God is the Gospel

God is the Gospel. That was John Piper's theme in this two-day conference that ended yesterday. Nice idea, I suppose, but what exactly did he mean? He tried to say it as many ways as he could. "If Jesus isn't there, it's not heaven." "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied with Him." Indeed, he had 23 bullet points he tried to impart in our brief time, 23 ways to say it over and over.

The best, in my opinion, was when he laid out the Gospel. The Gospel can be described in 4 basic ways. It is an event, an achievement, an offer, and an application. The event of the Gospel, according to 1 Cor. 15, is that Christ died and rose again. The achievement of the Gospel is four-fold: Christ's event 1) appeased God's wrath, 2) paid the sin debt, 3) provided perfect righteousness, and 4) obtained eternal life. The offer of the Gospel is ... it's free! The application of the Gospel is "by faith" -- all that the event achieved is yours for free if you believe.

So ... how is it that "God is the Gospel"? We've laid out the Gospel here. How is God the Gospel? Piper spent hours explaining to us that while God does all that He does for us and we should be grateful, and God provides the Gospel and all that it entails to us and we should be grateful, we still need to ask Why? So God's wrath is appeased ... so what? So the sins are atoned for ... so what? I can have righteousness and eternal life, and that's all good stuff ... but to what end? The answer is in the Bible:

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation
(Rom. 5:9-11).

Why did He appease God's wrath on our behalf? Not merely so we could walk away free of wrath, but so that we would be reconciled to God. But beyond reconciliation, we rejoice in God. The mark of a reconciled believer is joy in God!

How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit!

Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart (Psa. 32:1-2, 11).

Cancelled debt is nice, but the purpose of cancelled debt is restored relationship and rejoicing in the Lord.

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:1-2).

Having Christ's righteousness imputed to us ("justification") is marvelous, but the point of it is that we would "have peace with God" and "exult in hope of the glory of God".

And eternal life is a good thing ... but just what is eternal life?

This is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).

Eternal life is knowing God!

We have the description of the Gospel in its various aspects, and we find that all that Christ achieved in His death and resurrection He achieved for the purpose of connecting us ... to God! God is the final end, the ultimate point, the first and last thought of the Gospel!

Piper made it most clear to me when he gave this illustration. Early one morning he gets up and stubs his toe on something his wife left laying about. (He admits this isn't likely -- it's merely an illustration.) Before she's even awake, he berates her for leaving this out. Later, she is at the kitchen sink "with her back manifestly toward me". He knows what he has to do. He has to ask her forgiveness. The question, though, is "Why?" What does he want? What does he hope to accomplish? He doesn't simply want an "all clear" from his wife. He doesn't want to be able to go about the rest of the day thinking, "I'm okay." No! He wants a restored relationship. He wants her to turn around, to say, "I forgive you", to hug him and tell him it's alright. That is the point!

It was very good stuff. I recommend the book. I recommend the time spent examining the idea. I recommend removing all the "stuff" we associate with God -- the things He does, the blessings He gives, the good things He offers -- and remind ourselves that

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail,
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation (Hab 3:17-18).