Sermon Tone Analysis

The American Gospel.

As it is presented to us

Remember the Goal of this series:

Remember the Let’s Make a Deal Metaphor we used last week?

Blessing of Shepherd:

Last week we spoke about the Property Gospel.

How Jesus never speaks of prosperity in this manner.

“Blessing” is not a material thing.

It is relational.

Remember John 10 and the CONTEXT

Today we will examine some other “gospels” as we discussed...

Matthew 19:16-30 (NIV84)

Let’s discus this: The Big Question: How to do I make it

Jesus says “Do” for one thing....He does not disagree with commandment keeping

Then he says “Sell” and Follow…these are actions, not propositions

Jesus is not opposed to working, to effort..

Notice what is NOT in this interaction, nothing about a prayer, nothing about going to heaven, in fact Jesus focus seems remarkably THIS LIFE Oriented

As an added Bonus with you consider Peters question “what do WE do to be saved” Jesus assures him, but then he tells a parable that has NOTHING TO DO WITH QUANTITY, and everything to do with Being with the Master Matthew 20:1-15.

They WANT TO COUNT.

Jesus is more concerned that they MATTER

IS It Possible?

The BIG FOUR:

All of us are likely to adopt some elements of these gospels at times in our life, as it suits us.

We are not here to run down other churches or other people, but to expose and evaluate how WE need to be.

Right?

The Evangelical Gospel: Simple Gospel, John 3:16 Gospel

John 3:16 (NIV84)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

THE FOUR PILLARS:

This is the version that many of us grew up with…sound fine, sounds “simple”

Where did this come from: A heart to help people who were drifting away from churches to find faith again.

The charitable way to look at this is a deep desire for men and women to be people of God.

We cannot ASSUME BAD HEARTS.

THE LIST:

What it “Is” or expects: Look out for this one… “accept Christ”

For example: Where is this in Scripture?

Jesus is the one who must accept us and we must be ACCEPTABLE.

This gospel is not completely untrue, there are elements that make sense.

We do sin, God does love us, Jesus did die for our sins…but in this ‘gospel’ there is no call to community, to apprenticeship to Christ, to missional thinking.

It results in mass “conversions” but no transformation....no presence of Christ in our lives

John Ortberg: theologian whom I have read says this about it:

THE PATH TO JESUS

I feel like we need to take a moment here and define “discipleship” and disciple-making.

These are not synonyms in the bible.

Discipleship (that form of the word is never used in the NT by they way) .

In the Great Commission we are told to go “disciple” the nations, to train them in the ways of Christ.

But ‘discipleship’ is not the same things as disciple-making.

Discipleship is a Lifestyle of study, contemplation, walking with the Lord in community and being transformed into a more and more joyful, hopeful and faithful imager of Christ.

It will INCLUDE evangelism in many senses but it is not defined by that.

What is “Eternal Life”?

Is it about duration?

Ie Forever?

Why would an eternal God care about how long something lasts?

What if its about HOW it will be, not how long it will last?

What it it is more qualitative, than quantitative.

What if God cares about who we are, AND what the experience is rather than its duration, since that is a forgone conclusion

When Jesus defines it he hints at just this: Its relational…not durational.

KNOWING GOD.

Being intimate, connecting, relating (remember Matthew 20 above).

God is gathering anD including, AND EXPECTING WORK and GRATITUDE FROM US

knowing....

What did Paul say about THE GOSPEL

Paul describes it as A LIFE POWERED BY the RESURRECTION

Notice that eternal life is about what Jesus did, coming back to life, defeating death…it is about living....so here the resurrection is also the gospel.

Now and Later

Practices and relationships not just doctrines

Anyone remember 1 Tim 4:16 You will SAVE....lifestyle and belief.

Both have to be clear.

Getting Heaven into me (JMC)

Recap; this version of the simple gospel is not completely off base.

Again it contains essential truths:

the love of God

the death of Christ

the need for salvation

but it is self centered, focused on ‘saving’ but not on relating, dwelling, being, or even multiplying my life of transformation into other people.

It has no ‘teeth’ and

expects little to no effort on our part to spend time and grow closer to the master.

The goal seems to be to “get to heaven” when clearly God is interested in much more than that for his people.

NEXT WEEK WE WILL CONTINUE OUR DISCUSSION.

PLEASE JOIN US FOR THAT