Yesterday, over at John Piper’s Desiring God, he had a post on “Never Let the Gospel Get Smaller.” Wonderful post and reminder as I get “older” in my faith.
His exhortation to his family is:
Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.
I loved this. I think the tendency for some of us as we get to be more mature Christians is that the Gospel gets smaller. We can get jaded and lose that “first love” that we had when we first encountered Christ. I can see this at times in my walk with God and, well, it’s not right.
Probably the most poignant part of Piper’s post (sounds like a tongue twister!) was his bullet points on how you know the Gospel is getting bigger by:
- grace gets bigger;
- Christ gets greater;
- his death gets more wonderful;
- his resurrection gets more astonishing;
- the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
- the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
- its global extent gets wider;
- your own sin gets uglier;
- the devil gets more evil;
- the gospel’s roots in eternity go deeper;
- its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
- and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder
Brilliant post. May I recognize these things in my life and…
May He Increase!
A Gospel Of First Importance
…as of first importance… I Corinthians 15:3
There is no word or truth of greater importance than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are full of many messages. The least among them is more valuable than the combined wealth of the world and more important than the greatest thoughts ever formed in the mind of man. If then, the very dust of Scripture is more precious than gold, how can we calculate the worth or importance of the Gospel?
Even within the Scripture itself, the Gospel message has no equal. The story of creation, though lined with splendor, bows before the message of the cross. The Law of Moses and the words of the prophets point away from themselves to this singular message of redemption. Even the Second Coming, though full of wonder, stands in the shadows of this one word. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the one great and essential message, the acropolis of the Christian faith, and the foundation of the believer’s hope. There is nothing more important, nothing more useful, and nothing more necessary for the promotion of the glory and kingdom of God!
This being true, it should be our magnificent obsession to comprehend the Gospel. It is an impossible task, but worth every ounce of effort spent, for all the riches of God and every true joy for the believer are found there. It is worth shutting ourselves away from every lesser endeavor and inferior pleasure so that we might sound the depths of God’s grace revealed in this one message. A beautiful illustration of such a passion is found in Job 28:1-9:
Even in the ancient world of Job, there were men who were willing to push themselves to the farthest limit, to deprive themselves of surface life, to burrow through solid rock in gloom and deep shadow, to risk life and limb, and to leave no stone unturned in their search for the treasures of this earth. How much more should we who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, be willing to leave off the things of lesser glory to pursue the glories of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Why then, is a true passion for the Gospel so scarce among God’s people? First, it is because the Gospel most often preached today is a terribly reduced or truncated version of the original. The Gospel of God cannot be contained in a tract, or summed up in a few spiritual laws. It is good to understand that God has a plan, that we are sinners, and that Christ died and rose again that we might be saved by faith, but it is only the beginning. It is when we search the Scriptures, and discover the meaning of these things that we realize that we are on a journey that will last beyond our lifetime and into a thousand eternities. With each new truth discovered we are more and more captured by the Glory of the Gospel until it consumes our thoughts and governs our will. This exploration into the Gospel is necessary if we are ever to be passionate about it.
A second reason for a lack of passion is that the Gospel is seen by many to be Christianity 101, or the baby step into the faith that is quickly mastered and left behind for deeper things. Nothing could be further from the truth! The Gospel is the “deep thing” of Christianity! Eschatology and the book of Revelation will be mastered at the second coming, but our pursuit of the knowledge of the Gospel will continue on throughout eternity. The greatest of Christians will never master the Gospel, but every true Christian will be mastered by it!
- HeartCry Missionary Society, Volume 54
Ike,
First off, I’m not aware if you have a blog. You haven’t included your URL.
Secondly, if you don’t, why not? I think you have a lot to share with the brethren.
Third, I loved this comment. I’d like to create a post to use it so it doesn’t get lost in the comments section. Would that be okay?
Thank you, Ike!
Joe,
I will send you the whole 9 part series on this subject. It’s called Gospel 101. It is well written and worth posting each part on your blog.
My wife has had her entire colon removed and she also had a radical bilateral mastecomy (SP?). I have become a full time care giver. This week we will celebrate our 39th anniversary. Last year we celebrated it in the cancer clinic when my wife was going through her chemo infusions. This is one reason I do not have a blog but I will have one in the future……hopefully. Right now I have to take my wife to Hershey Medical Center……….if you want to just go to my son’s blog……….”bloodtippedears.blogspot.com” and type in the search “gospel 101″………page down and you will come to the nine part series. Feel free to use whatever you want. Also, I highly recommend typing in the search “Paul Washer” and listen to his sermon called “Regeneration/self denial”……………..it is well worth the hour!!!!
Ike,
Looking forward to receiving the email (joeATmayheincreaseDOTcom).
I’m also humbled by hearing your story. First, congratulations on 39 years! Praise God. Please know that my family will be keeping you and your wife in prayer. I feel honored that you take time out of your day to visit the blog.
When I get some time later today, I’ll visit your son’s blog as well.
Ike, thank you being a reader. It means a lot to me, personally. You have definitely contributed some great material here and I’m grateful for that.
May Almighty God continue to watch over you, your wife and your family.
In Christ,
Joe.
You are a wonderful brother in Christ! Both my wife and I appreciate your prayers more than any words could express. My wife’s cancer tests (ONKA) put her in a high bracket for the cancer to return. If you do not mind I would like to share our testimony that we gave to our local church.
My wife has had her entire colon removed and she also had a bilateral radical mastectomy. Actually, if I were to tell you all the organs that have been removed from her body, you would need both hands to count them. We have been broken and humbled. The one thing that “we” can say is that even though there are no guarantees that the cancer will not come back and even though my beautiful wife is scarred emotionally and physically, while “we” were sinners…the lowest of the low…God saved us! And that is enough! Even if the cancer comes back, God is enough! He is good! He is precious! He is our treasure! He will satisfy us!
“Whom have we in heaven but the Lord and on earth there is nothing we desire but Him! Our flesh and our hearts may fail but the Lord is the strength of our hearts and our portion forever!”
“ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS NAME, LET ANGELS PROSTRATE FALL! BRING FORTH THE ROYAL DIADEM AND CROWN HIM LORD OF ALL!”
In Christian love,
Ike and Carol
Ike,
Please check your email.