Defining Church, Part 8(A): Reviewing the Gospel

Defining Church, Part 8(A): Reviewing the Gospel.

Considerations and Context for Church Building

1) Understanding the “whole counsel” of God

2) The Issue of Leadership

3) The Issue of Vision

4) Reviewing the Gospel

The issue of understanding the gospel is critical for the development of church. It is an issue that is at the centre of church building. There has been a tendency in the past dispensation of the church, that those who find themselves occupying positions of leadership and speaking into the spiritual consciousness of believers every Sunday, are those who are gifted (in the 1 Corinthians 12 gifts of the Spirit). This kind of leadership has not necessarily been characterised by an acute understanding of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God on the contrary, they have really been characterised by two major things, one being “spiritual giftedness” in the area of the manifestation of the Spirit and the other being “the ability to package and deliver a sermon” on Sunday in a way that stirs the masses. The emphasis here being on “the delivery of that sermon” and not on the content of the sermon. I refer to this emphasis on “delivery” (as opposed to content) as “sermonising” the saints. The saints are sermonised in that they have come to appreciate delivery at the expense of content and exact meaning of what is being said.

Now it becomes important for us to highlight that there is nothing special (as far as church leadership is concerned) about 1 Corinthians 12 gifts of the Spirit. These were intended for the Body of Christ or believers and not solely for leadership. That is, a gift of prophecy, miracles, faith, word of knowledge etc. does not in any way define leadership ability. One may manifest a word of knowledge under the unction of the Holy Spirit on Sunday morning but go home and fail to lead his wife and kids into God’s purposes and positions. These gifts were meant for the Body of Christ, they therefore cannot be the basis upon which we build leadership profile. Leaders can not be known simply for their gift of Word of Knowledge, they need to be known for their sight of Christ and the extent to which they build and represent before the saints what they are seeing.

Acts 18:24-28

24 Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately.

27 When Apollos wanted to go to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. On arriving, he was a great help to those who by grace had believed. 28 For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.

NIV

Apollos was a great preacher and teacher of the Word of God. We are however told that he was limited in what he knew and this obviously limited his own sense of what the gospel was at that point in time.

Priscilla and Aquila heard him and identified areas of limitation in his message and understanding. This led to a lunch or supper between this couple and Apollos where the couple brought more understanding of the Gospel. The end result was a much more effective Apollos who could argue with the Pharisees in public debates, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. The issue of “Jesus being Christ” was the current revelational emphasis of the time that the Pharisees sought to negate at all cost. People actually died for this truth. New positions of Anti-Christ were formed by those who began to deny this truth (read the Books of apostle John: 1,2&3^rd John). Here John tells us that anti-Christ will come but has already come. Note that this statement is made by John back in the early days of the faith, meaning that it has been 2000 years since this statement was made (see 1 John 4:3). John tells us that anti-Christ is a spirit (and not a man). It’s a spirit that denies truth coming from God (1 John 4:1-6). Anti-Christ is therefore positions of understanding that deny truth positions of Christ. Paul calls anti-Christ “a man of lawlessness” who will oppose everything called God (truths) so that he sets himself up in the temple, proclaiming himself to be God (see 2 Thes 2:1-4). Now if we are going to interpret correctly what Paul is saying here, we have to understand the broader reasoning of the scripture that is found elsewhere in the Bible. For example, the New Testament understanding of “the temple” is never a physical building but people called the church (see 1 Cor 3:16, 2 Cor 6:16). If this is true of 1 Cor 3:16 and 6:16, then it must be true of 2 Thes 2:4. It therefore would not make sense to think that a physical man will set himself up in people. Not only so, the use of the word “man” e.g. “man of lawlessness” etc. in the prophetic scriptures often emphasises or means “the state of human life”. For example, according to Eph 4:13, the church must come to a position called “mature man” (this “mature man” speaks of a certain “state of human life” God wants us to reach in Christ). I have never heard any preacher interpret Eph 4:13 to mean a literal physical man. If this is true of Eph 4:13, it is also true of 2 Thes 2:4. The “man of lawlessness” is a certain “state of human life” that is establishing itself right inside the temple, the people of God. This represents false positions of understanding or a false gospel that has infiltrated the ranks of the church over time. In other words, there is a lot of anti-Christ inside the church masquerading as the gospel of truth. It is noteworthy that Paul actually says this is a “man of lawlessness”. This is noteworthy because we do live in a lawless or liberal age that seeks to remove all boundaries so that man can have licence to indulge in their lusts (Paul deals with these issues in Romans ch.1:18-32). The issue then is, to what extent is our pulpit message advocating principles of self-indulgence and lawlessness.

