The Institutional Gospel

In my book, The Gospel Truth, I have done an extensive exploration of what the gospel is and is not. In summary, the gospel is an announcement of freedom to helpless captives, not a life enhancement program. One of the ideas that I find in the church that appears to run contrary to the truth of the gospel is that people are better off if they are in church than not. Really?

I think I could call this the ‘institutionalized’ gospel. It builds around the idea that the gospel is somehow a lifestyle choice. It grades completely on outward behavior, determining that someone who comes to church every time the doors are open, does not smoke and does not chew and does not run with those who do is better off than the run-of-the-mill sinner in the street. Get them in the door, get them cleaned up, and hope they get saved (if you are not already assuming that cleaned up = saved).

The church where a majority of the members accept this kind of idea is in all likelihood not preaching a scriptural gospel. Scripture teaches that the church is a gathering of individuals who have been saved by placing faith in Jesus Christ after hearing the radical call of the gospel. The institutionalized gospel says that the church is a place where people can come and learn about Jesus. They can learn how to live a life that is pleasing to God, the absolute antithesis of what the gospel actually states. As I said in the book, the gospel is a clear call; you cannot please God by your own works or behavior, but only by faith in Jesus Christ. It demands a decision - believe or not. You will never see in the scripture where people were snuck in the back door of the church hoping that it would ‘make a big difference’ in their lives. That idea is heresy. And it plays games with people’s souls.

The institutionalized gospel has the effect of making us look down upon people whose lifestyles we do not approve of. As long as people attend church and are not buying beer at the liquor store or engaging in homosexual behavior or (insert your pet peeve here) they meet our approval – all others we look down on (if we are honest with ourselves). Try and sell that idea to Jesus of Nazareth, who avoided religious zealots like the plague. We think that being imitators of Jesus means being straight-laced and appearing holy. We forget that Jesus was first and foremost the true friend of sinners. He loved them. Really – he loved them. Enough to become a ransom for them. You know; the ransom for sinners that we seldom talk about because we are too busy teaching people how to lead sanctified lives.

It goes deeper still. In an effort to attract people into the church so they can hear the ‘gospel’ (the way they ought to live to please God) we become ‘seeker sensitive’. We build our services and programs around a false concept of lifestyle enhancement. We never state anything in black and white terms, but in very inoffensive and neutral shades of grey. Every sermon is ‘Five ways to do what God wants you to do’. And every Monday people go into the workplace and practice the five ways (if any of the sermon sunk in) realize they don’t work and give up by Tuesday. Heaven forbid they should ever hear the offense of the cross, a message so ridiculously daring and liberating that it might make an actual impact on their lives and they might in turn make an impact on their co-workers.

With that we get to the upside-down church. The people, so confused and frustrated by their own spiritual drought, cannot make an impact on their world. The leadership takes over and becomes over-involved with the community in an effort to make up for the fact that the members seem unwilling to do it. Everyone begins to resent everyone else. The membership will not get involved in the community if they think the leadership has it handled. The leadership thinks the membership is just plain lazy and ignorant of what ‘God wants them to be doing’. The cycle degrades into more badgering from the top down and more resentment from the bottom up. No one ever hears the gospel. The institutionalized gospel has created institutionalized sin; we become the Pharisees. As in whitewashed tombs. By the way, the die-hard sinners around us who know they are sinners can recognize this even though we are blind to it. We wonder why they are not flocking in in droves to avail themselves of our fabulous programs.

The answer to all of this is the answer to everything else; good news. To wit:

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

(Colossians 2:13-14 ESV)

Let it never be said of us that we resurrected those legal demands which God set aside and at great cost nailed to the cross. Let us be the ones who do not look upon the outward appearance of a person to determine his spiritual condition. Let us be first and foremost concerned with the souls of men and not their lifestyles. Let us live according to the knowledge that the gospel brings, not some fanciful ‘gospel lifestyle’. There must be a call to crush the spirit of the Pharisee out of our churches, and the only thing that can do that (in its own audacious but peaceful way) is the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this season when we celebrate the advent, let us remember that ‘weak and worthless elementary principles’ held the whole world captive on the day the Messiah was born in a stable in Bethlehem (Galatians 4 & 5). That baby came to change all of that. Let us be the ones who truly live according to that change.

God Bless