Just to be clear, I don't want to seem like the angry guy who is critical of everything. I'm not like that at all. Posts like this and this are just a reflection of my deep concern for the state of the Church, and my hope and prayer that people would learn to embrace a wholehearted faith, one that is fully committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all of life.
The Church, especially in our day, makes so many efforts to satisfy the desires of its members. People are continually spoon-fed exactly what they want. The Church is marketed this way. It promises an encounter with a God who will fit your agenda, one who will make you feel loved and accepted no matter what. Perhaps evangelicals are not as flagrant about it as figures like
Joel Osteen, but subtlety doesn't make it any less of an issue. It is a troublesome concession to a consumerist and individualistic culture.
The problem here is that when you give people what they want, eventually you will come to a point where you won't be able to give them what they need. But if you give them what they need and they come to realize that as a need, it will then become what they want.
John Owen is a perfect case in point here. I just finished reading
The Mortification of Sin in Believers (which I strongly encourage you to read), and what he writes is very difficult to swallow. Nobody wants to hear about how great their sin and misery are, yet that is precisely what is needed. We easily become complacent with the condition of our hearts and are persuaded by the notion that if we just do a certain number of things right, everything will go well with us now and in eternity. This idea is only amplified when all we hear week after week is that God loves us and accepts us unconditionally if we put our faith in Him, that He is gracious and merciful, and that Jesus will help us make our lives better.
Certainly, these things are true and cause for rejoicing. But it is only half the story. God loves us and accepts us unconditionally
in spite of our sin—and not just the occasional commission of sin, but that wretched, natural state of sin that we are all enslaved to and that inclines us to hate God and our neighbor (Rom. 3:23;
Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 5). Yes, our God is gracious and merciful, but far more so than many believe. God's grace is not just material wealth or good health, but is the radical love that grasps on to us, rescues us from certain death, and declares, "You are mine!" even as we are striving with everything we have to run away from Him (Col. 1:21-22). Jesus certainly makes our lives better, but not just by improving our marriage or helping us choose which movies to watch, but in that He is our King who brings us under His rule by laying down His own life for us and reconciling us to God (Rom. 5:6-11).
This is what people need. They need to hear how great their sin and misery are. They need to hear how despite their total enslavement to sin, God calls them unto Himself to be His own and brings them into His fold. They need to hear that they are called to be a holy people, set apart, foreigners and aliens in the land. They need to hear that
all of life is to be lived in service to Him, for His glory. They need to hear that they are part of a bigger story, that they are God's people, living under His rule, and blessed by Him. They need to hear that the end goal is not some disembodied state of bliss in an intangible, spiritual realm, but that they are wholly involved as God's people in His mission and in bringing all things in heaven and earth under the Lordship of Christ (Eph. 1:9-10).
Our culture, and many in the Church, do not want something that demands so much from us and that makes such a total claim. To them, that is the antithesis of freedom. However, to the contrary, this is freedom in the fullest sense of the word. This is what it truly means to be alive. We know true joy when we, as creatures, live as the Creator intended us to. This only begins when we cease to live for ourselves, and instead consecrate ourselves to God, pursuing holiness.
I was talking briefly with a friend yesterday who made the comment, "I've been quite perplexed lately at the way evangelicals seem to understand 'make disciples' as simply meaning 'share the gospel.'" It is a point well taken. We can tell them all these good things about grace and about love and about Jesus, but that is not enough. A confession of faith requires a complete surrender to Him. Jesus Christ makes a total claim over our lives and demands that we live in holiness. The Gospel, our faith, is radical and transformational. It leaves
nothing untouched. If it does, then it is an insufficient Gospel, even a false Gospel.
Augustine has famously said, "Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee." We will only realize this when we have come to believe the Gospel in its entirety and when we have taken up our cross to follow Him. The Lord has called us to be holy, as He is holy (Lev. 19:2; 1 Pet. 1:13-16). May this become our desire, and may our song be, "
Take myself, and I will be, ever, only, all for Thee."
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