Sharing Lives and the Gospel

1 THESSALONIANS 2:7 - But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 

What comes across as the maternal side of leadership the Apostle Paul highlights above, as opposed to the authoritative side, is indeed critical for effective Christian leadership at church. Children are like sponges, and they absorb the examples of their parents, primarily mothers while they are still young. Here Paul says that sharing lives that are in line with the Gospel is almost as important as the Gospel itself. What an insight for leaders!

Not Just a Door to Christianity

“Why do so many believers, including those deeply serious about their Christian commitment, live lives of quiet desperation? One answer is that we have a truncated view of the Gospel, tending to see it only as a door we walk through to become a Christian. In this view, the Gospel is only for unbelievers. Once you become a Christian, you don’t need it anymore except to share with people who are still outside the door. What you need to hear instead are the challenges and how-tos of discipleship…We fail to see the Gospel as the solution to our greatest problem – our guilt, condemnation and alienation from God. Beyond that, we fail to see it as the basis of our day-to-day acceptance with Him. As a result, many believers live in spiritual poverty.”

Jerry Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life (NavPress, 2003, pp. 14-15)

$3 Gospel

"I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please.
Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted.
I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust.
I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture.
I want ecstasy, not repentance;
I want transcendence, not transformation.
I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races – especially if they smell.
I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged.
I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please.

(D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians, pp. 12-13)

Approved by God

Ray Ortlund posted the following quote from Henri Nouwen a while ago, which reminds me about how we should establish our sense of self or self-identity and self-image securely on the basis of God's acceptance.

A voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

“There are many other voices speaking — loudly:
“Prove you’re worth something.”
“Prove you have any contribution to make.”
“Do something relevant.” . . .
These are the voices Jesus heard right after he heard, “You are my beloved.”

Another voice said, “Prove you are the beloved. Do something. Change these stones into bread. Be sure you’re famous. Jump from the temple, and you will be known. Grab some power so you have real influence.” . . .

Jesus said, “No, I don’t have to prove anything. I am already the beloved.”

Henri Nouwen, Leadership Magazine, Spring 1995.

There is more than one way to be strong. We can be strong with the dark energy of anxiety, because we need approval, or we can be strong with the bright energy of assurance, because we are already approved.

How Not to Preach Legalism

Often in their well meaning efforts to apply the biblical principles, preachers draw applications which lead people into legalism. Legalistic or moralistic preaching is rampant everywhere, people do things in obedience to God out of guilt (and not of Christ-centered conviction). How to avoid this trap? Here is a helpful tip from Haddon Robinson from Preaching Today magazine. The four little scenarios help illustrate what he meant:

Scenario 1:

Suppose, for example, that someone preaches on the principle of modesty. Should a Christian dress with modesty? The answer is yes. But how do you apply that? One preacher may say, "Well, any skirt that's above the knee is immodest." So, he ends up with a church full of knee-length people. In that church, one application of a principle has assumed all the force of the principle itself. That is the essence of legalism: giving to a specific application the force of the principle.

Scenario 2:

I have a friend who keeps a journal, and it works for him. But when he preaches about it, he makes it sound as though Christians who are not journaling can't be growing. Whenever you say, "If you're not doing this particular act, then you're not following this principle," that's legalism.

The Problem

How, then, can you preach for practical application if every time you say, "This is how to apply this truth," you run the risk of promoting legalism? Let me answer with a couple of examples.

Scenario 3:

When my father was in his eighties, he came to live with us. After a while he grew senile, and his behavior became such that we could no longer keep him in our home. Because his erratic behavior endangered himself and our children, we had to put him in a nursing home. It cost me half my salary each month to keep him there. For eight years, until he died, I visited my dad almost every day. In eight years I never left that rest home without feeling somewhat guilty about his being there. I would have preferred to have had him in our home, but we could not care for him properly.

