The Culture the Gospel Creates
Introduction
If you have been around Emmaus Road Church for any length of time, I trust you have heard of something called “Our Shaping Virtues.” You know about things like humility and joy and generosity. These are some of the virtues that are highlighted. But why do we need to know more about these things? What’s the big deal that our denomination would write a bunch of articles on them?
My aim in this post is to summarize these shaping virtues enough so that we might prioritize them in our lives together. Not merely because we want our church to look and feel a certain way, not merely because the family of churches we belong to is prioritizing them, but because they are a faithful display of the effect of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ on our lives. That is worthy of our prioritization.
One way we can begin to define these shaping virtues such as joy, encouragement, servanthood, is to say that they are “the fruit of the gospel displayed in gospel community through lives gripped by the gospel, empowered by the Holy Spirit.”
Gospel Culture
Those of you who have participated on a team of any kind know that as you spend more time together as individuals centered around a specific goal, a type of culture is created. When you come together, there is a certain vibe. Not only do you use similar lingo, you know lots of the same things, but there is a feel that is distinct about when you are with that team. It is true, wherever a group of people center around something common whether it’s winning the championship, knitting sweaters, or working out at the gym—a culture is formed.
Just as a rainforest produces rain and an apple tree produces apples, so the gospel produces fruit that is visible and enjoyed in the environment where the gospel is prized. Another way we could say it is “gospel-centrality produces gospel culture.” And the culture the gospel creates transcends every human interest group or institution. So we’re not talking about something that a bunch of shmos out there can just start up or produce.
Think of these virtues, such as joy or gratitude, as the aroma or the flavor that fills and animates and characterizes a gospel-centered community.
Prizing the Gospel
As a SGC pastor says, “When the gospel of Jesus is embraced, it produces a culture marked by the fruit of the gospel.” That’s powerful.
We want to embrace the gospel here. And embracing the gospel starts by believing the gospel.
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”
—1 Corinthians 15:1–2
Notice, Paul is saying here that not only was the gospel preached and heard audibly, but it was received—it was believed. The message of the cross of Christ became precious to its hearers. And Paul goes on to lay out what that message is…
“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.”
—1 Corinthians 15:3–5
Not only is the gospel true, but it must be true for us. It must be true for me and you. That’s the starting point.. It’s not enough to have a banner waving outside that reads, “the gospel is great!” We value the gospel here…we are gospel-centered… we celebrate the gospel…we soak in the gospel…and we never move on from the gospel…not just because we believe the gospel and are saved, but it is that which continues to save, and it is that which has becomes precious to us in all of life. We embrace the gospel of Jesus.
What we believe matters to who we are and what we are becoming. These are beliefs that we hold to as a church which keep us united and on course and distinct from other groups of people.
Values and Virtue
So it’s important for us to remember that values and virtues (beliefs and behaviors) must be held in tension. Values and doctrine, truth and virtues; they all have to work together. What I mean by that is, it is possible for us to get our doctrine right—“I know the gospel, I understand Scripture, and I get how God saved me”—and yet be unaffected in my attitude, my countenance, my behavior. Gospel doctrine without gospel virtue will be callous and cold. Values without virtues do not honor God nor does it represent rightly who saved us and what He has saved us for.
On the other hand, if we pursue these virtues without starting in the right place, or if we seek to be about humility and generosity without being moved by the grace we have received in Christ and motivated by the power of God’s Word, then these virtues will be flakey and lifeless because they aren’t connected to the very thing that makes them all possible—the very life-source of their existence.
What we are talking about is other-worldly. It’s supernatural. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God to save sinners and to break in and make dead people alive to God. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we are saved out of the domain of darkness and into God’s covenant community. The gospel creates a new community made up of people who no longer live for themselves but unto God. And it’s in that context where the fruit of the gospel can be cultivated and on display.
How We Prioritize
It is our hope that everyone who comes on a Sunday experiences the culture that the gospel creates. Our prayer is that everyone would witness true humility that only the gospel can produce in the preaching of the Word. We desire that all would be on the receiving end of faithful men and women who are eager to give up their time to serve others in so many ways, no matter the cost. We long for our church to experience the sound of joy in God expressed through singing and shouting and clapping and praying and fellowship. Our goal would be that if you are in the church, you are to one degree being shaped and molded by the culture that makes up the church.
This gives great meaning to why we would gather together throughout the week. We are all seeking to grow in such a way that is in accordance with the power of God that saves us. Our time in Gospel Community isn’t merely a discussion time that fills our heads with stuff, but grace comes to us as we commit ourselves to these habits, and in that we have ample opportunity to express our love for Christ and build up one another into His likeness.
That makes what we do on Sundays together and on Wednesday nights together and in our homes together and in this city together much more than just a meeting. We aren’t just checking off a box when we come together. The church isn’t a social club or a product of our culture. It’s not just what people do on Sundays. The sinless Son of God, through His sin-atoning death, glorious resurrection and ever-present session has made a way for sinners to be right with God, adopted by God, and forever held secure by God. The gospel has done something and here we are.
So let’s prize what brought us here. Let’s embrace the God who brought us to Himself through the blood of His Son. And let us witness the blessing of God’s grace to us in the fruit that He plants and produces in lives that bring honor to His name.