The Gospel Assumed, or Explicit?

The title of Chandler's book originated in a blog post by Josh Patterson, one of the pastors at the Village Church.  It's worth reading it's entirety:

Is the gospel assumed in your relationships? Or, is the gospel explicit? I have been thinking about this distinction for a few days now. Those who live life under the banner of an assumed gospel simply navigate the waters of life with an underlying foundation that is personal and meaningful. An assumed gospel often means that a person deeply values the gospel and tries to live life according to the gospel.

 The issue with an assumed gospel is that it is often too personal and, therefore, becomes private. The person who lives under the assumption of the gospel often knows how it relates to their life, but nobody else does. Their kids never see how the gospel affects decisions, arguments, finances, etc. Their neighbors never hear of the hope within. Their co-workers are left to wonder about what makes them different. Those who live under the assumed gospel often find it awkward to bring it up and talk about the work of Christ. Why? Because they never bring it up and learn to articulate the implications of Christ's work and their life.

On the contrary, those who are explicit about the gospel in their relationships have a different effect. By living out the gospel and speaking about the gospel and working through the gospel (verbally), they are helping to connect the dots for those around them. Their kids hear how the gospel relates to the family finances or time or relationships or arguments. Their neighbors hear about the hope within. Co-workers are privy to the reality that this person is not simply a moral guy/girl, but one who is forgiven and transformed by the death and resurrection of Christ.

I want to encourage you to begin, and with some of you, continue to make the gospel explicit in your relationships. Don't waste life by living an assumed gospel; rather, flesh it out and connect the dots for yourself and those around you. Talk with your spouse about how Christ's Person and work relates to everything. Pass this on to your kids. Mention Christ. Talk about Christ. Point to Christ. Relate to Christ. Oftentimes where the gospel is assumed, it is quickly lost.

The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness

Ministry is a lot more painful than I would have imagined as a young, excited believer in Christ.  Sometimes you pour your heart and soul into people, and then they say or do things that are extremely hurtful.  I've tasted some measure of this, though my hardships are infinitely small compared to what many endure. 

 Over the past year, one of passages of Scripture that God has used to help me in this regard has been 1 Corinthians 4:1-5,

    This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.



Recently, 10 Publishing released a new little book from Tim Keller called The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness, based on a sermon Keller preached on that passage.  Here's a quote I especially enjoyed:

The only Person whose opinion counts looks at me and finds me more valuable than all the jewels in the earth.  How can we worry about being snubbed now?  How can we worry about being ignored now?  How can we care that much about what we look like in the mirror?

Like Paul, we can say, 'I don't care what you think.  I don't even care what I think.  I only care about what the Lord thinks.' And he has said, 'There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,' and, 'You are my beloved child in whom I am well pleased.' Live out of that.  

It is a daily battle, but I am laboring to expend grace-driven effort to live out of this gospel reality each and every day.  It's the only way to survive in ministry...or in any walk of life, for that matter.
     

Wonder Demands Humility

Thomas Dubay: "Wonder at reality demands the humility to sit at the foot of a dandelion.  The proud are so full of themselves that there is little room to marvel at anything else."

Another Book on the Gospel?

The other day I posted about my visit to Philadelphia to be a part of the Explicit Gospel Book Tour, in which Matt Chandler preached on the material from his recently published book by that title.

 I could anticipate the question: do we really need another book on the gospel?  Isn't there enough out there already that says plenty on the gospel?  As I think about this question, there are two main responses that pop into my mind:

1. The angels of heaven long to look into the deep riches of the gospel (1 Peter 1:12).  They are fascinated and wonder-filled as they glimpse it's unfathomable glories.  I'm pretty certain that angels are a good bit more holy and more knowledgeable than us mortals, yet the gospel continues to elicit their adoration.  So, in light of that, I think another book for us mortals to ponder and cherish this gospel is not over-doing it.

2. Having read many books about the gospel, and having just finished The Explicit Gospel, I believe this book makes a valuable contribution that sets it apart from other books on the gospel: the way in which Chandler addresses and works out the implications of what he calls the gospel in the air and the gospel on the ground.

 Chandler does, in my opinion, a terrific job of showing how the gospel paradigm of God, Sin, Christ, Response relates to and complements the over-arching storyline of Scripture in Creation, Fall, Redemption, Consummation.  To omit one or the other of these is to reduce the gospel in a way that fails to give God all the glory and honor He deserves.

