Christ-centered/gospel centered ministry is to be the heart beat of the local church. Far too often are pulpits transformed into a platform of narrow-minded, megaphone pedagogy aimed at belaboring a singular doctrinal point or airing grievances against those who do not emphasize the same narrow-minded preoccupations that they espouse. Such characters who are culpable of this decry anyone and everyone who does not reinforce the same doctrinal loci or ethical interest they do with the same regularity they do.
Such malversation’s mount the pulpits every Sunday and invariably tout the same line and pontificate upon the same singular emphasis with great ostentation; although in differently nuanced ways. In so doing they become infatuated with “their cause” in contradistinction to being solely committed to the cause of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, such folk become so enveloped by their “campaign” of sorts that they reduce themselves to the role of a religious politician. This modus operandi emerges from the political world. You will recognize such persons when they are consumed with one particular thrust (or one general thrust); so much so that their very verbiage is governed by the language of that singular emphasis. Invariably, their everyday conversation is inordinately characterized with the same incessant language arch.
When the language and conversation is noticeably devoid of cross centered and gospel centered phraseology this lapse has likely occurred.
The gospel of Jesus Christ should never be resigned to the shadow's cast by another singular doctrine. All biblical emphases should invariably return attention to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When this is not done it is perhaps resultant due to an assumption of the gospel. It is de-emphasized because it is held to be embraced by the believing community or immediate audience. However, to do so is to render the gospel a common and trite thing. D.A. Carson remarks, “we are already at the stage where many evangelical leaders simply assume the message of the cross, but no longer lay much emphasis on it. Their focus is elsewhere,” and in so doing, “functionally, they displace what is central.”
The church at Corinth became misguided participants of this pitfall. They displaced the gospel of Jesus Christ by gravitating towards personality, doctrinal particularities and the like. Paul exerts much energy in recapturing the centrality of the gospel. He reminds them, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”(I Cor.2:2,15:1-3)
Did Paul have interest in relaying other truths and doctrines to the churches? That goes without saying. But not to the exclusion of the gospel. In fact it was his custom to draw his reader’s attention to Christ and the gospel, first, in the salutatory remarks of his letters.(I Cor.1,Gal.1,Eph.1,Phil.1,Col.1,I Thess.1, et cetera) He understood all the doctrines he purveyed and defended as directly related to the gospel in some way. He never isolated his doctrinal commitments from the gospel. To be sure they were informed by it. The warp and woof of his theological schema is forged within the nexus of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God's wisdom.
A great disservice is done within the borders of Christendom when the gospel is silenced and undermined by religious politicians who vocalize their singular doctrinal affinity’s.
We are well served to give preponderance to D.A. Carson’s thoughts to this end,
“so many Christian’s today identify themselves with some “single issue” other than the cross, other than the gospel. It is not that they deny the gospel. If pressed, they will emphatically endorse it. But their point of self-identification, the focus of their minds and hearts, what occupies their interest and energy, is something else: a style of worship, the abortion issue, home schooling, the gift of prophecy, pop sociology, a certain brand of counseling, or whatever. Of course, we need some Christians working on them full time. But even those who are so engaged must do so as an extension of the gospel, as an extension of the message of the cross.”
Credo ut Intelligam
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