It seems to me that if I were not a Christian and if I were just out there living in the world, and some well-intentioned person approached me and asked if I would be interested in being a Christian, the first question that I would ask would be, “What does Christianity provide for me? What does Christianity offer?”
And I’m afraid that I might get a whole lot of different answers. It seems to me that there is widespread confusion with regard to those who present themselves as the purveyors of Christianity and its benefits. Just exactly what do you think people assume Christianity offers? Health, wealth, success, peace of mind, a certain level of tranquility, perhaps the promise of a better job, a better career, the fulfillment of your dreams and ambitions and desires, perhaps even everything you can think of and articulate, that would be a fairly common presentation of Christianity.
But I think the overall general sense of Christianity is that it offers you whatever you want. Whatever it is that makes you happy, whatever it is that satisfies you, whatever it is that fulfills your ambitions, your desires and your dreams, that’s what Christianity offers you. Christianity offers to make you everything you really want to be.
That is a very confusing message and a very unbiblical one. It also lays out a complex answer to what should be a very simple answer. In a word, what Christianity offers you is Christ, Jesus Christ, that’s what Christianity offers. That is a very simple, straightforward, one word answer to what has become a very complicated issue. We offer Christ in offering the gospel. The surpassing theme of the Scripture, the surpassing theme of the New Testament, in particular, is Jesus Christ. And in not having Christ, you have nothing. And in having Christ, you have everything.
READ MORE + LISTEN: http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/80-329