Is the good news really good? Many of us believers are feeling less confident about our faith—perhaps even embarrassed by aspects of it.

Last summer, driving through the roads of the province of Jaen in the south of Spain I was struck by the number of hills full of olive trees everywhere I turned. The first thought that came to mind was, when is time of harvest?

SBC Leadership Conference 2023 speakers respond to questions such as, “How do we go about determining the essentials versus the non-essentials? The gospel is to unite us, but how do we define the gospel?“

What makes for Christian unity? It is my contention here that it is allegiance to lesser gods—including ourselves—that is at the heart of our divisions; therefore, the remedy is being de-centered by and oriented toward Jesus. This is the message of John’s Gospel.

Can the gospel still unite the church at a time when ideological and theological factions are intensifying? I have no doubt it can, but it doesn’t have to. Let me explain what I mean by examining three texts found in the Torah: the Shema Israel (Deuteronomy 6:4–5), the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:6–21), and the creation account (Genesis 1–3).

Before we’ve even learned to walk, we humans begin fighting for freedom; first, in play but then more seriously as we object to authority, consequences, expectations, guilt, pain, doubt, anxiety, and death—the freedom wish list is very long.