Why our little gospel gap becomes a yawning chasm

Most of us as Christians live with a yawning chasm in our thinking which show itself in small fractures and gaps.  We know how the gospel has changed our past as we look back to our conversion, we know that it secures our future and we look forward (more or less) to Christ's return.  But we are a bit unsure how it affects the here and now, we are unsure what it looks like for the kingdom to be now and not yet.  We know it means we gather as believers and that gives us a small picture of what the realised kingdom will be like, but how else is it to affect the here and now?  What does or should the gospel mean for my approach to work, study, love, marriage, sex, shopping habits, self esteem?  How does the gospel shape and drive how I feel about societies issues; poverty, sexualisation, illiteracy, corruption, abuse, violence, rape, or crime?

One of the biggest causes of that gap is the pressure we are constantly under to divide our life into private and public.  We are pressurised and moulded by our society to keep our faith private.  And that pressure has caused us to reshape our thinking to avoid breaking that unwritten cultural rule, to avoid making people feel awkward by being opening Christian.  When was the last time we spoke during such a discussion in such a way that we winsomely, lovingly, relevantly but honestly answered in such a way that declared Jesus to be Lord.  In fact when did we last preach that way, sometimes we find ourselves almost hesitant to preach it in church, or say it to our brothers and sisters in Christ let alone outside the church.

Pietism has set in, not a good pietism, which is rightly about devoting time to getting to know good personally, but a twisted, evil, joy sucking life robbing pietism, that refuses to let the gospel be spoken in public.  But if the gospel doesn't connect with life then it is not the gospel of the risen reigning Lord of all Jesus Christ.  We shouldn't be surprised that as we have privatised our faith it is seen as being less and less relevant because that is exactly what we are making it.

How do we reverse this trend?  We need to begin discussing these things, we need to expose how this pressure has moulded our thinking, help one another see how that pressure has moulded and shaped and silenced our words and actions.  We need leaders to start speaking boldly inside the church the implications of the gospel for the now issues in our society, to help us see that there is no gap only the gospel, so that we know how to articulate them outside.  And we need to be people of action, in the past the church didn't just preach about the social ills but remedied them with compassionate action as it served the poor, abolished slavery, provided education, and lived out the grace, love and compassion of its head, Jesus Christ.