The Gospel in All its Forms

I preached on the gospel on Saturday night and this week, I will be sharing some of the things I read to prepare. There were several articles that I came across that were incredibly helpful in thinking through the question of what is the gospel. Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Church wrote an article “The Gospel in all its Forms.”

Here are some things that jumped out:

• The gospel has been described as a pool in which a toddler can wade and yet an elephant can swim. It is both simple enough to tell a child and profound enough for the greatest minds to explore.
• Soren Kierkegaard defines sin as building your identity – your self-worth and happiness – on anything other than God. That is, I use the biblical definition of sin as idolatry. That puts the emphasis not as much on “doing bad things” but on “making things into ultimate things.”
• If I had to put this outline in a single statement, I might do it like this:  Through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God fully accomplishes salvation for us, rescuing us from judgment for sin into fellowship with him, and then restores the creation in which we can enjoy our new life together with him forever.
• The gospel is to redeem both the material and spiritual worlds. Jesus will someday destroy hunger, disease, poverty, injustice, sin and death itself.
• A generation ago evangelicals agreed on “the simple gospel”:  (1) God made you and wants to have a relationship with you, (2) but your sin separates you from God. (3) Jesus took the punishment your sins deserved, (4) so if you repent from sins and trust in him for your salvation, you will be forgiven, justified, and accepted freely by grace, and indwelt with his Spirit until you die and go to heaven.

What are your thoughts, do you agree or disagree?