"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Thursday, October 7, 2010
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. - 2 Corinthians 4:3-5I've had internal debates over the years as to the propriety of marketing the gospel (which is, I think, the well-intentioned purpose behind most church marketing). I don't have a firm sense on this yet, other than that we should avoid anything that even sniffs of bait and switch in our church advertising. For various reasons, this is difficult. To illustrate, compare the Biblical calls to "taste and see that the Lord is good", and "come to Me all you who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest", to the more modern "join us on Sunday. We've got a kickin' band".
The call to taste and see anything besides Jesus often amounts to a veil on the gospel. Of course, just because something is a veil doesn't make it untrue: "we've got a kickin' band", "it's a great place to make friends", "we'll help you raise your kids", "we'll help you heal your marriage" - these can all be, and often are, true statements. But look at this statement by Paul: "What we proclaim is not ourselves".
The great danger of proclaiming ourselves is that we place ourselves in the forefront, veiling the gospel and adding a double-whammy to the veils already thrown in front of it by the god of this age who is hard at work blinding the minds of unbelievers. He doesn't deserve our help and, for goodness sake, we shouldn't be so willing to offer it.
Everything that's not Jesus, from the excellence of our music program to the zing in our atrium Starbucks, amounts to a proclamation of us. We can (unwittingly) become the veil that is placed over the gospel.
I do it too.
May Paul's formula for servant-proclamation and gospel-unveiling become embedded in my daily words and actions.
For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.
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Comments on "Veils":
2. nhe
- 10/07/2010 11:42 am CDT
I agree with Shrode - great post.
I wonder if we even do this (veil the gospel) with good things that our church is doing.
A friend in my church pointed out to me that the only thing our pastor has twittered about in the last 3 months is how the church is involved in the ministry to get women out of sex trafficking in downtown Atlanta. But, he has said nothing about Jesus, for 3 months.
Many in our church are so "impressed" that our church leadership is so active in a cutting edge ministry like this. I do think my friend is on to something though - it feels a bit like we're proclaiming ourselves.
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Wow. Bill, this is an incredible post. You should put it over in the "Favorite Posts" list so that it is noticed and read over the next year.
It's also convicting and if people really pay attention to what you are saying, pretty dadgum provocative.