Napkin Theology

I am now reading the book "Organic Church" by Neil Post. This is a great book that really talks about church at it's most basic level - sharing the Gospel of Christ. In it he talks about napkin theology - that typically really great ideas are simple and can be boiled down and presented on a napkin. A few years ago, the Billy Graham Crusade came to San Antonio. It was quite a production and I took my small team of teenagers to the training on how to lead people to Christ. The presentation is the one with the bridge - where we are on one side a perfect God is on the other and we are separated by our sin. Then Jesus is the bridge that helps connect us to God. While this is sound it is not quite as compelling as another version of the story. The version we are used to hearing is God created the earth, Adam and Eve sinned and were separated from God and then Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. This focuses on our fallen nature - which is very true. We have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 6:9 - this was a key verse at the Billy Graham crusade).
In reading "How People Grow" the authors make a clear distinction between the role of the law and the role of grace. Law is important because we need to know that we are sinners and we have fallen short. However, it is really grace - God's unmerited favor - that brings the sinner home (like the prodigal son). If we continue to focus on the sin we fail to see the savior. That is the sticking point that I have with the traditional Gospel presentation - it seems to focus on our sin and make us the center of the story. But this is God's grand drama - not ours!
I once heard a different presentation of the Gospel story that puts Christ in the center and focuses on his grace (it's your kindness Lord that leads us to repentance). Instead of Creation, The Fall, Redemption (which is actually the framework used in "How People Grow") in earlier times it was Creation, Incarnation, Recreation. WOW! What a difference this makes. The story is all about what God did and who God is. He created us, He came among us when we were lost (Emmanuel - God with Us) and he is recreating us (we are a new creation 2 Cor. 5:17). God is in control of this whole process and it isn't focused on us falling short - it is focused on his love and grace that calls us to be new in Him.
So how does this relate to the "Organic Church". Basically, the author says that the "simple idea - Jesus Christ coming to us in the flesh for our redemtption - embodies the entire DNA (of the true church)." (p. 119) So in our Gospel presentation of our horrible sins, we somehow miss sharing the wonderful news that God is with us. In focusing on the measure of how bad we are and what we've done wrong - we forget how much God loves us and what He's done right for us. It's his Amazing Grace that saves a wretch like me. Most sinners know they are sinners - that's not the issue. What they need is to hear that God came near to seek and save them - not because they are so horrible - but because he created them and will recreate them to be something glorious.

So the napkin theology - Creation, Incarnation, Recreation - it's all His doing.