A few years later, my mother-in-law, who was dying of cancer, came to live with us in our home in Denver. It was a tough period in our marriage. I was trying to get settled as president of Denver Seminary. My wife, Bonnie, was up with her mother day and night. She somehow changed her mother's soiled bed six or seven times a day. For eighteen months, Bonnie took care of her in our home. When Mrs. Vick died, we had no regrets. We knew Bonnie had done everything she could to make her last months comfortable.

How should Christians care for their aging parents? Do you keep them in your home or do you place them in a nursing facility? There is no single Christian answer. It depends on your situation, your children, your resources, and your parents.

There is, though, a single guiding principle: we must honor our parents and act in love toward them. To make a Christian decision, you can't start with a selfish premise; you start by asking what is best for everyone involved. How you apply that principle in a given situation depends on a complex set of variables.

The Solution:

The way to avoid the trap of legalism, then, is to distinguish clearly between the biblical principle and its specific applications. One way to do this in preaching is to illustrate a principle with two or three varying examples, not just one, so you don't equate the principle with one particular way of applying it.

Scenario 4:

When our children were young, I lived under the idea that if we didn't have daily devotions with our children—a family altar—somehow we were failing God. The problem was, family devotions worked for other people, but although we tried all kinds of approaches, they never worked for us. Our children sat still for them on the outside but ran away from them on the inside. Yet we kept at them because I felt that a family altar was at the heart of a Christian family.

Then I realized that family devotions wasn't the principle but the application of a principle. The principle was that I needed to bring up my children to know and love God. I had mistakenly been giving to our family devotions the same imperative that belonged to the principle behind it.

We then came up with a different approach, one that worked for us. Our two children left for school at different times. Each morning before Vicki left, I would pray with her about the day, about what was coming up. A little later, Torrey and one of his friends came into my study, and we'd sit and pray for five minutes about what their day held.

That may not sound as satisfying in a sermon as saying we had devotions as a family at the breakfast table every morning, but for us it was an effective way to honor the principle. A preacher must make a clear distinction between the principle and its applications.

Gospel Truth and Gospel Conduct

A sound and helpful advice from Mike Bulmore entitled "Shepherding Your People to Think and Live in Line with the Truth of the Gospel"

A local church is healthy to the degree that: (1) its pastor-teachers are able to accurately, effectively, and broadly bring the gospel to bear in the real lives of their people; and (2) its people have a deep personal understanding of and appreciation for the gospel, so as to be able to live in the good of the gospel daily. I call this the functional centrality of the gospel.

Critical to achieving this aim is making clear the connections between the gospel and its doctrinal and behavioral implications. We could call these connections “gospel truths” and “gospel conduct” respectively.

Imagine three concentric circles. In the center is the gospel itself, perhaps best represented by the words of 1Cor 15:3 – “Christ died for our sins.” This simple phrase speaks of the reality of our sin, the necessity of divine punishment, and the wonderful provision of salvation from divine wrath by God in Christ. Paul speaks of this “good news” as the matter of “first importance”, and we know well the priority he gives this message in his preaching and writing (cf. 1Cor 2:1-4). Hence, its centrality. But in order for it to have a functional centrality it must be connected to areas where people live their lives.

This brings us to our second circle, gospel truths. These are specific, concrete doctrinal implications of the gospel; or, as Paul puts it, “doctrine that conforms to (i.e., takes its shape from) the glorious gospel” (1Tim 1:10-11). These gospel truths bring the gospel to bear particularly on the mind; they are useful in renewing the mind so that our thinking is more and more shaped by the truth of the gospel.

As we might expect, the book of Romans is especially saturated with these gospel truths. Let me give three examples:

(1) In Romans 5:1 Paul states, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice the logic of the verse. Something follows from the essential truth of the gospel. Our having peace with God is not the gospel itself, but is a powerful implication of the gospel—a “gospel truth”. And understanding this gospel truth is part of conforming one’s thinking to the glorious Gospel.

(2) In Romans 8:1 we read, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Again, notice the argument. Paul is not here presenting the gospel itself but something that is true “now” because of the gospel. But the implication is stunning! When fully comprehended by a believer it will revolutionize their mental world and the gospel will function powerfully for them.

