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Gospel-Driven Life By Michael Horton Our Price $ 17.59   Retail Value $ 19.99   You Save $ 2.40  (12%)   Item Number 638127   Buy New Item Discontinued - Out Of Print The manufacturer has discontinued this product and no longer offers it for sale. We are unable to obtain more stock. ABOUT TRUST ONLINE

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	Michael's answer to a Christless Christianity  Jan 30, 2010
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.
	Excellent and Much-Needed Today!  Jan 28, 2010
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: [...]
	Excellent Treatment of Key Issues in the Evangelical Church  Jan 20, 2010
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.
	Another 5-star book by Michael Horton  Nov 29, 2009
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.
	Driven to and by Christ for God's Glory  Nov 18, 2009
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. 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. by Michael Robinson, author of numerous apologetic books including: There Are Moral Absolutes and God Does Exist!: Defending the faith using presuppositional apologetics, evidence, and the impossibility of the contrary

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