Cape Town Commitment 8<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are our loves? According to The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action we are to love God the Father, God the Son, God the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/06\/26\/cape-town-commitment-8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cape Town Commitment 8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are our loves? 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{"id":17515,"date":"2011-06-26T11:21:17","date_gmt":"2011-06-26T16:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/?p=17515"},"modified":"2011-06-04T09:27:11","modified_gmt":"2011-06-04T14:27:11","slug":"cape-town-commitment-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2011\/06\/26\/cape-town-commitment-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town Commitment 8"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

What are our loves? According to The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action<\/a><\/em><\/strong> we are to love God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit as well as God\u2019s Word, God\u2019s gospel, God\u2019s People, and God\u2019s Mission. But this is not just doctrine: this is commitment to those loves.<\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>Today we want to look into loving the gospel of God. The core our identity \u2014 regardless of what kind of Christian we are \u2014 is the gospel, the gospel that accomplishes the saving work of God.<\/p>\n

How to love the gospel of God? We are to love the good news in a world of good news, the love the story the gospel tells, we love the assurance the gospel brings, we love the transformation the gospel accomplishes.<\/p>\n

In other words, we love what God\u2019s mission is designed to accomplish: the gospel kind of good news.<\/p>\n

8. We love the gospel of God<\/strong><\/p>\n

As disciples of Jesus, we are gospel people. The core of our identity is our passion for the biblical good news of the saving work of God through Jesus Christ. We are united by our experience of the grace of God in the gospel and by our motivation to make that gospel of grace known to the ends of the earth by every possible means.<\/em><\/p>\n

A)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We love the good news in a world of bad news.<\/em> The gospel addresses the dire effects of human sin, failure and need. Human beings rebelled against God, rejected God\u2019s authority and disobeyed God\u2019s Word. In this sinful state, we are alienated from God, from one another and from the created order. Sin deserves God\u2019s condemnation. Those who refuse to repent and \u2018do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will be punished with eternal destruction and shut out from the presence of God.\u2019 The effects of sin and the power of evil have corrupted every dimension of human personhood (spiritual, physical, intellectual and relational). They have permeated cultural, economic, social, political and religious life through all cultures and all generations of history. They have caused incalculable misery to the human race and damage to God\u2019s creation. Against this bleak background, the biblical gospel is indeed very good news.<\/p>\n

B)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We love the story the gospel tells. <\/em>The gospel announces as good news the historical events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. As the son of David, the promised Messiah King, Jesus is the one through whom alone God established his kingdom and acted for the salvation of the world, enabling all nations on earth to be blessed, as he promised Abraham. Paul defines the gospel in stating that \u2018Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve.\u2019 The gospel declares that, on the cross of Christ, God took upon himself, in the person of his Son and in our place, the judgment our sin deserves. In the same great saving act, completed, vindicated and declared through the resurrection, God won the decisive victory over Satan, death and all evil powers, liberated us from their power and fear, and ensured their eventual destruction. God accomplished the reconciliation of believers with himself and with one another across all boundaries and enmities. God also accomplished his purpose of the ultimate reconciliation of all creation, and in the bodily resurrection of Jesus has given us the first fruits of the new creation. \u2018God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.\u2019 How we love the gospel story!<\/p>\n

C) We love the assurance the gospel brings. <\/em>Solely through trusting in Christ alone, we are united with Christ through the Holy Spirit and are counted righteous in Christ before God. Being justified by faith we have peace with God and no longer face condemnation. We receive the forgiveness of our sins. We are born again into a living hope by sharing Christ\u2019s risen life. We are adopted as fellow heirs with Christ. We become citizens of God\u2019s covenant people, members of God\u2019s family and the place of God\u2019s dwelling. So by trusting in Christ, we have full assurance of salvation and eternal life, for our salvation ultimately depends, not on ourselves, but on the work of Christ and the promise of God. \u2018Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u2019 How we love the gospel\u2019s promise!<\/p>\n

D)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We love the transformation the gospel produces.<\/em> The gospel is God\u2019s life-transforming power at work in the world. \u2018It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.\u2019 Faith alone is the means by which the blessings and assurance of the gospel are received. Saving faith however never remains alone, but necessarily shows itself in obedience. Christian obedience is \u2018faith expressing itself through love.\u2019 We are not saved\u00a0by<\/em> good works, but having been saved by grace alone we are \u2018created in Christ Jesus\u00a0to do<\/em> good works.\u2019 \u2018Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.\u2019 Paul saw the ethical transformation that the gospel produces as the work of God\u2019s grace \u2013 grace which achieved our salvation at Christ\u2019s first coming, and grace that teaches us to live ethically in the light of his second coming.\u00a0 <\/strong>For Paul, \u2018obeying the gospel\u2019 meant both trusting in grace, and then being taught by grace. Paul\u2019s missional goal was to bring about \u2018the obedience of faith\u2019 among all nations. This strongly covenantal language recalls Abraham. Abraham believed God\u2019s promise, which was credited to him as righteousness, and then obeyed God\u2019s command in demonstration of his faith. \u2018By faith Abraham\u2026obeyed.\u2019 Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ are the first acts of obedience the gospel calls for; ongoing obedience to God\u2019s commands is the way of life that gospel faith enables, through the sanctifying Holy Spirit. Obedience is thus the living proof of saving faith and the living fruit of it. Obedience is also the test of our love for Jesus. \u2018Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.\u2019 \u2018We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.\u2019 How we love the gospel\u2019s power!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"