Does Jesus love Pancakes?
This may seem like a completely ridiculous question; but I am completely serious.
There are a large number of students here (Panama City Beach Florida) who are wearing green wrist bands and t-shirts which state that Jesus loves pancakes. I was admittedly dying of curiosity, so yesterday while it was raining, I decided to check it out.
In a strip mall, near the beach, there is a large line outside. This line is a bunch of plants that are there to draw people in. (Note to Tony Miano: My first thought was to preach to this line, but I really wanted to see if they would try and share Jesus with me) They have rented a bowling alley, and some relief workers from the Southern Baptist Converntion are cooking pancakes. I go in, get some pancakes (they are GOOD) and get my belly full, while listening to secular music blasting from speakers above. After two full plates, no one has approached me. I get up and use the restroom to give them another chance. When I return, two young people are sitting on the bench I just left. The start a conversation; I ask if they are a part of this whole event, and they expain that they are, and what they do. Apparently, not only do they serve pancakes but they provide rides to those who are too intoxicated to drive, and then they share Jesus.
I am even more curious now. I ask them what they would do that for. This very passionate young person explains to me how incredible Jesus has been in his life without telling me anything more than some nebulous relationship with him (I am thinking critically here, trying to imagine I know nothing of Jesus). I ask him to be more clear, and he begins to go deeper into neverland for me. I don’t understand, I tell him I feel like I am a good person, I give to charity, I am nice to my family and my wife and my hot girlfriend**(**I do not have one; I am role playing here) and that life is very excellent for me and I have no worries. The kid continues to talk about his wonderful life and family and how good everything is for him also. It is nice conversation, but it is not evangelistic in the least. He has his worldview, and I have my role played worldview, and he has said nothing to break into mine. Everything is all good, even my role playing adulterous relationship.
The young lady now pipes in, talking about how she can see truth in my worldview that I am role playing, that she believes that there are truths outside the Bible, that the Bible was written by men, that there are mistakes in the Bible, that it is not wholly reliable. I ask them if the Bible is not reliable, can I believe in the Jesus of the Shack, because I really enjoyed the idea of a Jesus that was all loving and kind and would submit to my will, and love me no matter what. They said that was a legitimate view of Jesus (they both indicated they had read the Shack) but that I should still examine the Bible, though neither could give me a clear answer as to whether it was legitimate to rely on it alone.
The time for my role play had come to an end, for despite my best efforts to give them an open door to share the Gospel (I even provided an illustration of a road and a map for them) they still could not give me anything that would lead to an ability for a pagan hater of God like I was playing to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. There was no proclamation that I have sinned, that I was living in sin, no bursting of my bubble of a comfortable life, no fear of facing God. If I would have walked out of that place as a pagan and died, I would have gone to Hell knowing only that God loved me, and Jesus had made a change in someones life. So I explained to them my ruse; I told them I was a pastor and an evangelist and that I desired to share some thoughts with them.
I reproved their understanding of the Gospel. They believed the Gospel was doing nice things for people like filling their belly and giving them rides while drunk. These are nice works, and good things, but they are not the Gospel. Even sharing Jesus’ love with a drunkard is not enough, for I have met many drunkards on this beach that believe Jesus loves them and that they can get his forgiveness for their rebellion against the knowledge of God. A half Gospel is a false Gospel; I gave them the road illustration again, using an offramp to represent repentance, repentance from sin, from the direction that one is travelling away from God. This change of direction only comes if you know you are going the wrong way, and this is by looking at the roadmap (the Law of God) and allowing it to reprove and instruct you. If they would use the law of God to reprove sinners, and then show them the love of God in Christ Jesus who shed his blood and died to save us from our sins. I encouraged them to preach repentance from sins and towards God, trusting in Jesus alone for salvation.
Does Jesus love Pancakes? This is another example of how far we have fallen from the call of Christ to go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. I believe the intentions are good; but feeding people and giving them rides (often between parties) will not save them. A half Gospel, or a seeker sensitive relationship sensitive approach is not Biblical, and it can create a false convert. Later, on the beach, I was approaced by one of these pancake people and they said that 5 people had prayed to receive Jesus in their van, and they were now Christians. I asked how he knew; and he said that he had led them in a prayer. Where is that in the Bible? I wonder if he looked for them if they would still be drinking, having sex, hating God. I pray that they are converted, but with this pancake message, I truly wonder.
Leave a Reply