roadrunner570
December 28th, 2007, 06:15 PM
Does the Feel Good Gospel Make God Feel Good?
I was just having this discussion with a new friend of mine, and I wanted to share some thoughts here. Many churches today call themselves “seeker friendly.” Their goal is to draw people in, increase their numbers and get as big as they can as fast as possible. To do this, many churches try to teach more of a “feel good” message. Their sermons are little more than self help/pop psychology messages with a couple of Bible verses thrown in. People go, they sing some songs and at the end they leave feeling all warm and fuzzy.
So, is this what Jesus taught? For those of you who read my series on the Sermon on the Mount, you know thats not the case. People often didn't feel good after listening to Jesus teach. They were usually pretty ticked off. This often makes me feel good about the way I teach, since I seem to have a knack for offending people.
After many of Jesus' teachings, we see a verse similar to this:
Mt 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Or something to that effect. Either way, they weren't too pleased, at least, not the so-called religious folks of the time.
Later in Acts 2, Peter preached to the people. If you read that chapter, you will see he didn't pull any punches either, but he told it like it was. He spoke from the heart and brought conviction to many. Look at what the Bible says after he was finished speaking:
Ac 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
See? His words had authority. When you speak the truth of God's word, there is power behind those words. It's not just gibberish people will file away, but it cuts into men's hearts. This is something that many “feel good” messages are lacking.
Now, I don't necessarily think that one has to hammer people over the head with sin every single time they preach or teach. Even from the messages I post online, some are hard hitting and convicting, others are encouraging, while others are simply teaching and equipping for spiritual battle. So, sure, its good to spread the gospel in church and it should be done. Whats more important I believe is to teach and equip others to share the gospel outside the church during the week. We often think we need to get unbelievers into church for them to hear the gospel, but we are all fully capable of presenting it ourselves.
Whatever message is preached, it should be done with the goal and purpose of edifying the Body of Christ, and glorifying God. This is what makes God feel good. That should be our main concern. Remember the burnt sacrifices they offered in the Old Testament? Many times when this was done, scripture tells us this:
Ex 29:18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire.
We don't do burnt animal sacrifices anymore, but we still do sacrifices. Such as this:
Eph 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
Eph 5:2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
When we live a life seeking after God and trying to be like him, we become the sacrifice. We make our lives living sacrifices to him. That aroma is pleasing to him, just like the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. This is how we can make God feel better. Going to church each week should be about how we can become more like Jesus and lead others to him. Its not about how good we feel.
Granted, I often feel good when I leave church, but that is because church is where I feel God humbling me, breaking me down and then speaking to me. Once I've gone through that process, I do feel good. I feel like I'm in God's will and that whatever it was I was worried about when I got there will be okay. I don't believe this is wrong and I'm not saying church should make us feel bad. But there is a balance, but God should be at the center of that balance in all things.
[YOU TUBE VIDEO]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0mpHJ_4BCaQ[/YOU TUBE VIDEO]
Tim Miller 2007
I was just having this discussion with a new friend of mine, and I wanted to share some thoughts here. Many churches today call themselves “seeker friendly.” Their goal is to draw people in, increase their numbers and get as big as they can as fast as possible. To do this, many churches try to teach more of a “feel good” message. Their sermons are little more than self help/pop psychology messages with a couple of Bible verses thrown in. People go, they sing some songs and at the end they leave feeling all warm and fuzzy.
So, is this what Jesus taught? For those of you who read my series on the Sermon on the Mount, you know thats not the case. People often didn't feel good after listening to Jesus teach. They were usually pretty ticked off. This often makes me feel good about the way I teach, since I seem to have a knack for offending people.
After many of Jesus' teachings, we see a verse similar to this:
Mt 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
Or something to that effect. Either way, they weren't too pleased, at least, not the so-called religious folks of the time.
Later in Acts 2, Peter preached to the people. If you read that chapter, you will see he didn't pull any punches either, but he told it like it was. He spoke from the heart and brought conviction to many. Look at what the Bible says after he was finished speaking:
Ac 2:37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
See? His words had authority. When you speak the truth of God's word, there is power behind those words. It's not just gibberish people will file away, but it cuts into men's hearts. This is something that many “feel good” messages are lacking.
Now, I don't necessarily think that one has to hammer people over the head with sin every single time they preach or teach. Even from the messages I post online, some are hard hitting and convicting, others are encouraging, while others are simply teaching and equipping for spiritual battle. So, sure, its good to spread the gospel in church and it should be done. Whats more important I believe is to teach and equip others to share the gospel outside the church during the week. We often think we need to get unbelievers into church for them to hear the gospel, but we are all fully capable of presenting it ourselves.
Whatever message is preached, it should be done with the goal and purpose of edifying the Body of Christ, and glorifying God. This is what makes God feel good. That should be our main concern. Remember the burnt sacrifices they offered in the Old Testament? Many times when this was done, scripture tells us this:
Ex 29:18 Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire.
We don't do burnt animal sacrifices anymore, but we still do sacrifices. Such as this:
Eph 5:1 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children
Eph 5:2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
When we live a life seeking after God and trying to be like him, we become the sacrifice. We make our lives living sacrifices to him. That aroma is pleasing to him, just like the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. This is how we can make God feel better. Going to church each week should be about how we can become more like Jesus and lead others to him. Its not about how good we feel.
Granted, I often feel good when I leave church, but that is because church is where I feel God humbling me, breaking me down and then speaking to me. Once I've gone through that process, I do feel good. I feel like I'm in God's will and that whatever it was I was worried about when I got there will be okay. I don't believe this is wrong and I'm not saying church should make us feel bad. But there is a balance, but God should be at the center of that balance in all things.
[YOU TUBE VIDEO]http://youtube.com/watch?v=0mpHJ_4BCaQ[/YOU TUBE VIDEO]
Tim Miller 2007