CHAPTER 10

JESUS-CENTERED FLOWER COMMITTEE

The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If we are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.

~ C. S. Lewis1

It was an ordinary flag football game for the Sigma Nu’s of Oklahoma State University. As they stretched out on the chilly October evening, they expected an hour of good competition with another frat on campus. But then everything changed as an imposing figure walked out of the crowd and asked for a set of flags.

It was Kevin Durant, star player for the Oklahoma City Thunder. One of the Sigma Nu brothers had sent a random Twitter message to Durant offhandedly asking him to accept an invitation to come to Stillwater and play on their team. Durant showed up, and word spread quickly on campus that the NBA superstar was on the field in a pair of sweatpants playing quarterback and defensive back for the Sigma Nu’s.2

Surely the move caused basketball executives to shudder as Durant put his multi-million-dollar knees on the line, but based on the grins on everyone’s faces, the evening was a success, even though the Sigma’s had to forfeit the game for bringing a ringer.

But they did not mind. They got to play ball with Kevin Durant: former NBA Rookie of the Year, the youngest player ever to lead the league in scoring, and the hoop daddy who lit up the famed Rucker Park in his free time. This was the guy playing flag football on that October evening. That’s what made it special. It was the fact that someone so great was willing to come and play a game with a bunch of random guys on a random field in the middle of Oklahoma. Those random young men were blown away with the goodness of Kevin Durant because they were already in awe of his greatness. In their minds, someone great descended into the details. He came from the stratosphere of athletic greatness to mingle with the never-will-be’s (no offense to the Sigma’s).

Rarely do we see greatness and goodness combined. Typically the more famous or popular someone becomes, the less expectation there is for the person to interact with his fans. Rarely does the great choose to be good, the big choose to be small.

While Durant’s basketball prowess is great now, his glory will fade. In a few years, his athletic ability will quickly wane. Another player will rise to take his place. His goodness, as touching as it was, was also very temporary. He spent a few hours on an intramural field.

God is infinitely greater. His glory will never fade; it will never be shared with another. And His goodness is far deeper than a quick appearance on an athletic field. In Psalm 8 (ESV), David stands in awe of God’s willing condescension:

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

This psalm is a beautiful blend of the greatness and goodness of God, His transcendence and immanence, demonstrated in crafting the cosmos and being involved in the details of humanity. Because David was awed by God’s greatness, he was melted by His goodness. And David only had a taste of what we now know in full.

Jesus is the culmination of both the greatness and the goodness of God. The gospel is the showplace of His eternal and everlasting plan and His willing condescension to suffer death—even death on a cross! Jonathan Edwards wrote:

In Christ infinite greatness, and infinite goodness meet together, and receive luster and glory one from another. His greatness is rendered lovely by his goodness. The greater anyone is without goodness, so much the greater evil; but when infinite goodness is joined with greatness, it renders it a glorious and adorable greatness.3

The wonder of Psalm 8 is pushed to its full extent by the knowledge of the gospel. Awe of the gospel inspired the writer of Hebrews, centuries later, to reflect on the same passage. After quoting the psalm of David, he declared:

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Heb. 2:8–9 ESV)

The birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the wholeness that it entails demonstrates that there is no area of the universe—great or small—that is untouched by the gospel. Therefore, there is no area of church life that should remain untouched by the gospel.

Yet for many church leaders, “gospel centrality” is a theological term that dwells in the arena of theory or sporadic “salvation appeals” from the platform. Tragically, confining the gospel to the “big” aspects of church life unwittingly teaches people that the ramifications of the gospel end, that there are moments in their days and sections of their lives that can remain unaffected by Christ. If a church member does not see how the details of church ministry are impacted by the gospel, how would he ever see how the gospel applies to the mundane aspects of his day?

There is an immense amount of important details related to church ministry, and because of their narrow focus, there is a temptation to view them as outside the reach of the gospel. Perhaps some have wondered, “What are these details that the Son of Man is mindful of them?” But He is mindful of them, and how we treat these elements of church ministry reveals a lot about our hearts.

Churches centered on the gospel and those anemic of the gospel live with these details, but gospel-centered churches see them with a different vision. They have embraced both the bigness and the smallness of the gospel, realizing that no area of church life is untouched.

The gospel is for the counseling ministry, the deacon nomination process, the budget planning, the custodial checklist, the equipment purchases, the hiring process, the church calendar, the facilities, the greeters . . . everything.

