I could have very easily titled this blog "The gospel of entrance instead of the gospel of enjoyment." This chapter wrecked me emotionally and spiritually. Forget, for a moment, the heaven and hell stuff that Rob talks about in this chapter. His parallels between heaven and hell and the story of the prodigal son are fine, but what he says about the gospel, about God, and about how we as Christians relate to God are the things that, for me, made this chapter perhaps the best chapter in the entire book so far. I am still recovering this morning from what I read. I used the basic premise of this chapter for a devotional for our choir last night, relating it to something completely different than heaven and hell, relating it instead to self identity, and the impact was just as strong.
So, here goes.
How do you see God? What view of God colors your world and your view of grace, mercy, heaven, and ultimately yourself as a person in relationship to this God? What stories have you told yourself, or been told, about God that define who you think God is?
Are you like the prodigal son who tells himself all the way home that his Father can't love him after where he has been and what he has done? That his Father will no longer call him a son? That at best, his Father might let him be a servant?
The Father tells his younger son that no matter where he has been or what he has done, he will always be his Son. Nothing can change that. In fact, when the son returns home, the Father throws a huge party for him. The Father's story is better than the son's story.
The older brother is angry. He tells the Father "I've slaved away at home for you and you've never given me even a scrawny goat for a party." The older brother tells himself that the Father is a slave driver, mean, and cheap. The Father tells the older brother that everything he owns has always belonged to the older brother. He could have had a party anytime he wanted. The Father's story is better than the older brother's story.
The older brother and the younger brother are ultimately worried about "getting in" about "entrance" into the Father's house and love and ultimately, into the Father's favor. The Father's story is about mercy, and grace, and acceptance. The Father tells both boys that they are already in the family. There is nothing they can do, or not do, that puts them outside of the family. The Father simply wants to enjoy His sons. He isn't worried about whether they are good enough or have worked hard enough to be eligable for entrance. That isn't the point.
That is not the point of the gospel either, according to Bell. Bell writes "What the gospel does is confront our version of our story with God’s version of our story" (171).
Bell suggests that too many Christians have this idea that the Gospel is good news because it is a story of Jesus rescuing us from an angry, vengeful God. A God who one moment loves us, and then when we die, suddenly becomes schitzophrenic and wants to torture us in hell for all eternity (174). Basically our gospel is that we love Jesus but fear God. Who wants to spend eternity with that kind of a God?
Bell's argument is that the real gospel, the story that God (the Father) tells us - the story that is better than the ones we tell - is that the good news of the gospel is that God, through Jesus, is rescuing us from ourselves, from sin, from death, and from all the untrue stories we tell ourselves. God is the rescuer!
While we as Christians tend to focus on the gospel of "entrance" - trying to decide who gets in and who doesn't - God is focusing on the gospel of "enjoyment" - on having a party with all of his sons and daughters. Hell isn't a very good party. Christians who focus on the gospel of "entrance" don't throw very good parties (179).
Rob says a lot of other profound things in this chapter, but I want to end with two of them.
First, "an understanding of heaven that focuses on “getting in” rarely creates good art. It is a cheap view of the world because it is a cheap view of God" (179-180). Ouch! As an artist I need to hear that. I want to create art that celebrates a God who enjoys parties, who enjoys his children, who is not cheap, but is expressive and generous.
Second, "both brothers tell incorrect stories to themselves about God, because their perception of God was wrong. The father’s love can’t be earned (the older brother) or lost (the younger brother). It just is" (185, 187).
I want to present the Father's love like this. You can't earn it and you can't lose it. You can reject it - but that doesn't mean the Father stops loving you. He'll never stop. He'll do anything, no matter how incorrect it might seem by our human standards, to ensure all his kids get to party with Him in heaven forever.
I have kids. I know exactly how he feels!!!
