The Church’s Incomplete Gospel pt. 2

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So to continue my previous post, I’m going to riff off a comment made by Mark Morris (who has a pretty great blog, and whose name brings back memories of the ‘96 R&B single “The Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison…)

He asked me about Romans 1:16, “For it (the gospel) is the power of God unto salvation”

Here is the deal; We are defining salvation as atonement from sin, which is not wrong but incomplete. Atonement from sin is the entrance into salvation. Salvation is not complete until Jesus splits the sky and slays wickedness. Not until then are we completely saved. We are saved from sin now, and have been conveyed from darkness to light, but the promises in salvation are not at their fullness. He still has to come back make all things right, to raise the dead, and those of us alive receive our resurrected bodies. Bodies that are free the sin nature the we battle every day. Salvation is not completed in the atonement. Which I’m not making light of at all, with out it I will burn forever, and don’t get to experience him.

Eph.2, The great chapter on atonement “He made us alive when we were dead…because of his great love…by grace we were saved…” But Paul is not finished, verse 7: “(you are saved) so that in the coming age he might show the immeasurable riches of his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

I say the gospel is incomplete because what we are teaching is self help, not the kingdom. “here is how to get out of your mess.” Only problem is they go back to their country, say China and are persecuted for their faith. Then what? Didn’t really help out of their troubles did it? Or say here in the U.S., tell someone their sins will be forgiven if they believe, then their wife and 2 kids get into a car accident, and they go on a 2 week bender asking God why their life isn’t better… They have no hope of what’s ahead because we in the church neglect to tell them the whole story. That man could have courage that though things are bad Jesus is coming back, take heart, one day we will be free from sin and pain. Not only does the real gospel encourage and make people stronger, it makes people better lovers of Christ.

Knowing the end of the story is vital, Christ died for it. The plot lines in the middle may be hard to get through, but there is hope; Col. 3,”We will appear with him in glory!” In ITess 4:18, Paul tells us to encourage each other with the knowledge of his coming. His coming is our complete salvation, and must be proclaimed, yet it is rarely mentioned.

My point is simple the Gospel that we preach must not JUST be one of atonement, but must be atonement unto a King that is coming.

“And Lord haste the day, when my faith becomes sight! and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resoun, the Lord shall decsend, even so it is well with my soul!”

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