Tuesday, January 15, 2013

A Powerful Gospel, Part 2

Greetings from the beautiful Dominican Republic!

In the last blog we focused on the ability of God's power to transform us. We're going to pick up there and talk a bit about how that translates into making us a new creation!

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation." That is one of those simple verses we've known for so many years, and yet, ponder the words carefully: a new creation. "Old things are passed away and a few things have become brand new, and you get to choose what things you want to be made new. Now, if you don't want those things to change, then you're okay. You just come to therapy every Sunday." NO, that's not what the Word says! It says that all things are made new! That's radical transformation . . . not evolution! A Christ-less Gospel is a powerless Gospel, and it would appear that society, particularly modern society in America, tends to gravitate towards this mindset. That, in turn, leads to a form of righteousness, but it denies the power of Christ. When all you have is a form of righteousness that denies the power, that equates to nothing more than religion!

Every major religion in the world has the ability within it to make a person "better." If that is all it's about, you might as well convert to being a Muslim or a Buddhist. Now those are some peaceful people! I've hung around Buddhist societies before. Do you know one of the things that a Buddhist notes about Western culture? They believe that if a person loses his temper or gets frustrated in a grocery line, it is a clear sign of weakness. You or I might think that someone is just being short-tempered, but the Buddhist is probably thinking, "This one is weak." They tend to lean towards the belief that if a person is strong, then those deficiencies in behavior will not surface. There is something to be said for that . . . I mean . . . come on, if we can't even bear to wait for three minutes in a grocery line or at a red light, who then shall stand in the day of adversity? But the transforming power is not simply about becoming "better people." Having the power of the Gospel activated in our lives gives us the ability to demonstrate God's miracle-working power.

So many times the Church attempts to try and meet the needs of the world using worldly means. This is not to say that feeding the hungry and clothing the naked are not valid or great works to pursue. A good question to ask ourselves when pursuing those types of works is: "Am I doing this for God's glory and for His alone?"

Jesus came preaching the Gospel. It was not a message of how to evolve, how to better your life, or even how to become a more acceptable person. He came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and it was not a message of simply being rescued from something, it was a proclamation that God's Kingdom was and is yet at hand. He was making very, very clear to us that not only can man be saved from something, but that he can be saved unto something!

There's a whole new life available to those who want it. We would do well to evaluate our own lives. I would challenge you right now, very quickly, to look back and consider what a difference Christ has made in your life. Somebody might say, "Well, I wasn't that bad of a person to begin with." Another one might say, "I was a nice person then, I'm a nice person now, and I just want to be nice." You know, I've read a lot of books, and I've read the Bible quite a bit in the last thirty years. I've also read a lot of characteristics about men like John the Baptist and even Jesus Himself. Through all of that studying and reading, not even once have I ever read that, "Jesus was a very nice person." I've never seen it. "John the Baptist: he ate locusts, wore camel hair, and he was a very nice man." No, I don't read "nice" in any of the descriptive terms. I don't mean to insinuate that gives us a right to be rude; I believe that Christians never have a right to be rude.

The American church, frankly in my opinion, has become "too nice" in an attempt to be socially accepted. We want the world to like us, so can't we all just be nice? "Well, it's those Christians that are so intolerant." Tell that to the Mayor of Chicago. It's the Christians who are supposedly intolerant, but in the meantime, if you believe in the sanctity of marriage, "You are not welcome in our city." Just as bad, there are those who call themselves Christians and take on the posture of, "Right on, brother."

I'm going to pause here and carry on with this same train of thought in my next blog as there really is not a good stopping point, but there is much more to be said along these same lines.

My prayer is that we will wake up and stop trying to placate the world or be swayed by society's opinion. Let's refocus and get back to the principles and morals proclaimed throughout the Word of God!

~ pg

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