While on the exercise bike this morning, I was reading chapter 2 of God is the Gospel by John Piper (click the link for online version at DesiringGod.org). And again, Piper did the usual thing to me when I read his books. I was thinking, "Man, I need to read this over again". The chapter titled "The Gospel - The Biblical Scope of its Meaning" went over the substance and the promises of the Gospel. Some of the section headings are:
-There is a Living God
-The Arrival of God's Imperial Authority
-Jesus: A Savior Who is Christ, The LORD
-Christ Died for Our Sins in Accordance with the Scriptures
-Jesus, Risen from the Dead...
-...The Promise of the Spirit
-The Promise of Salvation For All Who Believe
-What the Cross Purchased makes the Cross Good News
-The Good News of Peace with God and Each Other
-The Good News Promises Eternal Life
I hope you are getting the weightiness and value of this chapter. However, Piper makes something very clear that there is an awfully dangerous way of 'not knowing' the Gospel. He ends the chapter with this clarification:
"Now the point of this book must be pressed. The point is that the precious gospel events and gospel blessings that I have outlined in this chapter do not suffice to make the gospel good news. What makes the gospel finally and supremely good news has not yet been mentioned. ... But for the most part the good things mentioned in this chapter as essential parts of the gospel are not the final good of the gospel and would not prove to be good for us at all if the unmentioned supreme good were not seen and embraced. That good is God himself seen and savored in all his glory. Focusing on facets of a diamond without seeing the beauty of the whole is demeaning to the diamond. If the hearers of the gospel do not see the glory of Christ, the image of God, in all the events and gifts of the gospel, they do not see what finally makes the gospel good news. If you embrace everything that I have mentioned in this chapter about the facets of the gospel, but do it in a way that does not make the glory of God in Christ your supreme treasure, then you have not embraced the gospel."
Well that final statement is a very telling one. Is the Gospel serving my selfish intentions, or am I embracing God as the ultimate gift of the Gospel? I don't have an absolutely positive answer right now. Lord willing as I learn more and more to pick up my cross and follow Christ, the gospel will be as it should be in my life.
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I greatly value the study of Hebrews. In chapter 4 of Hebrews, we are reminded of how the gospel was heard by the Israelites under Moses and the people in the epistle's time.
Indeed, if we have not embraced the gospel, we need to go back to the spiritual milk for we would be ready to have solid food.
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