The old joke is that pastors only work on Sunday and Wednesday. I never liked that joke. Anyone who believes it probably hasn't been to church enough to know where we store the Christmas decorations or the Lord's supper bread (not the same place even if it tastes so). It's Tuesday night and I'm working away. On what? I'm glad you asked...
I'm researching my way through current deviations of the gospel message, slight variations from the truly good news of salvation through faith in Christ alone. What follows is my tidy little list of some of the more troubling, yet popular, presentations.
The Me Gospel. Best summed up in the words, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." While there is a sense in which these words are true, there are many who have interpreted them in a completely self-centered manner. Even Rick Warren got it right in the opening lines of The Purpose-Driven Life, "It's not about you." Jesus said, "he that loses his life for my sake will find it." Adherents to the Me Gospel look at that verse like a calf looks at a new gate.
The Money Gospel. If you ain't rich you ain't right. I understand the draw on this one. Who wouldn't want to believe that if I do the right things, believe the right way, and give to the right ministries I'll have more cash than I can carry? It's like magic. And for the money motivated among us it works like a drug.
The More Gospel. All this and heaven too. No restraints. No restrictions. Live as you please. Have a blast. And when it's over take your tired, worn out, partied out soul to the big party beyond the sky. Weeeeee...
The Motivational Gospel. The "good news" here is the church is the best self-help group on the planet. And like any self-group you can come whenever you wish, you are always welcome, we provide mutual support, and we want to help you to help yourself. "Hello. My name is Taylor and I'm a sinner."
The Mechanical Gospel. The Christian life can be reduced to rules, principles, regulations, and strongly suggested methods. Follow along and you're alright, probably, because we don't know your heart.
Reading up on these distortions is disturbing. I've said some of these things before, or at least something close to it. How easy it is to take the gift Jesus offers and turn it into merchandise, mammon, or manipulation. I'll keep working on this between now and Sunday. It goes along with a study I'm doing in Galatians. I might just go all Baptist Evangelist this week and start naming names :-)
1 comment:
Go ahead and name the names. I think we should pull their pants down and expose them for who they are. When you name names though, you will make some enemies in your own congregation because some of your church members send some of these false prophets a monthly check. I have made some life-long enemies by naming names. In fact I did that just two weeks ago.
Post a Comment