Tiny Gospel Syndrome
“Our imagination for mission is determined by the size of our gospel.”
When we consider the statement above it challenges us to think through all we have been taught institutionally concerning the gospel and to ask a serious a personal question, “How big is your gospel?”
I believe there is an epidemic in the American church as well as the church of the west. It is an epidemic that is well spread. It is called The Tiny Gospel Syndrome. As we seek to define and understand exactly what is meant by TGS (Tiny Gospel Syndrome) we will examine Biblical examples of TGS, state exactly what it TGS is, understand the causes of TGS, look at the symptoms of TGS, and ask you if you suffer from TGS.
Our journey begins by looking at the Gospel of Mark. Marks portrayal of the disciples shows examples of how their “imagination for mission is determined by the size of our Gospel”. In other words, Marks portrayal of the disciples shows that mission flows from the gospel. This is why the disciples looked so lost all the time in the book of Mark. Because they held onto their own beliefs concerning the messiah, who he was, and what he was suppose to do, and what he was doing, they held a tiny gospel and were unable to even see the mission and proclaim the good news. Lets follow them through the book carefully.
In the first 3 chapters of Mark everything seems to be moving along as planned as we see John the Baptist preparing and announcing the coming of king Jesus and the kingdom he will bring. As Jesus is introduced to us we see him proclaiming the kingdom of God is now among the people. With the proclamation we also see Jesus as the emissary of the kingdoms power as he heals many that come along his path.
Jesus’ fame spreads quickly. So much so that Jesus begins to appoint twelve disciplesto help him and to mentor. By the ending of the third chapter Jesus reinforce their sacrifice to them by a powerful statement of loyalty as he spoke to the people saying, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Looking at his disciples he said, “Here are my Mother and Brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.” Thus, the first three chapters seem to flow with no real hiccups along the way. However the tide turns as we enter chapter 4.
In chapter 4 we see a theme that will carry on for the remainder of the book. That theme is the disciple’s failure to understand the teaching, the miracles, and the mission of Jesus. At the beginning of chapter 4 we see Jesus sharing the Parable of the sower in verses 1-9. In verses 10 -12 we see Jesus with his disciples encouraging them and telling them they have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God.
At first glance that encouragement seems truly amazing, however upon a closer look Mark shows us in verse 13 that the disciples really had no understanding what the parable Jesus spoke of actually meant. Furthermore, they had no idea what it meant that they were given the secret to the Kingdom. It is within this conversation that we
see the true condition of the disciples understanding:
“Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable,
how will you understand all the other parables?” (Mark 4:13, NLT)
It is almost as if Jesus is saying to them, “C’mon guys!” This seems to be the beginning of many talks with the disciples where they frankly seem lost concerning what is going on. Mark continues to show us that the disciples were not the wise followers we thought they were. He continues down through the chapter in verses 40-41 where the disciples are caught in a storm as Jesus sleeps. Afraid they wake him up and Jesus calms the storm.“Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”” (Mark 4:40, NLT) To which they responded in shock and amazement, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
In chapter 5 Jesus drives out the demon Legion from a possessed man, heals Jairus’s daughter, and Mark tells us that the disciples were “overcome with amazement.” In chapter 6 after Jesus fed the five thousand the disciples decided to push on ahead of Jesus and cross the sea by boat. In the middle of the night they see Jesus walking on
the sea and…
“When they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him.” (Mark 6:49–50a, NLT)
In Chapter 7 the disciples still didn’t understand who Jesus was or what he was doing. Mark shares with us that Jesus, speaking about the Pharisees and legalism, addresses the issue of cleanness versus uncleanness and what defiles a person.
“Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes f rom your heart.” Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.” (Mark 7:14–17, NLT)
After speaking to the people the disciples approach Jesus asking him about the
parable. To which Jesus responded:
““Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see… (Mark 7:18, NIV84)
Can you see Jesus shaking his head? Mark continues in chapter 8:11 as the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus and wanting a sign and trying to test him. After Jesus responded to them he left them and went back to the boat with his disciples. As they left port to go to their next village, Jesus, in response to what the Pharisees were saying, turns to his disciples to use what had happened as a teaching moment. He tells them to “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” To which the disciples, who had forgot to get bread for the journey across the sea, held a discussion amongst themselves trying to understand what Jesus was talking about. Mark tells us…
“They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:16–17, NIV84)
Again we see that up to this point we find that the disciples are completely clueless on who Jesus is and what he is about. So much so that Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi so he can ask them an important question. He asks, “Who do people say I am?” For Mark this seems to be the over arching question that he is trying to get
us to ask and answer. The disciples respond by telling Jesus of all the things people were saying about who he is. However, Jesus turns the question back on them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter in a “aha” moment, actually answers correctly and tells Jesus that he thinks he is the Messiah and the Son of God. However, what seems like a great
moment between the disciples and Jesus and finally looks like some progress ultimately turns right back to a moment of cluelessness as soon Jesus tells them the he must suffer and die. Almost immediately Peter rebukes Jesus for even speaking such a thing. Jesus, not just seeing this as just Peters thinking, notices that all of his disciples rejected the idea of a Messiah that would suffer, die, and then raise again turns to Peter and states:
“But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” (Mark 8:33, NIV84)
The disciples begin to see that Jesus is the one the prophets spoke about still were hardened in there hearts and minds to the fact of the mission that Jesus was to carry out. This was mainly because they already had in mind what they wanted him to do and be. They wanted a conquering King not a suffering servant. Thus, they continue to remain clueless about the mission of Jesus for the rest of the book.
In Mark 9:30-31 Jesus again foretells his death and resurrection. However, the disciples still just don’t get it. “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” (Mark 9:32, NIV84)
In fact in verse 9:33-37 the disciples, who still thinks Jesus is supposed to be a conquering king like David, begin to argue over who will be the greatest among themselves in Jesus’ kingdom putting there wants over God’s mission. By the way, when we don’t have the correct gospel we aren’t on the correct mission and we do things like
this.
In chapter 10:32 Jesus foretells them of his mission for the third time. In response John and James try to pin Jesus down for their own benefit asking him for a special place in his kingdom clueless of what they were truly asking. Mark, again reinforcing to us that these disciples were like us, in that they were looking for their own interests first over the will of God. This kind of misunderstanding of Jesus and hardness of heart toward his mission continues until it climaxes in the Mark 14:10-72.
Here we find the betrayer, Judas, identified at the Passover, the complete abandonment of the disciples as Jesus is betrayed and taken away, and Peter’s denial of Jesus as he stands only feet from where he is being tried.
This helps me understand why many people, like the disciples, abandon Jesus during the most trying of times. The fact is when we do not live as intended or for the things for which has been purposed in us we ultimately betray him. The disciples believed in the Jesus that was to be like David. However, they didn’t believe in the Jesus that was in front of them. They had ideas concerning Jesus’s teaching but they weren’t living the teaching themselves. The Pharisees also had an idea of who the Messiah was to be and what he was to be about. The tension between them and Jesus was clear in the book of John as Jesus addresses this type of idolatry.
“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”(John 5:39–40, NIV84)
In all of these cases they had re-imaged Jesus into something they were willing to accept. They had carved out there own messiah and in the end all of them abandoned Jesus their Messiah. Their imagination of mission was limited by the size of their gospel and their gospel was way to small.
Jesus came to announce a restoration of the Kingdom of God on the earth and allowed the disciples the ability to walk in the presence and power of the King. But the disciples believed in a different kind of King even though they believed Jesus was that guy. In both cases, the Pharisees and the disciples, their Gospel was one of a conquering King that would take down Roman oppression. In both cases, their gospel was about a small little thing and thus, they never were truly aligned with what Jesus was doing.
In the same way many in our churches suffers from Tiny Gospel Syndrome. We have taken this huge Gospel of reconciliation, the new creation, resurrection and life, the new heavens and new earth, and we have made it about one little thing; mainly that your soul can go to heaven when you die. Like the disciples our imagination for mission is determined by the size of our gospel.
What are symptoms of a Tiny Gospel
1. You have accepted Jesus in to your heart as your personal Lord and Savior.
2. You believe your goal is gong to heaven when you die.
3. You despair about the current state of the world
4. You don’t know why the resurrection is important to your life now.
5. Your only knowledge of the Holy Spirit is Spiritual Gifts
6. You are desperate to expand the church for Jesus.
7. You separate mission to categories (evangelism, social justice, etc).
8. You live a comfortable Life.
When we consider the statement above it challenges us to think through all we have been taught institutionally concerning the gospel and to ask a serious a personal question, “How big is your gospel?”
