Four Essential Questions for Becoming Gospel Fluent
This past Sunday, we considered what it means to put our hope in God, trusting him with every situation and circumstance. We often find it hard to trust God in the waiting: when we wait to hear if we’ve received the new job, when we wait for the results from a lab test when we wait to hear if our loved one is going to come out of surgery. Waiting is often difficult, and it’s in the waiting–where so much is unknown–that we might be tempted to take our eyes off God and fail to believe that he is working his power, purpose, and plan in our lives. In doing so, we can experience anxiety, fear, disappointment, anger, or despair.
So what can we do when we fail to believe the good news of God’s promises for us when everything seems bleak? How can we build up our hope muscles in the gym of life?
I want to suggest learning four essential questions that we can use to preach the good news of God into our lives and the lives of others so that we can become “gospel fluent” people, meaning people who know the gospel, apply the gospel, and speak the gospel. We’ll take a few weeks to look at these questions, how we can apply them to our study of God’s Word, and then some specific examples of how we can speak them in everyday life.
Who is God? In other words, what is God like? What are his character qualities and attributes? Who does God say he is?
Where do we go to find this? We go to Scripture, where God has revealed to us what he is like and who he is.
What has God done? What has God done to show and prove his character and his attributes? In other words, how does God show that he truly is all he says he is? Again, he gives us his Word to show all he has done. And most supremely, he shows us who he is and what he has done in and through Jesus, who died on the cross and defeated death through his resurrection. He’s also allowed us to experience what he has done in our lives, as he works in and through us for good purposes.
Who are we now? We might also ask it another way: What is now true of us because of what God has done? This question connects to what the Bible teaches is true of our identity rooted in Jesus. We understand that our identity is not based on what we do but on who we are because of what Jesus has done on our behalf.
This truth is one of our core affirmations under the “D” in our DNA — “I am new in Christ.” And if you’re not aware, DNA is the acrostic we use to help our people understand the characteristics of a disciple: Dwelling in Christ, Nurturing Relationships, and Advancing the Gospel.
What do we do? Another way to say it: how do we respond in every situation BECAUSE of all that is true of the previous three questions? What will your actions or emotions be in light of who God is, what he has done, and what is true of you? How will you now live and act in this situation or this very moment?
Next week, we’ll look at these four questions and how we can use them to study Scripture deeply. But for now, rehearse these questions to yourself and get to know them. See if you can take a passage of Scripture and apply these four questions (HINT: next time, we’ll look at 1 Corinthians 1:1-10).
And if you want to go a bit further, when you find yourself anxious, fearful, angry, or discouraged, try to work through these questions. Ask the Spirit to give you help in doing so! We can only become gospel-fluent people through God’s grace and power!
I love you CHURCH!
–Wade
P.S. We’re taking a brief break from our Participating in the Missio Dei series to highlight the four questions. But don’t worry, we’ll continue it in a few weeks!
