The Gospel on the Ground
The way of Jesus says the last will be first. Jesus says we are to lose our lives to gain them. The way of the kingdom of God is entirely upside-down to the way of the world and empire. Caesar will do anything to stay on top. Jesus says the way to flourish is to go low.
As we’ll explore together in this biblical feast, the story of the book of Acts and
the early church can be summed up in a series of subversively sanctified invasions— God’s redemptive work of grace confronting some of the seemingly insurmountable institutions of the world.
The kingdom of celebration invading the empire of entertainment. The kingdom of abundance invading the empire of scarcity.
The kingdom of togetherness invading the empire of separateness. I love the way that C. S. Lewis put it:
Enemy-occupied territory–that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.2
C. S. LEWIS
his story continues today with us. We are being drafted into the “great campaign of sabotage” to spread the way and the wisdom of the reign of the rightful and benevolent King.
Even now, you and I are being invited into the movement of the New Testament church as it grows, reaching unto the ends of the earth.
The kingdom of God is still coming down to the ground. And we, as God’s people, are called to bring subversive celebration, abundance, and togetherness—light to
a weary world that sometimes seems darker than anything else.
The witness of the women and men of the early church spoke to God’s all-sufficient worth. And the witness of our lives remains potent, speaking a word to the empires of today.
So what do you say?
Will you step into the adventure God is calling you to? Will you let Him use you in this chapter of the church’s story?
Our adventure can begin even at this moment. Let’s take hold of it together.