“The gospel” is a phrase that Christians often use without fully understanding
its significance. We speak the language of the gospel, but we
rarely apply the gospel to every aspect of our lives. Yet this is exactly what
God wants for us. The gospel is nothing less than “the power of God”
(Rom. 1:16). In Colossians 1:6, the apostle Paul commends the Colossian
church because the gospel has been “bearing fruit and growing…
among [them] since the day [they] heard it.” The apostle Peter teaches
that a lack of ongoing transformation in our lives comes from forgetting
what God has done for us in the gospel (2 Peter 1:3–9). If we are to grow
into maturity in Christ, we must deepen and enlarge our understanding
of the gospel as God’s appointed means for personal and communal
transformation.
Many Christians live with a truncated view of the gospel. We see the
gospel as the “door,” the way in, the entrance point into God’s kingdom.
But the gospel is so much more! It is not just the door, but the path we
are to walk every day of the Christian life. It is not just the means of our
salvation, but the means of our transformation. It is not simply deliverance
from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s power. The gospel is what
makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to
delight in God (sanctification). The gospel changes everything!
The following model has been helpful to many people in thinking about
the gospel and its implications. This diagram does not say everything
that could be said about the gospel, but it does serve as a helpful visual
illustration of how the gospel works.
The starting point of the Christian life (conversion) comes when I first
become aware of the gap between God’s holiness and my sinfulness.
When I am converted, I trust and hope in Jesus, who has done what I
could never do: he has bridged the gap between my sinfulness and God’s
holiness. He has taken God’s holy wrath toward my sin upon himself.
At the point of conversion, however, I have a very limited view of God’s
holiness and of my sin. The more I grow in my Christian life, the more
I grow in my awareness of God’s holiness and of my flesh and sinfulness.
As I read the Bible, experience the Holy Spirit’s conviction, and
live in community with other people, the extent of God’s greatness
and the extent of my sin become increasingly clear and vivid. It is not
that God is becoming more holy or that I am becoming more sinful.
But my awareness of both is growing. I am increasingly seeing God as
he actually is (Isa. 55:8–9) and myself as I actually am (Jer. 17:9–10).
As my understanding of my sin and of God’s holiness grows, something
else also grows: my appreciation and love for Jesus. His mediation, his
sacrifice, his righteousness, and his gracious work on my behalf become
increasingly sweet and powerful to me. The cross looms larger
and more central in my life as I rejoice in the Savior who died upon it.
Unfortunately, sanctification (growth in holiness) doesn’t work quite as
neatly as we’d like. Because of the indwelling sin that remains in me, I
have an ongoing tendency to minimize the gospel or “shrink the cross.”
This happens when I either (a) minimize God’s perfect holiness, thinking
of him as something less than his Word declares him to be, or (b)
elevate my own righteousness, thinking of myself as someone better
than I actually am. The cross becomes smaller and Christ’s importance
in my life is diminished.
To counteract our sinful tendency to shrink the gospel, we must
constantly nourish our minds on biblical truth. We need to know, see,
and savor the holy, righteous character of God. And we need to identify,
admit, and feel the depth of our brokenness and sinfulness. We don’t
need to do these things because “that’s what Christians are supposed
to do.” Rather, we make this our aim because it is the life God wants for
us—a life marked by transforming joy, hope, and love.
Growing in the gospel means seeing more of God’s holiness and more
of my sin. And because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, we
need not fear seeing God as he really is or admitting how broken we really
are. Our hope is not in our own goodness, nor in the vain expectation
that God will compromise his standards and “grade on a curve.” Rather,
we rest in Jesus as our perfect Redeemer—the One who is “our righteousness,
holiness and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
*Copyright: World Harvest Mission’s “Gospel Centered Life” small group curriculum.
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Tags: cross chart, gospel centered life, gospel grid, the cross, the gospel, world harvest mission
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