For our readings in this series, we are considering three booklets that have immediate and continuous bearing on our calling to the Kingdom and glory of God. We begin with The Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus and Paul preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, and so should we. But first, we need to make sure this is what we believed when we put our faith in Jesus. Today’s excerpt is from the Foreword, on page 5:
“The contemporary generation of the followers of Jesus Christ is in danger of fumbling the baton of the Gospel, as they carry it through their leg of the race of life.
“We have exchanged the glorious promise of the Kingdom of God for a pottage of personal peace, salvation smugness, and cold indifference to the eternal plan and counsel of God.
“We are in danger, I believe, of having embraced, not the Gospel Jesus and the Apostles proclaimed, and for which our forebears in the faith lived and died, but another gospel, a shallow, self-centered, merely sentimental gospel, which ‘assures’ us of heaven but does not equip us for the Kingdom of God.
“Consequently, we may be headed for a rude awakening on a Day not too far hence.”
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. What is the Gospel? That is, what is the Gospel as you believe it?
2. What is the Kingdom of God, and how does the Kingdom relate to the Gospel?
What passes for the Gospel in many circles today is but a messy pottage of mere self-interest. We need to recover the Gospel of the Kingdom, because any other gospel is just a form of “near Christianity.” Forward today’s podcast to a friend. Challenge your friend to listen and join you to discuss the true nature of the Gospel of our Lord. Order your copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom by going to The Ailbe Bookstore. Order several copies and share them with your friends.
T. M. Moore
