The Church of Gospel Community
“Hurt people hurt people.” Have you ever heard that? It’s true. There’s what’s called “church hurt,” and there are things that hurt the church. There are very few things that hurt the church more deeply than broken relationships. Most of the time, when someone has “church hurt,” it doesn’t come from false teaching. It comes from how someone treats someone else while claiming to follow Jesus. It comes when grace is confessed in the pulpit but contradicted in the hallway. It comes when people who have been redeemed by the same blood begin to live as though some belong more than others.
A church can preach justification by faith and still make people feel like they have to earn their place in the body of Christ. We can speak of mercy and still keep our distance from broken and hurting people. And when that happens, the gospel we believe and cherish isn’t necessarily denied. You know what it is? Really it’s undermined. Not by what is said, but by what is seen. What is lived, or really what isn’t lived. Francis Schaeffer said it well when he said,
“True Christianity produces beauty as well as truth, especially in the specific areas of human relationships… We are to show something to the watching world on the basis of the human relationships we have with other men.”[1]
Schaeffer said—and really this is the one thought that was the spark that led to this whole series—that the church needs two orthodoxies. An orthodoxy of doctrine, and an orthodoxy of community.[2] In other words, it isn’t enough for the church to be right in what it believes. The church must also be beautiful in how it lives. The truth we confess must be visible in the way we live with one another and towards the outside world. It must come out in our community.
A gospel-shaped community refuses to build walls where Christ has torn them down. (Acts 15:1–2)
Acts 15 opens with tension. Yeah, there was tension in the early church, too. It even came to Antioch, so don’t be surprised when you face it in your church here. Verse 1 says, “Some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’” Y’all, this is deeper than a disagreement about worship style (which is something we would never have here, right??). This is a deep theological statement, but it’s also a statement about belonging and community. These people are, in essence, redrawing the family of God.
Christ has already torn down the wall between Jew and Gentile. Hear what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:11-14:
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility…
Bringing circumcision to Antioch becomes a gate for entrance into the capital C Church like it was into the Old Testament covenant family of God.[3] Grace then, in that instance, becomes conditional. When that happens, Gentile believers then become second-class citizens in the kingdom of God. There should never be second-class citizens in the kingdom of God! Schaeffer says, “Every man is to be treated on the level of truly being made in the image of God, and thus there is to be a beauty of human relationships.”[4]
Luke tells us in verse 2 that Paul and Barnabas had “no small dissension and debate” with them. That’s Luke’s way of saying it got heated at times. Why? Because it was a conversation that mattered. The dual orthodoxies were on the line here. Because the gospel doesn’t only save individuals. It creates a people. If salvation requires more than Christ—think about it—then some are “in,” some are “almost,” some are even “outside,” though they are in Christ. There’s no real unity there. This is where orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community meet. To change the gospel is also to change who belongs. To redefine grace is to redefine the shape of the church, the body of Christ. If you don’t have to look like me to enter the kingdom of heaven, you shouldn’t have to look like me to be welcomed and accepted into the local fellowship.
A gospel-shaped community seeks unity through shared submission, not isolation or control. (Acts 15:2–3)
Verse 2 tells us that after this dispute arises, “the church appointed Paul and Barnabas and some of the others to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.” That decision is easy to miss, but it reveals a lot about the church and about unity. Antioch doesn’t withdraw. They don’t declare independence, saying “We’re right! I can’t believe Jerusalem has now gone woke!” Actually, they would likely be labeled the woke ones in this situation.[5] They instead walk together to discuss the matter.
This is maturity. They know this matters. They know they’re right. Yet they don’t isolate themselves. They submit themselves to the wider body of Christ. Schaeffer says, “Every church, every mission, every Christian school, every Christian group… should be a pilot plant that the world can look at and see there a beauty of human relationships.”[6] This is lived out by Antioch. Them sending Paul, Barnabas, and others and placing the matter in the hands of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem is beautiful, especially in contrast to the ugliness of the division we see so much in this world. They had real disagreement and division, yet they said, “Let’s talk about it.”
Luke goes on to say in verse 3 that as they traveled, “being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.” Even on the road, the story of what God is doing among the Gentiles is binding hearts together. The gospel is already creating family before any Jerusalem council ever meets. This is orthodoxy of community in motion. In real time. And again, it’s absolutely beautiful.
Here's one thing we see with Antioch. They believe that unity is worth effort. They believe that walking together under Scripture and by the Spirit is better than winning alone. They trust that the God who saved them is also able to guide them together. Orthodoxy of community means we refuse to become a collection of silos. We walk together. We listen together. We submit together. We love even amidst disagreement. That’s something that’s countercultural in this world we live in, and it’s something this world must see the church live out.
Gospel-shaped unity doesn’t retreat from one another. It moves toward one another under the Word of God, with humility. But that’s the thing. Many people aren’t willing to humble themselves enough to pursue such unity. But we must if we are to be a people shaped by grace.
