Good stuff. Feels we should always pay attention to a practice that so many saints going before us have done to shape movements of God. Something as simple as stopping and regularly asking ourselves questions.

Brad and JR, agree on both of these things. One of the ways I've heard it said before is "go before you know." Jesus had this amazing knack for letting his disciples experience something of the Kingdom and then point back and say, "OK...here's what you just experienced, let me teach you something about it." I think this is a big thing in western, cartesian culture. We either think, 1) We have to have everything perfectly formed in our mind or theologically before we go and do anything, or 2) Knowing ABOUT something is the same thing as knowing how to DO something.

The name thing makes it even more awesome.

JR, great thoughts and articulation here. Love where you're pushing people (and myself) with this. Plus...the picture was worth the read alone. ;-)

BOOM goes the dynamite. Love it. (and the picture you used for this post!)

What I really wanted to say was this: Our language and "invitation" has to make discipleship the only option. There can't be another one because there isn't another one!

I promise. I'm done now.

I do have to say...I wonder if we are being a bit reactionary in some of the reflections on language and cognitive realities not working their way into real life. A few thoughts:

1) Jesus did have very simple and sticky language to proclaim the Gospel: "The Kingdom is here." Four easy words that everyone could understand. The problem is I haven't seen any proclamation that even comes close to expressing the type of Good News this actually is. The proclamation is a statement about reality. Some have expressed the Good News as "you don't have to go to hell anymore." While Good News, it's not the same Good News as Jesus offered. We need to be able to same the EXACT SAME THING about reality that Jesus said in a way that truly connects.

2) The visuals/pictures/stories really are ways of showing HOW to live in the reality of this Good News. I think that's an important distinction. It's all about "the how." Jesus had parables telling us how to live in the Kingdom. They were simple and sticky. The current penal substitutionary stuff has things like the 4 Spiritual Laws and the picture of the gap between you and God with the cross as the bridge. Where are our images/stories/pictures that tell us HOW to live in the Kingdom?

3) Here's why I think the language piece is so crucial and gets us beyond just assenting to beliefs in our mind: The language creates the framework for why discipleship is a non-negotiable. The missing link to this entire discussion is discipleship. Jesus' whole premise was that discipleship was the process of learning to live in the Kingdom. Discipleship was how the Good News would actually mean something to our life and actually be "Good News" to us.

I know there are more and more people talking about the Kingdom and I also know there are a lot of the same people who don't have communities who live in the Kingdom. But I don't think not focusing on language and choosing to live it solves the problem. The problem is what we have people who don't know how to be discipled because they've never been discipled.

I swear I sound like a broken record, but the reason we have a discipleship problem is because the lingual frameworks for the Good News meant that discipleship was optional, creating a whole group of pastors who opted out of personal discipleship and opted into "building church" as the main thing. I'm absolutely convinced of this.

The reason we now have people reading Dallas Willard or any of the other great writers talking about Kingdom-life but not having communities living in it is because they don't know how to live in it. They actually need someone to disciple them. Having the right intellectual framework won't get them there. They need to actually see it in front of them in real life flesh and blood and be invested in by someone whose life looks a lot like Jesus.

So it would seem we need parallel tracks:
1) We need to come up with ways that the people leading current church communities who talk about the Kingdom can actually be discipled.
2) We need language to talk about the Kingdom in meaningful ways (with ways that are simple and sticky like Jesus did it) who are disciples who live it out serving as prophetic leaders and communities for everyone else.

Geez. Longest comment ever...and I've left some stuff out too!

Really good post, man. I find myself, excited/frustrated by the looming challenge of explaining the Kingdom of God and Jesus' invitation to live in it now (i.e. THE GOSPEL!!!!) in ways that people can get very easily. While I hate "the cross is the bridge that leads you to God lest you burn" picture...it's unbelievably helpful b/c it's simple and people get it. I hate the 4 Spiritual Laws...but people remember it and it makes sense to people (even if it completely warps Jesus' intentions with salvation). Like Ben, I find myself searching for stories, pictures or parables that can explain the invitation to the Kingdom in a way that is simple and sticky.

JR--You should do a simple post on that and figure out how people could post various pictures and ideas for that and see how open source you can make it. (Seriously). I bet we'd all get people to contribute to that and I bet it would end up in some upcoming book (wink wink).

Also...I wonder what the best way is to really help people see the Gospel they've accepted (penal subst. atonement) and bring them towards a fuller reality of the Gospel. Again, I don't worry too much about seminary grads getting this. But what about an 11th grader? (I think i'm just rambling now)

LOVE THIS. The logic flow is fantastic, which, though it sounds like a small thing, is incredibly important because it's felt so out of whack for so long. Great stuff here.

Thanks for the shoutout...see you next week!