When “The Gospel” Isn’t Enough

Transcript

JR 34
4/7/2024
When the Gospel Is Not Enough
Selected Verses
Jesse Randolph

Well, every once in a while, when there is a break in our regularly scheduled programming, I do like to take opportunities like these on a Sunday night to address some matter of theological concern. Some theological matter that’s brewing or is on the horizon. Sometimes these matters surface in seminaries, sometimes these matters surface in denominations and sometimes these matters surface in churches.

A couple of these past theological talks come to mind. Early last year, you might remember we devoted some special attention to the so-called “Asbury Revival” of 2023. Do you remember that? Don’t worry. Neither do they. Then later in 2023, we addressed the topic of "Theological Retrieval”. This movement really centered at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, whose adherents deride the whole notion of “biblicism” and instead are telling us that we need to “retrieve” the new Holy Trinity of the Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas and secular Greek philosophers like Plato and Aquinas and the spate of post-Reformation Scholastic theologians who they say will help us retrieve a full-orbed grasp on the true meaning of Scripture. Those presentations and others like them and I’ve been privileged to present in other places in recent months, that they really are a delight to research and to put together. But I’ve got to say, and I want to make sure you all hear this here this evening in this room that those theological deep dives that I’m allowed to go into and privileged to go into are a really a labor of love. For you. For this church. For Indian Hills Community Church. I’m not the bishop of Lincoln. I’m the pastor of Indian Hills. My desire when I bring these theological developments out and bring them to your attention from behind this pulpit ultimately is to protect you from unsound doctrine creeping into this church. My desire and I know it’s the desire of the other team, the whole team of pastors and elders here at the church, is to protect you from wolves. While shepherding you the direction of truth which is only found in this book. This desire of course goes all the way back to the Scripture Benjamin mentioned of Paul’s address to the Ephesian elders over in Acts 20:28-30, where he says: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves’ men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”

Tonight, this motivation here is to protect and in that same spirit it’s to shepherd. I’m going to with that spirit of protecting and shepherding bring to your attention another theological topic that I believe deserves special attention.

Now, before we get into the heart of the presentation here, I’d like to ask you a question and the question is this. Is the gospel enough? I’ll ask it again. Is the gospel enough? Interesting. I wasn’t expecting an answer. I would submit that the question as phrased is incomplete. The question I have asked as phrased (I appreciate the zeal and the eagerness by the way) requires a question in return. When I ask the question is the gospel enough, I think the questions should be fired back this way, which is “for what?” Is the gospel enough for what? Is the gospel enough to save a soul? Well, I’m with the chorus that just said yes. Absolutely.
Is the gospel enough to bring a spiritually dead sinner to life in the first place? You bet it is. Romans 1:16 say “the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.”

So, when it comes to salvation, we would affirm yes it really is “all about Jesus.” When it comes to salvation it is all about Christ’s saving gospel. It is all about Him coming to earth to rescue and save sinful man. It is all about His death and His burial. It is all about His resurrection and victory over the grave. Acts 4:12, “For there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” But once a once-spiritually dead sinner is saved through the power of that gospel is the gospel still enough? Is that all the sinner-turned-saint needs to know, the gospel? Or is there a more biblical truth to be mined? Is there more biblical wisdom to be revealed? Is there more biblical discernment to be exercised? Are there more biblical distinctives to be held? Has God, in other words, given us more than “the gospel”? Is there more that bonds us and unifies us and motivates us and drives us than “the gospel”? I’m just asking questions at this point. I’m not giving answers, yet.

I’ve titled this evening’s message “When the Gospel Isn’t Enough.” I’ve given it that title because I’d like to use my time tonight to address some serious concerns I have with an organization, a fellowship, a coalition, you could say. This is an organization that’s not really new, but it is newer to our neck of the woods. It has been making more headway recently in the state of Nebraska. It’s an organization that’s all about being gospel-centered, in fact, it’s an organization that has the word gospel right there in its name. I’m referring to “The Gospel Coalition,” or, as it’s better known, “TGC.”

Again, TGC, or The Gospel Coalition, is not a new organization, not at all. It’s been around almost 20 years actually, but it’s a large organization and it’s an influential organization. It has a large paid staff. At last count, the national organization employs 55 men and women on a full or part time basis. It has a leadership council made up of some of the most prominent names in the evangelical world spanning all different traditions and backgrounds across the theological spectrum. This would include men like: H.B. Charles and Kevin De Young and Ligon Duncan and J.D. Greear, Russell Moore, John Piper, David Platt.

It has a frequently trafficked website with thousands of articles with a variety of different evangelical voices from all over the world. It offers online education for those who want to take courses in theology, or church history, or church leadership. It has a strong media and social media presence. In fact, according to its last published annual report, for the year 2022, in that year alone, 2022 alone, TGC reached more than 26 million people across their family of websites. Another 4.3 million people through their 12 different podcasts and another 2.6 million through their YouTube videos. They put on countless conferences, including women’s conferences and regional conferences. It’s a national conference, which is scheduled for Indianapolis in April of 2025. It’s established a network of regional chapters and regional leadership. The stateside version of TGC currently has 21 chapters here in the U.S. spreading from coast to coast. But it now has a global reach, as well. There are separate TGC-Europe chapters and TGC-Africa and TGC-Australia organizations. The point is The Gospel Coalition is now this sprawling organization with this incredible reach and with massive influence today.

