Monday 9 May 2011

THE GOSPEL

'In the attempt to protect the gospel from being too big, some Christians undercut the gospel and bypass the cross just as surely, if not more so, as their hyperpolitical cousins. The gospel cannot be understood without an awareness of sin. Gospel preaching means defining what the kingdom of God is and what it is not and defining as rebellion what God calls rebellion. Sin includes what we sometimes dismiss as social or political concerns - such as unjust workers' wages (Lev.19:13; Deut.24:15; James 5:4-5), usury (Lev.25:35-37; Neh.5:6-10), abuse of the land (Jer.2:7; Hos.4:1-3), and mistreatment of the poor, the elderly, the sojourners, the widows, and the orphans (Ex.22:22; Deut.10:18; Ezek.16:49; Zech.7:10; James 1:27).'
Russell D Moore, Tempted and Tried, p.156.