Where Is The Gospel?

If you are one of those people who grew up in the 80’s, you might remember a funny old fast food restaurant commercial that was very popular.  The commercial featured two or three elderly ladies who were being served hamburgers, and as they placed their orders, the commercial cut to an oversized bun; on it sat this dried up, burnt up, microscopic object representing what was supposed to be the beef patty. It drew a swift and piercing reaction from one of these little old ladies who had quite a feisty personality. She kept asking the server this now famous four word question, “Where’s the beef?”  The title of this article probably already tipped you off as to why I brought up the nostalgia of the old commercial.  The Church today seem to be moving further and further away from the Gospel and is tailoring its message to be more acceptable by society.  In other words, the Church is conforming to society instead of transforming society to the likeness of Christ, who is the Head of the Church.  So the question for the modern Church is, “Where is the Gospel?”

Throughout Church history, there have been a number of periods when the Body of Christ went through significant changes. In all these cases, it is clear that God’s hand was the rod of correction during these periods of purification and sanctification.  We have now entered a time and space in this pre-raptured period when society is experiencing great leaps and dramatic changes in the way humans live, behave, and socialize.  What was considered taboo, say a mere decade or so ago is now the norm. Society has taken the book on morals and absolute truth, the Bible, and has completely rearranged it’s pillars to reflect its own thinking and pleasing, thereby placing the entire human race under a support system that is out of place, out of balance and out of order as God intended to be.  This dramatic change in society’s behavior should not be of any surprise to the church. Didn’t Scripture warn and prepare us for such a time as this?

2 Timothy 3:1-5.  “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

This passage is very clear on it prophetic words of things to come, so why are churches so unprepared to handle this expected change in society?  So much so that a lot of these churches find themselves trying to catch up to society and obtain some understanding and knowledge as to these motives and new norms.  Because of this unpreparedness by the Church, there are those who have fallen to the temptation of turning to a watered down Gospel just to stay soluble; they have exchanges the infallible Word of God for ‘feel-good’ religion. To these Churches, I have to raise the nagging question, “Where is the Gospel”.

What is the reason for this trend?  The Bible says the Gospel is like a two-edged sword that cuts both ways, administering both judgment and salvation. Because of this, Churches are embracing the notion that if they tone down on the Gospel teaching, they might just be seen as seeker-friendly, and more people will feel comfortable sitting through their services.  The Apostle Paul warned of this state in the Church:

Galatians 1:6-10 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

How fitting a question Paul asked here, who is the Church serving?  There are churches that preach such a watered-down version of the Gospel that it is considered a lie to call it the Gospel.  A more appropriate title would be a motivational, self-gratifying, ‘feel-good’ session.  Any God-fearing Christian knows that a watered-down, diminished version of the Gospel, is no Gospel whatsoever.

Because we are being lam blasted with more information than we can possible handle (even though we think we can), we exude the false confidence that we are super informed intellectuals who can handle and solve any equation of life that confronts us without the help from the Lord, our Creator.  Instead, we want to just hear a good motivation speech regarding social connections, career enhancement, and family peace.  These are the three areas of life that make up the ” hamburger bun” amount of what is being offered to the congregation, and the Gospel is being shrunk ever so small that it is not even noticeable in some cases.  Where, indeed, is the beef? Make no mistake, this conformity of the Church to society is more about the failure in the impartation of the orthodox Gospel.  There are times when the Church goes through periods of changes that have nothing to do with this preservation of the faith or the teachings of the assurance of salvation. These are changes that have to do with societal and cultural revolutions. Most assuredly, this kind of change is not what I am referring to; such changes are usually limited to praise and worship style and preferences, vestments (the choice whether to be casual or more formal), order of service, and so forth; these elements are not requirements for salvation.  All these things are about preference and personal comfort.  What I am writing about here is in regards to life, death and where one spends eternity as is so clearly illustrated within the Scriptures.

It is obvious that we now live in perilous times, which is why it is so much more important to impart the Gospel according to the solid assurance of Jesus’ teachings, for this is our call to ministry.  We must stay grounded in the Gospel at all cost, even if it means losing your entire church or the marginalization of oneself.  The Gospel is so simply written, yet so powerful – a life giving instrument. It is about One Who walked as a man, yet He was one with God our Father. To know Him is to know the Father.  The Gospel is of God’s love for mankind, a love so great that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again; this is the message we preach because in it, we have the hope of everlasting life.  Micah prophesied of this Gospel-based triumphant church:

Micah 4:1 In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.

I will leave you with this as an assurance and as a warning: God will have His Church in which the Gospel will live and strive.  Which Gospel are you willing to live and strive with? Make sure it is the One, so on that last day, it will be found well in you.  Be a good soldier of the Gospel, and when it is minimized for the sake of societal acceptance, question the reasons with the same tenacity as the little old lady in the commercial, “Where is the Gospel?”

Fr. Jerome Tracey