There’s a ton of talk today about The Gospel. Can you help us give a clear definition of it?
To explain the gospel fully, it takes a combination of two perspectives – the global work of God to reconcile all things to Himself and the life, death, resurrection and future return of Jesus Christ. The combination of the two perspectives provides a more crisp, clear and lifelike expression of the story.
The gospel is the historical narrative of the triune God orchestrating the reconciliation and redemption of a broken creation and fallen creatures, from Satan, sin and its effects to the Father and each other through the life, death, resurrection and future return of the substitutionary Son by the power of the Spirit for God’s glory and the Church’s joy.
Where has the modern church failed in sharing and preaching the Gospel?
The Church historically and presently makes one of two errors when it comes to the gospel, legalism or license. We try to lean on the law for justification or we do whatever we want because we have heard that God will forgive us regardless. Both of these errors are traps that rob of what Jesus called “life to the full” (John 10:10). In our day it seems we are making both errors simultaneously depending on the church we worship with. Some of us lean on a type of moralism that would dictate our relationship with God based on our actions instead of God’s. Others lack any real desire to pursue holiness because they believe to “pursue” (1 Tim 6:11) “strive” (Heb. 4:11) or “toil” (Rev.2:2) would be legalistic and not leaning on the grace of God in Christ. Our hearts burn to see people throw themselves on the lavish grace of our Savior and let that be the fuel that burns in the engine of the pursuit of holiness.
To explain the gospel fully, it takes a combination of two perspectives – the global work of God to reconcile all things to Himself and the life, death, resurrection and future return of Jesus Christ. The combination of the two perspectives provides a more crisp, clear and lifelike expression of the story.
The gospel is the historical narrative of the triune God orchestrating the reconciliation and redemption of a broken creation and fallen creatures, from Satan, sin and its effects to the Father and each other through the life, death, resurrection and future return of the substitutionary Son by the power of the Spirit for God’s glory and the Church’s joy.
Where has the modern church failed in sharing and preaching the Gospel?
The Church historically and presently makes one of two errors when it comes to the gospel, legalism or license. We try to lean on the law for justification or we do whatever we want because we have heard that God will forgive us regardless. Both of these errors are traps that rob of what Jesus called “life to the full” (John 10:10). In our day it seems we are making both errors simultaneously depending on the church we worship with. Some of us lean on a type of moralism that would dictate our relationship with God based on our actions instead of God’s. Others lack any real desire to pursue holiness because they believe to “pursue” (1 Tim 6:11) “strive” (Heb. 4:11) or “toil” (Rev.2:2) would be legalistic and not leaning on the grace of God in Christ. Our hearts burn to see people throw themselves on the lavish grace of our Savior and let that be the fuel that burns in the engine of the pursuit of holiness.
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