My family and I attended a Christmas Carol's event last weekend and it was great. The band did a great job, the versions of the carols were cool and the vibe was enjoyable. And I get it, the event wasn't a worship service, it was a chilled low key event designed with as little Christianese as possible. I get it. Make it as unthreatening for non-Christians as possible and let them sing about Christ and his birth and enjoy being in the atmosphere.
Right at the end, the dear youth/junior pastor (the guy who drew the short straw) gets up on stage to share a quick 5 minute reminder on the "real" meaning of Christmas. I'm in favor of this, by the way. You've got an audience of people, perhaps 30% of which are unbelievers, hey, have a go and preach to them. They won't take offense. Many of them know the drill by now. They in church over December. A Bible message of baby Jesus is bound to get shared. Sow the seed and trust God to do what He does best.
The guy shares a well known Christmas scripture, preaches on the difference between good advice and the good news; he sets it up beautifully to hit the winning run. I mean, Billy Graham couldn't have set it up better than this guy did. And then, like a rugby player whose over the try line with ball in hand, he fumbles it and knocks on and fluffs the try opportunity. All he had to do was put the ball on the ground and he fumbles it; and sadly, this poor guy dropped the ball in spectacular fashion.
"God loves you, the thing God wants for you tonight is friendship. He loves you the way you are so pray this after me and ask Jesus to come into your heart...." I KIDD YOU NOT. My jaw hit the floor. Like seriously dude, God loves you the way you are so just repeat this prayer after me... Did this guy get his theology from a lucky packet??
What happened to the reality of sin that's separating you from God. What happened to repentance and turning from sin and towards God who is the only one able to save you from eternal damnation? God loves you as you are? No He doesn't. He loves you, sure; while we were still sinners he died for us but He desires a heart that recognizes its evil and sinfulness and hopelessness without Christ. He wants a heart that realizes that without Christ you'll be lost forever. Where's the call to repent? Where's the call to see our sinfulness vs God's holiness and our desperate need for Him?
The reality is that when you preach an uncompleted Gospel message, you get people believing a message that's not the Gospel. And if it's not the Gospel they believing in order to get saved, then are they actually saved? And I felt for this young chap. He was doing his best and I have no doubt that what he was doing he was doing with the best intentions. But I've really got an issue with his leaders then. How dare they under equip this guy with an incomplete Gospel message. I almost felt like it had been diluted in order to make it acceptable. We need to get over the idea that people need to clap and shout AMEN when we preach guys! The Gospel message is an offense to the wicked and if the wicked aren't offended at the message then we haven't done a good job in our preaching. That's the bottom line.
The Gospel is the most powerful message on the planet and we dare not dilute the essence of it. There are certain pillars of its message that are uncompromising when sharing and if we don't understand these pillars, then we better get to know them quick, before we go onto anything else. Paul is clear in 1 Corinthians 15, but I'll summarize them here for those of you who still didn't have anything better to do but carry on reading my rant...
1. Man's sinful nature. None are righteous, which means all are evil. Men don't love God or seek God. Humanity is lost.
2. The God of the universe is holy and He is righteous. And this holy God loves this world so much that He chose to send His Son to a lost world to die the death we all deserve as payment for our sins. While we were rebellious and sinful, He died for us to demonstrate His love. No strings attached.
3. The Cross. Jesus was the substitute. He died in my place. He took the punishment I deserved upon Himself. Justice demanded it.
4. Faith alone in Christ's work is what leads to salvation. Not our church attendance or Bible reading. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone.
5. Repent of your sin. Change your mind. Turn around. Change direction. You cannot save yourself. You are not good enough. Turn to God. Surrender your life to God. Fall into His arms. Lay down your life: the good, the bad and the ugly, to Jesus and follow Him. Endeavor to obey Him and trust Him with your life. Walk according to the beat of His drum.
6. As Jesus rose from the dead, so do you when you believe into Him. He makes you into a new creation. You are born again by His power and His Spirit comes to live in you. He will never leave you and will be in you forever. You are forever accepted and loved. He washes your sins away; past, present and future. He makes you holy and perfects you forever. He makes you God's son instantly and you are forever part of the family of God; both in this life and the next.
Folks, when given the opportunity to share the Gospel, let's grab it with both hands. For those churches that create events and get 100s of unbelievers in the event, preach to them! Yes!! A thousand times yes. Have a go! But for goodness sakes, if you're going to present the Gospel, do it Biblically. Share the whole message, not just tit bits. It may sound good to the itchy ear but it'll never lead to eternal life.
