From the Bookshelf #001 - The Gospel

Given that it's Resurrection Weekend, it feels all the more apt to share one of the books I have been recently about the Gospel. This Gospel is supposedly the core tenet of our Christian faith; something that is meant to define every bit of our lives. Keller says it well: “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”

Yet, the Gospel is something that is often unclear and not understood in our churches. As Willard puts it: 

“The major problem with the invitation now is precisely overfamiliarity. Familiarity breeds unfamiliarity—unsuspected unfamiliarity, and then contempt. People think they have heard the invitation. They think they have accepted it—or rejected it. But they have not. The difficulty today is to hear it at all.”
- Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

Simply put, the problem of today’s experience of the Gospel is that our familiarity with “it” breeds a lack of understanding and creates distance between us and the Gospel itself. More importantly, we often find it hard to live out from the reality of the Gospel and see it fill our lives. The only time we really come close to experiencing the Gospel is when we feel horrid about our sins and then we confess it to God to ask for His forgiveness.

So with this backdrop, here are some of my takeaways, although I have barely read through a few chapters of Ortlund’s book. Maybe I’ll share of my thoughts further down the line. For now, here’s some of my biggest takeaways: 

My biggest takeaways

Across this book, Ortlund reiterates over and over again that the Gospel is not just something to believed or something to be pondered about at a cognitive level. The Gospel needs to—it must!—be lived out in our church cultures, relationally and authentically. 

Ortlund then goes on to present some of the ways the Gospel can be lived out in “Gospel Culture”: At an essential level, Gospel Culture begins with us being so loved by God that we are so compelled to love and welcome others in the same way. We can unashamedly love because God loves. 

One way this can be done is by embracing a culture of grace where good things happen to bad people. Ortlund gives us a framework to consider how grace and holiness come hand-in-hand. He essentially says Gospel Culture = Gospel + Time + Safety. We must hear the Gospel boldly preached, but we must also have the time for it to sink into our hearts and hands. Lastly, we must experience emotionally safety in the relationships and groups we are in so that we can be comfortable failing and trying again. 

Finally, Ortlund ends off his first 4 chapters in this regard. By living in this manner, we are living proof through which others can see Christ’s household—the new neighbourhood that Christ is building for all eternity. This way of living is the core essential that draws others to know Him and to see His household.

Some thoughts. 

Do we actually embrace a culture of grace where good things happen to bad people? In Church and in our very households, do we jump to expressing unconditional love or do we express judgement? I realise I haven’t quite experienced this relational and emotional safety in church. We need to look past behaviours, and be alright with Christians not acting like Christians all the time—we are sinners in need of a Saviour, not self-righteous pricks. 

How can something as simple and ordinary like spending quality time in relational safety be the very evidence of Christ in us? Have we sometimes forgotten that Christianity is not so much about creating the best programmes and singing the nicest songs? 

This Good Friday and Holy Week, let’s remember that the Gospel is grandiose and supernatural, lived out in boring, ordinary lives. We cannot rely on the cool services and nice lighting to “entice” others into the household of God. Let’s not be too overly discouraged or excited at the response of newcomers to some spectacular display in our services. If we do, I fear we are focusing on the wrong things.

If anything, I am reminding myself, over and over again, that my discipleship to Christ is almost always going to be a quotidian one. Our churches may feel domestic and simplistic at times, but I do believe that’s really where the beautiful culture of the Gospel can be felt, experienced, and lived out.

Let us walk the straight and narrow; the road less travelled. Let us continue in that “long obedience in the same direction”. Let us live our daily lives so ordinarily marvellous that others would want to join us to live under the Lordship and love of Christ.