The Most Important Measure of Church Health

At the conclusion of Acts chapter 20 we saw the apostle Paul give parting words to the elders of the Ephesian church.

People don’t talk details with their final words. Parting words, final instructions are for the big picture. For the issues of central importance.

Which means Paul’s instructions to the church in Ephesus (modern day Turkey) in the first century are just as relevant for Shoreline worshipping in New London in the twenty-first century, as well as every congregation on every continent.

The Central Issue? The Gospel.

So what did Paul focus on in his parting words?

Over and over Paul emphasized the right preaching of the gospel.

He emphasized it as the center of his own ministry, directed the Ephesian church to focus on it in their ministry, and to be on the lookout for distractions away from it and for those who twist it.

Why?

The Gospel is the power of God.

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:16

What strength does the Church have? It certainly isn’t our power to organize. We have no special technology. We aren’t more brilliant than other people. There is no military or industrial might here.

So what power does the Church have? God’s own power. Resurrection power. The power of salvation for anyone (anyone!) who will repent and believe.

The Church centers on the gospel because the Church offers the world a power greater than any in the world.

It Is the Only Hope For the World

It’s the only name:

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Act 4:11–12

It’s the narrow gate:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matt 7:13–14

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6

This makes it the most important item in the world.

It’s what the Church uniquely offers the world.

Paul knew that a non-profit can build a hospital and a government can stock a food pantry.

But only the Church can offer resurrection and eternal life.

(Make no mistake, the Lord commands his Church to love, and generosity, and compassionate action for the world around us.)

But we can offer something the state can’t: the gospel.
And we can offer something bigger than the state can: the gospel.
And we can offer something longer-lasting than the state can: the gospel.

The gospel is the only thing the Church offers the world that no one else can.

So, if we don’t center on it, no one else will.
If we don’t center on it, people will perish apart from the saving grace of Christ.
If we don’t center on it, there is no hope for the world.