Now, Rome wasn’t built overnight, and neither was The Gospel Coalition. So how did it all get started? What are its roots? Where did it come from? Well, it started back in 2005 when D.A. Carson and his friend, Tim Keller sent 40 invitations out to other church leaders in the broadly Reformed tradition. And they invited these men to come to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, TEDS, in Chicago. Here’s what that invitation said. It said, “It is difficult to think of a regular national gathering or conference or publication or institution that is driven by a rich heritage of biblical theology combined with pastoral commitment to seriously and creatively address the present generation.” There’s no doubt that D. A. Carson wrote that. If you’ve read D. A. Carson, you know what I mean. But at the time, Carson was better known than Tim Keller who really hadn’t started publishing widely at this point. That all changed in 2008 when Keller published his two widely heralded and circulated books, The Reason for God and The Prodigal God.

Now, when they joined forces in 2005, as Keller and Carson saw it, there was this, this unnecessary fracturing that was happening among three key groups of conservative evangelicals. The first group they saw was made up of the confessionally Reformed crowd. Meaning, those who would uphold and proclaim the major Reformed confessions, whether it be the Westminster Confession or the Belgic Confession or the Heidelberg Confession or the Canons of Dort or the Savoy Declaration. The second group consisted of other evangelicals who sought to change the perception of Christians through their savvy cultural engagement and their notions of social justice. Then the third group, the group that they thought was unnecessarily being left out of the conversation was made up of those who were skilled at putting on big events with an evangelistic fervor. Think of it like the old Billy Graham crusades but now they were using new means and new methods to put on similarly large, big tent events. What Keller and Carson wanted to do was they wanted to bring together each of those three groups. Bring them back together. People who were Reformed in their theology. People who were socially and culturally engaged, and people who were evangelistically minded and technologically skilled. These would be the people who would later be branded, “The Young, Restless, and Reformed.”

With a core made up of those constituents what Keller and Carson sought to do was launch this new organization that would take churches and Christians, in their words, “back to the center of the gospel.” They envisioned creating a confessional statement for this organization which was not out of line for Keller or Carson because they both came from confessional traditions. They envisioned the development of what they called a “theological vision for ministry.” More on that later. They envisioned a new publishing wing for this new movement which would replace Christianity Today in light of its drift, and you can look that up later. They also envisioned a future for this new organization which would include regional networks and a national conference with prominent speakers and then intentionally leveraging advances in technology which had already been in place in the year 2005.

Well, those 40 invitations went out in 2005 and that first meeting was held and each of those matters I just mentioned was discussed and then everyone went home, and then they reconvened in 2007. This time, now formally and officially as “The Gospel Coalition.” It was then, in 2007, that TGC held its first national public conference. Carson gave the inaugural address. He taught out of I Corinthians 15:1-19, which we went through last Sunday on Easter, and he titled his message, “Prophetic from the Center,” “Prophetic from the Center. At the heart of Carson’s message was a rebuke he gave to those pastors who, in his judgment, had lost their focus on the gospel. He gave this charge to these pastors and churches to recommit prioritizing the gospel.

Here are some of Carson’s words from this message, Prophetic from the Center. First, he spoke against “The tendency to assume the gospel while devoting creative energy and passion to other issues, marriage, happiness, prosperity, evangelism, the poor, wrestling with Islam, wrestling with the pressures of secularization, bioethics, dangers on the left, dangers on the right, the list is endless.” Then he continued, by saying “If the gospel is merely assumed, while relatively peripheral issues ignite our passion, we will train a new generation to downplay the gospel and focus zeal on the periphery.” Then he said this: “It’s easy to sound prophetic from the margins; what is urgently needed is to be prophetic from the center.”

Now, I have to say, I get what Carson is saying there. There’s a part of me that I agree with him. As Christians at a very fundamental level are to be gospel people. That’s I think why everybody said yes to that question I posed at the beginning. Our first level of identity is who we are and what we’ve become in Christ. That’s what we celebrated all weekend long last weekend. I hope that becomes clear that that is who we are fundamentally. That is the most important thing we can affirm and articulate, the the gospel message. That message includes a Savior, Jesus Christ who bled and died for unworthy sinners like us and then cemented and certified His claims to have paid our price or paid the redemption price for our sin on a bloody cross. He certified that by resurrecting, coming back to life three days later. That message, the gospel, is the core to who we are and central to who we are. But now we’re back to the question I posed earlier. Is “the gospel” enough? Then again, I think the answer ought to be, “for what”? “Is the gospel enough for what?”

Now, that’s where things get a little bit sticky and complicated and, frankly, worrisome. Because, noble as its starting’s or beginnings were, since The Gospel Coalition officially formed back in 2007, as its influence has gotten wider, as its reach has gotten larger, as its tent has gotten bigger, as it has tried to, as Carson said back in ‘07,’ remain “prophetic from the center,” meaning, centered exclusively on the gospel. At the same time, it’s very traceable and detectable TGC as an organization very much has downplayed and minimized various other aspects of distinctives of sound doctrine. TGC has steadily and consistently allowed more and more voices to come in giving those voices a platform, giving those voices an implicit endorsement, and giving the undiscerning reader or viewer the sense that this must be what it means to be “gospel centered.”

What I’m going to do now is run through several examples of what I mean. As I do so, I want to be clear that some of these aren’t as egregious as others. Some of the concerns here that I’m going to level and raise are over finer points of doctrine over which we might have a good-faith disagreement with the author. But make no mistake, some of these are outrageous, and unorthodox, unbiblical takes which have been offered through TGC channels. There’s going to be a point when I go through some of these, so I’m going to invite anybody that, here that has a more sensitive conscious to excuse yourself because of the things that are coming out of TGC these days.

