The Gospel and the Church

What is the “good news”? 

As evangelical Christians (as I am), we are committed to the “good news”.  Indeed, the word, “evangelical” comes from the Greek word, euangellion, which means “gospel” or “good news”.  However, if you ask most Christians, what is the gospel or good news, they will probably tell you that it is that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh who died on the cross for our sins. 

But, they’d be wrong—technically.  And that technicality makes all the difference when we consider what it takes to make our churches glimpses of heaven here and now.

You see, according to the Bible, the gospel, the good news, is NOT Jesus loves you so much that he died on the cross for your sins. 
It is NOT God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son. 
It is NOT trust in Jesus and you will be saved.  (In fact, that is not news at all, but good advice.)

And while these are all absolutely true and (and the first two) incredibly great news, it is not the good news that Jesus was preaching throughout Galilee.  Just think about it: He couldn’t have been preaching that he died on the cross for the sins of the world, because he was still alive preaching!

In Matthew 4:23, we read: "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom."  Just six verses earlier Matthew told us that the “good news of the Kingdom” that Jesus proclaimed was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (NRSV)

In Mark 1:14-15, we read, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

In other words, the “good news” is Jesus' announcement of the arrival and availability of the Kingdom of heaven. 

Now, let’s be clear here.  Jesus was not announcing a political, material kingdom that is bounded by geography.  Indeed, when asked by Pontius Pilate, he said, “my kingdom is not of this world.”  Jesus was not announcing an overthrow of Rome by force, nor the taking of the fallen world into his kingdom by might, but instead he was declaring that God’s reign, rule and way of living is available to anyone who would “enter in” and receive it by faith. 

As Christian teacher and USC professor, Dallas Willard has written in his book The Divine Conspiracy, (p. 49): “The gospel is the good news of the presence and availability of life in the kingdom, now and forever, through reliance on Jesus…”

God’s reign is available.  Life in the Kingdom: God’s world the way he intended it, his rule and order, his grace and mercy, his love and very presence has busted into this fallen world in Jesus Christ and you can, if you so choose, live in that world with him. 

So then, let me ask you this question.  WHERE is the reign of God, now and forever, made available through reliance on Jesus?  Where do people FIND the reign and rule of God?

The answer is supposed to be: The Church. 

The Church is the where the reign of God is made operative in the world.  Every local church is supposed to be a mission outpost dedicated to one corporate commitment:  Being the fulfillment to Jesus’ prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” 

You see, once we understand that The Good News is not about you and I GETTING to heaven, but instead about God bringing heaven to us through Jesus, then we’ll understand that the very purpose of the church (the body of Jesus on earth today) is to continue, through the Holy Spirit, the very same Kingdom ministry of Jesus. 

Maybe some of our struggle in our churches is that we really don’t even grasp the most basic reason for why church exists in the first place. 

Since we think that the Good News is about getting people to heaven, the church becomes nothing more than a repository of spiritual resources.  It becomes a spiritual shopping mall where I go to get some “spiritual stuff” for my solo journey to Jesus.  If I don’t like my church, well then I’ll shop somewhere else. 

Or it becomes a nothing more than a spiritual movie house, a place to hear spiritual stories and have spiritual experiences that inspire me to continue on my solo journey to Jesus. 

But what if the church is neither mall nor movie house, and what if the gospel is not really all about me at all?  What if the church is utterly and completely about being part of Jesus, living in the reign of Jesus that he proclaims and participating in Jesus’ Kingdom invitation and expansion? 

Wouldn’t that be truly good news for our churches?  Hmm…for some of us who want Jesus but not his Kingdom, maybe not. 

Comments

[Chris Giammona]

Tod

Thanks for your posts - they have been a blessing.

I think Paul's description of the gospel in Romans is similar - it is not simply a system of salvation now open to everyone, but rather that Jesus, crucified and risen, is declared Lord. The gospel is not an invitation to a new religious experience, but a call to submission and obedience to Jesus as Lord.

It is also interesting that the first mention of the church in the N.T. is in Matthew 16. “He says that upon this rock, I will build my church.” Now when most people hear the word church, boom, up comes all of the data that our little computer has filed away about church.

We think of buildings, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, and independent churches, and Calvary churches, and grace churches, and denominations, and organizations, and pastors, and elders,etc..

But here is the first time the word church in the English ever appears in the N.T. And so it did not conjure up anything. There was no content for that word.

The word here is a non-technical word that means “assembly, gathering.” So when He uses the word here, a Jewish person would have immediately thought of a synagogue. Where there was an assembly of people who met together to worship God.

But to the Greeks or gentiles, it would have meant a town meeting.

In either case, it is the gathering together of people - in our case, gathered together by to give praise to God.

Chris

[Tim Thompson]

Tod, I can't tell you how much I love this post. As I read the first few paragraphs racking my mind about what the gospel really is it came to me all of a sudden. The Kindgom of Heaven is here.

And of course, as you say, we are supposed to find this in the church. But, I have a question that continues to bother me as I consider some of the problems that stem from that very church life. How do we get past the personalities and the politics and the "God-given missions and visions" to truly become the place that people can find the Kingdom?

Does it require a strong but humble leader who can bring true direction amidst all the confusion? Does it require a core group of people in the congregation who truly understand that this is all about Jesus and His Kingdom?

Almost everywhere I look I seem to see chaos and confusion and conflict? I am enmeshed in one myself that involves what I consider to be Kingdom principles.

I did say almost. The thing that excites me is that I also see glimmers of truth floating around and efforts by good leaders to try and lead the people of God back to the truths you speak of.

Without wanting to sound like a fawning sycophant, I do think you are one of those people and I thank God for you and I thank Him also for this post.

