Trevin Wax describes nine false Gospels he considered before selecting six to focus on in his new book, Counterfeit Gospels.
Therapeutic Gospel: Sin robs us of our sense of fullness. Christ’s death proves our worth as humans and gives us power to reach our potential. The church helps us find happiness.
Formalist Gospel: Sin is failing to keep church rules and regulations. Christ’s death gives me an agenda, so I can begin to follow the predescribed forms of Christianity.
Moralist Gospel: Our big problem is sins (plural) and not sin (nature). The purpose for Christ’s death is to give us a second chance and make us better people. Redemption comes through the exercise of willpower with God’s help.
Judgmentless Gospel: God’s forgiveness does not need to come through the sacrifice of His Son. Judgment is more about God’s goodness, not the need for human rebellion to be punished. Evangelism is not urgent.
Social-Club Gospel: Salvation is all about finding fellowship and friendship at church. The gospel is reduced to Christian relationships that help us enjoy life.
Activist Gospel: The kingdom is advanced through our efforts to build a just society. The gospel’s power is demonstrated through cultural transformation, and the church is united around political causes and social projects.
Churchless Gospel: The focus of salvation is primarily on the individual, in a way that makes the community of faith peripheral to God’s purposes. The church is viewed as an option to personal spirituality, or even an obstacle to Christlikeness.
Mystic Gospel: Salvation comes through an emotional experience with God. The church is there to help me feel close to God by helping me along in my pursuit of mystical union.
Quietist Gospel: Salvation is about spiritual things, not secular matters. Christianity is only about individual life change and is not concerned with society and politics.
Go to Kingdom People and participate in a poll about which you think are the most prevalent among these choices and follow the responses of others.
“Gordon’s description of four alternatives to Christological preaching, all four of which he calls the reader to avoid. Below is an adaption from Gordon’s own words:
Moralism
“Be good; do good.”
Whenever the fundamental purpose of the sermon is to improve the behavior of others, so that Christ in his redemptive office is either denied or largely overlooked, the sermon is moralistic.
How-To
“This is how to be good; do good.”
The how-to sermon implies that human behavior is not a matter of an intractable will, not a matter of total depravity, not a matter of rebellion against the reign of God the Creator, but merely a matter of technique.
Introspection
“I know you think you are a Christian, but you are not!”
The introspective sermon determines to convince the hearer that they do not, in fact, believe. There can be two responses: one listener assumes the minister is talking about someone else and rejoices (as did the Pharisee over the tax collector). Another listener gives up and agrees that he doesn’t believe. But since Christ is only mentioned in passing (if at all), nothing is said about the adequacy of Christ as Redeemer, and therefore it does nothing to nourish or build faith in him.
Social Gospel/Culture War
“This is what ought to be done about what’s wrong with our culture.”
The social gospel or culture war sermon reminds its hearers that there are good people and bad people and that they are among the good. It ignores that since Genesis 3 all of us (not some of us) prefers his own will to the will of God. Furthermore, it fails to acknowledge that true and significant cultural change can happen only when the individual members of the culture have forsaken their own self-centeredness, and have revolted against their own revolt against God.
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