Sit Back and Watch the Gospel Grow

During the days of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther once commented that the gospel was spreading by its own power. All he had to do was to sit back (in his case, with a beer in hand) and watch it grow, watch it transform individuals and revolutionize the church and sweep through entire nations.

What Luther was referring to is the reality that the gospel is a "power" - it is a message that "gets under your skin" so to speak. The gospel tells us that we are more wicked than we ever imagined but that, through Christ, we are more loved by a Holy God than we could ever dare dream. It teaches us that both of these (our wickedness and God's acceptance and love for us) are true of us at the same time.

When we come to believe this message, God's kingdom power enters into our life. We become more humble and broken then ever before (because it took the death of Christ to save us) but, at the same time, more bold and courageous than ever before (because we are loved and secure in the acceptance of our Heavenly Father).

The reality of the power of the gospel to work while "I sit back and watch" struck me in the last two days.

It struck me first on Monday when Jenny and I had breakfast at Cafe Patachu downtown. On Sunday we had gone on a prayer walk, and then spent the night at the beautiful Conrad Hotel. On Monday we went to breakfast at Cafe Patachu. As we entered we saw two "Redeemerites", Wendy and Jessica, having breakfast together; they were taking time for spiritual friendship, time to encourage and challenge each other. It was so incredibly encouraging to me to see the work of the gospel going on in their lives, even as Jenny and I were off on Sabbatical.

The truth of the gospel power working as "I sit back and watch" struck me a second time this morning as I walked by our co-op garden in our back yard. It is growing, flourishing. The lettuce and radishes are ready to be harvested. And, I realized that when we left, the garden would continue to grow and thrive. I'm especially thankful to those friends, Paul, Kipp and Melissa who are going to care for the garden. But, at the end of the day, all we do is prep the ground, plant seeds, water and weed; the organic growth lies in the seeds and the sun and water. So, in a sense, we sit back and get to watch the garden grow.

The reality of the gospel powerfully working its life-giving, heart-transforming truth deep into the soil of all of our lives while we "sit back and watch" is a great joy and comfort to me today.

-- Jason