The Gospel-Driven Life by Harry L. Reeder III

When I was asked to participate in this column* designed for older Christians to share insights and encouragements to younger believers, I had no doubt what issue to address — the Gospel-driven life.

The Gospel of saving grace in Jesus is the foundation, the formation, and the primary motivation for the Christian life.

The Gospel message brings you to Christ as the sure foundation for eternal life. The Gospel message provides direction for the formation of your new life. The Gospel message provides the primary motivation for a maturing life. The importance of living a Gospel-driven life is why Paul reminded the Corinthian church that when he was “with them” he was determined to maintain their focus upon the Gospel, by preaching “Christ and Him crucified.” Adding emphasis, he declared, “I did not come to baptize, but to preach the Gospel” (see 1 Cor. 1:17). He was not demeaning baptism, but rather underscoring that the Gospel is essential to evangelism and disciple-making.

Early in my Christian life, I thought the Gospel was the message to win people to Christ, then, in disciple-making, one moved on to “deeper things.” What a fallacy! You never move beyond the Gospel. You go deeper and higher with the Gospel, but never beyond the Gospel. The Gospel is what defines how to be a Christian man, woman, spouse, parent, and citizen. The Gospel brings the reign of Christ’s kingdom to our hearts and throughout the world. The Gospel blessings give joy to the Christian life and the ability to rejoice even in suffering. The Gospel imperatives direct our new desire to lovingly obey our Lord. The Gospel provides the foundation, the formation, and the motivation as it ignites our loving obedience to Christ as we discover the transforming truth that “He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

A steady delivery of brochures to my office offer conferences that will help the church “make the Gospel relevant.” Betsy Childs, a daughter of our church and writer for Ravi Zacharias, in commenting on this phenomenon, writes: “Why would we think the Gospel is irrelevant?” She is right. Nothing is more relevant than the Gospel. To be sure, we must understand the issues of our age and connect meaningfully with people for effective evangelism and discipleship, but nothing is more relevant than the Gospel message, which announces: When there was no way for man to be right with God, He made a way, through Christ, His Son, who is “the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through [him]” (John 14:6). The Gospel message reveals that God’s love has met God’s holiness at the cross. Therefore, our salvation is by the power of God and the unfailing righteousness of God.

Most religions have a commonality. They tell you what you must do to gain salvation. In contrast, the Christian Gospel declares what we do is not the answer, but the problem. I am convinced the greatest words in the Bible are: “But God.” “Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you…” (Rom. 11:22).

In Romans 1:15 Paul declares that a key to his desire to come to Rome is because he is “eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” The “you” are identified in verse 7 as “the loved by God and called to be saints.” In other words, Christians. Paul was eager to preach the Gospel not only to the lost but also to the Christians. Paul obviously believes that the Gospel is essential to both evangelism and discipleship as it provides the foundation, the formation, and the motivation for the Christian life. 

When I was sixteen, my father bought me a car at an auction for $75. It was a pink ’57 Ford, which Dad insisted was “coral.” I couldn’t drive a pink car to school! I then heard words that in a not-to-distant future my children would hear, “Son, a poor ride is better than a proud walk.” It was said so convincingly I knew it was probably in the Bible. Then my Dad opened the hood, and to my surprise, underneath was a 390 engine with two four-barrel carburetors. The car had been a South Carolina State Interceptor (a highway patrol car). Nothing had more power under the hood. Space and conviction prevents me from detailing the surprises that Corvettes and Roadsters would get after they looked laughingly at my pink ’57 Ford while sitting side by side at stoplights. It didn’t look like much, but there was power under the hood.

Young Christian, the world despises the Gospel in its simplicity and disdains the vessels entrusted to carry and proclaim it. But there is power under the hood. Live the Gospel, believe and preach the whole Gospel — the Gospel blessings that declare who you are in Christ, the Gospel imperatives that call you to your new life for Christ. This Gospel transforms the hearts, minds, and wills of sinners. Thankfully, it continues to transform mine. Preach it to yourself, to each other, and to the lost, and know the joys of the Gospel-driven life.

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Dr. Harry L. Reeder III is senior minister of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

*In order to promote the unity and growth of the body of Christ, Generation to Generation endeavours to provide the wisdom of elders to younger readers and convey what young Christians need to hear as they mature in the Christian faith.

