Removing the Offense of the Cross ...the ineffectualness of candy coated partial romantic gospel appeals

---by Steve Camp

"If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do not suppose that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Savior, while they are wedded to their idols, and their hearts are still in love with sin. If I do so I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel , insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness." -C.H. SPURGEON

Those kinds of words fall on deaf ears today.

They are not cool, contemporary, relatable, winsome, attractive. They sound too harsh, too judgmental, too defining, too narrow, and... too biblical. Compare the above with the following attempts in addressing a lost world.

Just tell an audience

that God is crazy about you; that He doesn't want to punish you; that the dread Sovereign of the universe is a powerless lover down on one knee begging you to be His bride and has to wait to see if you choose to accept Him; that the whole universe is proposing to you; that He wants you to fall in love with Him; that His law is designed just to make this world a better place; and as you proclaim the gospel to insure the highest success from as many nonbelievers as possible, make sure you don't speak about repentance from sin; justification by faith; the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ; submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ; don't ever mention Scripture specifically, open up a Bible and actually read it, or use Bible sounding words; just carry a surfboard against the backdrop of beautiful scenery, walk along a beach and show that you're a regular guy who can relate by talking about how fast the planet earth revolves around the sun, get all giggly that God created laugher, and make it as comfortable as possible for people to hear some things about the gospel; but don't ever mention that you must come to the end of yourself--deny yourself; take up your cross and follow Him; don't ever tell them that God is angry with them and His wrath abides on them; don't mention Hell (to negative); don't ever tell them that they have to hate their own lives, their father, mother, brother, sister, son and daughter and love Him more than all other loves or they cannot be His disciple; just reassure them that God loves them just the way they are and wants to give them a better life if they would cry out and say "I love You too."

Stop. Think.

What kind of Jesus are you communicating to others? It's important we critique our methods and our message--it is incumbent we do so for lives are at stake and God will us hold us accountable for the stewardship of His divine mysteries. No wonder Paul said, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men..." (2 Cor. 5:10-11a).

I want to encourage you to take some time today and read one of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke or John)

and see how the Lord Jesus Christ called people to follow Him. And then compare it to today's pastors and what they think is the way to present His gospel. In our postmodern evangelical world, it's no longer necessary or required to have to accurately preach the Word, rightly divide the truth, or to proclaim the whole gospel. It's just enough to make "a good-faith attempt to preach the Gospel to the lost." PC translation, the effort is more important than the message.

Listen, Jesus Christ isn't anybody's "spiritual Pez dispenser"

that we can turn into whomever we choose by repackaging Him in order for Him and His message to relate to our lost world. He is not to be triffled with. He is God incarnate, beloved, and He must be reckoned with in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His gospel of sola fide, His once for all death, His bodily resurrection, His ascension, His reign as King and Mediator at the right hand of the throne of God. He is not asking you to accept Him, fall in love with Him, shower bouquets of flowers at His feet, bring Him candy, or date Him. He is not proposing to you or asking you to marry Him. He is commanding you to repent of your sins; submit to Him as Lord of your life; forsake all other loves and all other claims to eternal life; to come to the end of yourself; believe solely in Him; take up your cross and follow Him. You don't have the luxury or His permission to turn Him into a passive, effeminate Divine lover who can only beg, but cannot elect.

Some represent God as a powerless lover,

bending His sovereign knee proposing marriage to sinful man, begging him to accept Him as their Savior; rather than picturing sinful man bending the knee before a holy God crying out for mercy that his sins be forgiven in repentance to inherit eternal life and be given saving faith to confess Jesus Christ as Lord unto salvation. The video presents God begging sinful man to choose Him; the Bible presents sinful bowing the knee in godly fear before a holy God begging for forgiveness. Which picture of God and man do you present?

Do you proclaim Jesus as your divine Pez dispenser or do you proclaim Him as the only hope of salvation... as Sovereign Lord? Is the cross just a trinket that you wear? Has your presentation of the gospel removed the offense of the cross or do you preach "Jesus Christ and Him crucified..." We must get this right--this is not a game."

Acts 17

Campi

You can catch more great articles like this one at Steve Camps blog... http://stevenjcamp.blogspot.com/

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A well deserved punch in the gut for those of us who need it!!!

Here is the lyrics to"My Jesus" sung by Todd Agnew. My sister sent these to me via email and after reading them I had to see if I could locate a video of this song. Read these lyrics, then watch the video....

Which Jesus do you follow? Which Jesus do you serve? If Ephesians says to imitate Christ Then why do you look so much like the world?

Cause my Jesus bled and died He spent His time with thieves and liars He loved the poor and accosted the arrogant So which one do you want to be?

Blessed are the poor in spirit Or do we pray to be blessed with the wealth of this land Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness Or do we ache for another taste of this world of shifting sand

Cause my Jesus bled and died for my sins He spent His time with thieves and sluts and liars He loved the poor and accosted the rich So which one do you want to be?

Who is this that you follow This picture of the American dream If Jesus was here would you walk right by on the other side or fall down and worship at His holy feet

Pretty blue eyes and curly brown hair and a clear complexion Is how you see Him as He dies for Your sins But the Word says He was battered and scarred Or did you miss that part Sometimes I doubt we'd recognize Him

Cause my Jesus bled and died He spent His time with thieves and the least of these He loved the poor and accosted the comfortable So which one do you want to be?

Cause my Jesus would never be accepted in my church The blood and dirt on His feet would stain the carpet But He reaches for the hurting and despised the proud I think He'd prefer Beale St. to the stained glass crowd And I know that He can hear me if I cry out loud

I want to be like my Jesus! I want to be like my Jesus!

Not a posterchild for American prosperity, but like my Jesus You see I'm tired of living for success and popularity I want to be like my Jesus but I'm not sure what that means to be like You Jesus Cause You said to live like You, love like You but then You died for me Can I be like You Jesus? I want to be like my Jesus

By His Grace Alone,

Bill

Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified."

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