So, here’s one. TGC has published an article titled, Nine Reasons We Won’t Be Raptured Before the Tribulation. The article is written by Justin Taylor, Executive Vice President for Book Publishing at Crossway. In his article, Taylor borrows nine reasons from John Piper who at the time was Taylor’s boss at Desiring God, about why he doesn’t believe in a pre-tribulational rapture. We would obviously here with our doctrinal statement and our distinctives, would disagree with what Taylor is saying here and we would disagree strongly. We believe that the Scriptures plainly teach that the church will be taken out of this world before the period of tribulation that is coming on this world. Now, is this one article enough to sink TGC, this one item of theological disagreement with them. Does this one article by this one man, Justin Taylor written for TGC mean that TGC is forever anathema? No, I don’t think so. Again, we would say they’re wrong on this subject. But there will be people who do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture who, much to their surprise, will experience a pre-tribulation rapture before they go on to glory. So that’s one article.

Staying in this theological and eschatological lane there’s another article out there that TGC published by Sam Storms. Sam Storms, who in the title of the article is Why I Changed My Mind About the Millennium, and in his article, Storms traces his own journey, his own history growing up in circles more like ours and now being in a completely different camp. He starts describing his Southern Baptist upbringing. He states how his whole view of millennial items, and the future all came from Hal Lindsey’s The Late, Great Planet Earth. He explains how he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, and he sat under professors like Walvoord and Ryrie and Pentecost and then he traces out how, through his reading of other scholars he eventually got “persuaded” “that there is no basis in Scripture,” he says, “for a pre-tribulational rapture of the church.” He goes on to cite a variety of other Scriptures that he believes refute the pre-tribulational Rapture position before then articulating his newfound amillennial position. He then makes the case for amillennialism and then he highlights his own book called Kingdom Come. There’s another theological disagreement that we would have that is pushed through TGC channels. But that one is really no surprise when you think about the fact that the two founders of TGC, Tim Keller and D.A. Carson, were Reformed guys. There’s no major revelation here that the organization that they launched is now publishing articles that take traditional Reformed positions like rejecting the premillennial view and rejecting the pre-tribulational Rapture view.

So those first two examples I’ve given you are all about the end, eschatology, the Rapture, the Tribulation, the Millennium. What about the beginning? As in, how and when did God first create the heavens and the earth? How are we to think about those things? Well, for that one, we come to another article also written by Justin Taylor for TGC. The article is titled Biblical Reasons to Doubt the Creation Days Were 24-Hour Periods. In the article, he makes statements like this, “Contrary to what is often implied or claimed by young-earth creationists, the Bible nowhere directly teaches the age of the earth.” Taylor then goes on to cite several of his heroes within the Reformed tradition, Augustine, J. Gresham Machen, Herman Bavinck, R.C. Sproul and notes that those men, too had questions about the age of the earth which started with questioning whether the Genesis account is describing literal 24-hour days of creation. Now, in this article Taylor doesn’t explicitly argue in favor of evolution or that the planet is actually billions of years old as the evolutionists would say. But he does explicitly plant seeds of doubt into his readers’ minds getting them to question whether the Scriptural account of “day” meaning “day,” as in, 24-hour periods is, in fact, true.

Alright, we’ve looked at examples of TGC giving a platform to those who deny a pre-tribulation Rapture, those who deny premillennialism in favor of amillennialism, those who doubt that the creation days of Genesis 1 are in reference to literal 24-hour periods. Now, apparently, because those authors who wrote these things share that TGC commitment of staying in the “prophetic center” using Carson’s words, that is, because they are “gospel-centered” in their prophetic orientation, they pass the test, according to TGC standards. They are worthy of platforming and publishing.

Well, in this next article I’m going to mention we’re going to leave that realm of eschatology and now get into the realm of practical theology or Christian living. This next article is titled, What Working Women Need to Hear from Their Pastors. The author is a woman named Michelle Meyers. She runs a parachurch ministry called She Works His Way and her article has four points; and she’s really if you really dial in with this one, she is playing the role of “pastor” here. The whole premise of her article is what pastors ought to tell the working women in their congregations. First, she says, this is again her taking on the mantle of pastor through this article, speaking to women, she says “you have limits.” Under that first heading then she’s offering watered-down counsel about trusting in God and depending on God when you, as a working woman, feel so overwhelmed by wearing so many hats. Second, she says to the women, “your work at home matters.” Well, amen to that. Of course it does. In this section, Meyers offers some rather tepid counsel for working women to make sure they are also practicing Titus 2 in their homes. Third, she says “Your job matters too.” Here, she tells pastors, regarding the working women in their congregations, “Challenge her to go against the climb-the-ladder mentality and instead be known as the person in the office who serves everyone around her. Cast a kingdom minded vision for work that will encourage her about the value of her labors.” Fourth, she says, “Your identity is based on what Jesus has done, not on what you do.” Well, of course. I mean, that’s true of any Christian. Meyers here is employing very “gospel-centered” language. It’s cut straight from the TGC “everything is about the gospel” cloth. But note what’s missing from Meyers’ article this woman purports to pastor pastors by telling them how they should be counseling the working women in their church. There’s no mention of pastors needing to ask the working women in their church whether they should be working outside the home in the first place. Whether, based on all of the factors and variables of life, whether they are being disobedient to God and His Word by leaving the home and punching a clock to begin with. All of that signals a lack of discernment from Meyers. Not only a lack of discernment from Meyers, but a lack of discernment and caution from TGC for running this article in the first place.

