Gospel of Conviction or Convenience?

I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favourable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 2 Timothy 4:1-3 NLT

 

I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 1 Corinthians 9:22

 

At first glance, these passages would seem to be at odds with each other. Some might say it’s a contradiction. Some others certainly use the latter to justify almost anything that goes on in church, with the risk that the Gospel is pushed into the background. So, to reach the unchurched, we try to become more like the world, or at least provide the entertainment they would be used to. Churches have become locations for: drop in centres, musical shows, movies, and arts and crafts of many sorts. Each probably good and innocent in their own right, but at what cost to the only message that saves souls?

 

What is the sole purpose of the church of Jesus Christ? Paul makes it clear to his young protege pastor Timothy. It is to “preach the Word of God” whether you think the timing is right or not. And Paul gives the reason – valid 2,000 years ago, and I suggest even more so today. The wise apostle argues that “a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching.” When numbers drop, with the best of intentions we use the church as a recruiting base but instead of giving the life changing gospel, we give them the same things the world gives and call it outreach and evangelism, but we don’t do it as well as the world, and invariably is compared and fails. It is worth bearing in mind that the ONLY thing that Paul tells his young protege Timothy to do is preach the gospel. No sidelines, no gimmicks, just the life changing gospel of Jesus Christ. Are we up to the challenge? After all, where else will the unsaved hear that life changing message of salvation in Jesus Christ?

Omniscience of God?

When it comes right down to the basics of my faith, I admit to being Bible based as far as my intellect allows, so it may appear to be a bit old fashioned to some. It seems to be going out of style, but I hold to the ‘Omnis’ of the Christian faith but I notice they are being questioned, if not attacked, by the very church leaders who should be protecting them.

 

You see, I believe in, and defend the fact that God is Omnipresent, Omniscient, and Omnipotent. The one which is mostly under attack by some academics and theologians, is the thought that God isn’t really all knowing (Omniscient). It is only a matter of time and circumstance when others will fall under the academic gaze and red pen of the professors of liberal theology who want to carve out a name for themselves and make unnecessary changes.

 

Do you remember the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes? It is based on the fact that although the Emperor was in his underwear, the inner circle of the royal court kept telling him that his imaginary fine clothes were real and exquisite. It was in these royal courtiers’ interests to bask in the reflected glory of the Emperor, and as long as they could convince everyone else that their leader was dressed in the best, their place was secure.

 

It took a child who was innocent of the selfish game being played on his Emperor, to shout that the nation’s respected leader wasn’t wearing any clothes! The game was up for those who led the Emperor into his mistaken and false identity. So, why tell that old story? Because there are students and professors of theology who want to be seen as clever as their theological peers and heroes who claim that the outlandish theology of Omniscience is actually untrue and outdated, and that we have been labouring under a falsehood for a long time. The thing that troubles me most, is that the basic belief of free will, held by the majority of Christians, is used to disprove the omniscience of God.

 

What about you? Do you believe that God is omniscient? Or do you believe our free will means that God is like us in that He only knows those things that He CAN know, and only then after we have exercised our free will? It is a serious question that I believe needs an answer at both personal and corporate church level.

Elitism?

Christians are a funny lot. No, make that a strange bunch. We have those on the fringes of faith who barely know much about the Bible, but their hearts are soft, safe and pure. They may be poorly educated but they are the salt of the earth. Then at the other end of the spectrum we have the well educated academic and the well read Bible scholar, different people but both of whom see themselves as elite, and better than most Christians. They are very different people, but each one will feel elite, whereas the soft hearted Christian is lowly and humble.

 

So, why am I saying this? It’s because recently I came across a Christian who falls into the well read Bible scholar, and who has decided that he must take the Bible literally. That’s ok I hear you say, but let me continue. We all know faithful ones who may differ on their beliefs about the Garden of Eden, and if it was an apple or a fruit that Eve took. Literalists and those who take that part of the story as picture language, seem to get along fine because we can see where they are coming from.

