Jeff Vanderstelt: Gospel Fluency | VIDEO

<a href="http://www.vimeo.com/22681959">http://www.vimeo.com/22681959</a>

Jeff Vanderstelt is an elder at Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA and Vice President of the Acts 29 Network. In this training session he unpacks the Gospel and what it looks like to be fluent in the Gospel. In other words, the Gospel has to become second nature if we are to engage in the mission of God effectively.

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http://www.livingmartyrs.com brad

I appreciated this, but there were two places where I perceived an overreach.

1.) Complainers are outside of the Gospel, and instead should be told to be grateful — That mentality has been used to propagate some hideous abuse. I thought we were finally getting past this; that we were beginning to understand the power and utility of complaint. Complaints must be heard and given credence to, even as those airing them are informed of their responsibility in attitude and language. Every complaint can be the beginning of a conversation that leads to a fuller, richer understanding of grace on both sides. Complaint comes from the inevitable crash of our human nature against our longing for perfection.

2.) The life of a Christian is one of rest — I don’t think it was exactly intended this way, but it almost sounded like an endorsement for being inert. I agree that we do not and cannot earn our salvation. But with our motivations understood and vigilantly guarded, the Bible tells us to get (very) busy. I think the easy yoke and light burden are in there for two reasons. One is that God knows our constituent components, so what he calls us to is directly synchronised with our self, and thus is not as much a stretch as other work. The other is that we live safer and simpler following his path than the ways of the world. But neither of those implies that we should be inactive — far from it!

Other than those two hesitations, I really appreciated the content here. I especially like the perspective on guilt overthrowing God’s lordship. That’s a powerful pastoral perspective. And I loved the reminder that we are not about behaviour modification as much as we’re about leading people to the source of grace. Those are compelling truths!
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Jeff Vanderstelt: Gospel Fluency | VIDEO

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