But Meyers’ article is tame by the way, in comparison to the next ones I’m about to share with you. In these next few articles, we’re going to see TGC publishing and promoting not only theological views which we, Indian Hills Community Church, would disagree with, but socially and politically charged pleas along with some highly bizarre theological “takes.” The first one I’ll mention is from an article TGC published in September of 2021. It’s titled COVID Vaccination and the Church. The author is Megan Best and though the title of her article, COVID Vaccination and the Church sounds relatively innocuous, it’s actually a highly politicized and charged position paper in which she makes the case as to why it’s incumbent on all Christians to take the COVID vaccine.

Moving over to the realm of race relations, Thabiti Anyabwile wrote an article for TGC in April 2018 which was titled, We Await Repentance for Assassinating Dr. King. The article was written on the occasion of it being the 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s assassination, Martin Luther King of course, in Memphis, Tennessee. This is two years before the summer of COVID and George Floyd, and Black Lives Matter and of James Earl Ray, Dr. King’s assassin, Anyabwile says this. "He,” meaning James Earl Ray, “acted with the encouragement of a white society dedicated to the advantage of whites above all others and simultaneously the segregation, oppression, and exploitation of black people.” He continues, Anyabwile does, "the entire society killed Dr. King. This society had been slowly killing him all along.” Now, here comes the call to repentance, “My white neighbors and Christian brethren can start by at least saying their parents and grandparents and this country are complicit in murdering a man who only preached love and justice.” That’s found in a Gospel Coalition blog piece and by the way, Thabiti Anyabwile, is no random contributor to The Gospel Coalition. No, he’s a past member of TGC’s Executive Council. He was a key member of TGC’s senior leadership when he wrote those words.

Well, now we move from race issues to gender issues and specifically, women’s issues. TGC published an article in January 2021 titled, A Brief Theology of Periods. The author’s name is Emily Cobb, and she writes this of the woman’s menstrual cycle. “Periods demonstrate the cultural mandate for man and woman to fill the earth and subdue it. They show the call of God to procreate and remind us that women and men are biologically different. The pain, shame, emotional ups and downs and malfunctioning of the body that is associated with a woman’s menstrual cycle demonstrate that we live in a fallen world.” OK? She continues, “When we view this in light of the saving work of Jesus, we can see that our life has purpose beyond the functioning of our bodies. We can see our purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We aren’t meant to be controlled by our monthly periods or subjected to a weight of shame over them; we are to look to Jesus. Our periods can also work as timely reminders that one day the pain and impact of the fall on our bodies will be no more. We can look forward to the day when we will be with Him forever; a day when periods will no longer exist because in our new bodies we will not be given in marriage and as such will not exchange sexual relations.” I honestly don’t even know what to say about that one, but I guess I have to say something. I’ll just say this. It’s directly in line with TGC’s whole mantra of living in this “prophetic center” and making everything about Jesus and the Gospel, even a woman’s menstrual cycle. Then there’s this article that came out in March 2023, just about a year ago. I do believe that this one was ultimately taken down, but it did make it all the way through TGC’s screening process. The title of this one is Sex Won’t Save You (But It Points to the One Who Will). This is the article I mentioned that if you have more sensitive conscience about these matters, no problem if you leave the auditorium as I go through this, and I won’t read the whole thing. It is a bit graphic in its content just to warn you. The article, written by a man named Josh Butler, and he writes this, “On that honeymoon in Cabo, the groom goes into his bride. He is not only with his beloved but within his beloved. He enters the sanctuary of his spouse, where he pours out his deepest presence and bestows an offering, a gift, a sign of his pilgrimage, that has the potential to grow within her into new life.” He continues by saying, “This is a picture of the gospel.” Remember, it’s all about “gospel centrality” for these folks. It says “Christ arrives in salvation to be not only with his church but within his church. Christ gives himself to his beloved with extravagant generosity, showering his love upon us and imparting his very presence within us. Christ penetrates his church with the generative seed of his Word and the life-giving presence of his Spirit, which takes root within her and grows to bring new life into the world.” He says a lot more, but I won’t. I think that’s enough of that.

Here’s the last article I’ll mention. There are literally hundreds more articles like these that I could choose from, and this article is written by Blake Glosson from October 2023, and it’s titled Seven Things Christians Can Learn from The Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. I really did think this was an April Fool’s joke when I read it. I thought I was going to click on the link and there would be a black page. I was wrong. According to this article, and remember, TGC ran this just six months ago. There are the seven things that Christians can learn from the Taylor Swift Eras Tour. By the way, for those who were wondering, “Blake” is a man. The article’s author is a man. He’s not just a man, he’s a pastoral resident at a church in Illinois and not only that he’s an M.Div. student at Reformed Theological Seminary. I will say that if any of the men on our staff ever wrote an article like this, we’d be having a conversation.

Here are the seven things. First, Blake says, we were created to be seen and known. He writes on this one, “the joy Swifties feel in Taylor’s presence, perhaps even catching a glance from Taylor herself, reflects the joy of drawing near to the only One who knows and loves us perfectly.” I can’t believe I read that sentence with a straight face.

