For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. - Galatians 1: 11 (ESV)
The prosperity gospel says that God wants you to be rich. The hyper-grace gospel says that you have free license to sin. The seeker friendly gospel says that we will accommodate you by removing anything that might potentially offend you. The purpose driven gospel says that you need to discover your hidden reason for being. The emerging church gospel says we must be relevant to the culture we are in. The word-faith gospel says we are little gods with the power to create through our words. When we look out across Christendom, this is what we see dotting our doctrinal landscape. I would wager upwards of 80% of "Christian" churches adhere to one or more of these gospels. The problem of course is they are all false gospels. The Bible says that if someone presents a gospel different than the Gospel of Jesus Christ - let them be accursed! Even if it be an angel! How does someone like Joel Osteen pack 50,000 people into Yankee Stadium? Because we put up with false gospels readily enough:
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. - 2Corinthians 11: 3-4 (ESV)
Make no mistake about it beloved. These gospels all lead us astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. Why? Because they are not about Christ. They are about me. They are the collective gospels of me. Prosperity is about me getting rich. Hyper-grace is about me feeling better about my sin. Seeker friendly is about catering to me. Purpose driven is discovering my personal purpose. Emergent is about my culture. Word faith is about my power. Sure the name of Christ is thrown around enough to give off the veneer of piety but these gospels only use Christ for their own ends. The truth is that biblical illiteracy is slaughtering the would be Body of Christ. Satan approached Eve with a different word than God has given her and she put up with it readily enough. As it was so it still can be. Some slick snake oil salesman comes along to scratch our itching ears and we put up with it readily enough. They proclaim a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel and we lap it up shouting hallelujah. We put up with it readily enough. How did we get here? Let us look first at some quotes from preachers past:
That only is worth my having which I can have forever. That only is worth my grasping which death cannot tear out of my hand. - Charles Spurgeon
Riches and the things that are necessary in life are not evil in themselves. And all of us face cares and troubles in this life. The sin comes in the time and energy we spend in pursuing these things, at the expense of neglecting Christ. - David Wilkerson
Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loves us, and whom we love. - John Wesley
Spurgeon emphasizes the importance of eternal rewards. Wilkerson bemoans the neglecting of Christ. Wesley finds Christ even in our sufferings. How did we go from this to today?
I'm for people bettering themselves, no matter who they are and where they are, doing all they can to be all they can be. - TD Jakes
"You may think there is a lot wrong with you, but there is also a lot right with you." - Joel Osteen
"When the little boy brought his five loaves and two fishes to Jesus, did He gobble them up and say, 'I am giving you a lesson in poverty?' Of course not!" Jesus did not feed the multitudes with just enough food. He blessed them with more than enough food. He is the God of more than enough and that is His style. Likewise, Jesus wants to bless you with more than enough, so that you can be a blessing to others." - Joseph Prince
Do you see the difference? Do you see the shift? TD Jakes is saying it is about bettering ourselves. Joel Osteen affirms how much is right about us. Prince turns the miracle of the feeding of the 5000 into God wanting you to be rich. All heresy. All the time. What is the common thread throughout these last three quotes? They are all about me. The common thread in the first set of quotes is it was all about Jesus. We have gone from singing How Great Thou Art to How Much God Loves Me. We have gone from singing about how much of a wretch we are to how many blessings of Abraham we are due. Then we wonder why the church is so impotent. Why our culture continues down the moral decline. When they look towards the church they see it is about me instead of Christ and the bottom line is I cannot save anyone; only He can!
Run from preachers who try to make it all about you! It has to be about Christ or it has all been for nothing! The key verse today is Paul reminding the Church at Galatia that the Gospel he preached was not man's gospel. Paul understood as John the Baptist before him that he must decrease so that Christ could increase. It was never about Paul or any man:
For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. - 1Corinthians 1: 11-17 (ESV)
Who do you follow today? I love my pastor but I know he did not hang on an old wooden cross for me. What I love the most about him as a pastor and friend is he always points me back to Christ. Who is your pastor pointing you to? Is the preaching you sit under about you or the only one who could save you? Gospels centered around man or what God can do for man empty the cross of Christ of its power. Looking out across Christendom we see that we put up with these false gospels way too easily. We put up with them readily enough. We are gathering around us teachers to tell us what we want to hear. To scratch our itching ears. That it is all about us. That there are seven steps to a better me. That God wants me rich beyond my dreams of avarice. That my sin doesn't matter to God. That my purpose will fulfill my life. That the Gospel, which Jesus bled and died for on Calvary's hill, was really about me.
God help us to see the deception we willingly sit under so that we might still come to Your cross before it is too late.
In Jesus name.
Rev. Anthony.
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