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

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As many readers will perhaps realize, "The Gospel Driven Life" is really the second half of Horton's earlier work, "Christless Christianity." Christless Christianity was in a way more of a critique of the American church; The Gospel Driven Life is more of a constructive volume, calling the church back to the gospel and doctrines of grace. The two should be read together, though they can very well stand on their own.

Horton says up front that his goal in The Gospel Driven Life is "to reorient our faith and practice as Christians and churches toward the gospel: that is, the announcement of God's victory over sin and death in his Son, Jesus Christ" (p. 11).

The book is split up into two main categories: the "breaking news" from heaven, the gospel that creates the Christian/church, and the second half which focuses on the Christian/church that the gospel creates. Of course Horton keeps the reader focused on the work of the Triune God for sinners, the historical event of the resurrection - and in doing so, he continually reminds the reader (against the grain of the American culture) that the gospel is outside of us. "We don't find the truth about God, ourselves, or the world by looking within, but by being drawn outside of ourselves" (p. 12).

The Gospel Driven Life is sort of Augustine, Luther and Calvin mixed in with the Reformation confessions married to biblical theology applied to our Christian/church situation today. He's not calling us back to doing things the exact way our great-grandfathers did them, but he is calling us to keep the truths of Scripture front and center - to keep the Scripture as the thing that directs us in our practice, piety, and worship.

I enjoyed the book quite a bit. It challenged me, prodded me, comforted me, and taught me. To be sure, it is a thick book, a solid 266 pages of theological reading. There's a lot going on in the book! I'm pretty sure most laypeople who are "readers" will be able to handle it quite well, but you may not want to give this to a new Christian or someone who isn't familiar with the main truths of the Christian faith. In other words, I wouldn't use it for a High School church class, but I would use it for a college discussion group. I was annoyed that Baker didn't include a topical index or a scriptural index, but that doesn't affect the content, just the "ease" of "using" the book for study.

In summary, for those of you who are serious about Church, Christianity, and the gospel, I highly recommend this book. If you're looking for something a bit easier to read first, check out Horton's "Putting Amazing Back Into Grace" or Boice's "Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?" or even Sproul's "Grace Unknown." I also encourage you to give this book as a gift to your pastor or elders!

I confess that I am an underliner, corner page folder, margin note maker kind of reader when I find passages that particularly impress or concern me. I don't remember reading one like this where so much of this has been done. Almost every page has some great wordsmithing going on!

This is important book which seeks to right the ship of American Christianity, which is taking on too much water of a market driven, pleasure seeking, self-help culture whose love for God and truth is waning. Being a student and follower of the Reformation, Horton sees in this the reestablishment of the domination of the Gospel in all its purity and power along with the proper speaking of the law to repentance which is also necessary.

Tired of the enthusiasm the church expends on compromising with the culture, Horton suggests we get back to the real Good News proclaimers we are in the means of grace. He almost sounds Lutheran, except when he gets to the Sacraments, he sounds a little guarded. This is but minor concern when posed against the wonderful effort he provides with such good illustrations and phraseology to get the church back on the straight and narrow path.

"The fear of God must become greater than the fear of boredom" he writes. How true this has become. We are bombarded with new and innovative technology that seeks to rule us and sour our appetite for reality. When playing a fake cooking game replaces time actually cooking, when playing sports activities replaces kids playing sports and exercise ... you get the gist. When just playing at spirituality without reality of the power of God to save and keep saved in the pure gospel, this is Horton's concern and it is a valid and well presented one.

This book demands and deserves to have a wide reading and prayerful consideration. May it bring many to heed its wisdom and gospel based encouragement. One of the most significant books published in sometime.

After Christless Christianity I thought it was going to be very difficult for Mike Horton to come up with another book that would match it in quality. But here came "the Gospel Driven Life".

The first part of the book ends with chapter 6 entitled the promise driven life where Mike Horton contrasts the gospel (or promise) driven life with Rick Warren's purpose driven life. The life of the christian writes Horton is driven by the gospel (the good news that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and was raised for our justification) and not by purposes (works). The good news of the gospel is so powerful that it changes us, it not only justifies us in God's eyes but it sanctifies us (it changes our lives and we walk in newness of life). The gospel is both necessary and sufficient for both converting the unbeliever and for driving the
life of the christian.

