Grace Blog
What the Gospel Is Saying
Of First Importance is a blog that is dedicated to giving you daily gospel gold. If you have not bookmarked or subscribed to their feed, I encourage you to do so. Here is an entry from last week:
“The gospel is saying that, what man cannot do in order to be accepted with God, this God Himself has done for us in the person of Jesus Christ. To be acceptable to God we must present to God a life of perfect and unceasing obedience to his will. The gospel declares that Jesus has done this for us. For God to be righteous he must deal with our sin. This also he has done for us in Jesus. The holy law of God was lived out perfectly for us by Christ, and its penalty was paid perfectly for us by Christ. The living and dying of Christ for us, and this alone is the basis of our acceptance with God.”
- Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom, p. 86
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Graeme Goldsworthy, Of First Importance | posted by TimBrister at 10:58 am | Categories: Gospel, Jesus |
Grace in 60 Seconds: The Gospel
A couple of weeks ago, I shared on our blog that I was starting a series called “Grace in 60 Seconds.” This is a series that seeks to distill the very essence of Grace Baptist Church in six words in order to answer the question, “In sixty seconds or less, what distinctly defines Grace Baptist Church?”
This evening, I addressed the first word - gospel. It is the first word because it is “of first importance.” Looking at 1 Cor. 15:1-3 alone, we see just how crucial it is. It is preached, believed, held fast, stood upon, delivered, and received. If we want to get at the heart of God and the Christian faith, we need to look nowhere else than His gospel. I want to elaborate on the gospel through five aspects: fluency, centrality, intentionality, sufficiency, intensity.
Gospel Fluency (Definition)
The first element of the gospel is fluency–that is, how well one understands the gospel. We never want to assume the gospel in any context nor do we want to find ourselves in a context where a clear understanding of the gospel is not necessary. Our familiarity with the gospel should not breed contempt but contemplation and competency in grasping the most important news in the whole world. Every member should be able to explain who Jesus is, what He has done, and what that matters to every single person on the face of the planet. They ought to be able to speak of the gospel as it relates to God, man and sin, Jesus Christ, and the response it invokes. Christians ought to be able to tell the gospel story as the overarching theme of all of Scripture beginning with creation to the Fall to redemption and ending in consummation. For there to be fluency in the gospel, there must be a commitment to meditate, rehearse and pray the gospel into our lives on a daily basis. Those who are most fluent in the gospel are most prepared to speak much of Jesus, and because we are prone to forget the gospel, we like Martin Luther ought to “beat it continually in our heads.”
Gospel Centrality (Formation)
The second element of the gospel is centrality. The gospel is not the introduction to Christianity; it is the essence of Christianity. It is not the A-B-C but the A-Z of the Christian faith. When the gospel is central, humble repentance and renewed faith will regular because they are the biblical responses and requirements for those whose lives are seen through the grid of God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness, and Jesus’ glorious substitution. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16), and it is in the gospel where we take our stand (1 Cor. 15:1-2). We have been saved by the gospel (justification), are being saved by the gospel (sanctification), and will be saved by the gospel (glorification). Therefore, the God-appointed means by which we grow in the Christian faith is through beholding Jesus Christ in the light of the gospel (2 Cor. 3:18-4:6). Because of this, everything we are is grounding in the gospel indicative (who we are in Christ) and everything we do flows out of the gospel imperative (repent and believe).
Gospel Intentionality (Direction)
The third element is gospel intentionality. We believe that the Christian life consists of ordinary people in ordinary settings living with gospel intentionality. This means that our lives are prioritized by the gospel. It is a matter of first importance (1 Cor. 15:3). Our lives should be patterned because of gospel, that our conduct might be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:27). When our lives are purposed in the gospel (1 Cor. 9:19-23), it reveals that we sense the weight and all-encompassing significance of it so that we can say “I do all things for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings.” And when our lives have the intentionality of the gospel brought to bear, we will have a new perspective through the gospel in which we see all of life through the lens of God’s glorious message. Simply put, gospel intentionality fosters a conscious desire to make the gospel our primary agenda in every sphere of life.