Not everything is the gospel, but the gospel is for everything.

One way to know how deeply the gospel is being woven into the culture of your church is to continually check the small details for gospel proof. If there is gospel absence in practice, you will know what areas of your theological foundation and ministry philosophy need to be addressed. Instead of people finding “the devil in the details,” lead in such a way that they find “grace in the details.”

Check the Details

If you’ve ever hosted a speaking event or concert, you may be familiar with what’s known as the “rider,” a detailed list of requests or demands that an artist expects from a venue. The rock band Van Halen, for example, was notorious for their rider that specified that a bowl of M&Ms always be placed in their dressing room before a concert . . . oh, and one more thing: make sure all the brown ones are removed.

Most people would hear a demand like that and consider it further evidence of Van Halen’s prima-donna mentality, or perhaps write it off as some kind of superstitious eccentricity common to creative types. But despite how we might interpret away the nitpicky nature of this request, the group actually—believe it or not—had a reasonable, foundational reason behind it. Goes like this . . .

Van Halen’s management group had begun cautioning them on the ever-increasing size of their production, a rock show that had steadily grown into an entertainment extravaganza. During Van Halen’s rise to fame in the 1970s and ’80s, rock bands typically traveled with three semitrucks to handle all their stage gear. Van Halen, however, traveled with nine semitrucks. The weight of their equipment and the electric load it required were much greater than a lot of arenas were set up to handle. So when they and their entourage showed up at a certain place, they needed to know for sure that the venue was able to manage the size of the production. A careless, incapable entertainment site could lead not only to a glitchy performance but even a dangerous scenario for the performers as well as the audience. So to determine if the venue possessed a culture of preparation, this statement was subtly placed in their rider: absolutely no brown M&Ms.4

David Lee Roth of Van Halen wrote in his autobiography that if he walked into their dressing room before a show and noticed brown M&Ms in the bowl, he would immediately order a line check. And guess what? It very often revealed that the venue was not adequately prepared for the group’s performance. The existence of the brown M&Ms, though a small matter by itself, revealed a greater cultural problem—a lack of attention to details.

What are the “brown M&Ms” in your church, the important practice issues that speak loudly about your overall church culture? Not only are the following elements of church life essential for the church’s mission in the world, but they are also a helpful gauge for evaluating how deeply the gospel has been driven into the church. The gospel must be continually surfaced as the reason for each ministry’s existence and the pursuit of each ministry. For a culture to be continually immersed in the gospel, kingly leaders must ensure that the systems and direction of the church are grounded in the truth of Jesus. In this chapter, we will surface many details church leaders face on a weekly or daily basis and show how they may be connected to the gospel for the sake of the people.

Gospel and Polity

While many seminary students avoid the lectures on church polity because of the renowned boredom associated with them, and while many church members associate “church polity” with a negative experience of authoritarian dictatorships or a plethora of committees slowing down ministry, the gospel radically impacts the way we view the leadership structure of the Church and how it affects other areas within the body. Ephesians 4 highlights, in a broad sense, Paul’s vision for church polity:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. (vv. 11–13 ESV)

Paul affirms that some are appointed as the leaders in the Church. And yet the calling of these leaders (as discussed in the last chapter) is built on the foundation of the gospel:

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) (vv. 7–10 ESV)

In these verses, Paul draws on the language and context of Psalm 68, a psalm originally written about a military victor who had earned the right to receive gifts from the people he had conquered. We, like those in the psalm, were the enemies of God, but Jesus has conquered our hearts and we have become His subjects through His grace. Jesus, however, is a very different kind of conquering King. Instead of demanding gifts from His new subjects, He gives gifts. And included in His gifts to His Church are leaders.

But notice that the goal of these leaders is the preparing of God’s people for building up the body of Christ. Authority in the Church is not meant to be wielded as a weapon. It’s meant to be another expression of the gospel; therefore, leaders must think of themselves as servants. They are the equippers whose goal is not to expand their territory but to build up the body of Christ. The goal of a leadership team should not be to rule over people, because the gospel sets us free from the need for control. Rather, the goal of the leadership team must be to release people for ministry. The leaders should not “do ministry” but prepare others for ministry and release them to serve.

There is often deep lamenting and bemoaning from pastors and staff teams about the lack of volunteer engagement in their churches. Often the problem is not with the people but with a faulty ministry culture that fosters low levels of volunteerism and perpetuates an unhealthy dependence on clergy. The typical approach to ministry in most churches stands in stark contrast to Paul’s admonishment.

