Most people’s problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel–a failure to grasp and believe it through and through.
-Tullian Tchividjian
The small group study titled the Gospel-Centered Life describes a common misconception about the gospel :
“Many Christians live with a truncated view of the gospel. We see the gospel as the “door,” the way in, the entrance point into God’s kingdom. But the gospel is so much more! It is not just the door, but the path we are to walk every day of the Christian life. It is not just the means of our salvation, but the means of our transformation. It is not simply deliverance from sin’s penalty, but release from sin’s power. The gospel is what makes us right with God (justification) and it is also what frees us to delight in God (sanctification).”Real change cannot come apart from the gospel. God intended for the good news to mold us and shape us in every way. The way we think, feel and live must be defined by the gospel. There's two ways that we live out a Christian life that is not centered on the gospel :
1. License –right or wrong is all relative. This is someone who does not recognize that there is an absolute moral truth that comes from God. This person downplays sin and moral depravity. Such a man emphasizes a forgiving, loving God yet does not repent from his sins. He minimizes sin and it’s effect in life. "I may not be perfect, but I’m basically a good person." he says.
It’s a hokey way to live to say the least. According to DA Carson, it’s like committing murder and you stand in trial and this is what you say :
Members of the jury, I am not asking for mercy or pardon. I want justice. I am demanding a full acquittal. Yes, I committed murder of which I am accused. But I am not guilty. Members of the jury, you must consider all my good deeds – not merely as mitigating circumstances but as reason for exonerating me. The goodness of my other deeds outweighs the crime that I committed. My good deeds require a not guilty verdict. If justice is to be done, you must find me innocent.
In Romans 6:1-14, Paul says that grace is not a license to keep on sinning. We are dead to sin but alive in Christ Jesus. So sin no longer reigns in this mortal body, rather the body is now an instrument for righteousness.
2. Legalism or moralism – a legalist is someone who does all good works in order to be approved by God. This is the Christian who tries hard to be good by his own strength. His relationship with Christ is performance driven. The error of this approach to Christian living is that it is based on ignorance of the finished work of Christ. A Christian, who is saved by grace through faith, continues to live under the grace of God and walks in obedience because he loves God and therefore now wants to live for God's glory.
Remember that our acceptance by Christ is based on what Christ has done for us – not on what we can do for Christ. By grace you have been saved through faith – not as a result of works – that remains true even when you are a believer in Christ. I think that sometimes our problem is that we are not used to “living under grace”. Our main problem is that we have not really comprehended the deep implications of the message of the gospel. We do not realize what we have in Christ. Some of us live in spiritual poverty simply because we do not know what we have in Christ- we try our best to live the Christian life and we fail miserably. We go straight to the how to’s (works) without thinking much about the basis of why we must live that way.
The gospel-centered life is a life of daily dependence on God to have the strength to do good works and bear fruit (John 15:1-11). Thanks be to the God who began the good work in us and will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ's return (Philippians 1:6). This is the gospel-centered life!
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