My son bought a little pickup truck. It has a few years on it. And a few miles. Some dings and dents. Layers of dirt and grime. He’s convinced, however, that underneath it all there is a decent vehicle that will serve him well.

To get to it, he’ll have to do some restoration. Lots of elbow-grease. Replace some parts and pieces. Shovel out the trash in the bed. Shovel out the trash in the cab.

It reminds me that with time and use, everything gets a little worn and dirty. Parts go missing. Trash accumulates. It’s the way of the world. Drive in the mud, you’re going to get some on you. Hit an obstacle, there will be dents. If there is to be continued life—for pickups, for marriages, for faith—there have to be times when maintenance is a priority—when we clean and repair and restore. This has nothing to do with inadequacy. There is nothing wrong or flawed about something that needs a little TLC every once in a while. It’s just that when anything is put to hard use, it needs sprucing up from time to time.

I’ve been thinking a great deal about the gospel lately. The beautiful, amazing, love-filled story of God’s saving work on our behalf. God creating for a purpose. Man in his image. The Fall. God reaching out with a covenant. The coming of Christ. His perfect life. His atoning death. Resurrection. The Holy Spirit. Transformation. The hope of Heaven.

And I’ve been wondering whether, after years of hard use, the gospel deserves a little TLC from us. I’m wondering whether we’ve allowed it to get frayed around the edges . . . forgotten pieces of it . . . thrown in some trash we’ve required the gospel to haul around. That happens, you know. After years of hard service, in the hands of people as flawed as ourselves, even something as perfect as the gospel can look a little worse for wear.

So I have some questions for you.

(1) Do you know the gospel? Do you know what God has done in Jesus Christ and what God is doing through his Holy Spirit to save and sanctify you?

(2) Can you tell the gospel? Do you have an “elevator” grasp of it—the kind of firm understanding that permits you to tell the story in the 45 seconds it takes you to get from the lobby to the 5^th floor?

(3) Have you permitted any “trash” to accumulate on the gospel? Stuff like “Unless you are circumcised, you can’t be saved”? Unless you worship in a certain way . . . unless you think a certain way . . . unless you act a certain way. Stuff like that. Every once in a while, we need to shovel out the gospel and return it to its pristine, simple self.

(4) Are there any pieces missing from the gospel? When real people live in the real world, pieces do tend to be broken off the gospel. Like Jesus being “the way.” (In a pluralistic, many-paths culture, exclusive claims for Jesus are easily cast aside.) Like real resurrection. (In a naturalistic, scientific world, supernatural claims are often abandoned in the gutter.)

(5) Do you value the gospel enough to clean it up once in a while? To do a little repair and maintenance? To protect it from the hazards of the road? To fight for it, if it comes to that? Paul did that in his Galatian letter. And with the Romans and Corinthians. Is there any need to show the gospel a bit of TLC today?

I suspect it’s time to put the polish back on the gospel in many churches today. Stop confusing positive thinking with the story of God’s mercy. Start dusting off the gospel in ways that let it shine among us again. Make sure every member knows the gospel and can tell the gospel and carries around a gospel that is in original condition. It’s been too long since we’ve done any maintenance on the central story that shapes our lives. We’ve let it fall into disrepair.

But underneath it all, there is still the gospel that will serve us well in the future.

If we’ll do some restoration. If we’re willing to contribute a little elbow-grease. If we’ll shovel out the trash and make sure every necessary part is in good working order. The gospel can shine again in this dark world. And when it does, it is still “the power of God to save.” |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
November 8, 2009 - Why I believe in God
October 25, 2009 - Commuting in days of evil
October 11, 2009 - Poets and don’t know it
September 27, 2009 - How Hollywood proves abortion is wrong
September 13, 2009 - Significance
August 30, 2009 - Dance alternatives
August 16, 2009 - Gluttons for gossip
August 2, 2009 - Truth from Twilight
July 19, 2009 - Visitor-friendly churches
July 5, 2009 - The Shack
June 21, 2009 - When forgiveness fails
June 7, 2009 - Re-imagining Education (Part Six)
May 24, 2009 - We are not alone
May 3, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part five)
April 26, 2009 - Conviction
April 12, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part four)
March 29, 2009 - An evangelistic proposal
March 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part three)
March 1, 2009 - He makes me sick
February 15, 2009 - Re-imagining education (Part Two)
February 1, 2009 - Spiritual insecurity
January 18, 2009 - Re-imagining education (part one)
January 4, 2009 - Church and politics
December 21, 2008 - Heaven’s music
December 7, 2008 - The church and marriage
November 23, 2008 - God and the president
November 9, 2008 - A time for courage
October 26, 2008 - Likes and dislikes: the Prince Caspian movie
October 12, 2008 - What’s that noise?
September 28, 2008 - Modesty matters (part two)
August 31, 2008 - Modesty matters (part one)
August 17, 2008 - What would you fight for?
August 3, 2008 - Staying through the credits
July 20, 2008 - Honor to whom honor
July 6, 2008 - Tyler Perry and the movies you’re missing
June 22, 2008 - The peaceable kingdom
May 25, 2008 - Another generation grew up
May 25, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part two)
May 11, 2008 - Technology and the Bible (part one)
April 27, 2008 - What is truth?
April 13, 2008 - And the geek shall inherit the earth
March 30, 2008 - A charactered God
March 16, 2008 - The college choice (part two)
March 2, 2008 - Good news can be hard to hear
February 17, 2008 - The college choice (part one)
February 5, 2008 - Ten suggestions for a godly standard of living
January 20, 2008 - Expelled: that “Bueller” guy’s pro-God movie
January 6, 2008 - Choosing a lifestyle
December 23, 2007 - Teachable TV?
December 9, 2007 - Owners or stewards?
November 25, 2007 - Christians teaching Christians to change TV and film
November 11, 2007 - My money is God’s business
October 28, 2007 - Navigating under the radar
October 14, 2007 - The things God values
September 30, 2007 - Movie moments
September 16, 2007 - God’s economics
September 2, 2007 - The best books to read
August 19, 2007 - There’s a rat in ‘separate’
August 5, 2007 - The art of reading
July 22, 2007 - Atheist chic
July 8, 2007 - Why books matter: the sequel
June 10, 2007 - Books: why they matter
June 3, 2007 - The non-impact of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus”
May 27, 2007 - The universal gospel
May 13, 2007 - Loving Muslims through culture
April 29, 2007 - Hope
April 15, 2007 - God in the dark
April 1, 2007 - The gospel goes to the movies
March 18, 2007 - What the Bible movies can teach us
March 4, 2007 - What will you hurt for?
February 18, 2007 - Why Heroes . . .
February 4, 2007 - Give peace a chance
January 21, 2007 - When fairy tales are true
January 7, 2007 - WYSIWYG lives
December 31, 2006 - What’s coming next?
December 17, 2006 - Mercy, mercy
December 3, 2006 - Proof of evolution!
November 19, 2006 - Hungering for God
November 5, 2006 - Violence and government, war and peace
October 22, 2006 - The mighty meek
October 8, 2006 - The Battlestar and the Bible
September 24, 2006 - Soap for the soul
September 10, 2006 - Right vs. cool
August 27, 2006 - The painful truth
August 13, 2006 - More Lies Hollywood Tells
July 30, 2006 - Christian counter culture
July 16, 2006 - The lies Hollywood tells