The approach to ministry in many churches looks like this:

(Pastors) >> minister >> (people)

Typically pastors or staff persons are hired to minister to people. The number of children increases, so the solution is another staff person. The number of sick people is on the rise; therefore, someone is hired to visit people in the hospitals, and on and on. This far-too-common approach is both illogical and unbiblical: illogical because a church will never be able to afford hiring the entire ministry away, and unbiblical because it violates the essential doctrines of the priesthood of believers and spiritual gifting.

Paul’s challenge looks like this:

(Pastors) >> prepare >> (people) >> to minister >> (each other)

In other words, pastors and staff equip and prepare people to do ministry. Churches that have effectively created a volunteer culture possess a deep-seated biblical conviction that all believers are gifted for ministry, not just the “professional” ministers. The gospel reminds us that all believers have been brought into the family of God, and in this family we are all priests (1 Pet. 2:9). Thus, the leaders invite all believers to engage in ministry, and the leaders view themselves as equippers/trainers of the ministers within their church.

It is easy to drift from the biblical view toward the typical view. Every savvy staff person or department can articulate the need for more staff. And as the church grows, money is often available to hire more people. But the consequences of drifting toward typical ways of doing things are damaging. Here are two:

First, the typical approach hampers spiritual growth. When following a clergy-heavy mentality, people who are gifted by God and called to serve Him are put on the bench as they watch the professionals make the ministry happen. And as their spiritual gifts go underutilized, their spiritual growth is hampered. They miss the joy of experiencing Christ serve others through them. Instead of fostering a serving posture among believers because of the gospel, the typical approach to ministry helps develop consumers. By keeping ministry from the majority of the people, people are actually taught to be moochers and consumers of the faith rather than participators and contributors.

Second, the typical approach hampers the movement of the church. In Exodus 18, Moses’ father-in-law confronted him because of his unhealthy approach to ministry. Moses was attempting to meet all the needs himself, which was ineffective on many levels. Not only was he overwhelmed but the people were going home unsatisfied. Their needs were not met. How could they be when Moses was in the way? Jethro told Moses to build a leadership system to distribute the care for all the people through other leaders. He asked Moses to stop doing ministry (except for the difficult cases) and to prepare others to do ministry. He asked Moses to repent of his control and to release others to serve.

Jethro was right. Sometimes fathers-in-law are. As a church leader, don’t settle for a typical view of ministry. The gospel has made all the people in your church ministers. Stop doing ministry. Prepare others to do so.

Jesus-centered ministry needs to happen in this very way—through people who are drawn out from among the community to take their places as ministers of the gospel in a wide variety of avenues.

Gospel and Hospitality

Every church sends a message through their strategy for hospitality. Those with no system for greeting new people, welcoming them, and pursuing them in a loving way send the loudest message: “Our theology has not impacted how we treat you.”

Clear signage and friendly people really do go a long way in expressing God’s welcoming heart in a tangible way. Your context, of course, will dictate a lot about your hospitality: whether you train greeters to shake, hug, nod, or fist bump. But by all means, put some type of plan in place to express hospitality. Some of our Reformed brothers need to understand that a sign and friendly greeters directing a new family to the kids’ area is not doctrinal compromise. To the contrary, it can be an expression of doctrine beyond the pulpit.

The real issue, as we’ve said in previous chapters, is both the theology and philosophy that drive the practice of hospitality. Hospitality is the combination of two words: stranger and love. Hospitality at its core is the love of strangers, and it’s one of the characteristics mentioned in Scripture that should embody those called to the highest office in the Church:

Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach. (1 Tim. 3:2 ESV, italics added)

Hospitality is included in the necessary qualifications for an overseer because hospitality is a direct and tangible link to the gospel. What has God done in the gospel if not welcome strangers? We were all strangers to the family of God and the household of faith. We were enemies, in fact, but God in His great mercy welcomed us. He has practiced hospitality toward us. Therefore, we must accept one another as Christ has accepted us (Rom. 15:7).

Hospitality, when seen in light of the gospel, becomes more than just parking cars and pointing people to the kids’ area. Hospitality is the means by which the church, from the ground level, models the gospel to others. And by God’s grace, the teams of people investing in hospitality will set the tone for the entire church so that everyone who has experienced the hospitality of God practices hospitality in the church.

