Gospel-centered

Diving Deep Into Gospel-Centered Living

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

Last week I confessed my envy of a book written by J.D. Greear, Gospel: Recovering the Power that Made Christianity Revolutionary.  I admitted that I wish I had written the book.  Here, in J.D.’s words, is a synopsis of Gospel-centered Christianity that expresses exactly what I would want to communicate to everyone in my church, to everyone who reads this blog, to everyone who I encounter:

Living a life centered on the gospel is not about praying the Sinner’s Prayer to make sure you’re going to heaven and then learning a bunch of new principles to master the Christian life.  Gospel-centeredness is about saturating your heart in the good news of Jesus – letting it so remake your mind so that you see everything about yourself and your life through its lens.

Growth in grace is not going beyond the gospel, but deeper into it.

Make the gospel the center of your life. Turn to it when you are in pain. Let it be the foundation of your identity. Ground your confidence in it. Run to it when your soul feels restless. Take solace there in times of confusion and comfort there in times of regret. Dwell on it until righteous passions for God spring up within you. Let it inspire you to God-centered, death-defying dreams for his glory.

My soul has found its resting place. No longer do I struggle, in anguish, over what I must do for God to be pleased with me. Christ has accomplished it all on my behalf. I can add nothing to it, and I can take nothing away.  I have a lot of room to grow in my Christian life, but my position in Him is secure.

Having found (or better yet, been found by) Him, and overwhelmed at his grace, my heart is growing in love for him and others. Generosity is like a stream that flows ever stronger in my heart.  I give away more money now than I ever have, not because I have to, but because I want to. I think about myself less now than I ever have – mainly because I have found a greater, more captivating kingdom to live for than my own. The splendor of his Kingdom has made me bored with mine.

So I invite you to dive deeper into the gospel. Study it deeply – [not just] like a seminarian studies doctrine, but like you study a sunset that leaves you speechless; or like a man who is passionately in love with his wife studies her, until he is so captivated by her that his enthrallment with her drives out any allurement toward other women.

The gospel is not merely the diving board off of which you jump into the pool of Christianity; the gospel is the pool itself. So keep going deeper into it. You will never find the bottom.

Centering Our Lives On Something

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

“Since we are made to worship, we are always centering our lives on something whether we realize it or not.  It is like a fire hose that is stuck in the ‘on’ position and shooting water out endlessly with great force. We must decide where we aim the hose as the focus of our worship. The idols of our modern world are not necessarily the hand-carved statues of the ancient world.  In our autonomous self-seeking ways, people have instead come to serve or worship the self-erected idols of approval, comfort, and security.  We must ruthlessly inspect the sin in our heart for these idols… so it is vital that [we] get to the heart. As Tim Keller puts it, ‘The solution to our sin problem is not simply to change our behavior, but to reorient and center our entire heart and life on God.’  Therefore, we must go after the nature of the sin by going after its root and not just the fruit of the sin. Oftentimes people repent of sin that is simply the fruit of the idols in their hearts. We must find out the why of the behavior and not just the what”.

~Tom Wood & Scott Thomas, Gospel Coach

From Graced Again

Gospel Fluency pt 2

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

I have been listening these past few days to the audio of Jeff Vanderstelt on Gospel Fluency.  The concept of Gospel Fluency is simply to learn to speak the language of the gospel, and gospel-centeredness, in every aspect of our everyday lives.

Like any language, the the vernacular surrounding gospel-centeredness may initially feel somewhat foreign, with all the theological concepts and jargon.  Compounding the uneasyness may be the fact that some of the words sound familiar, still it is not our native tongue. The only remedy, the only way to become fluent, is to immerse ourselves  in it.

In this second video Jeff builds upon a solid foundation of gospel understanding, and outlines the practical steps toward Gospel Fluency.  The message is just over one hour, but it will be an hour well spent.

I don’t know the dates and details yet, I do know Gospel Fluency will soon be released as a book.

Gospel Fluency pt 1

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

I have been listening these past few days to the audio of Jeff Vanderstelt on Gospel Fluency.  The concept of Gospel Fluency is simply to learn to speak the language of the gospel, and gospel-centeredness, in every aspect of our everyday lives.

Like any language, the the vernacular surrounding gospel-centeredness may initially feel somewhat foreign, with all the theological concepts and jargon.  Compounding the uneasyness may be the fact that some of the words sound familiar, still it is not our native tongue. The only remedy, the only way to become fluent, is to immerse ourselves  in it.

In this first video Jeff introduces the concept of Gospel Fluency, and lays a firm foundation of gospel understanding.  The message is just over one hour, but it will be an hour well spent.

I don’t know the dates and details yet, I do know Gospel Fluency will soon be released as a book.

