What is the Gospel? from D. A. Carson

Updated on Saturday, November 3, 2007 at 10:26PM by rebecca

Here are notes from another of Donald Carson’s sermons, What is the Gospel? This one was preached last May at the 2007 Gospel Coalition Conference. I suggest you listen to the sermon for yourself and use my notes as a supplement to help you remember what you heard.

The fragmentation of the church in the west has led to a fragmented understanding of  the gospel.

Common Misunderstandings of the Gospel

• The gospel is reduced to a narrow set of teachings about the death and resurrection of Christ, which rightly believed, tip people into the kingdom.  After that, the real training and transformation, discipleship and maturity take place. This view is much narrower than the biblical view, in which the gospel is the embracing category which holds much of the bible together, encompassing lostness and condemnation, through reconciliation and conversion, through to the consummation and the resurrection.

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Sunday's Hymn: Reader's Choice

Today’s hymn is one of Brandon’s favorites. Unfortunately, many of us are only familiar with the last stanza, which we know as the Doxology, or the Old 100th.

Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun

Awake, my soul, and with the sun
Thy daily stage of duty run;
Shake off dull sloth, and joyful rise,
To pay thy morning sacrifice.

Thy precious time misspent, redeem,
Each present day thy last esteem,
Improve thy talent with due care;
For the great day thyself prepare.

By influence of the Light divine
Let thy own light to others shine.
Reflect all Heaven’s propitious ways
In ardent love, and cheerful praise.

In conversation be sincere;
Keep conscience as the noontide clear;
Think how all seeing God thy ways
And all thy secret thoughts surveys.

Wake, and lift up thyself, my heart,
And with the angels bear thy part,
Who all night long unwearied sing
High praise to the eternal King.

All praise to Thee, who safe has kept
And hast refreshed me while I slept
Grant, Lord, when I from death shall wake
I may of endless light partake.

Heav’n is, dear Lord, where’er Thou art,
O never then from me depart;
For to my soul ’tis hell to be
But for one moment void of Thee.

Lord, I my vows to Thee renew;
Disperse my sins as morning dew.
Guard my first springs of thought and will,
And with Thyself my spirit fill.

Direct, control, suggest, this day,
All I design, or do, or say,
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

I would not wake nor rise again
And Heaven itself I would disdain,
Wert Thou not there to be enjoyed,
And I in hymns to be employed.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

—-Thomas Ken (Listen.)

Other hymns, worship songs, etc. posted today:

• O For a Faith That Will Not Shrink at Above the Clouds
• Give Me the Bible at joythruChrist
• The Collect for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity at Magic Statistics
• Rescue the Perishing at The Happy Wonderer
• Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun (How’s that for serendipity?) at Thoughts from the Teahouse. Lisa gives us some history of this hymn.
  
• We Rest on Thee, Our Shield and Our Defender at John Dekker’s Journal
• Fairest Lord Jesus at Reflections of the Times
• Lord’s Day 29, 2007 at The Thirsty Theologian
  

Have you posted a hymn this Sunday and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by emailing me at the address in the sidebar and I’ll add your post to the list. If you’d like to see your favorite hymn featured as a Reader’s Choice hymn, go here and leave a comment. Just tell me your favorite hymn and a little bit about why you like it and I’ll feature your hymn when your turn comes.

I'm Back

…but you probably didn’t even know I was gone, did you?

Once again, I spent a weekend without an internet connection, but posting has been sporadic here lately, so you probably didn’t even notice anything different.

I did not waste the downtime. I shopped for a new fridge, primed a deck, washed and waxed the car, cleaned a bookshelf, whipped up four kitchen towels from an old tablecloth, read a book, and listened to What is the Gospel? by Don Carson, taking some notes which I will post here either tonight or tomorrow.

I’ll post the Sunday hymn later, too, but right now there is a chair on the deck with my name on it.