Jon Stewart on The Gospel

Jon Stewart decided to weigh in on Bill O'Reilly's statement that Christianity is not a religion but a philosophy. Irreverent sarcasm aside I agree with Stewart up to the point where he said he would get an "A" in Jesus' philosophy class.  That is the point behind Christianity.  None of us would get an "A" because to do so would require perfect obedience both inward and outward to the law of God.  So Jon, "Barukh ata (expletive)" we are all in serious trouble because we don't meet the righteous demands of God's law.  That is why we believe Jesus the Son of God who died on the cross for our sin and "who ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father and who will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead whose Kingdom will have no end."  Jon this invitation is open for you and anyone one else.

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Book Review

In the Great Commission our Lord asks us to do three things: go into all the world and make disciples, baptize them in the Trinitarian formulation, and teach them.  One and two are pretty straight forward and executed on fairly well by the church today.  However, teaching can be something called in to question.  Are we as the body of Christ proficient in this area?  Or to be more specific, is what we are teaching what our Lord had in mind?  D.A. Carson has written, "I fear that the cross, without ever being disowned, is constantly in danger of being dismissed from the central place it must enjoy, by relatively peripheral insights that take on far too much weight.  Whenever the periphery is in danger of displacing the center, we are not far removed from idolatry" (The Cross and Christian Ministry).

In the The Cross Centered Life CJ Mahaney explains the centrality of the cross in Christianity then explains how this is lived out daily.  He offers suggestions to better assist the believer by memorizing the gospel, praying the gospel, singing the gospel, consider the gospel's impact on you, and study the gospel.  Why the heavy emphasis on the gospel?  It's like Carson said, it is imperative that we keep the central things central so that it doesn't get replaced by the peripheral. 

Never the less The Cross Centered Life is a good book and well worth the read.   

Quote of the Day

"All around us we see Christians and churches relaxing their grasp on the gospel, fumbling it, and in danger of letting it drop from their hands altogether." John Stott Guard the Gospel