Integrity

There is nothing attractive about the Gospel to the natural man; The only man who finds the Gospel attractive is the man who is convicted of his sin. Oswald Chambers

In the past decades the news media have had a great deal to say about preachers and money, and preachers and morals; but not much has been said about an even greater problem and that is preachers and the message. The only one who has addressed this issue of late is Chuck Colson. He made an interesting observation in his book Kingdoms of Conflict. This is what he wrote:

The effect of preaching a false theology can be disastrous. Most attribute the fall of Jim and Tammy Bakker to greed, sexual indiscretion or the corruption of power. These were, of course, serious contributing factors. But the root cause of their downfall was that for years the Bakkers had preached a false gospel of material advancement.... Tragically, the Bakkers deluded themselves into believing their own false message.

The apostle Paul makes a parallel observation in 1 Thessalonians 2:3-5: For our exhortation did not come from error or uncleanness, nor was it in deceit. But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness, God is witness.

God’s servants are divinely appointed stewards who are ‘‘entrusted with the gospel.’’ This is a great privilege, but it is also a solemn responsibility. ‘‘Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful’’ (1 Cor. 4:2). This faithfulness involves at least three elements that must be right: the message (‘‘our exhortation did not come from error’’), the motive (‘‘or uncleanness’’), and the method (‘‘nor was it in deceit’’).

The message must be right, and that message is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the gospel of the grace of God. There is but one gospel, and it centers in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The good news of the gospel is ‘‘that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures’’ (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Sinners who repent and trust in Jesus Christ are forgiven and receive from God the gift of eternal life (see 1 Jn 5:10-13).

God is so jealous over this message that He declares ‘‘accursed’’ anybody who preached another ‘‘gospel’’ (Gal. 1:6-9). Those who change this message by adding to it, taking from it, or perverting it are false teachers who are unfaithful to the Lord and in danger of His judgment. Their message comes from error.

The modern ‘‘success gospel’’ is perfectly suited to a society like ours that worships health, wealth, and happiness. The people who preach this gospel dip here and there into the Old Testament to pull out their proof texts, but they willfully reject ‘‘the whole counsel of God’’ (Acts 20:27). The success gospel is a cheap message for people who are looking for a ‘‘quick fix’’ for their lives but not a permanent change in their character. A.W. Tozer said it best: ‘‘It appears that too many Christians want to enjoy the thrill of feeling right but are not willing to endure the inconvenience of being right.’’

Why is God so concerned that we preach the right message? Because God believes in integrity, and a false gospel destroys integrity. To begin with, the message of the gospel is vitally related to the very nature of God. Jesus does not simply save; He is the Savior. When we change the message of God, we change the God of the message. The God of the ‘‘success’’ preachers is not the God of the Bible or of the orthodox Christianity. He is a manufactured god, an idol; and as A.W. Tozer has reminded us, ‘‘The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.’’

The pop gospel of success tries to make us believe that God’s greatest concern is to make us happy, not that we would be holy, and that He is more concerned about the physical and the material than He is the moral and the spiritual. The ‘‘success god’’ is a celestial errand boy whose only responsibility is to respond to our every call and make sure that we are enjoying life.

As you listen to some of these preachers, some questions ought to come to mind: Where in their theology is the God of Abraham, who was told to sacrifice his only son? Where is the God of Isaac, who was willing to put himself on the altar? Where is the God of Jacob, whose sons brought him grief and shame? Where is the God of Moses, who was kept out of the Promised Land because he robbed God of glory? Where is the God of the apostles, who were arrested and beaten and finally killed because they wouldn’t keep quiet about Jesus? Where is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered as no one has ever suffered, ‘‘Smitten by God, and afflicted’’ (Isa. 53:4)?

You won’t find this God in their preaching, Why? Because He doesn’t fit their message. They have gospel with out integrity, a fraction of a message, divorced from the very God they claim to represent. A partial gospel is no gospel at all, for there can be no good news when God has been left out. The late, Theodore Epp, who founded Back to the Bible Broadcast, tells of attending a conference some years ago at which a popular success preacher was one of the featured speakers. Mr. Epp had wanted to hear this famous man in person; so, Bible in hand, he went to the meeting.

Imagine his surprise when he heard the speaker say; ‘‘You will notice that I don’t have a Bible. I’ve stopped using a Bible in the pulpit. People don’t want sermons; they want to hear what God means to us in our own lives.’’

So grieved was Mr. Epp that he got up and left the hall, went to his room, fell on his knees, and asked God to forgive him for attending the convention! He packed his things, checked out and went home.

Our job isn’t to give the people what they want.’’ He used to say. ‘‘Our job is to give them what they need but try to make them want it’’ To Mr. Epp teaching the word of truth was the main thing.

The success gospel not only presents a distorted view of God, it perverts the biblical doctrine of the Person and work of Jesus Christ. God has every right to pronounce judgment on those who preach a false gospel, because the message of the gospel cost Him His Son! Jesus went to the cross and bore our sin to satisfy the will of God so that lost sinners might be forgiven and reconciled to God. Jesus didn’t die to make us healthy, wealthy, and happy; He died to make us holy. To turn Calvary into a sanctified credit card that gives us the privilege of a hedonistic shopping spree is to cheapen the most costly thing God ever did.

God’s ultimate goal is to ‘‘gather together in one all things in Christ’’ (Eph. 1:10). Then and only then will our bodies be fully redeemed and delivered from the burdens of this life. God’s goal for each of us personally is that we might ‘‘be conformed to the image of His Son’’ (Rom. 8:29). He wants to make us like Jesus, and He starts that process the instant we are born into His family. As we grow in the Christian life, we ‘‘are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord’’ (2 Cor. 3:18).

But the success preachers don’t see conformity to Christ as the goal of the Christian life. It surely must embarrass them when they have to face the fact that, according to their message, Jesus was not a success. He was not wealthy, and He spent His life identified with the poor and the outcasts. He was a ‘‘Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’’ (Isa. 53:3), not a celebrity enjoying a life of extravagance.

The success preachers give us a distorted view of God, of the Savior, of the Christian life, and also of the church. According to them, the church of Jesus Christ is a gathering of happy people who are enjoying life. According to my Bible, the church is a gathering of hurting people who are seeking to live lives honoring God and helpful to a those around them. But according to the success gospel, Christians should never be hurting at all!

The church is a family that comes together for encouragement, spiritual nourishment, and discipline. It’s an army that assembles to be equipped for battle and to hear God’s marching orders. Its a flock that seeks God’s protection in a dangerous world, a bride that expresses devotion to the heavenly Bridegroom, a group of servants that seek their Master’s will. We meet together, not to escape life, but to be equipped and encouraged to go back out into life with its burdens and battles. Yes, we have our times of happiness and joy but that’s not the primary goal. Our goal should be holiness, happiness is only a by-product of our relationship and fellowship with Christ.

When the church preaches the wrong message, it tears things apart, and the ministry loses its integrity. We can’t divorce our message from what God is, what God did at Calvary, what God is doing in the world today, and what God will do in the future. But that’s just what the success hucksters have done. Once you manufacture your own gospel, it isn’t long before you start practicing it, and then you begin to lose you spiritual integrity.