I believe there is an epidemic in the American church as well as the church of the west. It is an epidemic that is well spread. It is called The Tiny Gospel Syndrome. As we seek to define and understand exactly what is meant by TGS (Tiny Gospel Syndrome) we will examine Biblical examples of TGS, state exactly what it TGS is, understand the causes of TGS, look at the symptoms of TGS, and ask you if you suffer from TGS.
Our journey begins by looking at the Gospel of Mark. Marks portrayal of the disciples shows examples of how their “imagination for mission is determined by the size of our Gospel”. In other words, Marks portrayal of the disciples shows that mission flows from the gospel. This is why the disciples looked so lost all the time in the book of Mark. Because they held onto their own beliefs concerning the messiah, who he was, and what he was suppose to do, and what he was doing, they held a tiny gospel and were unable to even see the mission and proclaim the good news. Lets follow them through the book carefully.
In the first 3 chapters of Mark everything seems to be moving along as planned as we see John the Baptist preparing and announcing the coming of king Jesus and the kingdom he will bring. As Jesus is introduced to us we see him proclaiming the kingdom of God is now among the people. With the proclamation we also see Jesus as the emissary of the kingdoms power as he heals many that come along his path.
Jesus’ fame spreads quickly. So much so that Jesus begins to appoint twelve disciplesto help him and to mentor. By the ending of the third chapter Jesus reinforce their sacrifice to them by a powerful statement of loyalty as he spoke to the people saying, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” Looking at his disciples he said, “Here are my Mother and Brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and my sister and my mother.” Thus, the first three chapters seem to flow with no real hiccups along the way. However the tide turns as we enter chapter 4.
In chapter 4 we see a theme that will carry on for the remainder of the book. That theme is the disciple’s failure to understand the teaching, the miracles, and the mission of Jesus. At the beginning of chapter 4 we see Jesus sharing the Parable of the sower in verses 1-9. In verses 10 -12 we see Jesus with his disciples encouraging them and telling them they have been given the secret of the Kingdom of God.
At first glance that encouragement seems truly amazing, however upon a closer look Mark shows us in verse 13 that the disciples really had no understanding what the parable Jesus spoke of actually meant. Furthermore, they had no idea what it meant that they were given the secret to the Kingdom. It is within this conversation that we
see the true condition of the disciples understanding:
“Then Jesus said to them, “If you can’t understand the meaning of this parable,
how will you understand all the other parables?” (Mark 4:13, NLT)
It is almost as if Jesus is saying to them, “C’mon guys!” This seems to be the beginning of many talks with the disciples where they frankly seem lost concerning what is going on. Mark continues to show us that the disciples were not the wise followers we thought they were. He continues down through the chapter in verses 40-41 where the disciples are caught in a storm as Jesus sleeps. Afraid they wake him up and Jesus calms the storm.“Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”” (Mark 4:40, NLT) To which they responded in shock and amazement, “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
In chapter 5 Jesus drives out the demon Legion from a possessed man, heals Jairus’s daughter, and Mark tells us that the disciples were “overcome with amazement.” In chapter 6 after Jesus fed the five thousand the disciples decided to push on ahead of Jesus and cross the sea by boat. In the middle of the night they see Jesus walking on
the sea and…
“When they saw him walking on the water, they cried out in terror, thinking he was a ghost. They were all terrified when they saw him.” (Mark 6:49–50a, NLT)
In Chapter 7 the disciples still didn’t understand who Jesus was or what he was doing. Mark shares with us that Jesus, speaking about the Pharisees and legalism, addresses the issue of cleanness versus uncleanness and what defiles a person.
“Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes f rom your heart.” Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used.” (Mark 7:14–17, NLT)
After speaking to the people the disciples approach Jesus asking him about the
parable. To which Jesus responded:
““Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see… (Mark 7:18, NIV84)
Can you see Jesus shaking his head? Mark continues in chapter 8:11 as the Pharisees are arguing with Jesus and wanting a sign and trying to test him. After Jesus responded to them he left them and went back to the boat with his disciples. As they left port to go to their next village, Jesus, in response to what the Pharisees were saying, turns to his disciples to use what had happened as a teaching moment. He tells them to “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” To which the disciples, who had forgot to get bread for the journey across the sea, held a discussion amongst themselves trying to understand what Jesus was talking about. Mark tells us…
“They discussed this with one another and said, “It is because we have no bread.” Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?” (Mark 8:16–17, NIV84)
Again we see that up to this point we find that the disciples are completely clueless on who Jesus is and what he is about. So much so that Jesus takes the disciples to Caesarea Philippi so he can ask them an important question. He asks, “Who do people say I am?” For Mark this seems to be the over arching question that he is trying to get
us to ask and answer. The disciples respond by telling Jesus of all the things people were saying about who he is. However, Jesus turns the question back on them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter in a “aha” moment, actually answers correctly and tells Jesus that he thinks he is the Messiah and the Son of God. However, what seems like a great
moment between the disciples and Jesus and finally looks like some progress ultimately turns right back to a moment of cluelessness as soon Jesus tells them the he must suffer and die. Almost immediately Peter rebukes Jesus for even speaking such a thing. Jesus, not just seeing this as just Peters thinking, notices that all of his disciples rejected the idea of a Messiah that would suffer, die, and then raise again turns to Peter and states:
“But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”” (Mark 8:33, NIV84)
The disciples begin to see that Jesus is the one the prophets spoke about still were hardened in there hearts and minds to the fact of the mission that Jesus was to carry out. This was mainly because they already had in mind what they wanted him to do and be. They wanted a conquering King not a suffering servant. Thus, they continue to remain clueless about the mission of Jesus for the rest of the book.
In Mark 9:30-31 Jesus again foretells his death and resurrection. However, the disciples still just don’t get it. “But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.” (Mark 9:32, NIV84)
In fact in verse 9:33-37 the disciples, who still thinks Jesus is supposed to be a conquering king like David, begin to argue over who will be the greatest among themselves in Jesus’ kingdom putting there wants over God’s mission. By the way, when we don’t have the correct gospel we aren’t on the correct mission and we do things like
this.
In chapter 10:32 Jesus foretells them of his mission for the third time. In response John and James try to pin Jesus down for their own benefit asking him for a special place in his kingdom clueless of what they were truly asking. Mark, again reinforcing to us that these disciples were like us, in that they were looking for their own interests first over the will of God. This kind of misunderstanding of Jesus and hardness of heart toward his mission continues until it climaxes in the Mark 14:10-72.
Here we find the betrayer, Judas, identified at the Passover, the complete abandonment of the disciples as Jesus is betrayed and taken away, and Peter’s denial of Jesus as he stands only feet from where he is being tried.
This helps me understand why many people, like the disciples, abandon Jesus during the most trying of times. The fact is when we do not live as intended or for the things for which has been purposed in us we ultimately betray him. The disciples believed in the Jesus that was to be like David. However, they didn’t believe in the Jesus that was in front of them. They had ideas concerning Jesus’s teaching but they weren’t living the teaching themselves. The Pharisees also had an idea of who the Messiah was to be and what he was to be about. The tension between them and Jesus was clear in the book of John as Jesus addresses this type of idolatry.
“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”(John 5:39–40, NIV84)
In all of these cases they had re-imaged Jesus into something they were willing to accept. They had carved out there own messiah and in the end all of them abandoned Jesus their Messiah. Their imagination of mission was limited by the size of their gospel and their gospel was way to small.
Jesus came to announce a restoration of the Kingdom of God on the earth and allowed the disciples the ability to walk in the presence and power of the King. But the disciples believed in a different kind of King even though they believed Jesus was that guy. In both cases, the Pharisees and the disciples, their Gospel was one of a conquering King that would take down Roman oppression. In both cases, their gospel was about a small little thing and thus, they never were truly aligned with what Jesus was doing.
In the same way many in our churches suffers from Tiny Gospel Syndrome. We have taken this huge Gospel of reconciliation, the new creation, resurrection and life, the new heavens and new earth, and we have made it about one little thing; mainly that your soul can go to heaven when you die. Like the disciples our imagination for mission is determined by the size of our gospel.
What are symptoms of a Tiny Gospel
1. You have accepted Jesus in to your heart as your personal Lord and Savior.
2. You believe your goal is gong to heaven when you die.
3. You despair about the current state of the world
4. You don’t know why the resurrection is important to your life now.
5. Your only knowledge of the Holy Spirit is Spiritual Gifts
6. You are desperate to expand the church for Jesus.
7. You separate mission to categories (evangelism, social justice, etc).
8. You live a comfortable Life.