Matt Chandler (1974), lead pastor of The Village Church, a multi-campus church in the Dallas metroplex of over 10,000 people. draws his readers to the full gospel. In The Explicit Gospel he makes clear that even if you go to church, it doesn’t mean that you are being exposed (or exposing others) to the gospel explicitly. Chandler distinguishes between the gospel on the ground (men’s downfall and God’s redemptive work through His Son Jesus Christ to save mankind from sin. The ground under your personal salvation) and the gospel in the air (God’s plan to restore His creation, make all things new). The Scripture’s complementary perspectives of the gospel on the ground and the gospel in the air help us comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of God’s love. Neither perspective dilutes the other but rather shapes our vision of God’s saving purposes to the epic scope of biblical revelation. We are after a gospel that is resolutely centered on the atoning work of Christ and scaled to the glory of God.
And so, there’s explicit content on heaven and hell, sin, grace and atonement, faith and living faithfully. When we don’t hold the viewpoints (ground and air) together, either by over-affirming one or dismissing (or outright rejecting) the other, we create an imbalance that leads to all sorts of biblical error. Several dangers lead to a slippery slope and loosing ground: missing God’s grand mission, a rationalized faith, a self-centered gospel, syncretism, a Christless gospel, culture as idol, abdandoning evangelism.
The Explicit Gospel is a serious threat to the moralistic, therapeutic deism that cripples the lives of so many. Matt Chandler presents the gospel in a way that is balanced, hope-filled, and very, very serious, yet adding humor. ( )