The Offense of the Gospel

I mentioned in my last post that our church was doing a version of the candy maker's witness.  Following is what we attached to the candy canes we handed out.

A candy cane is a great reminder of the true meaning of Christmas--the birth of Jesus and the reason He came to earth.

*When you turn the candy cane up-side-down you have a "J" for Jesus.

*Turned right-side-up the candy cane looks like a shepherd's staff and reminds us that shepherds were the first people to see the baby Jesus, and also that Jesus is the Good Shepherd.

*The white on the candy cane reminds us of Jesus' purity.  He is the sinless Son of God.

*The red stripe reminds us of Jesus' blood.  He came to die on the cross to forgive our sins.

*The green stripe reminds us of everlasting life in Heaven.  Like an evergreen tree is always green, everyone who trusts in Jesus to forgive their sins will live forever with Him in Heaven.

We concluded with an invitation to come hear more of the Christmas story at our Christmas Eve service and gave the church name and phone number.

One night this past week I suddenly woke up worrying about the message we were handing out with the candy cane.  I don't know if it was the pizza I had for supper, my overactive imagination, or the devil.  The thoughts that came to mind went something like this: Why can't those people do something nice without having to preach at the same time?  Why do they have to include a sermon with the candy cane?  And especially why would they talk about blood and dying at Christmas time and direct that at my child?  That is so rude and offensive!

I started thinking about how I would respond to such questions and accusations(and this while I still couldn't get back to sleep).  I think I can see their point in some of this.  Maybe the candy cane by itself would have been enough--coming from the church float.  Maybe the message should have been directed to the adults rather than the kids.  

As I pondered these things over the next couple days, many thoughts and responses came to mind.  First, I think I will be thankful to know that someone actually read the little message and cared enough to respond.  But the most critical thought that came to mind comes from God's Word.

  

Romans 1:16- "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes..."  

The message that we put with the candy cane is not the complete Gospel, but it certainly contains elements of God's good news.  Perhaps there are better ways to go about it, but I do not want to be ashamed of the Gospel.  I want us to keep finding ways to get this good news of Jesus Christ to our community.  We do have to be careful that we do not offend by our methods, but we also have to realize that the Gospel does offend and many people will not appreciate it.  Still, this is what we are to be about, individually and as a church.  Jesus alone is the hope for our world!

Grace and peace,

Dave