This is post-2 in a string of posts for the Beloved in San Francisco. Its pretty much basic stuff we annually remind ourselves of. Here goes the second question.
So you are making a case that we, as the Beloved, ought not find our value in actionable lists or an axiomatic lists? Where then should we invest our value?
Jesus said, “whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35). It seems what Jesus is getting at is that our life-unto-death core value is the Gospel, and that living all out for the Gospel is salvation. Whenever I read this verse I think of the Jack Kerouac quote:
They danced down the streets like dingledodies, and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"
People that live for the Gospel are mad to live, mad to love, mad to be saved .... Jesus' dialogue with MLK’s quote (see previous post) might have been, “Yes. And when you find your something to die for in the Gospel then you will really live.” Unique to the Beloved is the invitation from the Creator to find our value ('salvation') in the Gospel. The church is made up of people, across the globe, who are not defined and valued by what they do for themselves, but by what God through Jesus Christ has done for them! Before I unpack the Gospel I want to make sure, that we as a community are unified around the superiority of the Gospel, to the degree that we see the Gospel alone is worth our value, the Gospel alone is worth emptying our lives out for.
Jesus adds another layer to this (Mark 10) when he says, "I assure you that everyone who has given up house or family or property, for my sake and for the Gospel will receive ..." The News of God's radical rescue and intervention is the only good, just, beautiful, holy, pure act; so pure, that it's worth forsaking all the things that we tend to work for in life--houses, relationships, property, status. Jesus challenges us to put all our value, all our faith, all our vision, all our sacrifice in the Gospel with such radical energy that what we are left with is a picture of abandonment of houses, things, and status. Why? Because the Gospel is sui generis! It stands alone.
So what is the Gospel? It's news, good news. Not a list of things to do, but this time the Christian version. It's history. It's what God has done for us that when we believe it, changes the way we see God, the way we see the world, the way we see ourselves. It's a story that subverts the dead-end story of our lives. It's not an inspirational and supplemental feel-good story; but an alternative story! When we believe it our present is rewritten. The Gospel offers a radical corrective to the endings that litter the human race.
The Gospel is the radical declaration that full-orbed salvation has come to us in Jesus Christ--past, present, and future. The Gospel declares we are saved from the penalty of sin by faith, that we are being saved from the power of sin by faith, and will be saved from the very presence of sin by faith.
Romans 116 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 to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”
Notice the Gospel is God's power to save--not our work to accomplish, not a formula to administer, not steps of salvation--but a trust in God's saving power. Paul's quote from Habakkuk is a summary of the redemptive theme of Scripture--man can ony be made right by trusting God--from Enoch to Noah, from Abraham to David--all made right when they came back to trusting God. We see that being made right with God is revealed "from faith" (past), "to faith" (future) and "by faith" (present). It is all a work of God that we participate with through trust.
Mark unpacks three aspects of the Gospel in his first chapter--
(1) vs1-3, News. This speaks to the historical nature of the Gospel. Yahweh has entered into history through the womb of a woman, the blood relative of God was here to rescue us. That work of intervention required God to subvert the human story by entering the human race, unjustly dying for our hamartia and then being raised from the dead and overthrowing death and all those who power depends on the threat of death. Paul (1 Cor 15:1ff) declares the credibility of Christianity rests on its historical accuracy--'that Jesus died for our sins' and 'that he was raised on the third day'. If this didnt happen Christianity is a sham and not worth even a philisophical discussion. Therefore, Paul offers eyewitness testimony as evidence when he says, "he was buried" (proof of his death) and "was seen by..." (proof of his resurrection.)
There are three images we should take from Mark reciting Isaiah's oracle (ch.40)--(a) Celebration and comfort of the end of war. “comfort, comfort my people … call out to her that her warfare is ended.” Time’s up for the dark forces of death that occupy the land of time. In this image we imagine streets being filled with celebrations, confetti coming down from the buildings as the people dance and sing, "the war has ended." (b) Second image is Yahweh's racing from his Sinai residence in the wilderness to rescue those who are under the occupation of death. “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.” When a City was laid siege or a nation was under the occupational forces of another country the only help was from the outside, from a distant King and his army. Isaiah says, "Yahweh's is coming to our rescue through the desert, make a highway for his arrival." Final image ... (c) Zion’s Messengers on the tops of mountains jouously shouting out, “Good News! the Lord is coming with an almighty army against the occupational forces, but like a shepherd to the little ewes and scattered sheep.”
(2) vs.9-11, Identity and a status received. This speaks to the radical transformative nature of the Gospel. Baptism was a way of forging a spiritual identity, a publci declaration of who you were as the people of God. Israel was baptized into Moses in the Red Sea, the next generation was baptized into Joshua in the Jordon. John the Baptizer's Jordon-washed-souls were going back out into the wilderness to be baptized as a way of reenacting the entrance into the promise land and reaffirming their identity as the people of God. Even Jesus particiapates in this declarative moment, but when he does something different happens. The heavens rip, a voice booms, and an dove appears. God declares to us with great affection and pleasure, who Jesus is, "My son." We see the whole work of God--voice, dove, flesh--in the water. This moment in the text unpacks for us another aspect of the Gospel. It is a status received, a declaration made. This aspect of the Gospel speaks to how we are justified by faith in Jesus work. We are given a new status, a new identity. Think of a couple saying their marriage vows--one moment single and the next married. Instant legal and binding status change. Think of a child being adopted into a family, one moment orphaned the very next legally adopted into a family with all rights and priviledges.
(3) vs. 14-15 Ethics. Jesus steps on the scene and declares, "God's reign is here, now! Repent. Believe the Good News." This aspect speaks to the way our lives change their allegiance and rhythm. Tim Keller, calls this aspect the "reversal of values" and that when one believes the Gospel not only does the way they see the world change, but they do not hold near and dear the same things they once held near and dear. Their whole world is upended! Everything is reversed; where they once lived selfishly for the American Dream they now live selflessly for the Kingdom of God. It a Kingdom in which giving is more blessed that receiving, dying is living, humbling oneself is the way up, and self-promotion is the way down. Its a Kingdom where leaders are servants and where the first are last. To clarify we are not saying that we change our values, but that the when we value the Gospel every other value is upended and we are left with a radically different view of life, that is why Paul can say in a world where death represent the finality and end of all that is good, "For me to live it Christ and die is gain."
Comments