Gospel-Centered: Seeing Life With God Goggles On

What is the primary influence that impacts how you see your world and circumstances each day? Fear? Arrogance? Hopelessness? Faith?
 
King David (of Goliath slaying fame) penned Psalm 16 as a counter attack in a battle with some internal worries. How he addresses his fears gives us a primary tactic for approaching and engaging everyday life in a fearful, out-of-our-control world. He writes in verse 8: “I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be shaken.”
 
David lives with “God Goggles” on. He intentionally sets who God is and how God relates to His people as a filter over his mind. This enables him to interact with his concerns, circumstances, and thoughts influenced primarily by God’s character and promises.
 
Updating David’s language into an increasingly common Christian phrase, we could say that David lived with a Gospel-centered mindset enabling a Gospel-expanding life. Pastor and Author Tim Challies explains: “To be Gospel-centered is to live your life with the constant awareness that the Gospel changes everything. It is to ask in every situation, What difference does the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ make here and now?”
 
Every Christian is called to be primarily oriented on the Gospel in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5. Gospel-centered goggles enable us to read the newspaper trusting God’s sovereignty and wisdom. We can endure physical pains by hoping in the coming, eternal wholeness promised to us through Jesus’ resurrection. We engage in human relationship by enjoying and re-deploying God’s forgiveness and transforming grace. The Gospel can change everything, every day for every believer.
 
6 Simple Tactics for Growing a Gospel-Centered Mindset (hijacked gratefully from this small, excellent book)

1. Remind yourself of the Gospel every day. Sit down, grab your own attention, and tell yourself, “Hey, listen up! This is what matters most today: you’re forgiven. You have hope. Your hope is based on the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus. Let today be dominated by the Gospel.”
2. Memorize the Gospel. God instructs us in the Psalms to store up His Word in our hearts. I love that picture. God wants us to tuck His promises into our hearts so that, no matter where we are or what we’re doing, we can pull them out and be strengthened by them. If you don’t think you’re good at memorizing don’t give up. God isn’t keeping score. It’s worth the effort.
3. Pray the Gospel. The Gospel makes it possible for us to approach God. Thank God for Jesus’ work, for your forgiveness, for His never-ending love, for removing your guilt. Ask God to bless you with a Gospel-centered mindset so you can obey and glorify Him.
4. Sing the Gospel. Make Gospel centered worship part of your daily routine.
5. Review how the Gospel has changed you. One of the best ways to be glad in God is to remember your past and be reminded of how marvelous God’s salvation really is. Take time to think about where you were and what God has continued doing in you since you put your faith in Jesus.
6. Study the Gospel. To grow in your passion for Jesus, increase your understanding of what He has done. The Gospel is like a diamond with hundreds of sparkling facets to be transformed by. Ask your pastor for book and sermon suggestions for digging into Gospel truths.

 
10 Ways the Gospel Can Transform Real Life

1. Gospel-centered living relieves condemnation and shame. When we are weak, Jesus is strong. When we are confused, He is steady. When we feel devastated and crushed by our continual ineptness, we hear, “That by a single offering Christ has perfected for all time those who are being saved” (Hebrews 11:14). Cement the truth in your heart that you are fully forgiven for all your crimes against God because of Jesus Christ.
2. Gospel-centered living motivates battling my sin and growing with Jesus. Every day I need to remember I am a new creation, the old is gone and the new has come. We are divorced from sin’s power because we are married to Christ. When the old creeps back in belonging to Jesus stamps on my mind, “No!” that’s not me I’ve been made new.
3. Gospel-centered living combats self-pity. The Gospel promises the Holy Spirit lives in me with the power that raised Jesus from the dead. A Gospel-centered Christian is freed from ever saying, “I can’t do that” or “Its too hard” to God’s commands. Whatever God asks of me I can learn and become through my union with Christ.
4. Gospel-centered living combats pride. I’m not more cool, more deserving, or more special than those around me. I’m a sinner saved by grace, and I’m really glad to get that grace. I’m going to treat those around me with the same grace.
5. Gospel-centered living boosts family relationships and goals. Jesus showed me love and changed my life by serving me so I’m going to bless my family with the same attitude of service. With Christ’s power I’m going to love, be patient, be gentle, and our goals as a family are going to be about having a blast spreading the Gospel.
6. Gospel-centered living removes fear of earthly circumstances. Whether fear bombs you from global news, national news, or personal situations, the Gospel guarantees that you are on the winning side. Jesus has conquered sin, Satan, and death, and when you face sin, Satan, or death you dwell secure because God will not abandon your soul to Sheol (Psalm 16:10).
7. Gospel-centered living motivates sending and being missionaries. Our planet has 7.2 billion people. 3 billion of those people belong to tribes or nations that are totally unreached with the Gospel. As I’ve met people in coffee shops or through counseling the most repeated response when I share the Gospel with them is, “I’ve never heard that before. I knew bits and pieces but they never made sense.” Gospel-centered living says, “I have good news people need.”
8. Gospel-centered living makes church meaningful. If you meditate each day through the week on how excellent Jesus is, how sweet salvation is, how glorious eternal life is you’ll sing louder, you’ll serve more, you might even say “Amen!” What a God we gather to worship!
9. Gospel-centered living replaces arrogant apathy with generous compassion. The Gospel is the story of the richest person in the universe, Jesus, bending His riches to lift up the broken, lost, guilty, and abandoned. American culture models an arrogant apathy where we think of ourselves, spend on ourselves, and largely ignore the hurting. Gospel-centered living shoves off that arrogance to join God’s Kingdom in multiplying generous compassion to the hurting.
10. Gospel-centered living makes my heart glad and my whole being rejoice (Psalm 16:9). Your sins are paid for, you’re new, you’re saved, and you’re greatly loved by God! The Gospel story never gets old. It’s what we always need. Can we ever grow tired of God’s love? Never. It’s too big, too deep. 

 
If you’ve shifted away from the Gospel or if you’ve never lived a Gospel-centered life, guess what the answer is? The Gospel! Look back to Jesus. He’s still off the cross, He’s still out of the tomb, and He’s still on the throne. Jesus is like a paramedic ready to drive the ambulance of grace straight to your need. 

Put Gospel goggles on your eyes. Set the Lord always before you, and discover the peace and pleasure David celebrated when he concluded "because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."

Desiring Jesus with You, Pastor Thomas