The Gospel of Jesus Christ as Multidimensional

I would like to start off with a quote from a pastor whom I have a lot of respect for out of New York that goes like this:

"Jesus preached a Gospel that was revolutionary, radical, communal and world transforming. Here is our problem as pastors, we have been preaching Jesus, but not his teachings. Because that teaching means the dismantling of the status quo. It means the radical reorientation of society. It is not characterized by what divides but by what unifies. The Good News liberates, empowers and strengthens."

I like this quote because it challenges us to approach the gospel as multidimensional. The purpose of this blog is to make the case that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not totally focused on just 1 thing but on at least 3 things. The three things that I think the Gospel of Jesus Christ focuses on is:

1. Calling the lost to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior (soul winning/winning souls for Christ).
2. Developing the believer to become more like Christ (discipleship).
3. Liberation of the mind, body and soul (deliverance).

I believe that all 3 of these aspects of the gospel should be dealt with within a congregation of believers. The problem I've seen is that sometimes the focus is on one of these aspects ENTIRELY without sharing in the other two aspects. This is why I refuse to believe in the idea of only one aspect of the Gospel being important.

However, I still believe that the biggest aspect of the Gospel still should be saving souls for the Kingdom. Why is that? Because at the end of the day one of our big tenets of the faith is believing in life after death. For the most part we believe in Heaven and Hell. We give our lives to Christ so that we may be assured eternal life after living on Earth. When it's all said and done what matters is hearing the Lord say "well done thy good and faithful servant."

So today I would challenge us to view the Gospel of Jesus Christ containing many aspects yet foundational saying that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life. I will end this entry with leaving Luke 4:18-19 for you to marinate on. Let us preach the whole gospel of Jesus Christ!!

Luke 4:18-19, "God's Spirit is on me; he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, 'this is God's year to act!'"-The Message Bible.