When the great engine blocks of Lutheranism or Congregationalism or Methodism or what-have-you began to fall into disrepair, we evangelicals were stuck sucking air. When the great historical traditions of these denominations began to fade, our turbo chargers were no longer anchored to their great traditional theologies (or engine blocks). We then adopted a “two-chapter” gospel and forgot the historical “four chapter” good news.

Gabe: So, if you understand the Gospel as having four chapters, your life reflects different values and you engage the world differently. Another way of thinking about it is what you describe by using four terms: ought, is, can, and will be. Would you unpack those concepts for us?

Mike: As I noted earlier, I’m drawn to writers like C. S. Lewis and Peter Berger, a sociologist at Boston University. These men would say that there are patterns and pointers in your experience and in the universe. If you can find these patterns, they point to something beyond. If you can tease out common experiences we all share in, you can – by trial and error – begin to hear and see these patterns. You don’t have to start with the Bible. The most common pattern I’ve discovered – and it fits everyone everywhere – is that we all imagine our life in terms of how it ought to be, is, can or will be. It’s a cosmic code.

We think about life the way it ought to be only because of Creation. There is a design in it. We only recognize the life that is because of the Fall; there is a default. We only think about what we can do to make life better because of Redemption. And finally, we only dream about what will be because we’re made for eternity, the final Restoration. That’s our destiny. This universal pattern can only be explained by the gospel. It can’t be explained by the Eastern family of faiths. It can’t be explained by Darwin or Nietzsche.

In my own experience, the more I became immersed in this “four chapter” gospel, the more it explained the warp and woof of life. It could account for transportation and eating and food and work and recreation. Think of it this way: Track the 168 hours in your week and write down everything you do – for example, we work 55 hours a week, sleep 56, commute for 10, eat, prepare food, clean up, take showers, talk to friends, watch TV and spend time on the Internet, etc. In my conversations with Christians, most of them cannot connect the good news to their work, play, leisure, recreation, workout regimen, what they eat, sleep patterns, daily commute and viewing habits. How is the gospel connected to Blackberries? If you can’t answer that question with some level of coherence and clarity, then most folks are left with a few minutes or an hour or two when they can do all their “spiritual” stuff – like quiet times, home groups, church and reading. That’s not much. If the gospel can’t explain all the things we do all day – that is, the way they ought to be, the way they are, what you can do about them, and what they will be – then you have a gospel that can get you into the kingdom but will have trouble with “Thy Kingdom come.”

Gabe: There’s a lot of discussion in evangelical Christianity of what our most important role is as followers of Christ while here on Earth. Is it more important that we strive for conversion of souls or is it more important that we seek to make the world a better place and strive for social reform?

Mike: It’s a both/and. But here’s an important distinction between the “two” and “four chapter” gospel: the “four chapter” doesn’t start with the Great Commission. This is particularly hard for some people to understand, but the Great Commission parallels what was called the Cultural Mandate that was given in Genesis. All Jesus is doing is repeating what He said long, long ago. And basically the gist of it was, ‘Have dominion. Shape the creation. Make it better.’

So the “four chapter” gospel starts with the Cultural Mandate. Dallas Willard calls this our “human job description.” I can summarize the original intent of the mandate in three words: conscience, community and culture. Human beings are different than the animal kingdom because we know what we ought to be doing. Look at the Genesis story. God communicates in such a way that we overhear our responsibilities but the birds and bees don’t. This means the animal kingdom simply operates in the rhythms of creation. But we have choices to make – moral choices. Birds don’t wake up in the morning and consider whether or not they’ll reflect God. Second, God said, “Let us make man in our image… and let them rule…” Them. We are to fulfill the Cultural Mandate in community and connection with one another. Finally, we were commissioned to be people of healthy habits. That is, if we had never fallen, we’d have developed cultures of happiness and healthiness. That is the third aspect of our job description – to make culture.

Now just because we fell into sin doesn’t mean the mandate went out of existence. In fact, if you notice, when God kicks the first couple out of the Garden, he repeats the central element of the Cultural Mandate. And then, if you look after Noah’s flood, He repeats the central element again, “Go out and cultivate the world.” The only difference is that we are fallen. Hence, our human job description still includes promoting healthy consciences, working in community and making culture. But we, as fallen beings, also encourage conversion. That’s evangelism. So it’s never an “either/or” between cultural reform and evangelistic revival. They go hand in hand.

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