(3) Romans 8:32 is a favorite. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things.” Notice those words “also” and “along with him.” They speak of something that grows out of the gospel. When people see the connection between the truth of the gospel itself (“He did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all”) and this gospel truth concerning God’s gracious provision of all that we need for our sanctification (cf. vv. 28-29), the gospel will function for the strengthening of their daily trust in God’s provision.

But not only is the gospel to shape our thinking, there are massive behavioral implications of the gospel as well. The gospel is not only to renew our minds, but to inform our conduct too. The Scriptures provide many examples of this gospel informed living. In Gal 2:14 Paul rebukes Peter for conduct that was “not in line with the truth of the Gospel” and in Phil 1:27 he urges believers to “conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel.” In other words, one of the ways the gospel must function is by informing specific behaviors. Thus, we should read our Bibles with an eye toward detecting these connections. So, for example, when Paul appeals to the Corinthians to “flee from sexual immorality” he explicitly bases his appeal on the gospel—“you are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1Cor 6:18-20). When he urges forgiveness he explicitly references the gospel as both motivation and model (Eph 4:32). When he tells husbands to love their wives he does so by linking his exhortation directly to the gospel (Eph 5:25). When he calls the Corinthians to an ongoing generosity he explicitly reminds them of God’s generosity in the gospel (2Cor 8:7,9; 9:12-13, 15). Many more examples could be given. Ultimately, all Christian behavior should flow out of the gospel; while working hard to avoid triteness, connections should be made to every area of life.

One of the greatest challenges and most important tasks of the pastor-teacher is to clearly show these connections so that people can specifically and intelligently bring the gospel to bear on both their thinking and conduct. Thus the gospel becomes functionally central to the individual Christian and to the local church.

Powlison on Three Core Sins

I thank Tony Reinke for posting this insight from his interview with David Powlison, the person I learn from tremendously on counseling:

What is the core sin of the human heart? Is it pride? Is it the sin of unbelief? Theologians have debated this topic for centuries. But According to Dr. David Powlison, the sins of pride and unbelief are really “two doors into the same room.” And he adds a third door—the fear of man.

These three core sins are interrelated, and it’s not difficult to see how. Pride is the act of installing myself as the king of my own autonomous kingdom. Unbelief is the act of erasing God from my kingdom (functionally, if not deliberately). Fear of man is the act of installing other sinners as big players in my kingdom (When People are Big and God is Small).

And it’s no surprise that all of the lies and lusts of our hearts are to be found rooted in these three core sins. These lies and lusts are expressions of the three core sins.

The Gospel vs. Religion

I love this description on the difference between religion and the Gospel that Mark Driscoll and his team at Mars Hill put together. It characterizes the ministry that I am involved in at the Indonesian Christian Church as we commit to reach the lost and teach the reached to live a Christ-centered life.

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures . . .” -1 Corinthians 15:1–4

What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the most succinct summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life.

The great reformer Martin Luther rightly said that, as sinners, we are prone to pursue a relationship with God in one of two ways. The first is religion/spirituality and the second is the gospel. The two are antithetical in every way.

Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.

Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.

Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.

The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.

Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do.

Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus.

Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.

Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.

Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.

Worst Days, Best Days

This Gospel-focused quote from Jerry Bridges' book The Discipline of Grace is worth reflecting from time to time:

Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they have earned God’s blessing through their behavior. Guilt-laden believers are quite sure they have forfeited God’s blessing through their lack of discipline or their disobedience. Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God . . . Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.

Carson on the Gospel

So what is actually the Gospel? How do you define it? Professor Don Carson writes with clarity answering the question in his editorial piece in the latest issue of Themelios. As always, we can say: It's Don, it's good:

In blogs, journal essays, and books, there has been quite a lot written recently about what “the gospel” is. In the hands of some, the question of what “the gospel” is may be tied to the question of what “evangelicalism” is, since “gospel” = εὐαγγέλιον = evangel, which lies at the heart of evangelicalism. People talk variously of the “simple” gospel or the “robust” gospel or the “pure” gospel—and doubtless a rich array of other adjectives. Some make a distinction between the gospel of the cross and the gospel of the kingdom. . . A handful of other essays have noted the instance where the gospel is not “good news” for certain people, but a promise of terrifying judgment. The writers of these essays argue that εὐαγγέλιον may not mean “good news” but something like “great and important news”: whether it is good or bad depends on those who hear it.

