While much could be said concerning cheating and morality, I will be using the scandal as an analogy to a tendency we can have as a church: the deflation of doctrine. Consider the words of Scripture:
“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” – 2 Timothy 4:2-5
It is clear here that Biblical teaching is not always what people want to hear. In fact, it is what the natural man absolutely does not want to hear, because it shows his sinfulness and reveals that he cannot save himself but must throw himself at the mercy of Christ. But this passage also reveals that the world will actively seek out people who are teaching only what they want to hear. They only want to satisfy their “itching ears” and have no concern for the state of their souls.
With these two things in mind, a very real danger emerges: the temptation to “deflate” our simplify our doctrine so that unbelievers can “get a better grip” on Biblical teaching. Perhaps we downplay the gravity of sin, or reduce the Gospel to just “saying 'Yes!' to Jesus.” Maybe we downplay (or deny) the reality of hell, or diminish the authority and reliability of God's Word. Though the motive may simply be for more people to come to Christ, we become just one of their collection of “ear scratchers.” We fail to “discharge all the duties of our ministry;” and we fail to “correct, rebuke, and encourage” for the sake of gaining more followers. In short, we deflate our doctrine to inflate our numbers.
Whether or not it is established that a team broke the rules on their route to the Super Bowl, the picture of deflation serves as a reminder of the danger of minimizing what the Bible clearly teaches, and the importance of teaching the full counsel of God. I want to present a “properly inflated” Gospel.
To God Alone Be the Glory,
Pastor Andrew Zoschke