Gospel and Programming

All churches have programs. Even churches that meet in people’s homes still schedule meetings, outreach opportunities, and dinners together. Because programs are embedded into church life, there should be a theology of programming. Or you can divorce your theology from your programming and just do stuff that has always been done.

The church programming spectrum ranges from churches with bulletins stuffed like a Sunday paper with dozens of events each week, to churches with a very minimalistic and streamlined approach. The bigger question is: What is driving the programming? Unfortunately, many churches simply haven’t wrestled with the question.

Every single thing the Church does teaches. Culture is continually being reinforced as leaders are always teaching and people are always learning. Much of this teaching and learning comes through implicit messages rather than explicit ones: the songs selected, the way Scripture is read, the attitude of the children’s leaders, and the programs that are offered. If the implicit message communicated via the programs contradicts the explicit message communicated in the teaching environments, then people are left confused and frustrated. For example, if a pastor preaches about investing in the lives of neighbors and coworkers, all while announcing a dozen events on the church calendar this week—things that everyone feels at least a little pressure to attend—the people in the church will have a difficult time applying the message. Which message are the people more likely to believe?

Because church programs communicate, we must consciously bring the gospel to bear on them. Perhaps in analyzing your programs, you’ll discover that you schedule activities or programs because of guilty obligation. The gospel, on the other hand, frees us from feverish attempts to appease God with religious activities. The gospel frees us to say no and to rest from our work because we trust His finished work.

What stops a church from saying no to endless or mindless programming? Is it the leaders’ insecurity? Is it the need to compete with other church calendars? Is it the desire for people in the congregation to feel they’re getting a good return on their giving?

Christ’s great love frees us from needing validation or approval through programming. When we live in freedom, we can honestly look at every program and ask the hard questions, like:

• What are we implicitly teaching through the giving of resources to this program?

• Is this program furthering the gospel in the hearts and minds of our people and the community?

• Could the time we are asking of people be better utilized for the sake of the gospel in a different way than this?

• Would the removal of this program serve to diminish or rather increase the capacity of our people to love and treasure Jesus and make Him known?

• If we were starting from scratch with only the foundation of the gospel, would we do this program in this manner?

• Why do we do this?

Gospel and Operations

No matter what the size of the church, leaders must provide direction to important issues, such as facilities, security, office administration, policies, and a host of other details. As with programming, the spectrum of approach is wide. Some churches choose an intentionally minimalistic approach to operations, thinking that there is something inherently worldly about owning a sound system or having a policy. The pendulum swings to the other side of the spectrum, too, with churches that see themselves as competing with the world for the attention of those in the audience, and therefore feel they must have the best of everything.

While the gospel does not address the color scheme in your foyer, it does address the attitude with which we view the operations of the church. There is an obvious tension.

On one hand is the truth that our great and good God deserves worship in all things because of who He is and His great acts:

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Ps. 150 ESV)

Our God, who is so extravagant in His mercy and grace, truly does deserve the best we can offer. And everything should be used to praise Him, including the operations of a church. It was Jesus, in fact, who commended the extravagant and expensive act of washing His feet with perfume; it was Judas who questioned whether such excellence should be better spent elsewhere (John 12:3–7). A disgusting bathroom or a dirty facility is inconsistent with pleas for worship to be extravagant because of Christ.

On the other hand, “excellence” can also be used to justify materialism, and “innovation” can be used to justify compromise. Painfully ironic are sermon illustrations that challenge people to live on mission, yet the props and staging cost more money to produce than the church invests supporting local mission efforts. The New Testament frequently warns of the love of money and the dangers that wealth can bring into the heart of a person, much less an entire church.

The gospel allows us to live with the tension while focusing on the true issue: the motivation of the heart. We must recognize the inherent dangers, because of our sinfulness, of each side of the spectrum. If improving the facilities or insisting we remain mobile becomes a way to justify ourselves before God or man, we have drifted from the gospel. Both approaches can be right, and both can be wrong, depending on the motivation of the heart. The gospel frees us to honestly evaluate ourselves, as church leaders, at the level of the heart.

Gospel and Church Finances

Challenges for people to give generously to the work of Christ occur in every church, as they should. While giving is only one aspect of church finances, the giving challenges are a good barometer of gospel centrality. If an outsider could hear only your church’s giving challenges and nothing else over a period of time, what would they conclude your church believes?

