Evangelical Weakness on the Gospel

I just listened to a random sermon from the nearest church to my house in Kennesaw, Georgia. I listened to one and only one sermon. And it was the stereotypical evangelical sermon about the tricky theology (supposedly) of the Gospel message. It was a classic “justification theory” sermon.

I remembered why I feel strong revulsion when I hear the Gospel being bungled by a pastor who supposedly is there to feed the flock.

The basic problem with the Gospel in evangelical preaching? It’s a theological puzzle that God expects you to solve. It’s a short multiple choice test designed with questions worded with total trickery. And the preacher seems to want people to fail the test so he can impress them with the right answers. In fact, even God seems to want people to fail the test.

The justification theory version of the Gospel believes that the primary problem with humanity is we think we need to be good in order to have a good afterlife. Works. Those pesky “good works” that mess everything up!

The preacher spent half an hour on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and said very little about love. The point of the parable, according to the preacher, is that we seek to justify ourselves like the lawyer in the story. 

The Gospel—according to them, but definitely not according to Paul—is a trap. You think you have it because you love Jesus and attend church and believe with all your heart that he was raised from the dead. But you’re probably still lost, unsaved, trying to get yourself into the kingdom by your own good works such as “church attendance” or volunteering on Sundays.

To listen to this preacher—more what he implied than clearly stated, since the propositions he was putting out there would sound ridiculous if stated plainly—many people will find themselves at the “pearly gates” being shut out because they thought they had faith in Jesus but it was tainted with a tinge of self-justification. “Not good enough,” Jesus will say. “Satan tricked you and robbed you of your inheritance! Only those who make a perfect score on God’s doctrine quiz can get inside these gates!”

It’s ridiculous and it makes God out to be a hypercritical fake friend, one who says the right things about love but who finds fault and withholds that love for a thousand illegitimate reasons.

Here is the Gospel: God is for us, all of us, all the way down to death—specifically the death of the Son of God, Jesus, who died for us while we were enemies and who rose from death to incorporate us into his own resurrection. We died with him and we rose with him. He became one of us to lift us up into being what he is. He reached down and took hold of us, not expecting us to ascend to him. Not only does he not want to trick you, he will help you in spite of your errors and weaknesses. He passes F students all the time.

And that “faith” which the evangelical (warped) Gospel imagines is so hard to get right—what with the terrible danger of any hint of “works righteousness” sneaking in and ruining the whole thing—God gives it to us for free. It’s not even something we accomplish. The Holy Spirit enables us to believe in Jesus’s death and resurrection for us. Faith is the free gift of God.

No one needs to pass a doctrine exam. Nor should we avoid “good works” just in case they trick us into thinking we are self-justified.

Just set your mind on Jesus and you will find you either believe or you don’t.

We were enemies of God, but God turns enemies into friends with his generous grace. God the Father loved us and sent God the Son to incorporate us into a great salvation that is free and transformative. God is not trying to keep you or anyone else out. In fact, he is much more inclusive than most Christians. As Paul puts it:

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22 NASB).

Evangelicals, I hope you will stop being weak on the Gospel. It is the Power of God for salvation, not for trickery.