What’s been taken out of the white-flour gospel? It says nothing whatsoever about becoming a new person in Christ.

The nourishment that God put in has been taken out, and the result is that many Christians have missed out on the substance that will build up their spiritual lives. To be a Christian is to be in Jesus Christ. When you are “in Christ,” it is not just that your past is forgiven and your future secure. It is that you become a new person in Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

Here’s the issue: Many Christians have never really understood what it is to be a new person in Christ. The Bible expresses this in different ways.

• “You must be born again” (John 3:7).
• “He saved us… by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
• “[God] made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5).

We have been examining our new identity in Christ and seeking to put back into our understanding of the gospel what has too often been taken out. “Because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).

New life, new power, new identity. That’s the whole grain of the gospel!

In what ways do you sense that the true substance of the gospel has been missing from your life?

Perhaps you have made the switch from white bread to whole-grain bread. You were told that white flour has most of the goodness taken out of it, so you began baking your own bread, and it is fantastic.

Some of us have got used to a white-flour gospel—a gospel that has much of the goodness taken out of it. Although we can live on it, we lack the substance of what God originally gave us.

The white-flour gospel goes something like this: God has done certain things, and if you choose to believe them, you will be saved. So, when someone says, “I believe that Jesus died and rose,” and they say a prayer, they are told, “You are forgiven, and you have eternal life.”

The person says, “That’s great. Now all I have to do is figure out how to live the rest of life. I am forgiven for the past. I am secure for the future. But I am essentially in the same position now.”

Many Christians live with this sense that the gospel addresses the past and the future, but there is a disconnect with the real issues of life. All of us have issues. The deep wounds of your life. Your ongoing struggles with sin. Your feelings of insignificance and wondering if your life really matters.

Your faith becomes like a spiritual insurance policy—something that you are glad you have, that you would not be without, but that is not a great deal of use in the practicalities of your life. That’s the white-flour gospel.

Does your faith sometimes feel like a spiritual insurance policy that doesn’t address the real issues of your life?

The fourth dimension of your holiness is that you are sent to the world. When Jesus says, “I consecrate [that is, sanctify] myself,” He is not talking about a gradual growth in holiness. He is the Holy One. He fulfilled everything that the Father called Him to do, so Jesus is talking about giving Himself to a special calling—in this case, the cross.

In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have the story of how Jesus wrestled over the agony of the cross. “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” But in the end, He gave Himself to it. “Not as I will, but as you will” (Mat. 26:39).

This is John’s Gethsemane: Jesus says, “I consecrate myself” (John 17:19). He is saying, “I give myself to the work that the Father has given me to do.”

Jesus calls us to do the same thing. “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21). When Christ sees a secondary school in need, what does He do? He sends you. When Christ sees the business world in chaos, what does He do? He sends you. When Christ sees someone who is cold and hungry, what does He do? He sends you.

He doesn’t send all of us to every place, but He does send each of us to some place. He does not make us all responsible for every need, but He does make us all responsible for some need. As He gives Himself to His work, He is praying that we will give ourselves to our work.

You are sent. That’s why it is so critical that you should be who you are.

What has Christ sent you to do? Are you ready to follow Christ’s example and consecrate yourself to that calling?