Horton also highlights that doctrine alone is not sufficient. We need to understand before the historic facts, God's plan of Salvation and how it unravels from Genesis to Revelation (the drama) then we can see how the doctrine fits into the drama. Once we understand the doctrine (we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone) Horton moves into doxology (praise and worship)and then into discipleship (obeying God in thanksgiving and service). So drama, doctrine, doxology, and discipleship are required in that order, and we can see this in the way the epistles of the New Testament are laid out following this order.

In chapter 7 the second part of the book starts that focuses more on the church as a cross-cultural community of believers. The gospel again is what creates the church and binds it together. This church model stands in sharp contrast to the modern evangelical model where the church is purposely divided by age group, marital status, and ethnic groups in a clearly unbiblical manner. Also Horton points out that the church is built by God, who calls people by the gospel, again this is in contrast to the modern evangelica church's belief that the church is built by the charisma and technique of the pastor.

Those are just some few highlights. This book is a must read for everybody, but specially pastors and elders if they are to understand the power of the gospel and what the mission of the church is, neither of which seems to be well understood today. Otherwise we wouldn't have a multitude of church programs and methods for evangelism that rely on the wisdom of man. The mission of the church is the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments. The modern evangelical church wants to be both the United Way (and cure the world's problems) and your personal psychologist (the pastor thinks he can improve your life with his therapeutic preaching). When attempting to do this the church fails in fulfilling the great commission, the only reason for its insistence. Nowhere in the book of Acts or the epistles of the New Testament is an example of the church feeding the poor (there's only collections for other churches going though difficulty or christians sharing their possessions among themselves) or helping the community. Neither is there one example of the apostles or other christians testifying how Christ improved their relationships (marriage or being a better father or mother) or their professional lives or financial situation. Now all this is a important, but like Horton points out if christians want to help their communities they should join the United Way and work alongside unbelievers, instead of expecting the church to become the United Way. Same can be said about family counsel or financial advice, it is not the church's area of expertise, and the pastor's role is to preach the word and administer the sacraments.

The gospel presentation in this book is unmatched. Horton's explanation of law and gospel takes us back all the way to Martin Luther and forces us to admit that the evangelical church of the 21st century does not understand the law nor the gospel. The modern evangelical church does not get salvation (repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ). It does not preach the Law (they don't want to condemn anybody, so the wrath of God on all ungodliness is not preached) nor does it preach the gospel (the good news of salvation from the wrath of God by grace through faith alone in Christ alone).

Another area that Horton highlights is that for the Reformers (Luther and Calvin) the role of the church (pastor and elders) is to serve the congregation of christians. The pastor and elders are servant leaders in the biblical model. The christians are served by the church, and then these christians will in return serve in the world (work or occupation, family, community). This was the Reformation's view. Today there has been a role reversal, where christians are expected to serve the church and be givers through service instead of receivers. This is going back to the pre-reformation times when service in church activities was considered by the catholic church as superior to secular service (in the workplace, family, community). For the reformers christians served in their secular vocations, for the modern evangelical church christians are to serve in the church, so there's no difference now between evangelicals and Rome (the catholic church).

There's much more I could like to cover but I'll let you discover it when read this book from cover to cover.

Popular author Michael Horton, editor of Modern Reformation, Whitehorse Inn host, and Westminster Seminary professor of Apologetics, offers a scriptural outline for the rightful work of the modern church. Horton is known for his easy writing style and his uncompromising biblical views and he doesn't disappoint with this new volume. Horton contends that real hope is found in the gospel and the good news that Christ died for the ungodly and rose from the grave; that Jesus truly forgives, restores, renews, and saves to the uttermost.

Within this germane treatise one will discover:

- The utter importance of the Good News in Jesus Christ unfolded within redemptive-historical advancements
- The necessity of repentance even though most modern churches avoid this term and it covenantal truth
- Methods and actions matter within corporate worship and outreach
- The magnitude and import of the Lord 's Supper in the life of a church and a Christian.

In "The Gospel-Driven Life: Being Good News People in a Bad News World" the author aims to induce a God-centered dependence and hope for the believer to receive and share. He is opposed to a self-help approach as he lifts the reader toward Christ, since He is the only true solution to life's challenges.

Review is written by Mike A Robinson, author of numerous apologetic books including: There Are Moral Absolutes: How to Be Absolutely Sure That Christianity Alone Supplies
or
"God Does Exist!: Defending the Faith using Presuppositional Apologetics, Evidence, and the Impossibility of the Contrary" type in ASIN#:1420827626

In "Gospel-Driven Life" Professor Horton proclaims a "gospel of divine hope, rather than one of self-induced hype."

