“Three Dollars Worth Of Gospel” (Ready to Worship S8E1)

August 10, 2018

Ready to Worship Season 8, Episode 1 for Friday, August 10, 2018

This season on Ready to Worship, we are studying the cross. I believe that nothing will prepare us as well to worship God as contemplating the cross. In this episode we are going to discuss those who are soothing their consciences while He carried the cross.

Transcript

This season on Ready to Worship, we are studying the cross. I believe that nothing will prepare us as well to worship God as contemplating the cross.

Recently, I came across a quote from D.A. Carson that I think summarizes the shallow Christianity that many people want. In his commentary on Philippians, he wrote,

I would like to buy about three dollars worth of gospel, please. Not too much – just enough to make me happy, but not so much that I get addicted. I don’t want so much gospel that I learn to really hate covetousness and lust. I certainly don’t want so much that I start to love my enemies, cherish self-denial, and contemplate missionary service in some alien culture. I want ecstasy, not repentance; I want transcendence, not transformation. I would like to be cherished by some nice, forgiving, broad-minded people, but I myself don’t want to love those from different races… I would like enough gospel to make my family secure and my children well behaved, but not so much that I find my ambitions redirected or my giving too greatly enlarged. I would like about three dollars worth of the gospel, please. (taken from D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians, pp. 12-13, Baker, 1996).

Three dollars worth of gospel. If you will, one gallon of gospel. Just enough to get me home on Sunday morning, but not enough to bring me back on Sunday night.

Friend, Jesus didn’t make a token offering toward our redemption. He paid it all. He didn’t give silver or gold. He gave His own blood. Peter wrote, “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Can we rightfully only desire three dollars worth of gospel when He gave so much more for our redemption? I don’t think so. He loved us with all that He had. We need to love Him with all that we have (Mt. 22:37-39).

As we get Ready to Worship this week, let’s not settle for three dollars worth of gospel. Let’s not offer God token worship. Let’s worship Him with the whole heart, mind, and spirit.