A gospel-shaped community protects unity by living what it confesses. (Galatians 2:11–14)
In Galatians 2:11-13, Paul writes to the Galatians about that moment in Antioch. Hear what he says:
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
At first, Peter eats with Gentiles. He’s living what he confesses. If you remember, it was Peter who led the first gentile, Cornelius and his family, to the Lord.[7] And when he goes and recounts it, he runs into the same stuff that’s coming up here with Peter. Listen how it’s recounted directly after Peter leads the family to Christ in Acts 11:1-18:
1 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
The family is one. The table is open! It’s beautiful! Peter has seen it and experienced it and proclaimed it and defended it. Then he arrived at Antioch and sees it happening again at a different place, and it’s beautiful! And he’s all in, just like he was with Cornelius and his family. But then men arrive from Jerusalem. And Peter draws back. He separates. Then others follow him. And even Barnabas is swept along. Y’all, one person’s disunity can negatively impact a whole church. Even a mature church. Don’t be that one person.
Paul doesn’t say Peter taught false doctrine. He says in verse 14, Peter’s conduct was “not in step with the truth of the gospel.” That goes right along with what Schaeffer says: “If we do not show beauty in the way we treat each other, then in the eyes of the world… we are destroying the truth we proclaim.”[8] The issue isn’t theology in a classroom. It’s theology at a table. Our tables preach. When Peter withdraws from the table, his actions say what his mouth denies. Gentile believers are no longer fully welcome in the family of God, to sit at God’s family table.
It is possible to affirm grace theologically and still arrange relationships as though grace has to be earned or that someone has partial grace or they have less grace than you do. And that contradiction is what Paul confronts. A gospel-shaped community doesn’t merely speak grace. It lives grace.
A gospel-shaped community becomes a visible apologetic in a divided world. (Galatians 2:14)
Paul tells us that he confronted Peter “before them all.” Paul addresses him publicly because Peter’s actions were public. The gospel had been contradicted in front of the whole church, and those Gentile believers were affected, so the gospel must be clarified in front of the whole church, including them. It’s about gospel protection. Paul is guarding the public shape of the gospel.
He says, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” In other words, Peter’s life already knows what his actions deny. He’s been living in gospel freedom. He’s been enjoying the family Christ created. Now his fear is asking Gentile believers to carry a burden he himself no longer bears. That’s the epitome of hypocrisy.
Paul’s concern isn’t simply doctrinal accuracy. It is gospel visibility. As Schaeffer says, “There should be beauty, observable beauty, for the world to see in the way all true Christians treat each other.”[9] Right doctrine demands reconciled relationships. Schaeffer says, “Men should see in the church a bold alternative to the way modern men treat people as animals and machines today.”[10] Truth must be embodied. When a church lives in a way the world can’t explain, the gospel is seen more clearly.
The world knows division and bitterness and hate. What it doesn’t know is a community where people who should never belong together actually love one another. Where there is no hierarchy of status. Where forgiveness is normal. Where petty differences don’t threaten unity. That kind of community can’t be fabricated. It can only be produced by the gospel.
That’s actually what drew me to Christ, really. If it wasn’t for this, I wouldn’t be here right now. I experienced the beauty of Christian community as a teenager. I was a nominal Christian until I attended, of all things, a haunted corn maze with my youth group. And I experienced real fellowship. They made me feel seen and welcomed and loved. And then I came back not just on Sunday morning like usual, but Sunday night. And then Wednesday. And then I kept coming and growing. And I grew with a tight group of friends from all different walks of life, with nothing in common but Jesus. It was the beauty of human Christian relationships that drew me to deeper relationship with Jesus.
That’s why Paul confronts Peter, to realign the community with what they already believe. He is fighting for the church to look like what it confesses.
A church that guards the gospel and embodies the gospel displays Christ to a fallen world.
This is Schaeffer’s vision. He was pleading with the church to be what it proclaims. He pleaded, “When there are the two contents and the two realities, we will begin to see something profound happen in our generation.”[11] We must not only say that grace is real. But we must show what grace looks like when it lives among people.
A church after God’s own heart guards the truth of the gospel and then lives that truth in its relationships, so that grace and unity are on full display to a watching world. A church after God’s own heart doesn’t only tell the world that grace is real. It shows them what grace looks like.
[1] Francis A. Schaeffer, “Form and Freedom in the Church,” in Let the Earth Hear His Voice: International Congress on World Evangelization, Lausanne, Switzerland, ed. J. D. Douglas (Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1975), 375.; https://lausanne.org/content/form-and-freedom-in-the-church
[2] Schaeffer, 378.
[3] See Genesis 17:10-14; Acts 7:8. For New Covenant see: Romans 2:28-29; Colossians 2:11-12
[4] Schaeffer, 376.
[5] I say this because their stance is less conservative than the counter stance. The counter stance is more legalistic.
[6] Schaeffer, 377.
[8] Schaeffer, 376.
[9] Schaeffer, 377.
[10] Schaeffer, 377.
[11] Schaeffer, 379.
