Say we are cooking. When we cook for others, we ask how the food is. We want others to enjoy it. Maybe we missed an ingredient or overcooked it. Maybe some people just don’t like that dish. So next time we alter it to make it more palatable and enjoyable. We may change the dish significantly or only a little. It is natural to change or alter to please others.
I have spoken many times about the absolute Truth of Scripture. It is, in fact, God’s Holy Word. The Bible is inspired by God and is not to be changed or altered to suit the tastes of others. That goes against our natural tendencies to want to please others.
We are seeing a major shift to create a Gospel message that is pleasing and suitable for all.
“If I want something, or I want to please the culture around me, I will find a Scripture verse that aligns with what I want and build a narrative around that.” We want to please ourselves and others. That’s a wide path to destruction, not the narrow path towards Salvation.
Why do we seek the approval of man, culture, and society at the expense of God? Is God first, or is something…anything else?
The Bible is thousands of pages long stretching out over thousands of years. Yes, you can certainly pick and choose Bible verses to build a “narrative” around. But the Bible is to be read as a whole, complete, Godly message. Not choose your own narrative book.
The Bible, the Gospel message, offers us what God wants, not what we want. But what we want should be what God wants because that is far better. God’s plan is righteous and Holy and for our benefit in every way.
The Truth of the Gospel is offensive. It confronts sin and sinners. Jesus confronted sin and sinners. Jesus spoke the Truth in love…always Truth. What we might deem “offensive” today may be the very Truth of the Gospel message.
Go read the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10, starting in verse 17. He left Jesus grieving over the Truth that Jesus shared with him. Was the rich young ruler offended by the Truth Jesus proclaimed? Did Jesus run after him to change the Truth to make it more palatable and acceptable to him?
Did this make Jesus unloving? Did this make Jesus offensive? Did Jesus have no compassion for this young ruler? No. Jesus had love. He told him the narrow way to Salvation out of love. But that dish is just not for everyone.
1 Peter tells us that Jesus is a stumbling block and a rock of offense to sin and sinners. What is a form of sin? Wanting what you want and finding a way to form a narrative that suits your desires. A narrative that fulfills your hopes and dreams.
Ask yourself, “did I shave off the edges of Scripture to create my own plan? Is it what God wants? Is it part of God’s Will and path?” The path and Truth is there in God’s Word. But if you keep shaving parts off, the Truth is gone, and a new, culturally accepted truth grows in its place.
We are commanded to love our neighbor. Is loving our neighbor confirming and supporting their sin? Is loving our neighbor creating a narrative that Scripture does not support and then teaching it to others? Is loving our neighbor taking that which the culture is in favor of, shaving Scripture to support it, and creating a cultural truth and narrative to bring others into?
The Gospel message, the Truth of Scripture, is so very clear on many issues that today’s culture just does not want to accept. Loving your neighbor is leading them to the Truth, as uncomfortable as it is at times, that leads to eternal Salvation through the narrow path.
Jesus, His Apostles, and many Christians have been martyred sharing the Truth. It is to be preached to all no matter what the cost. The Truth of eternal Salvation may not be a dish for everyone, may not be palatable for everyone, but we don’t change, alter, or twist the Word of God for any reason.
What may seem like a simple shaving to be less offensive may just alter the route to the narrow path and change the course of eternal Salvation for someone. Is that Love? Love is not towards sin; it is away from sin.
Pray for the Truth of Jesus, the Truth of the Gospel, the Truth of Salvation to be shared to everyone.
Pastor Jason