In Christless Christianity, Michael Horton confronted readers with the danger of a gospel assumed. In The Gospel-Driven Life, Horton moves from the problem to the solution: Recovering a robust understanding of the cross and reorienting the church's purpose toward the good news of the gospel.

"We have to reverse the focus from a human-centered to a God-centered way of thinking. The gospel witnesses not to an inner light within the self, but to the Light that came into the world, shining in the darkness and overpowering it (John 1:4-9)," writes Horton (p. 26). Throughout the first six chapters of the book, he examines this reality in detail.

While seems obvious, it's very easy to go through life as though it's a story about me. God is here to help me. To change me. To bless me. I don't sin, I make mistakes. I'm not a sinner, I'm a "somewhat dysfunctional but well-meaning victim who needs to be `empowered'" (p. 50).

And that's the problem.

These things reveal that my picture of God is too small; it lacks an understanding of His holiness and the offense of my sin. That my sins are my responsibility and no one else's, and I am at fault. But the opposite is true. Horton writes, "Because we are the ones at fault, God is our problem, and this is the one we cannot manage. When the righteousness of God no longer disturbs (much less terrifies) us, we feel no need to cry out for the righteousness from God that is a gift in Christ Jesus. . . .Nobody today seems to think that God is dangerous. And that is itself a dangerous oversight" (p.50).

The dangerousness of God is a subject that deserves more attention that this review can afford, but the big idea is this: Sin is an eternal offense to an eternal, perfect, holy and just God and it must be dealt with. And God does deal with it in a wholly unexpected manner--He substitutes Himself for us, giving us new life in Him, for His purposes and His glory.

Ultimately, what Horton reveals in the first half of the book is that we are passive recipients of grace. We do not merit His kindness and love, yet He gives it. He determines our relationship with Him; we do not (cf. John 15:15). And because of this, we are free to live as "Good News people in a bad news world."

Only when we know that we are condemned in ourselves but righteous in Christ are we free for the first time to love God and love our neighbors. Responding to both out of gratitude for a free gift, we are truly freed to love and enjoy them instead of using them for our own ends (p. 79).

It's only when we fully rely on the gospel in every stage of life that we are able to live out our call as being the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). So we can (and should) engage culture, build relationships, take part in the political sphere, and work for the common good as ambassadors for Christ, proclaiming the news of His death, burial, resurrection and the coming of His Kingdom as we do so.

We are unified as God's people (as Horton puts it, we truly become a cross-cultural community [pardon the pun]); we embrace the Lord's Day and gathering together for corporate worship. ("The church is a concrete place, as well as a people," he reminds us [p. 217].) We are ministered to through God's Word by those God has chosen to shepherd His people.

But it only happens when our focus is Jesus, not ourselves.

The Gospel-Driven Life is a challenging book. It's thoughtful and thick. Pastoral and prophetic. Some will chafe at its message simply because of its focus and its urgent plea for all of us to get over ourselves. That,

"Instead of trying to make God and his Christ a part of our story of personal fulfillment, consumer tastes, national pride, or ethnic empowerment, we are given a new script, with a new plot that defines our ultimate identity, hopes, longings and experience. . . Rather than grasping for power and domination, "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matt. 20:26) and calls us to become servants rather than lords (vv. 20-27)." [p. 266]

I need to hear this message. We all need to hear this message. The only question remaining is, do we have ears to hear?

In 2008, Michael Horton wrote an excoriating critique of American evangelicalism called Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. It was a wakeup call that our churches' focus has shifted from Christ to a multitude of other things, calling us back to the centrality of gospel preaching. I found the earlier book to be quite convicting, though it was a little heavy on criticism and light on solutions.

Thankfully, Horton followed that up with this book, which is a helpful and encouraging volume reminding us how wonderful and glorious the Christian life can be when we are driven by the gospel. The two books can certainly be read separately -- each stands on its own -- but they are best when paired together.

The book is organized around a "news" theme, which is fitting considering the word "gospel" means "good news". The problem is, we don't often treat the gospel like it's a big, breaking news story. Horton reminds us that the gospel is, first and foremost, an urgent message which must be broadcast repeatedly, to all people.

The gospel story has all the makings of headline news. We are in crisis! Every human being is a hell-bound sinner apart from God's grace, and yet God himself has come in the form of a man to rescue undeserving sinners from this fate. Not only that; He also lavishes kingly riches on those same redeemed sinners, and gives them the power and authority to take part in the redeeming of this world. Think about it: within the gospel itself, we have worldwide calamity, a heroic rescue, the ultimate rags-to-riches story, and countless examples of people banding together in acts of goodwill toward their fellow man. Why would we NOT want to tell this story?

