Are you sick of hearing about the gospel around here? I hope not. I need it. You need it. That's the point. I repeat this theme often here on theMT, because we are so quick to look for our identity elsewhere. We are so quick to shift our hope to anything but Jesus. We will try to find purpose, value and security in the things of the world or in religious behavior and it is the gospel which centers us.
We need reminders that the gospel is the only thing that has the power to save us. The world will try to lure us in by appealing to our flesh, providing quick fixes to help us feel better about ourselves in the moment. Religion does the exact same thing, only it's wrapped up to look acceptable. We may not feel good about what the world has to offer, but we will run enmasse to get our "fix" from religion.
Like an anchored pendulum between both extremes you will find the gospel, the good news. In the gospel, we find we are accepted by God because of what Jesus has done. In the gospel we find that we have worth and value as sons and daughters of God. In the gospel we find that we are secure in Christ, because He has secured us a place in eternity. Last but not least, we find our identity in Christ. We do not need to find our identity in sex, drugs and rock and roll. Neither do we need to find our identity in a church or a religious behavior. Our identity is hidden in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Amen?
That's why we keep returning to the gospel here regularly at theMangoTimes. Funny enough, I was in a conversation last week with a friend about this exact thing. I encouraged him toward a lifestyle of gospel centrality, but he told me that he had recently heard a sermon at church that seemed to contradict this exact advice. He relayed that the sermon had equated a daily return to the gospel with a stagnate marriage. Dwelling daily on the message of the gospel would be like never growing in your relationship with your wife beyond the feelings and experiences you shared on your wedding day. My friend had been taught that a daily dose of the gospel would mean zero growth. It would be no different than repeating the events of your wedding day over and over and over again.
Naturally he had questions for me and what I meant by daily reminders of the gospel. We laughed together as I dismissed the thought that I was describing gospel centralilty as a religious version of the movie Groundhog Day, where things stay the same perpetually.
Ground Hog Day? A stagnate marriage? Obviously, those comparisons are absurd and totally misses the point of living centered on the gospel.
To help clarify my point, I am excited to point you to Tullian Tchividjian's new website, Liberatenet.org, which went live last week. It contains blog posts and a variety of other resources. One of my favorite finds on the site is a section called "Conversations" and I would recommend all of them. For this post, let me recommend a great conversation between two panelists from The Whitehorse Inn radio program and Tullian Tchividjian on the topic of The Gospel in the life of the Christian. In this conversation, they specifically mention that the gospel is not just "your ticket into Christianity" but that which sustains the life of the Christian.
(Embeded courtesy of liberatenet.org)