The Apostle Paul makes some sweeping reminders about the nature of the true Gospel in the opening verses of Galatians. These are reminders we all need to hear.
Here is what Paul says…
If your life is like mine, it is probably anything but simple. Sports, school, plays, movies, practices, church, and any number of other family activities crowd life. Complexity and multi-tasking characterize our days.
But we need simplicity. The Psalmist writes, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him.”1 Those words speak of a quiet way foreign to our modern lives. We must rediscover this path if we are to know God better.
Of course, we do not seek simplicity for simplicity’s sake. We seek it that we might have enough white space to truly slow down and hear from God. The point is to see and savor God. We remove clutter for the sake of relationship.
Simplicity creates the needed space for contemplating and understanding our journey. To hear from Jesus and from His word, we must stop, look and listen. Simplicity creates space for these things to happen.
So one tangible way to spiritual vibrancy may be a simplified schedule, a clean desk, or a quiet hammock. Nothing fancy.
- Psalm 37:7 [↩]
The term “Evangelical” is loaded. It represents a greatly diverse group of denominations and their respective beliefs. In fact, “Evangelical” can subsume such wide-ranging churches as the Lutherans, Reformed, Anabaptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Holiness People, and Pentecostals.1 Anyone acquainted with the various doctrines and styles contained within these groups can testify to what a comprehensive and complex stream Evangelicalism comprises.
With all this baggage, trying to trace the history and central tenor of the movement can be quite a difficult and tenuous task,2 and because of this, some have chosen to abandon the word altogether. But while the debates rage, the term itself is not strictly a matter of opinion. It is a historical term with a distinguished and concrete lineage.
In this post, I hope to clarify some of the confusion by offering a brief history of the term.
“For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” Deuteronomy 4:24
God stands apart from me to a degree I cannot fathom. He is wholly other.
I am creature. I am fallen. I am as the grass.
God is infinite. He is righteous. He is perfect. He knows everything. He created everything. He sustains everything. He is holy.
He is worthy of all praise and honor.
Yet I often think of my sins as mere trifles. I consider my offenses small. I consider myself a good person.
Deuteronomy 4:24 shatters my false perception. I see in this verse my hopeless and ultimate destruction.
Yet I see something else.
Because of the forgiveness offered to me in Christ, Deuteronomy 4:24 reminds me of his lavish love.
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed…Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.”
Christians constantly reference and preach the gospel. The whole of Christian religion centers around the gospel. And yet, scholars and commentators still debate its essential content. Everyday churchgoers also conflate or confuse its meaning.
So what is the good news of the gospel? How might we boil down Christianity to its most core message?
I am a pencil advocate; this much you may already know. But you may never have considered why pencils far outstrip pens.
Why are pencils superior to pens for reading and note taking? The reasons are many and irrefutable. (You should note I am speaking of mechanical pencils in particular).
The gospel will surprise you and thrill you when you see its true dynamism. The gospel can paradoxically create and abolish religion. Sounds impossible, but it’s true.
Pastor Tim Keller captures the dynamism of the gospel when he writes:
“The gospel calls us out of religion as much as it calls us out of irreligion.”
This statement sounds confusing. Isn’t Christianity a religion? Doesn’t the gospel promote and produce religion?
Well. Um. Kinda sorta.
We tend to complicate faith, but faith is fairly simple.
If someone asked me what it means to have saving faith in Jesus, I would say saving faith involves truly believing in Jesus (more than just intellectual assent) and is verified by a life lived for him.
That sounds good, but if we’re not careful, we can complicate and clutter faith by adding too many qualifiers.
Experience can do one of two things. It can either make you a worse critic or a better helper.
You can take your knowledge and experience and judge others. You can say how you wouldn’t have done it that way. You can critique every last detail. You can puff up your own ego because you’ve identified where someone else has failed.
Or…