The Cross in the Crosshairs of My Heart

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

“I tend to focus my thoughts on my Christianity – how I’m doing, what I’m learning, how my prayer time was today, how I avoided that pesky sin or fell into it again. I think about what I’m supposed to accomplish for Christ, and I interact with others on that same works-oriented ground. But this day isn’t about me at all. It’s about Him: His sinless life, death, resurrection, ascension and reign and the sure promise of His return. It’s the gravity of His life that should attract me toward Him.”

~ Elyse Fitzpatrick, Comforts from the Cross

Fundamentalists, Liberals, and Gospel-Centered Christianity

/ Dennis Griffith / 2 Comments

If you think about it, Fundamentalist and Liberal Christians have more on common with one another than either does with Gospel-centered Christianity.  While Fundamentalists and Liberals would seem to be very different from the other, almost even polar opposites, I am convinced this is true.  For both of those traditions tend to view the purpose of Christianity to be to make one a good person, or to validate a persons goodness.  Fundamentalist assume what makes one a “good” person is to keep the rules.  Liberal Christians, on the other hand, maintain that “good” people are never judgmental (except, perhaps, about judgmental people).  So both are in essence legalists.  At the center of their faith is the Law. The only thing to distinguishes them from one another is how they view and relate to the Law.  Both are driven by personal performance.

Gospel-centered Christianity, on the other hand, in line with the message of the Prophets and Apostles, and even Jesus himself, is not centered on the law nor driven by personal performance.  Gospel-centered Christianity is centered on the person of Jesus.  Unlike the other two traditions, Gospel-centered Christianity agrees with Jesus’ words: There are no good people – not when the standard is God’s holiness. (Mark 10.18)  Gospel-centered Christianity understands that Jesus, and what he has done on our behalf, is our only hope.  And Gospel-centered Christians take comfort, even delight, in that, because Jesus is the only hope and comfort we need.

Total Church

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

I have recently been listening to Tim Chester and Steve Timmis speak about Total Church. I appreciate their emphasis that two key principles should shape church life: gospel and community.

As Tim Chester writes:

Christians are called to a dual fidelity: fidelity to the core content of the gospel and fidelity to the primary context of a believing community.

Wondering about what I would consider an important, really an essential, third spoke, Mission, Chester elaborates:

Whether we are thinking about evangelism, social involvement, pastoral care, apologetics, discipleship or teaching, the content is consistently the Christian gospel and the context is consistently the Christian community. What we do is always defined by the gospel and the context is always our belonging in the church. Our identity as Christians is defined by the gospel and the community.

Timmis and Chester suggest “Being gospel-centered actually involves two things”  So really we have three principles at work.  Christian practice must be:

1.Gospel-centered

  • gospel-centered in the sense of being Word-centered
  • gospel-centered in the sense of being mission-centered (or what I would call being gospel-driven)

2. Community-centered (or what I would call a gospel-formed community)

Here’s how it fleshes out. Contrasting the common polemic nature within much of Christianity, Chester says:

In practice conservative evangelicals often place a proper emphasis on the gospel or on the word. Meanwhile others, like those who belong to the so-called emerging church, may emphasize the importance of community. The emerging church is a loose movement of people who are exploring new forms of church. Each group suspects the others are weak where they are strong. Conservatives worry that the emerging church is soft on truth, too influenced by postmodernism. The emerging church accuses traditional churches of being too institutional, too program-oriented, often loveless and sometimes harsh.

So let us nail our colors to the mast. We agree with the conservatives that the emerging church is too often soft on truth. But we do not think the answer is to be suspicious of community. Indeed we think that often conservatives do not ‘do truth’ well because they neglect community. Because people are not sharing their lives, truth is not applied and lived out.

We also agree with the emerging church movement that often conservative evangelicals are bad at community. The emerging church is a broad category and an ‘emerging’ one at that with no agreed theology or methodology. It means generalizations about emerging church are far from straight-forward. But many within the movement seem to downplay the central importance of objective, divinely-revealed, absolute truth. This may not be a hard conviction, but it is a trajectory. Others argue that more visual media (images, symbols, alternative worship) should compliment or replace an emphasis on the word. We do not think this is the answer. Indeed we think emerging church can sometimes be bad at community because it neglects the truth. It is not governed by truth as it should be, so its community is too whimsical or too indulgent. It is often me and my mates talking about God – church for the Friends generation – middle-class twenty and thirty-somethings church. Only the truth of the gospel reaches across barriers of age, race and class.

If this all sounds a little too radical, to me it sounds a lot like what Francis Schaeffer trumpeted a generation ago.  Check out Schaeffer’s Two Contents, Two Realities.  What Chester and Timmis advocate seems to be two of the principles Schaeffer emphasized: Sound Doctrine and the Beauty of Human Relationships.  Listen to what they say:

We often meet people reacting against an experience of conservative churches which has been institutional, inauthentic and rigidly programmed. For them the emerging church appears to be the only other option. We also meet people within more traditional churches who recognise the need for change, but fear the relativism they see in the emerging church. For them existing models seem to be the only option. We believe there is an alternative.

