We have given worldly definitions and ideals to the things that we do. It is off track and it will continue to manifest itself in chaos and poor harvest. I want to put a short excerpt from Spurgeon below. I think what he says here is the first bad seed that begins to infect the church and when we remove this weed from our presence it will start us in the right direction.
Quick to Criticize
We shall, as we ripen in grace, have greater sweetness towards our fellow Christians. Bitter-spirited Christians may know a great deal, but they are immature. Those who are quick to censure may be very acute in judgment, but they are as yet very immature in heart. He who grows in grace remembers that he is but dust, and he therefore does not expect his fellow Christians to be anything more; he overlooks ten thousand of their faults, because he knows his God overlooks twenty thousand in his own case. He does not expect perfection in the creature, and, therefore, he is not disappointed when he does not find it. As he has sometimes to say of himself, ““This is my infirmity,”” so he often says of his brethren, ““This is their infirmity;”” and he does not judge them as he once did.
I know we who are young beginners in grace think ourselves qualified to reform the whole Christian church. We drag her before us, and condemn her straightway; but when our virtues become more mature, I trust we shall not be more tolerant of evil, but we shall be more tolerant of infirmity, more hopeful for the people of God, and certainly less arrogant in our criticisms.
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Ripe Fruit," delivered August 14, 1870.
The following are a couple of blogs that I follow that happen to post on the topics of the importance of making the Gospel priority over anything else.
What is the pressing need in the church today that this book addresses?
I really believe the most pressing need in the church today is to rediscover the gospel. There's a lot of talk about the gospel these days but there's also a lot of evidence showing that we're still not getting it. If the gospel is ever going to reach people outside the church and change people inside the church, it's going to have to be distinguished from moralism because moralism is what most people inside and outside the church think Christianity is all about. Many people reject Christianity because the church has given them the impression that it's all about rules, standards, good behavior, and cleaning yourself up. Moralism assumes that we're decent people who need good examples. The gospel assumes that we're mangled sinners who need a merciful Savior. The reason moralism is so dangerous is because it inoculates people from the gospel by giving them something of "the real thing"--behavioral change, external conformity, and so on--ensuring that they miss out on the true gospel all together. As I say in Surprised by Grace, the gospel doesn't first make bad people good; it makes dead people live.
blog link here
The Gospel Song was first written for a musical my church put on in 2002 for our 25th anniversary. Drew Jones, who led the production, wanted to musically communicate how over the years the church is always tempted to make primary what is secondary. But it is the gospel that remains constant and preeminent. When secondary issues (relationships, serving, mission, spiritual gifts, evangelism, etc.) are given equal weight, the gospel has the potential of getting obscured, assumed, or lost altogether.
blog link here
I am praying that we all will prioritize The Gospel as the primary focus as believers in Christ. I am also praying that we will not be Quick To Criticize and that we will stop and pray for wisdom and discernment before we act of our own understanding, perceived power and authority.
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