Most people gravitate towards one or the other, and tend to be skeptical of those who gravitate more towards the opposite one.  But Chandler highlights how both are necessary and precious, and contribute to our understanding of all that God has done (and will do) in Christ.

For this reason, it may be the first book I would point people to who are looking for an answer to the question, "What is the Gospel?"  You can read some other endorsements for the book from men like David Platt, Mark Dever and Don Carson, here. 

Three Views on the Lord's Supper

Specifically in view in these three posts is, how frequently should we take the Lord's Supper?  This is a question I have given some thought to, but probably not enough. 

I'd love to know what you readers think with regard to this question.  Leave a comment and let me know...

The Explicit Gospel Tour

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of going over with Michelle to Epiphany Church in Philadelphia for The Explicit Gospel Tour. That is the name of a new book by Matt Chandler, who preached from Colossians 1, while Shane and Shane led worship. You can check out the "trailer" for the book:



After the event I was fortunate enough -- through an especially sweet bit of providence -- to talk with Matt for a few minutes. I had wanted to thank him especially for this message which I had watched a couple of years ago, and has been an ongoing source of encouragement over the last year, which has been a challenging one for me.

I was able to share with Matt why that message had been so helpful for me, and also to thank him for his example of courage in the midst of his suffering from an aggressive form of brain cancer. He took a few minutes to pray for Michelle and me, for which I was very grateful. All in all, the evening was a great blessing, and I am enjoying the book for which the tour was named.

I have an extra copy of his new book, The Explicit Gospel, which I'd like to give away to the first person to leave a comment on this post. Giveaways in the past have never been a big draw on this blog, but let me know if you want a copy!

Like Water to a Plant

A wise, humbling, challenging word to husbands:

Words of encouragement to a wife are like water to a plant.

And again:

What a ministry husbands have in encouraging their wives! It is nurturing to the heart of a woman, compelling her forward in service to her family and community. For mothers of young children who are not yet capable of expressing appreciation, the husband's opportunity is not only to encourage his wife, but also to teach his children thankfulness and respect toward their mother. Through your words of blessing, you have an opportunity to minister to your wife in a way that no one else can.

Read the whole thing here.

Pondering Good Grief, Part 2

Yesterday I said I would post the portion of Ben Witherington's article in Christianity Today that I would like to interact with over the course of a few blog posts. Here it is:

Was This God's Will?

From the day Christy died, I was determined to be open to whatever positive thing there might be to glean from this seeming tragedy. I clung to the promise of Romans 8:28, that "God works all things together for good for those who love him."

The first point immediately confirmed in my heart was theological: God did not do this to my child. God is not the author of evil. God does not terminate sweet lives with a pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolisms are a result of the bent nature of this world. As Ann kept repeating, "God is not the problem; he is the solution."

One primary reason I am not a Calvinist is that I do not believe in God's detailed control of all events. Why? First, because I find it impossible to believe that I am more merciful or compassionate than God. Second, because the biblical portrait shows that God is pure light and holy love. In him there is no darkness, nothing other than light and love. And third, the words, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away," from the lips of Job (1:21), are not good theology. According to Job 1, it was not God but the Devil who took away Job's children, health, and wealth. God allowed it to happen, but when Job said these words, as the rest of the story shows, he was not yet enlightened about the true nature of the source of his calamity and God's actual will for his life. God's will for him was for good and not for harm.

The beginning of "good grief" starts with the premise of a good God. Otherwise, all bets are off. If God is almighty and malevolent, then there is no solace to be found in him. If God is the author of sin, evil, suffering, the Fall, and death, then the Bible makes no sense when it tells us that God tempts no one, that God's will is that none should perish but have everlasting life, and that death is the very enemy of God and humankind that Jesus, who is life, came to abolish and destroy.

Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). If there are promises I cling to as I weep for our Christy, it is this promise, not the sorry solace and cold comfort of, "God did this but we do not know why." No! A thousand times, no. God and his will are aligned with what is good and true and beautiful and loving and holy.

Days later, as I stood before the casket and stared at our "Christy girl," as we called her, I was so thankful that the God of the Resurrection had a better plan for her. Her lifeless body was so cold, so empty. The phrase, "It's all God's will," is cold comfort. I believe in a God whose "Yes!" to life is louder than death's "No!" Death is not God's will. On the contrary, God is in the trenches with us, fighting the very same evils we fight in this world—disease, suffering, sorrow, sin, and death itself. He cries with us.