I am highlighting issues of anti-Christ to reveal that the issue of the Gospel is a very serious issue that many have died for. It is one issue that the enemy will keep on attacking with the hope of confusing the church. Jude encourages us to content for the faith (Jude 1:3) and so this will remain a battle until the end comes. The one important way by which we can safeguard ourselves against the spirit of error (anti-Christ spirit) is by following the example of Apollos, that of having discussions concerning the advancement of the Gospel. Even though Apollos was a teacher and a leader within his disciples, he maintained a teachable spirit of a disciple that allowed him to develop into new positions of understanding. We need more conferences that focus on defining the Gospel so that we can purify ourselves (as church) from false positions coming from worldly humanistic positions of understanding.

Defining the “Gospel”

Matthew 4:23

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news (or the Gospel) of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. NIV

The word Gospel appears for the first time in the Gospel of Mathew in Matt 4:23. The NIV translates it as “good news” and the NKJV as “gospel”. This word simply means “a good message”. So Christ came preaching a “good message”. We will notice already that the definition “good message” carries no real meaning until it is qualified. That is, it must be a good message concerning something. The word “gospel” has no real meaning until it is put in relation to something else. Matt 4:23 says Christ was preaching “the good message of the Kingdom”. The “kingdom” qualifies and defines “the good message”.

We therefore cannot proclaim the “gospel” until we have understood “the kingdom”. That is, the point of departure in proclaiming the gospel is not the ability to preach but it is the possession of an understanding of the kingdom of God. The pathway to preaching the gospel is sight of the kingdom of God. In most scriptures, whenever we see “gospel” we also see “kingdom”.

The word “gospel” is also used interchangeably with the word “message”:

Hebrews 4:2

2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. NIV

Matthew 13:19

Matt 13:19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. NIV

John 17:20

20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, NIV

The word translated as “message” in the NIV (in the scriptures above) is the Greek word “logos”. It is the same word used in John 1:1,2&14 concerning Christ (in the beginning was the Logos). Logos is not simply a written word. The word “logos” is defined as: something said including the reasoning implied; words as an expression of intelligence; reasoning, computation, a motive behind an action, doctrine etc. The word “logos” therefore draws us beyond the actual utterance to positions of thought and motivations represented by the utterance coming forth. This implies two things: (a) the message is never just the utterance believers are receiving but it is really the reasoning represented by that utterance. A good teacher of the word therefore focuses not just on the actual body of the message but on thought positions a message represents. In this context, it is highly possible to preach right content but represent wrong reasoning. The one practical example is the message on “prosperity”. In trying to build a doctrine on prosperity, its teachers have moved to extreme positions and have thus produced exactly what that message (in its extreme form) represents, which is indulgence, greed, spiritual competition and individualism. (B) The second implication is that if the message is “reasoning” represented by utterance, then the message is and can be preached through many other platforms beyond the actual pulpit. The message is also preached through the conduct and behaviour of leaders etc. For example, things like carrying the Bibles of leaders create an impression in the minds of the saints that to be a leader is a position of privilege; and so while the underlying motivation may be sincere service in other contexts, it generally has a danger of sending wrong signals to the saints, producing a situation where people come to positions of leadership for wrong reasons. The position of Christ was that He came to serve and not to be served (Mark 10:43-45, Luke 22:25-27). After all, carrying your own Bible should not be a big issue. There is a reason why Christ for instance would wear such that you would not easily identify him among his disciples. Remember that when they wanted to kill Him they needed Judas to identify him with a kiss (Matt 26:47-50, John 18:1-8). This means that Christ was a normal man who identified with the people He led.

