2 posts tagged “glorious”
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Although I have read them many times, these verses struck me in a different way today. I have recently been reading a book called The Great Exchange (which is quite good) by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington and I came across this:
"Paul was convinced that foreign matter or rhetorical refinement would only serve to distract from the message of the cross and thereby subvert the gospel. He was also convinced that the gospel had absolute sufficiency in itself to bring conviction to the sinner's conscience and salvation to the sinner's soul. The true gospel required no embellishment and no sugarcoating to make it easier for the masses to swallow. It required no rhetorical grease to slide it past the resistance of those opposed to its message. To Paul, such modifications only cause men to value style over substance and to glorify man, the messenger, above Christ, the message."
How often does this happen in our churches? Are we asking the wrong questions when we plan our services? Too often it seems that we are asking "Is this cool?" before we ask "Is this clear?" This is something that we need to repent of - myself included. This doesn't mean that every church will look exactly the same. Churches must be relevant to the culture they find themselves in, but clarity of the gospel must take primacy over hipness of the presentation.
I know this is something that is fairly obvious, but I find myself increasingly frustrated by the lack of clear gospel preaching in many churches. Don't assume that this is coming from just another cynical college student either, I say this sincerely out of my love for the Bride of Christ, hoping that we can reclaim the center of our mission in this world.
But the cross does even more. Thank you Jesus.