Gospel Sufficiency (Solution)
The fourth element is gospel sufficiency. On a most basic level, the source of our problems is sin and the only answer to those problems is Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2). The gospel implications encompass everything from how we love our spouses, raise our kids, relate to our neighbors, or work on the job (and more). The problems we face can be traced back to a lack of orientation to the gospel–to grasp it and believe it thoroughly. To think that mere behavioral modification or self-improvement techniques can adequately address the human denies that what we need is renewal and transformation that begins within–in the heart. And only the gospel of Jesus Christ can change us from within, to expose our idols, confront our unbelief, and draw us to brokenness, humility and repentance. Gospel sufficiency says that the key to renewal and wholeness in the Christian life comes from a continual rediscovery of the gospel–seeing more of its truth and experiencing more of its transforming power to renew our minds, revive our hearts, and reinvigorate our wills. Only through recognizing the sufficiency of the gospel can we truly be helped in the most practical ways to pursue peace with men, purity in the church, and passion for the glory of God in all things.
Gospel Intensity (Inflammation)
The last element is gospel intensity. God desires His people to dwell deep in the gospel. As Paul exhorts, we desire to see the “word of Christ dwell richly” in us (Col. 3:16). In the gospel, we are invited to inquire of the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ (Eph. 3:8), and the more we mine the depths of God’s glorious gospel, the richer (spiritually) we will become in our communion with God and usefulness in this world. God has laid before us a banqueting table to feast in the manna of the gospel and be utterly satisfied in all He is for us in Jesus Christ. It is a tragedy to be satisfied with crumbs on the floor when Jesus has given us a seat at the table can welcomed us to feast. The result of such intense commitment to the gospel is that our hearts would be inflamed with greater love and devotion for the one who has set us free. To the degree we are intense with the gospel will be the degree our lives will be oriented to and owned by the glory of Jesus Christ.
So the first word of Grace in 60 seconds is the gospel. May it be the first and final word of our lives and our church!
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 5:15 am | Categories: Core Values/Practices, Gospel |
The Biblical Gospel and It’s Social Implications
Here’s a short video clip from James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in which he rejects the substitution of the social gospel for the biblical gospel and yet affirms the social implications which result from a right understanding of the gospel.
Social Gospel vs. Proclamation Gospel from Harvest Bible Chapel on Vimeo.
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, James MacDonald, Social Responsibility | posted by TimBrister at 7:29 pm | Categories: Gospel, Social Renewal |
Gospel and Poor: Implications from the Life of Christ
Continuing the commentary on what the Scriptures say about the poor, I want to turn to the heart of biblical revelation–the gospel of Jesus Christ–and see what implications we can draw as it relates to the poor. In other words, when we understand what God has given us in His Son from a vertical perspective, what kind of implications does that have from a horizontal perspective as it relates to the poor? What difference does being recipients of the gospel mean for us? Do the vertical (spiritual) realities bear any consequence on the horizontal (physical) application of such realities in the way in which we treat the poor and needy? I want to begin first with the life of Jesus Christ.
Gospel and Poor: Life of Jesus Christ
Why is the life of Jesus so important to us? God sent His Son into the world that we might behold Him and believe in Him. We behold Him because he dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we have come to see Him who is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The life of Jesus is essential to the gospel because he accomplished for us what we could never do for ourselves–live a perfectly righteous, sinless life before a holy God. Every Christian is saved by good works–the works of Jesus Christ.
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Poor, Social Responsibility | posted by TimBrister at 10:48 pm | Categories: Uncategorized |
Clarifying the Gospel and Its Implications
Matt Chandler is a dear brother whom we have been praying for in recent months, joining with him in his fight against brain cancer. I was able to attend the 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary where Matt was scheduled to speak. Due to his chemo and radiation treatments, he was unable to attend. However, he was able to pre-record his session in which he deals with clarifying the gospel and its implications. Check it out.
