When You're Too Popular

Francis Chan shares a needed reminder for those of us who would preach the gospel. It was Jesus who didn't care a hill of beans about what the impostors and the haters said about him---and neither should we.





HT: Gospel-Driven Church

An Unpopular Conversation Piece

7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! ~Galatians 5:7-12, ESV

Discourse about the Cross isn’t in overabundance these days, if you haven’t noticed. A shiny smooth cross might make a fine decoration dangling around our necks, but the jagged edged Cross the Son of God suffered and died on doesn’t make for a very good conversation piece I have found. We like to talk about current news and the events that have shaped history, but will avoid the Cross like the plague (even though the Crucifixion is the one event that overshadows all of history and gives it definition). It is only within the exclusivity of the Cross plus nothing which speaks to both man's most desperate predicament and his most glorious hope.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain. ~"The Old Rugged Cross", by George Bennard, 1913

Those who talk about or (close your ears) preach the Cross too much, tend to suffer for it (just ask the apostles about being persecuted and beaten and eventually martyred on behalf of such). So, instead of the old rugged Cross and its undeniable display of eternal love, we tolerate cross-less nonsense all the more. Luther wrote, There is not a word in the Bible which is extra cruem, which can be understood without reference to the cross. The question becomes then: Why is our speech , our writing, and our (I'm going to use the word again) preaching so devoid of it?

Maybe Paul gives us a clue as to why:

17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ~Romans 8:17-19

Proclaim it from the Housetops

I have never sat under John Piper's ministry. I have read his books and listened to his messages for years now, and what I can say is that I have never been more challenged and encouraged in my walk with Jesus by any other man that I have never met.

Last year I posted the following on another blog and have been thinking this would be a good time to share it again.

My desire this morning is that God would use my words to inspire you with courage in the cause of truth. My prayer is that he will grant you to overcome all fear of speaking the truth of Scripture, and that you will have the boldness to speak it openly and clearly when it is unpopular or even dangerous.

There are at least two reasons I feel this burden this morning. One is that Paul had this burden for his younger apprentice, Timothy. Paul said in 1 Timothy 4:3, "The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from listening to the truth." In other words, "Timothy, it is likely that you are going to have to say some unpopular things that do not scratch where people itch. I want you to know this in advance so that you are not shaken when the truth you preach is rejected. It will take courage to press on in the face of that opposition, Timothy. So be courageous and take your share of suffering for the truth (1:8; 2:3; 3:13-14)."

The other reason I feel this burden this morning is because subjectivism and relativism permeate our culture and threaten to destroy churches and schools and denominations and movements. By RELATIVISM I mean the assumption that there is no such thing as absolutes. What is true or right or good or beautiful for you may not be for me. It's all relative. By SUBJECTIVISM I mean the assumption that in this relativistic atmosphere I, the subject, have the right to determine what is good and bad, right and wrong, true and false, beautiful and ugly for me without submitting my judgment to any objective reality or any objective authority outside myself. This is the air we breath in America today.

Which means that it is extremely unpopular today to take a strong stand on anything except tolerance. The claim that you know a truth that everybody should believe or that you know a behavior that everyone should avoid—that claim is enough to earn for you the name, Ayatollah or Facist or Ceaucescu.

If you commend a truth with confidence, and make a case for it on the basis of objective evidences, and call on people with urgency to change their minds and believe it, you will be viewed by the average American as arrogant and even dangerous. But if you avoid talking about truth or give the impression that truth is unattainable, and if you avoid words like "should" and "ought" and "must," then you will signal to people that there is no objective truth and there are no moral absolutes. And then people will see you as humble.

Confidence that you know some things that all people ought to believe is seen as the essence of arrogance today. On the other hand, a sense of uncertainty about what is true and about how one ought to live, accompanied by a kind of open-ended ethic and an absence of judgment on controversial issues is seen as the essence of humility. This is one of the primary ways today that people with itching ears gather for themselves teachers to suit their own liking. It is not easy to be called arrogant and dangerous, and it feels very good to be liked as humble and open and inoffensive. And therefore the temptation to lose your theological and moral nerve is tremendous and the need for courage is immense.

The text for my exhortation is Matthew 10:24-31. The aim of Jesus in these verses is to give us the courage to speak the truth of God's word with clarity and openness no matter what the cost.

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

The main point of this text is plain from the three repetitions of the command not to fear. Verse 26, "So have no fear of them." Verse 28, "Do not fear those who kill the body." Verse 31: "Fear not therefore; you are of much more value than many sparrows." So Jesus' aim here is to overcome fear and instill courage.

