Gospel-Centered Joy

The Pythagorean Theorem, The Gospel, & Other Things I Forgot

I have a confession to make. Until recently, I couldn’t remember the Pythagorean theorem. I remembered the term and knew it was a math formula, but I didn’t remember it was a geometry formula specifically. I remembered that something was squared, but didn’t know what. I certainly didn’t remember that it had anything to do with right triangles and I’m confident the word “hypotenuse” would have remained lost in the abyss if not for Google.

But now that it has been retrieved from the depths of my memory, I’m fairly certain it was one of the few math formulas that I actually had fun using. Maybe that’s why, despite forgetting everything else, I at least remembered the phrase. Maybe. But as the saying goes, “use it or lose it.”

Since the last test I took on the subject, I’ve never used the Pythagorean theorem. I’m not one of the professionals who use it in their line of work, so naturally, it became obscured and then totally eclipsed by other information that I utilize consistently.

There are other things that faded from my memory even though I enjoyed learning about them. I love all things literature but can’t remember how to write a limerick. Home Economics was one of my favorite extra curricular subjects, but I can’t remember how to cross stitch.

Tragically, I also forgot the most important elements to the Gospel message after I became a Christian. To be clear, I currently meditate on the Gospel daily. But in the years following my conversion, the Gospel was eclipsed by church culture, religion, & doctrine.

Losing the Gospel

It may be easy for most to recognize how church culture and religious rituals can interfere with the Gospel. But what about doctrine? Did I really just claim that doctrine eclipsed the Gospel? Is that even possible? Isn’t the Gospel message central to all doctrines taught in Christian churches? Can you even teach Christian doctrines without referencing the Gospel? How do you eclipse the foundation of the Christian faith with teachings that are meant to build on it? Simple. You do it with a lot of zeal and ignorance.

I became a Christian in my early twenties. Some college friends introduced me to a church and I joined after becoming a believer. I loved (and still love) this church! But I’ll be honest. My initial reason for joining it was misguided. My denomination’s theology is very intellectually stimulating. If you love to think deep thoughts about all of the things, it may naturally draw you. But many admit that they were far more attracted to thinking deep thoughts about Jesus than they were to Jesus, Himself.

My entire friend group was full of very zealous young believers. We had an almost obnoxious passion for the Lord. We also had an obnoxious amount of ignorance. I was one of the most ignorant in the bunch, though others would praise me and call me admirable. Sadly, I had far more faith in my own understanding than I did in Christ, Himself. There was very telling evidence of this in my membership interview. One of the elder’s wives asked how I knew I was a Christian. I began to show off my theological prowess and presented my well-ordered argument. She eventually stopped me and asked, “Aaand Jesus?”

The Holy Spirit convicted me immediately.

In all of my rambling, I’d forgotten to mention Jesus. I am certain I was truly converted and a genuine follower of Christ. I know for a fact that I relied on His righteousness instead of my own. I believed wholly that He had atoned for my sin on the cross. So how on earth did I forget to mention all of that at such a crucial moment? Because I didn’t spend much time thinking about the finished work of Christ on a daily basis and I certainly wasn’t sharing the Gospel with anyone else! I hadn’t grown much closer to Jesus after meeting Him.

In all of our intellectually stimulating debates & discussions, my friends and I regularly quoted Scripture.We listened to Christian music, prayed together, and confessed our sins to each other. We even challenged and admonished each other regularly. Yet, we rarely mentioned the cross, even in times of confession and correction. Instead, we mentioned Biblical principles, theological perspectives & the Law. We could quote challenging texts from graduate level theological books, but couldn’t remember to apply the Gospel to our personal struggles. We held ourselves and each other to high standards, but failed to remind one another that Christ had already fulfilled God’s standards on our behalf.

Invariably, someone will try to challenge what I’m saying by quoting Hebrews 6:1-3. Rather than go into a lengthy explanation of why I don’t think that passage applies, I will let a respected theologian do it on my behalf. Please consider the words of John MacArthur from his study bible:

“Heb. 6:1… This “leave” does not mean to despise or abandon the basic doctrines. They are the place to start, not stop. They are the gate of entrance on the road to salvation in Christ…Heb. 6:3 … The writer is likely both giving his own testimony about going on from OT teaching to embrace the New Covenant in Jesus Christ and also identifying himself with the readers. Salvation always requires God’s enablement (cf. John 6:44).

Also consider the words of a different John:

“All these are common Old Testament beliefs or current practices among the Jews. When these readers were evangelized and converted, these things, it seems, had been made foundational as a way of helping them understand the work of Christ. Christ is the goal and fulfillment of all these things. So when verse 1 says they should leave the “elementary teachings about Christ (or literally: “the word of the beginning of Christ”), what I think it means is that they should not occupy themselves so much with the pre-Christian foundational preparations for Christ that they neglect the glory of the gospel and how to use it to grow into maturity and holiness.” – John Piper, Sermon on Hebrews 6:1-3

I couldn’t have said that last sentence any better myself! By focusing so much on theological debates and new testament principles, my friends and I neglected “the glory of the gospel” and allowed ourselves to remain ignorant on “how to use it to grow into maturity and holiness.” I so am grateful God doesn’t leave us to our own devices!

Recovering The Gospel

At this point, it’s probably not shocking to anyone why I was so immature. You will probably not be shocked by the fact that I was also incredibly insecure about God’s love for me. I struggled for years to develop an abiding and deep assurance of my salvation. As Romans 7 implies, all Christians will continue to struggle with sin until Christ comes back. But my Gospel-centered muscles where atrophied. So whenever I failed in sin, my guilt and shame would annihilate me. I wasn’t mortifying my sin, I was being destroyed by it. That’s probably why I so vividly remember the sweet moment when an older sister-in-Christ first helped me apply the Gospel directly to my sin issues.

As I confessed to her in shame, she said, “I want you to imagine Jesus on the cross looking at you, right as you are committing this sin. Imagine Him saying, ‘I love you.'” I’m not big on visualizations, but the concept rocked me. What on earth was she suggesting? Did she really want me to imagine Jesus loving me from the cross as I struggled with one sin instead of generally recalling His sacrifice for all sins? Was she actually encouraging me to get this specific, personal and intimate with my sin and my Savior? Yes, she was, and that was the life altering key (and sadly no one before her had ever encouraged me to do that).

It would take a few years for other Christians to come along and teach me how to preach the Gospel to myself in a systematic and practical way. Then the Holy Spirit through the Word would take what others taught me and help me make it my own. Once I knew how to preach the Gospel to myself on a daily basis, I finally felt the abiding assurance that evaded me for so long. More importantly, my theology finally served in increasing my love for Jesus, not the other way around. I am still growing in that love everyday. Maybe, as Jesus implied in Luke 7:46-47, when we take inventory of our sin daily and see the depths of His forgiveness, our love increases.

There are many of us who are frustrated and grieved by the state of the world around us. Everyone seems so distracted and divided. Many of us know that the key is the Gospel. But please consider this. It starts with the man or woman in the mirror. Take inventory of your sins and preach the Gospel to yourself on a regular basis. Only then can you even hope to be ready in season and out of season to proclaim the Gospel to others.

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-6 ESV

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 1 John 1:9 ESV

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 ESV