Whom do we glorify?

"For our gospel to be Jesus' gospel, it must move. It must be embodied. Faith without works is dead, of course.

"But works outside the context of the proclamation of the gospel isn't the gospel at all.

"The danger within the new church movements, even as we seek to be the gospel in healing, comforting, clothing, and feeding, is that we practically confuse our good works for the gospel of Christ's good work. As I've argued elsewhere, my neighbor being loved by me may be the gospel, but me loving my neighbor is not.

"If we divorce the sharp edge of the gospel -- the scandalous message of sin and grace -- from our missional efforts (or whatever you want to call them) we are not glorifying God at all. We are glorifying our own compassion."

- Jared Wilson