intention. His plan from the Garden has always been to redeem and restore those made in His image. Let’s not be guilty of reducing the gospel to a destination. Let’s accept the invitation to follow Jesus and cooperate with Him to be conformed to His likeness. His death, burial, resurrection opened the way. The Holy Spirit is providing all the power we need. The Word is the objective standard for what this “likeness” looks like. What means will we employ to apprehend what we have been apprehended for?
I wonder sometimes what an alien (work with me here) that landed on earth and read the paper and watched the news would say is our chief concern as a race. What is the worst thing mankind is facing? Is it war, hunger, health care, guns, the flu or something else? What if the alien never watched the news but just interviewed people at the store? Would his perspective be any different? What if we saw a guy from Capernaum being carried by four friends on a portable bed? Would we presume that the guy’s worst problem was his paralysis? There are many evidences of the “fall” all around us and we have initiatives in place to try to fix many of them. Obama-care will soon solve all our health care problems J, education will make better people out of our children, more gun laws will make us safer and the low-fat fries at Burger King will deliver our hearts from the attack. Well, maybe I am being a bit sarcastic but you know the flow of rhetoric as well as I do. The truth is, all those areas and others can be worked on and probably should be. But, there was an initiative for the worst problem that took place about 2,000 years ago. God took on flesh, entered this broken and messed up world and made a way for us to receive divine pardon. God is concerned about our “lesser problems” but the worst problem has been cared for. Through the power and authority of Jesus Christ redemption and restoration is available to those who would really like to get to the heart of the matter. Is He getting to your heart?
