About a month ago, I realized, I had lost hold of what the Gospel of Jesus Christ means for me. I knew He had lived a perfect life, died, and rose again. But I was missing the personal impact of what it means for me, beyond giving me an entry pass to heaven. Here's a good description of where I was at:
"Early on, the Ephesians practiced a raw, gritty admission of shortcoming and guilt, but over time the church had become civilized, somewhat cold, and obsessively acute in their doctrinal awareness. In short, they aligned themselves with what was true but lost their missional edge. They had embraced an overly rationalized faith. Their heads were in the right place, but their hearts had not followed. They had the appearance of godliness but denied the power of the gospel to produce radical affection for Jesus, radical repentance from sin, and radical love for a lost world. In the end they were so proud and so far from the Lord that Jesus had to say, 'I'm going to remove My light from you if you don't go back and do what you did at first.'"- The Explicit Gospel Bible Study, pg. 84
Does this sound familiar at all? When I examined my life, I saw, and in many ways still see, an acute doctrinal awareness, alignment with truth, an overly rationalized faith, a head in the right place, but an unfollowing heart, and denied power of radical affection, repentance, and love.
In realizing this, through the work of the Holy Spirit, I cried out to God for help, asking to be inundated with the Gospel. And He has faithfully answered me everywhere I look!
When I look around at those whom I know, I have to say, it's a lot harder to find those who can be described as radically following Jesus in response to the Gospel, than it is to find those who aren't. I can't speak for others, but personally, I had bought into the thought, the Gospel was just for me to get saved by and then work out the rest on my own. This does not lead to peace or joy. It leads to a stress filled longing for reaching Jesus through works and good efforts. Which effectively shouts, 'Thanks for dying Jesus, but now that I'm saved, I don't need that anymore.'
This clearly isn't what any of us mean to proclaim, but because of our lack of regular interaction with the Gospel, we have slumped into this. The awesome fact is, we can change! And that is exactly what I have been experiencing in the last few weeks!
I have joy for doing things which normally took all my effort just to force myself to do. And I have peace. One which isn't shakeable. How can this be? Inundate yourself with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The good news of the grace which Jesus has bestowed on us. Here are a few resources which have really helped me in these last weeks.
- The Jesus Storybook Bible, By Sally Lloyd-Jones
- The Explicit Gospel (Book, DVD, and Bible study workbook), By Matt Chandler
- The Garden City Church sermon podcast, By Justin Buzzard
Is your life radically changed because of the Gospel?
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