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. Here's the truth, you just can't preach the Gospel and not get into 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 into trouble. Because 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 Camoplo puts it its 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 beauty, then it is no longer the Gospel we're preaching. We're not doing anyone any favors by making the Gospel easier to hear, because it ceases to be the Gospel.
It's not safe to boldly preach the Gospel, it's not. You might as well just get to preaching it and get in trouble. Our same Gospel that we're 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 to preach the Gospel, not only to each other, but to the outside world, the unbelieving world. It's not safe work. Safe is not a word that I would characterize as Christians or Jesus or the Gospel, it shouldn't. If it is then it might not be the Gospel we're preaching.
It makes me think about the great work by C. S. Lewis, "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe," where there are these children who find their way through this wardrobe, or this closet. They go and find themselves in this other world, this magical world where all these incredible things begin to happen. They meet this great lion, Alsan. He's the Christ-figure in the story. These children, as you can imagine, when they see this huge lion are terribly frightened. They know that he's king, but they have all these questions. They go to some who live there, who know more of Aslan than they do. They say, 'listen, you have to tell us, we're frightened by the sight of Aslan the lion, can you tell us, is he safe?' Is He safe? The response that the children recieve is not yes, Hes safe, in fact He's safe for the whole family, thats 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 is not safe, but He is good. 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 manageable, not efficient, loving people is not efficient, but the Gospel is good. It is true, but it's not safe."
