Worrying About Hurt Feelings

As I listen to some preachers/teachers speak I often find that I feel as if something is missing. The part that seems to be missing is God's wrath and hell. Please don't get me wrong because I think swinging clear over to the other side of the pendulum with constant fire and brimstone is no better than living in gospel milk toast land. What I am talking about is the way we present the gospel. I hear people say Jesus loves you and God loves you and He sent Jesus to pay for your sins and God has a wonderful plan for your life and all you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart. Don't misunderstand me here, this is all true, however I think we give this picture of this pitiful savior standing at the door to your heart knocking and begging us saying please accept me, please let me in. To me that is a pretty weak way to view the creator and sustainer of the universe. Look at what Jesus says in Matthew 10:28,

[28] And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28 ESV)

I have heard people (who profess to be Christians) when they are shown this verse say "well that isn't the God I worship, I don't like that verse because it makes God unloving." The truth is that verse is God's inspired word whether you like it or not. The whole Bible is true including the verses that make us uncomfortable or that we do not like. We are all sinners living in a broken and sinful world. In God's economy without the love of God that produces grace and salvation through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross we all deserve to go to hell. Our best works on our best most sacrificial day of our lives, without God's saving grace, are just good enough to get us to hell. The problem is that more often than not in the church in America today (less some graciously God given exceptions) we follow the politically correct gospel where we take pains not to step on toes or offend and possibly hurt feelings by failing to tell people that without Christ there is only one other option, namely hell, that most people do not talk about because we want to be cheerful and loving and lighthearted.


I have said it before and I will say it again, the gospel of Jesus Christ is by nature offensive. It is offensive to most people in our world today because it limits your options. Follow Jesus as personal savior and Lord or spend eternity suffering for your sin in hell. No wait I want the package deal sort of follow Jesus and be as good as I can and everybody is happy and no one gets offended. That is not one of the options and it leads to hell, there is only one way and that way is through Jesus who said plainly "no one comes to the Father except through me". Others have said to me, "well telling people that if they refuse God's offer of salvation they accept hell will push away seekers". My answer to this is found in Romans 3:10-12 which says,

[10] as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
[11] no one understands; no one seeks for God.
[12] All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:11-12 ESV)

No one seeks God is exactly what it says in verse 11.In John 6:44 Jesus says,

[44] No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44 ESV)

In John Jesus tells us no one comes to Him unless God draws them, Paul in Romans says no one seeks God. So the excuse about pushing people away seems to me to be somewhat less than logical. If God has drawn someone to His Son Jesus for salvation is anything I do going to thwart God's sovereign, yes completely sovereign, purpose? I don't think so. I think we as Christians have an obligation to tell lost people the whole truth. To tell them about God's wrath on those who do not find salvation and forgiveness in Jesus as well as telling them about the grace and love and mercy and eternal life with a loving God in heaven if we do accept Jesus as savior. We also have an obligation I believe to go further than "OK pray this prayer and get baptized and now you are good. We need to disciple these new Christians, help them grow and tell them that following Jesus is not always easy and probably won't solve every problem in life and make you healthy and beautiful and wealthy, and more likely will result in persecution. The troubles you walk through if you belong to Jesus you never walk through alone. The reward in heaven is worth every uncomfortable and painful moment in this brief life and then some.

Bottom line, I think if we do not make the gospel of Jesus clear and do not help people understand that following Christ is not always easy and that the alternative is worse than anything we can even conceive, that we are loving them less than we should. Loving them by making everything about the gospel easy and cheap without showing the one and only alternative, eternal suffering, is not love at all, especially not the love Jesus tells us to love them with in His second greatest commandment, to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

In His amazing grace, Bob