A couple of these questions I hope to address shortly elsewhere. For the moment, however, I’d like to underscore another distinction that is still worth making. It was understood better in the past than it is today. It is this: one must distinguish between, on the one hand, the gospel as what God has done and what is the message to be announced and, on the other, what is demanded by God or effected by the gospel in assorted human responses.

If the gospel is the (good) news about what God has done in Christ Jesus, there is ample place for including under “the gospel” the ways in which the kingdom has dawned and is coming, for tying this kingdom to Jesus’ death and resurrection, for demonstrating that the purpose of what God has done is to reconcile sinners to himself and finally to bring under one head a renovated and transformed new heaven and new earth, for talking about God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, consequent upon Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and above all for focusing attention on what Paul (and others—though the language I’m using here reflects Paul) sees as the matter “of first importance”: Christ crucified. All of this is what God has done; it is what we proclaim; it is the news, the great news, the good news.

By contrast, the first two greatest commands—to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves—do not constitute the gospel, or any part of it. We may well argue that when the gospel is faithfully declared and rightly received, it will result in human beings more closely aligned to these two commands. But they are not the gospel. Similarly, the gospel is not receiving Christ or believing in him, or being converted, or joining a church; it is not the practice of discipleship. Once again, the gospel faithfully declared and rightly received will result in people receiving Christ, believing in Christ, being converted, and joining a local church; but such steps are not the gospel. The Bible can exhort those who trust the living God to be concerned with issues of social justice (Isa 2; Amos); it can tell new covenant believers to do good to all human beings, especially to those of the household of faith (Gal 6); it exhorts us to remember the poor and to ask, not “Who is my neighbor?” but “Whom am I serving as neighbor?” We may even argue that some such list of moral commitments is a necessary consequence of the gospel. But it is not the gospel. We may preach through the list, reminding people that the Bible is concerned to tell us not only what to believe but how to live. But we may not preach through that list and claim it encapsulates the gospel. The gospel is what God has done, supremely in Christ, and especially focused on his cross and resurrection.

Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.

When Christ meets WIIFM

As an Indonesian-born Chinese, I instinctively know how deep the concept of 'gain and loss' is embedded in my life (and countless others who were brought up in Indonesia - and the rest of the world, for that matter). Our well-meaning parents typically teach us to approach every single issue with this one big idea: "How is that gonna benefit you?" If we make a silly decision or a foolish bargain, they will say "Shame on you. How could you not lose if you did that?" Such seemingly innocent remarks given repeatedly over a few critical years at young age cement in our mind a certain attitude that goes very far in our lives. We are wired to think: "What's in it for me?"

What's in it for me. WIIFM. That's the mantra we live by.

Nearly everyday we are led to believe that if we don't think "I, Me, My, Mine, and Myself", we won't last in this dog-eat-dog world. If you don't look out for yourself, no one will. Only the paranoid survive.

Find it hard to believe? Think again.

When it comes to choose a major, we assume it is only logical if we think along this line: Which one will give me the most opportunities to land in a most highly-paid, socially admirable, eternally secure job?

When it comes to getting to know new acquaintances, we wonder: Which ones of these folks who will at least allow me to reap half the benefit I give if I make some efforts to befriend them? Let see this couple has a social status I want to be associated with, she has very powerful friends who knows other powerful people, he is good with financial stuff, she is the queen of bargain stuff, he is a handy man I can always rely on, and so on.

When it comes to select a business opportunity, we will be remiss if we don't ask: Which one will give the greatest rate of return, so I can take my family to five-star overseas holiday every year, pay off that mortgage ASAP, or retire young?

