1 John 3:11-18

 

God's sacrificial love on a cosmic scale is transmitted through us on a micro scale; see a need, fill the need, live out God's love by what you do and what you say.

 

In a year like 2020, Christians have been connected to many different labels. It feels like we've become a caricatured stereotype on a sitcom some days. However, according to 1 John, our primary identity in the world doesn't need to be anything other than the heart of the Gospel. If we are going to be known for one thing, let it be love. Because of the transforming and energizing love of God for us through Christ, our default posture should be one of love. It is our light to a dark world where love is scarce. This is especially true in what promises to be a charged climate this month. John speaks of a powerful and unconditional love abounding from God through His people. It is grace and forgiveness as well as truth and justice. Love is the prevailing identity of Christians in our world today.

I Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19

 

The Gospel renews what it means to be content, freeing us to prioritize and purpose our money correctly.

 

"We never move on from the Gospel; we move on in the Gospel." -J.I. Packer. What we've now defined as the core of our faith in the four chapter Gospel, we can now see at work on the ground in our lives. The Gospel doesn't just apply to a one-time moment of salvation; the Gospel has implications and foundations for every single area of our lives. It is not just the first rung of the Christian ladder; it is the hub into which every aspect of our lives is connected. It transforms us and continues to transform us so that everything revolves around Christ. In these four weeks we will explore the power of the Gospel in four important arenas of life. And each week we will see the danger of reducing the four-chapter Gospel to a two-chapter Gospel. We see that in a few ways. 1) Easy Believism: Fall and Redemption. 2) Moralism: Fall and Consummation. 3) Denial and Postmodernism: Creation and Consummation. 4) American Gospel: Creation and Redemption. 5) Despondency: Creation and Fall. These distortions of the Gospel show up in these four arenas of life and can create havoc and unhealthiness. That's why it's essential for us to bring the true Gospel to all of life.

Jeremiah 29:4-7

 

The Gospel call lies at the root of every other calling in life to transform vocation's how and why.

 

"We never move on from the Gospel; we move on in the Gospel." -J.I. Packer. What we've now defined as the core of our faith in the four chapter Gospel, we can now see at work on the ground in our lives. The Gospel doesn't just apply to a one-time moment of salvation; the Gospel has implications and foundations for every single area of our lives. It is not just the first rung of the Christian ladder; it is the hub into which every aspect of our lives is connected. It transforms us and continues to transform us so that everything revolves around Christ. In these four weeks we will explore the power of the Gospel in four important arenas of life. And each week we will see the danger of reducing the four-chapter Gospel to a two-chapter Gospel. We see that in a few ways. 1) Easy Believism: Fall and Redemption. 2) Moralism: Fall and Consummation. 3) Denial and Postmodernism: Creation and Consummation. 4) American Gospel: Creation and Redemption. 5) Despondency: Creation and Fall. These distortions of the Gospel show up in these four arenas of life and can create havoc and unhealthiness. That's why it's essential for us to bring the true Gospel to all of life.

Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 11:6-9; Romans 10:9-17, 12:1-2; Revelation 19:6-10, 21:1-8

 

As children of God, we work in the "already" to heal what has been broken through the fall as we await the "not yet" of the one day that God consummates His plan to unite all things for the glory of Christ.

 

With so many issues demanding our attention, we must clarify what is at the core of who we are as Christians. If we threw Advent into a refiner's fire, what would remain in the crucible? What is at the crux of what it means to be a Christian? What are the crucial tenets of our faith? Forgive the etymological wordplay, but the answer to all of this is the cross! More fully, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. The Gospel is not only where it starts, it's where it ends and the means by which we get there. J. I. Packer said, "We never move on from the Gospel; we move on in the Gospel!" But before we spend four weeks studying where the Gospel applies in everyday life, we'll spend September diving into the nature and power of the Gospel. Every storyline you've ever enjoyed is made up of four parts: creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. That's because humans were designed to long for the Gospel, and these four parts are the four chapters of the grand story of redemption that God is working out through history.