But courage to do what? Can we make the point of this passage sharper? We can. The point is made very sharp in verse 27. Jesus has something very specific in mind that is threatened by fear and advanced by courage. He says in verse 27: "What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear . . ." In other words the real danger of fear in this passage is the fear to speak clearly (in the light) and openly (on the housetops) when that speaking might get you in trouble.

So here's the point of the passage: Don't be afraid to speak clearly and openly what Christ has taught you even if it costs you your church, your friends, and your life. Or to put the point positively, Be courageous to speak the truth of Scripture clearly and openly for all to hear even if it is unpopular and dangerous.

The rest of this text is motivation: five reasons are given for why you and I should have courage to speak all that Jesus taught—the popular parts and the unpopular parts—no matter what. Here they are (far too quickly, I regret):

1. First, notice the "so" or "therefore" at the beginning of verse 26: "So (therefore) have no fear of them." In other words, fearlessness flows from what Jesus just said, namely, "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more (will they malign) those of his household." Therefore have no fear of them. Does that help make you fearless?

It should. I think the sense is this: Jesus is saying, "Your mistreatment for speaking the truth clearly and openly is not some unexpected, accidental, random, meaningless experience; it's just the way the way they treated me, and so it's a sign that you belong to me—you are part of my household (cf. Heb. 13:8). So don't be afraid of the names they call you when you speak out plainly, those very names bind you and me together."

2. Second, notice the word "for" in the middle of verse 26 (the NIV often drops these important words): "So have no fear of them; FOR (here comes the second reason not to be afraid) nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known." How does that help us overcome fear and be courageous in the cause of truth?

It helps us by assuring us that the truth we are speaking will triumph. It will be vindicated in the end. People may reject it now. They may call it the word of Beelzebul. They may cast it out. They may try to bury it and hide it from the world and pretend that it does not exist. But Jesus says, "Take heart in the cause of truth, because in the end all truth with be revealed, all reality will be uncovered. And those who spoke it with clarity and openness will be vindicated. Do not fear.

3. Third, Jesus says, Fear not, you can only be killed! Verse 28: "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." In other words, the worst thing your opponents can do to you when you speak the truth is to kill your body. And that leaves the soul untouched and happy in God for ever and ever.

But if you keep silent, if you forsake the path of truth and fall in love with the praise of men you could lose your very soul. And that you ought to fear. But don't fear what man can do to you. All he can do is dispatch your soul to paradise. Fear not.

4. Fourth, don't fear to speak the truth, but be courageous and speak clearly and openly because God is giving close and intimate attention to all you do. Verse 30 means at least that much. Jesus says, "Even the hairs of your head are all numbered." In other words, the suffering you may undergo in speaking the truth is NOT because God is disinterested in you or unfamiliar with your plight. He is close enough to separate one hair from another and give each one a number. Fear not; he is close; he is interested; he cares. Be of good courage and speak the truth come what may.

5. Finally, fear not because your Father will not let anything happen to you apart from his gracious will. The logic of Jesus is plain and precious. Verse 31: "You are of more value than many sparrows." Verse 29: "Not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will." The courage-giving conclusion: No harm will befall you but what God mercifully wills. As the young missionary Henry Martyn said, "If [God] has work for me to do, I cannot die."

So I appeal to you, don't yield to the spirit of the age. Love the truth. What you learn of Christ in the closet speak in the light. What you hear in the Scriptures proclaim from the housetops. And do not fear the face of any man. Amen.

A Call for Courage in the Cause of Truth

Relevance that Counts

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. ~Martin Luther

There is a time and a place to be relevant, but it isn't an easy-soft place.

HT: George Grant

Clever Myths

16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. ~2 Peter 1:16, ESV

With a casual glance at the best-selling "Christian" book list spanning the last how many years you'd sure wonder. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ that the writers of the new testament contended for, why do we insist on promoting myths?

Forget Jesus?

16 For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ~1 Corinthians 9:16, ESV

Do we preach the gospel with the kind of passion and urgency with which Paul did, or are we more concerned with making a favorable impression and larger crowds when given the opportunity to proclaim Jesus? Paul reminds his young protege to Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal (2 Timothy 2:8-9a, ESV).

How prone we are to forget Jesus when he should be the cornerstone of any gospel presentation since he is essentially the gospel.

The reality is that we haven't preached the gospel if we have treated Jesus merely as a side bar—that is, preaching Jesus as a clever get rich quick scheme, a role model on steroids, a perfect big brother, or a hip dude. Jesus must be the way, the truth, and the life—otherwise we haven't preached the gospel (John 14:6). Now, I am aware of what we might call the social gospel. I'm all for acts of compassion, mercy ministries, and causes which promote and protect justice, but that isn't to replace the preaching of the gospel which Paul was willing to suffer for. Only Jesus can save a man's soul. And to be sure, we haven't preached Jesus if we have preached condemnation either (John 3:17).