We therefore can describe the Gospel as the Total and Collective Instruction of God to Humanity (a message from God), established progressively throughout generations through the mechanism of revelation of Christ.

The gospel gets accumulated and refined as Christ is progressively revealed in the Church. The scripture says that as we see more, the imperfect disappears (1 Cor 13:9-12). Christ Himself says “you have heard that it was said…but now I say” (Matt 5:21&27). This principle points to the fact that the progressive revelation of Christ clarifies past positions of understanding and so in this sense, the gospel gets refined. Christ continues by saying “I have not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets but to fulfil them” (Matt 5:17). Paul says that there are things that were not revealed to past generations that have now been revealed to apostles and prophets (Eph 3:5); meaning that the Gospel is progressive. In the example of Apollos, we realise that there is something called upgrading yourself to understand new elements of the Gospel in order to become much more effective in kingdom work.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God

Almost every time we see the word “gospel” we also see the word “kingdom”. It is therefore impossible to separate the reality of the kingdom from this issue of the Gospel.

Matthew 3:1-2

1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." NIV

Matthew 4:23

23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. NIV

Matthew 10:7

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' NIV

Acts 1:3

3 After his suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. NIV

Acts 8:12

12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. NIV

Acts 28:30-31

30 For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. 31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

NIV

Matthew 24:14

14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

NIV

Matthew 6:33

33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. NIV

Colossians 1:13

13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, NIV

We cannot separate the kingdom from the proclamation of the gospel. As mentioned above, the point of departure in proclaiming the gospel is not the ability to preach but it is the possession of an understanding of the kingdom of God. It becomes a tragedy when we have gifted preachers who can construct a message without an understanding of the kingdom they have to preach.

If we are proclaiming the message about the kingdom of God then we have to ask the question, what is the kingdom of God? This question is important because if, for example, one is commissioned to preach about South Africa, the first thing they would have to establish themselves in is an understanding of the nation of South Africa before they even think about their presentation skills or their ability to address an audience. We have perfected our presentation skills but have not looked into the subject of our message, the kingdom of Christ.

What is the Kingdom of God?

In the natural, a kingdom is really a system of regulation and development of human life. A Kingdom will have systems of authority (e.g. a king), laws, value system, culture etc. and all these are important elements of the kingdom that help in the regulation and development of its people. We know this general principle that the natural always helps us understand the spiritual, hence Jesus taught about the kingdom through parables (Mark 4:33-34). A parable is really a similitude or a fiction specially constructed to communicate something.

The word “kingdom” is defined as: a rule, a realm, royal dominion. The word “kingdom” therefore carries the idea of a systematic expression of ruler-ship over a territory or a people. The kingdom is therefore a well organised system of ruler-ship by which life is regulated.

Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, NIV. The kingdom is a system of life by which we live and arrange life at all of its levels.

John 3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." NIV. It is important to note that Jesus is not saying “no one will see”, i.e. He is not talking about a future experience but something immediate. If the kingdom can be seen then it means it is a real structure or system of life that can be understood by men.

Daniel 2:44-45

44 "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. 45 This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands-a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces.

"The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

NIV

Dan 2:44&45 brings us to another side of the Kingdom of God:

· The kingdom of God is a system of life that can be perceived, discussed and established in the realm of man.

· The kingdom of God cannot co-exist with the kingdoms of this world, i.e. humanistic principles that regulate and govern human life.

· The kingdom of God is therefore confrontational.

· The kingdom of God is a system of life that will and which is being established in real time hence it says, “in the time of those kings…”

Matthew 6:9-10

9 "This, then, is how you should pray:

"'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

10 your kingdom come,

your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

NIV

Matthew 3:2

2 and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." NIV

The kingdom seeks to express itself in the realm of man through the life of the “sons of the kingdom” (Matt 13:36-43).

