How vital to the gospel is the church? Is the church just an addendum to the gospel, or is it vital to the message of the gospel?
I don’t know about you, but in much of the personal evangelism training I received through my years, the church didn’t play much of a role in the presentation of the gospel. What was stressed was leading a person to make a personal decision for Christ that secured his forgiveness of sins, a right standing with God, and heaven when he died. If the church was mentioned at all it was at the end when the deal was sealed. It would probably be a good idea to attend church so that the new convert could grow in his faith. However, the connotations were that what mattered was one’s personal relationship with Jesus whether he ever became involved in the church or not.
The fruit of this kind of evangelism abounds in our society. People who have “made a decision for Christ” or “asked Jesus to be their personal Savior” or who have “asked Jesus into their hearts,” see involvement in the church as an add-on to their Christian life; useful, maybe important, but not really necessary. The evidence of this is in the fact of how people will worship with the church if nothing else better comes along, or will simply not become a part of a church because they just can’t find a church that suits them. With our evangelism being almost exclusively individual-centered, it should be no surprise that the lives of these converts follow the gospel they have been presented: It’s all about me and Jesus.
The gospel that Paul presents in his letter to the Romans is quite different. The church is not an optional extra to the gospel but part of the revelation of the gospel itself. The gospel is not merely a set of propositional or even historical facts that float aimlessly through our minds or in the air. The gospel is the creative word of God that transforms the created order, creating a new humanity, which is the church. In the gospel God says, “Let me have a new family in Christ Jesus made up of people from every tongue, tribe, and nation who will live together in local communities,” and there is a new family.
This is the movement between Romans 1–11 and 12–16. In the first eleven chapters Paul moves through many of the questions that need answering concerning how God’s righteousness has been revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of what God has accomplished through Christ Jesus and by his Spirit, a new fellowship, a new family, of worshipers has been created. This new family is joined by the Spirit to one another. Being joined by the Spirit doesn’t mean that our unity with one another is invisible and distant. That’s not the picture at all in Romans 12–16. The presuppositions expressed in the exhortations and encouragements in these chapters are that these people will be living with one another. They must learn to live together with differing gifts, how to work through relationship difficulties, and how to live together as strong and weak believers. They must learn to be “like-minded toward one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together they may with one mind and one mouth glorify God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 15.5-6).
This fellowship is the embodiment of the gospel; it is the necessary consequence of God’s creative word. The life of the church, the body of Christ, is where the gospel is revealed, not only through proclamation but in our lives together. To say, “The gospel has transformed me, but I don’t live in the fellowship of a worshiping community” doesn’t make gospel sense. The gospel is God’s word to you for the forgiveness of your sins, your right standing with him, and your living in the fellowship of the new humanity found in the church.
The church is not a good idea for your personal growth. The church is not a good option in a “gospel options package.” The church is where the gospel comes to life, and where you come to life through the gospel.
