Truth & Transformation:

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. -Romans 12:2

Could the individualistic gospel, usually heard, be a caricature of the biblical gospel?

Christians often forget that Jesus came not simply to take our souls to heaven but also to give us the knowledge of the truth: [God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4). Did Jesus ask us to pray that we might go to heaven, or that the kingdom of heaven might come on this earth?

The wise men had announced Jesus’ kingship at His birth, and John the Baptist had announced some of the changes that the Messiah was to bring about.

Although He is the “Prince of peace,” Jesus is a Peacemaker, not a peace lover. A peace lover stays away from conflicts. The peacemaker gets involved in unjust, oppressive situations. A peacemaker is necessarily a troublemaker. He disturbs an oppressive social system in order to make “all things new” (Rev. 21:5 RSV).

Jesus and His new community were naturally and intentionally a threat to the kingdom of darkness. He forced Israel to choose between the status quo and transformation. Generally speaking, the “Sunday School Jesus” confines Himself only to the changing of people’s hearts, but the Jesus of the Gospels aimed to change both human hearts and human society. He prepared shepherds to replace wolves as the leadership of Israel. Jesus made His intentions explicit in the parable of the labourers in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33–46). He concluded the parable by telling the chief priests, “Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit” (v. 43). This was an explicit statement of a radical transformation, of a transfer of power from the wolves to the shepherds.

Secularised individualism is self-centred; it sees the passion of the Christ as something for “me.” This counterfeit individualism reads the Gospels with coloured glasses and filters out anything that does not fit the presumption that Jesus died only to take our souls to heaven. This has resulted in a spirituality that Os Guinness says is “privately engaging but publicly irrelevant.” It has become the source of the cultural ineffectiveness of the Western church. Therefore, let us take a fresh look at the Truth, meditate on it day and night, and allow it to have its transforming way in our lives, so we may contribute to ushering God’s kingdom on earth.

Challenge Question:

What does Truth mean to you now? How can you utilise the Truth you have now discovered to transform your personal life, family life and community?

Related Scriptures:

● Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” – Luke 17:20,21

● Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. – Matthew 6:9,10

● I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!... Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. -Luke 12:49-51

● Matthew 21:33-46