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Christianity Today, January, 2008 |

CHRISTIAN VISION PROJECT

The Lima Bean Gospel

The Good News is so much bigger than we make it out to be.

Mark Labberton | posted 1/08/2008 08:19AM

In the Christian Vision Project's third and final year, we turn our attention to another "big question." It's the simplest yet perhaps the most important question we've asked: Is our gospel too small? ...

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Stefan

Posted: January 15, 2008 8:38 AM

This is a wonderful essay. The "smallness" of the gospel is directly related to the minimal impact it seems to have of the lives of so many of us. The teachings of Jesus are radical call for the abandonment of the self-absorption and self-aggrandizement we normally live by. As such, they are the last thing we want to hear, because if we really hear them it begins a painful, life-long process of transformation that destroys forever the possibility of the comfy, untroubled, unchallenging existence that we secretly hope will be ours if we play our cards right. The biggest problem of the church is that we talk endlessly about Jesus and the gospel while thinking that somehow that the transformational part is optional. No wonder unbelievers are unimpressed!

bernie

Posted: January 12, 2008 7:34 AM

How i do wish that those christians that believe that only those who have a correct faith in Jesus "get to go to heaven" would step up to the plate and address the question of what happens to the rest of this earth's population. Percentage wise over recorded Hx would the number of "saved" even reach double didits? So what does God do with everyone else? And if you say that they spend eterity in hell do you ever wonder why God is disliked and rejected. Yes, our gospel as often preached and believed is too small. A God who treats His created children worse than you and i would ever treat our own is not worthy of respect let alone worship. Perhaps God will one day have to find another method to convey His love and inclusivness for all of us since the Christian church appears to be failing rather miserably as a whole to do so.

Diane

Posted: January 11, 2008 1:25 PM

I think the two commentors have missed the point here. I think the point is for us as Christians to be more like Jesus (who is not boring, like a bowl of lima beans), so that people of the world will see Jesus in us. Then they will want to know Him. If we act like a boring bowl of lima beans and worship like a boring bowl of lima beans, no one will want to be like us and therefor they will consider Jesus irrelevant. The mission of the church and Christians is to bring people to the saving grace of Christ, not to try to exclude as many people as possible. God isn't willing for anyone to perish eternally and it is our goal to bring as many people to Jesus as we can. We can honor Christ by doing that.

tim	Posted: January 10, 2008 8:37 AM

the church's responsibility is also to live the gospel in such a way that when we "talk" the gospel, it will be in harmony with what those outside Christ have observed. i appreciate mark labberton's accent on the way we live within the family -- we too often dismiss the importance of john 13.34-35. parts of this article brought francis of assisi's words to mind: preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.

Ephrem Hagos

Posted: January 10, 2008 7:45 AM

Mark Labberton's book, as reported, is a direct reflection of our disobedience to the commandments of Jesus Christ, viz.: to be nobody's but His disciples alone without which we would not know anything of the truth about the wonderful, crucifixion-based and place and time transcending act of worship by the power of God's Spirit (John 4: 21-24 and follow up). The longer we disobey to know the truth each one for himself, the more our act of worship will fall in the hands of the Devil! It is not that "the Good News is so much bigger than we make it out to be". No! It is completely different! What we have is a different Jesus, not the one who revealed Himself on the cross and preached by the Apostles; and a spirit and a gospel completely different from the Spirit and Gospel presented by Jesus Christ personally (2 Cor. 11:4). Our theologians and leaders of the churches have got it all wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous

Posted: January 09, 2008 12:50 PM


The message of the cross is that there is a sin problem - The Church is to proclaim that a way has been made for sinful men to come into relationship with God the Father. This author apparently believes that sinful men can love rightly and judge righteously. Where is there in history a report of natural men doing this on their own? EM Williams

Anonymous

Posted: January 08, 2008 7:28 PM


Church should make all deserts of the world green.

Wm. S

Posted: January 08, 2008 12:28 PM


?What is love? Are you saying peace,peace where there is no peace, until Jesus returns. That we must all come together?Give away your money,your time,house without praise for it ,Then I will believe. May God the Father,God the Son,God the Holy Spirit truly change our hearts!

Geoff

Posted: January 08, 2008 12:11 PM

Chris, I think the answer to your question is found in recognizing that Christ was not only "one man", but also is a representative of all humanity. Just as Adam was not only one man, but also represented the fallen status of all humanity, Christ represents - and actually is! - the redeemed status of all humanity. This is not to say that all humanity will surrender to redemption (Scripture indicates that apparently some will reject Christ no matter what), but we must be very careful not to equate the possibility of human rejection with God's grace having a limited reach. To do so leads to resignation and an "us vs. them" mentality, and that is often what makes Christianity so unappealing -- not the message of the Gospel, but the fact that some Christians act as though it's only for a limited few, who, interestingly, all seem to look and act exactly the way they themselves do. This is the attitude we should avoid at all costs, as the article indicates. Geoff

bluazul (Josh Morgan)

Posted: January 08, 2008 11:48 AM

Excellent! I went to First Pres when doing my BA at UC Berkeley, and it is fantastic to see Mark's words get such attention. He is an excellent person, man of God, pastor, and speaker, as this article shows. This article emphasizes the nuances, richness, and depth of Christianity, God, and Jesus. People like Mark Dever, as indicated by his recent article on evangelism, who emphasize a lima bean gospel, should be more influenced by people like this Mark, who is helping to remind us that there is a beautiful, dangerous, and tasty life in Christ.

Bruce Klumpp

Posted: January 08, 2008 11:45 AM


Wonderfully written. Amen and Amen.

bruce

Posted: January 08, 2008 11:37 AM


my main problem with what we call evangelism is that the goal ultimately is heaven, and not Jesus. Jesus therefore becomes a means to the end and not the end. That deminishes who Jesus is, and he just becomes our ticket to what we really want. Heaven.

john	Posted: January 08, 2008 10:18 AM


wat in the world does lima beans have to do with christianity.god bless

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