What is the gospel? The gospel is the central teaching of the Bible and Christian life, what the Apostle Paul called the “first importance” (1 Corinthains 15:3). Namely, it is the good news of Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection. Theologically, it is the way in which sinners can come to have a relationship with God through the work Jesus on the cross. His righteousness is exchanged for ours and we are counted as righteous before God. All believers in Jesus would claim to know this truth, as well they should. But do all believers in Jesus truly allow this truth to have its full work in their lives? This is what Jeff Vanderstelt discusses in his new book Gospel Fluency: Speaking the Truths of Jesus into the Everyday Stuff of Life published by Crossway.
If the gospel is to be of first importance, it must be preeminent and affect every area of the Christian’s life. But as Jeff Vanderstelt argues in the book, not all professing believers are fluent enough in the gospel for it to work itself out in their lives. Gospel fluency, like knowing any language, takes practice and applying to all of life. The more it is used, the more proficient one becomes. But unlike knowing another language or skill, the work of the gospel is shaped in the life of believers through the Spirit of God as it is applied on a regular basis. Better put, the more one applies the gospel, the more they allow the Spirit of God to work in their lives.
The book is well laid out into five parts. Part One named “Gospel Fluency” sets up the remainder of the book by laying out the argument for the need of applying the gospel to all of life. Vanderstelt argues that all people struggle with unbelief. Some people are fully unbelievers, in that they do not yet believe in Jesus. But even people who profess to follow Jesus do not believe that His work is sufficient in certain areas of their lives. Vanderstelt displays this truth through stories and saturates the book with scripture to make his point. Becoming more gospel fluent continues the work of sanctification in an effort to become more Christlike in every area of life.
Part Two named “The Gospel” is a basic theological treatise on the overarching storyline of the Bible: Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation. He walks through the entire Bible to demonstrate the work of God in history to restore what was broken by sin. Again he saturates the section with scripture and highlights his points through stories of his pastoral and personal experiences. Parts three and four named “The Gospel in Me” and “The Gospel with Us” demonstrate that Jesus is the hero in the lives of individual believers and how this is displayed in the life of the Church. The rhythms of rememberance through worship and the Lord’s Supper serve as reminders for the need of the gospel through community.
Part Five named “The Gospel to Others” demonstrates the importance of the Church being on mission in the world to share the truth of the gospel with others. This is accomplished when individual believers all the gospel to affect all of their lives in family, work, and leisure. As followers of Jesus rub elbows with all types of people daily, they have opportunity to live and share the gospel. The Church accomplishes this by displaying the love of Jesus to the community collectively and by equipping believers to be on mission.
Gospel Fluency is an excellent practical theology of the gospel and I highly reccomend this book as resource for pastors, church leaders, and individual believers to grow in the gospel. The way Vanderstelt ties Biblical truth with story demonstrates the power of the gospel in real lives. This is highly encouraging for all believers and churches. He does not propose a fool proof model for church growth and discipleship. The gospel model he lays out in the book has been used throughout Church history and is the only hope for the Church in the future. The gospel is the first importance and without that hope, our faith is in vain.
I received this book through the Crossway Review program “Beyond the Page” in exchange for an honest review of the book.
READING FOR THE GLORY 