In this chapter the gospel of Jesus Christ is placed at the centre of all reality. God is known and God works through the gospel word about Jesus Christ. This means that Christian ministry and church life must be gospel centred.
A number of points are made about the centrality of the gospel:
- Christianity is word-centred because God rules through his gospel word. The power of the word of God is seen clearly in God’s creation of the world and his dealings with Israel and ultimately in Jesus himself as the living Word of God.
- Christianity is mission-centred because God extends his rule through his gospel word. The kingdom of God grows as people hear the word of the gospel, turn from their sin and acknowledge Jesus as their king. As a result Christianity is a missionary faith where we seek to see people hear this word.
The Spirit of God and the word of God are never divided in the scriptures and so a word-centred church is a spirit-centred church. That does not mean being Christian is only intellectual but our emotions will be shaped and produced as we respond to the word of God.
The implication that is drawn out is that the church and Christians exist by the gospel and for the gospel. The gospel creates the church and the church bears witness to Jesus. It is easy to say this but difficult to live it. If we were to live lives that were truly centred on the gospel of Jesus and oriented to mission then it would affect
- how we approach secular employment
- where we live
- our standards of living
- what we spend time doing
- what we pray for
The reality is highlighted that most churches (and hence Christians) are not very good at engaging in a compelling way with people in our culture. We are good at praying and sending missionaries overseas but don’t engage in mission in our own area.
The challenge for Christian people is to make the gospel the centre of our lives every day of the week, modelling to a watching world what it means to be a Christian. It means thinking of work places, homes and neighbourhoods as the location of mission.
Questions? What do you think of the ideas in the gospel? How can you use your daily routine for the gospel?
1 comment:
I thought this chapter has some really great things to say how the Bible story unfold the powerful word of God. The tracing through of the word of God from creation through Israel to Jesus and the church was great.
What was missing for me was the centrality of the atoning work of Christ for the sins of the whole world. I know that it is hard to say everything but I really thought this was missed.
It might have been better to divide this chapter into two since in the end the application was mission - not 'BE RECONCILED TO GOD!'
That being said, I thought the stuff on mission was really helpful as we need to have gospel intentionality that really has traction in our own lives. Looking forward to the next summary by Mark!
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