Last week, a friend of a friend called me a “feel good preacher”. She meant it as an insult. She also implied that I “don’t stick to the Bible” and that I am “afraid to preach the truth”.
As far as I know, she has never heard me preach. She could, easily enough – three years of my sermons are online – so she doesn’t know that I do indeed use the Bible as the foundation for my messages.
And afraid to preach the truth? If I were really afraid of how people would respond to me, I wouldn’t say half of what I say. I often invite discussions and even arguments from people – friends and strangers alike – who regularly disagree with me.
As far as being a feel-good preacher, I am OK with that title. Too many people think that the gospel, which means “good news”, is really only so-so news. They think things like… You’re forgiven, as long as you stop sinning. You’re loved, as long as you do everything right. You’re accepted, as long as you try hard enough. Conditions, conditions.
So the good news is only good for people who are good? People spend so much time thinking about their own goodness that they practically ignore the goodness of God. They get stuck in a performance-based religion, constantly checking their spiritual pulse, hoping they are sincere enough for God to love them.
Although I think it’s dangerous to base our relationship with God on feelings, I don’t think that the faith is meant to be a feel-bad thing either. Pastor Jeff Turner said, “Never trust a belief system which makes you feel bad about feeling good and good about feeling bad.”
Some of you just read that quote and thought I said, “Sin will make you feel good, so you should do that.” Which is part of the problem today. People are so focused on sin-condemnation and sin-management that they can’t see Jesus, who died to take care of that sin.
I’ll admit: for a long time, I thought that if I weren’t feeling bad enough about sin, or the lost, or something in my life, then I was doing something wrong. I felt bad about feeling good. I am different now. I try daily to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). I can’t help it – His goodness makes me feel good. Try it yourself.
As far as I know, she has never heard me preach. She could, easily enough – three years of my sermons are online – so she doesn’t know that I do indeed use the Bible as the foundation for my messages.
And afraid to preach the truth? If I were really afraid of how people would respond to me, I wouldn’t say half of what I say. I often invite discussions and even arguments from people – friends and strangers alike – who regularly disagree with me.
As far as being a feel-good preacher, I am OK with that title. Too many people think that the gospel, which means “good news”, is really only so-so news. They think things like… You’re forgiven, as long as you stop sinning. You’re loved, as long as you do everything right. You’re accepted, as long as you try hard enough. Conditions, conditions.
So the good news is only good for people who are good? People spend so much time thinking about their own goodness that they practically ignore the goodness of God. They get stuck in a performance-based religion, constantly checking their spiritual pulse, hoping they are sincere enough for God to love them.
Although I think it’s dangerous to base our relationship with God on feelings, I don’t think that the faith is meant to be a feel-bad thing either. Pastor Jeff Turner said, “Never trust a belief system which makes you feel bad about feeling good and good about feeling bad.”
Some of you just read that quote and thought I said, “Sin will make you feel good, so you should do that.” Which is part of the problem today. People are so focused on sin-condemnation and sin-management that they can’t see Jesus, who died to take care of that sin.
I’ll admit: for a long time, I thought that if I weren’t feeling bad enough about sin, or the lost, or something in my life, then I was doing something wrong. I felt bad about feeling good. I am different now. I try daily to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). I can’t help it – His goodness makes me feel good. Try it yourself.