Matt Chandler - 20/20 2010 Session 1 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.
Labels: 20/20 Collegiate Conference, Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Matt Chandler | posted by TimBrister at 1:05 pm | Categories: Gospel, Poor |
Tchividjian on the Everyday Gospel
Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, recently wrote a helpful summary article in Christianity Today on what “The Gospel-Centered Life” is all about. In this article, he presents two challenges to preachers of the gospel. Let me encourage you to think that this not only applies to those who preach behind a pulpit, but to every Christian who preaches the gospel to themselves and to others.
An excerpt:
There are two challenges for preachers, those of us called to announce this good news. First is to help people understand theologically that the gospel doesn’t just ignite the Christian life but it’s also the fuel that keeps Christians going and growing every day. The second challenge, which is much harder for me than the first, is to help people understand how this works functionally.
I address the second challenge by regularly asking myself this question: Since Jesus secured my pardon and absorbed the Father’s wrath on my behalf so that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” how does that impact my longing for approval, my tendency to be controlling, and my fear of the unknown?
In other words, how does the finished work of Christ satisfy my deepest daily needs so that I can experience the liberating power of the gospel every day and in every way?
If you’re a preacher, then God has called you to help others make the connection between Christ’s finished work and their daily life. To do this, we must unveil and unpack the truth of the gospel from every biblical text we preach in such a way that it exposes both the idols of our culture and the idols of our hearts.
Every sermon ought to disclose the ways in which we depend on lesser things to provide the security, acceptance, protection, affection, meaning, and satisfaction that only Christ can supply.
I pray that as you come to a better understanding of the length and breadth of the gospel, you will be recaptured every day by the “God of great expenditure” who gave everything that we might possess all.
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Grace Baptist Church, Tullian Tchividjian | posted by TimBrister at 2:14 pm | Categories: Gospel |
The Gospel: The Key to a Unified Church
This past Sunday, Pastor Tom preached from 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 as a continuation in his series, “The Gospel-Driven Church” (an exposition of 1 Corinthians). His main point? “Where the gospel is properly prized, Christian unity will be persistently pursued.”
We live in a day where it is easy to follow popular preachers or get caught up in various forms of Christian “groupies.” The Corinthian believers knew something of this. Peter was used by God in preaching at Pentecost where thousands were converted. He was close to Jesus in his earthly ministry. Paul, on the other hand, was setting the world ablaze with the gospel and planting churches in some of the most influential cities in the world. Apollos was perhaps the most eloquent of them all, able to persuade and convince people of the gospel from the religious elite to the man in the marketplace. It is easy to see, then, that with such towering personalities who were known for accomplishing so much for the Lord, these believers could begin to be aligned to them, resulting in division.
As he wrote to the Corinthians, Paul did not have his ego stroked because some had regarded them as their leader. Instead, he was broken-hearted. He knew that it was not about him. His entire life was about Jesus. His passion was the gospel. So the solution for this division was not to part ways by preferences and personalities, but a strong personal exhortation to get back to the gospel which has made them the community of faith.
As God continues to bless the ministry here at Grace, we would be foolish to think that we are not faced with the same temptations and problems. We can allow ourselves to be divided over any number of things, including:
–> geographical boundaries (I’m from Ft. Myers; I’m from Punta Gorda; I’m from the Cape).
–> ethnic boundaries (I’m Hispanic; I’m African-American; I’m White)
–> socio-economic boundaries (I’m upper-class; I’m middle class; I’m lower class)
–> educational preferences (Our kids are home-schooled; our kids go to private school; our kids go to public schools)
The list could be endless because our hearts are idol factories. In the case of Corinth, it was preacher personalities. In our context with plurality of pastors/elders, that temptation for us might lead you to have preferential treatment of one leader against another. We must be on guard not to inflate the gifts of the church as though God’s work among us entirely dependent upon them.
