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In order to correctly proclaim God’s gospel to the world, His people must accurately understand His word.
THE GOSPEL presentation has in recent years become grossly tarnished. The “good news” of Jesus Christ is being delivered in a manner that actually accommodates the self-absorbed desires of sinful man rather than exposing them for what they truly are, entirely depraved.
There is this notion within certain ‘evangelical’ circles today that if we adapt the truth of the gospel message with the aim of making it more acceptable or comfortable to the target audience, we will “win more lost souls to Jesus.” Such attempts produce nothing more than false converts.
The noisy proponents of such a thought are none other than those who carry the title of pastor and stand behind the pulpit (although most of them stand alongside of, or walk around it); if of course they allow the sacred desk onto their stage of ‘innovation’.
Such ‘originality’ is swiftly making its way into the already man-centered churches of America with great applause and acceptance. With little or no resistance, these ideologies are being installed into the evangelism facet of many church ministries.
The sword that cuts through the dark, hard, heart of unredeemed mankind is the gospel rightly heralded, not some modified version that is sure to be less offensive. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16).
J.I Packer insightfully warns us: “We are not commanded to alter or revise the gospel in order to make it more palatable to the modern mind. That would be treachery to Christ. Our business is to present the Christian faith clothed in modern terms, not to propagate modern thought clothed in Christian terms. Our business is to interpret and criticize modern thought by the gospel, not vice versa. Confusion here is fatal.”
The attempt to adapt to modern thought in hope of evangelizing is not only arrogant, but even more so, a powerless and meaningless endeavor.
And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4-5).
Packer comments on Paul’s speech: “That was the point of Paul’s protest against the Corinthian desire to arrange a marriage between the gospel of Christ crucified and the ‘wisdom of words’ of the Greek tradition. The gospel, as he insisted, makes foolish the wisdom of this world – that is, it shows the bankruptcy of proud, self-sufficient reason and condemns it; and his own method of preaching the gospel was deliberately designed to wean aspiring philosophers from reliance on their reason and shut them up to humble, self – distrustful dependence on God’s Word and Spirit for light and understanding.”
In order to be spirit empowered heralds of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, it is vital that we know the meaning of Scripture. To know the meaning of Scripture, we must study the Scripture. Paul instructed his young protégé, Timothy to, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15). Timothy’s responsibility with respect to “the Truth” is a term that means, literally “to cut straight.”
As you go out with the good news of Jesus Christ, study and “cut it straight” to the world.
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