Jesus is looking for people who have come to the end: “I’m done.” They just cannot content themselves with hypocritical leaders and abusive religion, or lifeless structures anymore. When people hear the truly good news of Jesus, they will do anything to get in.
”The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it.” –Luke 16:16 (NIV)
The most vivid picture I have for this kind of “violent clamoring for the gospel” was when we first went to the Soviet Union in 1991. Hundreds gathered spontaneously in the center of Kiev to hear of the “God-shaped hole” in our hearts; people literally held their chests. Their heartache for God was visible on their faces.
Read Luke 16:16 again, but this time in the context of Luke chapters 15–16.
The Pharisees are standing outside the door, criticizing, instead of joining the Messiah party that’s happening (Lk 15:1–2). They are like the Prodigal’s slaving older brother, who can’t celebrate his father’s mercy (15:28–30), or like the steward wasting his master’s possessions (Lk 16:2), or the servant that tries to serve God and money (16:13–14). In the ministry of Imago Christi, we come across people all the time, who are “done” with this kind of transactional, surface, manipulative, and even abusive “performance” Christianity, and are desperate for more of Jesus.
So what is the truly “good news” that Jesus says people are “forcing their way into” with a holy violence? It’s the gospel that God is always ready to receive us and restore us to relationship, no matter what we’ve done (15:21–24). The debt forgiveness of the truly good news opens the doors to eternal friendship (16:9). The gospel of Jesus is diametrically opposed to obligation, or earning worth or worthiness. Jesus invites us to participate in the authentic relationship of loving service and devotion to God (16:13). The good news of Jesus is the gospel of a God who knows our hearts and loves us anyway (16:15).
Are you “done” with the shallow, transactional Christianity that simply justifies a standard of living or a political platform? The good news is Jesus. The Kingdom of God is the gospel of the “kingdom of the Son of his love” (Col 1:13). Are you desperate for more of Jesus?
Can you relate to those who are “done” with cultural or performance-oriented Christianity?
How desperate are you today for the good news of unconditional love in relationship with God through Jesus?
How is Jesus inviting you more deeply into the truly transformative love that serves him out of devotion and joy, and invites others to the party?
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bill O'Byrne and his wife, Priscilla came to Novo in 1992 and served in St. Petersburg, Russia from 1993 to 2015, where they raised their four children. Bill coached Russian church planters, developed discipleship and leadership development materials in churches, and taught Spiritual Formation and Biblical Studies at St. Petersburg Christian University. He now lives in Pennsylvania and since 2016 has led the Order of Imago Christi, a covenant community of spiritual formation ministry, which he co-founded in 2003. Bill leads seminars and coaches leaders in their spiritual formation and mentors Christian leaders in applying the insights of spiritual formation in their churches and ministry contexts.
For more information, see: https://www.imagochristi.org/bill-obyrne.