Embracing Unconditional Love

Apathetic sinners need to see the free grace of Christ exalted. This is the only way they will truly be righteous and will truly experience authentic joy and worship.

When we know these "apathetic sinners" our natural tendency is to preach a message that calls them to discipline themselves and get their lives together. But this message can only have two results.

The first result is that they see Christianity as a lot of work and reject everything about it. This is a common theme for kids who are raised in Christianity and rebel as they become more independent.

The second result is even worse, in my opinion. It is when these "apathetic sinners" hear the message that they need to get their lives together and somehow are able to muster up the will-power to change their lives. They will quit smoking, drinking, cussing, and will start attending church, reading the Bible, praying, etc. Because of this change in their life they will feel that they are now good enough. This result will cause them to never see their need for Christ to save them, because they view themselves as having overcome their sinful lifestyle.

The reason we feel so inclined to yell at apathetic sinners about getting their lives together is because we don't actually believe in the power of the gospel. We think that if we teach them that Jesus forgives their sin completely unconditionally they will abuse the grace of God. So we create a pragmatic system that says we need works to be good Christians.

But I have never met anybody who was passionate about lifting up the name of Christ and his work on the cross who was an apathetic Christian. These people who are passionate about the gospel are also passionate about living for Christ.

All I want to say is that the gospel needs to be preached to everyone no matter what. Apathetic sinners need to see Christ exalted. If all we do is convince sinners that they need to live better lives then there is no difference between what we do and what other religions do. But if we lift up the name of Christ and his work on the cross and his gospel that says, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God," then there will be true transformation in the lives of apathetic sinners... not to mention overzealous religious legalists.