Temptation to dress up the gospel
John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son [Jesus Christ] has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
I recall last summer, I prayed with Nolan about my roommates for this current school year I am in. We prayed that God's will be done and that it may mean being paired with nonChristians, so be it that I may share the good news of Christ Jesus with them. Well, I am thankful Nolan encouraged me to pray God's will be done... because that was his will, and it was done.
Neither of my two roommates happened to be believing Christians. One actually is a member of the Mormon Church, and he and I have recently had some interesting conversations/discussions about Christianity, the origin of the Scriptures, and the personage of Christ. I must remember to write a bit more in-depth about what happened there. Never the less, I did share the gospel with him, sharing the law and the free grace of God with him. This individual, William, is no longer my roommate, as he graduated yesterday. Please keep William in your prayers, that he would respond to the gospel call to repent and believe... not in the Mormon Jesus but in the true Triune God of the Bible (Mormons deny the Trinity, if you did not know. In doing so, they worship a false deity of their own making).
My other roommate, Zhu (pronounced "Jue") is a bit more interesting. After noticing early on that just about every Sunday morning William and Kacey and I would head to our respective church services, Zhu stated he would be interested in going to church, because it was "the good thing to do." I carefully explained to him Kacey and I did not attend church services to "do good" or to earn spiritual points. We go to worship God for who He is and what He's done-- for his mercy in choosing to seek and save the lost who are utterly unable to save themselves. It's not about our spirituality being furthered or earing good points. It's about worshiping YHWH alone. I shared the law and gospel with him as well, encouraging him to consider the things we'd talked about.
Yet when I've tried to speak with him about Christianity recently, his response is to shake his head with a smile on his face and say "No, no." There is no ... interest in the things of God. He once came back from his REL 100 (Intro to Religion) course after learning about Hinduism and their deities very enthused about what he had learned. "I think I like the gods of Hinduism much more than the God of Christianity! I mean, the gods of Hinduism have many arms, and look VERY COOL! Where as Jesus is just a man... and very boring!" is what he told me.
:-\ How do you respond to that? How do you respond to someone who is primarily interested in how COOL God looks or seems to him... how relevant He seems? How do you respond to someone who wants a religion that is pleasing to his eyes and his ears? Do you give him what he wants?
Do you scratch his "itching ears"? The Bible is clear: NO.
Now this seems to go against human wisdom. In advertising and other mediums, you learn to make things attractive so people buy into what you are selling. This is a commonly used tactic in the world... make things flashy, sexy, cool and people will buy into the product so they will seem flashy, sexy and cool.
However this is worldly wisdom... not the way God works.
There has been a lot of temptation to try and dress up the gospel. Take him to a church he would be amazed and wowed by the service. (As if the service is for HIS enjoyment and not for the worshiping of God) Try and suggest campus ministries that reach out to unsaved individuals by preaching "relevant" lessons. This seems like it would do some good from a worldly perspective in getting him saved! right? If you want to see how God saves men... see Romans 10:5-17. God uses preaching the Word of God... the truth of the gospel. Not marketing tactics, but the truth through boldly preaching. This will seem to be the foolish thing to do (1 Corinthians 1:20-25) from a perspective of the unregenerate world. But "the foolishness of god is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25).
We, as Christians, are not called to scratch the itching ears. We are called to preach the Word, in season and out of season. To preach the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. Not to wow and amaze by how cool or relevant we can seem. But to call all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.
Tempted as we may be to dress up the gospel in a way that seems relevant and / or hip to the world, we must remain obedient to God's truth that is the Word. Preach the Word... when it is popular and unpopular to do so--in season AND out of season.
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Whoever believes in the Son [Jesus Christ] has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
2 Timothy 4:1-5
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
I recall last summer, I prayed with Nolan about my roommates for this current school year I am in. We prayed that God's will be done and that it may mean being paired with nonChristians, so be it that I may share the good news of Christ Jesus with them. Well, I am thankful Nolan encouraged me to pray God's will be done... because that was his will, and it was done.
Neither of my two roommates happened to be believing Christians. One actually is a member of the Mormon Church, and he and I have recently had some interesting conversations/discussions about Christianity, the origin of the Scriptures, and the personage of Christ. I must remember to write a bit more in-depth about what happened there. Never the less, I did share the gospel with him, sharing the law and the free grace of God with him. This individual, William, is no longer my roommate, as he graduated yesterday. Please keep William in your prayers, that he would respond to the gospel call to repent and believe... not in the Mormon Jesus but in the true Triune God of the Bible (Mormons deny the Trinity, if you did not know. In doing so, they worship a false deity of their own making).
My other roommate, Zhu (pronounced "Jue") is a bit more interesting. After noticing early on that just about every Sunday morning William and Kacey and I would head to our respective church services, Zhu stated he would be interested in going to church, because it was "the good thing to do." I carefully explained to him Kacey and I did not attend church services to "do good" or to earn spiritual points. We go to worship God for who He is and what He's done-- for his mercy in choosing to seek and save the lost who are utterly unable to save themselves. It's not about our spirituality being furthered or earing good points. It's about worshiping YHWH alone. I shared the law and gospel with him as well, encouraging him to consider the things we'd talked about.
Yet when I've tried to speak with him about Christianity recently, his response is to shake his head with a smile on his face and say "No, no." There is no ... interest in the things of God. He once came back from his REL 100 (Intro to Religion) course after learning about Hinduism and their deities very enthused about what he had learned. "I think I like the gods of Hinduism much more than the God of Christianity! I mean, the gods of Hinduism have many arms, and look VERY COOL! Where as Jesus is just a man... and very boring!" is what he told me.
:-\ How do you respond to that? How do you respond to someone who is primarily interested in how COOL God looks or seems to him... how relevant He seems? How do you respond to someone who wants a religion that is pleasing to his eyes and his ears? Do you give him what he wants?
Do you scratch his "itching ears"? The Bible is clear: NO.
Now this seems to go against human wisdom. In advertising and other mediums, you learn to make things attractive so people buy into what you are selling. This is a commonly used tactic in the world... make things flashy, sexy, cool and people will buy into the product so they will seem flashy, sexy and cool.
However this is worldly wisdom... not the way God works.
There has been a lot of temptation to try and dress up the gospel. Take him to a church he would be amazed and wowed by the service. (As if the service is for HIS enjoyment and not for the worshiping of God) Try and suggest campus ministries that reach out to unsaved individuals by preaching "relevant" lessons. This seems like it would do some good from a worldly perspective in getting him saved! right? If you want to see how God saves men... see Romans 10:5-17. God uses preaching the Word of God... the truth of the gospel. Not marketing tactics, but the truth through boldly preaching. This will seem to be the foolish thing to do (1 Corinthians 1:20-25) from a perspective of the unregenerate world. But "the foolishness of god is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men" (1 Corinthians 1:25).
We, as Christians, are not called to scratch the itching ears. We are called to preach the Word, in season and out of season. To preach the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. Not to wow and amaze by how cool or relevant we can seem. But to call all men everywhere to repent and believe the gospel.
Tempted as we may be to dress up the gospel in a way that seems relevant and / or hip to the world, we must remain obedient to God's truth that is the Word. Preach the Word... when it is popular and unpopular to do so--in season AND out of season.
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