Gospel Preach Church

How Do You Find a Gospel Preaching Church?

Updated March 17, 2004

Question: "You have advised me to find a 'Gospel preaching Church'. How do I know that a church is preaching the Gospel?"

This is a very important and serious question. Obviously, no one can provide a foolproof measuring stick for evaluating churches and their preaching. There are many important issues for determining the faithfulness of a local church to its Scriptural obligations. I can only suggest several very crucial characteristics that I believe one should look for in a church. Historically, the Protestant view of the marks of a true church were: 1) preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ; 2) administers the biblical sacraments (baptism & Lord's Supper); 3) practices Biblical discipline. Because of time and the question at hand, I will focus on the first one. This does not mean the last two are not very important. I will write on these later. But, for this space we will look at preaching the Gospel as the first mark of a true church.

1) The minister should preach the Bible. In the first part, I mean not simply taking a text to which he rarely, if ever, returns. The message should be intentional examination and clarifying communication of a particular portion of Scripture for the purpose of bringing out the message or meaning of that text (exegesis). But, more than that, the preaching of any church should go beyond the preaching "texts" of Scripture. It should be the preaching of the overarching message of the Bible - the Story of all Bible stories - which is: redemption through Jesus Christ. The Bible is a story of redemptive history which culminates or is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. This story must be preached in some fashion weekly; always directing the listener to place faith in Christ for salvation. Don't be assured by the fact a preacher takes a text from the Bible, uses Bible sounding terminology, quotes Scripture, or even holds a Bible in his hands while preaching. I have witnessed all of these in one service, while the preacher gave an entire message which was patently unscriptural and did not include one word about Christ or the Gospel. One preacher used the story of Jacob and the ladder to heaven to preach an entire "sermon" about how God took him to heaven. He used the Bible, but he did not preach it. My friends, ministers are not called to preach their visions. They are called to preach Christ, Who is already in Heaven and Who will return to take His Church to Heaven.

2) The Bible should read by the congregation as a central element of worship. Reading through the Scriptures in regular Sunday worship, over the Christian year, is a vital part of worship. Traditionally, the readings are taken from the Psalms, the Old Testament, the Gospels and the Epistles. The congregation needs to hear what God has said through His Word, to all of His people of all time. The Gospel preaching minister will always preach from a passage of Scripture and seek to make clear the meaning of that passage. Still, a plan beyond his selection of Biblical texts should be followed to make sure that all of Scripture is being read to the congregation and not merely those the minister chooses to speak from. Why? Because ministers, although guided by God, are human. They have favorite passages, they can be drawn to text that address things they are facing personally, or those that emphasis denominational distinctives while other passages go neglected. The Bible is the whole counsel of God. A healthy church will plan to incorporate all of Scripture in their worship.

3) The preaching is Christ-centered. In preaching the whole of Scripture the Gospel preaching minister will make clear that the central message of Scripture is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. First, some preach the Old Testament as though one must obey it in order or certain portions of it to be saved. This is not a proper handling of the Scriptures. All the passages of Scripture must be properly interpreted in the light of the Gospel. For example, when reading the Psalms, it must be made clear that Christ fulfilled the Psalms in His life, death and resurrection. Therefore, when we explain the Psalms we must read the Christologically (Christ-centered). Second, some minister's preaching focuses more on them or their denomination that on what, "Thus saith the Lord." If all you hear is "I did this," or "You can do this or that," then that is not Christ-centered. It is Man-centered. The Bible is not a self-help manual for making us "successful". Nor, is the Gospel a message of Pop-Psychology. On the other side, preaching can be nothing more than the preachers subjective personal insights which he claims to have received from God outside of Scripture. Too many fill their preaching with expressions, "The Lord told me," or "The Lord showed me." This again is preacher centered. Sadly, I find many Pentecostal/Charismatics very vulnerable to this type of ministry. They seem to feel that holding a preacher to the Bible is too unspiritual or binding. This attitude is a deadly mistake. The preaching truly inspired by the Holy Spirit will preach Jesus:

¹³ Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. ¹⁴ He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16:13-15 KJV)

No preacher is called to preach his own impulses, even if they appear to be from the Lord. We have a sure message from the Lord that is open to all. It is the Bible. If you find a church where the ministry is diligent to preach the words, story, message of Scripture, you are very fortunate. Take care, if you hear more about the Spirit than about Christ and the Cross. This is imbalanced teaching. The essence of Bible's message is Christ and what He has done. It is not about how you can have a spiritual experience. Certainly, everyone who comes to Christ will experience the working of the Holy Spirit. It is the result of the blessing of Christ and trusting in Him. But, this is not the central message of the Bible. Too often teaching and preaching is preoccupied with the subjective and even totally unbiblical spiritual activities of the pastor, preacher, church, denomination, etc. Unfortunately, today, many churches have turned from the message of the Gospel to preaching of personal experiences. We are called to preach the very words and message - which is Christ - of the Word of God. One of the most sobering announcements of God is found in Jeremiah chapter 23:25-40. Read this with great care:

I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship. Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?" declares the LORD. "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces? "Therefore," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes," declares the LORD, "I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.' Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams," declares the LORD. "They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least," declares the LORD. "When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, 'What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.' If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household. This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. This is what you keep saying to a prophet: 'What is the LORD's answer to you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' Although you claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' this is what the LORD says: You used the words, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' even though I told you that you must not claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD.' Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers. I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace-- everlasting shame that will not be forgotten. (NIV)

4) The preaching about Christ must always include the message of the Cross and Christ's atoning work for our salvation. It is not enough to preach that Jesus was a good moral man. Or that he was a miracle worker. Preaching Christ is more than mentioning the name of Christ or Jesus throughout one's preaching. Preaching Christ means Christ is the subject of your preaching. It means preaching about Who he was and why he came. He came to save the world. How did he do that? He did that through the Cross. Preaching the Cross does not mean, in essence, "Look what Jesus did for you, now shouldn't you give your life for him." That is just preaching the Cross as an example. The preaching of the Cross will include: a) Jesus was God incarnate; b) We are sinners, estranged from a holy, sovereign God and deserving of His judgment; c) Jesus went to the Cross as our substitute and he took the judgment of God for our sins; d) Jesus' death on the Cross atoned for our sins or satisfied the justice of God, and destroyed the power of death. More specifically, that Jesus took our sins (our bad record) and counts to us his righteousness (his good record); e) that Jesus rose from being dead and ascended to Heaven as our great High Priest to be our mediator; f) And, those who trust in Christ identify with him in death to sin and become alive to God through Christ's righteousness. Inaccurate preaching of the Cross is devastating because of its harmful effect on all the rest of the doctrines of a church. When the doctrine of the Cross is wrong, nothing much else is right. I would encourage you to find a church where you will hear the Cross expounded on a regular basis.

5) Somewhere during the preaching, the Gospel of Christ must be presented. In fact, I would go further and say that the essence of every sermon should be the Gospel. However, I have to say such a thing as "the Gospel should be presented somewhere in a sermon," simply because there are so many varied ideas about what preachers should preach. A church could say, "We preach the Bible," and "We place preaching at the center of our worship". But, that does not necessarily mean the Gospel itself is preached. One could assume that most would preach the Bible, and that what they preach from the Bible is the over-arching message, which is the Gospel. Nevertheless, I have listened to many sermons where the Gospel is never mentioned, and very little Scripture is mentioned. Whether the sermon is from Genesis, the Psalms, the Prophets, or the Book of Revelation, somewhere there must be a stating of the Gospel. Why? Because that is what all these books point to. The goal, purpose or mission of the biblical books, stories, and words of the Bible is to lead us to Christ. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:24 KJV)

6) The expected response to a Gospel message should be true repentance and faith in Christ alone. Since Gospel preaching is the heart of any church, what a church expects as a response to its preaching, will reveal whether or not is preaching the Gospel. I mean true repentance in this sense: Any church which teaches, models or instructs a sinner in a form of repentance that consists of emotional preoccupation with self-pity or begging God for forgiveness, is not teaching true repentance. True repentance is a recognition of the greatness of one's sins against a holy God which moves one to forsake a life against God and turns to be reconciled with God. I am convinced that one cannot truly repent until one knows the nature of their sins. I am also convinced that one cannot know the nature of their sins, unless they have heard the Law of God. I don't mean the Law of Moses or merely the Ten Commandments. I mean one needs to hear what God reveals in the Bible which He expects of us. Only when we know how far short we fall of God's Law can we be convicted of our sins against God. True faith in Christ only makes sense when one realizes what Jesus saves him from. Christ does not save us from bad feelings, low self-esteem, or personal disappointment and self pity. Christ saves us from the righteous judgment of God for our sins which violate his love and holy character. Jesus took the wrath of God for us. When we understand that Jesus stood in our place, then we can readily appreciate the Gospel. And the way we fully appreciate the Gospel is to trust completely in Christ for our acceptance with God. Be cautious about any church which preaches: "Now here are the steps you must follow," or "If you want salvation you must follow this plan or formula," or "You have to 'obey' the Gospel by doing such-and-such," or "Unless you live a holy life you can't be saved," or "You can only make it to heaven by having (their specific) spiritual experiences," or "Unless you obey all the Lord's commandments, you can't get into Heaven." All of these statements have the surface appearance of being Scriptural, but, in fact, they reveal some serious misunderstandings about the nature of the Gospel. These can be warning signs that you are in a church that does not clearly understand the Gospel.