Jesus

From my days working at a Christian bookstore in State College, PA (circa 2002), I've always loved this picture of Jesus. There are many days in which I feel like this man; it is wonderfully precious that when I can't pick myself up or fight the fight of faith, that Jesus upholds me with His victorious right hand.

If you were to caption this picture with a Bible verse, which one would you pick?

Pondering Good Grief, Part 1

Around a year ago I read Adrian Warnock's book Raised with Christ: How the Resurrection Changes Everything. This past Holy Week I picked up the book again to review a chapter as I prepared my heart for Easter Sunday. Inside the front cover, I had scribbled this statement:

Is God only worthy of my worship when He conforms to my expectations for how He should act? If I don't have a God who can contradict my wisdom/intentions, then I'm worshiping a figment of my imagination.

As I re-read that note inside the book, I recalled the circumstances in which I had written it: about a week or two prior, my mom had experienced a catastrophic infection that ravaged her body and has left her in a semi-vegetative condition, confined to a bed in a nursing home, for the past 13 months. With that little statement tucked inside a book on the resurrection, I was preaching to myself.

The same week that I re-read my reflection, I read Ben Witherington's article in the most recent issue of Christianity titled, What Good Grief Looks Like When a Daughter Dies. His daughter, Christy, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism at the age of 32. In the article, Witherington writes of how he walked the way of grace in the midst of his grief.

I'm going to take a few blog posts to interact in particular with one portion of the article, which disturbed me personally because of its view of God and His role in this tragedy. From what I can gather in the article, it seems as though Witherington would disagree with the note I wrote to myself last April, or at least what that note was assuming. For my own reflection and grappling, I am going to interact with Witherington a little bit, since I have tasted at least a measure of this grief in seeing what has happened to my mom over the past year.

But this post is getting long enough. Tomorrow I'll post the portion of the article that I feel compelled to interact with.

Romans for Dummies

The people at Desiring God have put together a summary of the book of Romans, condensing all the great material in that awesome letter to just 45 tweets. Check it out here.

Eric Clapton and Common Grace

I really enjoy Ray Ortlund's blog, Christ is Deeper Still. Yesterday he wrote:

Now and then a commenter asks why I post music videos that are not devoted to God. Most inquiries are courteous. A few are not. In any case, here is my answer.

Check out his answer here.

Doubting Dawkins

Your Life is a Billboard

From Soma Communities' Gospel DNA:

You see, all of life is worship. We are ALWAYS worshipping. Everything we do is an affirmation of who or what we are looking to for significance, security, approval, etc.

The reality is that your life is like a billboard…you are advertising the thing that is most important to you. “This is what I value! This is what saves me!” That constant advertisement, “here’s what I’m all about!” is worship. All of life is worship.

So what are you worshiping this week?

Monday Morning Fuel

Last week at T4G, C. J. Mahaney quoted this gem from Charles Spurgeon, a wonderful Monday morning encouragement for a pastor's soul:

“The lesson of wisdom is, be not dismayed by soul-trouble. Count it no strange thing, but a part of ordinary ministerial experience. Should the power of depression be more than ordinary, think not that all is over with your usefulness. Cast not away your confidence, for it hath great recompense of reward. Even if the enemy’s foot be on your neck, expect to rise and overthrow him. Cast the burden of the present, along with the sin of the past and the fear of the future, upon the Lord, who forsaketh not his saints. Live by the day—aye, by the hour. Put no trust in frames and feelings. Care more for a grain of faith than a ton of excitement. Trust in God alone, and lean not on the reeds of human help.

Be not surprised when friends fail you: it is a failing world. Never count upon immutability in man; inconstancy you may reckon upon without fear of disappointment. The disciples of Jesus forsook him; be not amazed if your adherents wander away to other teachers; as they were not your all when with you, all is not gone from you with their departure. Serve God with all your might while the candle is burning, and then when it goes out for a season, you will have the less to regret.

Be content to be nothing, for that is what you are. When your own emptiness is painfully forced upon your consciousness, chide yourself that you ever dreamed of being full, except in the Lord. Set small store by present rewards; be grateful for earnests by the way, but look for the recompensing joy hereafter. Continue with double earnestness to serve your Lord when no visible result is before you. Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light; faith’s rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide.

Between this and heaven there may be rougher weather yet, but it is all provided for by our covenant Head. In nothing let us be turned aside from the path which the divine call has urged us to pursue. Come fair or come foul, the pulpit is our watch-tower, and the ministry our warfare. Be it ours, when we cannot see the face of our God, to trust under the shadow of his wings.”