Rhetoric
As we enter into the run-up to elections we will have to endure a flood of mumbo jumbo, or “negative rhetoric.” How they can talk and talk and say nothing. Platitudes, generalities, words that say nothing.
Politics is full of this kind of rhetoric. I hate it. How refreshing it is when a politician speaks straight. You can immediately detect it. It is a breath of fresh air. Straightforward sincerity and truth are a rare commodity in politics.
But politics is not the sole arena for rhetoric. I’m afraid this country does not understand the true nature of the gospel of the Kingdom of God. It has been clouded and confused because much of the church has become masters of this same kind of rhetoric. The public in this nation must be confused by the churches mumbo mumbo yet Paul talks about the “simplicity of Christ.” Jesus life and message was clear and straightforward.
In my daily reading I came to Ezekiel 33, which is about the watchman warning the nation. I was stunned by the clarity, boldness, and simplicity of the warning of the consequences of iniquity. Verse 9 makes my point: “Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.” There is something in our time that says “you cannot say that here.”
The problem in this nation? The problem in the world? Iniquity. Isaiah 24 says that the earth is being devoured by sin. It is like a curse devouring the earth.
This is the good news of Easter. Jesus, the Son of God, came to redeem the world by paying the price for the sin. He paid the supreme price and put out the cancer of sin by dying on the cross. His resurrection on Easter Sunday vindicated His message and His act. The power of sin is broken. We are set free from its horrible consequences. This is the gospel, the good news. This is LOVE.
May the church declare this from the housetops this Easter — simple, straightforward, and life changing. No rhetoric, no platitudes, no mumbo jumbo.
