Devotion: Gospel Centered Living

Here are some notes from the devotional I led to start out this semester. It is a relatively rough set of notes, but hopefully it is understandable! My hope was to give a clear and concise Gospel to our students, and call them to real Christian living with each other. More to come soon!
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Gospel-centered living

In the story of the Gospel we see everything that we call good, or should call good.

Discipline, self-control and Fear in proper perspective (Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26:39-46)

Endurance of suffering (Hebrews 12:2)

Joy (Hebrews 12:2)

Sacrifice and Service (Philippians 2:1-8)

Justice (Colossians 2:13-14)

Value of Life (Life and life abundant – John 10:10)

We also see some very profound and simple truths about the world and our place in it: 

-       There is sin

-       Sin demands payment

-       God loves us enough to come get us

o   While we were yet sinners – Romans 5:8

o   For God so loved…John 3:16

-       There is nothing left for us to pay, we are saved by Grace in trusting Christ   

o   Ephesians 2:4-9

Because of these things that we see called good, and because of these truths that we see, there are ramifications on how we should live, specifically in Christian community:

1.     Acknowledgement of sin. Every person here had to be saved, which means that every person here has sin. And in order to have authentic Christian community, we have to understand and recognize that.

a.     Bonhoeffer, Life together:

                                               i.     “One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood. He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere; he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood. Just at this point Christian brotherhood is threatened most often at the very start by the greatest danger of all…the danger of confusing Christian brotherhood with some wishful idea of religious fellowship, of confounding the natural desire of the devout heart for community with the spiritual reality of Christian brotherhood. In Christian brotherhood everything depends upon its being clear right from the beginning… that Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but must be centered in reality.”

2.     We are to bear each other’s burdens and sins(Galatians 6:2)

3.     We are to confess our sins and forgive each other (James 5:15-16)

4.     We are to help each other pursue what is good (Proverbs 27:17)

5.     We are to be renewed in our standards of what is good (Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:1-4)

Final thoughts and questions:

-       What does authentic Christian community look like to you?

-       What areas of your life are not surrendered to Gospel-living?

-       In your experience, does your church fall short of authentic Gospel-living in community? If so why? If not, how is it upheld?