If I were a betting man, I'd put my money on Paul advising us to go and join the circus or to take up a career in marketing if we are not committed to preaching the gospel, no matter how popular we are.

The Value of My Life

But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. ~Paul the Apostle (Acts 20:24, ESV)

If only I can say the same.

D.A. Carson: Making the Cross Peripheral

This one gospel, this message of news that was simultaneously threatening and promising, concerned the coming of Jesus the Messiah, the long-awaited King, and included something about his origins, the ministry of his forerunner, his brief ministry of teaching and miraculous transformation, climaxing in his death and resurrection. These elements are not independent pearls on a string that constitutes the life and times of Jesus the Messiah. Rather, they are elements tightly tied together. Accounts of Jesus’ teaching cannot be rightly understood unless we discern how they flow toward and point toward Jesus’ death and resurrection. All of this together is the one gospel of Jesus Christ, to which the canonical Gospels bear witness. To study the teaching of Jesus without simultaneously reflecting on his passion and resurrection is far worse than assessing the life and times of George Washington without reflecting on the American Revolution, or than evaluating Hitler’s Mein Kampf without thinking about what he did and how he died. Second, we shall soon see that to focus on Jesus’ teaching while making the cross peripheral reduces the glorious good news to mere religion, the joy of forgiveness to mere ethical conformity, the highest motives for obedience to mere duty. The price is catastrophic. ~D.A. Carson

Carson strikes a chord for me, ...to focus on Jesus’ teaching while making the cross peripheral reduces the glorious good news to mere religion, the joy of forgiveness to mere ethical conformity, the highest motives for obedience to mere duty. The price is catastrophic.

And yet, we continue to make the cross peripheral.

A Full Strength Gospel

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ~1 Corinthians 1:17-18, ESV

If we are going to recover a full strength gospel we have to be willing to start talking about the cross as if it were life or death (because it is), and quit talking about everything else peripheral as if it were central. Others of us might just do better shutting up altogether and let the cross do the talking.

You may wonder what I mean by a full strength gospel? First of all, it's important that we understand that there is a diluted gospel that is emptied of its power and then there is the undiluted gospel which is mighty to save (which Paul clearly speaks of here). And secondly, when the cross is presented as the gospel's centerpiece it should be noted that it will become a stumbling block of unparalleled proportions for those who refuse it—last I checked the words of Jesus, there was a narrow gate and a wide one (see Matthew 7:13-14 if you have any questions, judging by much of the content of what passes as modern preaching today, you might just get the opposite impression if you aren't careful). The cross is like a needle delivering a cure to those who are terminal, not a bunny rabbit passing out goodies to all takers.

In other words, when you preach the cross, your messages are guaranteed to hurt people's feelings and maybe even rattle their overinflated sense of self-esteem.

So, why do we water it down and try so hard to make it more palatable? Why are we ever trying to smooth out its jagged edges? Why do we do everything on the planet to make everything but the cross paramount? Why do we strip references to the cross out of our conversations? Why do we talk as though the cross were an afterthought? The gospel is powerless when preached as a bubble bath. The cross isn't suppose to be cotton candy to those who are perishing, unless I have totally misunderstood Paul's text here.

Now, I will agree that we can add our own offense to the cross in a variety of ways that ought not be there (2 Cor. 6:3, 1 Cor. 8:9), but we are never to make that a crafty excuse for removing the offense. There will always be offense taken when we preach the cross as it was meant to be preached, it's worth noting that Paul doesn't add as a caveat, "sometimes there will be offense". It's not we who are to be offensive, the message handles that just fine.

I just have to borrow a comment at this juncture that hits the nail on the head from Bill Streger on Jared Wilson's recent post, Preach the Gospel Only When In Season?

From observation, I've noticed that the American church really likes to change "seasons" about every 4-6 weeks. So while it may be acceptable to have a "gospel/cross season", we can't let it last too long. After all, we have to make way for:

* God's plan for your finances season
* How God wants you to have lots of good sex season
* Getting ahead at work season
* Get behind the vision of our church season
* Give more money to our church season
* Why aren't you in a community group yet? season
* Parenting without losing your mind season
* We need more volunteers for the easter egg, drop ipods from the sky season
* Let's dominate the city by elevating our innovation season
and last, but certainly not least...
* Lessons of morality from popular summer blockbuster movies season

I mean, if we just preached about Jesus, the cross, and the Gospel all the time the direct mail postcards would get a little redundant.

Amen.

When we remove the offense of the cross from our preaching we just become a Christian alternative to Oprah and Dr. Phil—no one gets converted and no one's feelings get hurt. Nice. What's the sense? Maybe a paycheck? We certainly can't claim to be doing anything close to what we have been set apart to do. At least they don't claim to be gospel preachers (I know, we like the term communicators better).

