Year: 2017

Lie:      We preach the gospel to get people saved so that they can avoid hell and go to heaven when they die.
Truth: We preach the gospel, the good news that Jesus died, was buried and rose again, to announce that Jesus is King of kings.

Make people wish the gospel were true and then show them that it is. — Blaise Pascal

We must be clear on what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. The problem with the lie above is that it focuses on man and uses God to solve man’s problem. The true gospel focuses on God and what he has done. This is not semantics.
Let’s look at an analogy. Let’s say that you’re a seven-year-old boy . . .

Lie: We must wait and pray until we are certain of God’s direction; otherwise, we are presumptuous and will displease him.
Truth: We must act according to his revealed will while praying for specific direction.

‘What is God’s will for my life?’ ‘What college should I attend?’ ‘What career should I pursue?’ ‘Who should I marry and where should we live?’ Certainly all important questions, but if they’re asked in isolation, they really miss the mark. The irony is that so many well-meaning Christians are paralyzed by the fear of missing God’s will but don’t realize that, by doing so, they already have. But don’t panic, the truth is better than you think – it usually is.

Lie:      Relying completely on God is impossible/naïve/impractical.
Truth: We are completely dependent on God whether we realize it or not.
As we walk through this world we can easily be overwhelmed by the never-ending river of needs: the injured, the sick and diseased, the depressed, the ‘checked-out,’ and on it goes, seemingly forever. Apparently, the only way to cope is to filter and remain aloof, to pretend not to see; otherwise, we would quickly lose our minds, or so it seems. So for many, life reduces to a management process, trying to

Lie:      Jesus’ resurrection means we will live forever in heaven.
Truth: Jesus’ resurrection means we too will be raised from the dead and signals that the new creation has begun.

God is always painting on a much bigger canvas than we can imagine and resurrection is his master stroke. But Christians normally interpret this, the watershed of all history, too narrowly. Consequently, what we’re often left with is a diluted, pie-in-the-sky sentimentality. Resurrection is typically stored away to only be dusted off briefly at Easter.
We know that the death and resurrection of Jesus is central to history and to our own Christian lives, but our limited grasp of it often dilutes the impact that it should have. We need to go deeper to really understand . . .

Lie:      I don’t need God.
Truth: Believe me, we need God.

“There is practically nothing that men do not prefer to God. A tiresome detail of business, an occupation utterly pernicious to health, the employment of time in ways one does not dare to mention. Anything rather than God.” — Francis Fénelon

You may be thinking, ‘Sure, I need God for my eternal future, to get my sins taken care of, to help me make the big decisions in life, but beyond that, to be honest, I really don’t need God.’ Maybe we wouldn’t actually admit that, or we may be a little afraid to, but truth be told . . .

Lie:      God won’t judge Christians.
Truth: All Christians will stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Many Christians do not think that God will judge them. They cannot imagine why they, who have already received the grace and mercy of God, should need to be judged. They wrongly assume that the only divine judgment is a judgment on the unrighteous, which will end in condemnation. But that simply is not the case.
Here is Paul on the subject:
“Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. “

Lie: I can (should try to or must) become more worthy of God’s love.
Truth: We can live and feel more worthy of God’s love, but we cannot be more worthy.

Divine love is at the heart of the gospel. Love is what moves God to rescue us: “For God so loved the world that he gave . . .” and “God demonstrated his love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” It’s a truth and a message almost too good to be true, yet unless we believe it – that we are loved – first by our parents and then by God, we cannot really flourish in life.