"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4-10)
No don't start reading this yet. Go back and read that passage again. It’s a long passage with a lot to it so take the time to read through it one more time. Read it carefully. I'll wait...go ahead and read it again.
Ok now that we've read through this passage a couple times I want to ask a question: Is this the gospel message that we are confessing in our preaching? Is this the message the evangelical church is proclaiming to the world? I am just not sure that the gospel I so frequently hear taught today matches with what I read above. I do not question the passion or love of Christ in the message taught. But I am forced to consider if we are correctly presenting the good news of salvation.
This passage above may be very common to many in the church, but it is not one that is presented to the world very often. This sad fact is simply because most of us, as evangelicals, are to afraid to stray away from the comfort of our worn path of the "Roman's Road" and the crutch of John 3:16. Now I am not denouncing the importance or effectiveness of these God breathed verses. I am however, attempting to express the importance and effectiveness of the rest of scripture (II Timothy 3:16-17). Why do we neglect so much of the Word of God? It is a problem in the lives of many professing believers. It is a problem that is perpetuated by pastors who do not teach the bible and who preach what the church wants to hear rather than what they need to hear. The church has resorted to a David Letterman view of scripture and its gospel. We have a Top 10 of important verses picked out and view the rest as unnecessary for evangelism or spiritual growth. The rest is for pastors and biblical scholars. This cannot be! We must have a gospel that is founded in scripture...ALL of scripture!
Today's gospel seems to find its theme in human responsibility. We are preaching a message that urges people to recognize their role in acquiring salvation (-"God is waiting on you if you will just make the decision." -"Christ died for you so won't you now seek him out and make today the day that you come to him"). And then we glorify man on his achievement in obtaining that salvation. Is this the gospel of scripture? Is this the gospel of grace?
What is more important to the cause of the gospel (reaching souls for Christ)? Is it the message or the method in which the message is presented? Whether you admit it or not, to most of the church it is the latter. We are so proud of all our tried and true methods. We boast in our youth camps and our church revivals and our Easter plays. Again, I am not denouncing the effectiveness of these tools. But we cannot ever present a gospel where the method out weighs the message. We have lost our faith in the redemptive power of the Word of God. We have put more faith in the work of man than in the work of the Holy Spirit. We must desperately turn and run from this way of thinking. The church spends so much wasted time in meetings and planning sessions on new inventive ways of culturally presenting the gospel to the world. We must lose this unbiblical gospel dependant on human responsibility.
Upon whom is salvation dependant? Is it on man or God? Let us look again at our passage above (last time I promise). Most of this passage is written in, what your eighth grade teacher would call, passive voice. What this means is that if we are the subject of the sentences then the actions are being done to us not by us. We are not the initiators and sustainers of the actions. Someone else is doing the action. In this case God is the actor. God loved us. God made us alive. God raised us up. God seated us with Him. God saved us. We are not responsible for surrendering to grace. God by his grace surrenders us. Why do we insist on preaching a gospel that puts the responsibility on man, an utterly depraved and sinful creature? Let us unite in proclaiming the gospel that puts the power and the glory of salvation solely on He who deserves it. Let us focus our faith away from our methods and focus them intently on Jesus Christ and the saving power found in the message of His gospel.
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