Monday, June 8, 2009

Protecting the Sheep





I will repeat some of what I said in my sermon this week on this blog, but if you watch this video and do not see a problem with it - there may be something wrong with you! I played this to our church without the overlay of typing but felt it appropriate in this blog to include it – not because I want to the take the chance of you being offended, but because there is some value of seeing the thoughts there in the immediacy of what she is saying. The tendency if you have this video and have played it to your children, is that you become defensive – after all, you would never do anything to harm your kids so it must be ok. Let me just begin by saying that we are all growing, learning and should be, becoming more like Christ everyday! The things we knew to do 2 years ago are different, or should be than what we know today. When our boys were 2 and 3, we did not have the grasp on teaching them through doctrine using catechism that we do today – so do not allow the enemy to rob you of this teaching opportunity out of a sense of having done something “wrong” by your child – it is simply a matter of responding properly to what we now know! This should be an ongoing practice in our lives! What you should do is use this as an opportunity to discuss the real Gospel with your child. The most exciting thing this video produced was when I let my boys listen to it without watching it and asked them to stop me if they heard something wrong. Immediately Joshua stopped me and said: “We weren’t created to be God’s friend we were created to enjoy Him and glorify Him forever.” At the end Caleb said “She never mentioned repentance or the death of Christ.” I was thrilled that they could grasp the true Gospel.

When I had the joy of proclaiming the Gospel to my boys I discussed that sin was not just what we did, but who we were. Original sin, repentance and the death of Christ, if these are left out you DO NOT have the Gospel. The response by many will be: “Well she was very sweet and sincere” - the truth is, what makes a false teacher believable is their sincerity. If you agree with this presentation, I plea with you go to Scripture and see if this is how Christ dealt with the Rich Young Ruler or how Paul dealt with King Agrippa, please give me one illustration in the Word of God that this presentation of the Gospel is the whole Gospel. The tragedy is we are living in a culture today that many in our church today will even defend this false gospel presentation. I shared with our people Sunday that the FIRST of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses was in short: “The whole of the Christian life is one of repentance.” If that was an issue to divide over (and it is) in Luther’s day shouldn’t it be an issue we divide over in our day? This truth is a separation of sheep and goats! If there is anything the Church should get right today, is it not the Gospel?

She says: “Jesus wants to give you a fantastic life?” Huh? Tell Stephen that who was stoned to death, tell Christ that as He hangs on the cross, tell the believers who die across the world today that what Jesus really wants for them is a fantastic life. That, my friend, is a Gospel that will only work for Joel Osteen and America! That gospel would be declared heresy by the underground churches in China, by those who are suffering in the Middle East because they have declared Christ as the only way. No wonder our children walk away from the church we have presented them a picture that boils down to a false advertisement of Jesus. What about when the Word of God tells us we will be hated, we will be rejected by friends and family, and will suffer? What about Paul, when the false teachers at Corinth said he was a liar, he was a money grubber, he didn’t have education, he was ugly? Pretty fantastic, huh? If you catch anger, frustration and sarcasm then you read me right. When sheep go astray we help them, when wolves come among the flock no matter how sweet, kind, and loving, we reveal them for the threat they are and get them away from the flock! You can afford to be wrong on your eschatology (end times), you can afford to be wrong on how Spiritual gifts work, you can be wrong in your view of what biblically constitutes a church - and if you are wrong in these things it may harm your walk or your maturity depending how “off” you are. However, if you get the Gospel wrong, this does eternal damage, this results in eternal damnation.

While I am on this subject, I thank God for a Children’s Minister who brought this video to my attention. I thank God for a man who partners with me to make sure my boys get the Gospel! I thank God for a man who helps to equip our parents to get this right.


If we get anything right dear Lord let it be the Gospel!