UnkleE posted the following comments on the last post:
"I agree with you about the importance of the kingdom, and of getting back to Jesus' teachings generally. Jesus was obviously in a very different position to us (that's an understatement!), but I can't help feeling that we too easily reinterpret his teachings without understanding them in their original context. For example, our modern evangelicalism tends to talk about people "accepting Jesus as their personal saviour" or "becoming a christian" (as if it's a passive thing), whereas Jesus called people to follow him (a more active thing) and to live as people in the kingdom (i.e. under the rule of God). All this suggests different ways for us to do evangelism today, and instead of having the separation between faith and good works which we have, Jesus seemed to connect the two far more. There's heaps more we could explore here, but I'll refrain! : ) Thanks"
I thought these comments deserved wider reading.
Here is what I emailed in response:
"Thanks for your comments on the SimplyChurch blog. I totally agree with you and hope that this will come out in future posts. My sense is that right now we (the church in general) tend to preach a "Santa Claus gospel" rather than the gospel of the Kingdom. We pray a wish list to God and expect him to have "a wonderful plan for our lives." There is some truth to this–but it is certainly not the whole truth. It leaves out the fact that we have become part of a Kingdom with a culture, principles and responsibilities."