In the Fall/Winter issue of The Sovereign Grace Messenger, David Powlison hit the nail on the head in many ways. The professing Church has turned from the Gospel to a therapeutic gospel. The therapeutic gospel is planned around what people want and it is not designed as the true Gospel to change what people want. The therapeutic gospel wants to make people feel better in the midst of their troubles and “mistakes.” It accepts human beings for who they are rather than seek to change them to become like the King of glory. It seeks to convince humans that God loves them like they are and to become better based on that love rather than to receive the true love of God which changes human beings to share in the love of God for Himself.
In the last newsletter article the need to know God as He is was set forth. We must return to a God-centered God with God-centered churches. This newsletter shows us the need to have the true Gospel and how the modern professing Church has turned from a God-centered Gospel to one that is focused on human beings almost apart from God at all. We hear a lot about the need to proclaim the Gospel, but there is no true Gospel apart from the true God of the Gospel. We can ask ourselves a few questions to diagnose the issue. 1). Do I love the Gospel simply because I don’t want to go to hell? 2) Do I think of the Gospel as all about me and my needs? 3) Do I want to feel loved so I can feel better about myself) 4) Do I think of God as being my servant and all about me? 5) Do I go to church because I know people there and get entertained? 6) Do I care little about anything else other than to know God and to make Him known? The latter question describes the heart that has been changed by the true Gospel while the first five questions reflect the therapeutic gospel so popular today. The message of today is one that is so centered upon self that those who love it would reject the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We are so concerned that people feel good in their sin that we don’t tell them the true Gospel that leads to true joy.
Powlison lists several things about the middle-class today. He says that today we have a more luxurious and refined sense of self-interest than people did in the past.
- I want to feel loved for who I am, to be pitied for what I’ve gone through, to feel intimately understood, to be accepted unconditionally;
- I want to experience a sense of personal significance and meaningfulness, to be successful in my career, to know my life matters, to have an impact;
- I want to gain self-esteem, to affirm that I am okay, to be able to assert my opinions and desires;
- I want to be entertained, to feel pleasure in the endless stream of performances that delight my eyes and tickle my ears;
- I want a sense of adventure, excitement, action, and passion so that I experience life as thrilling and moving.
Let us compare the list above with the Pharisees and then our own hearts:
Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated. “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? 18 “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. (Mat 23:16-22).
What did the Pharisees use religion for? They would use religious things to swear by in order to obtain material objects from each other and then others. One person would swear by the temple and then try to excuse that oath in order to get an advantage over another. Another would swear by the altar and then excuse his oath by some trivial excuse that it was not valid. They were attempting to use religion and God for their own personal gain. They used religion to get success, feel pleasure, and to find self-esteem and adventure. They did not worship the true and living God, but instead the tried to use God for their own personal enrichment. But what do we use religion for? Do we try to use God to be entertained or to gain an advantage in business matters? Do we try to get out of our promises if it turns out it will cost us money or time? Do we want God for the sake of God and only for Himself or do we try to use Him to get things for self?
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matthew 23:23-26).
The Pharisees were quite strict with the external things of the Law, but their hearts were left untouched by the love of God. They were willing to tithe all from their garden, but they were not concerned about justice, mercy and faithfulness. It is much easier to tithe than it is to have the heart cleansed from its selfish practices. The scribes and Pharisees had vile and filthy hearts even while they practiced all the external things of religion. They used religion to gain the esteem of others and to feel good about themselves. They used religion to gain a name and then use that for business practices and to deal with others in such a way that was not consistent with the practice of true justice, mercy, and faithfulness. They used their religion to excuse and cover over their sin. They had cleaned the outside of the person but their hearts were full of pride, greed, and self. But how are we any different? We can desire to be put on a Christian business list or go to church to meet people for various reasons. We can be diligent in all of the outward things and be quite unconcerned about our hearts too.
In the modern day we are quite concerned about the outward person. We want to have the best of clothes, proper makeup, and proper manners. We want to be polite and to appear as loving and merciful. But we like the appearance more than we like the reality. We have become more concerned with the outside of our buildings than the inner parts of our hearts. We have become more concerned with the clay of our body than the reality of our soul. We are more concerned to please people than we are to please God. Our bodies, our plastic smiles, our looks of concern, and our acts of mercy for others to see are of more concern to us than how God sees our hearts. Oh how we want to go to church and appear as righteous when we are under a load of unrighteousness in our hearts. How we want to go to church and talk about the law while our hearts are utterly lawless.
We want our churches to grow and we are willing to do anything to get that to happen. After all, successful people want successful churches. We know that people want to come to church and be entertained while they have their self-esteem pumped up. People want to be understood and loved while they have their ears tickled. Some also want music and drama that will give them a sense of adventure. All of these things are stressed while we keep forgetting about a few things. We keep forgetting that unless a person is broken from his or her self-centeredness and self-love s/he will not be saved. We keep forgetting that a person must come to know God in truth or that person will perish forever in sin. We keep forgetting that if we don’t preach the true Gospel God will not come to church and our efforts that we intend to find meaningful are of no meaning in the kingdom and are nothing but wicked actions. We keep forgetting that the local church is to be a people that pray, love each other in truth, has true fellowship around the true Christ and ministry, and is a people where the glory of God dwells and is manifested.
In future newsletters the focus will be on the recovery of the Gospel from a man-centered message to one that is God-centered. The reason for this is that there will be no recovery of the church until there is a recovery of the Gospel itself. Also included in that is the true glory of the living God that shines in the Gospel. It is beyond doubt that the professing Church is under the judgment of God. It is also beyond doubt that we are in a deep sleep and don’t recognize the true dangers. If we are not broken from our own efforts and self-sufficiency, we will not see the true working of God through the Gospel. The Gospel is not just a message that we give to people and tell them to make up their minds; it is the power of God for salvation. The Gospel is the power of God to change the hearts and minds of sinners. It is for the glory of God in the Gospel and through the Gospel that we are to pray and labor for. If our message is wrong, then we are praying wrong and we are wrong. If our message is wrong, then we are not telling the truth of who God is. The Gospel is utterly vital to the recovery of the Church and it is utterly vital if we are to see revival in our day. Let us plead with God to turn our hearts from externals to Him in the heart.
God Loves... Himself 
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