David_A_Reed
Puritan Board Freshman
Thank you, J Baldwin, for starting the thread "Are we hiding the Gospel?" I fear we may also be hiding the New Testament warnings against sin.
The Gospels and nearly every letter of the Apostles contain messages like this:
Yet hardly any Sunday morning church sermons repeat this warning -- none that I recall hearing over the past 25 years in conservative "Bible believing" Baptist and Congregationalist churches. (Although I did give such a sermon myself a couple months ago as a guest speaker in a Baptist church in Abington, Mass., and it was very well received.)
I hear "sin" mentioned from time to time, but more often in the context of speaking thoughtlessly or hurting someone's feelings. Meanwhile, young people in the church go off to college and fall into the practices they were never warned against -- practices that the Apostles never ceased mentioning:
Sin is mentioned in church, but usually in terms of being forgiven, rather than "Don't do that." According to John 5:14, when Jesus healed a paralyzed man by the pool of Bethsaida he told him emphatically:
"Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you."
Paul wrote to the Colossian church at Colossians 3:5-6
When my wife was teaching Fifth Grade at Brockton Christian School, she had the class read Malachi 2:16 which says God hates divorcing. A little girl in the class was visibly upset and asked, "Why have I never heard that?" -- even though she had attended church regularly while growing up.
Could it be that, in this politically correct world, we are uncomfortable preaching these key elements of the message preached by Jesus and the Apostles?
Besides speaking strongly against sin -- and naming specific sins -- Jesus also said,
David
The Gospels and nearly every letter of the Apostles contain messages like this:
...the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God ... Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God... - 1 Cor. 6:9-10
Yet hardly any Sunday morning church sermons repeat this warning -- none that I recall hearing over the past 25 years in conservative "Bible believing" Baptist and Congregationalist churches. (Although I did give such a sermon myself a couple months ago as a guest speaker in a Baptist church in Abington, Mass., and it was very well received.)
I hear "sin" mentioned from time to time, but more often in the context of speaking thoughtlessly or hurting someone's feelings. Meanwhile, young people in the church go off to college and fall into the practices they were never warned against -- practices that the Apostles never ceased mentioning:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
Sin is mentioned in church, but usually in terms of being forgiven, rather than "Don't do that." According to John 5:14, when Jesus healed a paralyzed man by the pool of Bethsaida he told him emphatically:
"Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you."
Paul wrote to the Colossian church at Colossians 3:5-6
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
When my wife was teaching Fifth Grade at Brockton Christian School, she had the class read Malachi 2:16 which says God hates divorcing. A little girl in the class was visibly upset and asked, "Why have I never heard that?" -- even though she had attended church regularly while growing up.
Could it be that, in this politically correct world, we are uncomfortable preaching these key elements of the message preached by Jesus and the Apostles?
Besides speaking strongly against sin -- and naming specific sins -- Jesus also said,
If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. - Mark 8:38
David