Your pastor might preach moral incrementalism, but Jesus didn’t …

If you take a step back, and take a long, hard look at the church, you’ll see some important things that are missing, or at least lacking. One of them is any sense of urgency to preach the Gospel and call people to repentance.

That wasn’t a problem for 18th century minister and evangelist, George Whitefield, whose sense of urgency sometimes impeded his preaching, as recounted by pastor David Scudder:

“It should bless our hearts to see people turn to Christ, but it should also break our hearts when they turn away. George Whitfield often had to stop preaching because he broke into tears. When someone suggested that he should control himself more he said, ‘How can I help weeping for people when they won’t weep from themselves? Every time I preach I wonder if someone is hearing the gospel for the last time.'”

The Scottish missionary to Africa, Robert Moffatt, shared Whitefield’s sense of urgency about following Christ: “We’ll have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only one short hour before sunset to win them.”

Rarely do you hear or see such a sense of urgency today. Instead, what is commonly taught is more along the lines of “moral incrementalism,” making small, slow, incremental steps toward following Christ. So is there any real need to be urgent about following the Lord? Well, look at how Jesus approached His own call to come follow Him:

“When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he instructed his disciples to cross to the other side of the lake. Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.’ Another of his disciples said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’ But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me now. Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead,'” Matthew 8:18-22.

The Apostle Paul added to this sense of urgency. First, he reminds us of what God has done to reconcile us to Himself, and then to appoint us as ambassadors to carry on His mission of reconciliation:

“And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

Paul then punctuates that with a sense of urgency:

“As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, ‘At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.’ Indeed, the ‘right time’ is now. Today is the day of salvation,” 2 Corinthians 6:1-2.

Your pastor might preach moral incrementalism, but Jesus didn’t. Neither did Paul. The right time to proclaim the Gospel and call people to repentance is now; today is the day of salvation!

Do you have a sense of urgency for sharing the Gospel with those in your sphere of influence who are lost?

Scotty