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From Ligonier Ministries and R.C. Sproul. © Tabletalk magazine.
Website: www.ligonier.org/tabletalk. Email: tabletalk@ligonier.org.
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I’m also hoping to read this book soon by Michael Horton:

Anxiety by Arthur W. Pink

“Cast your burden on the Lord,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.”

- Psalm 55:22 (E.S.V.)

 

"Be anxious for nothing" (Phil. 4:6). Worrying is as definitely forbidden as theft. This needs to be carefully pondered and definitely realized by us, so that we do not excuse it as an innocent "infirmity." The more we are convicted of the sinfulness of anxiety, the sooner are we likely to perceive that it is most dishonouring to God, and "strive against" it (Heb. 12:4). But how are we to "strive against" it? First, by begging the Holy Spirit to grant us a deeper conviction of its enormity. Second, by making it a subject of special and earnest prayer, that we may be delivered from this evil. Third, by watching its beginning, and as soon as we are conscious of harassment of mind, as soon as we detect the unbelieving thought, lift up our heart to God and ask Him for deliverance from it.

The best antidote for anxiety is frequent meditation upon God's goodness, power and sufficiency. When the saint can confidently realize "The Lord is My Shepherd," he must draw the conclusion, "I shall not want!" Immediately following our exhortation is, "but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God." Nothing is too big and nothing is too little to spread before and cast upon the Lord. The "with thanksgiving" is most important, yet it is the point at which we most fail. It means that before we receive God's answer, we thank Him for the same: it is the confidence of the child expecting his Father to be gracious.

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought (anxious concern) for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:25,33)

The Sufficiency of Scripture

A collection of quotations pertaining to the sufficiency of scripture in every facet of a Christian's life:

“The fanaticism which discards the Scripture, under the pretense of resorting to immediate revelations is subversive of every principle of Christianity. For when they boast extravagantly of the Spirit, the tendency is always to bury the Word of God so they may make room for their own falsehoods.” - John Calvin

"Some persons think they can know God by means of their own human reason. But reason is a blind ally spiritually. It has always been the great minds exercising their powers apart from the Word of God who have produced the great heresies. Some think they can discover God by listening to a so-called 'inner voice.' But the voice is often nothing more than an expression of their own inner desires. Quite a few think that spiritual truths can be verified by supernatural events or miracles. But the Bible everywhere teaches that even miracles will not lead men and women to understand and receive God's truth unless they themselves are illuminated by the Bible (see Luke 16:31). I believe that we can state categorically that there is no knowledge apart from Jesus Christ and that there is no knowledge of Jesus Christ apart from a knowledge of the Bible." - James Montgomery Boice

“I have convenanted with my Lord that he should not send me visions or dreams or even angels. I am content with this gift of the Scriptures, which teaches and supplies all that is necessary, both for this life and that which is to come.” - Martin Luther

“Even though [the Bible] is an ancient document, every person in every situation in every society that’s ever existed can find in this book things that endure forever. Here’s a book that never needs another edition. It never needs to be edited, never has to be updated, is never out of date or obsolete. It speaks to us as pointedly and directly as it ever has to anyone in any century since it was written. It’s so pure that it lasts forever.” - John MacArthur, You Can Trust the Bible, Moody Press, 1988, p. 21-22.

This weapon is good at all points, good for defense and for attack, to guard our whole person or to strike through the joints and marrow of the foe. Like the seraph’s sword at Eden’s gate, it turns every way. You cannot be in a condition that the Word of God has not provided. The Word has as many faces and eyes as providence itself. You will find it unfailing in all periods of your life, in all circumstances, in all companies, in all trials, and under all difficulties. Were it fallible, it would be useless in emergencies, but its unerring truth renders it precious beyond all price to the soldiers of the cross. - C.H. Spurgeon, Spiritual Warfare in a Believer’s Life, Sermon Matthew 4:4.

“The sufficiency of Scripture means that we don’t need any more special revelation. We don’t need any more inspired, inerrant words. In the Bible God has given us, we have the perfect standard for judging all other knowledge. All other knowledge stands under the judgment of the Bible even when it serves the Bible.” - John Piper, Thoughts on the Sufficiency of Scripture, February 9, 2005. www.DesiringGod.org.

