The Gospel Does Not Work!

          The following is another quote from Mike Mason’s book, “The Gospel According to Job”: Most of the world’s religious and philosophical systems are advanced by people who, in one way or another, appear to be on top of life’s problems. In reality nobody is ever on top for very long; nobody leads Satan by the nose. But for a brief while, someone may seem to have discovered the “secret.” Someone finds something that “works,” and then he writes a book, founds a cult, starts a movement. He is on top, and so he preaches to those who are still on the bottom, working their way up. But this is not the Christian way. No, the central message of Christianity is not preached by someone who is on top. Rather, it is preached by someone who is at the very bottom of the heap; hanging on a cross. The gospel is the message of a loser, not of a winner. To be sure, Christ wins in the end. He conquers death and rises from the grave to live forevermore (something which, incidentally, no other religious leader has ever done, nor even claimed to do). And yet, it is not primarily on the basis of the resurrection that the gospel is preached, Christ’s victory over death is vital, and without it His teaching would be worthless. But the fundamental platform of Christianity is not the platform of success, but of what appears to be total defeat: the cross. The cross is the pulpit in which God stood to preach His greatest sermon, and it is also the only pulpit where anyone else may stand and rightfully preach to others. As disciples of Christ we stand on our weakness, not on our strength. Of all the answers to the world’s problems, the gospel is the only one whose primary claim is not that it works, but that it doesn’t work.”

          I am willing to bet that the last sentence really got your attention. If so, it is probably because you missed this key phrase in the sentence: Of all the answers to the world’s problems . . .. Listen to what he says next: So if you’re looking to get control of all your problems, forget Christianity. If you’re looking for success, happiness, or freedom from pain, forget Christ. The way of Christ is the cross, and the cross spells weakness, poverty, failure, death.

          Now, I will add my “two cents worth”: If you are going to follow Jesus, get over thinking you can have control over your life. It is just that simple.

"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent" (John 6:29 NASB).