Radio Antioch

This teaching is an excerpt from our Radio Antioch Podcast, Episode 2.

Who would want to be part of a church, if all you hear is condemnation? Sometimes when you go out to areas where there are not a lot of Christians, where missionaries are working, you will come across one of the local people. They will say, “ Oh, you are one of the children of the Angry God”. You can tell an old-school missionary has been there from one of the denominations that preaches a lot on sin and condemnation, and represent the Lord of Hosts as the Angry God. This is one of the worldviews that the world has of Christians, and it is often detrimental to sharing the gospel. Some groups in our society that are particularly bound up in a sinful lifestyle feel that the Christians actually hate them. Somewhere we got so focused on their sinful lifestyle that we forget to love the person, even if we hate what sin is doing to their life.
Now, I’m not preaching some watered down gospel here. Sin has separated us from God. The scripture says that in being separated from God, we can’t go to heaven. Now, I believe in heaven, and I believe in hell. And I believe that we all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God, and that accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is the only way to be reconciled to God. But sometimes our church message is so focused on sin that even after we come to salvation we are feel condemned and full of guilt. The blood of Jesus has removed our guilt, but we still wear it like a noose around our neck!
God has at times been angry with his children, sometimes including those of us who are Christians. But think of this: If you know a family where all the children know is anger and reproach from their father, you would say that family is dysfunctional. Love should be the overriding bond of the family, even if discipline at times is needed. We all need a savior, and once we have come into the family, we should be living in love. I am not saying that we should ignore sin. If you are bound in a sin, let’s pray together so that you can get the victory over it and be free.
Even a baby Christian can quote John 3:16:  “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus loved you so much that He gave His life that you could have forgiveness and eternal life.  Instead of the “People of the Angry God” we should be the “People whom God Loves”
I pray that when people meet me, they would sense the excitement and Joy that I have in being in Christ. I want the Spirit in me to bubble over in an infectious way, like soda pop bursting from a shaken can! I want it to be obvious that I an not a Child of the Angry God, but rather a Child that has been adopted into the family of a Loving God and Father.

Photo Courtesy  The Real Taiwan, Used with Permission.