What is the Gospel ?

Several months ago I took my children up to a waterfall near Genting. After an enjoyable swim, I accidentally knocked one of my shoes into the swift-moving current. I immediately called out to my kids to help me retrieve it, but our best efforts were in vain. My shoe was gone. I was dreading the thought of walking back down the mountain wearing only my sock, when suddenly my son cried out, “Dad, I have good news!” Hidden in between two rocks, several meters away, was my wayward shoe! To get theological (as pastors like to do), my son could have just yelled out the word “gospel!” This term, that has such a preeminent place in our evangelical churches, can become such a cliché that we forget what is meant by it. In its most basic sense, “gospel” simply means “good news”. Jesus and Paul and other New Testament writers did not create a new Christian term when they used this word. Rather, they took the familiar concept of good news and infused it with the greatest announcement ever heard: sinful humanity can now be reconciled to our Creator because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus! This gospel is about truth—what God has done in Jesus. This truth can be understood in the four categories of (1) God, (2) man, (3) Christ, and (4) response. God is completely good and separate from all evil (He is holy). But we as humans have rebelled against His laws, bringing shame and separation from our Creator. Thus we deserve His judgment, both in this life and for all eternity. But the Son of God came as the answer to our sin problem. He lived an obedient life for us, fulfilling God’s requirements for mankind. And He died on the cross in our place, bearing God’s righteous wrath for our sin. As a result, to all who respond in repentance (turning from sin) and faith (trusting in the mercy of Christ alone), God gives forgiveness, reconciliation, and eternal life. The gospel is also an announcement that needs to be made known—faith comes only by hearing this good news (Romans 10:17). This is why evangelical Christians, and a group like the Gospel City Network, is so committed to proclaiming the message of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection for our salvation. It is news that is only good when one has heard it and responded appropriately. Thus it is at the heart of what every local church is called to be. GCN is passionate about equipping congregations to understand and faithfully proclaim this gospel in our city. Returning to my family hike: it was truly a good thing that my son saw my lost shoe, stuck in the crevice on the opposite side of the stream. But if he had not made known this discovery, it would have made no difference for my bare foot on our return trip. We have good news. While each of us, on our own, is completely lost, God has done everything necessary in Jesus that we might be found. There is truly no better news that could ever be heard. This is why we proclaim Christ. This is our gospel.

The Looming Cloud Over the Malaysian Church

At least once a week, I’m asked if I know of any seminary graduates or pastors available to pastor a small or medium-sized church. This week I was asked this question three times. The reality is about to hit the Malaysian church hard. For most churches that still have pastors, retirement is just around the corner. There was a golden age for the church in Malaysia when many of the leaders in our churches today were reached as university students in the late 70s and early 80s. Out of that gospel-centered student movement came many young pastors who have provided leadership during the recent decades. My friend, Mac Pier, who has been travelling around the world meeting with church leaders, recently told me that the average age of a Christian in Malaysia is 55! That should be alarming news for the church. It should be a wakeup call! The church only perpetuates itself when it has ongoing perpetuation of leaders. It is the brilliance of the New Testament church that it consistently and persistently developed leaders for the church. When the average age of our church leaders is in the 60s, it is a sign that the church needs to develop leaders. Let’s be clear regarding what we mean by “leaders” in our church. I’m not necessarily talking about clergy, full-time pastors, or church leaders with lofty titles. I’m also not talking about board members chosen because of business prowess or professional status. In the New Testament, church leaders are those who exhibit the character of a Christian and are able to teach others (see 1 Tim 3 and Titus 1). Church leaders aren’t intended to be the bosses or some kind of Christian version of a witch doctor. The calling to be a leader is a calling to be a servant, a servant to Christ and his church. Paul writes that being a leader in the church is an honourable calling. As we look at the New Testament church, we see an emphasis on identifying and equipping leaders in the church. Jesus spent more time pouring into a few selected leaders than trying to gain a large following. These leaders chosen by Jesus continued this practice, always aware that it was not their status or position that made them stand out, but it was that they had been transformed by Jesus (Acts 4:13). Paul and his coworkers continue the practice of identifying and equipping leaders in the churches. Paul even circled back to a city where he’d been stoned and left for dead in order to identify leaders in the new church there (see Acts 14). In the New Testament, the only skill required for leaders in the church is the ability to teach/instruct (1 Tim 3:2; Titus 1:9). In Ephesians we see the primary task of church leaders is the equipping of the saints in the church for ministry (4:12). We have too few leaders in our churches who are equipped with the ability to teach in the church. In Titus we are told that it is not merely teaching or holding the attention of a congregation, but the ability to teach and correct in sound doctrine (1:9). What is your church’s plan for identifying and equipping leaders of every generation? What is your church doing to develop the best pool of potential leaders in every age group? What is your church doing to produce leaders who are able to teach and correct sound doctrine? At the most basic level, every church needs to raise the bar of discipleship in the church (informal equipping). For more advanced training there are a number of possibilities. Seminaries and Bible colleges are vital to the training of vocational and bivocational pastors (formal equipping). For something in between, Gospel City Network in relationship with Redeemer City to City is offering the Incubator Training, designed for church planters and church elders. For more about the Incubator see this. As leaders (both recognized and unrecognized) in our churches, we must take seriously our role of identifying and equipping more leaders in our churches.

