The full title
of this book is The Gospel: How the Church Portrays the Beauty of Christ.
And the subtitle is important to understand Ray’s point. He wants to show how gospel
doctrine creates a gospel culture – and all that is to display Christ’s beauty.
Thus, in this
short book, Ray seeks to show the gospel implications for the individual, the
(new) community (of believers) and the cosmos. These are the first three
chapters of the book which provide the theological framework for the next four
chapters.
In chapters 4 –
7, Ray fleshes out what it looks like to ‘do church.’ He is realistic. Thus, he
warns of suffering, of discouragement, of difficulty; at the same time he shows
readers that because God is building His church, there is the joyful certainty that
if the gospel is at the church’s ‘sacred centre,’ it can gradually become the
community God designed it to be.
Ray writes with
great humility, gently showing us the folly of Christian self-trust (which, if
we are honest with ourselves, is almost always the case), and pointing us to
the glories of Christ’s gospel. This book is a call for churches to enjoy the
gospel once more if we have lost sight of it, and to behold its beauty every day,
because we can never get enough of it. It is also an encouragement and
challenge for Christians to live passionately for the gospel.
He quotes Francis
Schaeffer ‘if we do not show beauty in the way we treat each other, then in the
eyes of the world and in the eyes of our own children, we are destroying the
truth we proclaim.’ And we can only show that kind of beauty if we have tasted,
and are daily devouring the beauty of the gospel.
I know my church
needs a truly gospel culture. I don’t think I will suddenly love my fellow
Christians in a drastically different (and better way), but this book has
pointed out to me what I must do if I want to love better – be gripped by the
gospel. So if you want to love the church better, I’d say this gem of a book is
for you.
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