Exercise Reading

I picked up my January 2008 issue of Christianity Today to take with me to work out (yes, I'm one day into my renewed commitment to physical fitness). This edition is a fascinating mix of articles, covering the gamut from an editorial on the Senate investigation into charismatic evangelists to persecution to social ministry. The highlights thus far are the article on "The Lima Bean Gospel" by Mark Labberton and a brief commentary entitled, "A Hole in our Holism," by Stan Guthrie.

Now, to begin, I must say that Labberton has never had lima beans out of my garden or fixed by my wife, or his analogy of bland American Christianity would fail miserably. Pity aside, the author presents a strong case for our the necessity of a renewed focus on justice and ministry in our churches. He writes,

Rather than seek the God who spoke from the burning bush, we have decided that the real drama is found in debating whether to podcast our services. Rather than encounter the God who sees idolatry as a pervasive, life-threatening temptation, we decorate Pottery Barn lives with out tasteful collections of favored godlings. Rather than follow the God who burns for justice for the needy, we are more likely to ask the Lord to give us our own fair share. A bland God for a bland church, with a mission that is at best innocuous and quaint -- in a tumultuous world.

and

It would be a new day for our testimony to the immensity and scope of the gospel if we lived out persevering, sacrificial love for people near and far, especially for those without power, without money, without education, without food, without sanitation, without safety, without faith. If this counterintuitive, servant love moved us out of our middle-class enclaves, drew the poor to be included in our family values, brought us to worry more about the need for consumption of those who have nothing than the consumptive fantasies of those who have too much, the gospel would be more nearly the life-enlarging gift it is.

Ouch. I think he's right. Guthrie adds a vital balance, though, by reminding us that the gospel is still the gospel -- it's about the reconciliation of man and God. He asks the vital question why we aren't evangelizing as we once did. "Does our heightened social consciousness," he queries, "-- from the Left and the Right -- actually drain our evangelistic zeal?"

Guthrie is absolutely right when he responds, "It shouldn't because we are called to do both."

One of the problems in our church world today is an "either/or" syndrome as opposed to a "both/and" attitude. I realize that this cannot apply everywhere. We cannot be both exclusivist and universalist with regard to the future of the lost. But, we can, as Guthrie points out so well, give both a cup of cold water in Jesus' name AND call sinful people to repent and follow Jesus.