As I get to the end of Chapter Two of The Explicit Gospel,I have tried to be true to Matt Chandler’s book.  Part of me feels he is correct in his criticism of today’s Christians; many Christians don’t seem to know what the Gospel really says.  We especially like to avoid the negative parts (you know sin, Divine punishment or wrath and hell).  Also part of me feels he has been too harsh in his criticism.  The last section of Chapter Two is entitled “The Weight of God’s Wrath.”  What more could he say to admonish us?   After telling us we are weak at worship, our church leaders like to avoid unpleasant topics like sin and hell and we don’t like to admit we are sinners and we deserve eternity in hell, what more can he do to “scare the hell” out of us? 

This last section of Chapter Two gives Chandler an opportunity to summarize his message but it also gives me a chance to critique what he has done in Chapter Two.  At times he seems to admit that he has written like a “hellfire and brimstone” preacher:  there is a “chasm” between God and us and “it is insufficient to keep us out of the chasm” [aka “stinking, smoldering” hell].    I read his writing and I think of times when I have heard this type of message, the pastor who yells from the pulpit “You are all sinners and you are all going to hell.”

Then he follows this fearmongering approach with acknowledgement that you can’t make someone love God by scaring them to death.  Fear of hell just makes a believer fear hell, not love God, or what Chandler says “They would not be attracted to God so much as repulsed by hell.”

So what is his purpose for Chapter Two?  Why has he focused so much on the negative aspects of God [which are very real].  First of all, Chandler does take sin seriously when others seem to avoid that topic at all costs.  Secondly, Chandler feels that Christians today do not focus enough on the holiness of God.  God is a warm and fuzzy Divine Entity who is out to give man love, mercy and forgiveness.  The problem with a warm and fuzzy God is that we forget that God is holy and absolutely deserving of our worship.  In making Him kind all the time, we diminish His holiness. 

Chandler spent all of Chapter One explaining the holiness of God, His transcendent creativity, His sovereignty, and His perfect self-sufficiency.  What do we need to do in response to this holiness?  We need to make the effort to glorify God in our lives and we need to truly worship Him. What do too many of us do?  We worship many things in our culture besides God and that glorifying God daily with our lives thing?  Well that is just too unreasonable.  We are too busy Holy Father.  We are busy people accomplishing our earthly goals in life.  Some take that list-making attitude into our world of faith.  If I put check marks on my discipline list, surely God will reward me with eternal life. 

But back to this last section of Chapter Two: why does Chandler use the word “weight” of God’s wrath.  I believe he is trying to close the chapter by saying that God’s wrath is not on par with human wrath.  It is much greater, holy even, weightier.  Our sinning is not just a little problem that can be overlooked.  God is justified in being angry with us and if we don’t mend our ways, we will suffer serious consequences. 

He wants us to think about the “Explicit Gospel.”  God sent His only Son to earth to inspire us to do better, to teach us what to do, to show us that ignoring sin is a serious mistake.  What did God do to His only Son?  He put the full force of His wrath on Jesus as he suffered on the cross.  Jesus took the wrath of His Father for us so we could understand the consequences of sin, but he also took the wrath of His father so we can understand God’s mercy. 

It we [as believers] do not understand God’s wrath on the cross, we will be minimizing God’s grace [which we certainly need], for we are all sinners, deserving of God’s wrath. 

At times, I have been so wrapped up in Chandler’s words that it seems that he has lost a sense of balance.  God does offer forgiveness to us.  God does understand that we are poor sinners.  God’s sacrifice of His Son was followed by God’s resurrection of His son.  If we begin to understand the Gospel, we see we can be “new creatures” in Christ.  That is not a bad thing; that is the greatest thing that any of us can have.

As critics have accused Chandler of losing his balance, we need to look at ourselves.  We have lost our balance.  I know this is a small example of how man has lost his way but it is timely.  We are about to turn the calendar and experience the month of March.  For many that means “basketball heaven”—“March Madness.”  Sports-minded people in our culture become obsessed with their team making it to the NCAA championship game.  They will spend hours and hours filling out their brackets and then hours and hours watching teams play their hearts out,  trying to advance.  Chandler even says it is today’s last remaining David/Goliath scenario, when a small school can topple a superpower basketball program on the court.  In short, it is truly madness. 

Then he says it:  what if “every bit of those affections, every bit of that emotion, and every bit of that passion was given to us by God for God?”  Wow, that would be amazing. 

Chandler can’t help himself.  [He is a serious fellow].  Do we feel that level of excitement over the resurrection?  Sadly we don’t.  We spend our emotions on basketball or football or romance or tweeting or blogging.

Look at the last words of Chapter Two: “Are you really going to believe we’re not worthy of hell? Thank God for His response to all this blasphemous nonsense: the wrath absorbing cross of Christ.”

Yes, Matt Chandler [like him or not] is a serious fellow.