Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV) 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
You do not need to look far in our modern Evangelical church environment to see multiple movements concerned with getting the message out concerning a personal relationship with Christ. Much of this has sprung from the “Church Growth Movement, Church Health Movement, Emergent Movement, and the Seeker Sensitive Movement.” What they all have in common is a desire to see individuals come to a saving knowledge of Christ. What they also have a in common is a desire to maximize their conversion rate. So, in each of these movements, the focus primarily focuses in on felt needs, what they believe the hearer’s heart is seeking or wants. Let me address two areas in which, we as Christians, in our desire to proclaim the Gospel, have fallen victim to a weak Gospel born out our misunderstanding of the heart.
A Gospel born from our hearts not the Scriptures
I have seldom run into Bible believing Christians who are not concerned at some level for the salvation of others. Often, I have heard their struggles and empathy for the lost, especially family and friends. This also seen in pastoral ministry as churches seek ways to evangelize. Innumerable books and conferences have sought to address ways in which we as individuals and churches can reach our communities. Questions such as, is our message relevant, do we understand their felt needs, are we socially involved in order for our community to see our genuine love for them, and are we seeker sensitive?
The problem with all these questions is twofold. First, we are ignoring the fact that the Bible has already diagnosed the hearts of men and the disease is much more fundamental. Man’s need is a new heart (Ezekiel 11:19) because of sin, and the old heart of stone must be removed (Ezekiel 36:26). Paul put in other terms;
Galatians 2:20 (NKJV) 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Galatians 5:24 (NKJV) 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Romans 6:6 (NKJV) 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Second, our approach to sharing the Gospel is not only heart motivated by heart directed. We have allowed our own hearts to articulate the message. In other words, we are reasoning from our hearts instead of the Scriptures. This not to say we should not be motivated from a proper heart position, but we cannot allow the heart to direct our message. Once we allow the heart to formulate the message instead of propositional truth, it isn’t long before we are more concerned about offending the hearer than proclaiming the truth. That is the premise of the “seeker sensitive” movement. When our hearts become the primary messenger, not only fear of offending influences the message but also what our hearts think will be positively responded to by the hearer.
The last thing our hearts want to do is make the Gospel sound harsh or portray the Christian life as difficult and sacrificial. Our Lord’s approach was often very different form this attitude and seemed to fight against having false converts. Everywhere He went, He seemed to want to talk about how difficult the Christian life was.
Luke 9:57-62 (NKJV) 57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” 59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.” 61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Matthew 16:24 (KJV) 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Matthew 19:20-22 (KJV) 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Matthew 16:24-25 (KJV) 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
A Gospel received by fallen hearts
Often, when we have the opportunity to share the Gospel, it is with family or people we know. We are naturally disposed to think well of them and as a result, forget that the fallen heart is not disposed to the Gospel message (Romans 3:10-23). Some of us also think that the natural man has the capability to choose for Christ, failing to understand that the natural man is incapable of choosing for Christ (John 3:27; 6:44-45, 65; Ephesians 2:8), because he is dead in his trespasses and sin and by nature the child of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3).
In either instance, once resistance is encountered, we often seek to “reason” them into heaven. We appeal to their hearts, devise programs to peek their interest in spiritual things, and design worship that will elicit a positive response or at least some kind of soulish favorability toward the Gospel message. In other words, we have God reconciling Himself toward men instead of man being reconciled to God by Christ through the cross (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:18). In our desire to see people come to Christ, we paint a picture of Christ that is favorable to fallen man. It isn’t long before our hearts have us share a gospel that is more tuned toward felt needs and the listener’s sensibilities than a proclamation of man’s sin, and his offensiveness before a holy God and God’s remedy through Christ on the cross.
While, as believers, we need the heart of Christ for the lost, we also need to be wary that our own hearts don’t deceive us and we end up with a Gospel message that lacks truth and the power of God (Romans 1:16-18).
-Michael Holtzinger