Second, we were created he says to image greatness. He elaborates by saying “One of the great joys and privileges given to Christians is to ‘put on Christ’ to put his sparkling attributes on display to a watching world. We were created to shimmer as jewels on the crown of Christ’s head.” Alright.

Third, the object of our greatest affection will be more beautiful than we imagined. That’s the heading there. And he goes on to say, “My friend” “this is his narrative of going to the Taylor Swift concert with his friend,” he says “My friend observed that this moment is a dim reflection of the day Christ is revealed to his followers. Not only will his beauty not disappoint us, but he’ll be infinitely more beautiful than we ever imagined. In both appearance and character. Tim Keller notes that ‘the face of Jesus’ is where all our longings for beauty finally culminate. Every earthly beauty point to the beauty of his face.” So somehow, he’s linking whatever beauty he witnessed in Taylor Swift’s face at this concert, to be holding the face of Jesus in glory.

Fourth, he says we were created for reciprocal enjoyment with the object of our greatest affection. He says “Taylor goes to great lengths to emphasize how she enjoys her fans. Believer, how much more does Christ enjoy you and not as a number in a stadium full of faces but as intimately as a bridegroom enjoys his bride. Your existence is a true and constant ‘ingredient in the divine happiness.’ Your presence causes Christ’s heart to leap with delight, seeing you makes Jesus smile.”

I don’t want to read the next three, but I’m committed to it. I’m going to finish. Five, he says we are created for transcendent belonging and community. Oh boy. We know where this is going don’t we. Yes, he says “The temporary bond felt at Taylor Swift’s Eras shows points the eternal bond within the body of Christ.” In other words, being at a concert put on by a sexually immoral hater of all that God stands for is pointing to our bonds in the unity in Christ. Got it.

Sixth, He says pettiness turns to gratitude in the presence of beauty. He elaborates and says “Every Eras show includes two-decade-long fans, recent followers, and everything in between. Some purchased tickets months in advance; others scooped them up minutes before the show. Yet once inside, no one says, ‘How come she got in?’” Oh, that’s deep. He’s linking attending the concert to going through the pearly gates. And then look at this next comparison he draws. He says, “Heaven will consist of lifelong followers and deathbed converts. Yet none will feel robbed or embittered. All will overflow with joy and gratitude simply to be in Christ’s presence.” That will totally preach.

Seventh, we were created for unmixed, timeless joy. He goes on and says, “As joyous as it was to see Taylor, we all grieved as we celebrated because we knew the joy would soon be gone.” Well, “praise the Lord,” says Blake, because “Our souls were created for full and eternal joy, which can be found in Christ alone: “In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” citing Psalm 16 so so there you go. Blake the seminary student’s seven reasons for what a Christian can learn from a Taylor Swift concert. Published and promoted by the powers-that-be at The Gospel Coalition.

Now you see the problem? Do you see why I’m getting after it by bringing up these examples tonight? Is “the gospel” enough? For what? That’s the question. See, on the one hand you can say you are about the gospel in the sense that you have been saved by God through the power of the gospel. I would be willing to bet my two-wheel drive pick-up truck, that each and every one of the authors of these articles would say that they love Jesus and that they have been saved by the power of His gospel and that they’re all about “the gospel.” But the problem is when you try to build a coalition or a fellowship or a ministry that is only about the gospel and how everything points back to Jesus whether it’s your menstrual cycle, or your COVID decision or your experience at a Taylor Swift concert.

The whole thing eventually is going to collapse in on itself and be taken out to sea. My fear is that with The Gospel Coalition we are already seeing a little bit of both happening. Though Keller and Carson cast this ambitious vision about holding down the “prophetic center” and about making everything about the gospel and being “gospel centered.” Where the compromises have been made are in the area of biblical discernment. The tent is too big. Its theological convictions are too broad and too vague. The result has been that several problematic figures and several problematic perspectives have now crawled under the tent and are now threatening to pull it down. So much so that The Gospel Coalition as an organization is not only of questionable value today it’s dangerous. It presents a threat.

That brings me to the next part of this evening’s message. Where we’re going to work through what in the world does this have to do with us here at Indian Hills Community Church, here in Lincoln Nebraska. Here’s the link. Here’s the intersection point with our ministry. Here’s where all that I’ve just mentioned reaches our doorstep.

Earlier this year, in January I received a note from a local pastor here in town inviting me to join what was being called “the first gathering” of The Gospel Coalition’s Nebraska chapter. I clicked on the link. I read what was indicated to be a kickoff event of some sort. I learned that it was going to be held at Heritage Bible Church here in Lincoln and that the keynote speaker was going to be Bob Thune, the pastor of Coram Deo Church up in Omaha and the invite said this. “We want to build unity, synergy, and partnership among like-minded church leaders across Nebraska. So, we hope you'll mark your calendar and be part of this gathering. Bob Thune will be our featured speaker, giving attention to the topic of A Theological Vision for Ministry.” The invite then went on to define what “A Theological Vision for Ministry” is, in these terms. It says, “Many people imagine that the defining aspect of a church or ministry is its doctrinal beliefs. But in reality, a church's theological vision for ministry defines how the church feels and functions. We want to spend time thinking about the less-known, less-talked-about aspect of church leadership, and consider how a clearly defined theological vision for ministry can help us make disciples and renew the church in a post-Christian age.” Note the message that’s being sent there. It’s not what a church believes that’s most important. It’s how the church feels and functions. Doctrinal beliefs? Doctrinal statements? Those are so old and dated and crusty no one needs those anymore. No. What we need in terms of how make decisions about partnership and fellowship is a “theological vision for ministry” that focuses in on “how the church feels and functions,” it says. Well, the invite continued. It said "What could lead to a growing movement of gospel-centered churches? The ultimate answer is that God must, for His own glory, send revival. But we believe there are also penultimate steps to take. We must unite on the nature of truth, on how best to read the Bible, on our relationship to culture, on the content of the gospel, and on the nature of gospel-centered ministry.” You see that TGC buzzword mentioned twice there, "gospel-centered.” Everything is always “gospel-centered” with this crowd. Parenting is to be gospel-centered. Work is to be gospel-centered. Education is to be gospel-centered. “Gospel-centered” has been like pumpkin spices in the Fall. You sprinkle it everywhere.

