I attended a conference this past week called “Advance the Church 2010: Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South.” This conference was put together to help the church in the south stay gospel-centered and not be religious, as many “Christian” churches have swayed toward in the south. There was a great deal of emphasis on how the church in the southern states has become more caught up in “quaint moralism” instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems that many times as I have attended church in my life there has been an emphasis on people turning over a new leaf and living for God, but the funny thing is that Jesus doesn’t call us to turn over a new leaf he calls us to fall in love with Him. There is such an emphasis in the church today to live a good life, be successful, and love your family as well as others. However, it is funny how this is not what we are called to when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented. For instance if we look at the book of Romans we see that he first eleven chapters in a deep way define and explain the gospel. Then the following five are a time of intense application. It seems that the apostle seeks to explain what happens and then show his readers what happens after that transformation. There are so many idols in the Church today that it really saddens me. (When I say idols, I mean things that are made ultimate in someone’s life).
Many times, we make living a good life, living out the American Dream, changing our lifestyles, being secure, pleasing our urges, or anything else, as ultimate in our lives. The Church is not called out to live a comfortable or “good” life. We are called by God to live for Him, by Him, and through Him. The gospel lets this happen. Through the Gospel, we can do anything for the glory of God. Now I am not pulling one of those Philippians 4:13 out of context moments, but I am saying we are transformed by the gospel, we how the power of the name of Jesus Christ to proclaim to the world. As J.D. Greear shared “The gospel is not just the diving board into the pool but it is the pool itself. It is a continuing transformation and renewing of our minds.
We are to press into the gospel and should want to seek God. We should be so caught up in what God has done for us and doing for us we should not want or need for anything. I have been heavily convicted of not sharing this good news with many around me because I have felt I would be forcing something on people, but it is just an invitation to them. I praise God for what He has done for me and I want other people to know who God is and be able to come back into the right relationship with God that He created us for.
I know many will not read this blog but I want to challenge the readers to press into the Gospel if you are a Christian. We don’t have to appease God to find favor with Him, we are free because we already have favor with him because of the work of Jesus Christ. Tullian Tchividjian put it well in saying, “make people wish the gospel was true and let them see that it is. As well, we are not to seek to please God through obedience from guilt and fear, but through what He has done for us with the Gospel. As Christians we do not have to prove or protect anything because of our security that is found in the cross and resurrection of Jesus our Savior.
Thank you for your time of reading, I hope this has encouraged and convicted you; I have been convicted greatly over the past few days. I know I have not exhausted this issue but these are some brief thoughts I wanted to put up.
All the sermons from Advance the Church should be up in the next few days. www.advancethechurch.com
