What a Gospel!

The following article is copied by permission from Wretched Radio's July 2009 Newsletter. The article is written by Todd Friel. http://www.wretchedradio.com/

Warning Ditch Ahead!

Get ready for whiplash. If history is any barometer, it appears we are headed for a ditch.

Consider this. The church in the middle ages had grown corrupt due to work righteousness (among other things). The Reformers proclaimed, "We are saved by grace alone!" That was good, but it was not long before the church fell into the ditch of grace abuse.

Because of that ditch, in the 19th century, the church fell into another ditch, liberalism.

But a movement sprang up in the 20th century to yank us out of the liberal ditch and voile', they fell into the ditch of fundamentalist legalism and worldly separation.

Hello 1940's. Meet evangelicalism: the movement that was (sort of) conservative but decidedly engaged in the world.

Great idea, but we fell into the ditch of Seeker Sensitivity. In response to fundamentalist disengagement, we decided to not only engage the world, but bring the world into the church. Oops. Another ditch.

That brings us to today's growing movement that has no title: conservative, Puritan loving, engaged in the world, personal regeneration, Jesus lovers. Even Time Magazine recognized this movement as the third most influential spiritual trend of this decade.

This is a wonderful sign, but let's take a moment and ask, "Will this be the first movement that does not have a whiplash counter movement?" I doubt it. The question of course is, "What will that counter movement look like?"

I suspect it will be a counter to either our strengths or weaknesses.

What are the movement's s strengths and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Biblical literalism. The counter attack could be, "Legalism."

2. Personal regeneration. The counter attack might be, "Legalism."

3. Personal holiness. The counter assault will be, "Legalism."

What are the movement's weaknesses and what does a potential counter look like?

1. Theological arrogance. The counter attack could be, "Liberalism."

2. Lack of love. The counter attack might be, "Liberalism."

3. Lack of assurance. The counter assault might be, "Liberalism."

What a shocker! A counter movement will likely fall into one of the two ditches that EVERY movement has fallen: Legalism or Liberalism.

This matters on a universal church level and on a personal level. If we are not mindful of these potential ditches, a counter movement will fall into a pit...or we will.

Let's rejoice that God is raising up a conservative movement. But let us also be cautious that we don't fall into a ditch. Whiplash is a terrible thing.