The is the fourth installment of “Crafting Definitions.” You can find previous posts here and here and here.
In preparation for sermons, I often craft personal definitions. I do this in an effort to exposit the word of God and make things “rememberable” for the people of my congregation. Here is a newly crafted definition for “Disciple” along with a few others which have never appeared in this series.
Disciple: Confesses Jesus as Lord and Savior, commits to follow Him in obedience, is changed into His likeness, and is commissioned to make more disciples.
The gospel: The story of God reconciling and redeeming through the life, death, burial, resurrection, and future return of Jesus Christ as fulfillment of Old Testament promises. The gospel is a witness to God’s grace.
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- Reconciling: Healing a relationship broken by sin.
- Redeeming: Giving purpose and power.
- Grace: We don’t work for it, earn it, or deserve it.
When people distort the gospel, they tend to do it in two ways:
Watered-Down Gospel
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- No Sin
- No Repentance
- No Commitment
- No Obedience
- No Discipleship
Burden-Added Gospel
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- Added Rules
- Added Regulations
- Added Hoops
- Added Guilt
- Added Shame
Jeff Gravens 