We can’t overemphasize the importance of getting this right, can we? The Good News of Jesus Christ is the message that we’re called to proclaim. There’s nothing more important than this. If we get this wrong, then every step of leadership, every program and activity that we lead out in is in vain.
But how do we know if we are preaching the same Gospel that Paul preached? John? Peter? How do we know if it’s the same Gospel that rocked the church during The Reformation? Or are we guilty of hijacking it? How can we know?
Answer this: What are you accused of?
To my mind, to answer this question, we must know how we are misperceived.
There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones as quoted by Chuck Swindoll in The Grace Awakening)
Has false criticism ever been this helpful?
HT: Adrian Warnock