I know it's not popular to preach the cross, but when did having more campuses than any other church in a city become the calling of a pastor? My conversations with friends and strangers about Jesus—namely his claim to be God, his crucifixion, his resurrection, (and dare I say it, their sin, which the cross exposes like a naked streaker)—haven’t always been happy pleasant exchanges. No, they are often difficult to spit out and hard for the hearer to swallow. But it's the cross they need most! What kind of person keeps the cure to cancer under wraps?

I won't use the term here.

If our only message is "Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you... and he has a wonderful life for your plan and your best marriage now"—that's not the gospel of the new testament. For all most people care, Santa Claus loves them too, and he bothers to deliver bundles of toys.

We need to see to it that the cross is never secondary in our preaching and refuse to apologize for the offense that follows; and we must be prepared to explain why the cross is absolutely necessary and why it is flawlessly sufficient.

To take the offense of the gospel out of our message isn’t merely diluting the gospel, it is to take out the gospel entirely. There is hope though, and the hope is that we recover a gospel that truly is gospel.

Gospel Stew

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. ~Galatians 1:11, ESV

Gospel stew continues to remain a favorite dish on the proverbial evangelical menu. Ingredients include: A dash of Gnosticism, a teaspoon of religious pluralism, a pinch of universalism, a sprinkle or two of Pelagianism, a cup of biblical relativism, an ounce of antinomianism, and the kicker—a pound of good old fashioned justification by anything other than faith. Oh, and how could I forget, no meal is complete without the occasional sugar coated reference to the gospel mixed in—we wouldn't have gospel stew without it!

And there you have it, a warm pot of gospel stew.

A perverted gospel is as simple as one, two, three. You can even heat it up in the microwave if need be. Beware though. When you serve the gospel as nothing more than salt and pepper sprinkled over a rancid steak you haven't fed God's people, you have only fooled them until later on of course, when they get sick and vomit.

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:6-9, ESV

I think Paul said the same thing twice there, which might just indicate he's dead serious.

Need I say more?

Gospel Deficiency

The McClatchy Newspapers reported the following a few days back,

WASHINGTON—The biggest bedbug outbreak since World War II has sent a collective shudder among apartment dwellers, college students and business travelers across the nation.

The bugs—reddish brown, flat and about the size of a grain of rice—suck human blood. They resist many pesticides and spread quickly in certain mattress-heavy buildings, such as hotels, dormitories and apartment complexes.

Couldn't help but think of the current crisis sweeping the church here in the West when I read the words above. With a brief glance at a majority of what passes for gospel preaching, you'd be hard pressed to find much of anything that resembles the gospel (and I'm not calling out the countless "Christian" educators who long ago sold out and have subsequently done their due diligence in attempting to neuter the gospel of its intent, or the crafty "Christian" television miracle workers who preach a gospel devoid of our helplessness and sinfulness—or even "Christian" psychologists that for the most part spoon feed us large doses of psycobabble that passes as sound-biblical advice).

I'm calling out so-called gospel preachers here.

Jared Wilson writes in a post titled, "Dude, Where's My Gospel?",

Gospel deficiency is the biggest crisis of the American church. It has been replaced by many things, most commonly a therapeutic, self-help approach to biblical application. Bible verses are extracted to enhance calls to self-improvement and Jesus is preached as moral exemplar (which of course, he is, but then again, so is Mother Teresa). The result is a Church that, ironically enough, preaches works, not grace, and a growing number of Christians who neither understand the gospel nor revel in its scandal.

If that isn't an accurate assessment of the growing crisis here in the West I don't know what is. "Gospel deficiency" as Jared calls it, is epidemic.

Repackaging the gospel and redefining its radical implications is the equivalent of taking a prescribed anti-biotic and adding 99 parts water to one part medication and pouring the remainder of the medication down the drain, and then expecting the concoction to work it’s wonders of cure. Insane we’d say. But that’s what we do when we mix and mingle the gospel message with any other message that doesn’t support it’s outrageous claims, glorious freedom, inescapable hope, and amazing grace.

How does it come to pass that, with open Bibles before them, men and women should be wrong not so much about certain details with respect to the gospel, but about the whole thing?—wrong about its foundation, wrong about its central message, wrong about its objective, and wrong about how one comes into relationship with it. ~D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Kingdom of God

It was forty-five years ago Lloyd-Jones offered that assessment concerning the evangelicalism of his era. Not much has changed I'd say.

Isn't it time we who identify ourselves as gospel preachers reclaim a gospel that is potent for the healing of men's souls?

Stumbling Block

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. ~1 Corinthians 1:20-25, ESV

Do we present the stumbling block or dance around him?