Being as Useless as Possible

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15)

On Judgment day, you do not want to be an imposter in the one true religion... or worse yet, an imposter that made his living by breeding imposters! I don't need to here expose the obviously apostate churches in our neighborhoods. Their own websites, banners, and signs tend to do the job.

I am intentionally going after those who do not preach the gospel of God. Here is how Paul defines the gospel: "that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). No one is getting saved without believing this gospel. This gospel belongs in our hearts, in our pulpits, and in the farthest corners of the globe. This gospel produces lives of grateful obedience to God.

Paul wrote,"Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" (1 Cor. 9:16). Is your pastor's "gospel" that Christ came as an expression of divine solidarity with the politically marginalized? Is your pastor's "gospel" that Christ came to guarantee you health, wealth, and worldly comforts in this life? Or does your pastor have the same priorities as Paul: "For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). The third option is the only valid option. As Steve Lawson said: "There are only two kinds of preachers. Those who preach the Bible. And those who need to resign."

Any preacher who does not preach the gospel of Jesus Christ will most-likely send out useless church-attenders on a weekly basis, rather than warriors for Christ! It is disturbing that this kind of church is not only common, but even socially acceptable! A gospel-lacking church should be regarded as scandalous, not the norm! We must not be like the useless salt: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet" (Matthew 5:13).

Plato wrote: "Those who cobble old shoes or patch up old clothes could not hide it for thirty days if they gave back shoes and clothes worse than they got them, for if they did that they would soon starve to death". Yet we live in an age where some people have been in churches for decades and there seems to be zero indication of sanctification and zero knowledge of the true gospel. We live in an age where preachers can be gospelless and yet not jobless! They are being paid to make people worse than they found them! Can you expect me to hold my peace about this as it goes on in our backyard?

This professional uselessness is the easy path. To my friends headed for seminary: if you are a coward, you will take it. But if you love God, you will preach Christ and him crucified. This will bring persecution. This will bring hatred. Some wealthy families might get angry and leave the church. But as Paul wrote to Timothy: "As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry" (2 Timothy 4:5).

(A link to one of my videos: https://youtu.be/BmkepNDCUXo

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