Living out the Gospel in Real Time

The gospel changes everything. This is the strong conviction of all the New Testament writers. That the living God giving us life in his name is the Big Story that gives fullness of life to all of our stories.

And so you get these passages where we're exhorted to "take every thought captive" and "whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord." The point here is not an abstract dogma that we assent to conceptually. It is not a series of rituals or religious exercises that we do occasionally then leave on the shelf.

The work of discipleship is living out this new reality in real-time. That is, everything about our lives and how we interact with the world is understood through the lens of the Christ-with-us reality: driving a car, taking astronomy, raising kids, going to the grocery store, working in cube world.

This is spelled out in a number of different ways in the New Testament:

1. "Jesus is Lord" is not an one of many "lordship" options being offered in the world. When the apostles made this claim in Acts it was in direct opposition to "Caesar is Lord." For the apostles, saying "Jesus is Lord" was roughly the same thing as saying "Bush is president." It is a statement of fact, not opinion. Of course it may be disagreed with, but it cannot be brushed off as merely what works for one person. Either Bush is president or he is not. Either Jesus is Lord or he is not.

This Lordship over all things is the story that we are invited to lean into, celebrate, live out as we think about living out the gospel in real-time. Unfortunately this is often only understood as a "cosmic police officer.". But nothing could be further from the truth. That Jesus is Lord and not Caesar or success or money or popularity or my own desires frees me from the tyranny of all those things so that I might be freed to live as I was made to live--including in healthy relationship with government, success, money, relationships, and my own desires.

2. Not only is Jesus called Lord, we are called sons and daughters of the most high God. We're saints, even when we don't feel very saintly. Our identity is no longer slaves to sin, no longer lost, no longer enemies of God, no longer orphans. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. We have been adopted as God's children. And so we are invited to live out of that in real-time as we are marginalized at work or overlooked for a position we wanted or as things don't quite go our way in a relationship. Our identity is not rooted in those things. "Our life roots are hid with Christ in God" (George MacDonald).

3. The Spirit is always at work around us to invite us to participate in His activity. There is joy in the co-working with the God of the universe. There is life in participating in this perfect story as it unfolds and brings redemption, restoration, healing and life everywhere.

And so we must begin to wake up to the God of the universe inviting us to live out of this Big Story in Real-Time. Not just slumbering from Sunday to Sunday without transformation or change. Jesus is Lord. You are his child. The Spirit is at work all around. That's our story. Let's dig in.