Some churches build their giving philosophy on blessing: “Give, and God will give back to you.” And there is much truth in this challenge. The only area in which God invites us to test Him is in the realm of giving (Mal. 3:10). But this text must be held in light of the overall narrative of Scripture. Paul gave sacrificially, and he ended his life without his head. Peter gave generously, and he died upside down on a cross. Stephen gave boldly and cheerfully, and he was beaten to death by stoning. Yes, he received a standing ovation from the Lord as he died, and yes, they are each enjoying ultimate paradise right now. But none of them lived large with an ocean view.

Other churches build their giving philosophy on need, continually begging people to support the church. Wiser leaders move to vision, correctly believing that people give to vision more than need. But how often does a leader need to deliver a new vision? And is vision always enough? How many teary-eyed videos will it take?

Paul’s giving philosophy and practice were built firmly on a theology of grace. When he challenged the Corinthians to give, he wrote:

But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Cor. 8:7–9 ESV)

The gospel pushes us deeper into our pockets by reminding us of how deeply God went into His. To incite the generosity of the Corinthians to help the impoverished church in Jerusalem, Paul simply reminded them of the gospel: “You know the grace of the Lord. Let the grace of the Lord compel you to give.”

The church budget is a doctrinal statement. The budget clearly reveals your practice, which reveals your theology and philosophy. It is hypocritical to espouse a church culture that values mission in the city yet budgets more for landscaping. There is a deep disconnect if the vision statement articulates a passion to take the gospel to the nations yet the budget reveals a miniscule commitment.

A budget grounded in the gospel will reflect gospel priorities. As you budget, simply consider the question: “What does the gospel say we are called to do and be for our members and in this community?” Perhaps you should start with a blank sheet of paper and the biblical text.

Gospel and Communication

Communication in the church is becoming an increasingly complex issue, what with the ever-expanding breadth of technology. Thankfully, the gospel has much to say about it. The only reason we can know God, for instance, is because He graciously stooped low to speak to us. He accommodated Himself to us and yet retained the essence of Himself. The gospel principle is one of accommodation without compromise.

Every church communicates the gospel in a specific context. Some contexts are predominately “blue collar” workers, while others are filled with “white collar” professionals. Some are more technologically proficient than others; some serve more senior adults than young families. The context should drive the means of communication, but always with the goal of helping people encounter the gospel. The means of communication itself must not become the focal point. Once again, the apostle Paul is helpful:

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Cor. 2:1–5 ESV)

The primacy of the message was what dominated the methodology of the apostle. The problem with attracting people with bells and whistles is that they’ll only come back for bells and whistles. Leaders might fall in love with a particular piece of technology or communication technique without considering whether or not the gospel is actually served well by it. Sadly, the medium becomes louder than the message. And while the medium might impress, only the message can transform. Communication is meant to serve the gospel, not the other way around. When we keep the gospel central in the message, people’s confidence can rest firmly on that message rather than on the show accompanying it.

While the message was of primary importance to Paul, he also used any means possible to point people to the gospel. So for Paul, the issue of communication was simple: let the medium serve the message. The whole New Testament was written, after all, in koine Greek rather than classical. It was written in the street language—the vernacular of the day—because the biblical writers wanted the undiluted message of Jesus accessible to as many people as possible.

Paul reminded Titus that “to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure” (Titus 1:15 ESV). To the pure church leader, technology and communication can be pure vessels to deliver the gospel. The Reformation wouldn’t have happened without the printing press, and Billy Graham’s crusades wouldn’t have happened without the microphone. To the impure church leader, technology becomes a bloodthirsty god that must constantly be fed with new resources. Thankfully, Christ continually purifies our motives and allows us to steward the opportunity to expose more people to the gospel through all means possible.

Gospel and Benevolence

Regardless of the economic outlook of the region in which a church resides, every church will be faced with the opportunity to serve those who are struggling and under-resourced. And while church leaders often strategize on how to reach upper-middle-class professionals, historically His Church has thrived through the fringes of society. God loves and uses wealthy people in His kingdom, but the wealthy have a tendency to feel sufficient in their own goodness, hard work, or their own fulfillment of the American dream. Thus, the wealthy are less likely to call out to God for grace and mercy. Because of this, the faith throughout history has been made up primarily of common people (1 Cor. 1:26).

In reality, the gospel is only for the poor.

