Staying on the point

Jake Belder has written a solid essay on how easily evangelicalism in North America misses the point on discipleship:

Our culture is so antagonistic towards rules and authority that both those raised as Christians and those who become Christians later in life seek out an expression of Christianity that requires very little of them. They don't want a God who, despite freeing them from sin by His infinite mercy, love, and grace, requires that they live to glorify Him in all that they do. They only want a salvation that makes their eternal destiny sure, not one that forces them to look at all of life through the lenses of a new paradigm. They don't want a gospel that transforms everything, but instead one that makes them feel good and loved and can be used whenever is convenient for them. And regrettably, the Church has made this distorted gospel readily available to them.

What pains me so much about this is that people in the Church, leaders and laymen alike, don't see it and continue to feed the problem. In a post the other day, I quoted D. A. Carson, who said that while the gospel may have peripheral benefits such as improving your marriage or how you handle your finances, that is not the heart of it. Yet that is what has become of it in the Church today. We turn Jesus into a weak, smiling figure who loves us and gives us some good advice on how to make our lives better.

I recommend reading the whole article, which offers a way out of the current mess. And thanks to BibleX for the link.