Hated

 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first." John 15:18....."Those who want to win the world for Christ must have the courage to come into conflict with it." Titus Brandsma, Murdered at the Nazi Concentration Camp at Dachau...."If Jesus Christ preached what is coming from most of the pulpits these days, He'd have never been crucified." Leonard Ravenhill

One of the things I like to do is post quotes on my Facebook account from a number of prominent preachers, writers, and leaders in His church, both past and present. Some of them, indeed many of them, are quite strong. Confrontational might be a better word. Oftentimes, I get "feedback" on these from well meaning, but I believe at least somewhat misguided people in the church. Usually it's on the line of "We just need to show His love to people. We'll win them by our love for them." That is correct, but the misguidance comes in the form of their not knowing or understanding the nature of His love. A book was written some years ago by a man who titled it, Love Wins! It emphasized a love that is far more human than it is divine. In response to that book, someone said, "Yes, love wins, but it also warns." I think the church is suffering from a distinct unwillingness to confront a lost world and a backslidden church with His warnings from His Word. Jesus didn't fail to do this, and lest we forget, the way was prepared for the coming of Christ the Messiah by John the Baptist, who preached a message of repentance that confronted the sinful condition of the very human race Christ was coming to redeem.

Jesus did indeed come with a message of the Father's love. Love for a race that was hopelessly lost. He performed many miraculous acts of love. He was the exact representation of His Father's love. He still is. Yet it was not His miraculous acts and displays of God's lavish love that got Him into trouble. It was the words He spoke that confronted people with their spiritual captivity to their sin. Words that He spoke from a heart of love, but words that had no room for compromise. It was His words that declared that He alone was "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." It was His confrontational proclamation that "No one may come unto the Father EXCEPT THROUGH ME." It was His rejection of our good works alone being enough to atone for the guilt that the entire human race has been under since the sin of Adam. It was His call to "take up your cross and follow Me." These and so many other "words" enraged not only the religious leaders of the day, but all those who would refuse to receive Him on His terms and not theirs. He spoke in absolutes. He still does. Why don't we? Why won't we?

Look, I am not for a hardline message that only seeks to threaten people with damnation unless they receive Him. I want no part of a presentation of a harsh, unforgiving God who delights in punishment and banishment from His presence. Jesus never presented such a message. What He did present was a Father God who stood before a lost human race, bound for hell, in the Person of His Son. A God who cried out for the heart and souls of a people He loved and still loves. A God who continues to cry out to every generation since. He boldly tells us our state and the consequences of rejecting Him. He also boldly tells us of all that we may have in Him. Abundant life. Here and through eternity. He never whitewashed anything. He told the truth, all the truth of His message, and He never feared the consequences. He already knew what they'd be, death on a cross. That's why He came, because He knew that only through His death and His taking of the sin of the world upon Himself, could His offer of life make us free. His message got Him crucified. Are we so committed to also telling that message that we'll undergo the same?

Where does Ravenhill's quote apply to us above? Would we proclaim His message of life even if the result was being placed in the hellhole that was Dachau? As preachers, teachers, members of the Body of Christ, is what we're proclaiming enough to bring upon us what was brought upon our Lord? Or do we want to play it safe.....and call it love?

Blessings,
Pastor O