When I Travel i Do not Believe the Gospel

To be "gospel centered" is to be based in nothing else other then the gospel. It is to have the story of the gospel inform every thought, action, idea, relationship, and lifestyle choice. We must be a "gospelled" people in every avenue of our life. This goes against the grain of much of western evangelical teaching which implicitly communicates constantly that the gospel is the beginning, not the constant whole of the Christian life. Its a good start to a life of good works. This teaching states that God Has saved you by grace but Now we must placate him with other things then the cross of Christ, namely works and behaviors condoned by western Christians. It is a linear thinking which places us on a progression to "maturity" (a hijaked term which needs to be retaken for the gospel), not a wholistic transformation. It (the gospel) is the spring board, not the water implicit in this idea. However, i believe if we dig into Gods revealed written word (didactic) as well as the over arching story of Gods redemption and reconciliation (syncratic) we find that the gospel is the entire tapestry that we live out of and are informed by. As Tim Keller would say, "The gospel is not the ABC's of christian life but rather the A-Z of the christian life".

Romans 12:1 is an amazing example of this, while there are many others. It states that; "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, [1] by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. [2] 2 Do not be conformed to this world, [3] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [4]". This is beautiful because we get both sides of the same coin in the same passage. It calls us to commit our whole selves (our body) to God in total worship. It paints a wonderful picture of selling out to the Lord. This results in spiritual worship. This passage paints a mural of obedience. However, where does this obedience come from? Well, and to use the tired axiom, "what is the therefore, therefore"? Why is he asking us to do this? Because of the mercies of God. What are they? He has been talking about them for the last eleven chapters. Before chapter 12 he has been teasing apart a myriad of different implications of the Gospel. This is ground breaking. What Paul has said is that because of Christ reconciling you back to the Father, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. The gospel is the reason that you are to do this, not because God would like you better or you would be more mature if you did (while this is partly true) or even that it is the right thing to do. This is a morality based off of mercy not alteration of behavior.

However, that means that if we are in sin, then it is a matter of belief and not of "trying harder". This is what i mean. If we are living life out of the gospel, out of faith in who Jesus is and what he does, then our change is completely alienated from our work. This sounds strange but what does the gospel inform us about how we are saved? Where is our will or ability factored in?

Ephesians 2: 1-10 says that; And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body [1] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But [2] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

And again in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 that; 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, [2] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being [3] might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him [4] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

And again in Romans 8:28-30 that; And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, [7] for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

It is God who justifies! The gospel informs our thinking by showing that our salvation has never been about us. We have nothing to do with us. A dead man has never made himself alive. We need Gods power in us to raise us from the dead because Christ hung on a bloody cross and rose again leaving an empty tomb. Therefore, what does our repentance look like if we are Gospel centered? It certainly doesn't have a lot to do with us.

When having this conversation with an old saint that I had done life with for a time we hit a barrier in his understanding. He could not see how we could have so little to do with our change. "We have to make the decision!" he said through gritted teeth. The problem latent in his thinking was that he had through time been pumped full of processes and ways to help you repent when the at the heart of his sin was not a behavior but something that he valued more then then Jesus. He had right practice but not right belief. His orthapraxy did not come from his orthadoxy. So often we do not follow a gospel model of repentance. We do not obey because of the mercies of God but usually out of guilt and fear. If we are truly responding out of "the mercies" (ie the gospel) of God, what do we look like?

The Truth of the gospel usually instills in us the opposite of what we repent out of. The gospel says that we do not get what we deserve. Its glorious declaration is that of "grace upon grace". It tells a story of a perfect and holy God who creates people in a perfect and loving relationship with Him. They have the greatest joy possible with their creator-their Father. He is their reason, in the midst of His love is they find their identity. They walk with Him and He talks with them. One day they are promised something better- to be like Him . This promise is a lie coming from an ancient and known deceiver but the promise of power and fulfillment in themselves is too much to turn down. They try to take it but in doing so fall into the deception and are found to be children who do not love their Dad. This hatred brings in disobedience, something that was never known before and cannot exist with this perfect King. However, their loving and gracious Father promises another Son who is to come which will somehow overcome this horrible mistake. They bring this love of other things into the world and their children fall into it, as do there children until an entire race is captivated with things other then their Father. The Father calls some to him and calls them to show what he is like to the other children who have disobeyed. However, still marred by there first earthly parents these called ones still don't trust that their heavenly Father will be all they need. The Father then, in desperate and reckless love for his children, as promised sends his only perfect Son to be punished for the imperfect children's mistake. He comes showing and displaying what life with Him will be like. He is spit on and despised by the other children. They do not understand or see why he is here. They hate their perfect and holy older brother. Even the children who love him do not fully understand. He is delivered by the Father to be punished in the place of the other children. In perfect and loving submission he does this. He is tortured and killed by the very ones he came to save. The few who love him are devastated. They cower and are afraid of the other children's wrath for three days as they hide from their brothers. Then on the third day they cannot find their older Brother's body. He is not where he was laid. As they walk back from this place he reveals himself to them! He explains why the Son had to be laid down for his younger brothers and sisters. He shows them that it needed to happen because of how great the rebellion was. But he alive now and their sins are forgiven! He gives the newly justified children a charge. To tell their brothers of this great truth and to obey their father. He then left them to be reunited with them when He returned. These children then lived broken lives, but joy filled lives. When they fell back into their old disobedience they remembered how that rebellion was dead with the Son and they moved on in greater joy and obedience then before because they realized that their Father loved them because of the Son.

You see, in this Gospel, this good news, we are found to be perfect, like the Son. Not because of us as evil children but because of Him as the perfect one. We therefore cannot respond out of obligation because we have none- it has been done by the Son. We cannot respond out of guilt because everything that we have to be guilty about has been pinned on the cross. How then do we obey? Out of love. We are the children who have been given the perfect Son. When we disobey it is because we have forgotten- we have stopped believing. That is why we do not need systems or ways to re-create behavior but the gospel. We do not need rules and law to make us worshipers but rather the mercies of God.

So here I sit in a coffee shop in Honolulu, convicted. I am convicted of three things. One, i am severely worried. A worry which is brought on by a unique combination of accelerated social interaction with my dad (i dont know why but sometimes it is hard for me to talk with him) and a new place. It has revealed itself in money worries. I do not believe that God will provide for me as I move and get married. The second is a general lack of love for almost all i interact with. And the third is a fear of man which has crippled how i show and display the Son to those who do not know him. These, at the core are disbelief in the Gospel. I need to believe that God is good, that he sent his only son because he has loved me, he will provide for me. I need to believe that the greatest love was shown to me in an in love, heaving, bloody God on a cross. Out of this i can love, if i can believe it. And i need to know that it is only the fact that i stand before the Father, because of the Son, that i need to give me affirmation. That will dismantle my fear of man. Oh God grant me the ability to repent by the power of your Holy Spirit given to me because of Jesus. I need him to show me the gospel. That great and glorious truth. Oh praise be to God.