All of creation and countless moments in every day life can help us remember and celebrate the gospel.
Intro
The “Gospel Shaped Home” podcast is a family discipleship resource from Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. It aims to equip you and your family to be on mission with God, to the end of the street, and the ends of the earth.
Andy Owens
Welcome back to another episode of “Gospel Shaped Home.” I’m Andy Owens, our pastor of Family Discipleship. And today, I am joined by brother we all know and love, Dave Owen, our senior associate pastor, Dave, welcome brother.
Dave Owen
Hey buddy. Thanks for having me. It’s a joy to be here.
Andy
Yeah. So glad you’re here now around Providence. A lot of people know who you are, you’ve been around for awhile. But, why don’t you still go ahead and introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your family, just make sure everybody who’s listening knows who they’re hearing from today.
Dave
Definitely, man. Well, as you said, I’m Dave, I’m married to my best friend, Julie, 23 years. I met her here at Providence, just the dad of four kids. Four crazy kids, who I love to death. Josh, Emmy, Juju, and Ray-Ray.
Andy
Okay.
Dave
They are 19, 17, 15, 13.
Andy
Wow. So they’re four teenagers right now?
Dave
Yes. It’s wide open at the house.
Andy
Wide open today with Dave. I wanted to talk about illustrating the gospel in everyday life and really not just illustrating, but delighting in, glorying in the gospel and everyday life. In Philippians chapter 3, Paul, he describes true believers as those who worship by the spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh. And so that phrase, “Glory in Christ Jesus”, or, “Rejoice in Christ Jesus” is something I think of when I think of you brother. I see you loving the savior, loving the gospel, seeking to build your life and family on it. And for you listeners, when my wife and I first started at Providence back in 2004, it was the first couple of years we were here, Dave was preaching one Sunday and he used an illustration from the movie, Cars, Disney Pixar movie came out back in ’06, so we’re talking 14 years ago or so. And he was talking about how this main character of the movie, Lightning McQueen, he’s this proud conceited race car, who throughout the movie, he learns lots of lessons of humility and he comes to … Begins to consider the interest of others. And at the very end, there’s this really moving scene where this old-time racer in his last race crashes, and he stops and goes back to help him. And you, in your sermon illustration, were talking about what a beautiful picture this was of the humility that God wants to cultivate in the hearts of his children, and ultimately where we see it in Christ and the cross. And I was just struck by, wow, he saw the beauty of the gospel watching this Disney movie. Right?
And so, that’s really why I wanted to have this conversation with you, is why is this important? How can we do it? So let me start off, let me throw this question out Dave, why is it important to remember the gospel and be reminded of the gospel through everyday life through illustrations to things like movies?
Dave
Yeah, definitely. First of all, I think growing up, you know, my dad modeled this for me, but I think I ended up taking it and putting it in certain categories. Maybe it’s more of a Sunday thing, and I kind of do my own thing and really didn’t…
Andy
So the gospel’s compartmentalized a little bit?
Dave
Yeah, absolutely. And then I think just through discipleship and really, I think the thing that stuck with me the most is just the picture of, I’ve always thought the sun rises in the East, sets in the West, but it actually doesn’t. We’re moving, the sun does not. And actually, it’s the center of the universe where everything is orbiting around that. And I oftentimes thought I was the center of the universe, and didn’t go well.
And so when I began to make that huge shift in my own heart saying that all the planets of my life will function properly if Christ is at the center of everything. And so, I was a huge sports fan. I played two sports in college. And so, I was always at the center of the universe in my own eyes, and it just didn’t go well at all. And so even beginning to enjoy sports and life with Christ at the center, there was a freedom that came with that. A real freedom where if I didn’t perform, I’m still loved. And if I did perform well, and did well, it wasn’t the ultimate. Christ is the ultimate. And I think just being able to have Christ at the center of the every day of life. Right? 1 Corinthians 15 is such a great text, it’s influenced my life. This is of first importance that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose from the dead, according to the scriptures. And so, if this is a first importance…
Andy
You want to give it first importance.
Dave
You would give it first importance and everything. And 1 Corinthians 10:31 is a big one, too. Whether you eat or drink, you do it for the glory of God. I’ve always wondered, why do you eat or drink? And I think you went to the very basic bottom denominator that it takes to live, eating and drinking, do that for the glory of God. So orange juice, when you think about the beauty of orange juice being grown, God provided the rain for it, someone bought it, put it in the grocery store, I could squeeze it and drink it and get vitamin C out of it. That’s all for the glory of Christ. He’s done that, he’s allowed that. So just, it’s a been a huge shift in my own life.
Andy
A little bit of a Copernican revolution, right?
Dave
Yeah, that’s it.
Andy
Yeah. That’s really good. You know, Christ is supreme. Colossians 1, he himself will have first place in all things.
Dave
That’s right.
Andy
And I feel like in a sense, that’s what you’re saying, is you began to see, “Hey, in my orange juice, in my basketball, Jesus is first.”
