The PROBLEM With The “Gospel-Centered” Movement!

Fight For Truth

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Hey guys, Colin here, and welcome back to the channel where the Bible and critical thinking meet to give you real

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Christian commentary about the things that matter. Thanks so much for watching, let's get into the video. There are some developments in the

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Church over the course of history that have been very good. There are also some that have been largely bad, but most others have been a mixed bag.

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And one such mixed bag is the Gospel -centered movement. This movement has been popularized by organizations like the

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Gospel Coalition and Together for the Gospel. The movement has also been spearheaded by speakers and writers like Mark Dever, David Platt, Ligon Duncan, Tim Keller, and many more.

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And again, I want to make it abundantly clear that it hasn't been all bad. One of the best things to come out of this movement has been a refreshing passion for protecting the

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Biblical Gospel message in our churches, although, again, the platforms I've mentioned have not always done that.

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But when they have, that's a very good thing, and I commend it. There is a seed of truth in the

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Gospel -centered movement that must be nurtured and protected. And that seed of truth is that the

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Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only message that saves. And we cannot lose one ounce of it.

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If we do, we do so at our own peril. Romans 1 .16 says, So you see, it is only believing the

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Gospel, not any other doctrine fundamentally that can save you. It is through the Gospel alone that the

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Holy Spirit regenerates the believer and gives a heart of flesh where there once was a heart of stone. That is all wonderfully true, and all

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Christians should believe it. However, there are still some aspects of the Gospel -centered movement that have not been good at all.

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And I want to warn you in this video about some of those things as well. Just to be clear, I am not saying that all the people

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I mentioned at the beginning of this video in this movement will believe and accept all of these statements.

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I am simply saying that these are some common mistakes made by people who follow the Gospel -centered movement.

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I'm not quoting anyone here specifically. I'm just doing a general observation and analysis of some overarching ideas.

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So with that said, let's get right into it. I want to highlight some of these things in the light of what I do here on this channel.

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And I promise, it's not meant as vanity. It's a practical example. Some critique me, saying that I'm causing disunity in the

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Church, because I frequently call people out for things that are technically separate from the Gospel. And I'll admit, they are.

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There is this underlying idea that seems to have arisen out of the Gospel -centered movement that the only valid reason to separate from or critique a professing

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Christian or group of professing Christians is that they differ on a matter of salvific, Gospel importance.

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And therefore, what I'm doing on this channel is simply unbiblical. This, I believe, is a tremendous mistake.

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The Bible does say that those who preach a false Gospel should be rejected. Galatians 1 .8 says,

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Yes, preaching a false

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Gospel is as damning as it is dangerous. But that does not necessitate that all other forms of false teaching are not important enough to refute or even to separate over.

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It simply does not logically follow that that's the case. You see, when Jesus commissions his disciples before he leaves to be with his

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Father, he tells them succinctly, briefly, what their mission is until he returns. This, we can be sure, is of the utmost importance for Christians in this life.

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This is our mission. This is our goal. These are our marching orders from the Savior. And what does

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Jesus say? In Matthew 28, 18 -20, he says, Not only does he tell them to make disciples, implying that these disciples will be one to the

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Gospel message and follow it, he also says to teach these people to obey and observe everything that he has commanded them.

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Therefore, if by any fair, consistent, and biblical standards, you find that a particular

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Christian or church or denomination is not teaching people to do these important things that Jesus commands us to do in his

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Word, that is a very valid reason to critique them and potentially even separate from them.

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Even if these issues do not interfere with the Gospel, it makes no difference. Of course, context must always be considered here, and wisdom must always be applied in every situation.

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Here's a biblical example, 1 Timothy 4, 1 -3. It says this, Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

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Paul clearly says here that issues like demanding abstinence from foods and forbidding marriage are matters of serious false teaching.

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These ideas are called doctrines of demons, and those who spread them are called liars who don't have proper consciences.

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This is hardly unifying, soft language. It's very harsh. But could someone profess to believe the

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Gospel and still forbid marriage? Technically, yes. Could someone claim to profess faith in Jesus and yet preach abstinence from foods that Christians are supposed to be free to eat?

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Yes indeed. So it is clear that Gospel issues are not the only issues worth our attention and worth our strong refutation.

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Yes, we should be Gospel -centered, but let's be very careful that this does not become

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Gospel -only. And the other reason that this idea is a bad one is that it ignores the fact that false teaching does not always come in neat packages that are easily identified with a false

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Gospel. 2 Corinthians 11 .13 says, So it is no surprise, then, if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

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Their end will correspond to their deeds. So you see, these false apostles did their best to appear as apostles of Christ.

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And apostle literally means messenger. That means they looked like they carried the basic message of Christ.

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False teaching and deceit will always come in a package that looks acceptable. That is why there are a great many theologically compromised people and churches and denominations that have

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Gospel presentations that are very similar to yours. There are some progressive Christians who technically preach a clear

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Gospel message as far as strictly the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus goes. There are those who would affirm the basic Gospel message yet would deny the doctrine of the

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Trinity. There are those who affirm the basic Gospel message and yet they would tell you that killing babies is not a sin.

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The Bible clearly tells us that horrible doctrines will not come in horrible -looking packages.

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To suggest otherwise is as foolish and naive as thinking that the adulterous woman is going to try and seduce you by wearing a garbage bag.

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Here's how this works in practice. We make the Gospel our most important doctrine, as it should be.

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So we shouldn't be surprised, then, when false teachers hold onto the Gospel and then dispense with virtually anything else they so choose.

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So no, when I call out people for non -Gospel issues, I do not believe that that is unbiblical.

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In fact, when done properly, I think it's actually one of the only meaningful ways that we can confront false teaching.

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And no, I don't see this as a blank check to call out anyone and everyone I disagree with in any way

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I want. There is obviously wisdom necessary here, and there is solid, sound exegesis to be done.

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And we should indeed be very careful when we call out people for issues that are not as clear -cut as the

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Gospel issues are. I'm not contesting any of those things. What I am contesting, however, is the all -too -common idea that critiquing someone for a non -Gospel issue, or separating over a non -Gospel issue, is divisive and sinful inherently across the board.

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This, I think, is dangerous, unhelpful, and clearly unbiblical. If God only wanted us to have the

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Gospel, the Bible would only be one sentence long. But there are 66 books in there, and hundreds of pages to choose from.

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If you take away any point from the video, it should be this. Christianity is not just the

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Gospel, it's a worldview. So please, pray for all of those who peddle false teaching, even if it's apart from the

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Gospel, that they would repent and turn to the truth of God's Word. Thank you so much for watching.

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If you didn't like that video for any reason, then I invite you to watch my Frequently Asked Questions video, link in description, where I deal with common objections and define the purpose and goal of my channel using

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And until next time, fight for truth, never surrender, and keep your eyes open. Thank you, and God bless.