Grace Blog
Never Empty Your Brain of the Gospel!
Labels: Gospel-Saturated, John Piper, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 6:39 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |
“Don’t I need more than the cross?”
In the concluding chapter of his book, Living the Cross-Centered Life, C.J. Mahaney talks about the centrality of the gospel and how you never move beyond your need for the gospel. When asked, “But don’t I need more than the cross?”, Mahaney responds thus (emphasis mine):
“In one sense, the answer is no. Nothing else is of equal importance. The message of Christ and Him crucified is the Christian hope, confidence, and assurance. Heaven will be spent marveling at the work of Christ, the God-Man who suffered in the place of us sinners.
In another sense, the answer’s yes. You do need more. You’ve been saved to grow, to serve in a local church, to do good works, and to glorify God. But the ‘more’ you need as a follower of Christ won’t be found apart from the cross. The gospel isn’t one class among many that you’ll attend during your life as a Christian–the gospel is the whole building where all the classes take place! Rightly approached, all the topics you’ll study and focus on as a believer will be offered to you ‘within the walls’ of the glorious gospel.
Name any area of the Christian life that you want to learn about or that you want to grow in. The Old Testament? The end times? Do you want to grow in holiness or the practice of prayer? To become a better husband, wife, or parent? None of these can be rightly understood apart from God’s grace through Jesus’ death. They, and indeed all topics, should be studied through the lens of the gospel.”
- C.J. Mahaney, Living the Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2006), 149-150.
Labels: Gospel-Saturated, Living the Cross-Centered Life, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 8:59 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |
You Never, Never, Never Outgrow Your Need for the Gospel
Labels: Gospel in 6 Minutes, Gospel-Saturated, John Piper, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 6:33 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |
15 Gospel-Saturated Book Recommendations
Continuing in our mini-series on gospel-saturated healthy church members, I want to direct you to some books that I’ve found very helpful to seeing, centering, and driving all of life around the gospel of Jesus Chirst. Check them out!
1. The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
2. Living the Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
3. A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent
4. God Is the Gospel by John Piper
5. The Cross-Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing by C.J. Mahaney
6. The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges
7. The Glory of God’s Grace–and How It Can Change Your Life by James Montgomery Boice
8. The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor
9. Gospel Conversation by Jeremiah Burroughs
10. The Bookends of the Christian Life by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington
11. Saved by Grace by Anthony Hoekema
12. Total Church: A Radical Reshaping around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester & Steve Timmis
13. The Valley of Vision edited by Arthur Bennett
14. The Cross of Christ by John Stott
15. The Goldsworthy Trilogy (Gospel & Kingdom; Gospel & Witness; Gospel & Revelation)
If there the gospel is the main thing in the Christian life (and it is), then it ought to occupy our greatest amount of time and energy in study. The gospel is at the center of God’s heart and ought to be the center of our lives, and to make that happen, it must be read, believed, sung, rehearsed, applied, and shared with others in such a way it becomes as normal as breathing. My hope is that directing you to these books will assist you in becoming gospel-saturated followers of Christ!
Labels: Books, Gospel, Gospel-Saturated, What Is a Healthy Church Member? | posted by TimBrister at 8:15 am | Categories: Books, Gospel, Resources, Sunday School Stuff |
