Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000070S
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00:00 - Most Christians, of course,
00:02 would like to create the best possible impression 00:05 of our faith, but what if we're doing it wrong? 00:08 That's our subject on today's Authentic. 00:11 [jaunty music] 00:32 A very long time ago now, 00:34 I was running a local franchise for a mid-sized company 00:37 and we were required to attend training classes 00:40 in the state of Texas because we had to understand 00:43 the company's values and business philosophy 00:46 and we had to make sure we didn't run our local operations 00:49 in a way that cast the brand in a really bad light. 00:52 And of course, 00:54 one of the required classes we had to take 00:56 dealt with how we should handle negative PR. 00:59 It was an important class because try as you might, 01:02 there will always be circumstances when your company somehow 01:06 ends up on the evening news, and not in a good way. 01:10 A clearly branded company vehicle, for example, 01:12 causes a horrible accident on the freeway, 01:14 or an employee commits a terrible crime 01:17 while dressed in a company uniform. 01:19 How do you mitigate the potential harm 01:22 to the company's bottom line? 01:24 Now, these weren't just hypothetical situations. 01:27 I discovered in that class that some big companies 01:30 actually have specialists on staff 01:32 who can run out to the scene of an accident 01:34 and cover up the name of the company 01:37 before the news crew arrives. 01:39 Sometimes they just use duct tape 01:41 so that the company's name and logo don't become associated 01:44 with gut-wrenching scenes of human carnage. 01:48 And one of our franchise owners 01:50 actually had an employee, believe it or not, 01:52 who murdered somebody while out on the job. 01:55 So they were desperate to keep that story out of the news. 02:00 An entire PR industry has been spawned, 02:03 ranging from lawyers who can help you navigate disasters 02:06 to companies like Norton's Reputation Defender, 02:09 a company that specializes 02:11 in keeping negative comments about your business 02:14 from showing up in internet search results. 02:17 If you wanna run a successful business 02:19 in the 21st century it seems, 02:21 you have to play offense and defense at the same time. 02:25 It means that the art of marketing 02:27 is a much broader exercise than some people think. 02:31 Which brings me to the subject of Christianity, 02:34 because here in the West, for better or for worse, 02:37 churches are frequently run like corporations, 02:40 even to the point where some churches have been tempted 02:43 to restructure themselves to reflect a business model. 02:47 Instead of a lead pastor in a church board, for example, 02:50 you get what amounts to a CEO and a board of directors. 02:54 Larger churches will almost invariably have people 02:57 who manage the churches' online brand, 03:00 and they effectively become the advertising branch 03:03 of the whole operation. 03:06 And really, there's nothing particularly wrong with that, 03:09 I suppose, until the practice of marketing 03:12 begins to overshadow the original reason 03:15 for the Christian Church. 03:17 I fear that sometimes congregations are tempted to 03:20 worry more about their social media campaigns 03:23 than actually serving the community as a church. 03:27 And again, there's nothing wrong 03:28 with advertising your church because after all, 03:31 if nobody knows you exist or what you have to offer, 03:34 well that can really hinder your ability to serve. 03:37 So I'm not really arguing that churches shouldn't do it, 03:41 because the 21st century has made it all but impossible 03:44 to not do it. 03:46 But I am concerned when things like marketing and image 03:50 begin to overshadow the actual teachings of Christ. 03:54 I think what we have to ask ourselves is this. 03:57 Do we exist to make sure the pews are full, 04:00 or do we exist to do what Jesus told us to do? 04:03 Now that's not really an either or proposition 04:06 because you can actually do both. 04:08 You can fill your church to capacity 04:11 and be faithful to the gospel. 04:13 But given a choice, 04:14 which one should be your prime directive? 04:17 I mean, let's be honest. 04:18 It's relatively easy to fill a building with people. 04:21 All you really have to do is serve free beer 04:23 and hire a popular band to entertain the audience 04:26 and your church is pretty much guaranteed to be full. 04:29 But it's the wrong audience. 04:31 And they're there for the wrong reasons. 04:35 The other day I was reading the book of Galatians, 04:38 which is a letter that the apostle Paul wrote 04:40 to a group of early Celtic believers 04:42 living in Asia minor, or modern day Turkey. 04:46 And right at the top of the letter, 04:48 he raises an important concern. 04:50 The church was experiencing what some people 04:53 might call mission drift. 