WHY WE STILL NEED THE GOSPEL - Part 3

We learned in the last post that we still need the gospel because it reminds us that we have been saved from sin and its penalty. That is the meaning of the theological term justification. Today, we will consider the second aspect of the value of the gospel: we are being saved from the presence of sin. To explain this let me use an illustration.

When I was a little boy I was fascinated by my dad's car. It was a 5-speed. It reminded me of Speed Racer and to me, like any boy of that era, Speed Racer was the man. I watched as my dad did something with his feet and then, in cool fashion, shifted the gears. I was desperate to get behind the wheel and work that magic. The problem, however, was that I was only seven years old. One day, as my dad and I pulled into pulled into our neighborhood he asked me that awesome question: Do you want to drive?

He let me sit between him and the steering wheel and I put my left hand on the wheel and my right hand on the stick shift. I was Speed Racer! My dad instructed me saying that when he told me to shift, that I was to shift the gear. There I was driving the 5-speed. I thought I was the man because I truly thought that "I" alone was driving the car. I could not have known then the two things I came to understand later: first, I was driving - a little bit and second, I was actually cooperating with my dad who, alone, was controlling the entire event so that if (and when) I messed up, I would not crash.

This is a wonderful picture of why we still need the gospel. God alone worked the process of saving us from the penalty of sin (we have been saved), but God works with us in the process of being saved from the presence of sin in our lives. This is what we call sanctification.

Christ saves us and makes us acceptable to Him, but we work with Him in becoming more and more like Jesus in life and heart. Jesus is in control of it all, but we must hold the wheel and navigate the direction of the decisions of our days and moments. In other words, the gospel reminds us that growing in maturity and holiness is at one part the Lord's work but/and, at the same time and, in a meaningful way, our work too! There is no growth in grace or Christ-likeness for any of us who are merely waiting for God, alone, to do it. He has not designed it that way. It is crucial that we do not get this aspect of salvation wrong or we will live spiritually mediocre and defeated lives.

While there are many passages that speak to this reality (Phil 2:13-14; 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:2; Hebrews 12:13-15; 2nd Peter 1:5-10, etc.) I want to give a brief focus to one that shows the balance of our personal discipline and God's sovereignty working together for our maturity: 1st Corinthians 15:10. Paul says,

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the

contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with

me."

Here we see the Lord’s control of everything as bookends of the verse: "by the grace of God I am what I am” and then at the end of the verse he says “... though it was not I but the grace of God...." That is the fundamental reality of holiness: God is working in and through us to grow move us towards maturity in Christ. Never, at any time, can we say that God is not working or that it is all dependent on us. Yet, in the middle of the verse Paul tell us that he "worked harder than any of them...."

Paul works as God graciously worked in and through him. Paul, by a steady diet of the Word and submitted dependance in prayer, is being filled and empowered to think and behave in ways that continuously conform him - heart, mind and life - to the character of Christ. We must not miss this truth. None of us grows without effort. Yes, salvation is God being in control of everything and, growth in holiness and maturity is our work too! Thus, for those who choose not to live out the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, worship and fellowship there will be little to no spiritual growth. God will not do for us what He commands us to do! Paul understood that and, therefore, he worked

The popular phrase "let go and let God" is as deceptively dangerous. The Lord never tells us to "let go" in the sense that we should stop pursuing Him or suspend the use of spiritual disciplines as if He will do all of the work in our growth and maturity. We should let go of the things we cannot control but our spiritual discipline is not one of those things. Paul was intense in his spiritual discipline not to be justified (God does that alone) but to be sanctified in and through and with the Holy Spirit.

If we will not make us our business to pursue Him we will never become like Him. As one theologian put it: "the gospel that saves us is the gospel that sanctifies us." In other words, (a please ponder this):

The gospel that saved us from the penalty of sin and made us right with God is the same gospel

that is saving us from the presence of sin in our lives so we can increasingly mature in Christ.

We will need the gospel!