Scotty Smith's Thoughts on the Gospel ... New Year's edition

Tullian Tchividjian posts these thoughts about defining the Gospel written by Pastor Scotty Smith. I thought these were great and wanted to pass along as we move into 2011.

A while back I emailed my dear brother Scotty Smith (Pastor at Christ Community Church in Franklin, Tennessee) and asked him to provide me his thoughts on the gospel. What he sent me was by no  means exhaustive, but was pure gospel gold nonetheless.
Enjoy…

• The gospel is God the Father’s irrepressible commitment to redeem his pan-national, trans-generational family, and restore his broken creation through the person and work of Jesus and the power and presence of his Holy Spirit

• The gospel is the glory-story of how God the Father is redeeming a people from every single race, tribe, tongue and people group for a life of worship service in the new heaven and new earth. All of this is being accomplished through the person and work of his Son, Jesus, and the power and presence of God the Holy Spirit.

• The gospel is the doxological drama in which Jesus, the second Adam, servant-Savior and loving Lord, is redeeming his pan-national Bride and making all things new, to the glory of God

• The gospel is the unfolding story of God’s contra-conditional love for an ill-deserving people, and for his beloved and broken creation-a story which has Jesus as its hero, the nations as its characters, the world as its storyboard, and the new heaven and new earth as its goal.

• The gospel is like a great song: It has a lyric to be known (theology), a music to be loved (doxology) and a dance to be learned (mission). Indeed, the gospel calls for informed minds, en-flamed hearts and engaged feet.

• The gospel is God’s passionate, joyful, covenant commitment to make all things new through the person and work of his Son, Jesus, and by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit. “All things” include both a people and a place-the Bride of Christ, and the new heaven and new earth. We dare not emphasize one of these to the exception of the other.

For more of Scotty’s gospel-soaked insights, you can read his daily prayers here.