04:55 They were no longer preaching 04:57 what they'd been told to preach. 04:59 They'd actually changed the gospel. 05:01 Here's what it says in chapter one, starting in verse six. 05:04 He writes, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon 05:08 from him who called you in the grace of Christ 05:11 to a different gospel, which is not another, 05:14 but there are some who trouble you 05:15 and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 05:19 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, 05:21 preach any other gospel to you 05:23 than what we have preached to you, 05:25 let him be accursed. 05:28 As we have said before, so now I say again, 05:30 if anyone preaches any other gospel to you 05:33 than what you have received, let him be accursed." 05:38 What we think was happening was that after Paul 05:41 had established a number of congregations in Galatia, 05:45 other religious teachers came to town 05:47 and took advantage of his departure 05:49 to begin teaching distortions 05:51 of the original gospel message. 05:54 Now, judging by the contents of the letter, 05:56 there were were some teachers promoting the idea 05:58 that circumcision was required for gentiles when it wasn't. 06:04 Paul had been teaching his converts 06:05 that we are saved by grace through faith. 06:08 But some people took exception to that 06:10 and tried to emphasize the idea 06:11 that we must earn God's favor through our works 06:15 through things like rites and rituals. 06:18 Now we know that was the issue 06:19 because of what Paul says down in Chapter 2:16. 06:23 He says, "Knowing that a man is not justified 06:26 by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, 06:29 even we have believed in Christ Jesus, 06:32 that we might be justified by faith in Christ 06:35 and not by the works of the law. 06:37 For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified." 06:42 It's really the same idea that launched 06:44 the Protestant reformation. 06:46 You and I cannot earn God's favor. 06:49 There's nothing we can do, no righteous deed we can perform 06:52 that will buy us a spot in the Kingdom of God. 06:57 But I think what I want to focus on today 06:59 is the rather heavy language Paul uses 07:02 to describe the work of these false teachers. 07:05 Because I think they have a special application 07:07 to the way that modern Christianity often conducts itself. 07:11 "If anyone preaches any other gospel to you 07:14 than what you have received, let him be accursed." 07:18 Apparently, tampering with the message of Christ 07:20 for whatever reason is a very serious matter. 07:25 And that's where this letter to the Galatians 07:27 suddenly crosses the subject of 21st century marketing, 07:30 because marketers like to make a product palatable 07:33 to potential buyers. 07:35 And one of the key problems you face with the Bible 07:38 is that much of its content 07:40 is simply not easy for human beings to accept. 07:44 I mean, this is a book that dares to suggest 07:47 that you and I have a fundamental flaw, 07:49 and the way you view the universe is not the same 07:52 as the one who made the universe in the first place. 07:55 To put it bluntly, this book tells us we're sinners, 07:59 and the wages of sin is death. 08:01 It tells us that we're naturally selfish, 08:03 and that even our best deeds, 08:05 our highest accomplishments are tainted by sin. 08:09 It's a message that unmistakably teaches 08:13 there's something wrong with us. 08:15 To put it bluntly, it says we're lost. 08:19 Now of course, that's not the sum total 08:21 of what this book has to say, and there's a reason 08:23 that it's key message is called the gospel. 08:26 Gospel is a compound word 08:28 derived from the Germanic words, good spell, 08:31 which means good story or good news. 08:35 That tells us there is a solution 08:37 to our very worst problems. 08:39 But still this is a message that requires you to admit 08:43 right up front that you're broken. 08:46 So how exactly do you market that idea 08:48 to a world that buys sizzle and not steak? 08:52 Modern advertising practices practically 08:54 ignore the actual product they're trying to sell 08:57 and focus on manipulating your emotions. 09:00 So how would that 09:01 be compatible with the teachings of Christ? 09:04 I'll be right back after this 09:06 to explore that a little bit more. 09:11 [gentle music] 09:12 - [Narrator] Life can throw a lot at us. 09:14 Sometimes, we don't have all the answers. 09:17 But that's where the Bible comes in. 09:20 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 09:23 Here at the "Voice of Prophecy", 09:24 we've created the Discover Bible guides 09:26 to be your guide to the Bible. 09:28 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 09:30 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 09:33 and they're absolutely free. 09:35 So jump online now 09:37 or give us a call and start your journey of discovery. 