Christian Living
What is wrong with this paragraph?
God loves you. Jesus died so that your sins could be forgiven. However, even though you are forgiven you do still sin. Because of what God has done, many think that everything is alright. But as a Christian you must repent of sin daily. You must live a holy life, for God is holy. You are not condemned, but as a sinner everything is not alright. Sin is always bad whether you are a believer, or not. Let’s talk about what exactly it means to live morally upright, and to live a holy life before God….
What was wrong with that paragraph? The answer is that, though the whole paragraph is true, most of it is sometimes crossed out, or neglected to be mentioned, and the remainder is emphasized. This is a problem not only in this paragraph, but also in many churches today. Sure, the stuff that is emphasized is certainly true, and the paragraph is not incorrect, but it is incomplete. So it is with the teaching of the gospel and biblical doctrine in many churches.
Are we missing something here?
Many Christians know exactly what I’m talking about when I say that certain parts of the paragraph are emphasized while others are crossed out. Many of us have attended, or heard of, a church where God’s love is emphasized and words like “repent”, or “live in holiness” are never spoken. Many churches teach the love of God and forgiveness weekly (which they should!), but leave a person wondering “are we missing something here”? We truly are missing something here; we are missing many crucial points of biblical doctrine!
Sadly, many Pastors never touch on topics such as repentance (or especially continual repentance), Christian living/moral uprightness, etc. Since I do not know what others think, or what their motivations and intentions are, I can only offer some opinions on why some don’t speak on many important issues:
A Pastor may not intend to “avoid” important topics at all, but is so consumed with the love that God has that he puts all focus on that love. This Pastor has a great interest and focus on the most important characteristic of God! But should include the whole of scripture.
A Pastor may be concerned with an increase in church attendees, and because of the desire may choose to avoid “tough” topics. This Pastor should probably not worry about the number of people, but instead be concerned about the spiritual health of the number that do attend.
A Pastor may practice those things that he fails to mention, but worries about, dare I say it, offending someone. This Pastor should realize that as humans, we all sin, and there will be times that scripture and God will humble us and show us what we are doing wrong. We should be challenged when it comes to our sin and we should be challenged to live more holy. If in our life (whether Christian or not) we do not feel corrected, challenged, and disciplined, then something must be terribly wrong.
A Pastor may not even practice those things that he fails to mention in his own life. There are many who are interested in God and theology, but never know him. There are many people who love the Bible as a literary piece of art, but do not live according to what they read in it. This Pastor needs prayer, and most importantly, needs Jesus.
And The Results Are?
Many things result from Christians in churches not hearing these things that are so last century. First of all, they are not being taught the fullness of the gospel. This is a problem for all Christians, but especially to those who are recently saved because from the moment of salvation on they do not hear these things. They may see these things in the Bible, but they need to know what they mean; anyone can see what the Bible says, but what those words mean is far more important.
Secondly, after hearing only “positive”, “warm and fuzzy” mentions of the gospel without conviction, correction, and challenge, can result in a self-righteous, religious person that only goes through the motions without the spiritual health and depth.
Finally, the Pastor who avoids teaching the fullness of the gospel is not only hurting and holding back from his congregation (who he is responsible for teaching and leading in the ways of God), he is also failing to do a portion of what God wills. Scripture is clear that those who teach will be judged with greater strictness (James 3:1).
Let’s pray for these churches and Pastors, that God would lead them in knowing and teaching all of the gospel and that they would withhold nothing that the people need to hear!
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Very true..... God bless you for sharing this, Jeremiah.
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