When it comes to find a soul mate, we ask: Which man or woman will satisfy me the most first visually, then perhaps emotionally, relationally, intellectually, morally, spiritually, physically, etc. (often it's not in that order).

When it comes to choose a church, we muse: Which church will help me to experience the most enjoyable worship? The most inspirational sermons? The warmest fellowship? The nicest folks? The most gourmet snack after church?

. . . and so on (feel free to contribute to the list).

I am more and more convinced today that this WIIFM mindset is a huge barrier that stops us from personally coming face to face with Christ to experience inside out transformation. Of course we swim well along the religious tide in our Christian circles, but we never knew that our WIIFM tendency is in a major collision with Christ's terms.

WIIFM Christians always ask: How does following Christ benefit me?

If by knowing Christ, going to church, obeying the 10 Commandments, getting involved in the ministry, praying, fasting, tithing, I will be less likely to be infected with anything from flu virus to cancerous cells, I will be getting a great job and an ideal soulmate, I will be having obedient kids, I will have a comfortable life relatively free from stress-inducing problems, then HEY I WILL BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO DO ALL THAT!

We serve the Lord and sacrifice our time, energy, and money to make him indebted to us that He owes us His blessings.
We lead a holy life and avoid sinful behavior so the Lord felt compelled to bless us with what we wish to get.

Christ Jesus is nothing but a means to an end. In our interaction with Him, we are the ones who hold the remote control, since we control how much we give and surrender to Him on the basis of what we can get out of Him. Either that or Christ is useless.

If we are willing to step aside from all the trapping of our religious circus, we will know that there are areas in our lives where we relate to Christ the way the Greeks relate to their gods. When I was little, I lived in a remote town in the deep end of East Java where the villagers there dutifully worship the goddess of the sea, Nyai Roro Kidul, of course while expecting something in return from the goddess. Safety, Fertility, Harmony, Peace, Comfort, Health, Success. I don't see much differences between the villagers and the 21st century suburban Christians in big cities.

WIIFM stops us from seeing Christ as He really is. We just don't get it, just as Judas never got it though He was always physically close to Christ. We never taste and see the majestic glory of God, the blinding holiness of God, the deafening love of God in Christ, the sweet grace of Jesus Christ, the astonishing death of Jesus Christ, and the life-altering resurrection power of Christ. We know all that intellectually of course, but never personally. We know that in group, but never alone one-on-one with Christ.

The only way to reverse this trend is not to try harder. But to turn to Christ and humbly cry:

Lord, please undo my WIIFM so I can see you for who you really are.
Save me from myself, from my relentless desire to control my life.
Save me from using You to get the things I wish and want.
Save me from moving on the road that leads to eternal destruction.

Turn me o Lord for the pig that I am who trample the pearl You gave me
Into a new creation, a fully spiritual human being who values the pearl
That is, Christ who came for me, the almighty became a single cell for me,
Lived the life I should have lived, and died the death I should have died.

Stop me Lord from asking what You can do for me in the future
by continually pondering what you have done for me in the past.

I don't want to make You a means of my success.
because I now see that You alone are my success.
I don't want to add You so I live a happy life
because I now see that You are my happiness

I don't want to ask You to find me the man/woman I love
because I now see that You alone are my true lover.
I don't want to use You for to get Your blessings
because I now serve You for Your intrinsic worth

I offer my life promptly and sincerely
For you alone are worthy O Lord.

What is the Gospel?

“The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself. Instead, I think of myself less.”

~ Tim Keller, The Reason for God.

Self-Made Salvation and the Gospel

I came across another good piece in the Leadership Journal written by Bob Hyatt. It reminds me the importance of feeding our sanctification on our justification, a concept which I learned not long ago. The solution to our un-Christlikeness is not trying harder but to rest more and delight more on Christ' finished work who lived the life I should have lived and died the death I should have died.

Here is an excerpt from Hyatt's article:

A confession: Since becoming a pastor, I find that I struggle with very different things now than I did before. For instance, I don't look at porn. But I don't look at it for all the wrong reasons.

