The Doughnut Gospel

"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter,'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?'
'Yes, Lord,' he said,'You know that I love you.'
Jesus said,'Feed my lambs.'" -John 21:15

Last week, I heard a knock on my door during dinner time. I opened the door and saw a woman. "Are you missing a sheep?" she asked. Puzzled, I said,"No, why?"
"There's an intact ram up at the BP gas station at Route 46, and someone said you had sheep and it was probably yours," she answered.
"It's not mine, but I'll take him," I said.

Upon arrival, I noticed a large ram with enormous horns pacing between the gas pumps and the air compressor. My husband and myself opened the back of our truck, pulled out some ropes, and prepared ourselves for a battle to catch and load this rogue ram. The woman who had come to our door before approached us and said,"Oh, you won't need those ropes. He's awfully friendly. He's been here all week."
"What's he been eating?" I asked.
"Doughnuts," she nonchalantly replied.
Wow.
So, we found that this ram was indeed partially in a sugar coma and was as easy to load into the truck as a sack of laundry. He was dazed and confused and was all too happy to collapse in the back of the truck and be left alone.

When we unloaded him at our home, he was greeted with a rude awakening. Pappy, our 280 lb ram (actually, he's more like a furry hippo) was none too pleased to find another ram on his turf. The new ram staggered into the pen and as soon as Pappy had a clear shot, he plowed into the new ram's side. After a few more hits, he shook his head, gazed about and began squaring up Pappy to ram him a few times himself. After a few more intense head-butts that lifted each other off the ground, they became the best of friends. By the next day, the new ram was as keen and alert as the best of sheep. He had come down from his sugar high.

When Jesus ordered Peter to 'feed his sheep', Peter was wise enough to know that the 'feed' he was to offer must be nourishing. Sometimes, the gospel we hear is anything but nourishing. Sometimes, the gospel we hear is like a doughnut.

What's so bad about a doughnut, you may ask? It's sugar coated and has a giant hole in it! Is there someone who has offered a gospel that focuses only on the tasty parts of the faith and none of the good, wholesome parts that require discomfort? Then it's an incomplete gospel, same as a diet of doughnuts is an incomplete diet.

The Apostles knew and understood the gravity of their task to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the peoples. 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 says,"Now, Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say it again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:6-10

A 'doughnut gospel' might be popular, and it might fill pews, and it might help you feel better about yourself...but it's a lie. It's sugar coated with a giant hole in it. Those who preach for popularity preach to their own demise. Those who preach as Paul did (as a tortured, beaten servant in chains), preach as Christ did. Christ suffered and carried a cross, and a servant is not greater than his master. Beware of those who say that Jesus died so you can have the good life. Indeed, it is a good life to serve Christ; you will experience joy immeasurable...but you will also suffer, as did your Savior. You may not get much of what you ever wanted, unless all you ever wanted was intimacy with God and a life He blesses.

There will be those who have bought into a lie and will in turn attempt to deceive others. Some false teachers may not even understand that they are, but that does not make them innocent.
"There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They wills secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." -2 Peter 2:1-3

Make sure your shepherd preaches the Word of God --unadulterated. There is no truth in a sugar coated gospel. What comfort we have is in God's faithfulness in His promises. My shepherd teaches that there is no such thing as padded crosses.


"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." - Philippians 3:10

After his encounter with Christ in which he got interrogated as to the level of his devotion, Peter understood that he was to tend some sheep. The food he was to give them was to be the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing less. To feed them simply tasty morsels that satisfied their current craving would be to doom them. As my ram nearly forgot he was a ram until he was plowed over by one, the truth of Jesus often hits like a raging beast. Shake the sleep from your eyes, nourish yourself with truth, and charge into battle with power!

We are all commissioned to preach the good news, so let this be our prayer: "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." -Ephesians 6:19-20

When I first yielded to my Jesus, I automatically became his slave. I could do no else. Out of this, a poem was birthed. This was the first poem after meeting him for who he really was, and it's my response to him:

I'm shackled, I'm chained,
I'm beaten, I'm torn;
Blood runs down
And spells out your name.
I cannot curse you;
You died for me
And I can only do the same.

Make me a martyr;
Let me die for your love.
Let me scream, let me cry--
And all for your perfect love.
I'm shaken by your Spirit!
Let me die for you
As you did for me.
You're the only Savior,
But I can die, too.

I love you and your perfect love.
I love you and you've gained my trust.
I'll die, too, and be an example;
Then my work will be done.
Let me die for you."

I shared this not because I think it's a good poem or even theologically accurate or emotionally healthy...I share it because when the Spirit of the Lord descended on me, I knew who Christ was, and I knew it wasn't a God who was like a magic fairy or a teddy bear. I want to know if I have brothers and sisters in Christ who will forsake the insignificant morsels of false gospel that pets our ego and pads our pride. I want to know if I have brothers and sisters who embrace the REAL Jesus for who He is and adore the REAL gospel and the power within it. Who's with me?!