Are We Preaching A Sufficient Gospel?

I fully realize that there are many ways to try to quantify and assess church growth and health. However, in many circles it is done through numbers--baptisms, attendance, Sunday School, giving, etc. Some of them raise questions, some of the questions are never asked.

A story of the growth of a rural church was carried in a recent denominational publication. I am going to try to change the numbers some so as not to identify the publication, the article or the church, but not so much that they will fail to capture my point. It raises, or better, fails to raise a very significant question.

A season of growth began in this church 16 years ago. Their attendance was under 50. In the last three years, they have baptized 324 people. The current attendance is 425. Anyone see a problem here?

This is not the graph from the church in this blog

Here is a deadly serious question the church should be asking (if I was pastor, I would be asking it of my preaching): if the gospel we preach and invite people to respond to is not producing lasting results of discipleship, were the hundreds of professions over 16 years of people that cannot be found legitimate? Are we lulling people into a false security? Have we lowered the bar too low? The gospel that Jesus preached didn't have many false professions; it had people who followed hard or turned away because the path was too hard. The only thing that could be construed as a similar experience to the teaching or experience of Jesus is the parable of sower. How you interpret the middle two soils is for another blog post on another day.

The gospel is not complicated, nor are we called to make it that way. However, the road that leads to salvation is straight, narrow, and difficult, and we are called to issue a clear message of followership that includes genuine repentance, self-denial, cross-bearing, obedience, and radical savoring, treasuring, and loving Jesus Christ. Is your church seeing baptisms, is a question that should be asked. Are those baptized taking up their cross, this question is only rarely asked, and even more seldom addressed if the answer is no.

We must begin asking that question, lest we go down with churches that Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nazi-imprisoned pastor, said were feasting on the carcasses of cheap grace.

" We Lutherans have gathered like the eagles around the carcass of cheap grace, and there we have drunk of the poison which has killed the life of following Christ…What had happened to all those warnings of Luther's against preaching the gospel in such a manner as to make men rest secure in their ungodly living?  Cheap grace has turned out to be utterly merciless to our Evangelical Church." (p. 54}

"This cheap grace has been no less disastrous to our own spiritual lives. . .  Instead of calling us to follow Christ, it has hardened us in our disobedience. . .  Having laid hold on cheap grace, they were barred for ever from the knowledge of costly grace.  Deceived and weakened, men felt that they were strong now that they were in possession of this cheap grace – whereas they had in fact lost the power to live the life of discipleship and obedience.  The word of cheap grace has been the ruin of more Christians than any commandment of works."

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man’ will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Just a Few Feet from Possible Death

Had an experience this morning that made me think. I was walking to work this morning about 6:00, and it was still dark, but light was coming. Someone had left a little tiny kitten on my porch (that's another blog), and so after I turned on the water sprinkler on the garden, and headed for the office. Two of my cats (Cremesicle and Lola) began to follow me over there. When I looked up, and noticed a medium size animal on the other side of the church building under the streetlight.

I had seen a fox a week or so back, but couldn't really tell what this was in the dark from that distance, so I began my approach. Closer I got, I realized it was that fox (I guess it was the same one). And it was just aimlessly walking around under the light. Fascinated, I watched some, then began to creep up the edge of the building where he couldn't see me. And my cats faithfully, or blindly, followed me.

I got right up to the corner of the building (about 35 yards from the fox), and watched. Then my fearless (or stupid) cat, Cremesicle, finally saw the fox, and he thought he better go investigate. Now I am wondering if curiosity was going to kill the cat! But my curiosity got the better of me, because I wanted to see what would happen (I was going to rescue him if he needed it).

The fox didn't see the cat until Cremey was about half way between us. He looked a little puzzled, and Cremey got down ready for the pounce. By this time I was a little worried, so I drew my trusty 9mm, just in case. From 30 yards, that fox would have a sporting chance with only a three inch barrel on my Taurus 709, but he better watch out!

The fox came closer to the cat, and kinda circled him. I could take a few more steps that way toward the very edge of the building (the AC unit had been in front of me). So I am ready, Cremey is ready, and the fox is looking stumped. He is cautiously approaching the cat (there was about 10 feet between them). But then he caught a glimpse of me; probably my face in the glow of the light. Then you could tell he went from puzzled to alert.

Since I was busted, I figured it was time to put an end to the curiosity (from all parties). So I stood up, and began walking toward the fox. That was it, he was outta there! And I watched him run over into the adjoining field, looking back every now and then to see if I was still there. So maybe I will see him again. It was a really exhilarating experience.

But as I reflected on it all, this was my thought: he didn't know how close he might have been to getting shot and killed. And I wondered how many times God protected me, had mercy on me, rescued me from myself... How many times had death been so close, and I just did not realize it? How close was eternal punishment to me before grace intervened?

"But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses...for by grace you have been saved..." - Ephesians 2

Even today, with the sin in my life from last week, God's mercy has given me breath. Just thankful for His sovereignty and His loving-kindness (mercy)! Has he been merciful to you? Have you thanked Him for it today?

"Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." Ps 136:1-26

What would you say if you were dying next month?

This is an amazing testimony of a wife and mother of two who has terminal cancer. We should be thankful that we serve a God who is sufficient for all these things. Thank God as well for sufferers that suffer well, and champion the magnificence and sufficiency of our Christ! It is a long testimony, but well worth the time. Pray for Rachel Barkley, her husband, and two children as they trust in a sovereign God through this situation--that Christ be glorified in human frailty and transformed lives of believers.