Towards a Gospel-Centred Church

A friend of mine wrote this recently:

“There are groups in the US like Together for the Gospel and the Gospel Coalition which calls for the focus of the Christian message to go back to the Gospel. In other words, the call is for a Gospel-centered and Gospel-focused ministry.

It must be said that this is indeed a laudable aim, and definitely the Gospel is to be the center of the Christian message for the simple reason that Christ and His Cross IS the center of the Christian message.

That said, I am concerned over this phenomenon in this aspect: Is the Gospel merely the be all and end all, or does the Christian message includes the entire Scriptures on subjects that, though linked to the Gospel in various ways, are not technically part of the Gospel message? In other words, the Apostle Paul mentions about the ‘whole counsel of God’ which he preached to the Ephesians (Acts 20:27).

Subjects like Epistemology and the topic of the Covenant are definitely important in Christianity, but the link to the Gospel is not that obvious. So therefore, while we should be Gospel-focused and Gospel-centered, we should never be Gospel-only. This is not to insinuate anything about being Gospel-focused, but IMO, things are not as simple as it seems and we must be willing to ask ourselves the hard questions and wrestle with them.”

I guess this is also tied to the discussion on how we define the Gospel biblically..

Thus, could it be that the Gospel is a matter of “first importance..” (1 Cor 15), but not of “only importance” ? Is there a danger that Gospel-centered people could emphasise the Gospel and inadvertantly leave out “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:26) ?

What say you brothers ?

Brothers,

I’m in the midst of preparing to leave for studies in Southern Seminary; I will leave for Louisville, Kentucky next Wednesday (21 Jan 2009). Please do keep me in prayer for the preparations and a safe journey. I’ve been barely able to keep up with the blog posts (and Huai Tze – I’ve some thoughts regarding the matter you emailed me, will drop you some thoughts before I leave). I’ve a few thoughts mulling in my mind and will blog when I’m settled in Southern.

On another note, I read an article on Christianity Today on “Jesus is Not a Brand”. The article is available here and I blogged the summary and some thoughts here. I thought the article contained a fair commentary and critique of the Market Driven strategies and evangelism that is quite common place nowadays. This could be useful for us to think through. Enjoy!
_____
Grace and Peace
Ollie
Jan 2009

I have just read D. A. Carson’s excellent article on the wrath of God (in Engaging the Doctrine of God; ed. Bruce McCormack). He makes six very helpful theological observations concerning the doctrine of divine wrath. Here are two:

1) Serious reflection on the wrath of God is a necessary element in any faithful understanding of what the fundamental human problem is. 

Carson elaborates: “It is doubtful that we will enjoy a shared understanding of what the gospel is unless we share an understanding of the problem the gospel addresses. Although this problem has many parameters, including social injustice, alienation among many races (the tension between Jews and Gentiles is not the only one), defeat before Satan’s power; the physical deterioration climaxed by death itself, and the threat of eternal punishment, at the heart of our lostness is the guilt we have incurred by our de-godding of God, by our passionate devotion to idolatry, and therefore of the wrath we have rightly attracted.” 

2) The wrath of God bears, in several ways, on how we understand the cross.

Carson writes: “We find ourselves fighting the Bible’s entire story line if we do not recognise that our deepest need is to be reconciled to God (cf. 2 Cor 5:11-21). If this reconciliation turns, in substantial measure, on the setting aside of God’s deserved wrath, we have arrived unavoidably at sacrifice, expiation, propitiation–in short, at penal substitution.”

The article concludes with a great quote from J. Gresham Machen: “It is a strange thing that when men talk about the love of God, they show by every word that they utter that they have no conception at all of the depths of God’s love. If you want to find an instance of true gratitude for the infinite grace of God, do not go to those who think of God’s love as something that cost nothing, but go rather to those who in agony of soul have faced the awful fact of the guilt of sin, and then have come to know with a trembling wonder that the miracle of all miracles has been accomplished, and that the eternal Son has died in their stead.” 

Amen! Praise God for his mercy and grace in Christ Jesus!

I’m taking a class on the doctrine of God now, and Karl Barth is among my required readings. This is the first time I’m reading Barth, a Neo-Orthodox theologian who had some pretty faulty views of Scripture. Still, it seems like he was helpfully clear on what the cross of Christ accomplished. Here’s an excerpt from Church Dogmatics II.1 (p.396-7):

“The meaning of the death of Jesus Christ is that there God’s condemning and punishing righteousness broke out, really smiting and piercing human sin, man as sinner, and sinful Israel. It did really fall on the sin of Israel, our sin and us sinners. It did so in such a way that in what happened there (not to Israel, or to us, but to Jesus Christ) the righteousness of God which we have offended was really revealed and satisfied. Yet it did so in such a way that it did not happen to Israel or to us, but for Israel, for us. What was suffered there on Israel’s account and ours, was suffered for Israel and for us. The wrath of God which we had merited, by which we must have been annihilated and would long since have been annihilated, was now in our place borne and suffered as though it had smitten us and yet in such a way that it did not smite us and can no more smite us. The reason why the No spoken on Good Friday is so terrible, but why there is  already concealed in it the Eastertide Yes of God’s righteousness, is that He who on the cross took upon Himself and suffered the wrath of God was no other than God’s own Son, and therefore the eternal God Himself in the unity with human nature which He freely accepted in His transcendent mercy.”