The City: More than a Population Trend, it is a Biblical Destination

It is widely known that more people alive today live in cities rather than the countryside. This is a radical shift from 1900, where only 12 percent of the world was urban. Urbanization is continuing at pace, moving toward a world that will be 70 percent urban by 2050. Malaysia is already 74.7 percent urban and increasing. Why is this significant for the church? Urban life is repatterning the ways we work, think, and socialize. As evidence, around the world the growing political divide is an urban/rural divide. It is important for us, as Christians, to understand urban life so we can better make disciples of the growing numbers in our cities. It may surprise some of you to realize that the idea of the city is a theme that runs throughout scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, containing more than a thousand references to the city. In fact, it has often been said: “the Bible begins in the garden, but ends in the city.” The faithful in Christ are destined for urban living in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2). Cities often get a bad reputation from popular culture as crime-ridden and crowded. Christians further complain about the temptations of sin and the pressure of ideas that run counter to a biblical worldview. This has led many Christians to distance themselves from the city and its cultural influence, developing an anti-urban attitude. However, if we are destined for an eternal city, urbanization cannot be considered implicitly evil. In fact, when God’s people in the Old Testament are given the Promised Land, they were not given an empty land with fields, they were given “large and beautiful cities that you did not build” (Deut. 6:10). What does this understanding of the city have to do with us today? Everything. In this short article let me suggest three ways a biblical understanding of the city and the trend of urbanization in the world should impact our everyday lives. Cities are primary nodes of information, culture, and influence. The vast majority of our news, entertainment, and popular culture originates in cities. Cities are gathering points for the most creative, innovative, ambitious, disciplined, and learned people on earth. Too often we stand outside the city and complain of the influence of ideas contrary to the Bible, but do not inject ourselves into the fabric of the city to shape and influence the city. As city dwellers, we should actively integrate the truths of the gospel with our work, family life, and views on public policy. Cities draw the destitute, the desperate, and the damaged, all in search of hope. Every hour, thousands of the poorest in the world pick up their lives and move to cities, looking for work and/or refuge from war, persecution, and oppression. The hope they seek in the city is too often answered with empty promises. As Christians, we know our lasting hope is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sin is a destructive force in civilization, and our only path for overcoming sin is the way of Jesus, the only one who remained unstained by sin and who took the power of sin away on the cross. Cities are a gift to be shaped by the gospel. Most people come to the city to gain from it or take advantage of it. Historically and biblically, mankind collaborates to build great cities for personal gain (Genesis 11:4). This is what St. Augustine called the “City of Man.” But Christians are called, instead, to be caretakers of what God has given us (Gen. 1:28) and even seek the welfare of our cities (Jer. 29:7). Jesus entered the world to start a new kind of community, the Church. As a new kind of community, the Church becomes an alternative city (the “City of God”) within our cities. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, Christians embrace a life ordered by different priorities and ambitions. As the Church increases in the city, we increase the potential impact on the City of Man by proclaiming and demonstrating the gospel.

Bigger Than Us

Did you know there is a new network of churches forming to advance the gospel in Kuala Lumpur?  It’s something you should know about and consider joining.  Gospel City Network is about something bigger than us.