Reforming Church: selling gospel

If you are just joining in, you may want to catch up on the series here. This is part five, Reforming Church: selling gospel.

Remember how I told you that you cannot pair the gospel with a product?

What happens if the gospel is the product? What happens if the gospel is for sale?

According to Dr. John Koessler, “the main objective for the marketer is to first of all identify what people want and give it to them or to make people want what they don’t really want. This is very different than Paul standing in the marketplace and proclaiming truth.”

How can the gospel be for sale? Because if the gospel is for sale then we are changing the parameters of God into something the people want or we are force feeding it to them in a way they do not want, in a way that is not truth.

“Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” 2 Corinthians 2:17

This is in direct conflict with the word of God and, it has serious ramifications. I think it affects the church in numerous ways and is a great evil. However I think that it is an evil that has pervaded a way of life, men and women, leaders, who just want to do good, who in fact have good intentions, and are building the kingdom. But whose kingdom are they building? and at what cost? Good intentions do not equal right living, only the practice of righteousness does.

Grieving church consumerism

When God invaded me with information about this topic, I became grieved. It’s the main reason I sat in the belly of a whale and waited to speak about it. I mourned for 3 months. It led me to think about what it would be like to change churches, and then I felt that many churches today run with “relevance” in mind. I felt trapped in a cycle that I couldn’t get out of. I am not angry with church leaders who have led us astray, but maybe it would not be so wrong to feel angry. After all, wasn’t it Jesus who overturned tables for just the same reason? Yet we are a society driven by consumption. Who is to blame? I feel saddened that we’ve allowed the marketization of the body of Christ and the gospel message to take root so deeply in our churches.

In studying the book of Daniel this year, when I got to the part about the fiery furnace, this was a statement in the notes by Beth Moore, “Building an image is never an inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” This is biblical truth. It is one of the 10 commandments. Right behind “you shall have no other gods” is “you shall not make for yourself an image” (Ex 20). No golden calves, no image of gold by King Neb, no money changers in the temple, no “relevant” churches, no money-making machine churches, no stark white clean and pretty people, no so-real-they-are-fake people.

Could it be that this is the reason that people are leaving the church? the decline of church? the rise of immorality?

photo credit: Nick in exsilio via photopin cc