09:41 - Let's be honest about the contents of the Bible. 09:44 It has never been a particularly popular message. 09:48 I'm reminded of the words of the Emperor Julian, 09:50 the man who tried to return the Roman empire to paganism. 09:54 Here's a guy who wrote some really brutal criticisms 09:57 of the Bible including this one. 09:59 He said, "But now answer me this question. 10:02 Whether it is better to be perpetually free 10:04 and for 2000 entire years 10:06 to have dominion over the greater part of the earth and sea, 10:09 or to be in subjection and live in obedience to the mandate 10:13 of another." 10:14 He's offended by the concept of submission, 10:17 pointing out that the Jews had not proven themselves 10:20 to be world conquerors like Julius Caesar 10:23 or Alexander the Great. 10:25 Christianity is a religion for submissive people, he says, 10:28 and he knows that if he chooses to agree with the Bible, 10:32 he's going to have to surrender his pride. 10:36 It's kind of like the story of Naiman, 10:38 the Syrian commander who found himself plagued by leprosy. 10:41 And when he visited the Hebrew prophet in search of a cure, 10:45 he was told to bathe himself in the Jordan River, 10:48 a bit of a filthy mud hole by comparison 10:50 to the rivers back home. 10:52 So that's when one of his servants quietly asks him, 10:55 "My Father, 10:56 if the prophet had told you to do something great 10:59 would you not have done it?" 11:01 Look, the message of the Bible has never been popular 11:05 for the simple reason that it steps on our egos. 11:08 It requires us to be humble and admit that we're wrong. 11:11 I mean, yes, it has incredibly good news after that 11:15 because it reveals a God who loves us 11:17 in spite of our faults, 11:19 a God whose deepest desire is to forgive us 11:22 and restore us to his company. 11:24 But you're going to have to surrender your pride 11:27 in order to get there. 11:28 And when's the last time you saw an advertising campaign 11:31 that pushed the concept, 11:33 hey, there's something wrong with you. 11:35 I mean, they might suggest that you're lacking something 11:38 or that your life would be better 11:39 if you bought their product, 11:41 but they're not usually gonna start by offending you. 11:44 Although I will admit that in recent years, 11:46 it seems like marketers are more and more willing to use 11:49 shock value to get your attention. 11:53 So when Christians find their messages tough to sell, 11:55 they're sometimes tempted to repackage it 11:57 into a much smoother message. 12:00 And over the last 100 years or so, 12:03 we've managed to reinvent Jesus so many times 12:06 that he scarcely represents the man you actually find 12:08 in this book. 12:10 And we've done that in spite of Paul's rather stark warning 12:14 that tampering with the essence of the gospel 12:16 is completely out of bounds. 12:19 For example, consider the case of universalism. 12:22 This idea that in the end, 12:24 God is just too nice to punish sin 12:26 and so he saves absolutely everybody. 12:29 Now, to be fair to that idea, 12:32 universalism has been an attempt to respond 12:34 to the rather atrocious way that some Christians 12:37 have described the character of God. 12:39 They borrow concepts, some people, 12:41 from medieval superstitions, agnostic paganism, 12:44 instead of just teaching what the Bible actually says 12:47 about God. 12:48 And if the world is under the mistaken impression 12:50 that God is some kind of merciless tyrant 12:53 who enjoys torturing people who disagree, 12:56 we have nobody to blame but ourselves. 12:59 Because the picture we use is not at all the picture 13:02 you get when you read the whole book. 13:05 I guess you might say that during the dark ages, 13:07 we did a horrible job of marketing God 13:09 and we still haven't quite recovered from that. 13:13 But then sometimes, in an effort to correct it, 13:16 we develop a brand new image of God that goes way too far 13:19 the other way. 13:21 We find ourselves reluctant 13:22 to contradict modern sensibilities. 13:24 And so the Universalists are telling people, look, 13:27 you don't have to worry about anything, 13:29 because at the end of the story, 13:30 we all end up in the kingdom of God. 13:34 So in other words, 13:35 in order to counteract a twisted version of the gospel, 13:38 someone has concocted another twisted version 13:40 that also isn't true. 13:42 I mean, nothing could be plainer than the words of the Bible 13:46 than the fact that not everybody makes it to heaven. 13:49 It's not a comfortable subject, but it's absolutely true. 13:52 "Because narrow is the gate, Jesus taught, 13:55 and difficult is the way which leads to life. 13:57 And there are few who find it." 13:59 Now I know that sounds like exclusivity 14:02 as if God is being picky about who he accepts, 14:06 but again, the only way you can come to that conclusion 14:08 is to simply not read the entire book. 14:12 "Whosoever desires," the Book of Revelation says, 14:15 "let him take the water of life freely." 