Gospel: God’s Power for Life
Does the gospel shape us, or do we shape the gospel? The importance of this question rises to significant heights during a time where the societal upheaval and the chaos of public life becomes more overt. Christians can quickly find themselves making declarations about things that may or may not be truly Christian! Likewise, the value of the question also demands scrutiny because it is easy to avoid asking how our values and practices are shaped by the gospel. We can then move too quickly to simply declaring to others what we believe the gospel to be.
When persons start declaring the gospel, they inevitably shape the gospel message through their own experiences, values, and beliefs. So the gospel, the good news of God’s action in the world to draw humankind into God’s life, will take up a particular color or flavor, depending on who is doing the talking.
Of course, this is natural. Frankly, it is inevitable, at least in one very important way. The incarnational nature of God’s work in the world, as seen in Jesus of Nazareth, is a poignant demonstration of the embodied nature of God’s work, God’s Word. At the same time, as we embody the gospel story, we can also fuse other things onto the gospel. We can, even inadvertently, add to the gospel or perhaps diminish the gospel in our tellings of that very gospel. So the very thing that enlivens gospel witness—personal testimony—can also be the thing that hinders gospel witness!
So: What do faithful Christians do?
Faithful Christians remember that the gospel is not something that the church receives and then discloses to others. An all-too-common (and often unexamined!) practice is when the church believes that they have the truth of the gospel to present, as if the gospel is something that can be contained and distributed.
Rather, the church stands with the world in a position of continually receiving the gospel. That is to say, the gospel is constantly and continually calling the church to respond in faith and to repent or turn toward the truth. This posture of always hearing and constantly responding to the good news of God’s arriving invites the church to always be in a position of learning, of newness. Repentance is not a one-time thing for a person or a community; it is a life-long posture of the people of God. Only then can the people of God navigate the dilemma of embodying the gospel and declaring the gospel without distorting the gospel.
What might a congregation look like if such a posture was taken? Perhaps like this:
Humility, coupled with hospitality. A church that bears witness to the gospel will humbly welcome others. A church that is listening to the gospel will find ways of listening to the gospel with others.
Passion for the truth of the gospel. A church that bears witness to the gospel will not be afraid to declare the good news of God’s love through Jesus Christ. This is the very reason for the existence of communities of faith. Churches that fail to have a passion for sharing the gospel lose the very thing that gives life to the community.
Mission as the heart of congregational life. Since God’s mission matters, then sharing the story of Jesus Christ means that evangelism—telling the Jesus story to others—will permeate every aspect of a congregation’s life. This includes worship, fellowship, ministry, and service to others.
Hearing the gospel and practicing repentance. Churches (and people) never will get it fully right; however, churches (and people) can continue to appropriate the radical news of God’s arriving presence in the world and ask what it means for me and for us—today. The Reformed tradition of the church has a saying, ecclesia reformata, semper reformanda. In English, we might say: “the church reformed and always reforming.” The church is always in a posture of listening to the gospel anew.
So, in these days, the gospel matters. And it matters when churches listen for the gospel and choose to repent. Churches that declare the truth of the gospel to the world matter. Such work is the work of Christian leaders today. The challenge in our world is not that the world has gone crazy; the challenge in our world is whether leaders will truly embrace the powerful word of gospel news for themselves, for their congregations, and for the world.
Blessings,
Carson
