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ray we are part of a network that is that cherishes the doctrine of grace that we seek
to preach the doctrine of grace how can churches that are preaching the doctrine of grace also
make sure they're living the same doctrine of grace that really matters because we can
deny our doctrine not by changing or falsifying our formal doctrinal statement but by treating
one another with ungrace i think of john 13 34 and 35 where our lord says a new commandment
i give you that you love one another as i have loved you you should love one another
and this will be evidence to the whole world that you really do belong to me um how did
our lord love us well he died for us i believe sam that we can validate our doctrine of grace
by treating one another with such grace such mercy such uh non-judging receiving welcoming
love as jesus loved us that we wake up each morning i know this is going to sound crazy
but we wake up each morning psychologically prepared to die for one another now in some
unforeseeable providence of god that only he should orchestrate that has happened in
the past so uh i think we should be ready for that and it would be a supreme privilege
i don't deserve that privilege to die for someone else to die for you but i want to
wake up each morning prepared for that but it's unlikely isn't it just in the course
of normal events but here's another way in which jesus loved us that is fully accessible
and available to all of us and would completely validate our theology of grace in verse 1
of john 13 it says having loved his own who were in the world he loved them to the end
loving one another to the end without turning away without forsaking one another without
getting fed up with one another sam our petty little considerations of likes and dislikes
are so small and unworthy when we become christians and start preaching the doctrine of grace
and want to demonstrate that doctrine in our churches and in our relationships we leave
behind small considerations we enter into the massive glory of the love of christ which
means that we must demand of ourselves that we will love one another to the end we will
not turn away we will not divide we will not fragment we will love one another even when
we don't like each other we will submerge that unworthy petty childish thought and dare
to love one another to the end wow that's awesome i've often heard you describe it as
there's gospel doctrine but there has to be gospel culture which is what you've just described
it's the actual message we are teaching the message that we are hearing shapes our posture
shapes our tone shapes our attitude i was thinking of i think john calvin's definition
of the church is the place where the word of god is preached and heard and the sacraments
duly administered or something along those lines and it's the bit and heard that i i
keep thinking about because it's easy to think well if the word of god is preached therefore
it's a healthy church and it's possible to be preaching all the right doctrines but if
they're not being heard and received then actually the church may not be healthy so
gospel preaching is essential but in and of itself it's not sufficient if it's not actually
then shaping and permeating the life of a local congregation and i think i remember
first i think reading your book on this a few years ago and i think that the first major
step a church can take towards this is even just the recognition that there is such a
thing as gospel culture that a church needs so i think we so often assume well as long
as what is coming out of the pulpit is sound we're okay whereas there's that further step
of making sure the word of god is preached and heard and heard and received you know
here's another way i ask the question what is it that impedes the progress of the gospel
in our moment in time in our cultural moment i do not believe it's secular progressivism
the sexual revolution politics in washington and so forth those things are worthy and significant
considerations but what impedes the progress of the gospel in the world today is churches
that preach the gospel from the pulpit and have it on their doctrinal statement but looking
at that church the tone the social environment they create the relationships the history
of that church it looks like an anti-gospel the real problem is always in amidst the people
of god not in the circumstances surrounding them we decide if the gospel is going to advance
and we decide that not just at the level of what our formal doctrine is but what our informal
relationships are and when our nation can see in us the kind of grace mercy love the
dropping of judgment god has lowered his gun in looking at us and embraced us to his heart
when we can demonstrate that kind of mercy toward one another that joy over one another
that receiving of one another then the gospel will explode until then maybe if we're not
willing to make our relationships right then could we have the honesty to shut up about
gospel doctrine
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