I can’t say that I care much for the intro part of the video … I’m not sure that the state of the pulpit is RIP, but I do think that Mark Driscoll here does a good job of explaining why the message of Joel Osteen is at odds with not only the message of Jesus, but also the life of Jesus.
Let me first say that in this clip that Mark Driscoll shows of Joel Osteen preaching is the first time that I seem to think that Joel Osteen is trying to point people to God. There is so much that is true about what Osteen preaches. If we are believers in Christ’s work on the cross we are genuinely “children of God”. “We have royal blood flowing through our veins.” But Osteen seems to be confused regarding both:
1) The Center of the Message - The glory of God in the faithful perseverance of His children in the midst of suffering as they are preserved by the power of the Spirit in the hope of the promise that they have received in the work of Jesus of an eternal inheritance.
and
2) His Sense of Timing - The blessing that we have received in the present age is surety of the promise of a future eternal inheritance of which the Holy Spirit is a deposit.
AND YET … Osteen describes “complete victory” as three things that simply are not the key items of the gospel.
1) Healthy Body
2) Good Relationships
3) No Anxiety (especially as it relates to finances)
I would like to mention a few core problems with these three components coming together to be what the gospel describes as complete victory.
1) What does sin have to do with any of this? If there is no discussion of sin when we talk about victory then there is no need for the cross. When Jesus cried out that “It is finished” it was a cry of victory over sin’s curse and a claim of reconciliation between the redeemed and God.
2) This description slanders the thousands of saints and martyrs throughout history that have cried out “How long, Oh Lord,” as they suffered in their body and in their relationships and in their livelihood even to the point of death. Christ’s vindication of their cause is yet to come at the end of time.
3) Where is the need to persevere under trial or to intentionally place ourselves in the way of persecution for the sake of the gospel? It sounds as though I should avoid situations of persecution because I’m royalty after all.
4) And how should I pray for those who face persecution in places like China? Should I pray as they have asked, that they would endure and that the Good News of Jesus’ cross would be held up before even the persecutors? Or should I pray that God would make their bodies healthy, help them to make better friends, and that God would send them money so they wouldn’t have anxiety?
Bottom-line … I pray that I would see in Christ my own joy so that I can wear a smile as genuine as the appearance of Osteen. And yet I pray that God would hold before Osteen and Osteen would begin to hold before his church and the world the only source of eternal hope and present joy; that is, the God’s reconciling with man in the person and work of Jesus Christ. May we all become more holy worshippers of the One True God.
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