“I
believe in God. I believe I am a ‘good person’. I believe God wants me to have the best.” ~ The Majority of Americans
In
most prayer today you could substitute “I ask” with “I wish”. The American
Christian believes that God is like our genie. If you don’t believe me listen to
some prayers. Most prayers sounds like a wish list. I’ve very rarely heard a
prayer where someone asked God to break them, humble them, or make them more
conformed to the image of Christ. As Christians I know we are not called to be
perfect but we ARE called to be exemplary. It would seem, however, the only
parts of our life the American Church desires to be exemplary are our finances,
health, and relationships. If we are the Church of Christ we should seek for
our obedience, witness, and love to prosper over ALL things. Our focus should
be His kingdom come but it’s more like my kingdom now. I like to call this the
“Wonderful life mindset”. The American Christian believes God has a wonderful
plan for their lives. By “wonderful” they mean a plan full of success,
flourishing relationships, and joy. I have some news that might be a surprise
to you. God does indeed have a wonderful plan for your life and sometimes that
plan involves denying you the desires of your heart. Sometimes that plan
involves you being completely and totally broken before Him. How is that
wonderful? Any situation, even unto death itself, that helps to bring you onto
your knees and into the presence of our Lord IS wonderful.
I
have heard many sermons on how God is “a God of Joy” and how we should be more
joyful. Often that’s taken and spoken to mean we should seek the things that
bring us Joy. The world believes EXACTLY the same thing. It is extremely
frustrating to hear a Christian excuse something they know they shouldn’t do,
in the name of finding joy, by saying “you only live once”. No, you don’t only
live once. If you believe you only “live once” you will spend your whole
existence here on earth seeking your own kingdom and NOT the kingdom of
almighty God. If we want to be joyful like our God who IS joyful or have more
joy in life then there IS a very important step we must take. It’s a step I
have NEVER heard mentioned in any sermons on joy. It’s the only step. If we
truly wish to have more joy then we ought to truly seek to be conformed to the
image of Christ. In Acts 16:25 we find an imprisoned Paul and Silas “praying
and singing hymns to God”. To praise God in the worst of circumstances… To
worship Him when He has led you to a place where you are imprisoned for His
ultimate purpose and glory. To know that “We are hard-pressed on every side,
yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not
forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed”(2 Corinthians 4:8-9) should bring us
GREAT joy!
Finally,
the American Church believes the gospel is “Jesus loves you”. The world
believes the same thing. I have read and heard of countless studies on how our
youth, 5th graders and up, are rejecting the gospel and leaving the
Church in huge numbers. Well.. the gospel IS offensive and many will reject the gospel
but they AREN’T GETTING the gospel. People don’t know the gospel. Just ask
them. I dare you to ask the 5 most “spiritual” people you know and ask them “If
I were an unbeliever and you were giving me the gospel what would you say?”.
After you get a stutter and stammer you might be surprised by what you hear.
Many many times after asking this question the end result I got was the person saying
something to the effect of “well I just know I need Jesus and he loves me”. Is it a fact that “Jesus loves you” is part of the Gospel? Yes, in fact it’s the
whole reason FOR the gospel. Yes "I need Jesus", above all others I need Him, but the gospel is WE need Jesus. The problem is that just about everyone believes they are worthy of His love. So telling someone Jesus loves him or her is not a shock. That’s why if you’ve
ever tried to witness with the “Jesus love you” line people give you a “so
what” look. That’s why, not only our youth but, most people today reject
the gospel. No one is offended by being told they’re loved UNLESS they believe
they are not worthy of love. And we are SO not worthy of God’s love. If you
truly examine the condition of the human heart, not just our action but our
motives and intentions, you will see that we are absolutely wretched. “As it is
written:
‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who
understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they
have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.
Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit;
the poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and
bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in
their ways; and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God
before their eyes.’ ”
No one, no, not one is worthy of his love. No one, no, not
one can do anything to earn his love. No one, no, not one could stand innocent
before a righteous and just God and say, “I am good enough”. BUT because of the
blood of His son we are saved. That… is the gospel. That IS good news. Believe it.
