Why Gospel Novice?

Why choose such a title for my blog? Hmm… Self deprecation? False humility? Insecurity due to the lack of a seminary degree? Well, if you’re curious, I actually came across this title, or better yet this concept, when listening to Tim Keller speak at the 2006 Desiring God conference. His title was The Gospel in a Postmodern World and his second point, called Gospel Realization, was a salient moment in my Christian life.

For a number of years prior the Lord had been working on me and my wife. It all started with two sermons from CJ Mahaney entitled The Main Thing. This got us thinking and talking about the potentially significant ramifications of a perpetual focus on the gospel. At that time I was studying Ephesians and one of my main rescources was “The Doctor,” D. Martin Lloyd-Jones. I kept coming across the same idea, a kind of Christ centrality that had before evaded me. There was also at that time quite a bit of Spurgeon around (as is often the case) and almost everything he ever said or wrote drips with Christ centeredness. The questions started to rise and the concepts began to form, but all was still very foggy.

At that point the Lord brought my good friend, John, along (see his Gospel Driven Blog). The Lord used him to bring into more clarity the vital need for the truth of the gospel to break in not only on the lost, but on the believer as well. This revolutionized my and my wife’s lives. The Lord began to reveal the sweetness, the joy, the wonder of the gospel to us. We knew all of these truth intelectually, but were rarely struck by them personally. We had, as so many do, looked at the gospel as a first grade class which we now “knew” and should move on from, rather than looking at it as water – desperately needing a fresh drink if we’re to keep running the race, or as Mary Poppins’ carpet bag (excuse the crude comparison, but it works!). You know, the one she set on the table and proceeded to pull out standing lamps and plants and wall mirrors to the kid’s amazement!? The truth of the gospel had no bottom! We were infinately far from even begining to discover its wondrous depths!

And that brings me back to Keller. In his message at the DG 06 conference he hit the proverbial nail on the head when he stated,

If you think you really understand the gospel, you don’t. If you think you really haven’t even begun to understand the gospel, you do…. [W]hat we need is a lifelong process of of more and more deeply realizing the wonder of the gospel…. Religion is ‘I obey therefore I’m accepted,’ the gospel is ‘I’m accepted because of what Jesus Christ has done for me, therefore I obey.’

The clarity with which he spoke about the gospel was the final push into what has undoubtedly become the driving perspective and passion of our lives. I highly, highly recommend you listen to Keller’s message (linked above) and tune in especially to that second point (although the whole message is wonderful).

Once someone begins, by grace, to grasp gospel centrality there is personal revolution. Once a group of people begin to grasp it there is revival. As Keller put it, “A revival is when the wonder of the gospel is recaptured.”

When I pridefully think I ‘get’ the gospel, I am reminded, “No, you don’t! You don’t even begin to get it!” So, I am a gospel novice. Praise the Lord that He continues to reveal more and more facets of the gospel diamond as the days go by and praise Him that He has given us an eternity to explore greater depths still.

May the Lord embrace us with the transforming reality of His full and wondrous grace.

Gospel Blessings!

jason