“There was a time when the church was very powerful. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Martin Luther King Jr. penned these words as a man who believed that the Church was meant to be more than a gathering of people to endlessly talk about theology. It was meant to be a force for good, working and moving in this world. In today’s America, this can be a tough task with which Christians are forced to grapple. The Church is aware that it has a role to play in culture, but the precise nature of that role is often debated. In a world with an alarming number of issues, ranging from homelessness to abortion to homosexuality to politics to economics to evangelism to racism to education, the church is forced to prioritize. Unfortunately, it is not possible for the church to commit an equal amount of time and resources to every issue. So the Church is left asking itself: what is of first importance?
In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul uses this phrase “first importance”. In chapter 15 he writes, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” This should settle the debate, then, should it not? Paul has clearly laid out what is of first importance for the Church. Case closed. In some sense, it would be correct to make this assumption. Paul has answered the question clearly and concisely. The thing that is of upmost importance for the Church is the gospel. And what is this gospel? It is the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the gospel that saves souls, reconciling people to the Father through the blood of Christ. It draws the people of God together in unity. It not only changes hearts and lives, but it changes history. It makes sense, then, that Paul would call this gospel, that lives and moves and breathes (Heb. 4:12), the most important thing in the life of a believer. This is the Church’s mission.
Paul’s call for the Church to carry out the gospel into the world directly parallels Christ’s last words to the disciples. In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, “You will receive my power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The disciples are charged with the singular task of bringing the gospel “to the end of the earth”. At an earlier point in Christ’s life on earth he even tells Peter that the “gates of hell” will not prevail against the church (Matt. 16:18). The power of the Holy Spirit moving within the Church is a power that cannot be stopped. It will break down barriers and soften hearts throughout the world as the Church carries out Christ’s mission. Rather than taking off to do their part in this mission, however, the disciples just stand looking into the sky. They are amazed, astonished, and probably confused. Where had Jesus gone? This was their Messiah, the One who was coming to save them and restore Israel to glory. As the people stand there wondering, two men in white robes break into the awkward silence, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” These men seem almost disgusted with the apostles. Jesus had quite literally just given them a job to do. But now, instead of going out to fulfill their duties, they just stand there. The men in white robes swiftly reassure the disciples of their doubts: “Yes, Jesus is indeed coming back for you”. But in the meantime, “Go”.
The mission of the Church is an interesting theme woven throughout the New Testament, but this is not the first time in Scripture that God has told His people to “Go”. He also made this call on a man named Abraham, the great patriarch of God’s people. In Genesis 12:2 God said to him, “And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Here in the early chapters of Genesis, God Himself enters into a covenant relationship with Abraham, promising Abraham two primary things: land and descendants. In the ancient Near Eastern culture, these were two of the most important aspects of daily life. Those who had plenty of land and a large family were the wealthiest people. This means that God was promising to make Abraham a very wealthy and successful man. God did not do this without a purpose, however. The important words in this verse are “so that”. God was giving these things to Abraham for a reason: so that he could “Go” and be a blessing, a tangible material blessing, to other people through the gifts he was given. This is not a far cry from what Christ asks His disciples to do in the book of Acts. Christ’s disciples were given the gift of eternal life: a gift that was not to be “hid under a bush”, but rather spread across the world to push back darkness (Matt. 5:13-16). So too was Abraham given great gifts: Gifts to be used as a means of blessing the world around him. He was blessed to be a blessing, and so is the Church.
“If, In Christ, we inherit Abraham’s blessing, we also inherit Abraham’s mission – that is, to go and be a blessing, to be the means by which God’s blessing comes to others.” – Christopher Wright, The Mission of God’s People, p. 81
The question now arises, “How are these two different instances related to one another?” Some might say that the gospel of Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant. He is the ultimate blessing that God promised to bring about through the family of Abraham. The original call on Abraham to “Go and be a blessing”, then, would have no real bearing on the contemporary Church. This idea, however, can be very misleading. While it is true that Christ is the greatest fulfillment of that original Great Commission, it is much more helpful to look at that calling on Abraham to “Go” as a reminder of the true character of the gospel. The gospel was never meant to be a mere emotional band-aide on a physically broken world. Instead, the gospel would infuse a world engulfed in sin with new life and hope. Even the great evangelist Paul drives this point home as he calls believers to care for the orphans and the widows (1 Tim. 5, Gal. 2:10). The gospel was always meant to bring about real change, as it offers true healing to a world that is sick. This is the character of the gospel: blessing. As we begin to look at these two Great Commissions together, it becomes clear that the full call of the Church is more than a mere preaching of the gospel. Or, rather, that a true preaching of this gospel is done through both speech and action that, among other things, addresses the world’s physical needs. The only faithful preaching of the gospel is a kind of preaching that fuses together spiritual blessing with physical blessing. Harvie Conn puts this nicely, “[The Church] must become a ‘go’ structure. And it can do that only when its concerns are directed outside itself toward the poor, the abused, and the oppressed. The church must recapture its identity as the only organization in the world that exists for the sake of its nonmembers.”
“If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” – James 2:15-16
Moving forward with the understanding that this all-important gospel involves more than a mere verbal preaching, the question still remains: how are Christians to sort out where they put their time and resources? Initially, it seemed as if “evangelism” was the easy answer. Instead, we have now found ourselves entangled in a much deeper understanding of a true evangelism which cannot be divorced from good works in the community. So now should the Church spend its time going out into the community preaching the gospel with words, or perhaps giving assistance to young pregnant mothers considering an abortion? Or maybe even providing for the homeless or the refugee? If all of these things could rightly be understood as a sort of ‘evangelism’, which one is the most important? Here again Paul has some helpful things to offer. First Corinthians 12:5 says, “There are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.” Paul continues to expand on this point as he describes the church as the body of Christ. Just as a body has many members that serve different purposes, so too does the Church. Perhaps Paul is pointing the Church to a more profound aspect of God’s character and the character of His people. The fact that the Church finds itself facing so many different issues while it is being simultaneously filled with such unique members is no accident. God intentionally designed the Church this way. Rather than churches frantically debating over where they should put their time and resources, they should be praising the God who works and moves in such a diverse church body to carry out His mission in this world. There is no need to prescribe a formula for which issues are more important. Instead, we should grow to trust and to love the God who has given each of His children their unique talents and gifts so that He might carry out His sovereign will in caring for a broken world.
Debate rages on in the contemporary American church. Almost any debate can be reasoned down to this question: what is most important? As we continue to find ourselves navigating the harsh climate of our recent political season, it can be helpful to understand this point. While debate will never end, tensions can certainly be eased by understanding the meaning of true evangelism molded together with Paul’s teaching on the diversity of Christ’s body. It can be easy to take a certain political issue, whether it be abortion or racism, and impose it on other’s in the Church as “the” issue of our time. “When you vote, this is the first issue you must consider. This issue trumps all others.” But this is not necessarily true. The reason those within the Church may come to different conclusions about who to vote for in any political season is a matter of their answer to the question: what is most important? This is why we will find those within the Church to represent a wide breadth of the political spectrum. It is not a matter of heresy, but calling. The Christian who spends his time street-preaching is not necessarily more or less holy than the Christian who is fighting the injustices of our country. Both are tools in the mighty, sovereign hand of our heavenly Father. And as God’s tools, they are both, in different ways, used by God towards His ultimate end of restoring the brokenness of this world.
What is of first importance for our churches? It is the truth of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which powerfully brings together the spiritual life of the gospel with the physical healing of this world. The mission of our great God is bigger than any one individual, or any one issue. It is an all-consuming mission, one that God beautifully accomplishes through the diverse nature of His chosen people.