Bad Gospel
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.“ Matthew 16:24-25
My wife and I had two of our children out of wedlock. When we were expecting our first child, I was thoroughly convinced that I had sinned against God, and thus, would never be worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven. I was younger then and had been inundated with a lot of God’s word that said I was a bad person. Pretty tough for a kid who had not turned twenty to feel useless to God. Obviously, things have changed, and my understanding of who I am to God has also. That lowly beginning became my platform for the Gospel and why you have seen my devotionals for over fifteen years. The reason I share this is to point out not only God’s grace but also the dangers of what I will call ‘bad Gospel.’
There is a lot of ‘bad Gospel’ that has been going around, and lately, I have been inundated by it. Here is a prime example. A person wrote, “Jesus didn’t eat with sinners and tax collectors because He wanted to appear inclusive, tolerant, and accepting. He ate with them to call them to repentance.” Now I get where the writer is going. However, the statement read a certain way implies that God is exclusive, intolerant, and not accepting of anyone who fails to meet His standard. This begs the question. Does Jesus want us to repent of our sins or to come to Him? Yes, He wants both, but if you do not know Jesus, does that statement sound like He loves and wants you? No, it does not. Not even close. If you believe this, I challenge you to stop. You are harming God’s people, and I would love to chat with you if you disagree.
Jesus is inclusive, tolerant, and accepting of all people regardless of who they are as they come to Him. I love these verses because they speak of personal responsibility in our journey of faith (take up your cross) and submittance. Hearing those words, I get emotional thinking of Jesus carrying the cross to His crucifixion. The mere thought of the pain that went with it is difficult to take, but we are humbly grateful because it represented the price He paid for our sins. Past, present, and future. This is important to remember as we look to carry out an important aspect of our journey of faith: sharing the Gospel. One could extrapolate from this the ’repentance’ part when Jesus said to ‘give up your own way.’ So, let’s play this out. Jesus spoke to Samaritan woman asking her for a drink while sharing the gift of grace God provided. He did not say you can have this living water ‘only if.’ He said, “If you only knew the gift God has for you,” she would get living water. Jesus understood our condition when we first came to Him. Unaccepted, unvalued, sinful, and maybe even without love. He offered God’s grace freely to all who would call on Him. Jesus sees us at our worst and yet says that we are His children. Accepted, valued, and loved. If we cannot share that simple message to a lost world, we too, are indeed lost.
We must see people as someone God values. Yes, it is important that we continually grow in Christ, but if we are holding others to Christ’s standard, the key thing to remember is we all fall short whether it is by a little or a lot. That’s why it is a journey, and the last thing we should be saying when someone may be at the start is ‘you cannot be part of the flock.’ Jesus said, “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.” (John 10:10b-11) That does not sound like condemnation. That sounds like an invitation. Let us as followers of Christ be good shepherds who will “leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost (,)” (Matthew 18:12b) out of the love God has shown us repeatedly. What is your approach to non-believers? Who do others see you as when you speak to them as Christ’s personal representative? My prayer is that we are full representatives of Christ and not portrayers of ‘Bad Gospel.’ Amen.