This sermon on the topic
of accepting who you are as a child of God. The pastor starts by pointing out
that many people are hurting today because of their low self-esteem and wrong
self-image. He makes it clear that people are made in the image of God, and
therefore are designed for perfection and success. All that is needed for
happiness, according to the pastor, is for people to realize this image and
internal perfection. He sums up his message by saying that God does not want
people to feel down, but to realize that they are perfect and accepted by Him.
After critical analysis of this
sermon, it is very evident to a firmly founded Christian that the truth is
being distorted through this counterfeit. Wax would call this presentation of
the gospel, the “Therapeutic Gospel.” This counterfeit is defined by Wax as
confusing “our spiritual symptoms (a troubled marriage, anxiety, anger,
addictions) with our spiritual disease (sin).” It is specifically carried out
by means of “The Fill’er Up Gospel,” which makes God out to be like a gas
station that will fill people up when we are down on ourselves. The pastor
directly links to this counterfeit through his inaccurate portrayal of the
human state.
The reasons people are attracted
to the “Therapeutic Gospel” is quite simple. It allows people to forget the
state that we are in without Christ. The pastor states that all people come
from “the best of the best,” and therefore are perfect. Who would not want to
hear that? This gospel is sometimes hard to see because of the overarching
truth that human beings are valuable. Once a person starts to hear these words
of encouragement, they are sucked into believing the stretched truth that this
gospel presents which leads one to forget their disease and refuse to
acknowledge that God is not just here to fill them up.
As Wax accurately states, Christians must
react to this gospel by placing God in the center for who He is and not what he
has or can do for us. This allows people to remember all that we have been
given through Christ rather than desperately wanting more. Also, a low
self-esteem can and should be replaced by finding worth through the gospel.
When we realize who we are in Christ, but only because of Christ and nothing
that we have or ever will do, nothing else will ever be needed for satisfaction
or fulfillment. When Christians realize the vast flaws behind the “Therapeutic
Gospel”, they will share the true fulfillment of Christ’s love with the world instead
of looking for their own fulfillment from the world.
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