A proper understanding of this story should (and will!) become a driving force in the life of the Christian. As you might have guessed, Horton contrasts the "Gospel-Driven Life" (or the "Promise-Driven Life" as he also calls it) with the"Purpose-Driven Life" popularized by Rick Warren's best-selling book. As Warren points out, those living in today's consumer culture have a passion for meaning and purpose, and are driven to discover and act on that purpose. The response of the typical American evangelical, though, is to take a pragmatic approach to finding purpose. This tends to leave Christians attempting to determine their own purpose, rather than seeing that we exist for a purpose determined by our Creator: "to glorify God and to enjoy him forever".

We don't have the authority to decide what our purpose is. What we do have are promises from God that each of us does have a unique role to play in the accomplishing of his purposes, and the necessary gifts to fulfill our calling. Seeing things this way requires us to humbly set aside our attempts to "seize our own glory here and now", but the result is a fruitful and blessed life governed by God's grace. As Horton writes, "While affirming the importance of having clear goals and a worthy focus in life, I am urging us to put purposes in their place as servants of promise... Christians are driven by God's promises, and directed by God's purposes."

The second half of the book puts feet on this principle, offering practical steps and encouragements (primarily in the form of exegetical Scripture teaching) for living the Gospel-Driven Life. The gospel informs every aspect of our lives; our politics, our community involvement, our family relationships, and our place in the Body of Christ. This book clearly lays out the gospel and its implications, fulfilling the author's stated purpose of the book: "to reorient our faith and practice as Christians and churches toward the gospel: that is, the announcement of God's victory over sin and death in his Son, Jesus Christ."

I hope that many believers will read and be challenged by this book, asking themselves the question: "What drives me?"

This book is a fantastic treatment on the gospel and its practical outworking in today's church and world.

Especially helpful was chapter four ("Getting the Story Straight") where Horton addresses some of the ways that well-intentioned conservative evangelical believers and leaders have turned the gospel into a neatly packaged formula that tends to distort and subjectivize the objective and outward facts of Christ and His salvation:

Here are a few examples of how the gospel is often defined in our circles today:

1. "A personal relationship with God"

Nowhere do we find the apostles proclaiming the gospel as an invitation to have a personal relationship with God. After all, they presupposed that everyone has a personal relationship with God already. In fact, our major problem is that we do have a relationship with God: the relationship of a guilty defendant before a just judge.... All people know God, but suppress the truth in unrighteousness.... So the gospel does not offer the possibility of a personal relationship with God, but announces a different relationship with God based on Christ!

2. "Asking Jesus into your heart"

God has used the truth contained in such formulas, however, to equate salvation with Jesus' taking up residence in one's heart is, at best, a half-truth.... "Asking Jesus into your heart" simply does not answer the problem identified in the Scriptures. My main crisis is not that Jesus is not in my heart, but that I am - with the rest of humanity - "in Adam," and the gospel is that through faith in the gospel I am - with my coheirs - now "in Christ...." When people are given the impression that they are saved by praying a prayer, we can easily forget that it is the Spirit who gives us the faith to desire, much less pray for, God's mercy. The focus shifts from the gospel itself, through the Spirit gives us faith, to the act of faith itself....

The most important criticism of this definition of the gospel is that it is not found in Scripture. No one is called in the New Testament to pray "the sinner's prayer," asking Jesus to come into his or her heart. Especially in Acts, this is the patter: God's judgment is announced on all people; the gospel is proclaimed as Christ's fulfillment of the Scriptures, and many, convicted of their sins and the Good News of salvation in Christ, believe, are baptized, and are thereby added to the church.

3. "Making Jesus your personal Lord and Savior"

This is another expression that is not found in Scripture. In fact, the Good News is so good precisely because it is simply an announcement of what is already in fact the case.... We all want to be and do something rather than to be made and to receive our identity from above. It is a blow to our spiritual ego to be told that everything has already been done. Yet that is the glory of the gospel!... Faith receives; it does not make (91-93).

Also very helpful was Horton's "4D" (my term) model for understanding the life of the Christian and the church. Many churches do not regularly teach on the basic plot of Scripture, and therefore, Christians life out their lives in a disjointed and compartmentalized fashion.

