Are you tired of the Word?
Perhaps the greatest trouble facing the Church today is our tendency to grow tired of the Word, and lose interest in the gospel, so that we seek out theologies and programs and excitement that, while not necessarily bad in and of themselves, are often based more on the world than they are on the Word. And so I ask you this morning, are you tired of the Word? Have you lost interest in the gospel?
Toward the end of the last century, American evangelicals became fascinated by end times particulars, hosting prophecy conferences and often undermining their pulpits through politics associated with holding various views. Toward the beginning of this century, a phenomenon now known as ‘New Calvinism’ swept across the younger generation in our country, focusing on the doctrine of election to the exclusion of robust ecclesiological considerations. And now, since roughly the beginning of this decade, otherwise theologically conservative evangelicals have tipped their hats to the teachings of so-called ‘social justice,’ which is a term historically associated with a Marxist worldview and the Critical Race Theory which currently dominates most higher academic institutions. Now, the Bible never uses the term ‘social justice,’ although it has much to say about doing justice, and loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God. In our church, we practice what some Christians call ‘social justice’ through our caring for the widows, and the orphans, and providing and praying for the hungry, and other activities so many of us are involved in throughout the week. But we do these good works as an implication of the gospel, and to ‘adorn’ the gospel, not as a definitive component of the gospel. So I was troubled this past week to see a prominent, theologically conservative, Southern Baptist pastor in Nashville seemingly approve of a Washington Post article which claims that ‘social justice’ is a definitive component of the gospel. Folks, if we’re deriving our definition of the gospel from the Washington Post, then we’re in serious trouble. I am amazed that people from our camp, who are our friends, are so quickly turning away from him who called us by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is no gospel. I would remind you brothers and sisters, of the gospel you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. This unchanging, propositional truth of the authoritative, inerrant Word of God is not a ‘reductionistic gospel,’ it is the gospel, and it is sufficient to save and to spark the process of progressive sanctification and transformation that necessarily follows from true conversion.
And so I ask you this morning, are you tired of the Word? Have you lost interest in the gospel?
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