Greg Mamula is an ordained minister and the Associate Executive Minister of American Baptist Churches of Nebraska.
“Despite what many people think, within the Christian family and outside it, the point of Christianity isn’t ‘to go to heaven when you die.'”
–Simply Christian, N.T. Wright
I did not grow up going to church on a regular basis, but went often enough to catch the same glimpses of faith many people see with only a cursory glance at Christianity. Like many people I was taught that Jesus was my personal helper in time of need and the gate keeper into heaven. So when I prayed for something like my dad not to leave for months on end for work or to not have to move over and over again and God didn’t deliver I questioned his power and existence.
I believed that the Christian faith was ultimately about going to some ethereal heaven someday. I believed I had to intellectually assent to the reality that Jesus died only for my individual sins, and simply admit that I was a worthless sinner and ask for forgiveness. I struggled with the purpose of Christianity even as I felt a call into vocational ministry. What is the point of belief in God if he seems to be a failed helper? Is the only purpose of Christ to get us into heaven so I don’t burn in hell? That seemed like a very unfulfilling and vindictive God.
N.T. Wright, former Bishop of Durham for the Church of England and professor of New Testament Studies at Cambridge, was influential in my Christian formation. His four book series, Simply Christian, Surprised by Hope, After You Believe, and Scripture and the Authority of God, shaped my understanding of God, the Church, and the purpose of Christianity. These books moved me from a small faith to one that has no boundaries.
Simply Christian lays out the importance of the grand narrative of Gods involvement with his Creation. The idea that the Kingdom of God is here now and it is our task to be participants in it is very powerful and helps us see our role as believers more fully. God’s great goal is renewal and restoration through Jesus who interacts with all of humanity. Surprised by Hope works through the difficult concept of what actually happens when you die and the ultimate purpose of a new heaven and new earth. After You Believe walks the new believer through basic of why Christian character matters. Scripture and the Authority of God will change how you read scripture forever by challenging you to move beyond enlightenment thinking and back toward a fuller understanding and purpose of scripture.
The most important contribution N.T. Wright makes is his emphasis that our goal is not heaven, but rather participation in the Kingdom of God as taught and demonstrated by Jesus of Nazareth, right here, right now. To pray and believe and act into the Lord’s Prayer for God’s Kingdom to come, for God’s will to be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
These concepts helped me move away from a selfish mindsets of personal salvation only so I could get into heaven: toward a fuller Biblical understanding of Gods mission to restore, renew, and draw ALL of Creation toward a dramatic conclusion with a new heaven and new earth where we will experience a physical resurrection. We are called to be participants in that Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven because that is what it means to be Christian.
A variation of this post appeared with The High Calling.
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