The Gospel According to Bono
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! Galatians 1:6-8
Dear Friends,
After the greeting in nearly every epistle of Paul, the apostle gives thanks for God’s work in the lives of the people to whom he is writing. In the thanksgiving, Paul touches on the topics or themes that will be found in the body of the letter. But in Paul’s letter to the Galatians, there is no thanksgiving because Paul is furious with them. He has nothing to be thankful for as far as they are concerned. Rather than praising them, Paul chastises them.
What is the cause of Paul’s anger against the Galatians? Why does he curse some and call the others fools? Simply this, that the preachers are preaching a perverted gospel, which is no gospel at all, and the people are accepting it
The other day, while I was driving in the car listening to the radio, I heard a commercial for one of the local churches in Charlotte. In the background was “Come Together” by the Beatles. The ad began with the pastor of this church saying, “What do the Beatles and U2 have to do with the Bible?” His answer, “Everything.” He then offered an invitation to come to his church to hear a sermon series entitled, “The Gospel According to the Beatles.” I almost drove off of the road.
I am terribly disturbed by the trend that the church has taken in recent years. In order to attract more members, the church is becoming more like the world. Is not the cross of Christ sufficient for your teaching? Is not the Gospel the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes? Is this not why the church exists? To look at many churches today, I would say not.
Paul accused the preachers of Galatia of desiring to please men rather than God. The same is true in many churches today. With church membership growth being the hallmark of success, and feeling the pressures to try anything to grow a congregation, pastors are perverting the Gospel of Christ by mixing it with the common worldview as if the message of the cross was not relevant today.
And have the members of today’s churches become such fools? Is the sanctuary of the church a place of worship or a place of worldliness? Do we go to church to be edified or to be entertained? And in regard to the Holy Bible, shall we be learned or shall we be illiterate?
If your church is similar to the one described here, then I am sorry. Sorry not for the things I have said, but sorry that you sit under a pastor who has assumed such a low view of the Gospel. Here’s my advice for those who will take it. If your pastor quotes Bono more often than Jesus Christ, run to the exit and never look back.
In Christ,
David