7) Be on guard when a church teaches its own "house rules" as though they are the commands of God. This point is made because so often the teaching of "house rules" replaces or over-shadows the primacy of Gospel preaching. Let me explain this in several ways. First, does a church have more requirements for Christian fellowship than Christ has? Second, are these rules equated with salvation, either obtaining or keeping it? Third, does this teaching about rules appear to outweigh the Law of God in Scripture? I spoke with a Wesleyan Methodist recently. He grew up in this group and said that they had many rules as they were growing up to maintain holiness. But, many of his generation gave up on Christianity because when they got older they realized that many of the rules, which were taught as equal with Scripture, were based on the current culture and changed with time. These people became disillusioned because the rules no longer worked in their lives. The fatal mistake of "house rules" is that they are not found in Scripture, but they are taught as having the same authority. Then, when the rules of men are seen in their weaknesses and eccentricity, people throw the Bible out with the rules. And then they throw the Gospel out with the Bible. This is why Jesus was so adamant about not equating man-created rules with God's authority:

And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:2-9 KJV)

More often the house rules are not implemented to honor God, but to maintain and perpetuate some human tradition. The safest churches to be in are those who do two things: 1) They only teach the actual laws found in the Bible as the authoritative rules of God. 2) They preach the Law and Gospel. That is, the purpose of the Law is to trouble us about our sins and to make clear our need of Christ. The Gospel is preached to comfort us in the great grace which God gives us through Christ's work of redemption. [See my article on "Law and Gospel"]

8) The worship of a church should be God-centered and climax with the preaching of the Gospel. An excellent writer on worship has said: "The entire reason for our worship is that God deserves it." [Marva Dawn, A Royal "Waste" of Time, Eerdmans, 1999] She goes on to express the reason there are general "worship wars" throughout churches and denominations: "so many decisions are being based on criteria other than the most essential – namely, that God be the Subject and Object, the Infinite Center, of our worship." GOD MUST BE THE AUDIENCE OF OUR GATHERED WORSHIP. Please don't misunderstand me to mean that worship must be old, boring, static, or follow only one group's formula. It is not my main concern whether a church has the best choir, largest pipe organ, or top contemporary praise band in town. The most crucial thing is not whether the minister wears vestments, blue jeans, or a thousand dollar three-piece suit (I might have reservations about that one). It really does not matter if you worship with three thousand or thirty, in a cathedral or a store-front. Those are inconsequential criteria for finding a church. I would urge you to find a church where God is glorified - in a substantial, biblical way. I mean where the church intentionally, purposefully conducts its worship to bring all praise and glory - through corporate prayer, Scripture reading, the Preached Word, praise and adoration in singing, the Lord's Supper, and holy and loving fellowship - to the one whose name is above all names. I grew up in a little Pentecostal church that was a remodeled tavern. We sat on wood-spline benches, and the music and singing was very earthy. The preaching and order of service was fairly rustic. But . . . there was an awe and awareness of God's holiness that pierced my conscience. We really didn't have anything to glory in ourselves. All we had to adore was God, and it was enough.

9) A Gospel preaching church will also teach their members how to live out of the Gospel. In looking for a Gospel preaching church, ask how the help believers to live out of the Gospel. This is crucial. Too many churches preach the Gospel for the unsaved and rules, laws, commandments and "success" principles to the saved. The saved need to hear the Gospel as much as the unsaved. Even more, then need guidance and help applying the truth of faith in Christ alone to every part of the life. A healthy Gospel preaching church will see the need for this and address it in the discipleship and Christian living course and small groups.

10) A church should have available a written statement of faith, which features as its central doctrine the work of Jesus' - His death and resurrection - for our salvation. I would not accept a response such as, "Oh, we agree with all the other churches so much that we don't even have to write anything down about what we believe." Remember, if a church does not have a written statement, it is all subject to change - from pastor to pastor. I also would be concerned to hear, "We don't believe in a statement of faith, because the Bible is our creed." The history of the Church is littered with denominations who made this claim, and most of these denominations really have an unwritten creed which they implicitly teach their people. This unwritten doctrinal statement is used by them to claim that they are the only ones who have the true faith. It is much more credible, responsible and forthright to have a clear, written statement of what you do or do not believe, so that everyone knows exactly what you believe. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: (1 Peter 3:15 KJV)

In summary: It is the truth that makes the Church. The Gospel is the bare minimum of what determines a faithful church. I am not so concerned whether the church has a Boy Scout troop, a dynamic, interactive Sunday School curriculum, a quality contemporary pre-service warm-up band, the top speakers in the Evangelical circles, a Promise Keepers men's group, or a gymnasium for youth sports. Honestly, these are not only peripheral things, some are fads which are not much more than blips on the radar screen of Church history. The Church has survived every known weapon of Satan through two thousands years, and for most of its existence the Church has survived without any of the above. But, take away the Gospel, and the Church is dead where it stands. "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds." (2 Cor. 10:4) May we hold to the one thing that will never fail or fall - Our gracious Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Church that pours its energy into exalting Christ and telling the world about His grace is a good place to make one's home.