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Sadly, every Sunday in pulpits across this land, preachers reduce the core message of the gospel to what Bryan Chappell calls the “Deadly Be’s” just “be like” Abraham, Moses, David or Jesus, or just “be” disciplined.
Concerning this tendency towards moralism, Martin Lloyd-Jones explains,
“If you only preach the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only do you not solve the problem of mankind, in a sense you aggravate it. You are preaching nothing but utter condemnation, because nobody can ever carry it out.
Paul did not say, ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the Sermon on the Mount; God forbid that I should glory save in the ethical teachings of Christ; nor the example of Christ either.’ That is often preached, it is not? What is the message of Christianity? The imitation of Christ? ‘Read the gospels’ they say. ‘And see how he lived. That is the way we all ought to live, so let us decide to do so. Let us decide to imitate Christ and to live as he lived.’
I say once more that that is not the center and heart of the Christian message. What [the Apostles] preached was his death, and the meaning of that event.
more on this Moralistic Therapeutic Deism by Christian Smith
