Minimising the Gospel

I am reading a book for class written by J.I. Packer entitled, The Quest for Godliness. The book is about the life and ministry of the puritans. Chapter 10 speaks to the view of the puritans on preaching the gospel. Today, people ask what the minimum amount of doctrine they can include in a gospel presentation. Packer mentions that one reason for this is the reluctance of those in our pews to learn. Most people are so entertainment driven, they don't want to be given lots of knowledge, they don't want to think, study, or pursue godly wisdom. Richard Baxter said this:

Were you but as willing to get the knowledge of God and heavenly things as you are to know how to work in your trade, you would have set yourself to it before this day and you would have spared no cost or pains till you had got it. Bit you account seven years little enough to learn your trade, and will not bestow one day in seven in diligent learning the matters of your salvation.

In the Puritan's time, people were no more willing to think about the important things as they are today. Whereas, ministers today are apt to accommodate to the apathy of learning to the human race, the Puritan's did not. They preached the full counsel of God. Notice what J.I. Packer says:

If we do not preach abou sin and God's judgement on it, we cannot prese Christ as Saviour from sin and the qeath of God. And if we are silent about these things, and preach a Christ who saves only from self and the sorrows of this world, we are not preaching the Christ of the Bible. We are in effect bearing false witness and preaching a false Christ. Out message is 'another gospel, which is not another'. Such preaching may soothe some, but it will help nobody; for a Christ who is not seen and sought as a Saviour from sin will not be found to save from self or from anything else. And imaginary Christ will not bring a real salvation; and a half-truth presented as the whole truth is complete untruth. Thus the minimising approach threatens to falsify the gospel by emptying it of doctrinal elements that are essential to it.

Friends, may we be faithful to the Scriptures and preach the full gospel. May we not do like so many and minimize and falsify the gospel, accommodating to the reluctant and itching ears of our culture.

Your Turn to Sound the Alarm

Just a quick request for your opinions here.



I don't have the Martin Luther quote in front of me, but he once taught that it's possible for a pastor to be faithful in every area, but then utterly fail as a representative of Christ's kingdom, because of his unwillingness to address the central issue that the forces of Hell seem to be pressing on the church. Imagine a castle under seige, and the aggressors finding a weak spot in the wall and concentrating their forces at that point. The faithful minister will go to that very place and do what he can to shore it up at that point. It would be faithless to "stand your ground" on the opposite side of the castle, where the attack is not happening.



Y'know, so for instance, if the doctrine of Christ's Incarnation is being heavily assaulted, it's faithless to press on with your 19 week sermon series on baptism, even if everything you have to say about baptism is perfectly true.



So, my question is, to all of you Mafia readers who preach or teach in some capacity, if you had to narrow it down to one or two options, where is that break in the wall happening right now? If you could sound the trumpet and rally your brethren to a point, where would it be? (This is open to our non-Calvinistic readers as well.)