The kingdom of God is a governmental system of definition, regulation and development of human life through Christ - it is the Kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13). For the kingdom of God to be actualised, there are several things that must be in place:

· There must be an acknowledgement of the authority of God over human life.

· There must be willingness to obey the commands of God, the King.

· There must be an understanding that the kingdom is not simply a spiritual encounter on Sunday morning but a system of life that must be established in the lives of the people through systematic instruction on its principles and positions.

· There must be an understanding that the establishment of the kingdom of God takes a little more than just a wonderful service on Sunday morning, it demands the establishment of various platforms by which God’s government can come into the realm of man, e.g. properly constructed families, parenting, community life etc.

The kingdom of God is realised when the government of God defines the arrangement of human life in its totality. The kingdom therefore speaks into different aspects of human life, for example:

· The kingdom of God regulates our inner life through the mechanism of the conviction of the Spirit (Luke 17:20&21, Rom 14:17, John 16:8). In this sense, the Holy Spirit has come to re-establish the government of God inside human heart.

· The kingdom of God takes us on a path of personal transformation and development, “the born-again experience” (John 3:3-5).

· The kingdom of God brings us to positions of just interaction and relationship with other humans (Matt 7:12, Matt 22:36-40), i.e. the kingdom of God seeks to establish correct and just platforms of community.

· The kingdom of God also speaks into broader macro issues of justice. Prophets like Isaiah spoke a lot about issues of justice.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God (cont…)

Here are some of the things we have established so far:

· The word “gospel” simply means “a good message”.

· The word “gospel” always goes hand in hand with the kingdom of God; it is the gospel of the kingdom of God.

· The Gospel is the Total and Collective Instruction of God to Humanity (a message from God), established progressively throughout generations through the mechanism of revelation of Christ.

· The kingdom of God, on the other hand, is always defined by Christ. It is His kingdom.

· The kingdom of God is a governmental system of definition, regulation and development of human life through Christ.

The Gospel of the Kingdom of God is therefore a Message concerning God’s System of Government over human life. The Gospel has traditionally been proclaimed as some form of benefits and hand-outs from God to man. So the message would go along the lines of, “come to Jesus and this and that will happen”. Essentially, we come to Jesus for wrong selfish reasons that have to do with our personal needs and not from a position of serving Him as a Lord and Saviour. In preaching the gospel, we highlight benefits as if we are engaged in some Marketing exercise. The Gospel is the proclamation of God’s position and instruction over human life. The proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is not premised on the needs of people but rather on God’s purpose, definition and intentions for humanity. Healing and miracles happen within the context of God’s purpose. That is, even though God is a Healer, He does not always heal everybody. He refused to deliver Paul (2 Cor 12:7-8). He did not heal Job for sometime. In John 5, Jesus went to a group of paralysed people and healed only one of them (John 5:1-8), later He would say that “He only does what He sees the Father do” (John 5:19). The kingdom of God does not get established in the earth because people are being healed – this is only an attraction point to the kingdom. Israel is a classical case here, they were the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38). Israel as a nation was healed and was protected by God from diseases, they saw the glory of God in the form of various manifestations, they sat under great leadership (Moses) and yet there was no kingdom that was established through them. They failed to establish the kingdom even though they had all the necessary elements that make up a “dynamic church”, instead they were scattered in the desert and became an example of what not to do (1 Cor 10:1-6&11). People can be saved, delivered, healed from sicknesses and still have the kingdom of God not established in the earth.

