The Blog

Everyday Gospel - Penal Substitution

Even though we may be people who have been in church for a long time and know the gospel, it can often be difficult to understand how the gospel applies to different areas of our everyday lives.

So over the next few weeks, we want to help you think through a different facet on the diamond of the gospel and how understanding it might change your life and grow you in your love for Jesus.

To begin this week, we will discuss the gospel truth of substitutionary atonement.

Substitutionary atonement is a big phrase that simply means that Jesus took our place on the cross, dying for our sin so that we would not have to, and this death brings atonement or at-one-ment with God. His life death, and resurrection reconcile us to God and restore us to a right relationship with him.

This is the foundation of our salvation and the foundational truth of the gospel. I have no greater comfort than to know that Jesus lived perfectly in my place, died in my place, and rose for me so that I could have eternal life with God through him.

On the cross, Jesus took what you and I deserved so that for all of eternity, we could get what he deserved. He took judgment and cursing so that we could get salvation and blessing.

To paraphrase John Stott: The essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, putting himself where only God should be. The essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man, putting himself where only man should be.

This is the glorious truth that the gospel proclaims! Because of Jesus, we don’t get what we deserve! We deserve death, hell, and judgment; but instead we receive, grace, love, and mercy. Because of Jesus taking my place, I am forgiven, free, and right with God!

This foundational gospel truth should lead us to worship.

The Simplest Way To Change the World

On a Sunday evening a few weeks ago at CHBC, we hosted a two-hour event that we called the Everyday Disciple Maker seminar. Our goals for that seminar were to lay a biblical foundation for why we should be making disciples and to show how the average church member can practically make it happen.

The book that we recommended everyone read was The Simplest Way To Change the World: Biblical Hospitality as a Way of Life by Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements.

But hey, we know the average guy doesn’t have time to read every book that’s recommended. So we want to help get you the best parts of this book in quick, bite-sized portions.

Each Monday for the next few weeks will be "Missional Mondays" as we think and blog about The Simplest Way to Change the World. We hope this will be an encouragement to you.

Check out some of the highlights from the first chapter.

Chapter 1: Small Things Can Change the World

1. Our homes have become retreats from the world instead of a place where mission takes place.

 “We think of mission as something that happens outside the four walls of our home – that, if anything, our homes are even a retreat from any Christian mission that we may be involved in (other than training our children to love Jesus, of course).” (p. 18)

 2. The busyness of life makes changing the world seem impossible for the average person.

“Change the world? Me? Really? I can barely get my five-year-old to brush her teeth. It’s all I can do to get myself ready and out the door in the mornings. The world’s problems are so big – what could I possibly do to make a difference?” (p. 19)

3. The home that we use to retreat from the world is actually our secret weapon to change the world.

“The secret weapon for gospel advancement is hospitality; and you can practice it whether you live in a house, an apartment, a dorm, or a high-rise. It only takes your willingness to open your home and life to others” (p. 19)

4. Hospitality starts by learning your neighbors’ names.

“How many relationships and opportunities right here at my house have I missed out on because I just smiled and waved [instead of stopping to say hello]?” (p. 22)

5. The gospel of Jesus is the source of power and motivation for missional hospitality.

“At its core, biblical hospitality is obeying the command in Romans 15:7 to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you.” (p. 26)

Go meet a neighbor this week and see what God might do!