A Healthy Church is Word-Center and Gospel-Focused

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Sermon outline

1. Introduction
   1. Our Vitality Context
   2. A Healthy Missional Church is Word-Centered and Gospel-focused
2. Word-Centered
   1. Word-centered means the Bible is central to understanding and governing all of life. (Ps 119:105, 160, 169, Lk 8:11, Heb 4:12, Belgic Art. 5, 7)
   2. This is important because:
   3. Practically this means
      1. One should hear a lot of Bible in a healthy Church
      2. The decisions of the church assemblies ought not to be identical to the beliefs of the local culture.
      3. People ought to be students of the Word in their own lives
      4. The first place we go and the last place we end ought to be in the Word of God
3. Gospel-Focused (Acts 2:42)
   1. The Apostles taught the gospel!
      1. There are ways of reading the Bible that are not gospel-focused.
      2. But the Bible intends us to read it with a gospel focus. (Jn 20:31, 1Cor 1:23, 2:1-2, Acts 2:38, Eph 3:1-10)
   2. The Gospel is rooted in God’s Grace (Eph 3:2)
   3. The Gospel is rooted in the mystery of Christ (Eph 3:4, 6)
      1. Jew and Gentile share the same promises
      2. Everyone who is in Christ is a fellow heir of
         1. The Gift of the Spirit and forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38-39)
         2. God with us and in us (Jer 31:33)
         3. The world (Rom 4:13)
         4. Righteousness (Heb 11:7)
         5. The Grace of Life (1Pt 3:7)
      3. Everyone who is in Christ is a member of the same body (Eph 1:22-23, 1Cor 12, Eph 2:14, 16)
      4. Everyone who is in Christ is a partaker of the promise (Gen 3:15, 22:18)
      5. All of it is in Christ through the gospel.
   4. The Church’s role (Eph 3:8-10, Col 2:15)
   5. Practically this means:
      1. We need to be careful of the message we preach and share
      2. We are not looking to manage sin, but to drive people to Christ
      3. We are not afraid to talk about our sinful struggles, for this points us to the needful remedy of Christ in us the hope of glory
      4. Any commands about holy living must be given as a response to the gospel, not as a condition for salvation.
      5. All of this aligns with Jesus’ own words in the Scripture (Jn 5:39)
4. Conclusion (Rom 8:3-4)