We’re reading excerpts from our book, The Gospel of the Kingdom. We want to make sure that we have the truth of God and the whole truth of His Kingdom and nothing but the truth about our Lord Jesus Christ and why He came, died, and rose again. Here’s a reading on the matter from pages 18 and 19:
“There has to be an explanation why so many millions of people today claim to be born-again followers of Jesus Christ, attending nearly 250,000 churches, with around 3,000 of those being mega-churches, accompanied by a growing Christian subculture of music, television, books and literature, education, Internet presence, and even their own Yellow Pages – as I said, there has to be an explanation why, given all this, the morals and culture of America continue to decline away from the teaching of Scripture. The young are abandoning their Christian upbringing in growing numbers, and the public square continues practically devoid of any far-ranging, seriously-taken Christian voice. There simply has to be an explanation for this.
“And I think I have it. It harks back to a comment by G. K. Chesterton around the turn of the 20th century. Chesterton observed of his own day, that the reluctance people showed concerning the things of the Lord was not because people had tried the Gospel of Jesus Christ and found it wanting. It was rather that the Gospel of Jesus Christ – the Gospel of the Kingdom – had not been tried.
“This same situation confronts us today.”
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
1. How would you expect to know if the Gospel of the Kingdom had been tried?
2. What can you do to help make sure both you and your church are living the Gospel of the Kingdom?
The larger question is, What did you seek when you believed in Jesus? Forgiveness of sins? Eternal life in heaven? Peace and happiness here and now? And what about the Kingdom which, Paul taught, we must enter through many afflictions? Order a copy of The Gospel of the Kingdom by going to our bookstore.
T. M. Moore