[Mark Daniels]

Tod:
I linked to this wonderful piece on my site. Good work, as usual!

Blessings in Christ,
Mark

[Sam]

Tod,
I was introduced to your post and your site through Mark Daniel's blog and am excited about the things your doing here.
Thanks for the thoughtful post on the Gospel and the Church. It's challenged me in the way I "think" about both in my philosophy of ministry.

In His grace,
Sam

[Lorna]

Sometimes you read something that is so honest, and to the point, that even though it's written in love, it hurts

This post is one of them. God bringing heaven to us through Jesus Christ, so that we would continue His work. Yes, yes, yes!

[Dennis]

Hello Tod
I think your question is of paramount importance. If the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, then to be mistaken about what the gospel is, is a great danger. That said, the arrival of the Kingdom among men was great news and defined as the gospel in the passages you mentioned.

Your argument of the impossibility of Jesus preaching the gospel before His death is true, but what do we do with Paul's rather clear pronouncement in 1 Cort 15 of the death burial and resurrection as being the gospel?

[Tod]

Dennis,
Astute observation. Briefly, for Paul, the "Kingdom of God" language by and large becomes "Lordship of Christ" language. Kingdom language (which was clearly a Jewish-Davidic idiom) is, in Paul, reframed in the greco-roman language of "Lordship". Indeed, the earliest confession, "Jesus is Lord" is a direct challenge to the Roman loyalty oath, "Caesar is Lord." For Paul, Christ demonstrates his Lordship and validates his reign and rule through his death and resurrection. In his resurrection, Christ becomes even Lord or King over death. So, even in 1 Cor 15:24-28, Paul returns to the use of Kingdom language, to talk about the ministry of Jesus until the end of time.

For Paul, the death and resurrection of Christ is the gospel, because it demonstrate the Kingdom proclamation of Jesus.

[Rick Lord]

Tod,

A forcefully eloquent post. Thanks.

Rick Lord+

[Dennis]

Tod
You said "for Paul"
I don't mean to get too picky here but, if we believe that what Paul wrote was breathed by God, then wouldn't we have to say that "for God" the death burial and resurrection of His belove Son, was the gospel? And doesn't that settle the question of "what is the gospel?"

Paul(God) was clear about the idea of another gospel. If the word "the" means the same thing in 1Cort 15 as it does in I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, then can there be "a" gospel any more than there can be "a" Way?

That doesn't read very clear, but do you see my point?

[George]

Tod -- as always, an interesting and useful post. I appreciate your initial observation concerning the gospel as announcing the availability of God's Kingdom; evangelism should not be viewed as handing out free tickets. And I appreciate the observation that church is not to be a movie house for entertainment. When you say no to the idea of church as a spiritual resources mall, I think I understand, and concur.

Chris G rightly states that the original concept of church is assembly. You observe that the church is to be a mission outpost that fulfills the Kingdom prayer. I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

Jesus did direct assembly, and apostles directed that the roles of assembly include corporate worship, mutual support, and equipping for good works. So to that extent churches do serve as mission outposts. But I believe the mission is not fulfilled internally alone. The faithful are not expected to remain in the compound; they are expected to live out the Kingdom in all they do.

If we are only participating in the Kingdom in church, for most of us that's only a few hours a week. The Kingdom is 24/7 for all its citizens.

Perhaps I misunderstand what you mean for church to encompass.

[Tod]

Thanks for all the good responses.

George, I think you understand my meaning completely. "Church" is not the "service on Sunday", but the "people of God" who are "gathered" by the Spirit to BE the people of God. So, the church is not an "ad hoc" assembly per se, but an enduring gathering.

(Indeed, even other Roman "ecclesia" were more like "social clubs" than events. Think Kiwanis "gatherings" not Woodstock.)

Dennis. I hope I didn't confuse the issue. When I say "For Paul" I don't mean any less than "For God" it just force of habit from my academic days where we always acknowledge the variety of authors whom God uses to communicate Divine Truth. (By the way,I do think that inspired Paul actually understood the "gospel" in a more full orbed way than the "human" Jesus --how's that for playing with our brains?) But both Paul and Jesus--yea, God in both cases--were communicating that the "good news" was God's reign and rule made available to all people through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

The nature of this post is to make sure we understand that the eternal life of the Kingdom begins--at least in part--now.

[brad]

Dennis et al,
Tod is certainly entirely correct in his point and Tod's response regarding Paul and Lordship is entirely correct as well. The key is to understand what Paul meant by the Gospel being the death and resurrection of the Christ. Certainly, it meant that Jesus was the head of the church which was called to be the new community expression of the kingdom on earth. Through suffering and agape, the church was to express the eternal life on earth. So the Spirit's proclamation of the death and resurrection of the Christ always had the same meaning to both Jews and Greeks namely that the great eschatological event that brought the people of God out of bondage and into the kingdom happened in the cross and resurrection event. Paul's twist on the "exile and return" theme was that the great victory was over the root of human misery which is sin. So too this is the message of Jesus Himself an Peter in Acts. The key is to see the cross as the eschatological event that brings the new covenant promises to all who believe and this promise is the present reality of what Jesus called the kingdom.
Great post,
brad

[Tod]

Um... what Brad said.

[brad]

Are you makin' fun of me???

[brad]

admittedly that is a bit confusing on the re-read...My wife was honking in the car for me to go to the park with the kids...LOL

[Tod]

Brad,

Oh no, not making fun at all. I actually think you said it better than I did.

Nice job being brilliant while on dad duty.

Happy 4th.

Tod

[Milton Stanley]

Couldn't get trackback to work for this post, but did link to it. Peace.