Does God Have Nothing To Offer The First World?

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009 Posted: 10:27:42PM HKT

It is clear, from the way many traditional churches are either emptying out or stagnating, that many people think life is livelier without God in it. Think atheist bus ads in London that go: There is probably no God… now stop worrying and enjoy your life.

And, yes, the adjective was purposefully selected because it is a fact that many of the newer churches are pretty much given over to proffering a materialistic message that promises financial prosperity and freedom from and immunity to diseases. Or at least that is the general perception most thinking Christian leaders would have.

It is also a fact that not every church is emptying out or stagnating; some, indeed, continue to be on a steep growth curve. Not that there is anything wrong with church growth in itself (after all, God wants to win the whole world to Christ).

But there is a big problem when ordained preachers, be it intentionally or ignorantly, compromise the full message of the Gospel in an attempt to accommodate the selfishness of an increasingly self-centered and materialistic world.

Thinking God a divine killjoy, there are actually churches that omit or minimise the preaching of discipleship.

Is biblical Christian living really a tough pill to swallow? Is it always tormenting to have to deny oneself, take up the cross and follow Jesus as He takes the narrow road fraught with difficulties and persecutions? Is Christian living in effect a living hell?

Is it better to be a nominal Christian with eyes set on the world and feet set toward obtaining its attractions than a disciple of Christ who has to avoid all those enjoyable things in life?

This is an issue that every believer must grapple with if the Church is to gain a decisive victory over the devil and his wiles.

Jesus and His band of brothers and sisters never envied the world. If anything, they despised it. According to the Gospels, the disciples (Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew) never struggled in their hearts to follow Christ. If they did, they would never have been able to leave their fulltime jobs.

They knew they had something far better than what the world could offer. What was that? Listening to the preaching of Christ especially in the Sermon on the Mount, one could almost feel the rude shock that must have jolted the Jewish listeners who must have had their hearts set on material things as much as people today are when Jesus bluntly informed them that they were on their way to ultimate, utter regret and misery.

Christ did not preach a message threatening people into submission by telling them of a fierce, tyrannical God who wanted everyone meekly attending His churches and would send those unwilling to do that straight to hell.

He did not utter such superstitious claptrap. He pointed plainly to things as they stand. Live this way (seeking after material things) and one will find one’s energy consumed besides facing vanity in the end. Naked people entered the world, and naked they will leave it.

The world (or the devil) promises satisfaction for those who seek after material things. The Son of God plainly says that life, not just in the hereafter, does not consist in material abundance. It is a fact that wealth does not add anything but trouble; ask the richest of the rich. All of them will tell of how they would give their entire fortune just to find true bliss.

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