I have been dealing with an issue for the past several months...an issue that is very difficult, and has resulted in many tears, many arguments, and many worries.

This issue revolves around an attempt to preach the gospel. Truth, I am discovering, is something that instantly stirs rebellion in people. Ironically enough, this rebellion seems to be the strongest among confronted believers.

I have attempted to dissect the situation over and over, to analyze...and, of course, prayed for insight. But it seems that as time passes, I am beginning to realize that it doesn't matter who the person is, what the situation is...when you tell people the truth it makes them angry. It makes them not like you...
as a good friend of mine said, pride is a tricky thing.

See, in my mind--and I know not all people thank like me, and you should be thankful for that--truth is necessary, and demands priority. Christ didn't compromise truth, and by default nor should I. Unfortunately, many people don't see it that way.

So, as usual, Derek Webb swoops in and says everything I am feeling but never had the eloquence to muster. Here is another excerpt from a show he did. It is also on the "The House Show" album.




This next song is just my own confession, my confessing that I, because of my unbelief, because of the fact that I don’t believe the gospel, I don’t believe that Christ is really sufficient for me, I don’t really believe He’ll meet all my needs, I don’t. I struggle to believe that. And you can see it by the way I live. And because I don’t believe that, I all too often give in, and am convinced or wooed by what some theologians have called ‘lovers less wild’ than Jesus, the Great Lover of our souls. Other lovers, as Scripture calls them, as well, that would seek to convince us that they can satisfy us, convince us that they can safely bear our sin, that we’ll be safe and secure, that they can satisfy us in ways that, in fact, only our Savior can. I think that so often we try to make it our job to make the gospel easier for us to preach and easier for other people to hear, in order to not get into trouble, in order to not be confrontational. See, here’s the truth: you just can’t preach the gospel and not get in trouble. You just can’t do it. As hard as you might try, you can dress it up any way you want, but if you’re really preaching the gospel, you’re going to get yourself in trouble, I mean you’re going to be in trouble, as well. Because again, the cross is both beautiful and offensive, and it must be both. It is both. There is no other gospel for you to preach. So in ways that we seek to dress it up—or, again, as Tony Campolo put it, and it’s such a great way to think about it—if we seek to neuter the gospel, just to rob it, of its great offense and therefore its great beauty, then it’s no longer the gospel we’re preaching to people. We’re not doing anyone any favors by making the gospel easier to hear, because it ceases to be the gospel. You know, it’s not safe to boldly preach the gospel. It’s not. You might as well just get to preaching it and just get into trouble, man. I mean, our same gospel, that we are told, will literally set mother against daughter, son against father…not bringing peace, but a sword. Dangerous work that we’re in, as believers…perilous work that we have before us to preach the gospel. Not only to each other, but to the outside world. The unbelieving world. Not safe work—‘safe’ is not a good, not a word that I would believe characterizes Christians, or Jesus, or the gospel. It shouldn’t. If it is, then, it might not be the gospel we’re preaching. And it makes me think about the great work by C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where are these children who find their way through this wardrobe, or this closet. They go, and they find themselves in this other world, a kind of magical world where all these incredible things begin to happen. And they meet this great lion, Asland is his name. He is the Christ figure in the story. And these children, when they see him—as you can imagine, to see this huge lion—they’re terribly frightened. They’re scared to death. And they know that he’s king, but they have all these questions, and they go to some who live there, who know more of Asland than they do, and they say, you know, ‘listen, you gotta tell us, we’re frightened by the sight of Asland, the lion. Can you tell us—is he safe? Is he safe?’ Now, the response the children receive is not ‘yes! He’s safe. In fact, he’s safe for the whole family.’ That’s not the response. But the response is ‘NO! No, He’s not safe. But he is good, and he’s the King.’ Jesus, folks. He is not safe. He is not manageable. He’s a wild lion. You cannot tame him. He’s not safe. But He is good, and He is King. You can trust Him. You can trust that He will provide for you what you need as you go out and you seek to tell people about Him. The gospel that we carry is not safe. It is not. Not manageable. Not efficient. Loving people is not efficient. But the gospel is good, it is true, but it’s not safe. And so this next song offends its author, as well it should. Cause it wouldn’t be the gospel if it didn’t. So, as I’ve said in my record, and it’s true in this song, it is not for the faint of heart. And nor is the gospel. It’s a song called ‘Wedding Dress’.

Wedding Dress

If you could love me as a wife
and for my wedding gift, Your life
should that be all I'll ever need?
or is there more I'm looking for?

and should I read between the lines?
to look for blessings in disguise
to make me handsome, rich, and wise
Is that really what You want?

I am a whore, I do confess
I put you on just like a wedding dress
and I run down the aisle
I run down the aisle
I'm a prodigal with no way home
I put you on just like a ring of gold
and I run down the aisle
to You

So could You love this bastard child?
Though I don't trust you to provide?
With one hand in a pot of gold
and with the other in Your side

cause I am so easily satisfied
by the call of lovers less wild
that I would take a little cash
over your very flesh and blood

cause I am that whore, I do confess
I put You on just like a wedding dress
and I run down the isle
run down the isle
I'm a prodigal with no way home
I put you on just like a ring of gold
and run down the isle,
run down the isle
to You

cause money cannot buy
a Husband's jealous eye
when you have knowingly deceived his wife