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Reconciled to God Through Jesus Jesus,Christ,Bible,salvation,gospel
(woman begins)
Wow, pastor, that sure was a flame-thrower of a sermon.
Yes, I really put the fear of God in the congregation, didn't I. That's why I am so successful and
have so many followers.
Yes, about that... I have some questions for you.
I am filled with the power right now, so ask away.
Right... Well, first off, I think you're confusing the gospel, which means "good news", with
what is supposed to be OUR motivation for spreading it.
What are you talking about? I'm following in the footsteps of great preachers and sermons
like "Sinners in the hands of an angry God", and they are still famous today. They won
many souls to Christ.
Really? I dispute that claim, but we need to straighten something out here.
You're going to straighten out the great preachers of the past? How arrogant!
That fallacy is called "appeal to authority" and is designed to deny me the right to question
you. What are you afraid of?
I am fearless and empowered by God, and I know the Bible much better than you do.
Prove it then. Let's start with the gospel: What part of dangling sinners over the fires
of hell can be called "good news"?
Um... the part where God doesn't actually drop you.
So you live your life the best you can, but in fear, because you never know if God will
send you to hell anyway? That is not good news.
It is for me. See this nice suit and my big house? Those are God's rewards to me for protecting
the people and telling them that if they do what I say, then God won't send them to hell.
They don't have to worry because I take all the responsibility.
If you take all the responsibility, then you must take all the blame for anything they
do. And you are already guilty of blasphemy, because you have set yourself up as their
god and savior. Those so-called rewards are all you're going to get, so enjoy them while
you can.
You're just jealous that God has not blessed you or put you up on a pedestal. It proves
that I'm special.
No, it proves that you're conceited and power-hungry, and you have no clue what being a Christian
is all about.
Alright, smarty-pants, let's see what words the devil wants to tempt me with through you.
Cute. But be warned; the Bible calls it an unforgivable sin to assign the things of God
to the things of Satan.
(man scowls)
The gospel, the Good News, is that God came to us in human form through Jesus. He met
all the demands of the Jewish law so he could present himself as the perfect sacrifice.
When he rose from the dead as predicted, he sealed the doom of Satan and made it possible
for people to be reconciled to God through nothing but faith. So we can be put on good
terms with God and even be adopted as his children, and it costs us nothing.
So you believe in "cheap grace", then? You're one of those people who thinks we have a license
to sin, because Jesus paid it all.
You couldn't be more mistaken. It did cost Jesus plenty, but it's like this: When you
wanted to get married, you bought a ring and presented it to the woman you wanted to marry.
It cost you a lot of money, but it cost her nothing. If she had called it "cheap" you
would have been insulted. And when she accepted it, she wasn't just accepting the ring, but
you. The ring was only a token of the joining of hearts. That's exactly what the Bible says
God did for us, and remember that Jesus is God. He paid the price for us to be reconciled,
and now he offers it to everyone as a gift. And just as you could not have forced your
wife to accept your offer, so also God does not force us to accept his offer. Love could
never do such a thing, and God is love.
Oh please, not one of those "Jesus is my boyfriend" speeches!
Eeww! What? It was a simple analogy about giving and receiving and being reconciled.
How did you twist this so badly? And for your information, the Bible describes the church
as the Bride of Christ. Unless you see the church as something like the cross-dresser
Klinger from the TV show MASH, you must admit that the groom and bride analogy has Biblical
support.
(man scowls again)
Now think about what it means to be reconciled. If you got married and then your wife started
annoying you, or only visited you once a week, or kept on living like she were still single,
I would have every right to question her love and relationship to you. It's the same with
anyone who says they accepted the free gift of salvation through faith alone in Jesus
alone. If they keep doing things that annoy him, or he only matters to them once a week,
or they live like they don't know him at all, we have every right to question whether they
really accepted or understood the gospel. So this is no "cheap grace" or "license to
sin" at all. It's easy to say "let's walk together", but not so easy to actually do
the walking. That's where holiness and good deeds come in; not before we're saved, but
after.
Oh, so that's it! You're one of those people who take repentance out of the gospel. People
can't accept the good news until they realize what pathetic, disgusting, loathsome worms
they are.
Wow, that's wrong on so many levels. First of all, to repent means to turn around and
go the opposite way. The New Testament never uses it in conjunction with our personal individual
sins but with our relationship to God. We are to turn away from self, the world, and
the devil, and toward Jesus instead. And if we understand the price he paid, and especially
the fact that he never had to pay it at all, we will be grateful and want to please him.
It is love, not fear, that should motivate us to stop sinning. (pause) Secondly, salvation
is about being reconciled to God and adopted into his family, and there is no need to feel
worthless to make that choice. In fact, the Bible says that Jesus died for us while we
were still sinners and still his enemies. To say he died for mere worms is insulting
to him, especially since we are made in the image of God and not worms.
But you can't draw people into church with silly ideas like being reconciled. You have
to either lure them or scare them into the kingdom of heaven!
The only scary thing is if that's how you became a Christian. But then, it might explain
a few things. You can't scare someone into a relationship.
Always with you it's relationship this and relationship that. God is all about power
and sovereignty and law.
(shakes head) God is certainly sovereign and powerful and holy, nobody disagrees with that.
But you can't put his sovereignty in a vacuum; you can't ignore his love and mercy. One side
without the other gives a distorted image of God. And you can't ignore the scriptures
that say our message is all about being reconciled. That is God's choice of words, not mine. And
the Bible says that we all must have the fruit of the Spirit, and I don't see raw power in
the list. If this is all too soft and emotional for you, perhaps we're not talking about the
same god.
But you make it sound like God is helpless and wringing his hands, hoping we'll accept
him. That would make him weak and make us gods.
So, when you proposed to your wife, you were acting weak and helpless, and treating her
like a goddess? You are making it sound like God doesn't know the first thing about love
or freedom or family.
But... but...
But nothing! And if it's fire and brimstone you want, use it as YOUR motivation to spread
the news that is truly good. Your wife had to choose whether to spend her life with or
without you, and you could do nothing about it had she rejected your offer. In the same
way, the lost face eternity apart from God. That should be the reason we spread the gospel,
not the reason they accept it. And just as the promise of a big house or fancy cars shouldn't
be the reason your wife accepted you, so also we should not peddle the goodies we can get
as the reason to accept Jesus. He is so much more than a fire extinguisher.