The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World

by Michael Horton

Hardcover, 2009

Status

Available

Call number

BV4501 .H677

Genres

Religion & Spirituality

Nonfiction

All Topics

Collections

Your library, Theology

Publication

Baker Books (2009), 272 pages

Description

Following the well-received Christless Christianity, this insightful book guides readers in reorienting their faith and the church's purpose toward the good news of the gospel.

Media reviews

Comings Communiqué

For me one of the most valuable parts of the book is where Horton expounds on the Biblical progression of Drama (God's vast redemptive plan throughout history) to Doctrine (belief in the objective facts that make up the Gospel) to Doxology (the natural worship that flows from an understanding of

those facts) to Discipleship (grateful service as a natural outworking of said worship).

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User reviews

LibraryThing member superfastreader

Synopsis:
An in-depth explanation of the Christian gospel, intended to teach believers what they believe and why the believe it.

Review:
The Gospel-Driven Life is a companion piece to Michael Horton’s paradigm-shifting Christless Christianity. Where the latter offers a critique of the sorry state of

nominally Christian churches, The Gospel-Driven Life gives believers the meat and potatoes of real, saving faith in Christ.

I deeply heart Michael Horton. I am an obsessive listener of his podcast, The White Horse Inn, and just subscribed to his magazine, Modern Reformation. He and his colleagues are doing good work teaching Christians that the good news is not “Jesus lives in my heart and makes me a better person,” but that God intervened in history to provide a way of salvation through the life and death of Christ. I would go into more detail but fear I would end up just typing out the whole book for you. I dogeared so many great passages! I’ll be coming back to this book many times in my life.

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LibraryThing member GospelofGraceChurch

When the news is big enough it changes our lives. Consider the news in 1945 of victory in Europe: perfect strangers embraced and danced in the streets at the news that the War in Europe had ended. InThe Gospel-Driven Life Michael Horton reminds us that the Gospel is really “Good news”, the

greatest news in fact. But it is news that does not begin with us and is not primarily about what we have done. In contrast to the self-centered society we live in where even the news is served up as entertainment, the Gospel is objective news about God that drives us to look outside ourselves. Michael Horton begins by reminding us that Christianity is news: an historical claim about a man name Jesus who was crucified on a Roman cross and who rose again from the dead. It is news, in that it is a proclamation from God namely, that He justifies the ungodly while they are yet sinners, something we otherwise would not have known. It begins with God; it is His drama that is unfolding and He has condescended to make us supporting actors in His story. Horton writes, “It is not Christian orthodoxy but moralistic liberalism that reduces the surprising news of the gospel to the bland repetition of what people already know” The Gospel-Driven Life moves on to remind us what the gospel is and what it is not. He comments on popular misconceptions of the gospel such as “A personal relationship with God” or“Asking Jesus into your heart.” He explains how the drama of salvation, leads to doctrine; “We need the story to interpret the doctrine but we need the doctrine to interpret the story.” The drama and the doctrine lead to doxology or thanksgiving. At this point, he contrasts a Gospel driven life with a purpose driven life. He says, “Christ lived the purpose driven life so that we would inherit His righteousness and be promise-driven people in a purpose-driven world.” The Christian life then, is not so much about becoming better people but rather rejoicing that we have been made recipients of the promise in Christ. We are called to proclaim the good news to others! He spends the balance of the book explaining how this good news creates a truly cross-cultural community that is weekly rebuilt by the preaching of the word. This community meets together not to have a “worship experience” but to feast at the Lord ’s Table: to recognize again our savior, His body and His blood, in the breaking of bread and the pouring out of the wine. He concludes by reminding us that the triumphant church is yet a church in exile. “Even now, His kingdom is present, advancing amid the rubble of this passing evil age. Nevertheless, He is presently reigning ingrace, not yet in glory. His kingdom is visible now in ways that the world does not recognize: in the proclamation of the gospel, which the world considers foolish; in baptizing, teaching, administering communion, prayer, the spiritual and physical care of elders and deacons, and the fellowship of the saints.” The Gospel-Driven Life is a reminder to us of the Good News of the gospel presented in the humble elements of preaching, baptism and the Lord’s supper. It encourages us to become promise driven people transformed by this great news!

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