Well, I wasn’t able to attend that first TGC-Nebraska meeting. I didn’t attend it in person, but I was able to watch a video recording of it and that video is still available on the Heritage YouTube channel. In that video, the keynote speaker, Bob Thune, he got up and he gave his pitch to all the pastors who were in attendance as to why they ought to partner with The Gospel Coalition as it seeks to expand into.

Now, a bit about Bob Thune. He is a high-ranking figure within The Gospel Coalition. He’s a successful pastor of a growing church up in Omaha. He’s a published author. He’s got a growing media ministry. He is definitely considered an up-and-coming forward-thinker within TGC’s whole gospel-centered orbit. I mean, he’s got quotes out there like this. He says, “We need churches with joyful, thick, gospel countercultures that invite people into and embody a new way of life.” Or and this, “All theology is contextual.” He’s very Tim Keller-esque with his texts and his Tweets.

Tim Keller, by the way, went to glory about a year ago, I believe, and one of the most difficult parts I had with reading anything he wrote was that he always wrote in this heady, mystic, Yoda-esqe kind of style. He would have been very proud of Bob Thune for saying that “we need churches with joyful, thick, gospel countercultures.” It’s one of those statements where, on first reaction, you hear it and you’re like, yeah, I like that. Then, you’re like what? What’s he saying? I don’t even know what the means.

Well, back to Bob Thune speaking at Heritage for this inaugural TGC-Nebraska meeting, a few key observations. First, it was clear that he and others within TGC do not view doctrinal unity as the baseline, common denominator for how churches are to partner and to fellowship. At one point in his presentation, Thune said this. “Doctrinal agreement really isn’t enough to build a dense kind of unity.” Then he said this, “While theological agreement around a doctrinal statement is good, it’s not really enough to capture and cultivate the kind of unity that we really want to see within churches and within Christianity.” Then he said this, “A good, healthy doctrinal statement is necessary, but not sufficient.” Then this and this one, by the way got the biggest laugh of his whole presentation. He said, “Rarely do people show up,” he’s speaking like to his church, “and say they came because of our doctrinal statement. These people do show up, and I usually try to show them the door pretty fast. Because they make me nervous.” Again, those words about showing people who care about doctrine the door was met with raucous laughter from a room full of Lincoln and Omaha pastors. I guess that’s where “gospel centrality” takes you.

So, for this new TGC-Nebraska chapter if it’s not “doctrinal unity” over which churches ought to partner and fellowship, what is then the appropriate litmus test? Back to Bob Thune and the remarks he gave. He said that a "theological vision for ministry” ought to be the grounds on which we partner. Here’s how he put it, and as I read this off for you by the way, see if you’re able to figure out what he’s talking about. He says, “The theological vision for ministry is the ‘secret sauce’ of having a healthy and robust and gospel-centered ministry.” According to Thune most churches are, are good at expressing their doctrine, what they believe, while other churches are good at carrying out their methods, meaning, they are good at what we do. But what he says is the missing ingredient is this “theological vision for ministry,” “secret sauce” he calls it, and he says it’s all about “how we see.” That’s classic TGC-speak. In fact, Thune’s language is borrowed from Tim Keller who once said that "A theological vision is a vision for what you are going to do with your doctrine in a particular time and place...It’s a vision for how to bring the gospel to bear on a particular cultural setting and historical moment.” There’s that language of “gospel centrality” again. "How to bring the gospel to bear on a particular cultural setting and historical moment.” So, this “theological vision of ministry” that Thune was selling to this room of pastors back in January is that of gospel centrality. So sold is he on this whole theological vision idea that he says, that “One of the most important responsibilities you have,” remember he’s talking to pastors here, “is, how are you teaching people how to see?” Really? Can you imagine if I sat down with Gil Rugh this week, and I asked him, “Gil, 52 years, amazing, great work. Tell me, how did you teach the people of Indian Hills how to see?” What do you think Gil would say? I think I know. I think Gil would walk right down to Jeff Horn’s office and say, “You’ve got the wrong guy.” Right? Can you imagine if I talked to some of the younger guys on our pastoral staff, and said, “OK, guys, huddle up.This week, we really need to teach the people of our church how to see.” They’d look at me like I have two heads. This fuzzy language coming from The Gospel Coalition crowd reminds me of what the early church father, Irenaeus said in his work, Against Heresies. He says, “Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the inexperienced truer than the truth itself.” All that to say, pastors don’t need to teach their people “how to see.” Pastors are called to shepherd the flock, to preach the Word, to build up believers in sound doctrine, and to evangelize the lost. You won’t find anything in the Scriptures, in the letters to Titus or to Timothy or any other Scriptures dealing with pastoral matters where pastors are told that they need to “teach people how to see.”

