"I wanted to write to you concerning our common salvation..." Jude 3
Ask Christians if we should have a Christ-centered theology and church. A church without theology is a dead church and theology. Theology is always relevant and necessary but not sufficient. You could know all the theology in the world and fail in the point of Christian love which is the aim and be worthless. We all have a theology we must realize that but how good our theology is is the point.
A Christ-centered gospel means that the gospel was about Jesus Christ's good news is about him. He solved the sin question by his death burial and resurrection. He conquered death itself and showed that there is life after death with infallible proofs according to Luke. Our whole lives should be gospel-centered because we are grace-oriented and focused on the gospel as we strive to know nothing but Christ and Christ crucified in our message. That means keeping the main thing the main thing and not majoring on minors but realizing that the Great Commission is our aim and goal as Christians someday it shall be called the great completion and we need a great commitment to it.
We must realize that our salvation began in eternity past, is realized in time, and will be completed in eternity, and looks forward to heaven. Our Father purposed and authored our salvation, and the Son actually secured, accomplished, and achieved it but the Holy Spirit applies it to our lives. All three members of the Godhead are necessary! We must also realize that the whole person gets saved and we get rescued from the dominion of sin and that salvation is more than forgiveness.
The whole point in justification is that God realized that we are reckoned as saints, not sinners anymore and that reconciliation ensures we are restored to our relationship with God and propitiation or that the actual sacrifice was made in the temple of God on our behalf by the blood of Christ itself. Salvation not only forgives us, but it also delivers us from the power of sin and regenerates us so that our spirit is alive and can know and Love and serve God in a relationship.
Finally, we must realize that we are saved by grace alone not by any combination of grace and good deeds or good works or pre-salvation attempts to please God. Christ as a sacrifice and crucified saved us from the penalty of sin; his coming saves us from the power of sin and in heaven he saves us from the judgment of sin.
The foundation of all our lives is in Christ the solid Rock, not any one person or church or theology. What matters in faith is the object of the faith, not how strong the faith is. You can move mountains with mirror mustard-seed faith and we can all walk on water by walking by faith. You can be fanatical in your faith and have blind faith for no reason or not know why you believe or have a zeal but not according to knowledge but it matters what you believe in God and what kind of a god you believe in how big your God is not how big your faith is.
As Christians walking with the Lord we have the courage to face tomorrow, to live one day at a time, and to realize that we can live everything in the light of eternity and not be discouraged for we know that God is in control of our lives and that he holds our future and our destiny is in his hands. We know that we may have bad times but we must accept them for God gives the good times also and he has a purpose for them we see everything as related to the gospel that God will work everything for our good because of Christ what he has done and proven his love for us by redeeming us from the slave market of sin so we no longer servants of sin but servants of righteousness.
When we are Christ-oriented we have peace with one another ("My peace I leave with you...") and we bare the image of Christ and have a natural love for one another as Jesus said we shall know we are disciples if we love one another. Christ said that the legacy he leaves is his peace and peace is the hallmark or calling card of the Christian life for there is no peace for the wicked. Jesus said peace to you and only Christianity can offer this. We can have peace with God, peace with our neighbors, and peace in our future.
We must not doubt the saviorhood of Christ, that was His mission! For in the Gospel of Christ, our past is forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured. It also means that we have been saved that our sins have been forgiven both past, present, and future and then we are being forgiven and being saved right now continually and ongoing basis as we have victory in power over sin and we shall be saved ultimately from the presence of sin itself in the final judgment and wrath of God.
That's what Christianity is about... salvation! It is a religion of salvation and the saviourhood of Jesus should not be questioned for there is no name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, he is the only Savior of the world and there is no other one who came to save us for He was surely a man on a mission to seek and to save those who are lost.
We must recognize that the gospel is not new, it was given to Adam and Eve called the Protoevangelium and it was revealed more and more throughout the Old Testament until finally explained in Jesus Christ. We have always been saved by grace through faith in the Lord! Looking ahead or behind. Paul elaborated on the gospel message and the book of Romans is the highlight of the Bible's theology you could say that all roads lead to Romans. And Romans has highlighted in Romans chapter 8. This is the quintessence of the gospel.
Therefore, the foundation of our life is in the finished work of Christ it is a done deal we do not need to do this or do that we do not have a to-do list. Christianity is about having what Christ has done for us it is done and done already we just accept that fact. And rest in faith knowing that Christ did the work for us on our behalf and we can do nothing to save ourselves not even any pre-salvation work. Our present Christian life is based on faith as we walk in faith in the Spirit of God by his power we do not have permission to live in the flesh anymore or to sin because we have forgiven but we have the power to live in the Spirit. And our hope is not diminished as we hope for heaven with Christ in which we are like him and reign with him eternally our future is secure knowing that Christ is in us right now he has given us the earnest of our inheritance the Holy Spirit taking up residence with our spirit.
Therefore, we must realize that we are complete in Christ and that Christ fulfills us and gives us meaning and purpose in life as we are called to serve him and glorify him in our lives and to do his will. Without Christ, we are nothing Paul said he counted rubbish at all things he had compared to what he knows in Christ. Our past is not worth holding on to compared to the value of knowing Christ. What eternal life is about, not about improving our lives but having a transformation of our lives and knowing God is real and wants a relationship with us personally because he loves us.
The Great Benediction that closes Second Corinthians mentions Jesus first and specifically the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hours with the love of God in the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit is the triune formula that they all work in harmony and unity with each other for one objective our salvation. If these three things are what is so unique about the Christian experience when we encounter God in our lives.
Christianity is grace-oriented and stressed and is salvation by grace, not by work or merit which has no place in our salvation. And we experienced the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as proof of our salvation since we love because he first loved us and the love of God constrains us as we love another. And the fellowship is unique in the Christian life because we all have fellowship centered in Jesus Christ in the love of God through the power of the Holy Spirit in his name. Whenever we walk in the Spirit we have fellowship with one another. Soli Deo Gloria!