29 March, 2024

Explicit, Not Assumed: Find This Book and Read It! (Part 2)

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by | 8 October, 2012 | 0 comments

By David Faust

 

The Explicit Gospel
Matt Chandler with Jared Wilson
Wheaton: Crossway, 2012

In the contemporary church”s effort to be cool and culturally relevant, have we diminished the message of the cross?

Matt Chandler, who preaches for The Village Church in Dallas, Texas, suggests that for lots of American churchgoers, the gospel has been merely assumed, not made explicit. And what many assume about Christian faith is not the robust gospel that takes God and sin seriously and sees grace as the God-given solution. Instead, many hold to an anemic “moralistic therapeutic deism”””we try to be good, we want to feel good, and we like believing in God (as long as he doesn”t get too personally involved).

“I meet a lot of people swimming neck deep in Christian culture who have been inoculated to Jesus Christ,” Chandler writes. “They have just enough of him not to want all of him.”

Chandler”s “explicit gospel” includes two overarching themes. First, there”s “the gospel on the ground” (human salvation)””the work of Christ at the micro level transforming individual hearts. Second, there”s “the gospel in the air” (cosmic restoration)””God”s overarching purpose at the macro level that eventually brings all things under the supremacy of Christ. (Chandler assigns social justice to this latter category.)

What”s NOT to like about this book? Many Christian Standard readers will share my discomfort with Chandler”s Reformed theology. (Who says the doctrine of total depravity, with all of its baggage, is “explicit” in the Bible?) Some may disagree with his opinion about the age of the earth. (He calls himself a “historic creationist” who finds middle ground between “young earth” and “old earth” positions.) Others may find his theological conclusions too simplistic or his criticisms of seeker-sensitive sermons and mainline Protestantism too caustic.

But it”s hard to disagree with Chandler”s call to make the good news clear in our preaching and practice. The book contains fresh illustrations and occasional flashes of humor. Some samples:

“Trying to figure out God is like trying to catch fish in the Pacific Ocean with an inch of dental floss.”

“It makes no sense to run up a tree afraid of a kitten while walking up to a lion and slapping it in the face. Will we fear man while flouting God?”

Quoting Thomas Watson: “Till sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.”

“We are the opposites of King Midas””everything we touch turns not to gold but to ash.”

“Let”s be careful to preach the dos and don”ts of Scripture in the shadow of the cross”s “˜Done!””

The book”s title rings true. The gospel needs to be explicit, not assumed. We dare not neglect or de-emphasize truths the Bible calls matters “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:1-3).

 

David Faust is president of Cincinnati (Ohio) Christian University and a columnist for The Lookout magazine. His new book, Honest Questions, Honest Answers, is available from Standard Publishing.

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