Tag Archives: Gospel

Your Gospel-Centered Outlook Is Too Small

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This sounds heretical in gospel-centered circles: We might preach about the cross too much. Or, put another way, not every gospel-centered sermon must be a cross-centered sermon.

Before you stone me, let me explain.

You’re here because you care how the whole Bible points to one thing: the person and work of Jesus Christ. You probably center your conversations with other believers on the gospel. You encourage your pastor (or perhaps you are a pastor) to preach sermons with Jesus as the point, the center and the end.

But what does a gospel-centered sermon look like? Does it mean that we tie everything to the cross? I think I’m seeing a trend within the gospel-centered community where “gospel-centered” means only “cross-centered.” I hope we can move beyond that.

The gospel is more than propitiation so can gospel-centered sermons be “empty-tomb-centered”? Can they be “victory-over-death-centered”?

Don’t get me wrong – I love the cross. It’s monumentally important. It’s one of the key pieces of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it’s not the whole gospel. Gospel-centrality means more than just the cross and if our gospel-centered sermons only ever discuss the cross then they don’t explore all of the gospel. Our sermons should explore the many facets of the gospel: Continue reading →

How The Gospel Fuels Evangelism

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This is a simple, but important, post.

What Fuels Evangelism?

Why do you believe you should share the gospel? Is it out of guilt? Do you feel like it’s expected of you and you need to share it so you can fit in at church? Is it out of pride? Will bringing newcomers to church make you look good? Is it out of habit? Do you do it because that’s what your church has always done?

These are not healthy motives for evangelism. To look at the only healthy motivation for evangelism we need to look at what evangelism actually is. Continue reading →

The Gospel Is Beautiful

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This article, as part of my sabbatical, is a reminder of content you may have missed in 2012.

In this post I looked to St. Chrysostom to help comprehend just how marvelous the message of Christianity is. Here’s a brief excerpt from that post:

Thou wilt see death destroyed by death, and curse extinguished by curse, and the dominion of the devil put down by those very things whereby he did prevail.

Read the rest of St. Chysostom’s remarks.

The Church Has Only One Thing To Offer

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This article, as part of my sabbatical, is a reminder of content you may have missed in 2012.

Last year I got fed up with the Church trying to offer the world tamer versions of popular culture. Here’s what I wrote:

If the Church doesn’t offer the gospel it’s offering nothing.

  • MTV and VH1 can do music and light shows better.
  • The movies can be edgier.
  • The world has sexier shows.

The Church can’t compete with the world… in sin and frivolity.

However, the world can’t compete with the Church in telling the most beautiful, compelling, dramatic, overwhelming, riveting, hopeful story in history.

Read on to read how we shouldn’t be competing with the world – we should be beating it.

Use Words If Necessary

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Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

It’s a very popular phrase. It’s typically (and falsely) attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. I understand the thought behind it – “Let’s live lives that indicate the truth of the gospel. Let’s show the world the results of the gospel.”

I know that this phrase receives a lot of criticism and even scorn heaped on it. It is, interestingly enough, a true statement in many respects:

  • We should preach the gospel.
  • We should preach the gospel as often as we can.
  • We should use words when it is necessary to do so.
  • Here’s the kicker: It’s always necessary to use words to preach the gospel. Continue reading →

How The Gospel Defeats Joblessness

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I’ve previously said the gospel is the solution to all of mankind’s problems but recently I’ve been second-guessing myself. How is it the solution to specific, hard problems?

The economic downturn has made me think about external problems specifically – those problems brought on from outside influences. They are very different from “mindset” problems. They are changing the way I look at suffering and the way Christians should respond to it.

Mindset Problems

Example: Someone comes to you and says, “I’ve screwed up so bad I don’t think God can ever forgive me. What hope does the gospel offer me?”

The gospel is good perfect for this. You can point to Christ’s infinite merit, how he freely and joyfully gave himself up to purchase us and how we don’t rely on our own merit.

When someone’s problem stems from a wrong view of the gospel, I find counseling them pretty easy: proclaim the fullness of the gospel! External problems are different. They can’t easily be fixed. And they are often long-term.

External Problems

Example: Someone comes to you and says, “I don’t have a job. I don’t have any prospect of getting a job. What hope does the gospel offer me?”

This is a completely different issue. No gospel truth you proclaim and no gospel counsel you give can fix this person’s problem the same way it corrects the mindset issue.

Mindset problems can be corrected in short order through proclamation of the Word. We can’t change situational problems that way. So what do we do? Continue reading →

Our Hope Is Not In The President

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No matter the outcome of the presidential election, do not make it your everything. If your candidate loses do not despair. But also, if your candidate wins do not rejoice too much. Politicians and political ideals are easy idols. Remember these two things:

Our hope is not found in the results of this election.

Keep the words of this hymn in your mind:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly trust in Jesus’ Name.

Our God is sovereign over this political contest.

Because of me, kings reign.
Prov 8:15

Do not let the success of a politician in a kingdom that is not our own become your idol. Overwhelming despair or jubilation in the face of the election’s outcome are the symptoms of this idolatry.

If this election makes you or brakes you, you have an idolatry problem.