Summary
This book wasn't primarily written for me (a Christian pastor). It was written "for people who sense they are free-floating kites in need or reconnection to a guiding hand." It's a book about the Gospel (The Good News). Bruxy is making his best-effort to present the good news to seekers, saints and sinners. The good news starts with the fact that God IS love (Trinity). The fact that love requires choice (and risks) created some bad news (sin and death) to which the good news is the answer. He aims to present this good news in a simple manner.
Cavey's most succinct summary of the good news is simply "Jesus". Christianity is, of course, all about Christ. What's our theology? Jesus! What's the point of Scripture? Jesus! There's no real need to add anything after "Jesus" but to clarify matters Bruxy also presents the Gospel in 30 words... "Jesus is God with us, come to show us God's love, save us from sin, set up God's kingdom, and shut down religion, so we can share in God's life." The rest of the book discusses each phrase of this Gospel summary before inviting non-aligned readers to make a decision to follow Jesus.
Highlights...
1. Bruxy begins with a kite analogy. We humans long to soar, but we often think we can do this best by being detached (autonomous). In reality, we do this best by placing ourselves in God's capable hands.
2. Bruxy uses his tattoo (a biblical reference... Leviticus 19:28) as a conversation starter to talk about the difference he sees between religion and faith-in-Christ.
3. Bruxy believes the best 1-word proclamation of the Gospel is "Jesus"
4. Bruxy believes the best 3-word proclamation of the Gospel is "Jesus is Lord"
5. Bruxy believes that many popular methods for sharing the Gospel focus only on certain aspects of the Gospel. He aims for a more complete presentation.
6. Bruxy presents the Gospel in 30 words: "Jesus is God with us, come to show us God's love, save us from sin, set up God's kingdom, and shut down religion, so we can share in God's life."
7. Jesus is the proof that God really is love.
8. Sin separates us in a multitude of ways, but the good news is that we can be reconciled through Jesus. God not only saves us from something, but to Someone.
9. The good news is that there is a kingdom that will never end (because it's Jesus' kingdom). This kingdom is already here. Jesus' people pledge their allegiance to Jesus in the here and now. And His law is love.
10. Jesus came to shut down religion. No more sacrifices, priests, temples, rituals, rules... at least not in a 'do-this-to-get-that' way. It's all about grace and response/celebration now.
11. The end-result of the good news is that we are invited in the love life of the Trinity!
12. Bruxy ends by appealing directly to his readers to make a faith-decision. It's not a blind leap. It's an active trust in Jesus. It's about receiving a gift. It's about learning, step-by-step, to follow Jesus.
Reaction
I was first made aware of Bruxy on a Christian message board. A fellow poster posted a link to a sermon of his. In order to give feedback I listened to the sermon. I didn't totally agree with Bruxy, but I really enjoyed listening to him. Since then, I have listened to dozens of sermons and read, now, both of his books. He seems like a great guy (I've met him on 2 occasions and, though those meetings were brief, they seem to confirm he's a great guy).
I think the main value of this book is that it is a corrective to other presentations of the 'Gospel'. Just within the past couple of weeks I've had some great conversations with people who have a very narrow understanding of what the 'Gospel' is. Bruxy has identified that we've often focused exclusively on the 'saves us from sin' part of the Gospel at the expense of emphasis on Jesus' life of love, His Kingdom, and how what He offers contrasts with religion.
I'm inclined to quibble with a few things here or there in this book, but I'm trying to be less of a quibbler. So I'll simply say that this is a good book that I would recommend to seekers, saints & sinners.
The book is available on Amazon
No comments:
Post a Comment