This brief post is a follow-on from yesterday’s post about the tendency to make the gospel into a promise of success in this life.
I recently read the following comment left by a reader on a theology blog (I wish I could take personal credit for it, but I can’t):
I have often commented that it’s nothing short of bizarre that so many people believe that a comfortable life will be the end result of following a man who was rejected, mocked, tortured and killed – and promised the same to his followers.
Jesus was despised and rejected, largely shunned by the rich, the powerful and the successful, and ultimately unjustly tried, subjected to cruel torture and murdered in a most gruesome manner. And yet many people today seem to think that placing their faith in Jesus will (or at least should) result in a life of ease, convenience, and material wealth and blessing. And, as the above comment says, he told his followers to expect their fair share of persecution, trial and suffering (and, for some of them, a death as gruesome as his own, if not more so). To my mind, you have to be really determined not to see the monumental disconnect here.
The reason for the gospel being made into this type of winning package? Suffering and hardship are never going to be an easy sell. In fact, as soon as you make the gospel into something to be sold, this is more than likely where you’re going to end up, because people will only buy something if they think it sounds attractive (I wrote an earlier post about this). A cross and death (whether literal or figurative) don’t sound remotely attractive.
The gospel is not a too-good-to-turn-down package deal with a string of enticing benefits to be enjoyed this side of the grave. It is the announcement of the good news that God has made Jesus both Lord and King, has reconciled his fallen children to Himself and is renewing the whole of creation. This is not an offer to be sold; it’s a settled statement to be announced.