Finding our place in God's story ["drama"], renewed in our thinking by his instruction ["doctrine"], and led by his Word to respond in grateful thanksgiving ["doxology"], we now have the proper content, motivation, shape, and direction for our discipleship [the fourth "D"] in the world (98).
I especially appreciated Horton's emphasis on "two kingdoms," a teaching that appears to be non-existent in both conservative and liberal churches. Both of these wings focus much attention and effort on wresting control of the levers of the American empire from the other group in order to exercise power and influence on the rest of society, presumably "for Jesus' sake." Horton helpfully separates activity in the kingdoms of this world with activity for the Kingdom of God:

Christians may be distinguishing themselves in the common realm of secular culture, but they are not doing this as part of the church's activity. They are not even doing "kingdom work." The church is not yet the realized kingdom of Christ on earth, but it is the only place where that kingdom becomes partially visible through the ministry of Word and sacrament. Even the work of Christians remains part of secular culture, where God sends sunshine and rain upon the just and the unjust alike. Their cultural endeavors are no more redemptive than those of their non-Christian neighbors, and yet the Spirit blesses all city building with his excellent gifts of common grace.... Christ's kingdom is its own culture: holy rather than common. That does not mean that it is an alternative subculture. In other words, there is no such thing as Christian sports, entertainment, politics, architecture, or science. In these common fields, Christians and non-Christians are indistinguishable except by their ultimate goals and motivations (248-49).
Horton goes on to speak of the church and power:

The Christian churches do not have any power - at least the kind of power that the world considers powerful. At least it shouldn't. Aside from the doubtful thesis that there ever was a truly Christian civilization, the idea is a bad one. The only weapon that the church really has is the gospel (260).
My only criticism would be Horton's heavy emphasis on the sacraments (the Lord's Supper and baptism) as a "means" of grace. I agree with him that the ordinances (he uses the term "sacraments") "ratify" and "certify" the gospel message (p. 196, 200), but would state that "means" speaks of a delivery vehicle, not of a method of "ratification" and "certification." "Means" don't "ratify" and "certify," but deliver. I would state that the Word delivers the gospel of grace and the ordinances testify to its reality and certitude. (Holding to believer's baptism by immersion, I obviously don't agree with Horton's infant baptism, although I greatly appreciate my pedo-baptistic brothers and sisters in Christ.) I would also take a slightly more positive view of "contextualization" than Horton (p. 257).

Overall, I loved this book and agreed with Horton in just about every area other than those listed above in the previous paragraph. A fantastic and much-needed work. (This review also posted at: [...]

In this book Horton lays out truth to help the church (especially pastors) understand what needs to take the focus every Sunday morning - preaching the Gospel as of first importance (1 Cor 15:3).

If Christless Christianity was Michael Horton's diagnosis of the Christian church, The Gospel-Driven Life is his prescription. Using the lingo of the news room, Michael argues in his sequel that the church needs to reorient to the "Good News" as central to our faith and practice.

Where the former book was bleak, this book is hopeful. The book is split into two halves, the first focuses on getting the elements of the Gospel straight and the second details what sort of a community the true Gospel creates (what he calls a "cross-cultural community" and, yes, pun intended). Horton memorably says that we need to get back to "Drama, Doctrine, Doxology, Discipleship", themes that continually recur throughout the book.

In contrast with the narcissism and Pelagianism that Horton diagnosed as the church's primary problems in Christless Christianity, he offers this as the solution: "The gospel makes us extroverts: looking outside ourselves to Christ in faith and to our neighbor in love."

Again, as in Christless Christianity, Michael is sure to ruffle everyone's theological feathers at some point. For me it came when (I felt) he overstated his case for the sacraments and the inclusion of the believers' children under the new covenant. Still, when it is so relentlessly couched in Gospel, I am more inclined to consider Michael's position, and this is one of the greatest strengths of the book.

Michael Horton tells the church that it has good news to share in the midst of a bad news world. In the first half of the book, Horton defines this good news, the gospel of Christ, in a classical Reformed way, focusing on justification by faith alone through the righteousness of Christ. As Horton says on page 80, "The gospel is not a general belief in heaven and hell or hope for a better life beyond; it is not even confidence in a resurrection at the end of the age. It is the announcement that Jesus Christ himself is our life, for he is our peace with God. He does not merely show us the way; he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6)."

This gospel-centeredness permeates the whole book, leaving other pursuits, whether purpose or prosperity or therapeutic moralism, open to criticism. Horton does point to the shortcomings of such approaches but this book is less a critique than a call for the church to return to the gospel as the focus of its life.