14:17 "Whoever believes in Him," Nicodemus learned, 14:20 "should not perish but have everlasting life." 14:23 So in other words, the gospel is open to everybody, 14:27 but not everybody is going to take advantage of it. 14:30 There will be some people who reject God, 14:33 and that's an important thing to grasp, 14:35 because God was willing to accept them 14:38 but they didn't want him. 14:40 So at the very end when all the decisions have been made, 14:42 we find a brokenhearted God saying, with tears in his eyes, 14:45 "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. 14:49 He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. 14:52 He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. 14:54 He who is holy, let him be holy still." 14:58 Universalism is a distortion of the way 15:00 the love of God is actually taught in the Bible. 15:03 And it's a distortion that comes from an attempt 15:05 to market God in a way that is more palatable 15:09 to a modern audience. 15:11 You and I live in a radically egalitarian society 15:14 that does not like the idea 15:15 that you might actually be capable of making life choices 15:18 that lead to negative consequences. 15:21 It's a rewrite of the gospel, and it's a problem, 15:24 because while it mitigates somebody's feelings, 15:28 it just isn't true. 15:29 And sometimes, 15:31 well, sometimes it's just more loving to be honest, 15:34 not brutal or judgemental, 15:35 which is what many Christians think honesty is, 15:39 and that's also a distortion of God's character, 15:42 but really just being honest. 15:44 Look, if this book is telling the truth and God is real, 15:47 then misleading people about what the Bible says 15:50 is hardly an act of love. 15:52 Here in the United States, a nation supposedly anchored 15:55 in the teachings of Christianity, 15:57 our attempts to market God have resulted in 15:59 what seems to be an endless list of gospel distortions. 16:03 For example, throughout the last half of the 20th century, 16:06 Christians conscripted Jesus 16:08 as the ultimate defender of capitalism, 16:11 and they made him into a man who was more interested 16:13 in your material prosperity 16:15 than he was in your spiritual wellbeing. 16:18 Prosperity preachers took a relatively good thing, 16:20 the Protestant work ethic, which teaches in part 16:23 that your daily work should be an active worship, 16:27 and they taught that it honors God to be diligent 16:29 about your labor. 16:30 That much I can agree with, 16:32 because there's just no question that the Bible talks about 16:35 earning your keep and preparing for the future. 16:38 And of course, diligence and hard work 16:40 can lead to relative prosperity. 16:44 But the prosperity preachers have gone way beyond that. 16:47 They've made material prosperity 16:49 a testing truth and the very heart of the gospel. 16:54 And the way some of these guys talk about it, 16:56 you'd think that Jesus came to make us wealthy and popular 17:00 and good looking. 17:01 It produced what some people call 17:03 the name it and claimant movement, 17:05 which is really hard to distinguish 17:07 from the mystical teachings of people 17:08 like Napoleon Hill or Rhonda Byrne. 17:12 People who suggest that the universe is somehow obliged 17:15 to bring you whatever good things you ask for. 17:18 In the 1970s and 80s, we saw preachers telling people 17:21 that God wants everybody to be wealthy. 17:24 And of course at the same time, 17:26 they also suggested that if you wanted to be rich, 17:27 you should probably send them a donation, 17:30 but that'd be a story for another day. 17:32 When prosperity preachers were in their heyday 17:35 just a few years ago, 17:36 if somebody said America was a Christian nation, 17:39 they didn't mean it was anchored in Christian principles 17:42 or that it grew out of the Christianity 17:45 that came from Western Europe. 17:47 They meant that Jesus was some kind of captain of industry, 17:50 and the Bible is some kind of motivational seminar, 17:53 which is an idea that can really appeal to our 17:56 sense of pride, because if godliness equals success, 18:02 well then you'd never have to bathe yourself 18:03 in the muddy waters of the Jordan, would you? 18:05 And now I've gotta take another quick break, 18:07 but hang in there, because 18:09 if I haven't managed to step on your theological toes 18:11 quite yet, I probably will. 18:13 I'll be right back after this. 18:39 - [Narrator] Every year and fresh content every week. 18:42 There's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:49 - Prosperity preaching was hardly 18:50 the only distortion of the gospel 18:52 that we witnessed over the last 100 years or so 18:55 because we also saw the rise to the Christian right, 18:58 who somehow missed that bit where Jesus said 19:01 "His kingdom is not of this world." 