“The reduction of the Christian mission to the oral communication of a message of otherworldly salvation grows out of a misunderstanding of God’s purpose and of the nature of human beings. It is assumed that God wants to ‘save souls’ rather than ‘to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven’ (Colossians 1:20) and that the human being only needs to be reconciled to God rather than to experience fullness of life. In the... Read more
“Should I Pursue my Career or Do I Have to Become a Missionary?” ONE HOUR WORKSHOP with Bob Robinson MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9th, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Yes, you can fully honor God and participate in His mission in and through your vocation! In this one-hour workshop, receive biblical teaching on why your work matters and practical tools for living fully for God in your career. God does not see missionary work or pastoral work as “first-class” and other work as... Read more
The mission of God in Christ is to reconcile all things back to himself. According to Colossians 1:15-20, Jesus Christ is the creator (v. 16) and sustainer (v. 17), of “all things” (τὰ πάντα), and God’s purpose is to “reconcile all things”(ἀποκαταλλάξαι τὰ πάντα) to himself by making peace through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. God’s desire to reconcile to himself “all things” is larger in scope than simply individual salvation for human beings. The scope of Creation was “all things;” the scope... Read more
The killings at the Oregon college made me very angry. When I read about this mass-murder, I was seething in my fury. The killer had young men and women stand who said they were Christians, said to them, “Good, because you’re a Christian, you’re going to see God in just about one second” and killed them, I thought to myself, This is war! This is where we are going in this culture. With a more and more stark divide between... Read more
In John 20, the risen Jesus twice says to his disciples “Peace be with you,” before commissioning them. The Greek word, eirēnē, corresponds to the Hebrew word, shalom. “Seldom do we find in the Old Testament a word which to the same degree as shalom can bear a common use, and yet can also be filled with the concentrated religious content far above the level of the average conception.” (Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids,... Read more
Below is an interactive presentation that explains the gospel of Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation and how our vocations are integral to the mission of God in the world. God is calling us to (re)integrate our Christian faith with all of life, especially our various vocations. I talk about how each chapter of this “4 chapter good news story” connects with what we do in our vocations, giving us the foundation for engaging in God’s world and participating in God’s mission... Read more
The Consequence of Our Two-Faced Lives. Former peanut executive Stewart Parnell was recently sentenced to 28 years in prison for knowingly shipping bad peanuts that created a salmonella outbreak, killing nine people and making hundreds sick. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigned this week after the EPA discovered that the carmaker installed a so-called “defeat device” in 11 million diesel vehicles in order to fool emissions testers. Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli finally bowed to public pressure and decided to reverse... Read more
In this 47-second video, Bob Robinson explains how we participate with King Jesus to overthrow the kingdom of darkness in the world. How can you participate in Jesus Christ’s Kingdom purposes in and through your various vocations (at work, in your family, in your neighborhood, in your church community, in your town)? Image by SDOT Photos. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr. Read more
Seventh, and final, post in a series on the Kingdom of God. In my previous posts, I’ve outlined the theological debates over what the kingdom of God is. Some say it is God’s rule in the hearts of believers, others say it is the rule over the nation of Israel in the future. Others say it is an already/not yet thing: God rules (already) in the hearts of believers now and will (not yet) rule over everything physically and spiritually... Read more
“The enormous preponderance of the Church’s witness is the witness of the thousands of its members who work in field, home, office, mill, or law court.” – Lesslie Newbigin Read more
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