As we seek to apply the truths we have learned, let us pray that God would so work among us through the gospel that we would all say the same thing, be of the same mind, and have the same judgment. May it never be said that God who is love is held in contempt because of the lack of love among His people. May it never be argued that the message of reconciliation (the gospel) is unconvincing because of the disagreements and divisions among God’s people who have professed to embrace that message. May the gospel which is “the power of God unto salvation” also be the great unifier that facilitates a radically diverse people to love, serve, and give our lives away for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom!
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 1:36 pm | Categories: Gospel, Sermons |
The Gospel is for the Christian
Here’s a brief video by Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, of the importance of the centrality of the gospel in the life of the believer.
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Grace Baptist Church | posted by TimBrister at 9:20 pm | Categories: Core Values/Practices, Gospel |
Grace in 60 Seconds
Whenever we interview a prospective member, we always them: “If you only had 60 seconds to explain the gospel to someone, what would you say?”
If you can communicate the essence of the gospel in a minute, you have a pretty good grasp of it. Every believer on the spot at any given moment ought to be able, without much hesitation, share the greatest news in all the world.
But the pastors of Grace have taken up a similar question since our leadership retreat, and that is: “If you, as a member of Grace Baptist Church, had only 60 seconds to explain to an unbeliever what defines our church, what would you say?”
Again, the reason we bring up this question is because every member of Grace ought to have such a grasp of who we are and what defines us (core values) that without much contemplation could give a clear, substantive explanation to anyone they might encounter in everyday settings.
As pastors, we collectively spent hours together thinking of what we would desire our members to say in that short amount of time, and on the Wednesday evenings in March, we will be addressing this important question together. Be sure to join us at 7:00PM each Wednesday night to learn how to articulate not only what we believe are core values of Grace but more importantly core practices expressed from the DNA of our church!
_________
As an addendum, I have proposed 21 questions for myself regarding our church that I’d like to pass along to you. They are questions that have been challenging and convicting me in recent weeks and months, and I encourage you to give them a look.
Labels: Cape Coral, Gospel, Grace Baptist Church, Local Church | posted by TimBrister at 9:18 am | Categories: Core Values/Practices, Gospel |
What Does a Gospel-Centered Church Look Like?
One of the core values and practices of Grace Baptist Church is our passionate and unyielding commitment to the centrality of the Gospel. This means that we live with gospel intentionality in the world, that we believe in the sufficiency of the gospel in the church, and that we believe in the normativity of the gospel in the Christian life.
Ray Ortlund recently penned some excellent thoughts on what a gospel centered church looks like. I encourage you to read them below. Let us believe, live, and long for more of the gospel’s transforming work in our lives, in our church, and in the world for the advance of Christ’s kingdom!
_____________
What does it mean for a church to be gospel-centered? That’s a popular concept these days. Good. What if we were scrambling to be law-centered? But the difference is not so easy in real terms.
A gospel-centered church holds together two things. One, a gospel-centered church preaches a bold message of grace — so bold that it becomes the end of the law for all who believe. Not our performance but Christ’s performance for us. Not our sacrifices but his sacrifice for us. Not our superiority but only his worth and prestige. The good news of substitution. The good news that our okayness is not in us but exterior to us in Christ alone. Climbing down from the high moral ground, because only Christ belongs up there. That message, that awareness, that clarity. Every Sunday.
Two, a gospel-centered church translates that theology into its sociology. The good news of God’s grace beautifies how we treat one another. In fact, the horizontal reveals the vertical. How we treat one another reveals what we really believe as opposed to what we think we believe. It is possible to say, “We are a gospel-centered church,” and sincerely mean it, while we make our church into a law-centered social environment. We see God above lowering his gun, and we breathe a sigh of relief. But if we are trigger-happy toward one another, we don’t really get it yet.
A gospel-centered church is a variegated collection of sinners. They come together and stick together because they have nothing to fear from their message or their culture. The theology creates the sociology, and the sociology incarnates the theology.
