In the Bible, the Gospel is simple: that Jesus died for our sins, and that He rose again from the dead. It’s the most important message in history.
But it seems like sometimes people forget what the Gospel is when they open their mouths to preach it.
Here’s what I’m talking about:
I saw a fellow on Twitter recently whose bio said that his passion was “proclaiming Christ”, which is awesome. But when I looked at his Twitter feed, it was filled with what could best be called “good living tips from Proverbs”. No mention of Jesus anywhere, just pithy sayings about childrearing and debt and politics. Don’t get me wrong; the Bible is full of great principles for living, but they are not “Christ” and they are not the Gospel.
I saw this happen again this week, when Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association went on air blaming liberals, evolutionists, and homosexuals for the Aurora shooting. If a person wants so make these conclusions and state these opinions, that’s his right. My problem is with the inconsistency between the AFA’s Mission Statement and their activities.
The Mission Statement reads: “The mission of the American Family Association is to inform, equip, and activate individuals to strengthen the moral foundations of American culture, and give aid to the church here and abroad in its task of fulfilling the Great Commission.”
Not Pictured: The Great Commission
In the Great Commission we read that we are to go and make disciples, preaching the Gospel and teaching people about Jesus. But when we look at the activities of the AFA, we see them going and making enemies, replacing the Gospel with boycotts and accusations. On their website, we see seven featured topics. Four of them are about same-sex marriage. Three of them are about voting. None of them are about anything Jesus talked about. Do you not realize that there can be no true “moral foundation” without Jesus? Why have you forsaken the Savior who you claim to represent, and instead put your trust in politics?
Your own mission statement condemns you.
This is why I deeply appreciate the organization where I work. Time and again they have rejected the temptation to jump into the political/cultural fray and instead remained focus on Jesus. We live in a world of great brokenness, and He is our only hope. That’s the only message of this ministry, over and over again.
Jesus said that His purpose for coming was to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. It’s a Kingdom where the King is a servant, where the humble are exalted, where the broken are restored. It’s a Kingdom whose King died for the sins of the peasants. This is the Gospel. This is the Great Commission.
Everything else is just a dripping faucet or a clanging cymbal – worthless without love, and without Jesus.