Nature of the Gospel

I know it's been a while. After the rush of Holy Week I got tired, and after I got tired I got sick, and after I got sick I fell behind on things and after I fell behind on things I got busy - and well - the dearth of posts is the result.

Here is a poignant thought that I came across today in a presentation I was watching. The presenter attributed it to John Piper so credit where credit is due:

The Gospel is not how people get to Heaven, it's how people get to God. And if you would be happy in Heaven were Jesus not there - you won't find yourself there in the end.

I like that on so many levels. I have long had serious issues with what I call "fire insurance Christianity" where the first and only goal of the Gospel mission is to save people from Hell. The reality is that eternity without Jesus - regardless of your postal code is going to be hell anyways - so the essence of the Gospel cannot be about an eternal destination. On this point I think it's spot on.

On the other hand I have a minor issue with it (and considering I'm relaying a, now, third hand account of the statement, it may be in the transmission rather than the thought). My concern is that it still limits the essence of the Gospel to individual salvation rather than cosmic (the whole order of creation) reconciliation. What do I mean?

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Colossians 1:15-23

It is clear from this passage from Paul's letter to the Colossians that the efficacy of the cross is broader than the reconciliation of wretched human souls to a perfectly righteous God - it is God's masterful work of re-creation - making all things new. The Gospel is about a new order of things, a new  way forward for the cosmos; and while humanity as the crown of creation may also rightly be identified as the crown of re-creation (i.e. salvation) to limit it to that one dimension of what Christ accomplished on the cross is to disregard the amazing breadth of God's miraculous work.

For this reason I find the quoted definition of the Gospel to be insufficient - even as it accurately corrects a grievous misunderstanding of the Gospel. I prefer to define the Gospel as the proclamation of God's new order of creation and his invitation to all to participate in it as full-fledged citizens of the Kingdom. It's about more than being in right standing before God through the forgiveness we receive in the atonement of Christ (although it IS about that), it's about the life that we can live in that new reality. It's about the world that opens up to those who die to self and live instead in the resurrection power of Christ. It's about the way eternity is breaking into our present reality by the Holy Spirit and changing things. It's about the community of God no longer being a closed society - but being a holy nation that accepts refugees and pilgrims form all walks of life should they desire to swear their lives to this one true King who gave his perfect life for them. That is one of the reasons I so love that in my tradition in the Christian and Missionary Alliance our missional rallying cry is Matthew 24:14 which explicitly states that:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Gospel means "good news" and the good news we have been given to share is the good news of the Kingdom of God. It's the same thing that Jesus went around proclaiming during his earthly ministry and it's something much bigger than personal salvation - it's re-creation. What an amazing God we serve.

Blessings on your day.