Secondary issues are placed in pulpits along with opinions and the Gospel is neglected. Having been called to pastoral ministry, my calling and what God wishes for me to do is preach the Gospel. When someone told one of the greatest preachers in history, Charles Spurgeon, his messages all sounded alike, his response was simple. He replied he read the text and made a bee-line to the cross. Our churches need more pastors with a heart for evangelism as well as a love for the lost as Mr. Spurgeon had.
The people from a certain church recently protested Billy Graham here in Asheville. They have their signs that say God hates and at the bottom they have some group of people listed. I also have had the misfortune of seeing people from other places come into Asheville and "preach" to people downtown with bullhorns and other media saying that God hates and the list is long. If these people are correct, I'm doomed. So are you. However, I know that they are incorrect and have overlooked a crucial part of who God is. His very name is Love. Even in the most quoted verse of the Bible (John 3:16), it states that "God so loved the world". It doesn't say God loves this group, but not that group, this denomination, but not them because their music is too loud. It says God loves the world. That's everybody. He loves me and He loves you. He doesn't care what you have done in your past. He knows about it, so don't be fooled, but He loves you anyhow. Even that stuff that no one knows about, He knows and He loves you.
On the other end of the spectrum are the health, wealth and prosperity people who believe that God will give you good vibes, euphoria and everything you heart desires if you follow Him. They are correct in a sense, but their timing happens to be a little off. Jesus and His followers were persecuted. Hated. They were often times homeless and hungry. They were beaten, imprisoned and left for dead. We are told though that when we have finished the race, given our lives, not 10% of our lives (just our money) to Christ, we then will receive the health, wealth and prosperity of spending eternity with our Savior.
I want to wrap this up by telling a story. Soon after the resurrection of Christ, the Jewish hierarchy was pretty ticked off. There was a group of people that just would not let this Jesus thing go. They were growing larger despite the opposition and the Roman empire breathing down their neck. The Jews were convinced that this Jesus was trying to overthrow their comfort zone (and He was). They paired up with the Romans and convinced the Romans that this Jesus movement would create an uproar to make the Romans look bad. Neither group could allow that to happen. They knew of this Jewish rabbi who had studied with the best. He was also a killer. They sent him from town to town like the Orkin man to exterminate these Christians. He was on a mission from God, or so he thought. That is until a once dead Jesus stopped him. On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul and changed his heart and his mission. Now known as Paul, this revolutionary was key to the early church and it's growth. Paul didn't give Jesus part of his life, or part of himself. He gave it all. Everything Paul did was for the church and the message of the scandalous grace of the Gospel. In my head, I picture the Romans would approach Paul and say, "stop spreading this Jesus or we will kill you". His reply was, "to die is gain". Frustrated, they would say, "ok, we'll leave you alone". "To live is Christ", he would say. Even more frustrated with this guy having the uncanny knack for getting under their skin, they would say, "fine, we'll beat you and throw you into prison". Paul would laugh and calmly say, "that's fine, just give me a song book and I'll sing then lead your guards to Jesus". He was unstoppable! You have to love Paul. But Paul's life was about Jesus. He lived out what it meant to take up your cross and follow Jesus.
I leave you stating that I have made some big mistakes in my life. Even on my best days, I still come short of the standard of Christ. But, so do you and that puts us in the same place of emptiness. God works on a pass/fail grading scale. We all start with a failing grade. This guy Jesus that I've been talking about, He's our ticket to pass. Christ lived a perfect life to be the blameless replacement for us. It's kind of like that report we did in school. We received an F on it, but when Jesus was on the cross, he put His name on our paper and gave us His paper. Jesus, on the cross, took all of the mistakes I made and all of the areas where we don't make the grade, and exchanged them for His perfection. He only asks that we do one thing, we surrender. We give up our hopes, dreams and well, everything to Him. We get rid of our plan for life that in the end would be ridiculous and messed up leaving us in a pile of hopelessness and we embrace His plan. It won't be easy, and we will still mess up, but He knows. We will still have daily struggles and issues, but He loves us regardless. People will hate our message and hate us, but that's ok too. They hated Jesus, but He overcame them. The Good News about this is we don't have to change ourselves first. We just have to surrender. Daily. In the end, if we surrender, His love for us wins. It conquers our anxiety, addictions, bad habits and imperfections. If we don't surrender to Christ, we keep our F and we are doomed. However, with His love, it is never too late. You can never be too far from Him to receive His grace. He's looking for you and pursuing you relentlessly. He is waiting on you and waiting to place that passing grade on your permanent record. His grace covers us, His love for us never fails and it is so sweet. Love wins.