This was Thune’s capstone argument, though as he addresses this room of Nebraska pastors. He says, “What I want to invite you to, is a deeper unity around theological vision for ministry, not just doctrine.” Now, if I can decipher what he’s saying there, he’s saying to churches in this region, southeast Nebraska, Lincoln, Omaha, really the whole state, they want the whole thing, that we need to partner and unify not around doctrine. Not around doctrinal statements, not around doctrinal solidarity. After all, no one, according to this crowd likes that person who comes to our church and asks for a copy of our doctrinal statement to hear what we actually stand for. Instead, what ought to unify as churches, according to this gentleman is that we share a share commitment to a theological vision for ministry. Not what we believe but instead, how we see. How we see, I suppose, ministry being carried out through the lens of gospel centrality. Meaning, a Baptist pastor and a Presbyterian pastor, an Anglican priest and a Bible church elder, a dispensational scholar and a covenant theologian, though they wouldn’t be able sign off on each other’s doctrinal statements, because they share Jesus in common, because they are unified at the level of the gospel, because they share this common theological vision, because they, to use Thume’s term “see” things like ministry philosophy and cultural engagement and gospel centrality similarly, they can publicly link arms and partner and wave the banner of The Gospel Coalition.

Well, apparently these concepts of gospel centrality and sharing a theological vision and “seeing” the same way, even at the expense of doctrinal unity has been well-received by several churches in our area. Even churches with the name “Bible” in them who have now publicly affiliated themselves with the TGC- Nebraska chapter.

I’ve been asked by quite a few folks actually if Indian Hills would be partnering with or otherwise affiliating with The Gospel Coalition now that it’s starting to establish its foothold here in Nebraska, and my answer is pretty simple. Not a chance. No way. In fact, that’s really why I’ve taken the time to address this topic tonight. Not so much to trace out the history of TGC and not so much to explore the theological convictions of Carson and Keller and not so much to highlight these various wacky publications that TGC has allowed to be published, but more so, to draw a line in the sand and to explain why a church like ours which is committed to sound doctrine, all points of sound doctrine cannot and will not responsibly join an organization like TGC.

Now I’m no prophet, don’t claim to be prophetic but I am attentive, and I am deadly serious about upholding sound doctrine. As I said earlier, protecting this church. What I think we’re about to encounter here in our State with movements like The Gospel Coalition coming in and increasing in influence is a major fracture developing. A fault line, you could say, which is going to divide the different “Bible churches” in our State. The fracture is there. The fracture is deepening and widening between Bible churches that are actually Bible churches, those who preach and teach the whole counsel of God, those who don’t compromise, those who don’t back down from the charge of being called a “Biblicists.” Then Bible churches that are Bible churches in name only, that is those Bible churches who call themselves Bible churches because they are not otherwise denominationally affiliated. Or they call themselves Bible churches because they know they are generally conservative leaning. But they are Bible churches that are going the way of TGC. Walking down this foggy path of being gospel-centered, laughing at churches and church members who take their doctrinal statements seriously, elevating nebulous concepts like theological visions for ministry over a true commitment to doctrinal fidelity. Parking themselves under a big tent that includes all kinds of voices now, including voices that denigrate the Scriptures.

I know what kind of church I want our church to be. The former, not the latter. The Bible church that is a Biblical church. The Bible church that is full of committed Biblicists, Bible people, no matter how uncool or behind-the-times the “gospel- centered” crowd thinks us to be. I don’t think I have too much persuading needed, that I need to do of our own people tonight. That this is who we are Indian Hills and that is who will continue to be. But I do know that sometimes messages like these get sent shared around and sent around and so, knowing that I do want to make an appeal to everyone here in the room of course, but even those who might watch this later, to be careful and cautious when you make decisions about how to partner or how to associate, how to fellowship, how to have unity. In fact, Rick Gregory, a former President of the IFCA, once said this. I think it’s so timely. He said, “Tiptoeing through the minefields encircling the relationships within the Body of Christ is enormously daunting. Certain believers are so desirous of enjoying relationships with the entire Body of Christ that they become indiscriminate. These believers seem to care little about the issues and the damage that compromising their doctrinal beliefs brings. By the time they reach the other side of the minefield, there is little genuine Christianity left. As a result of their inclusiveness, they have little to offer in terms of meaningful fellowship in Christ.” That’s the major concern I’m expressing here. A group like The Gospel Coalition and here in our state, TGC-Nebraska appeals to those who, in Gregory’s words, are “so desirous of enjoying relationships with the entire Body of Christ they become indiscriminate.”

