The Gospel

When someone says Gospel, what comes to your mind?  Like gospel music or Billy Graham?  Maybe good news or Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?  Well one of our tasks over the last few months at Round Lake Christian Church has been to define the gospel for our community of believers.

Why do we feel the need to define the gospel?  Hasn't it been pretty well defined for over 2000 years?  Yes and no.  We feel that every church in every culture should seek to find a way of describing the gospel that is Biblically accurate and culturally relevant.  And by culture I don't mean what media tells us that culture is.  I mean, what makes sense in the world around us.  So here is how we have defined the gospel.

THE GOSPEL IS THE GOOD NEWS THAT, FOR GOD'S GLORY, JESUS DIED FOR OUR SINS AND WAS RESURRECTED SO WE MIGHT MOVE FROM DEATH TO LIFE.

Notice that we connected the Biblical historical truths of the death and resurrection with a statement about what Jesus accomplished in that.  He died so that we might live.  We believe the gospel is all about people moving from just existing in this world as the "walking dead" to becoming truly alive in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.  We want a church family that believes and lives like they have tasted life!

Please note as well that we believe the gospel exists for God's glory.  We have come to understand glory as the power, presence, and praise of God.  As John Piper has stated, "God is the gospel."  In Jesus, God displayed the fullness of His power and presence.  And only Jesus is worthy of all our praise.  Therefore, the gospel is for God's glory or you could say it IS God's glory.

Finally, take heed of the crucial little word "might".  Mark Twain said that words are the difference between a harmless lightning bug and lightning.  So words do matter.  And this word matters eternally.  The word might shows us that the promise of moving from death to life does not occur universally.  The Bible is clear that faith in Jesus Christ is the condition of the gift given called life.  Faith breaks down into a belief that Jesus is who He says He is and a trust that He is our Savior, King, and God.  Only this kind of faith allows one access into the promised "abundant" life that is offered through Jesus' death and resurrection.

So how would you define the gospel?  Check out I Corinthians 15:1-8 and John 5:24 to see more about how we define the gospel.

Being Too Content With Discontentment

It seems that there is a strange obsession within the body of Christ.  We seem ok with the idea of always being disgruntled, always being unhappy, always being dissatisfied, content to be discontent.  We become comfortable playing the part of the critic, always pointing out the problems and never working towards the solutions.  Oh how many times I have sat down to listen to the dissatisfactions and "issues" of individuals who always seem to have some dissatisfactions and "issues".  They seem only comfortable when something is wrong, when there is something to complain about.  In fact, many of these individuals feel uneasy when there is nothing to complain or obsess over.  They live in constant discontentment.

I have also heard the argument that those who have a critical eye and are willing to point out the faults are an important part of the growth and forward nature of the church.  But there is a major difference between having a prophetic voice for God that calls out for repentance and a satisfaction with always being a critical spirit.  Some people relish the role of always being the one swimming upstream a little too much.  They are a little too content with discontentment.

Paul says on a number of occasions the significance of contentment.  But especially in II Corinthians 12, Paul hammers home the point I am trying to make here.  Of all the early Christians that had reason to complain and to moan, Paul certainly could have made a case for his right to discontentment.  But instead Paul wrote these words in II Corinthians 12:10, "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Notice that Paul is not content with discontentment, he is content with "weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities."  We tend to be content with being upset about those things and complaining about them.  Instead, what if we found rest in the strength of the Lord when we were weak?  What if the next time the church you are a part of did something you disagreed with, you submitted instead of complaining?  What if the next time someone wronged you, you prayed for the well being of that individual instead of retaliating?  What if the next time discontentment started to creep in, you decided to be content with Jesus, rather than content with being discontent?

Ministry Priorities

Recently something has been bothering me.  Why does it seem that so many well intentioned members of God's people get distracted from doing the things that God has designed them for?  If we hold to a Biblical understanding of the church then we know that God has given different gifts or tasks to the various members of His body.  Some are prophets, some are teachers, some are administrators, some are hospitable, some have the gift of mercy, and so on.  But it seems that we find ourselves sucked into the lie that good christians possess all the gifts and can be anything at any given time.  And I believe it creates ministry distraction.

The apostles were faced with a serious dilemma in Acts 6.  There was a problem with the distribution of food to the hellenist christian widows.  Because the church had been growing so rapidly in those days, the issue I'm sure was rather large and needed immediate attention.  So it was brought before the leadership, specifically the Apostles.  What a test this is!  Serving and distributing food to widows is a critical aspect of the ministry of the church.  At the same time, for the disciples to undertake this task would mean that they would have to cut back on their ministries of prayer and the word.  What would they decide?

