My Own Op-ED--He Works Through It

One of the last times I saw Ed Lewis face-to-face, he said something interesting to me. He told me there was someone I needed to meet, because that guy "had the same evangelistic passion" that I had. This caught me a bit by surprise, for many guys think my love of doctrine means I must not be evangelistic enough. (I've been chided many times that I must get more seeker-sensitive.) Yet, Ed seemed to get it. He knows I am doctrinally oriented, but he also knows I love the gospel dearly and am thrilled to see God create new life!

I've always liked Ed (and even more so that day)! Therefore, I felt it safe to point out that his editorial could have used more gospel centrality. It would have influenced his diagnosis and his solutions. But this really isn't meant as a piece to try to call him out. This is meant as a wake-up call for all of us pastors. Are people bored or leaving our churches because we've neglected the gospel?

You see, the gospel is truly the only thing that saves the person. Attending your church for life won't save them. Joining the praise band won't get them justified before God. Liking the church and even getting other friends and family members to join them will not get them into heaven. No, it is only by faith placed deeply into this gospel message by which one becomes saved. And to believe, they have to hear it (Romans 10:14-17). All who hear the gospel will not be saved. But all who are saved will have heard the gospel and believed in it! Therefore, they are won forever by the gospel. They are kept, not by you, but by the Father who holds them in His hand.

But they are also transformed by this gospel. God sanctifies those whom He justifies. Therefore, His children will one day stand before Jesus as He is, but until that day, God will be working the process of making them more and more like His Son. This process will have ups and downs, progress and regression. However, the whole of the process will be marked by transformation. In many ways, this can be the most difficult part.

Bottom line: The pastor does not move his congregation beyond the gospel, but is called to perpetually send his people into the depths of the gospel.

Many people hear me state that the gospel must be preached weekly and assume the weekly theme is simply, "Ask Jesus into your heart. Walk the aisle. Raise your hand." However, I can't remember the last time I employed these strategies. Other pastors will label me a "doctrine guy," yet will assume I turn every Sunday into a revival meetings? Either they think I'm schizophrenic, or they aren't really considering the depths of the gospel. We've already addressed that understanding Christ's sanctifying work helps us assess the statistics differently, but let's look at how it effects proposed solutions as well.

1. Pray together. What many people consider their prayer life is simply their supplication life. They don't first focus on the grace of God in their lives and the worship He is due. Sure, it's great to get young and old together to pray, but make sure their prayers are gospel oriented. An older person will be much more passionate about the young person they've met if their prayer is about the mutual grace of God they have received, than simply praying they find a prom date or get into a good school. Get two people sitting across each other to pray, not focused on the other person, but focused on their mutual Savior.

2. Make the church a "family." This will only work with a gospel centrality. Quite frankly, the niche church plant strategy model has done a great disservice to the truth of the gospel. We have been made a "holy nation." Once we were not a people, but now we are a people of God. Like the church in Antioch, the church should seek to bond people of different ages, races, economic status and educations together. If you simply place generations around each other for the case of exposure, it may be fascinating for a time (What, you mean phones used to have cords on them that went into the walls? Crazy!), but this will eventually wear off. However, when you remind a person that they were alienated completely from God and fellowship is impossible until one comes to God through Christ, this causes the person to appreciate more deeply their fellowship with God, and thus seek out fellowship with others.

3. While "Scum of the Earth" is a cute concept for the name of a church (an idea from MacDonald's book), it is an incomplete message. Yes, we were objects of wrath, but now we have been purchased with the priceless blood of Jesus Christ! Really, are we going to claim that someone purchased with the blood of Christ is scum? Furthermore, we realize we have been reconciled to God in Christ so that we can do the ministry of reconciliation. But this call for reconciliation is not to us, but to God primarily, and then we will see it effect us.

4. Follow up with students. If our students are trained to listen for a truly cross-centered message, then we can more freely set them out knowing what to look for in a church. As far as I know, there are no Grace Brethren Churches in the regions I specifically mentioned. And frankly, that issue just doesn't matter that much to me. Too many of our churches don't understand this gospel centrality and therefore wouldn't share this thread. Our twelve points of the Statement of Faith simply do not narrow things down enough to really get a feel for the passions of the congregation. Therefore, you are left to assess the church based on superficial descriptions (seeker, Willow, Saddleback, Emerging, etc.). But these descriptions don't get to the heart of things, they simply deal with methodology. When Jesus said, "upon this rock," He was not referencing a method of Peter's, but the message that fell from his lips.

5. Real fellowship. Read 1 John 1. There is no fellowship imaginable like the Fellowship between the members of the Trinity! Then, through the work of Jesus Christ, God invites us into this kind of fellowship. Then, once we enter into fellowship with God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we naturally find ourselves having fellowship with others who also abide in Christ. As the passage continues, it explains to us that this fellowship is built upon the confession of sin and the work of Christ. As we abide deeply in the gospel, we abide deeply in Christ. And if we love the Groom, we will love the Bride.

Ultimately, the problem of the young leaving and the "Boomers" distancing becomes one of humility. The "Boomers" are bored with what they have and frustrated with what they do not. The youth, who once attended but have been leaving, are frustrated that changes aren't happening quick enough and they are not receiving enough influence. But both parties are wrong. The church is not about them, she is about Him! A gospel centered message will instill the necessary humility to cause both groups to seek Christ's glory and the other's interest.

The gospel has been assumed and treated lightly in too many contexts. This creates the problem. But their is hope. It is not complicated. It is not a struggle. It is not a message which contradicts. Preach the gospel to all men! The lost need to hear it for their justification and the believer (regardless of generation) needs to hear it for their sanctification!