Monday, January 27, 2014
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My wife has always had a very full life, but not too full to keep her from exercising her mischievous streak once in a while. (Once in a while?) Like with some of the gifts that she's given me over the years. She's been known to take a gift and put it in a little wrapped box inside a little bigger box, inside a little bigger box, inside... Well, you know. I had to open all of those boxes to get to my little present. You wade through several empty boxes, except for the newspaper that's wrapped around nothing, and you begin to wonder, "Is there really any gift in here?" And, "Is it really worth all this?"
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Burying the Gift."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 9:12. The great missionary, Paul, says this: "We put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ." This great representative of the Lord Jesus is saying, "I don't want to do anything, I don't want to say anything that might keep someone from saying yes to the gospel and saying yes to Jesus."
Could it be that we have encumbered this good news we have with some extra baggage that keeps people from getting to the cross? See, we have a tendency to take this simple gift of eternal life and complicate it with all these layers around it. I was at a seminar not long ago, actually I was teaching it, and I was talking about what it means to be young and lost. And a woman in her early twenties came up afterwards and she said, "I was the person you described just four years ago." And she went on to tell me about a Christian who didn't help her. This girl had no Christian background, and a guy came up to her in high school and he gave her this picture of Jesus knocking at the door of her heart and he said, "Do you notice that there's no handle on the door? The reason is that the handle is on the inside and you have to let Him in." And he walked away.
Well, after he walked away, she said, "Let who in?" She didn't know anything about Jesus. It was the only time in her life up until then she'd ever heard about Him, but He was wrapped in religious talk that she couldn't understand. Now, this believer intended well I'm sure, probably just thought she just didn't want to get it. Actually, she didn't know how to get through the layers around Him.
Then she was invited to church a few years later, and she said, "Well, what should I wear?" And the gal said, "It doesn't matter." Thank God that believer attended a church where it doesn't matter. She said, "I went and accepted Christ the first time I heard the gospel in a way I could understand." But everything hinged on the answer to that one question, "What should I wear?" See, she would have missed it all. But there was a group of believers who offered God's gift without a lot of boxes and wrapping paper around it.
I hope that's the Jesus that you're sharing, that your church is sharing. Not one whose simple gift is encumbered with political views or social issues or denominational baggage. We can put obstacles in front of lost people by attacking particular sins and trying to clean them up before they've been to the cross. You don't clean fish before you catch them. Or maybe we bring in issues and doctrines that aren't a part of the simple gospel. We have a sin problem; that's the gospel.
Sin carries an eternal death penalty. Jesus paid that penalty in our place. We trade in eternal death for eternal life when we turn from running our life and put all our trust in Jesus. That's it! We put the gospel out of reach when we explain it in "Christianese" language that an unbeliever doesn't understand. We're making a mistake that may have life-and-death consequences when we load the gospel with extra baggage that obscures Christ's simple offer. Paul said it all, "I was determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Listen, you may be someone who's been confused by church people. You've been confused by all the wrapping around Jesus and you've missed the fact this is all about a man who loved you enough to die for your sin, and is powerful enough to walk out of His grave. He wants to walk into your life today. Don't miss Jesus because of the wrapping paper. It's all about Jesus.
There's so much more about Him at our website that I'd love to show you. It's ANewStory.com. I hope you'll meet me there. And if you're carrying the message of Jesus, wrap it simple like God did.