I could ask here what would you choose to do.  But I am not going to ask that question.  Instead, what have you done in the past?  You see I believe that we often choose to do the things that we feel need to get done, even if someone else should be doing those things.  The Apostles could have chosen to serve food to the widows and we would have applauded them for this.  But instead they made the harder decision that most of refuse to make.

They put it back on the church.  They said find 7 men that could do this task, because we have been commissioned to ministries of the word and prayer.  Notice that they acknowledge the significance of this ministry, but that they understand that the rest of the body has responsibility here.  I wonder what the people thought?  I know the pressure in most churches.  "Oh well, they don't have a servants heart, putting it back on the church."  "That's just lazy."  "How much time do they really need to pray and preach?  I mean isn't being a christian about helping people?"

But I know for a fact, from experience, that the pressure of others is nothing like the pressure I put on myself.  "What will people think if I don't do this?"  I have tried in the past to measure up to "their" expectations many times in ministry, uncertain of who they really are.  "They" always seem to show up in leadership meetings, nameless and faceless, but having lots of pull.  Thank God that the Apostles were not this insecure.

The appointment of these 7 proved to be the right decision.  But it wasn't the right decision just because the church grew and Stephen and Philip turned out to be powerful witnesses to the Gospel.  It was the right decision because the Apostles stayed focused on their role in the body.  They would not be distracted by good things, they were focused on the right things.  

So where are you in your ministry priority?  What's the one thing God is tugging at you to do it?  Why aren't you doing it?  Let me suggest some ideas for finding out your ministry priority:

• Pray that God would show you how He wants to use you in the body.
• Get a copy of The 3 Colors of Ministry and begin discovering your Spiritual Gifts.
• Write down on paper what are the things that God has specifically designed you to do.
• In one sentence, what is the one ministry that you should be doing within the kingdom?
• Stay focused on the ministry He is giving you to do.

"Zeal For My House Will Consume Me!"

For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. (Psalm 69:9)

How does this picture make you feel about the man holding the whip? Just pretend you don't know what's going on here. What are some thoughts that come to your mind? Do you think of someone who is honorable and right? Do you think of someone who is loving and caring? Probably not.

We have trouble with this account in scripture because it doesn't fit our neat and tidy understanding of Jesus as the lowly servant who takes it on the chin. He gets angry. He gets aggressive. He gets downright violent. But if scripture teaches that He is without sin, then what drives the Son of God to the point of passionate, zealous anger towards what is taking place in the temple.

The answer is found in John 2:13-22. At the time of the passover, Jesus heads to Jerusalem. And coming upon the temple he finds the buying and selling of sacrifices there. He finds men changing out foreign money for the local Jerusalem currency. These are services of convenience for the travelers to the temple. But God is not concerned with our convenience, He is concerned with the state of our heart. And these money changers and sacrifice sellers were busy turning a profit on the religious needs of the day. Their hearts were waxed cold and the glory of God was far from them.

As Jesus fashioned the whip that He would use to drive them out, the passion must have grew within Him. You see the temple was not just a place for religious activity to occur. It was not just a place to visit. It was truly the place that God had promised to meet His people on earth. It was where He agreed to reveal Himself to them. It was not the temple that Jesus was zealous for, but for the glory of God. Which, being the son of God, was His own glory.

Yes, I am saying that what made Jesus so angry was that the people were defaming His glory. They were not just making a mockery of the temple, but of Jesus Himself. Jesus' ultimate passion was that the nations would see His glory and worship it. Does it sound selfish? Well not quite when you read on in John 2.

Jesus' glory is defined and shown by His death and resurrection. That's what He meant when He said, "destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." To display His glory for the nations meant their salvation! The glory of Jesus is our greatest benefit. So of course He was indignant when they defamed His glory, because they were defaming the very glory that could bring them salvation from eternal damnation! The thing Jesus was most passionate and most zealous for was His glory that would bring salvation to the world. He is passionate about His glory which makes Him passionate about us!

But what dug into my heart in this text is this question... what are we zealous for? Are we this passionate about the glory of God? Or are we more passionate about America, sports, or our wealth? What do we pursue at the cost of everything else? I'm afraid that the american church has become more zealous for herself than for the glory of God in Christ Jesus. We have become more zealous over matters of form and outward expression than for the glory that dwells in the temple. How do I know this? By the very lack of manifestation of the glory of Christ. When zeal for the glory of Christ returns to our churches, then expect that glory to show up in power and might. Bow down and be amazed at the Jesus who turns over tables. Oh that we might get zealous for the glory of our risen king Jesus. What would it look like if He turned over some tables in our hearts?