The TMP Podcast
A Bigger Gospel | Bob Marsch | Reconstruction With Jesus
We live in an individualistic world. We live in a time when we are more connected than ever and yet when loneliness is an epidemic. We live in an era where we have access to almost infinite information and people and news, all in an instant, and yet where community is crumbling, violence is increasing, and the world is becoming more polarized. Our rugged individualism has also reached into our faith and theology. We read John chapter three not as “God so loving the world that Jesus left radiance to take on skin and save the world” but as “God so loved me that Jesus came to die for me.” We read 1st Corinthians chapter three not as “we collectively are the temple where God’s Spirit dwells,” but as “I am the temple where God’s Holy Spirit dwells.” Jesus, and the writers of the Scripture knew that the way of Jesus was beyond any individual. Even Jesus lived it out in community. Community with God as Trinity but also community with his disciples. We are invited into relationship. We live out this kingdom in community. We bring about this kingdom one act of love at a time—a truth that necessitates human connection, interaction, communion, and love. Our faith is not meant to be so privately hidden that we forget to be light and blessing to the world. Our faith is not mostly about consenting to right ideas but submitting to Jesus as revealer of God and as model for true humanity. Our faith should increasingly be less about me and more about we – and we are helped in all of this by the Holy Spirit, who is “building us together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” We are not created to live individualistic lives. We are created for community. And community is at the heart of our Gospel, and at the heart of what salvation looks like.
We live in an individualistic world. We live in a time when we are more connected than ever and yet when loneliness is an epidemic. We live in an era where we have access to almost infinite information and people and news, all in an instant, and yet where community is crumbling, violence is increasing, and the world is becoming more polarized. Our rugged individualism has also reached into our faith and theology. We read John chapter three not as “God so loving the world that Jesus left radiance to take on skin and save the world” but as “God so loved me that Jesus came to die for me.” We read 1st Corinthians chapter three not as “we collectively are the temple where God’s Spirit dwells,” but as “I am the temple where God’s Holy Spirit dwells.” Jesus, and the writers of the Scripture knew that the way of Jesus was beyond any individual. Even Jesus lived it out in community. Community with God as Trinity but also community with his disciples. We are invited into relationship. We live out this kingdom in community. We bring about this kingdom one act of love at a time—a truth that necessitates human connection, interaction, communion, and love. Our faith is not meant to be so privately hidden that we forget to be light and blessing to the world. Our faith is not mostly about consenting to right ideas but submitting to Jesus as revealer of God and as model for true humanity. Our faith should increasingly be less about me and more about we – and we are helped in all of this by the Holy Spirit, who is “building us together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” We are not created to live individualistic lives. We are created for community. And community is at the heart of our Gospel, and at the heart of what salvation looks like.