FB12 – The Hole in Our Gospel

My Reads… The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns

World Vision is one of the largest NGOs in the world, committed to Relief and Development in 90 plus countries with 37,000 employees. Richard Stearns, recent CEO for 20 years, reflects on the discrepancy between the teachings of Christ and much of what passes for contemporary Christianity when he writes The Hole in our Gospel (2009). I have extracted just the opening paragraphs of Chapter 1. I see it as an authentic view of the teachings of Christ that inspires Christians and non-Christians alike.

WHERE IS THE HOLE?

So how can our gospel have a hole in it? …[T]he word gospel literally means glad tidings, or good news. It is shorthand, meant to convey the coming of the kingdom of God through the Messiah. One dictionary has this definition:

    Gospel-glad tidings, esp. concerning salvation and the kingdom of God as announced to the world by Christ.

The amazing news of the gospel is that men and women, through Christ’s atoning death, can now be reconciled to God. But the good news Jesus proclaimed had a fullness beyond salvation and the forgiveness of sins; it also signified the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. This new kingdom, characteristics of which were captured in the Beatitudes, would turn the existing world order upside down.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:3-10)
The kingdom of which Christ spoke was one in which the poor, the sick, the grieving, cripples, slaves, women, children, widows, orphans, lepers, and aliens–the “least of these” (Matt. 25:40 NKJV)–were to be lifted up and embraced by God. It was a world order in which justice was to become a reality, first in the hearts and minds of Jesus’ followers, and then to the wider society through their influence. Jesus’ disciples were to be “salt” and “light” to the world (see Matthew 5:13-14). They were to be the “yeast” that leavens the whole loaf of bread (see Matthew 13:33). His was not intended to be a far-off and distant kingdom to be experienced only in the afterlife; no, Christ’s proclamation of the “kingdom of heaven” was a call for a redeemed world order populated by redeemed people–now. In other words, the perfect kingdom of God that I just described was to begin on earth. That was the vision first proclaimed by Jesus, and it was good news for our world. But this does not seem to square with our twenty-first-century view of the gospel. Somehow this grand vision from God has been dimmed and diminished.

 

Richard Stearns, The Hole in the Gospel, is available from Amazon in Kindle version for just $2.99, and in paperback for $20.88

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First published here: 2021/03/11
Latest revision: 2021/03/13