The Christian and the gospel

You are on a plane you’ve been told it will crash, there is nothing the pilot can do. You have 2 minutes to explain the gospel to the person next to you what do you say? That's how we started last night looking at the Christian and the gospel. It is a false scenario, but many people say that 2 minutes is about as long as people pay attention for, if you haven't got their attention by then its too late.

What is the gospel?
In Acts 20:25 Paul as he speaks to the Ephesian Elders sums it up as ‘the Kingdom’. It is the message of the Whole Bible – the king and his kingdom is coming. (C/f That's why Philip is able to use Isaiah 53 and go on from there to explain the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch – Acts 8) In 2 Cor 5:19 Paul writes “that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.” But he goes on to explain that it also brings with it responsibilities - we become God's ambassadors.

The Bible gives us helpful summaries of the gospel (e.g. Acts 16:30-33 and 1 Cor 15:1-3) but they are summaries not the whole gospel of the King and his kingdom. The gospel is the story o the Bible which sets Jesus forth as the true Israel, God’s king, the suffering servant and judge of the whole world.

The New Testament tells us that there are 3 ways to live (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)
There are 3 ways to live irreligion, religion and grace, we all live in one of these 3 ways.

Jesus is telling parables to answer Pharisees complaint. In the parable both sons have a broken relationship with Father. The younger represents irreligion as he leaves and goes, he doesn't want a relationship with the Father, in fact he wishes the Father was dead, just as irreligion wishes there was no God and lives as if he is dead.

The Older son represents religion he is the Pharisees against whom Jesus is speaking. The Prodigal son comes back to the Father reliant not on what he has done but on the Father’s grace (21-22). The older son doesn’t come back why? (29) Because he believes he has worked hard enough to earn it! He doesn't need grace and the parable ends with youngest son saved from irreligion by grace and enjoying the banquet and relationship and the older religious son outside.

How would the Pharisees have acted had they understood God's grace? They would have welcomed sinners just as Jesus did, as the tax collectors and sinners found salvation they would have been celebrating the goodness of God and the lost found. Instead they moan and grumble.

The Pharisees are our biggest danger, ‘religion is the default mode of the human heart’. We are prone to being elder sons - to losing sight of grace that is why the Christian must never move away from the gospel.

The way and the wrong way(Matt 5-7)
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus contrasts two ways of living. Not irreligious and religious, but irreligious and kingdom/gospel. 5v1 – he is teaching disciples these are standards of kingdom living. V20 – righteousness in kingdom must surpass Pharisees, how? by relying on Christ. At every step Jesus raises the bar to standard of (48). Can’t get there by religion, but he lives this for us and we are given it by grace.

For religion and the gospel complete the following:
I am accepted by God because…
Religious practitioner (RP): I am a good person, I help others, and I obey God’s law
Gospel practitioner (GP): grace

My motivation for godly living is…
RP: Is to earn salvation, or good things from God
GP: Grace and love – it is the only right response to what he has done for me.

When things go wrong I…
RP: I am angry at God, I deserve better/have earn’t better than this. Or am wracked by guilt.
GP: I struggle but remind myself I am saved by grace and am loved by God.

When things are going well I…
RP: I am proud because I deserve it. Tends to make me judgemental and unsympathetic.
GP: Praise God who gives. This helps me to be humble and sympathetic.

When I pray I…
RP: Ask for things attempting to control my life
GP: Praise God and seek to pray for what he desires.

When I am criticised…
RP: Am devastated because I rely on my being good, I therefore react defensively and quickly.
GP: I struggle but my identity is not based on my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ.

When I feel guilty I…
RP: Am crushed and fearful and redouble my efforts.
GP: I pray confessing my sin and remind myself it is paid for at the cross.

My view of myself is based on…
RP: How hard I work, how moral I am. I tend to feel superior to others.
GP: The one who died for his enemies, sheer grace. Frees me to love others.

The gospel is the answer (1 Peter 1:3-12)
It is grace that enables us to live, to face suffering, to gain our inheritance. Our hope and our future are secure because they are kept in heaven and they depend on what Jesus has done, is doing and will do, not my performance. It is what we are to focus on, if even the angels never get tired of looking into the gospel how can we.

“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 snivelling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. Instead, I think of myself less. I don’t need to notice myself – how I’m doing, how I’m being regarded – so often.” (T Keller The Reason for God)
Do you agree with this? What are its implications for the way we live?

“If I was saved by my good works then there would be a limit of what God could ask of me or put me through. I would be like a taxpayer with ‘rights’ – I would have done my duty and now I would deserve a certain quality of life. But if I am a sinner saved by sheer grace – then there’s nothing he cannot ask of me.”

Love in the community

Been re-listening to Tim Keller and Philip Jensen on Church Planting and have been reminded again of the need for us to break the mould.

There are so many stereotyped views of Christians; boring, hypocritical, judgemental, preachy and so on.... The big question is what am I doing to disprove them? How am I disabusing people of those notions?

How do we as churches show people that such views are wrong? In fact they are one of Satan's greatest ploys as they stop people ever considering the lifesaving, eternally significant message that the church has been entrusted with for the world!!!! If the gospel matters I, we must be demolishing such wrongheaded stereotypes both personally and corporately. Are we doing that? How do we go about doing so?