God's Design for the Churchنموونە

The Importance of the Gospel

In many churches, the gospel has either been usurped by an abundance of church programs and practices, or by a pastor or church leader with (perceived or self-proclaimed) God-like power. Of course, church activities and spiritual disciplines aren’t wrong in and of themselves. It’s just that we can wrongly make them our main focus, or we can make people feel guilty, obligated, or coerced into giving money to the church or signing up to church events. This doesn’t glorify God. It’s also not wrong to love and respect our leaders. However, we’re not designed to be able to stand on pedestals of our own or others’ making. We will most certainly fall off, hurting ourselves and everyone around us.

The gospel is simply this: God sent His Son into the world to be our substitute. Jesus lived the perfect life we could not. Then He took our sin and shame upon Himself and was crucified. We were the ones who should’ve been punished but He bore that punishment on our behalf. When we turn from our sinful life and believe in Jesus, we receive God’s forgiveness. He clothes us in His righteousness and welcomes us into His family. We live this life with the assurance that we will live the next life in eternity with Him. This is the message that should be central to everything the church is and does, because it’s the way people come to know Jesus and so join churches in the first place.

The gospel is also important because even when people have been saved by believing it, they need to keep on hearing it in order to grow in their faith and lead others to saving faith too. As leaders, we need to ensure that we are preaching the gospel weekly, to the saved and the unsaved, through all we do. The gospel is more than just pardon for our sins; it’s also the power of God to fulfill His calling on our lives.

Thankfully, Jesus is our perfect role model, and so we need to be continuously considering His life as portrayed in the New Testament (and foreshadowed in the Old Testament). Focusing on Jesus (who He is and what He did) strengthens our faith and gives us courage to persevere and obey. Think about what it would look like for you to live the gospel, imitating Jesus on an average Tuesday afternoon or Friday night and remembering it’s the Holy Spirit who empowers you to do so.

Knowing Jesus and regularly being reminded of Him is how we are strengthened and sanctified. Let’s pray that church leaders in our communities would never forsake or dilute the gospel and that it would be the foundation of everything we are and everything we do. May it never be that we try to buy God’s favor through our church activities. Rather, may our work in the world spring from our joyful devotion to Jesus.