The gospel is only for those who realize they are poor and desolate before our holy God. In comparison to Him, all of us were poor. No one was worthy. Yet God in His great love pursued us—not because we showed promise, not because we impressed Him as good recruits for His team. To the contrary, He pursued us when we had nothing to offer Him at all.

Church leaders must remind people that God rescued us in our spiritual poverty; therefore, we must be concerned for the poor because we are poor alongside them. When the early church pillars (Peter, James, and John) realized that Paul was teaching the same gospel as Peter, they agreed that Paul should focus on the Gentiles; Peter, the Jews. They had only one request for Paul: “remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10 ESV), which was the very thing Paul was eager to do.

Jonathan Edwards wrote of the connection between the gospel and benevolence:

It [caring for the poor] is especially reasonable, considering our circumstances, under such a dispensation of grace as that of the gospel. Consider how much God hath done for us, how greatly he hath loved us, what he hath given us, when we were so unworthy, and when he could have no addition to his happiness by us.5

Paul and Edwards agree—the gospel must impact how you care for the poor among you.

Whether your church’s strategy for benevolent ministry to the poor is partnering with local ministries, offering direct services, or providing a niche service to the community, allow the gospel to drive you toward a developed strategy. And remind others that the gospel is what informs this approach, not merely the opportunity to be better people. Don’t allow social activism to replace the gospel of Jesus in ministering to the needs of the hurting and under-resourced.

Furthermore, those who are served must be confronted with the truth of the gospel. Like us, what they need most is Jesus. We must not offer people the short-term help they’re looking for without also offering them the eternal One they may not be looking for. Just as Jesus does not dismiss us with a quick fix, just as He is with us for the long haul, churches must take the longer road with people. More is involved than slipping a tract alongside a $20 bill for groceries. Much more. People must be loved and invited into the family of faith.

Gospel and the Flower Committee

We aren’t going to write about the flower committee . . .

We would not know what to say as none of us has worked with one directly. But we are confident that the gospel in all its fullness has implications for everything in your church. It should really go that deep.

But again, as you seek to infuse your church culture with the gospel, don’t confuse the implications of the gospel with the gospel itself. The gospel impacts all the aforementioned, but the aforementioned are not the gospel. D. A. Carson wisely warned:

One must distinguish between, on the one hand, the gospel as what God has done and what is the message to be announced and, on the other hand, what is demanded by God or effected by the gospel in assorted human responses. . . . The Bible can exhort those who trust the living God to be concerned with issues of social justice (Isa 2; Amos); it can tell new covenant believers to do good to all human beings, especially to those of the household of faith (Gal 6); it exhorts us to remember the poor and to ask, not “Who is my neighbor?” but “Whom am I serving as neighbor?” We may even argue that some such list of moral commitment is a necessary consequence of the gospel. But it is not the gospel. . . . Failure to distinguish between the gospel and all the effects of the gospel tends, on the long haul, to replace the good news as to what God has done with a moralism that is finally without the power and the glory of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended, and reigning.6

Not only must we guard against confusing the implications of the gospel with the gospel, but also be careful that in our sinfulness we don’t use the lingo of “gospel centrality” to craft a new badge of spiritual superiority, as if those who do not use the term are lesser brothers. Let’s not forget that Jesus is the gospel. Let’s not forget that the gospel must impact our attitudes. It would be a sad betrayal of gospel centrality if we abuse its truths, allowing us to rise up as superstars of the faith enlightened with a new doctrine. There is nothing new and innovative about the gospel. It is the foundation of the faith, and it is received by faith—nothing we could or would create. It is also possible, in our foolishness, to haphazardly attach the label to anything in our church as if attaching the label breathes new life into something. We must repent of both errors.

Van Halen learned that the presence of brown M&Ms pointed to a bigger cultural issue with a host venue. Similarly, if you want to know how centered your church really is on the gospel, don’t just examine your messages for gospel-centered content. Check and see if people leave the budget meeting room with the gospel in their hearts. Check and see if the hospitality team is dripping with the kindness shown to us in Christ. Examine the motivation for facility and communication decisions. Check the bowl for “brown M&Ms”—continually.

C. S. Lewis quoted Samuel Johnson who said, “People need to be reminded more than instructed.”7 Charles Spurgeon said, “The most important daily habit we can possess is to remind ourselves of the gospel.”8

Remind the people you serve of the gospel. Continually.