Is It Gospel!?
Cutting through the Crust
The question everyone wants to know… (drumroll, please) ….
“IS…IT… CAKE!?”
The Netflix show called “Is It Cake?” displays the incredible artistry of bakers as they compete to fool judges and audiences with cakes shaped as bowling balls, bananas, bags… almost anything really.
It is fascinating to watch the host cut into a tool bag revealing it to be cake and not the real deal.
We can be fooled by impostors rather easily–if we aren’t watching carefully.
When it comes to teaching, we need to regularly ask, “Is it Christian!?”
How will we know if teaching is Christian? If the Gospel of First Importance is at the center!
When you cut through the layers of teaching, do you find the Death for sins, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Remember our 3 uses for Gospel:
The Good News of God’s Big Story.
The Good News of Jesus’ Life Story.
The Good News of First Importance.
Earlier this week we addressed how the life and teaching of Jesus can be separated from the Cross and Resurrection into an Inspiration Only Gospel.
We’ve already dealt with the Cross-less version of this teaching. I’d like us to be very aware of the Cross-light version too.
There are many Christian teachers who present lots of helpful content that does not have the Good News of First Importance baked into the layers.
Christians must keep a keen eye on the recipe of a teacher to make sure that the primary ingredient is the person and work of Christ.
We’re more familiar with teaching that removes Christ’s substitutionary life and death from the recipe (or at best makes Him a garnish) than we think.
Often, these teachers make imitation of Jesus central instead of substitution by Jesus.
You must develop tastebuds that can tell the difference.
A focus on imitating Jesus (or any Biblical character) in spiritual practices does not deal with our complete spiritual inability.
I’m concerned that helpful teaching and popular resources often sets Christians up for a discipleship that is off center.
Spiritual formation is popular and I’m glad more Christians want to imitate the Lord. Still teachers like John Mark Comer don’t seem to make the perfect life, substitutionary death, and victorious resurrection their focus and theme.
When you hear teaching, ask yourself, “Do I have to believe in Christ’s death for sins, burial, and resurrection to embrace this teaching?” This is the Christian question for “Is it cake?”
We cannot settle for an inspirational story of an Old Testament hero or an instruction in ancient spiritual practices that does not require Christ’s substitution.
Christian practices must flow from the Cross and Resurrection. We must come and die, then rise to discipleship. The Gospel of First Importance is continually central to a life following Christ.