What the Gospel Is and Isn't by David Achata & Doug Foley

This blog will be posted on Easter Sunday – the day we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, conquering sin and death forever. As I listened to Pastor Andy’s sermon yesterday about how the resurrection makes us a dangerous people, it made me think about what makes a church dangerous vs. ineffective.

What makes a church dangerous? The Gospel. What makes a church ineffective? Secondary gospels (i.e., ways to be justified before God other than Christ).

Here’s the problem: The church can become so caught up in arguments over what we are supposed to believe (or do) that, at some point, we stop being the church and become some kind of intellectual forum. It seems to me that the voices that are the loudest within Adventism veer sometimes toward the right, while not much is heard from the left or the middle.

I heard someone say that the Gospel makes the liberals think you are too conservative while it makes the conservatives think you are too liberal. This, I think, is what it means to be in the middle.

Here’s what I’m trying to say: I love my church, and I want it to be effective.

So this week I sat with my friend Doug, and we spent two and a half hours trying to hammer out a simple list of what the Gospel is and isn’t. This list is not complete, but it is our attempt to offer clarity beyond the conservative and liberal arguments. It’s our hope that on this day, by re-focusing on the Gospel, we can all be brought back toward the middle to put our main focus on Jesus rather than on the secondary issues.

The Gospel:

1. Makes us righteous first (2 Cor. 5:21 )
2. Helps us do good works second (Eph. 2:8-10)
3. Places a high value on confession and repentance (James 5:16, 2 Cor. 7:10)
4. Humbles us and does away with all notions of superiority (Luke 18:14)
5. Is simple and complex – i.e., simple enough for a child to understand, complex enough to exhaust the most seasoned theologian (Rom. 11:33)
6. Liberates us from sin (Gal. 5:1)
7. Breaks us (Mt. 21:44)
8. Unites us (John 17:21, Eph. 2:11-13)

The Gospel isn’t:

1. A permission slip to spiritual snobbery which leads to sin (James 4:6, Rom. 2:17-24)
2. The cart before the horse – i.e., we do good works so we can be righteous (Gal. 2:16)
3. Private (read: better) knowledge (1 Cor. 8:1, 2 Peter 1:20)
4. A license to remain the same (Gal. 5:13)
5. Secondary (i.e., One bible study guide amidst 30)

So there you have it. As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, let’s live as dangerous people and hold up the flag of the Gospel. Let’s love our Lord and serve with our church to speak and live the Gospel in the world.

David Achata and Doug Foley