 

BUT (big BUT) what if the literalist believer says that the earth is really flat, and then rolls out many verses of Scripture to support that belief? In order to hold the flat earth principle, many things have to be thrown aside as conspiracies of the devil. Things like, man never being in space and certainly never walking on the moon. The curvature of the earth’s surface first calculated around 300BC is a lie of satan and we have all been deceived by the master of lies by devilish conspiracy theories. There was much more as I listened to my friend expound his own late belief that the earth is flat, but the main thing that came across was the elitist way he spoke. Those who didn’t believe like him were not as Biblically wise as he is. They had not properly studied and believed the Word of God, and so were not in the place he was. Make no mistake, there are many others like him across the world. The small group of Christians with me who listened, heard him in respectful silence, but wore a confused smile of disbelief. I say that because we found his new found ‘discovery’ to be harmless because he still fully believes Christ as Saviour, and all the other main characteristics of salvation.

 

However, having said all that, I find the educated, academic scholar to be more dangerous in their elitism. They use bigger words and advance their own theories about interpretation and many times do not back it up with Scripture, whether understood literally, pictorially or even in poetic form. As new ideas emerge from their theses or dissertations, it can puff up and produce a sense of worth which shows them above others. Sometimes then, basic and fundamental tenets of our faith are questioned, and we are prone to accept them because they come from a lettered theologian that we are expected to respect.

 

Give me those Christians who enjoy a simple faith every time, who barely know much about deep theology, but who read the Bible with a clear head, and an open heart which is humble, soft, safe and pure. Turns out I know just one Christian who believes in a flat earth, but what about you? Do you or anyone you know believe in the flat earth theory, Christian or not??

First Do No Harm

You will recognise these words from the beginning of the Hippocratic Oath, which is taken by student doctors around the world, and ingrained into their minds even before they touch a patient. The reason is clear. If you can’t make the patient any better, then at least don’t do them any harm. Oh that as believers we would take the lesson to heart.

 

Some Christians are so used to ‘speaking the truth in love’ that they cannot, or will not, hold their tongue when they should. After all, the argument goes, it’s in the Bible, so it must be right. I would suggest that when the truth is really spoken in love, only good will be done. After all, God does not, and will not, do harm to His own witness. He may convince and convict of the sin in our lives through the Holy Spirit, but He can do that without our feeble attempts to speak for Him in a misguided ‘in love’ pretence.

 

Sadly, I have come across very few Christians who are loving or lovely, when they speak their version of the truth ‘in love’.

If Only I’d

Some of the saddest words we will ever utter are “If only I’d..”. They are always used after an opportunity has passed, or a chance wasn’t taken, or faith weakened. They also come to mind after any opportunity to recover and make things right have long since gone.

 

We all live with regrets, some small and some large. It’s normally the big regrets that give us the most conscience trouble because in hindsight you can see how different things could have been if a little more time and patience and faith had been invested in the situation that we felt was so bad. I would go one step further. The pain when we realise the better opportunity was missed is always greater than the discomfort we thought we felt in the first place.

 

However, there is no magic solution because for as long as human beings have made decisions, there have always been the ones we lived with happily, and those we put up with until something better came along. That better ‘something round the corner’ never did come, did it, so we are left with a regret that can easily turn into a resentment?

 

If we are happy to quote “God’s Will” when things are going well, why do we leave God out of the picture if things don’t go as we had thought? Has God changed? Did we misjudge God in the first case when we openly talked about His will for our lives? I think we are guilty (I know I am) of giving God credit when He does things we agree with, but we distance ourselves from any notion of God’s will in any turn of events which we don’t like. In other words, we only trust His direction sometimes and that makes us part time Christians.

 

I trust and pray that at the end of 2018, none of us will be heard to utter the dreaded words, “If only I’d….” (you can fill in the rest yourself…). Now, have a Happy and Blessed New Year!