After reading the last post by Jason, it really made me think about how I might portray my own faith and in how I tell others about it. Too often within the church people attempt to give the illusion that they are on fire for the Lord and that everything is perfect. The place where we are to bear each other’s burdens, we give off the perception that everything is fine. Is this an issue of trust within the church? Or is it an issue of lack of faith? The inability of the church? I don’t know, but it’s wrong. I just wish we could be more the church from the book of Acts.
I also loved the part of Jason’s essay regarding suffering. Paul said that there is a problem if we do not receive persecution for our faith. The world will hate us, but we need to remember to be “in the world but not of the world.” We are called to proclaim the truth boldly. We are not called to sit back and be comfortable in an attempt to not offend anyone by imposing our beliefs on them. This is something that I struggle with at times. If I know the truth and I know of others who do not…why do I passively sit by and say nothing? As Jason pointed out, the prosperity gospel feeds this type of lukewarm behavior. Those that buy into this heresy are self-centered people who do not care about the furtherance of the gospel, but only for the blessings of Christ in their own life.
Isn’t that a great excerpt from John Piper’s message? What a great man of the faith. Between his preaching, his writing, his speaking around the world, his podcasts, and his discipleship, that man is actively pursuing to know of the sovereignty of God. I am forced to ask myself if I am willing to go to those lengths to know Christ? Too often I become content at where I am…reading the Bible inconsistently, at times unfocused during sermons, and simply not being the “hands and feet” of Christ. It is my prayer to daily become more of a Micah 6:8 Christian, to “…act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with my God.”
In his book Confessions by Augustine (which I haven’t read in completion yet), he said that he did not become a Christian based on feelings or emotions, he became a Christian because he believed it to be the truth. How often do we present the Gospel like that? Not enough! Instead we feel that in order to make the Gospel more appealing, we must add our own touches…our fog machines, our contemporary music, our own sense of being culturally relevant. Instead of adding to the Gospel presentation, we cloud it and muddle it. We dirty the true Gospel with our pathetic attempts at spreading it. Why can’t I be more like D.L. Moody? Once I read a book on D.L. Moody and was astounded by his faith. How he would walk the streets and gather kids up and go to teach them about Jesus. Would I be willing to do that (granted, that might be a bit odd if I walked around town rounding up kids)? Why don’t we have faith to rely on the moving of the Holy Spirit? Why don’t we present the truth of the Gospel and allow the Holy Spirit to prompt the hearts of people? Apparently we (including myself) feel that we need to do our own thing to get other people to believe. That is where the prosperity gospel is derived from, an attempt at making Christianity more appealing. Attempting to make the church “cool” is a dangerous place to be. Ever since the Noah, following God has never been easy, comfortable, or free from trials. We are told by James to consider it pure joy when we face trials. These trials build our faith.
Thanks for writing that, Jason. It was a great reminder and also quite convicting. You’re a great man and I’m blessed to know you.
Because of Him,
J. Hylander
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