19:04 They were driven by something called dominion theology, 19:08 which teaches that the role of Christians, 19:10 especially here in America, is to seize the reins of power 19:14 and use civil government to usher in the Kingdom of Christ. 19:18 Apparently, the way they described it, 19:20 Jesus essentially came to help us run for office. 19:23 But it wasn't just Christians on the right 19:25 who were doing this. 19:27 We've also seen other people recruiting Jesus 19:29 to the cause of Karl Marx. 19:31 Back in the 1960s, people took Jesus' insistence 19:34 that we care for the poor, which is a good thing, 19:37 and they suddenly made him into some kind of 19:39 social liberator, a freedom fighter toting an AK47 19:43 through the jungles of Central America. 19:45 Then in more recent history, 19:47 we had all these memes populating social media 19:50 telling us Jesus was an arch socialist, 19:52 to the point where some people 19:54 actually started comparing Bernie Sanders to Christ himself 19:57 suggesting he was some kind of new Jewish Messiah. 20:01 And I only wish I was kidding. 20:03 So we've had Jesus the Republican, Jesus the Democrat, 20:08 Jesus the businessman, and Jesus the freedom fighter, 20:10 and Jesus the gun rights advocate, 20:13 and Jesus the social justice warrior. 20:16 But what we haven't seen a lot of in recent decades 20:19 is the Jesus of the gospels. 20:22 "If anyone preaches any other gospel to you 20:25 than what you have received," Paul warned, 20:27 "let him be accursed." 20:29 In other words, it is not a trivial matter 20:31 to tinker with the essential message of the Bible. 20:34 Do not take some small aspect of what Jesus taught 20:38 and blow it out of proportion 20:39 to support your political ideology. 20:42 If God is real and the Bible is true 20:45 and Jesus really is the son of God, 20:47 then you and I have absolutely no business 20:50 tinkering with any of this. 20:52 It's far better to teach people to read this whole book 20:56 and look at all the data in here as it relates to the cross. 21:00 Of course, understanding the atonement 21:03 and how it is that the gift of Christ saves us, 21:06 that's not an easy task. 21:07 And so we're bound to come up short 21:09 anytime we try to summarize the essence of the gospel. 21:13 And what sometimes happens 21:14 is that we'll discover something important about Jesus, 21:17 something that is absolutely true, 21:21 but we'll promote that idea as if it's the entire story. 21:25 We make it a matter of either or 21:27 and we start to cram the magnificence of the cross 21:30 into tiny manmade boxes. 21:34 Let me give you an example from a 12th century philosopher 21:38 by the name of Peter Abelard. 21:40 In his attempt to understand the cross in the atonement, 21:42 he came up with something known as moral influence theory, 21:46 which taught that there was no real penalty for sin, 21:49 no legal obligation or debt that we incurred 21:52 when we sinned against God. 21:54 What the cross did, he said, 21:56 was simply show us how much God loves us, 21:59 and that, he said, 22:00 would change our minds about committing sins. 22:03 Now, there's a degree of truth to what he said. 22:06 The cross does reveal the loving character of God, 22:09 and it has a way of shredding our allegiance to sin. 22:13 Once we realized that sin made us capable 22:16 of murdering God's son 22:17 and he was willing to go through with it 22:19 in order to save us, well, that's a game changer. 22:22 It really does change the way we think. 22:26 But Abelard essentially insisted 22:28 that that was the only thing the cross accomplished, 22:31 and that's just not true. 22:33 Modern proponents of his theory will tell you 22:35 that God never punishes sin because he's just too nice, 22:39 and they'll insist that we did not incur any kind of 22:41 moral debt when we violated God's moral law. 22:45 Jesus didn't pay for anything at the cross, they'll say. 22:48 He was just showing you how much he loves you 22:50 and how willing he is to forgive. 22:54 But that's not the whole picture, 22:55 because it really ignores 22:57 a lot of the things we find in the New Testament. 22:59 Abelard objected to the notion 23:01 that Jesus paid some kind of ransom to save us because, 23:05 well, some medieval theologians had twisted the idea 23:07 of the atonement to suggest that somehow 23:10 Jesus had to pay the Devil to save us, 23:13 which would kind of make the Devil 23:14 into an equal player with God. 23:16 So I get it, that's a reprehensible idea, 23:20 but to reject the entire notion of moral debt or ransom 23:23 isn't biblical either, 23:24 because it's undoubtedly a part of the story. 23:27 "The Son of Man did not come to be served," the Bible says, 23:30 "but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many." 23:35 There's just no way around it. 23:37 The Greek word Matthew uses to describe this ransom 23:40 is Lutron, and Lutron is literally the price you would pay 23:44 to redeem a prisoner or a slave. 