The Gospel of Jesus Christ Must Be Central

"For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." -Galatians 2:19-21

George Perdikis was a founding member of the Christian band The Newsboys, and within the last couple weeks has publicly expressed that he is now an atheist.  This is hardly the first time such a thing has happened in the public sphere (or private, for that matter), but George wrote a blog post for the atheist website Patheos to talk about his "conversion" to atheism.  It served as a strong reminder to me that the gospel of Jesus Christ must be the absolute, unquestioned focus of all Christian ministry.  Not only in ministry to unbelievers that they might be converted, but also in ministry to believers, that we might be transformed from one degree of glory to the next as we behold Jesus.  

George expresses in one section an inability to be good enough to be a Christian - "I always felt uncomfortable with the strict rules imposed by Christianity. All I wanted to do was create and play rock and roll… and yet most of the attention I received was focused on how well I maintained the impossible standards of religion. I wanted my life to be measured by my music, not by my ability to resist temptation."

In his closing remarks, he also wants to remind people that the current Newsboys are not good enough either - "The truth is — from someone who knows what went on then and what goes on now — the Newsboys aren’t as holy as they profess. Instead of wearing a mask of 'righteousness,' they should acknowledge that they are struggling as much as everyone else."

I have no idea about the Newsboys' current or past morality, nor can I vouch for the type of gospel preaching George heard when he was with the band, but I can say with absolute certainty that the gospel answers both problems he presented! 

You're right George, the standards of what you call religion are impossible to maintain unto righteousness!  "...by works of the law no one will be justified." (Galatians 2:16b) "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:19-20)  You were never meant to be seen as good through your obedient life.  You were meant to see that every single human effort to produce self-righteousness is but filthy rags in God's sight.  You were meant to see that God's ways are good ways, and His demands are reasonable.  But you cannot meet them!  You are not good enough!  You are in need of a righteousness that comes from outside of yourself.  One that comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone!

And you're right again George, the current Newsboys are struggling just as much as everybody else!  The Newsboys and every believer in Christ also rely on a righteousness that comes wholly from outside of us!  I praise God that I can testify along with Paul that "I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."  The gospel message is every bit as vital to me today as I live the Christian life, as it was when I heard it and believed unto salvation.  After all, what is the Christian life, if not a continual looking to Christ to supply and empower all that we have no ability to generate from within our flesh?  His Spirit supplies us with power to love Him and serve Him.  The good works we do are the works He prepared for us beforehand.  The ground of our boasting is not "Look how good I'm getting now that I am a Christian!"  Rather, we continue to acknowledge the reality, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Our hope of transformation is not in our ability to make ourselves better, but in the certainty of God's ability to conform us more and more into the image of Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Our hope of eternal glory is not that we will present to God examples of our worthiness, but that Christ's perfect worthiness counts on our behalf. 

No aspect of who we are in Christ - justified, sanctified, glorified - is directly attributable to any inherent goodness in us.  Because of that, we do well to keep Jesus before our faces regularly.  He is our source of every good thing! 

"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee."

-Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady