That means that I bought into the idea that God's redemptive program could be viewed as being "dispensed" differently during periods of history. Moses initiated the dispensation of Law. Jesus introduced the Kingdom, but was rejected, thereby delaying that period until his second coming. Instead, the dispensation of Grace has intervened.
What bothered me for many years was that most dispensationalists taught that the period of charismatic activity that Jesus and the Apostles exhibited ceased with the writing of the New Testament (cessationism). I always believed this was not exegetically supported, nor was it consistent with the dispensational paradigm.But when I arrived at the Vineyard in 1985, Kingdom theology upset my dispensational apple cart. The book, The Gospel of the Kingdom, by George Eldon Ladd, professor of New Testament Theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, was simple, straight-forward, and gave me a thoroughly biblical basis for my theology.
What is more, I became aware of how dispensationalism had drained Jesus and the Gospels out of my Christian worldview. You see, I was taught that Jesus came at the end of the dispensation of the Law, presented the dispensation of the Kingom, but was rejected. The Kingdom Age was set aside for the future and the mysterious age of Grace had intervened. Therefore, so I was taught, Jesus' ministry and teaching were largely irrelevant for today. It was the epistles, especially Paul, that were written to us.
Listening to John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, teach from the Gospels and give me a model for Kingdom ministry straight from the Master Himself was refreshing. If we are Jesus' disciples, then let's study Jesus' ministry.
In his Great Commission, Jesus commanded his disciples to "teach [the disciples they were making] to obey everything I have commanded you." Jesus' teaching and ministry are not only relevant to us today, they are VITAL. He is the Master. We are his disciples, his "apprentices in Kingdom living" (The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard).
Let's study the Master and seek to obey everything He taught His disciples.
A while ago I was doing a Church planting Strategic plan for a class. One of my advisors on the project was a man named Brad Abare. In a reply that he sent me regarding the project he said that the church's aspiration should be to become a community of gospel-bearers. Meaning that we are to incarnate the gospel into our lives. Jesus' gospel was simply stated "The kindgom of God is here" and now as his disciples we need to incarnate that reality in this world. Great post Pastor Mark
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