Preach the Gospel to yourself?

The modern Church owes a great debt to Jerry Bridges. It's largely through his teaching that our generation has learned to 'preach the gospel' to ourselves on a daily basis.

I don't plan on defending or explaining that concept in this post (though if people are interested, I can write another post later). Rather, I want to address something that I think we might be missing in some of our 'gospel-centered' fellowships.

I was reading Titus 3 this morning, and it says this in verses 1-2:

Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

I was praying as I read, and I was struck by the phrase 'to be ready for every good work.' It seems to me that God expects us to do good as a reflex. When something happens in our lives, rather than responding with anxiety, or anger, or indifference, or arguing, we are to respond by actively doing good, because we're ready to do so.

I asked God for help to do this. Then I started asking 'how?' How can I 'be ready for every good work'?

Then God opened my eyes to what's actually happening in this passage. Titus was Paul's missionary to Crete. He was a pastor and was sent to appoint pastors.

Here, Paul is telling him to remind the people what they're supposed to do. In other words, Titus, as a pastor, was to remind all the people how they were supposed to live.

The implication is that we need reminders about how we're to obey God.

This doesn't diminish the need we have for the Gospel. This passage is sandwiched between two passages that are about the Gospel, after all! The Gospel is taught here as the grounds by which we are to obey. We're empowered by hearing about the glory of God in saving sinners to obey him.

But that said, we also need reminders to obey! We need to be reminded about how we're to glorify God, even with regard to specific situations.

So here are some practical implications:

1) If you're a preacher, you need to preach both Gospel and Law.
2) You need to listen to your pastors as the teach you both Gospel and Law. Don't dismiss either as something you 'already know.' You need constant reminders of both.
3) If you're in a position of leadership in a church or in a household, you need to teach both Gospel and Law to those in your care.
4) As you read the Bible, you should be looking for what God has done to save you and for ways that you are to honor God in response to his saving work.

Onesimus