For example, let’s say an old man (who has a wife and kids) walks into the church meeting for the first time sick to a point of death and broken because of the crises of life - and have the church pray for him, eventually getting saved and healed. The question then is, has this man seen into God’s design for human life? The answer is obviously no. In terms of our current church orientation, we would celebrate the fact that the man has been saved and healed and has joined our church and is a “loyal member”. The thing is, who in their right mind wouldn’t be loyal to people who took away his life problems. It is for this reason that people can even join cults (as long as those cults meet their needs or take away their problems). The healing and the salvation of this man would not see him possessing the kingdom of God in his life until he is taught about God’s system of life (the kingdom of God). When this man gets to know about and embrace God’s design of life then he would have possessed the kingdom. For an old man, like this one, who has a wife and kids, possessing the kingdom would include teaching this man on correct manhood, teaching him on how to lead his family into God’s principles and purposes, teaching him how to be a good husband and a father, teaching him on how to raise his kids etc. Only after this man has been taught and possessed these things can we say that the kingdom (a system of life) has been established in his life and family. It is in this context that this man can begin to impact his own neighbourhood with the gospel. Otherwise if all he has to tell is that God healed and saved him, this brings impact but with no lasting results. Sustainable impact is not miracles; sustainable impact is in transformed lives. This is why Revivals never produce lasting results. According to Prophet Isaiah, people want to see human transformation and a people able to model a different system of life (Isa 2:1-4). This is the core reality of the Gospel of the kingdom of God.

God has a position about how human life must be built, how marriages must be built, how families must be constructed, how kids must be raised, how humans must relate, how businesses must be run, how nations must be run and how nations must interact etc. all of these things constitute the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. In other words, the Gospel is not simply or only evangelism; the gospel is not limited to the message of salvation. The Gospel is the total instruction of God to humanity which includes but does not end with evangelism and salvation.

The Gospel is the proclamation of God’s position and instruction over human life. It is the proclamation of God’s system of life. People should therefore embrace the Gospel not simply for benefits but because they perceive its message to be presenting them with a superior and better system of life (the kingdom of God).

1 Peter 1:18

18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, NIV

God’s position is that when people embrace the Gospel, they need not only come out of sins but also out of the systems of life (cultures, philosophy, ideologies, values etc.) they have been part of (this is the Abrahamic principle of salvation, see Gen 12). Through the Gospel, we are saved not only from sins but also from our Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Afrikaans, English orientations and worldviews and are brought into kingdom culture and worldview (we saw in Dan 2 that the kingdom does not co-exist with humanistic positions). Colossians 1:13 talks about two very important spiritual processes: the first one is deliverance from the dominion of darkness and the second one is coming into the kingdom of God. Traditionally, most churches are design to bring deliverance and salvation to people but often fail to build systems that allow people to enter into the kingdom (a system of life). The issue is, after people know a whole bunch of wrong things then they need to know correct positions of life. They need to know how a correct life looks like (this is a true and a complete kingdom process). The whole issue of bringing them out of sin and keeping them in the church service produces a people who although love God but are empty in their lives.

So it is true that God will use miracles, signs and wonders to draw people to Himself but after they have been drawn (as in Phillip’s case in Samaria, Acts 8), then they need to be brought into the kingdom (a system of life).

What the church has tended to do generally is to proclaim salvation (through evangelism), release the divine power of God (signs, wonders and miracles) and bring people to a system of worship and personal growth. These are important but only foundational positions of the Kingdom. Hebrews 6:1 talks about leaving the elementary or foundational positions of Christ and moving on to maturity. This therefore means that our Gospel must be broadened beyond the message of salvation if we are to proclaim the fullness of the kingdom of God.

Some Components of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God:

· The Gospel brings redemption from sin.

· The Gospel brings man to the reality of relationship with God.

· The Gospel emphasises the issue of On-going Personal Transformation.

· The Gospel establishes a new and correct value system, cultural positions, Mentalities and Kingdom Perspective.

· The Gospel brings man to an awareness of correct positions of relationship and interaction with other humans by establishing principles of justice and equality in human heart.

· The Gospel establishes kingdom ideological positions and a correct kingdom worldview.

· The Gospel reveals the role of man in the advancement of the kingdom of God, thus bringing man to kingdom functionality.

· The Gospel speaks into broader issues of Global Citizenship in terms of how nations need to interact.