Administering the Gospel to One Another
“Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God’s word and will to another.”
D. Bonhoeffer said this in his book “Life Together.” This is certainly true. One of God’s great gifts to his people is his people. As Christians, we are in Christ, and since we are in Christ, we are united to others who are also in Christ.
As Christians live in community with one another, we get involved in each other’s lives and inevitably the reality of this broken world we live in becomes apparent. Sometimes it will be external pain of this broken world, other times it will be internal pain of the sin in our own hearts and lives.
Why?
As believers, in all our sins, fears, and sorrows, it is very easy for us to forget the Gospel, which is why we need to others to remind us who we are in Christ.
Every trial and temptation is an opportunity for our lives to be transformed by the Gospel. Yet, it is also in these moments where we are prone to wander, and forget the Gospel, and this is why we need brothers and sisters in our lives to remind us of truth and call us further into grace.
What?
As we live together, as a church, in Community Groups and in life Groups, we are not merely fellow saints on the same path on our own journey. We must see that God designed for us to link arms as we walk along the way of truth. In the trials and the joys, when the weight of sin clings closely, we must declare the promises and exhortations of God’s word and will to each other. To put it another way, we must administer the good news of the Gospel to One another.
Administering the Gospel to one another requires that we both know God through His revealed Word and know truly about the lives of those around you.
To administer the Gospel, we must know the Gospel. We can only administer the Gospel to another person truly, if we have embraced the Gospel ourselves.
The Gospel is far beyond self-help, this supernatural life actually works, it transforms. Rather than giving five principles to a happy or productive life that result in small changes, the Gospel has the power to actually change your heart’s desires.
To truly embrace the Gospel, we understand that we have been bought with a price and are no longer our own. We have a new identity, rather than seeing ourselves as defined by who we are, or what we do or want to do, we need to see that who we are is about whose we are.
We are sons and daughters of the Creator, who paid the price for our redemption with his own life, we are new creations, “the old has passed away and the new has come… it is no longer us who lives but Christ who lives in us”
To administer the Gospel to one another, we must know One another,.
We must know what sins, fears, anxieties, and trials our brothers and sisters are dealing with. Jesus did not just die and rise again for our sins in general, but for our sins specifically!
How?
How do we do it? What does this mean?
Administering the Gospel means speaking truthfully about sin.
We can be honest with each other about how we are actually doing, because the blood of Jesus covers our sin, we don’t need to hide it from those around us. Since “We all were once dead in our trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2) we can be freed from comparison, pride, and fear. When we remember that we were all dead, but God “made us alive.” is the only way any of us can be saved, we are free to be real about the “sins that cling so closely” and fight to bring them into the light.
Administering the Gospel means we speak the truth about what it means to be in Christ specifically to each other.
We can face the earthly consequences for our sin and failures, because Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty.
We don’t need to sit in self condemnation or wallow in self-pity, because “There is no condemnation for those in Christ.”
We can flee temptation! “He was tempted like we are in EVERY WAY, yet without sin.”
Because we are in Christ, “hidden with Christ!” we are safe from living in bondage to our deepest fears.
We can find refuge in God, so that regardless what happens in our lives, because we are secure in Christ. No matter where we come from, or what our day has been like, this truth stays the same.
And so, for those with no community, who long for this, press in, seek life groups and community groups to plug into and know and be known. Be vulnerable. Take the first step and keep pursuing it!
To those who are in these groups, but long for this, rejoice in the gospel that frees us to be real with each other, open up about the broken parts of your life, confess your sin, and proclaim this good news boldly to those around you.
And to those who know what it is to press into the lives of one another, and feel discouraged, burdened, or broken by the weight of sin and sorrow on all sides. Turn to the Gospel and see the healer and bearer of all our sorrows.
We are the best brothers and sisters in Christ when we administer the gospel to each other’s lives, even when administering the Gospel stings like salt in a wound or cuts deep.
The Heavenly Doctor uses His Word through our brothers and sisters as the sterile blades meant to open our souls and sutures meant to bring together again rent lives, and also as the healing salve of fellowship in community.
So, let us turn to confession and repent of where we have feared being God’s faithful tools in each other’s lives, and seek his direction as we surrender our lives to each other’s to administer the Gospel to each other.
Father, forgive me for my failure to administer the Gospel, first in my own heart, but also in the lives of my brothers and sisters. Forgive me for finding my identity in what I’ve done, what I can do, or what I want to be, give me grace to find my identity in whose I am, grant us all grace to find our rest and refuge in you,