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3 thoughts on “Don’t Assume the Gospel, Preach it Constantly”

1. Very good! enough said.

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2. I read some philosophy stuff this weekend. It was given to me by my wifes relatives. The part I read was on Voltaire. He essentially said that he believed in God but not in theology. To me that makes perfect sense. As what this guy says is that theology is preached more than belief.

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3. Don’t know anything about Votaire except what you just said. According to Wikipedia, theology is the study of God or Christianity. Hard to understand believing in something but not wanting to study it.
   But this video isn’t about theology as much as it’s about what so many churches do and why it drives folks away. Certainly, the ICOC did some of it.
   They assume that Jesus is king, that he died for our sins and that everyone here knows that. Now, based on that assumption, we don’t talk about it any more. Instead, we talk about morality. God wants you to double date and tithe and give special contribution and not to smoke or cuss or sleep with another that’s not your wife and on and on. And folks learn that following God is doing these things and not doing those things.
   Plain and simple, that doesn’t work. For one, we can’t follow it nor can those who teach it. So, we get discouraged and the teachers look like hypocrites.
   Secondly, and more importantly, God didn’t come and die to give us a rule book for successful living. The crux of the gospel is that we are utterly lost in sin and we cannot save ourselves. And so Jesus came to make us pure, to wash away our stains. The good news is we have been redeemed and perfected by Him.
   That news needs to be preached over and over again, because we fail over and over and we forget over and over that we have a redeemer or that we need one. The irony is that we are reminded daily of our short comings, but instead of allowing them to point us back to Jesus for redemption, the church points us back to ourselves to change and follow more devoutly or more sold-out-ly.
   The Gospel is the story of our ever present need for salvation met by His perfect sacrifice of attonement. It cannot be assumed, it must be preached constantly. Our imperfection is not a result of a lack of commitment, it’s a function of who we are – sinners. It is meant to point us back, continually, to the only one who can save us.
   Not sure if I’m contradicting you or not, but I’ve become rather passionate on this point of late.

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