23:47 Over in Colossians 2, Paul tells us that Jesus, 23:50 "Wiped out the handwriting of requirements 23:53 that was against us." 23:54 And the Greek word in that passage is Cheirographon, 23:57 which is literally a certificate of debt. 24:00 It's what they would put over the door of your prison cell 24:02 to describe your debt to society. 24:04 Shawn is a thief and he owes us five years of prison. 24:08 But Jesus took that certificate pulses 24:11 and nailed it to the cross. 24:12 In other words, he marked it as complete. 24:16 Paid in full. 24:18 So in reality, both concepts are true. 24:21 Jesus died a humiliating public death 24:24 to demonstrate his love for us, which is what Paul says 24:27 in Romans 5:8, and he died to pay our debt, 24:31 which is what Paul also teaches. 24:34 Of course, it's always tempting 24:35 to play up the love part of the story 24:37 and downplay the part about sin because, 24:40 well, that makes us more comfortable. 24:41 It just feels like better marketing. 24:44 But what if it's not the truth? 24:47 I'll be right back after this. 24:51 [dramatic music] 24:52 - [Narrator] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 24:56 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 25:01 If you've ever read Daniel Revelation 25:03 and come away scratching your head, you are not alone. 25:06 Our free focus on prophecy guides 25:08 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 25:11 and deepen your understanding of God's plan 25:14 for you and our world. 25:15 Study online or request them by mail 25:18 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 25:22 - I know I'm almost certainly stepping on toes today, 25:24 and I'm bound to get some letters, 25:25 so I should probably tell you 25:27 that I'm really not interested in debating. 25:29 I'm just urging people to check your assumptions 25:32 and get in the habit of reading the whole Bible 25:34 because the impact of the cross is far more reaching 25:38 than most people suspect. 25:40 And given Paul's warnings about tampering with the gospel, 25:43 I'd suggest that we exercise a lot of caution 25:46 to be sure that we're really portraying Jesus 25:49 the way the Bible does. 25:50 Over the centuries, there have been a lot of theories 25:53 about how the atonement really works. 25:55 In addition to Abelard's theory, 25:57 we've also got this idea known as Christus Victor, 25:59 which says that Christ defeated the Devil at the cross 26:02 by overwhelming him with the principle of love. 26:05 And then of course, 26:06 we've also got the idea of penal substitution, 26:08 which says that Jesus took the penalty for my sin 26:11 on himself. 26:12 And then we have some other ideas. 26:15 And what happens is that people will adopt 26:17 one of those theories as if it's the whole story 26:20 to the exclusion of everything else. 26:22 And sometimes that happens 26:24 when we're trying to market God to the public. 26:26 We try to pick and choose what we say 26:27 in order to make the tough parts of the Bible 26:29 more palatable. 26:31 But it's hard to evade the seriousness of the situation. 26:35 The wages of sin is death and God's son had to die 26:39 if we were going to be saved. 26:41 It's not the easiest thing to hear because if you accept it, 26:45 it means taking a bath in the muddy waters of the Jordan. 26:49 It means humbling yourself 26:50 and admitting that you're wrong and that you're helpless. 26:54 In defiance of that, I've met people who love to teach 26:57 that we have to work our way to perfection 26:59 if we want to be saved 27:00 and they point to the principle of sanctification, 27:03 which really does say that God will change you 27:06 and help you become more Christlike. 27:08 There's no question about it. 27:10 To follow Jesus means becoming more like him. 27:13 But then some people twist that 27:14 suggesting that you can work your way to perfection, 27:17 and that's still an attempt to evade the Jordan River. 27:20 Because in the final analysis, 27:22 it's always easier to imagine you can achieve great things 27:26 than it is to humble yourself. 27:28 Great deeds, after all, do not require humility 27:31 or submission or repentance. 27:34 When you discount reality, it's like a medical patient 27:37 who refuses to believe they have a terminal disease. 27:40 They're not gonna take the drastic measures they need 27:43 like amputation or chemotherapy 27:45 or whatever that's required to save you. 27:48 So I guess my counsel is this. 27:49 Just read the whole book and be very careful 27:52 before you discount the uncomfortable parts, 27:55 because they might just be the truth that you need. 27:58 So maybe it's time for Christians to stop marketing God 28:01 and just let him speak for himself. 28:04 Thanks for joining me this week. 28:06 I'm Shawn Boonstra and this has been "Authentic". 28:09 [jaunty music] |
Revised 2023-03-08