Actscelerate.com

Leaving out the Cross and the Resurrection

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **4/16/20 10:09 pm**

Why Do So Many Preachers Leave the Resurrection Out of Their Evangelism? (And sometimes the cross, too.)

I may be a little odd, a little different from some other people, because I have developed a habit of paying attention to the 'altar call' or the challenge to repeat a prayer from one's seat which has replaced the altar call in many churches.

Part of this comes from my seeing a disconnect between the presentation of the Gospel in scripture and what goes on in a lot of churches. I see in I Corinthians 15, in the opening verses, the gospel by which we are saved

1 Corinthians 15 King James Version (KJV)
15 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Notice the resurrection is a part of that, and also Romans 10:9-10, where it says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

I also see in the various sermons in Acts by Peter and Paul the focus on Jesus being Lord, being Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, and Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Jews that had Jesus crucified believed He died on the cross. The Romans who crucified Him believed He died on the cross. Many atheists would acknowledge that Christ died on a cross. If believing that Jesus died on the cross saved, plenty of atheists would be saved. But they tend to have a problem with the resurrection.

Why are there so many sermons that do not touch on this-- maybe a sermon on marriage or how to do well at work-- followed by a closing challenge. The closing challenge may say Christianity is not a religion. It is a relationship. The way to have a relationship with God is through Jesus Christ.

In many sermons, the audiences has not been introduced to Jesus Christ. The Christians in the audience know the Gospel. They know who Jesus is. The ones who have gone to Sunday school and church for years, who haven't become Christians know. But what about the unchurched people who think 'Christ' was Jesus' last name, and do not know that Jesus is the Son of God? How are they going to be saved by 'asking Jesus into their hearts' or 'praying to receive Christ' if they do not know who he is? There are a lot of men named Jesus in Mexico.

If a Hindu went into your church, someone who doesn't even understand who God is, will he be saved by the altar call? How is he going to understand the Gospel if no one has preached it to him?

In terms of Biblical 'orthopraxy', I see the apostles preached the Gospel and then baptized people. They did not lead the audience in a "sinner's prayer." As far as I know, that became commonplace among evangelicals in the time of Billy Graham, and it is relatively new. But confessing faith is Biblical. When I grew up, I heard a number of "sinner's prayers", but they were preceeded with preaching about Christ on the cross, and the prayer was a confession of faith in the Lordship of Christ and His resurrection. There was a cross-focus and a resurrection-focus that I rarely hear today.

I heard a message by Rick Warren on YouTube where he has people repeat a sinner's prayer and I couldn't find a reference to the cross or the resurrection in the prayer or the message. I've seen the same thing with Joel Osteen's show. It seems THE NORM in my experience to hear preachers ask the audience to repeat a 'sinners prayer' without explaining what happened on the cross or mentioning the resurrection. I have heard it in the A/G and other Pentecostal churches, too. I've heard it in COGs in Indonesia, also.

Paul does quote the Old Testament that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But when he quotes this in Romans 10, he also asks, how shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Why would a sinners just saying the name of Jesus in a prayer save him if he hasn't believed on him? I have a Latino friend named Jesus. Did all of his school teachers get saved when they called roll in the morning? One needs to believe in order to be saved, and how are the ones who haven't heard the Gospel yet supposed to believe if they haven't heard the Gospel preached?
_________________
Link

Friendly Face Posts: 434 **4/17/20 6:24 am**

Great point Link. I spent a lot of time working with 2 different city missions. Several times I started to share Christ and His delivering power on a personal level with people who poured their hearts out about losing jobs and families due to addictions and their response was, "I was saved 2 or more times but it didn't work for me." The group feed, preach and get people to say the sinners prayer without explaining repentance, the Lordship of Christ and personal follow up causes damage in these situations. We also have many nice comfortable and successful people who think they have their salvation and fire insurance while pursuing everything this world has to offer.

I am not the judge but it is not the salvation message and corresponding Christian lifestyle I see in the Bible.

Acts-perienced Poster Posts: 11849 **4/18/20 11:00 am**