Managed to read John Piper’s “God is the Gospel” and Tim Keller’s “Prodigal God” over the Christmas and New Year break. Both were very moving, and impressed on me, that God Himself is the greatest gift of the gospel.

“None of Christ’s gospel deeds and none of our gospel blessings are good news except as means of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. Forgiveness is good news because it opens the way to the enjoyment of God Himself. Justification is good news because it wins access to the presence and pleasures of God himself. Eternal life is good news because it becomes the everlasting enjoyment of Christ” – God is the Gospel (back cover)

“Jesus’s salvation is a feast, and therefore when we believe in and rest in his work for us, through the Holy Spirit he becomes real to our hearts. His love is like honey, or like wine. Rather than only believing that He is loving, we can come to sense the reality, the beauty, and the power of His love” – Prodigal God (page 108)

John Piper goes as far as to say that “Until the gospel events of Good Friday and Easter and the gospel promises of justification and eternal life lead you to behold and embrace God Himself as your highest joy, you have not embraced the gospel of God” – God is the Gospel (page 38)

What do you guys think ?

I am taking a liberty here, to write my answer for non Christians and it may take more than 60 seconds. But I think that to express it to non Christians may force me to make it simpler and clearer!

The word gospel literally means ‘good news’. We should ask ourselves what is this news and why is it good?

Firstly it is news meaning that it concerns definite events that happened. The fact that it is news means that we have no power to alter or change the news! We can simply believe it or choose to deny it. When we believe the news something mysterious happens in that this news becomes the very power of God to us, transforming us in our hearts and we become alive to God. We find that the separation we have experienced from knowing God is removed and we are brought near to Him, to know Him, love Him and serve Him.

So then what was this event that happened and which we are asked to believe? It is this: In the first century AD, God sent His Son from Heaven to earth to live among us. God’s eternal Son, Jesus was born in Israel to a virgin named Mary. This Son of God lived a perfect and blameless life on earth and then died a bloody and murderous death at the hands of wicked man. Though he was innocent, he was killed. Even the presiding judge Pilate said ‘I find no fault in this man’. However, the prophet Isaiah had foretold these events 900 years earlier. Jesus of Nazareth was crucified between two thieves, and died upon a wooden cross after enduring such a beating that he was no longer recognizable.

After He had been dead for three days, God raised Him up. Death couldn’t hold Him, and he appeared to more than 500 people over the next 40 days that He was on earth. During this time he spoke about the Kingdom of God, and showed his disciples how all the events of His life had been predicted and promised in the Jewish scriptures (the Old Testament).

Now what makes this news so amazing, is that Christians are told to cherish, honor, remember and be grateful for this horrific death that their God suffered and died! How can this be?! How could the Son of God’s brutal death at the hands of wicked men be something that people celebrate?!

This is the where the ‘good’ of the good news comes in. This death is good for Christians because Christ’s death was not unexpected or random. Rather the scriptures tell us that Jesus was delivered according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God! This life, death and resurrection was God’s plan for Christ. Which means that this suffering and death was for a specific purpose! And Isaiah, one of many prophets who foretold of Christ’s life and death years before the time, gives us a clear reason what this suffering was for. “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all”.

So this Jesus died and was murdered on our behalf! He died the death we should have died, and took our place. The wrath of God was upon Him, when it should have come to us.

The reason God’s wrath should have come to us is because we have all rejected God. In the words of Isaiah ‘we all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned – every one – to his own way’. And God is life. So when we turn our backs on life, we inadvertently walk towards death. Our rejection of God, our decision to follow our own way, our failure to love Him with all our hearts, our willful disobedience of all His commands has left us alienated from God, but not just alienated. We are spiritually dead, and awaiting our physical death as the final outworking of our alienation from the Author of life.

But Jesus died the death we should have died! He suffered and was alienated from God on the cross in our place, for our sins! And not only that, but when we trust in Him and believe this news, His perfect righteous life get’s ‘given’ to us, ‘credited’ into our account, just as our sin got ‘given’ to Him on the cross, and ‘credited’ into his account.

This means that a divine exchange has taken place. Jesus dies the death we should have died, and we get to live in the benefit of the perfect life He lived! The benefits of that life are that we get to know God! And as we know Him we find we love Him, treasure Him, revolve our lives around Him and want to serve Him all our days.

The gospel is good news because in it we hear that the greatest need any of us ever has had, to be reconciled to our Creator, God and loving Father has been made possible because of something which happened in which we were not involved. All we have to do is respond by believing this news, and then watch as God mysteriously transforms us, makes us alive to Himself, and we begin to see our entire lives being turned upside down.

I welcome your comments on the clarity of this post!

Simon