I am so delighted God has brought the gospel back onto the center stage. The joy of the journey is the rich rediscovery of the beauty of this redemption narrative.
Amidst the wondrous truth package that is setting the captive free - [propitiation, expiation, redemption, atonement, justification, ransom, ...] comes a component that has fallen through the cracks.
This gospel has an 'uttermost' component to it. To fully get the impact of this gospel, is to ensure that it is not limited to individuals, communities or even cities. This gospel "will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations then the end will come".
I drive a Land Rover. Next to the gear stick is a button that identifies 5 different road conditions. When one drives on ice, in ruts, on hills, embankments or freeways the button will adjust the vehicle to cope with those conditions. Now as with many SUV drives, I have never taken my car off road [I did drive over the sidewalk once, but I am not sure that counts.] That means that I am only using 20 % of my "Landie's" potential. All the other 80% remains locked in the vehicle but my lack of engagement leaves it underutilized.
That is true for most believers and churches. There is a component to this gospel that only gets released when we apply the gospel in our own lives -the first 20% - driving on the freeway. Then there is a power that gets released when we apply the gospel in and through our local church, another 20%. Then when our faith stretches us to embrace our city as a point of gospel application, another 20%, so to our nation another 20% and then the final 20% to the uttermost.
Jesus promises power in this partnership. My prayer is that this missing gospel component gets rediscovered. Not by simply sending a few missionaries and hereby satisfying our gospel conscience, but embracing this call as a cornerstone in our community, seeking to get every believer involved at some level in this great story, this wondrous God adventure....
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