Announcement: The Simply Jesus Project

I should know better than to announce a project. I have a spotty track record when it comes to finishing them. It’s not that I have a large following here, or really a following of any kind. If I leave a project orphaned, at least I won’t be disappointing that many people. It could be this is all an exercise for my own edification. Or it may be a fool’s errand.

But I’m enjoying the work, regardless how few may ever read it.

I’ve developed an urge to explain the message of Jesus Christ in a different way than the usual. I read a lot of theology and biblical commentary. I find myself engrossed in awe as I take in the beauty of God through these readings. But the commentaries and books I enjoy are not very accessible to non-experts.

I’m definitely not saying I have something entirely new to contribute. I do not possess some divine secret or a shortcut to happiness or any such nonsense.

But the message of Jesus—the message that helps people come to faith and live out that faith—is often explained in less than helpful ways.

There is the watered down message that helps churches get more new members but which does not show people how to follow Jesus.

There are the guilt-ridden, fear-based presentations to sinners who are supposedly in the hands of an Angry God.

There are well-meaning calls to “discipleship” that fail to integrate with grace.

And many of those Gospel explanations suggest the motive for coming to Jesus is to obtain a happy afterlife. How short-sighted! The motivation is to know Jesus and to begin enjoying the inner life of the Triune God! I’m a big believer in the afterlife, but we have something to live for now.

So, I am working on a “book.” Maybe it will only exist as a series of posts here on this blog. Maybe someday it will be more than that, an eBook and (from my lips to God’s ears) a paperback. Maybe I will eventually attract an audience. If nothing else, it will give me something to do for a while and help me articulate matters in language anyone can understand.

There are many ways to present the message of Jesus. The truth is at once simple and complex. What will be distinctive about my presentation of it?

I won’t suggest fear as a motivation and I certainly will not depict God as an Angry Father disappointed in his sinful creatures. I won’t warn you about eternal torment because there is no such thing. It will be the message of Jesus, a call to be a follower and not merely to be a believer in some doctrine. It will be consistent with grace, acknowledging that people who are ill with the disease of Sin and Death cannot walk this road apart from God’s direct assistance.

I have a tentative Table of Contents (see below). I plan to make section titles within each chapter so the Table of Contents is a useful way to find your way around the book.

Of course, I’d love feedback. See something missing from this tentative Table of Contents? Think I could benefit from a suggestion? Have a pet peeve about Gospel books and want me to consider your idea?

Here is what I have planned so far:

SIMPLY JESUS

by Derek Leman

Contents

Introduction

People putting a spin on the Gospel

God’s Love Can Be Simply Explained

No Riddles or Multiple Choice Tests

The Father Loves You

Chapter 1: Why Should We Be Saved?

Religion, Not Safe for Work!

We Know the Reasons We Seek God and Eternity

The World Is Not Right

I Am Not Right

There Has to Be More

Is Death the End?

I Am Made for More

Chapter 2: What Is the Gospel?

Chapter 3: Crucified with Christ

Chapter 4: Raised with Christ

Chapter 5: Seated in the Heavenlies

Chapter 6: Led by the Spirit

Chapter 7: Love and Holiness

Chapter 8: Sin and Death

Chapter 9: Tempted to Pride

Chapter 10: Religious Disappointment

Chapter 11: Transforming Power

Chapter 12: Seeing the “Unsaved”

Chapter 13: Suffering with Christ

Chapter 14 :Prayer in the Spirit

Chapter 15: Mission and Message

Appendix

Some Gospel Verses in Paul Explained

Some Gospel Verses in John and 1 John Explained

Some Gospel Verses from the First Testament (Old Testament)