The one deal-breaker in a gospel-centered church: anyone for any reason turning it into a culture of legal demandingness and negative scrutiny. Few would do that in the theology, of course. But still, a church with a message of grace can stop being gospel-centered in real terms.
A major part of pastoral ministry is preaching the doctrines of grace and managing an environment of grace. The latter is harder to accomplish than the former. It is more intuitive. It requires more humility and self-awareness.
May the Friend of sinners grant beautiful gospel-centricity in all our churches.
Labels: Gospel, Gospel Centrality, Grace Baptist Church, Ray Ortlund | posted by TimBrister at 7:56 pm | Categories: Core Values/Practices, Gospel |
2010: A Clear, Close, and Continual Looking to Jesus
I had the privilege of preaching on the first two Sunday’s of 2010, and during preparation the Lord led me to a familiar passage–Hebrews 12:1-3. Although familiar, this passage proved to be very fruitful and engaging to my own heart, and I pray that you were encouraged as well. It is my hope that this year we will have a clearer, closer, and more continual looking to Jesus. The kind of endurance we need this year is nourished in the gospel, and the danger we face each day is to allow weights to distract us or unbelief to blind us from beholding the author and finisher of our faith.
For your benefit, I am making my sermon manuscripts available here for you to download. If you would like to listen or download the audio, go here for the first sermon and go here for the second sermon.
To download my two manuscripts put into one (PDF), simply click here.
Labels: Gospel, Hebrews 12:1-3, Jesus, New Year | posted by TimBrister at 12:02 am | Categories: Jesus, Resources, Sermons |
Parents who forget they are lawbreakers
This is an excellent parenting excerpt from Elyse Fitzpatrick’s latest book, Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the Love of Christ.
“Parents who forget that they are law breakers expect their children to keep the law and to make them look good. They expect children who exhibit exemplary respect and self-discipline. Such parents are self-righteous and proud, and all too often they put confidence in themselves, their ability to obey God, and their methodology for extracting obedience from their children. They forget that the Lord didn’t save or bless them because they were law keepers but, rather, because they weren’t.
Although they may know they have failed to keep the law–loving God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and their neighbor as themselves–they give their children the law (or house rules) and expect perfect compliance the first time and every time, with a happy heart. Such parents are harsh and impatient and tempted to anger when their children fail. Although they might know the law doesn’t change the heart (and is, in fact, a ministry of death [2 Cor. 3:7]), they expect the law to change the hearts of their children. They forget that they have been adopted and brought into the family, not only as those who misunderstood and slipped up from time to time, but as defiant rebels. Have parents consistently obeyed God the first time and every time, with a happy heart? Children need what parents need–the gospel. Certainly children need to learn God’s law and to have house rules to follow, but gospel-oriented parents give the law to show children their need for a Savior, not to make them obedient.”
- Elyse Fitzpatrick, Counsel from the Cross: Connecting Broken People to the love of Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), 159 (emphasis mine).
May God help those of us who are parents to give our children what they need, what we need–the gospel.
Labels: Counsel from the Cross, Elyse Fitzpatrick, Gospel, Gospel-Centered Parenting, Parenting | posted by TimBrister at 11:00 am | Categories: Gospel, Parenting/Family |
The Devastating Effects of Assuming the Gospel
In this short video clip, Matt Chandler address how assuming the gospel leads to moralistic deism (or I would say modern-day Pharisees). We can never assume, or allow ourselves to think we can get beyond, the gospel of Jesus!
Labels: Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Matt Chandler | posted by TimBrister at 8:40 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff, Videos |
What Does It Mean to Be Gospel-Centered?
