Tell him what he’s won, Bob. A new marriage!
In my sermon on Sunday I preached on the topic of Solus Christus (Christ Alone) from Acts 4:12 and its surrounding context.
I was commenting on the real reason for going to church and coming to Christ. I said something to the effect of "Jesus doesn't fix marriages. He fixes people from the inside out and subsequently their marriages are changed."
My point was that we've lost Christ's uniqueness of being a Savior from sin(fulness), but instead have tried to become utilitarian in our approach toward Christ and church.
What can Jesus (and the church) do for me? But they set their aim too long, merely wanting happier marriages and so forth.
Ironically, perhaps, I got a postcard in the mail inviting me to a church in the area. The following are the advertised sermon titles intended to draw me in:
- Helping Your Husband Maximize His Potential
- Giving Your Wife What She Really Wants
- Making Sex Sizzle
- Team Parenting
- Mastering Your Money Together
Am I wrong or are people missing the greatness of Christ and what He alone can do?
Solus Christus: The Erosion Of Christ-Centered Faith
As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision.
Thesis Two: Solus Christus
We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.
We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.
- The Cambridge Declaration
*For further discussion, read Craig Larson's article, Preaching that Promotes Self-Centeredness: How to avoid stirring up the wrong motives.*
posted by GUNNY @ 08:42
7 comments
7 Comments:
Jerry Maguire
As my old Houston Pastor Chris Bayack said, so many come to church not seeking repentance, but merely seeking relief from the miserable consequences of their sinfulness.
Sad but so true! Hope you are still enjoying the CD's. I tried to put a wide range of artist on there. If you want to know a specific artist. I can send you the list, do to the fact I burned it from a playlist on my Ipod
I remember a pastoral mentor who talked about a couple he was counseling one time.
They claimed they had a "communication problem."
He said,"No, you've got a Jesus problem."
Interesting to me that both Ephesians 5 and 1 Peter 3 emphasize the cross in the context of how spouses are to treat one another.
Hmmmm.
Excuse me... did you just use the word 'sex' in your blog post?
It pained me to do it!
If it had not been a quote, there's no way. Even then I thought about throwing out a [sic] so people would know that I know better.
That's my point!
Some church is sending me a card in the mail telling me how to spice up woo-hoo!
What a world, what a world, what a world!
Shouldn't it be: "Tell him what he's won, Drew. A new marriage!"
Well Gunny isn't what you are raving against just the status quo in most churches including SBC churches? Our people expect to go to church to learn what Christ can do for them because that is what we teach.
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