The word gospel in our Bibles translates a Greek word that means "good
news." What better name for the message about Jesus could there be? The gospel
is the story of how Jesus died in our place to save us from the worst thing that
could possibly happen to us: experiencing the wrath of God because of our sin.
Jesus took the punishment that was due to us, and because of His sacrifice on
our behalf we are spared the awful consequences of our wrongs. What a wonderful
gift! What a blessing! It is the best news that man has
ever
heard.
But many people do not think that the gospel is good news at all. The
gospel is treated as something to be avoided in polite conversation, something
that offends and creates fights. In many circles it is considered rude to bring
up the subject of the gospel to one's acquaintances, family, or co-workers, and
it is considered offensive to suggest that the gospel is the only truth and that
all must obey it. The good news is treated like bad
news.
How did the good news become bad news? The answer is easy: because the
good news begins with the fact that all are sinners and stand condemned before
God (Rom. 3:23). The first thing the gospel tells us is that we are wrong, that
we have not lived in the right way and that we need salvation from our sin. Most
people do not like to hear that. People would prefer to hear that they are good
and that they are living right (even when they admit they are not perfect). We
do not like to be rebuked. It hurts the conscience and the heart. So rather than
listen to the gospel's initial rebuke, many people turn away from
it.
One of the craftiest plans Satan ever developed was to present people
with a false gospel that strips away all the unpleasant parts. That's the kind
of gospel people will hear. The world has become flooded with false gospels that
have virtually eliminated the concept of sin from its doctrines. To many people
the gospel is like an invitation to join a club. No guilt, no sacrifice, no
hardship, no loss of respect. Just join the church and have a good time. In such
groups the gospel is not about salvation from sin's consequences or the
cleansing of the conscience of the load of guilt sin brings. It is a gospel
without condemnation.
Any gospel that does not begin by telling us that we are sinners has two
fatal faults. First, it is not the gospel taught in the New Testament. The
gospel preached by the apostles began with rebuke and warning. No "gospel" that
downplays or ignores this feature has the right to call itself the gospel.
Second, in what sense can we say that the gospel is good news if it does not
portray the problem of our sin as enormous? If our sin is no big deal (as the
false gospels portray it), then what is so good about the gospel? If God accepts
me just as I am, if I have little or nothing to change, then the good news is
just a fix of a minor problem.
We must beware of any "gospel" that minimizes sin. Only when we truly
understand the nature of our sin, what it does to us and what it does to God,
will we be able to appreciate fully what is so good about the gospel. The gospel
is presented as the answer, the solution, to the worst problem in the world. The
gospel's glory will never be seen for what it is if we depreciate
sin.
Not only must we beware of any gospel that minimizes sin, we must not
succumb to the temptation to decrease the Biblical message about sin to make the
gospel easier for others to accept. We all know many people that we want to see
saved. In our love for them and our zeal to preach the gospel there is a
temptation that we will try to relax the message so that it is not so harsh, so
that it will be a "friendlier" gospel.
But our love for the lost has no authority over God. We may not relax
God's standards because we think they are too tough. God is the One who created
us, and God is the only One who has the right to say what the way to fellowship
with Him will be. If we are not content to preach God's message just as He gave
it, then woe to us, for we have become judges of
God.
God sets the conditions for salvation. Preaching or
obeying a watered-down gospel does not change or solve anything. If people find
the gospel offensive, ugly, and a turn-off, so be it. Let us preach without
apologies or embarrassment. Let us say with Paul, "I am not ashamed of
the gospel"
(Rom 1:16).
---David
McClister
THE SOCIAL GOSPEL is a philosophy in
religion that the church should concern itself with worldly problems rather than
spiritual ones. It is more interested in ecology, biology, psychology and
sociology than in theology. It is more concerned about preserving the whooping
crane and alligator than about preaching Christ the emancipator. It spends more time fighting earthly pollution that MAY damage the body than with fighting spiritual
plagues that WILL certainly damn the
soul.
THE SOCIAL GOSPEL is more interested in
feeding the body than in nurturing the soul. Its goal is secular education, not
salvation; recreation, not sanctification; fraternity, instead of eternity. It
concerns itself with the "new morality" rather than with immortality; birth
control rather than self-control; ministering to the "inner city" rather than
seeking the heavenly city; slum clearance rather than with spiritual
perseverance.
THE SOCIAL GOSPEL philosophy is more
interested in helping men make a living than in helping them make a life. It is
more concerned with civil rights than with spiritual fights; civil laws rather
than spiritual flaws; revolution rather than revelation; civil disobedience
rather than spiritual obedience; communism rather than faith, repentance and
baptism.
THE SOCIAL
GOSPEL is a lame duck spiritually because it is without the power to fulfill
the lasting needs of the human race. It preaches Christ as a great social
reformer, rather than as a Spiritual Savior. It limits His work to earthly
benefits for mankind; and Paul said, "If in this life only
we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most
miserable" (I
Cor. 15:19). Social ''Gospelism'' can only leave man spiritually
naked!
---James P. Needham
***SENTENCE
SERMONS***
"Watch your thoughts, they become your
words.
Watch your words, they become your
actions.
Watch your actions, they become your
habits.
Watch your habits, they become your
character.