Human Flourishing Gospel

Introduction

Over the past couple decades, the number of different “gospels” that have been offered up to the church seems to have exceed the number of flavors in a local ice cream shop. The prosperity gospel, with its emphasis on health and wealth for those that have enough faith, has had to be faced and confronted. Even more recently, the social gospel has gained ground in many churches, with its message that Christ came primarily to lift up the poor and oppressed in society and remove all dividing lines – real or perceived – among people groups.

While we could mention more, there is another gospel that seems to be making inroads into the church as of late, a gospel that I would tag as the “human flourishing gospel.” While not as well defined as the two above, hence the need for it to be named, more and more churches around the country and in Indianapolis seem to be adopting it. This human flourishing gospel is marked by prioritizing, as the name suggests, the emotional, mental, spiritual, and relational health of humanity. It markets a lifestyle, a life defined by “practicing the way” – or adopting the lifestyle of Jesus – for the purpose of inner transformation.¹

My purpose in writing this blog is to bring some of the problems with this movement to light and offer an alternative, and I hope biblical, way. However, before that, there is a necessary caveat. Nothing that is said is meant to be unnecessarily divisive. Nor am I saying that those who follow this teaching are not Christians. However, in quoting churches and individuals who hold this view, I do aim to warn other Christians from falling into this way of thinking. Additionally, I want to equip you with the ability to guard brothers and sisters looking for a church in the area from becoming deeply involved in a church that adheres to this teaching. It is much easier to avoid stepping in quicksand than to get out of quicksand when you are in it – hence, this serves as a proactive warning to protect others from becoming adherents to this message.

Discipleship as a Lifestyle

As mentioned, the human flourishing gospel is centered around a lifestyle that is modeled after Jesus. Through practicing the disciplines he practiced – sabbath, prayer, hospitality – peace and overall health can be achieved. Relationships can be mended and grown. Anxiety and depression can go away. To quote one organization led by John Mark Comer that teaches this, practicing the way through the spiritual disciplines is, “a rule of life for the modern era” that mimics a lifestyle based on the way of Jesus himself that is conducive to deep inner healing and transformation.²

So what, you may be asking, is wrong with that teaching? I would propose two things. First, the human flourishing gospel changes the definition and goal of biblical discipleship. And second, it presents a gospel message that is unclear and at worst missing essential elements of the good news that we believe in.

Starting with the former, we see a modification of the definition of discipleship and the goal of being a disciple. One of the central tenets of this human flourishing gospel is talking about discipleship in terms of apprenticeship. Generally, the logic flows like this: in ancient times, to be a disciple of someone was to be their apprentice. You would follow them around, talk like they talked, and act like they acted.³ You would listen to their teachings and seek to model your life exactly like theirs. And then, at the end of the day, the best and the brightest would go on to make their own apprentices. Therefore, since we are Christ’s disciples, there is a threefold purpose to our lives, just like an apprentice with their master: to be with Jesus, become like him, and do what he did.

The fruit of this type of view on the Christian life is a strong focus on the spiritual disciplines. Fasting, prayer, sabbath, hospitality, and more are strongly emphasized because Jesus did them; these disciplines are “practices that are based on the lifestyle of Jesus” that we as his disciples are to mimic.⁴ Hence, to be a disciple means that we must do exactly as Jesus did; modeling his lifestyle is what is chiefly important. And this lifestyle is an invitation to the good life – as one church in the area has put it, practicing the way, practicing these spiritual disciplines, is an invitation to a life of flourishing.⁵

And rather than have these things be about God and obedience to his commands, you will hear over and over that the Christian life is all about “being with God over doing for God”. This implies that there is a dichotomy between the two – that one can chose to be with God or do for God. And those who pursue this gospel of human flourishing believe that simply being with Jesus as his apprentice is what matters, not obeying him as his disciple.⁶

To summarize, then, proponents of this gospel are communicating that what matters most is the lifestyle that we live. Practicing the way of Jesus is primarily a way of life that will lead to love and peace and transformation. It is basically the methodology to live your best spiritual, emotional, and relational life now by taking reshaping our lives around these practices. It’s a lifestyle shift and Jesus is our lifestyle guru.

Stepping back, and remembering that we are talking about the definition and goal of discipleship here, there are a number of places on our journey so far where we have stepped off the path and fallen into deep ditches. First, relating to the claim that the point of discipleship is to model Jesus’ lifestyle, this fails to take into account that Jesus is a, the, unique redemptive-historical figure. He is God incarnate. He is the Messiah and Savior of the world. Yes, we are called to model Christ (Jn. 13:12-15; 1 Jn. 4:9-11) as believers. But the way he lived was not meant to be exactly how every Christian throughout every age should live; in other words, being a disciple does not mean that we are to carbon copy Jesus’ lifestyle as our own.

Those who would pursue this gospel of human flourishing say that Jesus sabbathed, prayed, and the like, and we should mimic those things. I heartily affirm this. Yet, Jesus also said that he had no place to lay his head (Lk. 9:58), his goal was to go around all the towns of Judea and preach (Lk. 4:43), and repeatedly healed the sick and cast out demons. Does this mean to be a disciple of Christ we must not own homes, all be itinerate preachers, and be able to miraculously heal the sick? I think not. And if the goal of discipleship is comprehensive lifestyle mirroring, where do you draw the line?