We want to argue that we need to be enthusiastic about truth and mission and we need to be enthusiastic about relationships and community.

And finally Timmis & Chester offer a warning notice:

[WARNING:] Rigorously applying these principles has the potential to lead to some fundamental and thoroughgoing changes in the way we do church. The theology that matters is not the theology we profess, but the theology we practice.

As John Stott says:

“…our static, inflexible, self-centered structures are ‘heretical structures’ because they embody a heretical doctrine of the church. If our structure has become an end in itself, not a means of saving the world it is a heretical structure.”

3 Lane Escape from Moralism

/ Dennis Griffith / Leave a comment

I am thankful to Joe Thorn for concisely clarifying an issue that I believe confounds many well intentioned Christians.  The problem addressed is the confusion of moralism with the gospel.  In many case moralism is an attempt to take seriously both God and the Christian faith.  Nevertheless, moralism is off track.

In a post titled Killing Moralism, Thorn observes:

Many Christians have grown up in the church on moralistic preaching; that is, preaching that calls for obedience without connecting the commands of God to the cross of Christ.

Thorn goes on to suggest:

This disconnect is dangerous, potentially leading hearers into either self-loathing or self-righteousness. Moralistic preaching is often the ground in which the devil sows the seeds of legalism.

The more I study the more I am amazed by how cohesive the Scriptures are – both Old Testament and New Testament.  Christ is central to both, as together they unfold God’s awesome plan and work of redemption. 

But Thorn is right, too much of what we hear from our pulpits fails to make the connection.  And sadly that has all too often been true of the pulpits I have stood in through the years.  Oh, the Word was proclaimed. The teaching was faithful. Often rich truth was expressed: doctrinal, devotional, and dutiful.  But too often the cross – which is the crux of the whole Bible – was not clearly tied in.

In recent years I have labored to remedy that. But it is still a work in progress.

In his post Thorn suggests three observations we should look for to draw more deeply from the Scriptures for our preaching, teaching, and personal formation:

  • See the God of the Command
  • See the Grace Behind the Command
  • See the Gospel Above the Command.

To practice this observation Thorn wisely instructs us to remind ourselves of three truths:

  1. Jesus atoned for our failure in this command. (Colossians 1.3; Colossians 2.13, 14; Ephesians 2.16; Romans 5.9)
  2. Jesus fulfilled this command for us. (1 Corinthians 1.30-31; Romans 5.19; Philippians 3.9)
  3. Jesus empowers us to live out this command. (Philippians 2.12-13; Ephesians 6.10-20; 1 Peter 4.11)

The more we embrace these principles the better we will become in “preaching the gospel to ourselves”.  And living in light of the gospel is the key to escaping well intentioned but ultimately vapid moralism.

Gospel-Centered Lives

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

From time to time I am asked by some in our church what I mean when I repeatedly declare that we are – and we must be – a Gospel-Centered Church. I think it may be the hyphen that confuses people.

To be “something”-centered is simply to focus on the relation an individual or a church has to a central value.  While there could be any number of things at the center of a persons or organizations values, in our case the point of emphasis is the Gospel (or the Cross).

As for what it means to be Gospel-centered, as an individual or as a church, I don’t think I could answer better than Joe Thorn did in a post titled: Gospel-Centered.  One of the things Joe points out is:

[T]he gospel-centered life is a life where a Christian experiences a growing personal reliance on the gospel that protects him from depending on his own religious performance and being seduced and overwhelmed by idols.

Celebrating Gospel-Centeredness

/ Dennis Griffith / 1 Comment

A good article by Trevin Wax illustrating the importance of, not only Gospel-centeredness but, Gospel Celebration.  Wax asserts:

“What you celebrate as a Church is just as important as what you believe.”

I am not sure I fully agree with that statement, but I do see how what is celebrated practically shapes the church, and therefore its people and mission.  And, I suspect it is also true that if we truly understand the Gospel we will celebrate it – and especially the God who authored the Gospel and the Messiah who embodies the Gospel.  To celebrate anything else merely exposes our true values – in other words, our idols.  To not celebrate Christ above all else reveals that we do not actually understand the Gospel.

So, practically speaking, I guess I do agree with that statement more than I first thought.

Wax goes on to suggest:

Celebrate the gospel, and cross-cultural ministry will bubble up in surprising ways. Celebrate your church’s preferential distinctions, and your congregation will become an insular group of like-minded individuals.

Wax drives his point home with two true-to-life illustrations.

To read the article click: Celebration