Today is Sunday, March 19th and I am completely humbled. Kris, my Pastor kicked off our “Road to Easter” sermon with Genesis 3:1-24 and the fall of man. The Gospel, as we see it, contains four parts; namely, creation, the fall, redemption, and restoration.
What was completely humbling was when Kris said,
“…when we have a gospel that lacks Satan we have to find a source of evil in the world. What’s happening today…because I guess our Gospel has been so condensed that just the bare minimum that someone has to make mental assent to in order to become a Christian - we’ve so drastically reduced the gospel that it lacks a source of evil for us in some cases, in many cases. And I think because of that what we are finding is that we are looking to pin evil on whatever looks evil, the perceived enemy. And all too often that is our spouse, that is our boss, that’s someone else in the church…” (Pastor Kris, AnchorChurchonline.org, “The Road To Easter,” 20 March 2017, 20:50).
Prior to 2014, my understanding of the Gospel was one sided - it totally lacked the true enemy. I took the “gospel” literally as good news and purposefully avoided all that was bad. My gospel was not “good news” because I had no bad news from which it was being compared to. What I mean is I took that “minimalist” approach that Pastor Kris had mentioned. At one point my colleagues and I slimmed our “gospel” down to seven words; “Jesus Guarantees Eternal Life For All Believers.” And that was it. No mention of the fall. No mention of our need for Jesus, simply that he gives eternal life.
And until today, I had not realized how detrimental this was not only to my theology, but how it destroyed all of the relationships around me. I became a very hate filled person. Mega Churches were my enemy. Rick Warren was my enemy. John Piper was my enemy. Francis Chan was my enemy. Tim Keller was my enemy. Kirk Kameron was my enemy. John MacArthur was my enemy. My friends and I would celebrate when people would leave other local churches to join ours for a taste of “sound doctrine.” I/we prided ourselves on bible knowledge, our tattered and marked up burgundy USB 4th edition Greek New Testaments with commentary in left hand. There was so much pride, so much envy, and the deception was so deep that I never believed I was sinning in the process. The deception was so strong in that movement that we couldn’t keep each other accountable. It was the blind egging on the blind and we chased people out of our little Church all the while convincing ourselves that, road to heaven is narrow and many people will not be able to hack a sound doctrinal Church.
Worst of all, for the first seven years of my marriage, I saw my wife as my enemy. I believed she was always challenging my “authority.” Speaking out of turn and “not staying in her lane. I listened str angry sermons by other “Bible Doctrine” churches and I became more and more angry. After one deployment, my wife had joined a group of young adults to go through a Bible study. She felt it was great for her walk and that it helped her grow closer to Christ. I rebuked her, expressed my disappointment and told her, “who are these people!? Do they even have a masters degree!?” I hurt my wife and that would not be the last time. For a few more years, the arrogance grew as I continued to surround myself with “likeminded” people who elevated knowledge and the “true Gospel” that was really one sided.
The gospel story of Creation, the Fall, Redemption, and Restoration was something I misjudged as false doctrine and a non-God movement. After hearing God’s Word so clearly today, I confess and renounce those misjudgments as evil and offensive in God’s sight. Thank you Lord for your forgiveness.
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