A Plea To The Church: Preach The Gospel

It is quite a humbling reality to consider that God would choose the avenue of individuals to proclaim the good news of the Gospel.  However, the troubling reality that settles in our hearts is the fact that we will be held accountable to how we handle the Word of God in presentation and deed. 

The Gospel is “good news” that has the power to change lives.  God help us if we present anything but the full and clear truth of the Gospel.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit and throwing out a text of Scripture, then only to fly off the cuff with trivial issues for the next 30 minutes, which by the way is only showing your ignorance of the Gospel and your lack of study.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit without having wrestled with the text through diligent study as well as applying the same principles to our lives that we expect our hearers to follow.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit to only talk about the way things used to be while ignoring what God is doing today.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit and taking Scripture out of context because we’ve never taken the time to study out the context of the book or chapter, thus taking truths out of context and ultimately adding to or taking away from Scripture.  Preach the Gospel, the whole Gospel with passion and clarity and if you cannot stand up and Preach it accurately with compassion then don’t Preach it at all.

Some Gospel Myths I’ve actually heard from the Pulpit-

1. “What’s wrong with the church today is that we need to “get back to the old paths,” referring to Jeremiah 6:16, and then use this text to preach that “Southern Gospel” music is the only thing that honors God and that unless you read and hold to the KJV, you are a heretic bound for Hell.  Sorry, but God wasn’t talking about 1960 fundamentalism when he inspired these words.  He wasn’t talking about honky-tonk music that decided to add Jesus lyrics to its melody in the mid 1900′s and he definitely was not talking about the King James translation as the only inspired translation that we can read as English-speaking people.  Yes, I have actually heard Preachers say, “if you got saved out of the NIV then you’re not saved.”  It is so far from the truth it is almost comical.  However, the context of the passage is actually an exhortation for the people to get back to living out the truths of the Bible (God’s Commands) because their lives had spiraled out of control due to their lack of obedience to read it and thus live it.  If that’s what you’re talking about, then Preach it.  Otherwise, please don’t waste our time by adding to the Word of God. 

2. ”If you ain’t got old-time religion then you ain’t got nothing at all.”  Umm, what the heck does this mean?  The last time I checked, the Gospel is not a Religion and could you please define ”old.”  Would Paul have agreed with this statement?  I believe Jesus was quite angry with following traditional ideologies for the sake of tradition (study the Gospels and focus on Jesus’ dealing of the Pharisees). 

3.  “The Health Care bill is just another sign of the end times.  The world as we know it is coming to an end.  We just need Jesus to come rescue us from all this mess.”  Newsflash to all believers of Christ.  Our hope is not built on Washington.  Our hope is not built on a President who openly professes another faith.  Our hope is not built on a Christ-less government.  Our hope is not built on what happens in Congress; our hope is built on the finished work of the Cross.  Should we pray for our President and government?  Yes.  But the majority of them do not know Jesus, therefore how can we expect them to make Christian decisions?  How can we expect Washington to care about Abortion when they have never been radically transformed by the giver of life?  How can we expect Washington to fix the economy when they don’t understand that every good and perfect gift comes from above?  Maybe the problem in Washington isn’t the government; maybe its the church who has failed to be salt and light.  Maybe the problem in America is the fact that the church has become content waiting on a place (Heaven) that we haven’t been called to yet; while having little to no impact on the one (World) Christ died for.  Instead of building up walls to keep us out of the world; maybe we should consume the world with the Gospel. 

• The Gospel is not about our prosperity.
• The Gospel is not about a list of moral guidelines to follow and if we fall off the white line then God is going to smack us with his ruler.  This is nothing less than Deistic Moralism.
• The Gospel is not about mixing a little bit of Jesus into your life while you try to live out the American Dream.
• The Gospel is not a set of religious ideologies filled with traditionalism.
• The Gospel is, “He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthains 5:21.  That’s Good News that changes lives.

    Here is a word of exhortation: The Bible clearly states that we are to test and try every spirit.  Every believer should be able to discern every word that is presented from the pulpit.  In fact, Scripture commands us to do so.  If you are part of a church that does not clearly and accurately Preach the Gospel, then you will be held accountable before God for not clearly discerning truth and allowing yourself or your family to sit under a false Gospel.  I trust that if you do not receive clear biblical truth from the pulpit that you will be obedient to the Gospel and find a church that does.

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