The Gospel Made Visible

Weekly Update – August 11th, 2022

As First Baptist Church, we believe that we are to strive to be the true community that God has designed his people to live within in the church. Now, the reason why I would call it a “true community” is because there is no other community that rivals it.  All other clubs and organizations gather based upon preferences, talents, or other demographics, but the church is the gathering of people who are united together based upon their commonality in Christ.  When that is the case and the community of the church is adamant about Christ being the central factor and focus, then every service and ministry will reflect it.  Then, as a result, the gathering and the community life of the church becomes its greatest evangelistic witness.  You might then call this community, the gospel made visible.

Most churches will agree that evangelism is important.  Vacation Bible Schools, special services, door to door outreaches, etc., all reflect the desire that the church has to draw in people.  Members are further encouraged to speak of Christ to people in their work place, their neighbors and their friends.  Within the Southern Baptist denomination, of which our church is connected, this theme reigns clear every time representatives from member churches meet.  We need to be fervent in sharing the gospel.  But as important as that is, and as active as we should be in that mission, how Christians interact with one another inside the church will either make or break their evangelistic witness. In other words, we need to speak the truths of God and what he has done for us in Christ, but we also need to live out these same truths within the community of the church too. 

Consider these verses from John 13:34-35:  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:  just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”  The world will know that what we believe is true by the way we live with one another in the church.  If we strive for love, partnership, and forgiveness, then we will show the world something countercultural to what they experience in their own lives.  But if we fight, bicker, divide and remain bitter, then any evangelistic message we might proclaim is made void by our actions.  When the church strives to function as the true community of Christ, and people are committed to living out the principles of the gospel with one another, then the church continually displays its greatest evangelistic strength. 

Let me offer a few specific ways that we can display the gospel to the world around us by being committed to the community of the local church:

1. Place the gospel message first with every other matter second.  What the church preaches is more important than whether or not there is a guitar on stage.
2. Join a church.  Tell the world that you are a part of a group that may have several differences from you, but that you love Jesus and proclaim his truth and that is enough.  
3. Know the church covenant and seek to live it out.
4. Respect authority within the church.
5. Give and receive forgiveness.
6. Take care of the physical needs of members
7. Pray for each other.
8. Practice hospitality with others.  Have other members in your home, get to know them, eat with them, pray with them, and let them get to know your kids. 
9. Arrange your life around the life of the church.  Say “no” to opportunities that take you away from the main gathering of the church and “yes” to opportunities that connect you with other members.   
10. Commit to live near and remain with the church for the long term.  If you are able, try to live in the same area as the church.  Imagine telling others that you moved so that you could be closer to your church, or that you turned down a job, so that you could remain with your church. 

To faithfully love one another, partner with each other, forgive one another, suffer with and comfort each other and so on, we must live in close community together.  We must commit to one another, strive for peace and unity and keep Christ as the foundation of all that we do.  A commitment to the local church shows a true desire to make Christ known.  Let us live as the true community that God has placed us in, allowing us to be the gospel made visible. 

Serving Him with You,
Pastor Michael Nelson