Reviewing Humble Orthodoxy, Week 3

Title: The Life: Applying the Gospel to All of Life
Speaker: Mike Bullmore
Session: Main Session #3, Na06
Date: May 28, 2006

This is almost a whole week late, so I'll have to catch up in the next few weeks. Oh well, I was busy last weekend.

Main Text
1 Corinthians 15:1-3 (among others)

Some Opening Thoughts
Even if you are not listening through the New Attitude messages, let me strongly encourage you to listen to this one. There is so much that is communicated that I haven’t been able to include – and even for what I have included, bullet points cannot suffice. Download it. Listen to it. You won’t regret it.

A Brief Outline
1. A Biblical Paradigm: God’s Word speaks about the Gospel not just as an abstract truth – it speaks of it in terms of its functioning in our lives
A. The functional centrality of the Gospel (see 1 Cor.15:1-3, Rom.1:16)
B. The Implications of the Gospel (see Rom.5:1, Rom.8:32)
C. The Behavioral implications of the Gospel (see 1 Cor.6:18, Eph.4:32)
2. Practical Suggestions for Application
A. Start with your own life first
B. Let Gospel connections inhabit your conversation with others (see Is.50:4)
C. Remember, the greatest good of the Gospel is that God gives Himself to us

One aspect of this message that has continued to impact my thinking is the imagery of three concentric circles that Mike Bullmore spoke of. While we know that the Gospel is central, we can tend to operate with a disconnect between “other” Biblical truths and Biblical conduct. All truth, however, flows out of the Gospel, as do all areas of Gospel conduct.

Other Points
-->What will make the difference in each one of these areas where we spend the energy of our lives? Answer: Whether or not the truth and reality of the Gospel is actually functioning in our lives – in every area.
-->The Gospel speaks to everything – every dimension of our lives.
-->One of the marks of growing maturity is the ability to see these connections.
-->All of our problems come from a failure to apply the Gospel.
-->We need to be reading our Bibles with a special eye to detecting the connections it makes between the Gospel and specific behavior.
-->Making these connections is not just leveraging the logic of the Gospel, but harnessing the power of the Gospel.
-->Ultimately, all Christian behavior should flow from the Gospel.
-->A big part of a God-honoring interaction is helping others to believe Gospel truths and to make Gospel connections so that they can see how the Gospel functions in their lives.
-->Don’t just pick up the Gospel vocabulary! “There is nothing so deadly to the divine as an habitual dealing with the outsides of holy things.” (George MacDonald)
-->Let the ultimate truth of the Gospel be what ultimately defines us .

Some Application Questions
-->Am I cultivating a deep personal understanding of and appreciation for the Gospel?
-->Am I faithfully reading God’s Word with that purpose in mind?
-->Am I becoming increasingly familiar with the richness of the language of the Gospel?
-->Am I rehearsing the truths of the Gospel?
-->Am I reading and thinking about things that help me meditate on the Gospel?

One Thing That Has Stuck With Me
Looking for Gospel implications as I read the Bible. This message has had a huge impact on the way I read the Bible. Mike Bullmore gave a few Scriptures to illustrate different Gospel implications; but, as he said, there are countless others.

One Thing I Re-learned By Re-listening
I’ve re-listened to this message multiple times since I first heard it, so I don’t know that there was anything that I had totally forgotten. I find this statement challenging, however: “ultimately, all Christian behavior should flow from the Gospel.” Why is that challenging? Because I know that there are areas of my life where fuzziness does persist in my understanding of how to apply the Gospel.

Discussion
-->What are one or two things that you learned in listening to this teaching?
-->If you were re-listening to it, what are some ways that God has used this teaching in your life over the last two years?
-->Also, feel free to give suggestions on the focus and format of these posts.
-->Finally, as great as it is to be able to talk about this online, talk about it personally with people you know. Use it as an opportunity to share with each other what God is teaching you, and how He has given (and is giving) you the grace to apply it.

This was Week 3 in the fifteen weeks of reviewing humble orthodoxy, leading up to New Attitude 2008 in Louisville, Kentucky on May 24-27. Listen to “Applying the Gospel to All of Life” for free.

Next Week: The Cross: A Meditation on Jesus’ Atoning Death (C.J. Mahaney)

Background on this series: Humble Orthodoxy