Becoming Gospel Fluent | Speaking Gospel Truths – part 7
We’ve taken several weeks to lay a foundation of what it means to become a gospel fluent community (if you haven’t read parts 1-6, I’d recommend that you start there!). As we continue in this series, we want to think through what it means to speak gospel truths to one another intentionally.
But before we unpack this, it would be helpful to give you the definition of the gospel once again. Remember, the gospel is the “good news,” particularly good news about Jesus. You can summarize the gospel in several ways, but here’s a definition I like to use:
The gospel is the good news that Jesus is Lord and King over all creation. Jesus ushered in God’s kingdom and died on the cross for our sins, was buried, resurrected, and exalted to the right hand of God the Father. In his great love and by his amazing grace, God the Father saves those who repent of their sin, believe the gospel, and follow Jesus. When King Jesus returns on the Day of Judgment, everyone who has followed him will enter into the eternal Kingdom of God.
In other words, the gospel is the good news that Jesus is King of all creation!
I’ve found that it helps when speaking the gospel to others to think about and consider speaking one or more of the four implications that flow from the gospel: salvation, justification, adoption, and sanctification. What do I mean by this?
My good friend, Caesar Kalinowski, author of The Gospel Primer,outlines it this way, and I think it’s great:
Because of the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we are…
- Completely saved from the penalty of our sin, given a more abundant life now, and eternal life with God. That’s salvation.
- Declared right with God because of Jesus’ perfect life exchanged for ours. That’s justification.
- Children, fully loved and accepted by our Father, made part of his family forever. That’s adoption.
- Becoming more like Jesus as we begin to live out what is now true of us in the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s sanctification.
As we think of these gospel truths, we can flesh out what it means to speak them into one another’s lives. This is important in becoming a gospel fluent people who speak the good news! Here’s how that can look:
Because of the gospel, we…
- Do not have to live with guilt or shame over our pasts sins or present areas of our life that God is still working on. We have been given a new life in Jesus! Therefore, we can extend forgiveness and grace to others with great courage and flexibility. This is salvation.
- Do not need to control others’ opinions of us or try to impress God with our spirituality since the Father now sees Jesus’ perfect life and status when he looks at us. Therefore, we can live with deep humility yet much gratitude, confidence, and joy. This is justification.
- Have nothing to earn because we’re already fully loved, approved, and valued by our Father. Therefore, we can love and serve all people, even our enemies, without strings attached. This is adoption.
- Do not need to look to anything else for identity and purpose since we have been reborn by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we can re-orient our whole lives around the mission of Jesus to make disciples. This is sanctification.
As you go through the week, think through these four implications of the gospel. How can you apply them to your life – past, present, and future? How can you speak these truths to others who might be experiencing shame, guilt, pride, anger, or loneliness?
This week, take some time to discuss this with a friend, family member, or missional community. How do these gospel truths give you joy, peace, and freedom?
Let’s strive to speak the gospel truths to one another! Praying with and for you,
–Pastor Wade