So, with the remaining couple of minutes, I have here I’m now going to lay out a basic, two-fold way now for all of us to think about matters of association and fellowship and partnership. This will color some of what I’ve already said about not becoming a part of The Gospel Coalition, but I do hope it helps us think about these matters of cooperation and association and fellowship more broadly. The first thing that needs to be said is this. I know I’m coming down hard on TGC-Nebraska, but what I don’t want anyone here to come away with is that I’m up here suggesting or saying that the individuals that I’ve highlighted are not brothers in the Lord. I’m not saying that these are not brothers in the Lord. It’s actually pretty evident that the men I’ve spoken of by name tonight love Christ and love His Gospel, so much in fact that they are making Christ and His Gospel the very center of all that they do. They are, after all “gospel-centered” and because of that, as believers, we are called to love them. John 13:34-35. These aren’t men who deny the deny the inerrancy of Scripture. These aren’t men who deny the virgin birth or the deity of Christ or penal substitutionary atonement or justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. No, these are men who affirm the fundamentals of the faith and, as such, they are brothers in the Lord. And we can rejoice that they know Christ and we can pray for their churches, and we can even enjoy a cup of coffee with them and be friendly toward them when we run into them all through town. That’s the first big idea I want to make sure I get across. That so long as a person has repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ, we are joined with them, we are unified with them in the family of God. It’s a form of unity that we don’t have with the atheist or somebody who preaches a false gospel or lives under a false gospel like the gospel of Rome or the gospel of the Mormon church. So, the gospel automatically unifies us and those in the Gospel Coalition at that one level. That we are unified in Christ because we’ve each trusted in Christ even if they have different view of the Millennium or racial relations or how to think about a Taylor Swift concert, okay?

At the same time while we are unified through our identity in Christ, that does not mean that these concepts of unity and fellowship don’t extend to the extent that they minimize sound doctrine. Let me make that clearer. We don’t throw out doctrinal convictions for the sake of unity. Convictions that are anchored in Biblical truth, in scriptural revelation just so that we can expand the size of the tent and cram ourselves all under it and have more representatives and different voices on the team so that we can look more inclusive and relatable to the watching world. We don’t sacrifice doctoral convictions for all of that. No, true unity, the deepest form of unity is centered in truth. Groups like TGC make the gospel the center of Christian unity. But the gospel is, is not the center of Christian unity. The gospel, what it does is it represents the boundaries, the outside boundaries of who is on the team. If you’re not inside those outer boundaries you are not on the team and you’re going to hell. No, the center of Christianity, true Christian unity is the truth of God’s Word. All of it. Every jot and tiddle. The whole counsel of God. Everything that He has given to us in His inspired, inerrant, authoritative, and sufficient Word. All of God’s truth matters and all of God’s truth affects Christian unity to one degree or another. Now, to be sure the gospel really is “central.” It’s central again to who we are in Christ. But there are other matters, matters of sound doctrine that will affect the degree to which we can cooperate with and have unity with other believers. Let’s throw a couple examples out there: Premillennialism, Young-earth creationism, Cessationism, Complementarianism. Are any of these essential to the gospel? No. But are one’s beliefs and convictions over that matter might they still impact the level of association and affiliation we might be able to have? Absolutely. The old Princeton theologian B.B. Warfield once said this, “Why make much of minor points of difference between those who serve the one Christ? Because a pure gospel is worth preserving.” He was right because a person’s views on these matters ultimately comes down to how they view the Scriptures and whether they view the Scriptures literally and whether they read the Scriptures consistently. I appreciate how Dr. Kevin Bauder, he’s of Central Baptist Theological Seminary has framed this. He writes, “We must remember that unity is a function of that which unites, and that fellowship is a function of what is held in common. For any given level of fellowship, we can enjoy unity only when we share whatever produces unity at that level. Any other claim to unity is hypocritical, as is any denial of unity and fellowship when we do share those things. We never develop legitimate unity by aiming for unity. We must aim for what unites. At the lowest level, what unites us is the gospel. At the highest level, what unites us is the whole counsel of God.” In other words, the more agreement I have with someone on matters of doctrine, the very thing TGC more and more is deriding, the more unity I can have with him. On the other hand, just because I might be able to affirm that somebody is a Christian, that they meet the test of being within that outer boundary of the gospel, does not mean that I’m going to be able to partner and associate with him in every possible way and that’s OK. Here’s As Rick Gregory again. He says, “believers must recognize that God does not intend that every relationship within the Body be equally intimate and intense. It is necessary for each believer to identify the levels of relationships and the responsibilities of each demand.” He’s right. The New Testament scriptures are full of examples in which separation of believers over various matters is mentioned and even commended. You can jot down as cross-references II Thessalonians 3:6 and Romans 16:17.

As we wrap here tonight, Is “the gospel” enough? “For what”? That’s the question. For what? For certain things it is. For other things it’s not. Well, we at Indian Hills be partnering with The Gospel Coalition? No, we won’t. Does this mean that we are unloving, or divisive, or mean-spirited? No, it doesn’t. It means we’re being convictional, consistent, and clear. May we always be known as a church that is committed, Jude 3 to “contending earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints.” May we always be known as that church that’s committed to proclaiming the whole counsel of God and to pursue true fellowship and joyful unity with others who are like-minded, in that they uphold the doctrinal truths of all 66 books of the Bible. May we always sail our ship according to the compass of Isaiah 66:2, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”

Let’s pray. Lord, I thank you for this time with everyone here tonight. I thank you for their grace and their kindness in allowing me a couple of extra minutes to rattle on about some, I believe, important truths about unity, about fellowship, about separation even. God, I do pray that we would be consistent and clear and convictional here at Indian Hills about where we stand and that, the true source of unity is the truth of Your word, every jot and tiddle, from beginning to end, from Genesis to Revelation. We, of course, are grateful for the gift of salvation and to one extent, we do affirm that the gospel is central. It is central to who we are in Christ but God we know that You have revealed more to us as well and we are called to be diligent students and stewards of what You’ve entrusted us with that we may understand more of Your character and Your call on our lives in this dark and evil age. God, I pray that You’d be with us this week, that You’d strengthen us for service and that we would be ambassadors for the sake of Christ. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.