Dave
That’s right.
Andy
Yeah.
Dave
That’s right.
Andy
So how can we grow in our ability to do this, to recognize the worth of Christ, the beauty of Christ, the supremacy of Christ when we’re drinking orange juice? When we’re walking the dog, when we’re doing something, folding laundry with our kids? I mean, there’s so many, we all probably tend to forget Christ and his worth and his beauty. And so what can we actively do to open our eyes more? Does that make sense?
Dave
Yeah it does. You know, I think the first thing is a heart of gratitude for the gospel. I think when you… If you ever get past the fact that you have been justified and redeemed by God, it’s not good. And so I think staying close to the cross, staying close to the resurrection, staying close to the sinfulness of your heart, not in a way that… it just humbles you. When you really think through that. And so daily, whatever you do in your quiet time, whatever you’re doing your prayer time, I think gratitude for grace, mercy, and the gospel should be a part of the daily prayer life of the believer. I think you can have a list of things to pray for, yes, all these things. But I think Colossians 2, I love the way he says in verse 6, to be rooted and built up, establishing the faith, overflowing with gratitude.
I think gratitude does something to the heart that postures you on a daily walk to be mindful of the gospel, to be just mindful of the gospel of every breath that he gives is a gift. Acts 17, he’s appointed the boundaries and places we are to live. He is the sovereign one who has granted and given life. And so… how do you cultivate gratitude? I learned from some friends that lived overseas. You know these folks, they do a thankful… A gratitude journal every year, and on Thanksgiving day, they take about 10 hours. Yeah, I said that correctly, that’s not something wrong with the mic there. 10 hours, and they each go around their family and they read their journal of gratitude. And the first year they did it, the kids had about three things that they were thankful for. But after about 10 years, a couple years ago, the dad actually, he called me and said, “Hey, my journal this year has 1000, like 291 things.”
Andy
Wow.
Dave
And they read every one of them. And so, when you go through an exercise like that, it cultivates deep gratitude for God and the ultimate gratitude for the gospel and what he’s done for us in Christ.
Andy
I think there’s a reality that we’re forgetful people, and I think of where Piper says that where “All humans are like a seed,” right? We fill it up with water, but it’s constantly running out. And so you’re describing an intentionality to remember the works of God as to remember them in a celebratory way. And also, in a way that humbles us and reminds us of what grace we’ve received, how freely, that’s good.
So how about any recent examples of something you’ve just seen, experienced in your daily life, that’s reminded you of the gospel that’s a signpost in the world around you that you’ve seen and helped you remember the savior?
Dave
Yeah. Obviously right now, we’re in a global pandemic and COVID-19 has really just awakened my own heart to the reality of the brokenness in the world to see how that’s impacted… I mean, the smell of death is everywhere, there’s sort of this… I think the way I categorize it sometimes, there’s just a sobering to life right now of the reality of life and death. And even some of the tensions with the race issues that are going on. I mean these things are real, they’re painful. And, I think all of that pointing my eyes, especially for COVID, is pointing my eyes not to just the disease that it is, but to the death that it brings. COVID is the means which death comes. But the reason we’re going to die is because of sin. Sin is, there’s different means of death, but the ultimate reason we die, the wages of our sin is death, right?
And so this has been a reminder that I’m going to die. I hope it’s not soon, I hope I get the kids out the house and help momma with that, right? But the reality is even as a follower, even as a pastor, I’m going to die one day and I’m at peace with that because of what Christ has done. The resurrection is the only hope I have. The resurrection of Christ is the only hope. I love the way Corinthians 15 ends, it says, “Therefore be steadfast, immovable, always abounding the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” Even though I’m going to die, and people are dying, we labor in such a way to point them to Christ. And using everyday illustration, especially with your kids from stoplights, the red light gives you a few minutes to not jump on the phone, right? Shouldn’t be texting and driving. But, to be able to just look around, I love the fall. One of the things we use as far as illustrations around, I love when the leaves change. I love when they turn. The beauty of the color always comes when they die. And so I just love pointing those out, pulling over, taking a picture with the kids, or grabbing one, and then walking through, you know, the beauty of our life, when it’s hidden in Christ and it shines, is when we die to self and live for Christ. And inside… We’ll randomly, I’ll get kind of crazy, pull over grass and leaves, and then, “What are you doing dad?” And I’m like, “Let’s talk about the gospel.”
Andy
Brother, thank you for your ministry to our church. These 24 years now is that right?
Dave
25 next month.
Andy
25 next month. Praise God for his grace to you and your service here. And thanks for helping us think about glory and Jesus through this little conversation today. And thank all for tuning in, catch you on the next episode.
Outro
Thanks for listening to this episode of the “Gospel Shaped Home” podcast, produced by Providence Baptist Church of Raleigh, North Carolina. For more information and resources from Providence, visit us online at pray.org. If you enjoyed today’s episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review on Apple Podcasts.