The Gospel - Embracing the Scandal
The Gospel – Embracing the Scandal
1Co 1:23 ‘we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block (skandalon)...’
When speaking at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, author and unofficial spokesman for many ‘emerging’ evangelicals, Brian McLaren opined, "One of the reasons people get nervous about evangelism is … they don't want to be the marketing department for a narcissistic message[i]. When we discover God is recruiting people to join in the healing of the world, that's a whole different deal. I bet a lot of us … (would) get up and knock on doors for that."
McLaren fingers a fundamental evangelical sore – we are reluctant evangelists. His therapy, however, is way off beam; he advocates a ‘gospel’ as distorted and misleading as the narcissistic version he criticises. Let’s not mince words, knocking doors and inviting people to ‘join in the healing of the world’ is by any reckoning distorting the gospel, not simply the narcissistic gospel of prosperity preachers but the authentic gospel of individual salvation from personal sin through repentance and faith in the death and resurrection of Christ in preparation for God’s renewed cosmos. However, we should not be too hard on McLaren for he is not the only one eagerly ‘reimagining’ a more palatable gospel. Many of us in our own quiet desperate way are doing the same. We spend huge energy reserves endeavouring to make the gospel consumer-friendly. It is a lost cause.
[i] McLaren is probably referring in the first instance to the blatant narcissism of the consumer-friendly mega church ‘health, wealth and prosperity’ churches. Emergents are in part a reaction to this MacDonaldization of faith, and rightly so. Unfortunately, McLaren’s chosen alternative to a narcissistic gospel, geo-political change in the present based on an over-realized eschatology, is equally a distortion of the gospel. Both ‘gospels’ effectively avoid the offence of the cross. We should add that while McLaren’s first target is the ‘health and prosperity’ gospel, he is equally reluctant to endorse the proper gospel. He has little truck with a gospel that focuses on individual need and offers individual salvation from sin and hope for the life to come. This he deems too as narcissistic since it focuses on personal need and benefit.
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About John
Hi there - I am a member of Greenview and have been for over 20 years. For a number of these years I functioned as an elder, however, indifferent health forced me to take more of a back seat. I see this as an opportunity to do a little writing, often focussing on issues that are a matter of evangelical debate today. Naturally the views expressed are my own and may not reflect the views of the elders or church at large, though differences are likely to be in the detail and not the substance.
These articles and sermons were written partly to clarify my own thoughts and partly with the intention of provoking thought in others who may read them. If you read one I hope you find it stimulating. Please feel free to give me feedback or discuss my articles in the forums.
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