Most clearly, Jesus died on the cross. He, and he alone, is called to do that for the sake of our sins. Viewing him as simply a guru we are to model, which is not explicitly stated but heavily implied, reduces his person and his work to an inspirational figure instead of a savior. In contrast to this, we are to understand that much of what Jesus did was about his unique position as the Messiah, Lord, and Savior of all those who would believe. Jesus must first and primarily be our savior before he can be our model for living.

Another swing and miss as it relates to discipleship relates to holiness and obedience. What is clearly stated, as already quoted, is that this gospel of human flourishing believes that discipleship is not about doing for God but being with God. How ignorant to think that these two are mutually exclusive! Jesus clearly says to “Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love” (Jn. 15:9-10). He is clearly linking abiding – or being with Jesus – with obedience to his commands. There is no disunity between these two, in fact by definition that must go together. Any definition that negates or dissolves the call to obedience in the name of being with Christ is woefully insufficient and misleading. Why not just use simply the definition of discipleship that Jesus lays out in the Great Commission, in which disciples are marked by “obey all that [he] has commanded” (Mt. 28:19)?

On top of this, perhaps more covertly but more dangerously, there is a lack of emphasis on killing sin or living a holy life in these circles. What is the goal these pastors have for their congregants? A lifestyle of spiritual formation practices that might connect them to God. But what, we must ask, is Christ’s goal for his disciples? To answer that, we see in scripture that “the will of God [is] your sanctification” (1 Th. 4:3) and that Christ has appeared to train “us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passion, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives” (Ti. 2:12). This is elementary: God desires his disciples not to adopt some lifestyle but to a) kill sin and b) live holy lives. It is a life of mortifying the flesh and vivifying, or enlivening ourselves, to live Spirit-led lives by his grace. Again, any definition of discipleship that does not include these two inter-related things is sorely lacking. And any pastor preaching from this perspective can quite easily end up having a different goal for his members than Christ does.

Good News or Instructions for Flourishing?

Now this whole time we have been calling this the human flourishing gospel because those that proclaim this message make human flourishing central to the gospel. Their definition of the gospel is as follows: “[The Gospel is] The good news that God is ever-pursuing his original Creation mandate of human flourishing and perfect relationship, culminating in Jesus’ sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection.”⁷ At first, this sounds good – Christ is mentioned, his death and resurrection is included. But let’s compare this to Paul’s presentation of the Gospel in Ephesians 2. It is worth quoting at length:

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ep. 2:1-5).

Notice what Paul emphasizes here and elsewhere: mankind is sinful, they are worthy of death for their sin, and yet, by grace alone, salvation is offered through Christ’s atoning death to all who would believe. Notice what is not here: human flourishing. Don’t misunderstand me, the Gospel will bring about human flourishing – the more and more people are saved, the more and more blessed humanity will be. But apart from a clear call to repent and believe, being reconciled to God, that human flourishing is not possible. Our sin is our problem, and the atoning death of Christ on the cross, taking on the wrath of God in our stead, is the solution. There is a big difference between that and the human flourishing gospel’s emphasis on horizontal, human to human, relationships.

The implications of such different definitions of the gospel play out in the solutions emphasized. If our problem is sin, then the grace of Christ and his power to enable believers to leave their life of sin and live holy lives will be preached. However, if our problem is horizontal, then the solutions will be horizontal: practicing of disciplines, mimicking the life of Jesus, and the like. And then the reasonable question can be asked: does one have to be a Christian to do these things? Could one who does not believe that they are a sinner in need of a savior fit in with a community like this, as long as they practice sabbath, hospitality, and other outward behaviors? These are reasonable questions that are fruits of their misguided emphasis.

Do not hear what I am not saying: there are many brothers and sisters in Christ at these churches. Many of them do believe the true Gospel and are simply trying to be faithful. But this short summary does serve as a warning to all who would be tempted to dive into this teaching: be careful. Be sober-minded, and think through not only what is said, but, even more importantly, what is not said. Consider what is left out. For every student will end up like his teacher (Lk. 6:40), and I would warn all who think about submitting to this teaching about the truthfulness of it.

Instead, in acknowledging our true problem as our sin, let us look to the only who can help, Jesus Christ. Let us resolve to preach nothing but Christ and Christ crucified, to look not to our habits for healing but to the one who came into the world to take away our sin (1 Jn. 3:5), and to be confident that since he saved us in order to be holy, he will surely accomplish his purposes for us and sanctify us. Rather than focus on us – our behaviors, our habits, our relationships – let us focus on Christ and his character, his work, and his glories. Ironically enough, that is the path to true human flourishing.

1. “What Does it Mean to Follow Jesus”, Bridgetown Church, https://bridgetown.church/follow.

2. “Resources”, Practicing the Way, https://www.practicingtheway.org/resources.

3. Comer, John Mark, “Practicing the Way Podcast Episode 01: Apprentice to Jesus”, John Mark Comer, February 6, 2024, 34:45.

4. This is simply one reference, as the general apprentice connection is very prevalent.

5. John Mark Comer, “Key Thoughts on Practice”.

6. Micah E. Davis, “Adoration | Teach Us To Pray | Week 1”, Sanctuary Church, Indianapolis, IN, April 13, 2024.

7. Brandon Shields, “Vision Series 2023: The Way of Formation”, Soma Midtown, Indianapolis IN, September 19, 2023. See also: “Values & Beliefs” and “Statement of Belief”, Bridgetown Church.