inoculated

So, I am listening to a sermon today, by Billy Grahams grandson. He was speaking on the power of the gospel. However, the word he used was that we in the South have been inoculated against the gospel and that he has to spend more time convincing people that they are not saved so that they can truly meet Jesus, instead of embracing the religious ideas they have been brought up under.
It kind of stunned me. So, I have been processing the thought…

Okay, so the concept of being inoculated is that they give you a little bit of the real thing so that you miss out on the true full thing altogether. They give you a little bit of the flu in an inoculation so that you miss out on the full blown thing. They give you a little bit of the chicken pox, so that you miss out on the true thing.
The thought was we have inoculated people against the gospel. We have given them a little bit of it and that has kept most from the true, full thing. We have spent our time trying to get them “saved”, instead of making disciples. Jesus is clear in the GREAT COMMISION. We are to MAKE DISCIPLES, not merely give people an ABC gospel that brings them to a mental ascent of truth. We are to walk and talk the WORD alongside them, until it marinades and resonates in them. We are to call them not to merely confess to truth, but to be obsessed and possessed by truth, compelling them to follow HIM. The gospel is not merely about salvation, but about sanctification, justification, glorification-from sins penalty, power and presence in our lives. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, but that salvation creates Christ followers.
As Francis Chan so adequately describes, we have made following Jesus something it isn’t. Even kids know that when you play follow the leader, you DO what the leader does. When you play Simon says, you do exactly what Simon says or you lose at both games. However, we have made the gospel something altogether different. Instead of making followers who DO what Christ did or obey exactly what Christ said, we convey a message that says you don’t have to do that because He is forgiving and loving-full of grace. (which is TRUE-by the way, but the very inoculation we are talking about.) Just memorize it, study about it and pray for it, but you don’t really have to DO those things. It would be absurd to really count it all as loss, know nothing but Christ crucified, find your treasure in heaven and follow Him, be crucified with Christ, Forget what lies behind, keep the Sabbath, come away with Him, Love Him with ALL, worship Him alone, grind our idols to dust, love our enemies, stop pleasing people and please Him, not lean on our own understanding, not seek wisdom of man, walk by the Spirit of God, let Him be the voice we listen to, wash people’s feet, pray without ceasing, enter into Covenant, love one another, MAKE DISCIPLES. After all, He didn’t really mean these things to be LIVED? Did HE?

We study these truths and then justify why we don’t live them. Inoculated against gospel. We give people just enough truth that they say yes to the inoculation, but never experience the full thing. All the while thinking they are “safe” from the dreaded consequence of sin. But the truth is the inoculation doesn’t work.

In fact, we have sold the true gospel short. We have not communicated the full gospel, the full truth. We have given just enough to get “saved”, but not what was needed to be a follower. And yes, it is OUR FAULT, for communicating poorly. Yet, the truth remains. People feel inoculated. Like they have what they need, while missing what they must possess. And the deception in this is that they are still lost.

I have been thinking all day about the inoculation concept. Could it be that the reason so many are not FOLLOWING, but believe they are His is because we have deceived them by not giving them the full dose of the gospel, but only just enough to ward off what the real thing might be?

It seems to be a conversation circling among pastors these days. Men like Matt Chandler, Andy Stanley, David Platt, Francis Chan, Tullian Tchividijan, John McArthur, Ravi Zacharias, Paul Washer, Louie Giglio, Craig Groeschel, John Piper and many more are addressing the issue of the watered down gospel. While I am not looking for the validation of man on these thoughts, it seems to be a running theme in Christendom right now. Even at the Southern Baptist Convention this year, many addressed our easy believism and watered down faith that is not reproducing followers of Christ.

Could the reason for this be inoculation? I don’t have an answer…but it is food for thought. And has made me evaluate my communication of the gospel. Are we inoculating or MAKING DISCIPLES? Look at those following you and you will have a pretty good idea of which. Do they look more like Jesus? Or more like your opinions, desires and preferences? Or maybe they do look like you and the better question is how much do YOU Look like Jesus? Does your following look like the full experience or just a shot of Jesus? Is it just about being saved or about chasing and following Jesus as if your life depends on it….because it does.

Are we just trying to inoculate people against the behaviors we don’t like or are we trying to give them the full experience of ALL JESUS desires? Are we settling for just a small portion, instead of giving them the Full Deal? Or perhaps, we are the ones inoculated. Maybe we have settled into the idea that we have gotten “saved” and that is enough. Does our life look like we are FOLLOWING JESUS or that we just got “saved” via our inoculation.

Not saying I have the answers to any of this…but it is something for us all to think about.
ALL FOR YOU