The truth is, every time I'm tempted to, I begin to think about how much it would cost me if I were to get caught. First, the damage it would do in my marriage is huge in my mind. Second, even though I know my elders and I could probably work through something like that, I'm still conditioned to respond how I was taught in the churches of my youth, where pastors were assumed to be "above reproach" (read: "inhumanly perfect"). When issues such as sexual immorality arose, pastors would disappear—they resigned or were fired.

What I mean to say is that a huge part of why I don't look at porn is that I don't want to lose my job. Right choice, wrong motive. Sometime I wonder, who would I be if I weren't a pastor?

My idol is what my people think of me. That's my real struggle. It is so important, in fact, that when I have an off Sunday, and I think everyone went home grumbling about how badly I preached, I'm devastated. I can't sleep. When someone leaves our community or criticizes my pastoring? More sleepless nights.

Why? Because the truth is that, in many ways, Jesus isn't my Savior. My congregation is. Or, more precisely, their approval is. I want it. I need it. I'd even say that a big part of my identity is based on the results I am getting as a pastor and what people think of me. That idol occasionally, coincidentally, pushes me toward doing the right thing or keeps me from doing the wrong thing.

But the problem is, whenever I come up against a struggle or a temptation and I choose to do the right thing because I need to protect that idol of others' approval—even if I'm ostensibly doing the right thing—in reality, through nurturing that idolatry, I've nurtured serious evil in my heart.

Twisted. Even worse, I've realized that by pursuing my idol of people's approval I'm countering the message I proclaim week after week.

...God began to speak to me about my striving, about my sorry attempts at self-justification and my desire to prove my worth and value—to save myself through my performance as a pastor. Rest is what I needed, but not just the rest of my body in sleep. Not even the rest of my mind from the cares and worries of ministry. All the way down, deeper than both of those things, what I needed was the rest of my soul in the finished work of Jesus.

Ortberg on the Gospel

An excerpt from Ortberg's recent piece in Leadership Journal entitled The Gospel and Happiness Paradox:

Maybe the "if you were to die tonight" version of the gospel falls victim to the happiness paradox. If "heaven" is understood as "ultimate happiness," then I can seek to obtain it while remaining trapped in my self-centeredness. If "heaven" is understood as the eternal pleasure factory, then obtaining it has no intrinsic relationship to transformation, therefore no intrinsic relationship to discipleship.

But if the gospel really is the announcement of the availability, through Jesus, of the "with-God life," then things begin to fall into place. Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is the power to live the with-God life from one moment to the next. Heaven is not a pleasure factory that an angry God chooses to shut some people out of because they don't pass a theology test; it is a community of servanthood that can only be enjoyed by a certain kind of character.

Injil bukan ABC, tetapi A-Z Hidup Kristiani

Dulu saya berpikir bahwa berita Injil itu hanya berlaku untuk orang yang belum Kristen (dan mungkin orang Kristen bayi alias petobat baru). Sementara orang Kristen yang mau bertumbuh dalam Kristus harus makan makanan rohani yang keras (yang bukan Injil), yaitu doktrin-doktrin yang sulit. Salah satu theologian-pastor Reformed kontemporer favorit saya, Dr Tim Keller, menolong saya untuk mengerti bahwa semua orang Kristen perlu terus bertumbuh dalam Injil. Berikut kutipan dari salah satu kotbahnya The Prodigal Sons tentang Injil:

"...'the gospel' is not just a way to be saved from the penalty of sin, but is the fundamental dynamic for living the whole Christian life--individually and corporately, privately and publicly. In other words, the gospel is not just for non-Christians, but also for Christians. This means the gospel is not just the A-B-C's but the A to Z of the Christian life. It is not accurate to think 'the gospel' is what saves non-Christians, and then, what matures Christians is trying hard to live according to Biblical principles. It is more accurate to say that we are saved by believing the gospel, and then we are transformed in every part of our mind, heart, and life by believing the gospel more and more deeply as our life goes on." - Tim Keller