God is the Gospel

The question I posed yesterday was not original with me. In fact, I completely hijacked it. It is actually the central question posed by John Piper in his book God is the Gospel.

I was reminded of this book this summer when some friends from church and I were meeting with some Chinese friends to discuss the gospel. That night we were discussing heaven and hell, and we tried to explain why heaven is such a desirable place (as opposed to annihilation or an endless cycle of death and rebirth). We spoke of the absence of sin, pain, sorrow, sickness, and death. We spoke of beauty, eternity, peace, and rest. While these characteristics of heaven are wonderful and true, they are not what make heaven heaven. GOD is what makes heaven heaven. It is because HE is there that we want to be there.

Piper's book God is the Gospel was what first alerted me to the importance of making clear that GOD Himself is the point of Christianity. So often we describe the Gospel in terms of forgiveness, atonement, justification, freedom from sin and death, eternal life, etc. To be sure, all of these are essential to the gospel. But the only reason that any of these things are good news is because they get us to God!

I urge you, Christian and non-Christian, to read this book. You can read it online here or you can purchase it here. Or you can listen to this sermon that was the basis for the book.

I'll leave you with these quotes for your consideration:

"When I say that 'God Is the gospel,' I mean that the highest, best, final, decisive good of the gospel, without which no other gifts would be good, is the glory of God in the face of Christ revealed for our everlasting enjoyment."

"The saving love of God is God’s commitment to do everything necessary to enthrall us with what is most deeply and durably satisfying, namely himself."