For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus
1 Timothy 2:5 (KJV)
I went to the funeral of a very dear aunt this past weekend. The preacher of the funeral sermon had a very engaging and interesting style and shared plenty of memorable and hilarious anecdotes. What he did not share, however, was the full gospel of Jesus Christ.
I don’t want to pick on this pastor alone, because this is a problem shared across Ghana. Perhaps across Christendom in total. So many preachers, so interesting sermons, entertaining but utterly devoid of the life-saving truth.
In this particular sermon, the preacher repeatedly called for the congregation to “connect with God” and have a “relationship with Him.” He spoke about the importance of living a meaningful life and doing good deeds, then at the end he did the usual “Repeat this prayer after me” gimmick where he led members of the congregation in praying that they wanted to “connect with God.”
A false message and a failed presentation of the gospel. His message wasn’t one that was deliberately trying to lead people astray, but nevertheless it was false by reason of omission. Unlike the apostle Paul in Acts 20:27, he failed to declare the whole counsel of God.
At the end of the whole sermon I imagine that thinking members would have been baffled, not by what he said but by the many things he didn’t say.
Why must man connect to God? As His creations, why aren’t we connected by default? The preacher failed to explain that God created man in perfection, but Adam sinned, and in him we all sinned (1 Corinthians 5:22). We live every day in open rebellion to a holy God who cannot look upon evil and must judge sin.
Left to our own devices, we are doomed to be punished as we deserve for our sins.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:4-9 (NASB)
Why Christ? Because as God, He lived a sinless life on our behalf, fulfilling the laws of God that we could not do due to our sinful nature. Then, as the sinless lamb of God, He paid for our sin debt through the sacrifice of His life, becoming sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God through him, as 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:6
In other words, we cannot become righteous on our own, and we cannot be accepted by God without that righteousness. Thus God Himself prepared a substitute for us to take away that sin so that He can both punish sin as He should and redeem sinners as He desires (Romans 3:26). We cannot come to God in any other way but in the one way He has prepared for us: faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Long story short, it is not enough to talk about “connecting with God” without explaining why and how in a biblical fashion. I am saying this not to put one preacher down but to keep us all alert whenever we try to share the gospel with others. Instead of trying to amuse or simplify, we should focus on sharing the full truth and nothing but the truth of about Christ. Anything less is a great disservice to our listeners. May God help us to make the most of every opportunity.