The Gospel – Caf or Decaf
Jesus Christ is Lord. He lived a sinless life, died on a cross, rose again on the third day and is now preparing a place for believers in Heaven.
Every human ever born is a sinner. All of us have broken God’s laws. We deserve punishment. Sin is so serious that it took the shedding of innocent blood to wash us clean (sorry Mr. McLaren).
Our sins, guilt and punishment were placed upon Him. His perfection, sinless life, and righteousness were placed upon us who have repented and call Him Lord (for some reason I feel like jumping).
To understand this is to live a Grace driven life.
Those are the first words of the first blog I have ever written. This being the first blog I have ever written I thought it fitting to start off with the most important event in history. Not to under-whelm the moment with some clever catch your eye jargon that I love so dearly.
The Gospel isn’t a mere lesson in moralism nor should it be simplified as “come be a Christian and you will have a fuller richer life”. While the result of becoming a Christian should lead to a more moral lifestyle (assuming the morals of the Bible are the ones in which we are desiring) and being born again will give you a richer, fuller life (realizing you have eternal life can cause you to smile even while living your best life now and simultaneously being burned at the stake) they cannot be the cause for salvation.
The consequences of becoming a Christian will vary depending upon what country you happen to live in. Some will lose their friends, some will be excommunicated from families, some lose their business or freedom or in the worst of cases arrested, abused or killed. Knowing we are part of a larger body, a body that is worldwide and filled with brothers and sisters whose results have been, well- less than desirable, shouldn’t it give us pause to consider the reason we come to Christ? I mean, would you die for anything less than knowing your sins were forgiven and eternal life awaits?
We dilute the Gospel in order to fit our culture. We must entertain folks so they will come and don’t explain to them they are sinners for they may not come back. We think “I’ll just be real nice to this guy and he’ll someday ask me why I’m so happy” (hopefully he doesn‘t die before we get the opportunity). So we serve up a decaf version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus was a friend of sinners. He died for sinners. He did not die for the righteous – the (self)righteous need no Savior. Herein lies the rub. Getting men to understand and admit they are sinners. We all think we are good. We all have our own self righteousness that we lean on. It takes humility to admit guilt and even more to kneel before the Cross. It’s only good news because of the bad news.
If you share the Gospel enough times you should expect to suffer. You won’t always, but it is a definite possibility. For example, tomorrow share the gospel with a stranger, a loved one and your boss then push it to the point that they know if they die in their sins they will go to hell. Oh, but we don’t want to suffer. We want to be liked (that’s why I only witness to complete strangers, I know – I’m a chicken). So we water it down, decaf the message, and do whatever it takes to not offend anyone.
The Bible has over 140 references to Jesus dying for our sins in our place. So how do we communicate this truth? I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where we need to scream it in peoples faces nor do I see where we are to coax people into believing. The Gospel should be shared Biblically. Always in love, with genuine compassion and concern for the hearer. To not share the entire Gospel and warn people of sin and its consequences is to have no compassion for them at all.
We are just the messengers for our generation with the same message those before us proclaimed in previous generations. Lets not water it down or back away from the truth of the Gospel. Let’s not let the next generation look at us and say “you guys really wimped out”. He came to save sinners. Sinners will hear and respond, the rest will have at least heard the Truth.
The Gospel – extra bold flavor for me, no half caf or decaf and please- no cream or sugar .
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I learned a lot from this post, much appreciated!