a new series: the gospel applied to real life
Jan. 25 2008I have a concern. I was having lunch with Mark Dever (pastor at Capital Hill Baptist) recently and he said something that made me start thinking:
“Often, the first generation of Christians grab hold of the gospel, the second generation of Christians tend to assume the gospel, and the third generation of Christian abandons the gospel.”
I see many people in the second category—people assuming the gospel. These are the people that are many times on my heart when I think about what we are doing with New Attitude. These are people who nod their heads at the gospel but for whom the gospel is not functional in their life. They see gospel as the way to enter into relationship with Christ, but that’s about it. Functionally, the gospel becomes just a fire insurance policy that sits on our shelf, but it doesn’t really make a difference.
All too often I can be in that second category.
Whether you have been saved for 30 minutes or 30 years we all need to be reminded of the amazing good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This message is the life defining message of the Christian.
With that in mind we are going to spend a couple months on the blog and in the articles section talking about how the gospel applies to many aspects of life. We’ll cover many topics from Lust and Porn to Dealing with Death and Forgiving Others. We’ll learn how the gospel applies to these subjects. We are really excited about this and pray that it serves you all.
Rich Richardson writes the first article in the series and you can read what he has to say about the gospel and death.
(And if you have any topics you want us to write on leave us a comment.)
Comments
Eric,
I think that this observation of Mark Dever’s is often correct. I think many first generation Christians, like my dad, don’t grow up in Christian homes hearing the gospel on a regular basis. Thus they’re conversions are often dramatic, and they clearly see the life changing implications of the gospel. For second generation Christians, like myself, I’ve heard the gospel since I was a little boy. I’m very familiar with it, and so I become complacent towards it. Which is why I need to be reminded over and over of the glories of the gospel.
Thank you for thinking through these issues. Looking forward to NA08…
Stephen Altrogge on Sun Jan 27, 2008 at 8:20 pmhey, I think a great topic to address would be how the gospel should shape our hopes for the future. We approach each day with generally immediate concerns, and when our concerns do extend into the future, they rarely extend into eternity. it’s always about the next move in life, when is marriage coming, what job will I have, will I be successful, etc. But we should be living way beyond that...with our new hope through the gospel guiding our posture towards each new day. I would love to see this addressed. thanks for your service to all of us readers - I know it is one of God’s many graces to me.
nik lingle on Mon Jan 28, 2008 at 11:09 pmCould you maybe do one on the forgiveness (from God) of more serious sins, sexual sins, etc?
jamie on Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 9:41 amI’m looking forward to these articles and blog posts! Thank you for keeping us focused on the MAIN THING!!! How about the gospel and how it affects contentment, gluttony (lack of self-control w/food), fear of man, and vanity.
yellerdaisies on Thu Jan 31, 2008 at 7:31 pm
Eric,
I am really looking forward to this series. I also feel your concern that this current generation is assuming the matter of first importance! We all have that tendency to assume that we understand the gospel fully and have applied it fully. I have been seeking to show the youth that I minister to how the gospel transforms every area of our lives. We have taken many areas of life and sought to apply the gospel specifically to those areas - relationships, pastoral leadership, suffering, conflicts, priorities, etc, so that the gospel is not just a stated center, but actually functions for us daily. Your blog has been a tremendous help to me as I seek to serve the youth and families in our church in this manner, and I know that this series will only add to this! Thank you!
Growing in grace,
Daniel Loggans on Sat Jan 26, 2008 at 12:36 pmDan