A place for the Gospels' hard teaching

Internet Monk Michael Spencer writes about the importance of teaching and preaching the Gospels. As a young Christian, I found Paul's letters much easier to access. So did Michael:

When I first started studying the Bible seriously, I studied the epistles. I had no idea where to fit the teaching and miracles of the Gospels into my Christianity. . . . There was a sense that the Gospels were full of things that just didn't matter all that much when compared to the efficient, memorizable outline of the Roman Road or the practical teaching of the epistles and the pastoral letters.

On the other hand the Gospels, Michael says, make us uncomfortable:

Jesus makes things very complicated for American Christians. If you simply follow him around in the Gospels, you are going to get into trouble. Why? Because he isn't just talking evangelism. He's talking about a whole life of Kingdom-dominated, life-transforming discipleship. . . .

I just want to note that when the Jesus of the early chapters of the Gospels gets loose at the party, things don't head directly to the subject of church growth or the latest evangelism tract. He gets inside your suit, and he irritates you. He wants things to change, and it makes us nervous.

Jesus preached not just personal salvation, but the arrival of the Kingdom of God--a whole new way of living, thinking, and seeing. If you haven't read Michael's whole article, you need to do it. I think Michael Spencer is a prophetic voice on the Internet. He's considering writing a book; when he does, I predict students will one day be reading it in their seminary classes.