"Sola Scriptura makes is a transformation in your trust. Your conviction and confidence is no longer in psychology, social theory, corporate business models, or modern marketing techniques, but rather in the fully sufficient Word of God. For personal life, family life, church life – indeed, for ALL of life: vocational, political, community, etc. – the comprehensive principles, precepts, practices, and prudence of the Word of God is your safe and sure guide. No longer will you live life as a practical humanist, but rather you will approach all issues “epistemologically self-conscious” since there is no moral neutrality in the universe." - John Thompson, The Sufficiency of Scripture: By What Standard? April 3, 2003, www.visionforumministries.org

Preoccupation With Self

Let us continually seek to forget ourselves, so that we can labour seeking towards Christ.

“The average person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is engaged in a desperate personal search throughout his lifetime. He does not really know where he has been. He does not really know what he is doing here and now. He does not know where he is going. The sad commentary is that he is doing it all on borrowed time and borrowed money and borrowed strength; and he already knows that in the end he will surely die! Man, made more like God than any other creature, has become less like God than any other creature. Created to reflect the glory of God, he has retreated sullenly into his cave; reflecting only his own sinfulness. Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies in this world that man, made with a soul to worship and praise and sing to God's glory, now sulks silently in his cave.” – A.W. Tozer

“The great hymns of the church are on the way out. They are not gone entirely, but they are going and in their place have come trite jingles that have more in common with contemporary advertising ditties than the psalms. The problem here is not so much the style of the music, though trite words fit best with trite tunes and harmonies. Rather it is with the content of the songs. The old hymns expressed the theology of the Bible in profound and perceptive ways and with winsome memorable language. Today’s songs are focused on ourselves. They reflect our shallow or nonexistent theology and do almost nothing to elevate our thoughts about God. Worst of all are songs that merely repeat a trite idea, word, or phrase over and over again. Songs like this are not worship, though they may give the church-goer a religious feeling. They are mantras, which belong more in a gathering of New Agers than among the worshiping people of God.” - James Montgomery Boice

“In space, astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that draws them to the center. Where there is no "moral gravity"- that is, no force that draws us to the center- there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us where we were never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is foolishness. Instead of gravity, flippancy. Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point will never serve to keep our feet on solid rock. Our reference point, until we answer God's call, is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up.” - Elizabeth Elliot

“Preoccupied with ourselves, we have lost the grace of being thankful. It is sad to live in a world where there is no one to thank because we have ourselves become the cause and source of all good things.” John Hannah, To God be the Glory, Crossway, 2000, p. 11.

 

“Self-belittlement, self-exaltation, and self-pity all indicate a preoccupation with self. Inordinate attention to self is the exact opposite of God’s commandments to love Him and others. A self-focus also prohibits the development of a Christlike servant attitude in you. If you try to save your life by focusing on self, you will reap certain consequence; instead of saving your life, you will lose it.” Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 9, Page 4.

 

“Children are rude because they are so naturally egocentric. It’s their needs, their comforts, their feelings that they demand be met- usually at the expense of weary parents. Of course, self-centeredness is natural, expected behavior in infancy and tolerable in toddlers, but it becomes downright unbearable in school-age children. Proper manners can be a most effective tool in teaching children that they are not the center of the universe. And as the realization grows, they will be well on their way to becoming civilized rather than savage.” Kent and Barbara Hughes, Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway Books, 2004, p. 124.

Only In Him

Though this narrow path we tread, may we continue to look towards God, for apart from Christ, we can do nothing.

 

"…until God reveals himself to us, we do not think we are men, or rather, we think that we are gods; but when we have seen God, then we begin to feel and know what we are. hence springs true humility, which consists in this, that a man make no claim for himself, and depends wholly on God." John Calvin(Commentary on Isaiah 6:5)

 

“In order to trust God, we must always view our adverse circumstances through the eyes of faith, not of sense. And just as the faith of salvation comes through hearing the message of the gospel (Romans 10:17), so the faith to trust God in adversity comes through the Word of God alone. It is only in the Scriptures that we find an adequate view of God’s relationship to and involvement in our painful circumstances. It is only from the Scriptures, applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, that we receive the grace to trust God in adversity.” - Jerry Bridges

 

“God is able to work with or without human means. Though He most often uses them, He is not dependent upon them. Furthermore, He will frequently use some means altogether different from that which we would have expected. Sometimes our prayers for deliverance from some particular strait are accompanied by faith to the extent we can foresee some predictable means of deliverance. But God is not dependent upon means that we can foresee. In fact, it seems from experience that God delights to surprise us by His ways of deliverance to remind us that our trust must be in Him and Him alone.” – Jerry Bridges

 

“Many Christians estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt. All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them.” Hudson Taylor