Gospel Gravy

These days it seems more and more like the Gospel is in need of serious help by human creativity and reasoning. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for anything that will help this generation pay closer attention to the Good News, but we are seeing a trend that would operate under the assumption that the Gospel is no longer strong enough to stand on its own. There is now a feeling that if we don’t “spice things up” then people will no longer be interested in Jesus and His saving power. This is where we see promises being made that were never given in the Word like “come to Jesus and He will make your life better\great” along with the preaching of many positioning Jesus as a self-help guru who can make your life more successful and prosperous.

Then there is the whole line of thinking that says we need to get out in the mainstream where the masses are by using the traditional tools of the world to entice people into the things of God. There is nothing wrong with getting out into the mainstream where the masses are but when you pollute the message or compromise the standards of Christ in order to get the message out there then what have you really accomplished but to mix the things of the spirit with the things of the flesh?

What am i saying in all this? I’m saying that we must be careful not to pour the gravy of the flesh over the meat of the Word. In an attempt to get the world to accept the Lord jesus, we have drowned out conviction and the message of turning from sin and turning to God in humility and holiness. The answer to reaching this generation is not lowering the standard so everyone can fit over it! The answer is to make the message known in all its power so that those who are hungry may eat of this life-giving bread. Jesus said if you don’t eat of His flesh and drink of His blood then you will not have any part with Him. Many were offended by this and left Him at this point (Jn. 6:53,66).

Let us be careful that we do not get so “relevant” with our message that we no longer are being true to the real message of Christ. It is very easy to justify the ambitious pursuits of the flesh with the banner of “reaching people” but is this really the pursuit of souls by heralding the narrow way or just a cover up for our own desire to be known and accepted by the world?

When It all comes down to it, we are still the propagators of a Narrow Way. There will never be widespread acceptance and applause of the true Gospel. If so, then we have abandoned the real message of repentance and holiness for a new gospel that is more appealing to the masses and lacks any power to save them from sin and self. Let us stop pouring the gravy of flesh and compromise over the purity of Christ’s message. Let us stop thinking in our own vain imaginations that we are “reaching people” when in reality we are just watering down the convicting power of the Gospel.

Acts 2:36-37 “So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, WHOM YOU CRUCIFIED, to be both Lord and Messiah!” Peter’s words PIERCED THEIR HEARTS, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”