Ed Stetzer: Today I am glad to welcome J.D. Greear to The Exchange. J.D. is a friend of mine and pastor of The Summit Church. Below we talk about his new book Above All: The Gospel Is the Source of the Church’s Renewal.
Ed: What prompted you to write Above All?
J.D.: Evangelical Christians have always been gospel people. It’s in our very name! The word, “evangelical,” is a transliteration of the Greek word “gospel.” So, in that sense, the gospel has always been our “brand.”
But it seems like a lot of us are increasingly tempted to turn elsewhere for renewal and life and to give our energies to other agendas. I wonder if Paul’s words to the Galatians might characterize a lot of our attempts at ministry today: “You foolish (Evangelicals)! Who has cast a spell on you? … Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:1–3).
We get engaged in a lot of things—important things—that end up keeping us from the oneessential thing—the gospel.
Think about this: The gospel is the one thing in the New Testament, other than Jesus himself, that is referred to as the power of God. Not contains the power of God. Not channels the power of God, but is itself the raw, unstoppable, death-defeating power of God.
Paul referred to the gospel as “of first importance,” and put so much emphasis on it that he told the Corinthians that he only wanted to talk about one thing with them: the cross of Jesus. Most scholars say that was an overstatement; after all, his letters to the Corinthians are filled with many important instructions for the Christian life. But in Paul’s mind, the gospel was so important he didn’t mind saying it was all he wanted to be known for.
We should be known as a gospel people. We only have bandwidth in our communities to be known for a couple of things. I want that thing to be the gospel. I often tell The Summit Church that I might be wrong about global warming, but I’m not wrong about the gospel. So I refuse to let my views on the former prevent people from hearing me on the latter.
Jesus, in fact, said there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over the 99 that are already in the flock. That’s a pretty shocking statement. There is literally nothing I can do with “the 99” that brings Jesus as much joy as bringing in the one. It doesn’t mean there’s nothing I should ever do with the 99; just that none of those things bring Jesus as much joy as getting the gospel to the people who need it. Thus, that has to be primary in our agenda.
Ed: Why do you think it’s so easy to put programs, priorities, politics, etc. above all else in the church?
J.D.: It’s safer. We rely on what we know, because the unknown is scary. And relying on our “flesh” to carry on the mission is a common temptation in the Christian life—enough so that Paul wrote a whole book about it to the Galatians warning them that what God started in the power of the gospel they could not perfect in the flesh.
Prioritizing the gospel takes faith. And faith is scary. Faith only begins with accepting how weak we are in ourselves.
Furthermore, if we put the gospel first, the world will call us fools, because all of our hope will be in the promise of a Savior who is no longer bodily present on earth. But we have to choose: Would we rather be wise according to the world (and lacking God’s presence) or fools for Christ, rich in his resurrection power?
Ed: Christians have a lot of opinions about what the church “needs” to become relevant again. What does the church really need?
J.D.: It probably sounds strange to some to say that we need a return to the gospel, since most Christians can already articulate it. How can returning to something we already know take us to places we’ve never been?
Education in gospel doctrine is not the answer, because ignorance is not the problem. The problem is that we have so many things that are distracting us from the gospel, and we have lost touch with its life-transforming power. In any church or movement there can be many good things, but when they become “of first importance”—the main thing—they have become bad things. And yes, here I’m talking about our programs, our politics, and our preferences in worship. The more we elevate these secondary issues, the less gospel power infuses our movements.
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Source: Christianity Today
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