As I mentioned Sunday morning in our study on The Gospel-Centered Life, I posed the question to my Twitter followers, “What does it mean to be Gospel-Centered?” Notice, I am not asking for an explanation of the gospel but what it means to live a life centered on the gospel. In less than 140 characters, here were some of the responses:
erikraymond: The truth of what Christ did in history for me (gospel) calibrates everything I do in my life now for his glory (worship) Col.3
jaredcwilson: My standard operating procedure for life comes from knowing I’m a sinner but that Jesus died and rose again out of love for me
JonMcIntosh: Change or transformation of any kind, especially authentic heart-transformation, cannot happen apart from the gospel of grace.
JoshCousineau: You never move beyond the Cross & what Jesus did, the gospel is not the ABC but the A-Z of your new found Christian walk.
pastorjamie: seeing, in all things, what’s beautiful, what’s broken, and how the Gospel (D,B,R) redeems, restores, and renews everything.
timothywashere: In all I do, drawing all goodness and my very life not from self but from the sacrifice and new life that is in Christ alone.
ggrobinson: Cross informed thoughts, attitudes & actions that make us intentionally missional instruments of grace 2 the glory of Christ.
MichaelLeeAdams: 2 live intentionally, purposefully 2 share and show the love, forgivnes, redeption, goodns, & glory of Jesus 2 da world, daily
adamchristensen: I think it should mean that in every situation and setting the gospel is the lens/filter through which we view; i.e…
adamchristensen: …we don’t about anything without a gospel-flavor to it.
jeremyaldridge: Xian: God created u 2 demonstrate His mercy n grace 4 His glory. He died 4 u so u could live. Now live 4 Him n die 2 self.t_reck: GC means recognizing practically the implications of the Gospel in everything. Theologizing actually lived out.
bobbycapps: Jesus Christ pays for sin, making it possible 4 Him to give you life. Then, He makes u alive, and His Life is evrything else.
mheerema: “You have been shown mercy (not getting what you deserve) and grace (getting what you don’t deserve), go give mercy and grace”
ecpoe: 1 Cor. 2:2 comes to mind–”For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ”
ChristBookNotes: Daily reminding myself of the sinless life, the gruesome death, and glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ
Johnbmann: Christ-focused.
This is a great question to ask yourself. If you had just a few sentences to explain to a new Christian what it means to be “gospel-centered”, how would you respond? I encourage you to take some time to think about it, because the truth is that we never get beyond or grow out of our need for the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Labels: Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Twitter | posted by TimBrister at 8:50 am | Categories: Gospel, Sunday School Stuff |
The Sufficiency of the Gospel by Tim Keller
In his article, “The Centrality of the Gospel,” Tim Keller explains how the gospel is truly sufficient for all of life. Keller writes (emphasis mine):
We never “get beyond the gospel” in our Christian life to something more “advanced.” The gospel is not the first “step” in a “stairway” of truths, rather, it is more like the “hub” in a “wheel” of truth. The gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A-Z of Christianity. The gospel is not just the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make progress in the kingdom.
We are not justified by the gospel and then sanctified by obedience, but the gospel is the way we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col. 1:6). It is the solution to each problem, the key to each closed door, the power through every barrier (Rom. 1:16-17). It is very common in the church to think as follows. “The gospel is for non-Christians. One needs it to be saved. But once saved, you grow through hard work and obedience.” But Col. 1:6 shows that this is a mistake. Both confession and “hard work” that is not arising from and “in line” with the gospel will not sanctify you–it will strangle you. All our problems come from a failure to apply the gospel. Thus when Paul left the Ephesians he committed them “to the word of his grace, which can build you up” (Acts 20:32).
The main problem, then, in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel, we have not “used” the gospel in and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through. Luther says, “The truth of the Gospel is the principle article of all Christian doctrine. . . . Most necessary is it that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it into their heads continually.” The gospel is not easily comprehended. Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it in all its truth. All of us, to some degree live around the truth of the gospel but do not “get” it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual re-discovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel–seing more of its truth. This is true for either an individual or a church.
Labels: Gospel, Gospel-Centered, Sufficiency of Gospel, Tim Keller | posted by TimBrister at 8:20 am | Categories: Gospel, Resources |
