An emaciated gospel leads to emaciated worship. it lowers our eyes from God to self and cheapens what God has accomplished for us in Christ. The biblical gospel, by contrast, is like fuel in the furnace of worship. The more you understand about it it, believe it, and rely on it, the more you adore God both for who he is and for what he has done for us in Christ.
-Gilbert
“But really, we should just face it. The message of the cross is going to sound like nonsense to the people around us. It’s going to make us Christians sound like fools, and it most certainly is going to undermine our attempts to ‘relate’ to non-Christians and prove to them that we’re just as cool and harmless as the next guy.
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
Since the very beginning of time, people have been trying to save themselves in ways that make sense to them, rather than listening and submitting to God… Indeed I believe one of the greatest dangers the body of Christ face today is the temptation to rethink and re-articulate the gospel in a way that makes it center on something other than the death of Jesus on the cross in the place of sinners.
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
We are not the result of random chance and genetic mutations, gene re-assortments, and chromosomal accidents. We are created! Everyone of us is the result of an idea, a plan, and an action of God himself. And that brings both meaning and responsibility to human life (Gen 1:26-28).
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
“Put simply, the Bible tells us that Jesus us both completely human and completely God. This is a crucial point to understand about him, for it is only the fully human, fully divine Son of God who can save us. If Jesus were just another man – like us in every respect, including our fallenness and sin he would no more be able to save us than one dead man can save another. But because he is the Son of God, without sin and equal in every divine perfection to God the Father, he is able to defeat death and save us from our sin. In the same way, it is also critical that Jesus be truly one of us -that is, fully human – so that he can rightly represent us before his Father. As Hebrew 4:15 explains, Jesus is able “sympathize with our weaknesses” because he “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
“It’s always interesting to watch what happens when people who insist that God would never judge them come face to face with undeniable evil. Confronted with some truly horrific evil, then they want a God of justice – and they want him now. They want God to overlook their own sin, but not the terrorist’s. ‘Forgive me,’ they say, ‘but don’t you dare forgive him!’ You see, nobody wants a God who declines to deal with evil. They just want a God who declines to deal with their evil…if we’re going to understand just how glorious and life-giving the gospel of Jesus Christ is, we have to understand that this loving and compassionate God is also holy and righteous, and that He is determined never to overlook, ignore, or tolerate sin.”
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
I am currently reading a book called “What is the Gospel?” the following two quotes are from this book:
“It is our obligation, as people created and owned by God, to give him the honor and glory that is due to him, to live and speak and act and think in a way that recognizes and acknowledges his authority over us. We are made by him, owned by him, dependant on him, and therefore accountable to him.”
Yet we rebel and deny the worship due to Him and rather serve ourselves….
“That’s a truly revolting image isn’t it? For human beings to consider their Creator and then decide that a wooden or metal image of a frog or a bird or even themselves is more glorious, more satisfying, and more valuable is the height of insult and rebellion against God. It is the root and essence of sin, and its results are nothing short of horrific.”
– Greg Gilbert in What is the Gospel?
tyrosha
