Finished

“The utter uniqueness of the Christian message — the heart of the gospel — is found in the three words of Christ from the cross, ‘It is finished’ (John 19:30). The message of every other religious system, without exception, is predicated on some variation of another three words, which stand starkly opposed to the gospel’s three words. Religion’s three words are: ‘Get to work.’ And this is the heart of the bad news behind every approach to spirituality, enlightenment, or salvation that is not Christian.”

— Jared C. Wilson Gospel Wakefulness
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 131

Lord of the Dishes

“Jesus Christ is Lord over my heart, and he is Lord over my hands, and he is Lord over what I do with these hands, and he is Lord over what I say in my heart while I’m doing it. In submitting to the lordship of Christ, then, I do not treat washing dishes as wasting time I could be spending doing something ‘meaningful,’ but rather as a service to those who eat in my home, as a service to those who would have to wash dishes if I did not, and as an offering of thanksgiving to God that I have food to eat, dishes to eat it on, and running water inside my home to clean with.”

— Jared C. Wilson Gospel Wakefulness
(Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), page 92

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

Gospel Wakefulness: Author Interview

Video: Jared Wilson on Gospel Wakefulness | Crossway:

The above video is an interview with Jared Wilson bout his new book Gospel Wakefulness, which I am reading now. It's a great book, and I commend the interview for your edification.

A Million Gleaming Facets

 “Why do angels long to look into the good news (1 Pet. 1:12)? Because it is fascinating! It is eternally interesting. It is thrilling. It is simple, yet complex. It is a diamond: one brilliant treasure with a million gleaming facets, each offering a million vantage points alight and gleaming with the majesty of its architect.”

— Jared C. Wilson, Gospel Wakefulness (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 2011), 203

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

I've just started this book, and so far it's a good one!

Good Blasphemy

"A bride joined to her groom forsakes all others. She writes the spiritual equivalent of Dear John letters to her idols. When God's love captivates you, you go around spurning all your other lovers. I call this "blaspheming" your idols.

Blaspheme them. Tell them they have no appeal to you anymore. Tell them you don't need their damage, their pain, their anti-glories. Tell them you have no desires to use and abuse them anymore. Tell them your heart, mind, soul, and strength belong wholly to God now. And then don't speak as a love to them ever again. Sinful relationships must end."

 From Jared Wilson's book, Gospel Wakefulness, page 70

Hat Tip: Reformissionary: Blaspheme Your Idols:

Wake Up Call

Here's  link to Trevin Wax's excellent review on Jared Wilson's new book Gospel Wakefulness (to be released the end of October)  -  Wake Me Up, Lord! A Review of Jared Wilson’s “Gospel Wakefulness” at: Kingdom People:

 Jared Wilson’s new book Gospel Wakefulness made me think. In a good way. In the “thinking that leads to worship” kind of way. That’s why, despite a couple of concerns, I endorsed Gospel Wakefulness and I commend it to you.

In the book, Jared makes the case that Christians need not only to believe the gospel but to delight in it to the point that sin becomes increasingly bitter and Christ becomes our supreme treasure. He defines gospel wakefulness as “treasuring Christ more greatly and savoring His power more sweetly than before” (24).

This is another one on my wish list. So many books, so little time (and not enough money!)

Signs You Are Not Wakened to the Gospel

For yours and my meditation and self examination, here's an excerpt from the new book Gospel Wakefulness by Jared Wilson, to be published this fall.

The purpose of this book is not to shake your assurance but to bolster it, and in doing so to invite you deeper into your own spiritual brokenness to find the glistening diamond-riddled cave of the gospel treasure. But if at this point you are scratching your head, stretching your faculties to understand what is meant by divine entertainment, transferred affections, gospel-centrality, and the like, allow me the tender ministry of pressing on your assurance like a doctor would a troublesome extremity. Allow the application of a diagnostic test.

The Scriptures do tell us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, so the aim of this diagnostic is not to shake your foundation, but to shake off whatever might not be of God that has been erected upon it.

Some signs you have not experienced gospel wakefulness:

1. The gospel doesn’t interest you—or it does, but not as much other religious subjects.
2. You take nearly everything personally.
3. You frequently worry about what other people think.
4. You treat inconveniences like minor (or major) tragedies.
5. You are impatient with people.
6. In general, you have trouble seeing the fruit of the Spirit in your life.
7. The Word of God holds little interest.
8. You have great difficulty forgiving.
9. You are told frequently by a spouse, close friend, or other family members that you are too “clingy” or too controlling.
10. You think someone beside yourself is the worst sinner you know.
11. The idea of gospel-centrality makes no sense to you.