In July of 2005, the Lakewood Church in Houston Texas moved into the former Compaq Center, the old home of the Houston Rockets of the NBA, remodeled to be their new place of worship.  The Lakewood Church was, at that time, the largest one in America, averaging around 40,000 people a week in attendance.  The leader of the church is Joel Osteen, author of the best-selling book, “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential.”

In denominational circles, many refer to Osteen’s message as “Christianity Lite” because he purposely avoids any negativity, emphasizing positive thinking, success, and wealth.  I once heard Mr. Osteen preaching on his weekly television program.  As I recall, it was a replay of the first worship services of the Lakewood Church in their new facility.  He guaranteed that those who would come to the Lakewood Church would never hear him speak against anyone or say anything negative or judgmental.  Instead, they would hear something that would allow them to leave feeling better about themselves than when they came.

Should it be the goal of gospel preachers to avoid negativity, preaching only things that are going to make people feel better about themselves?  The answer is simply no.  Joel Osteen has developed a strategy that is becoming altogether too popular in religious circles today, even among churches of Christ.  It is a plan to grow numerically by appealing to the outward man while ignoring the inner man.  In other words, he wants to preach that which makes people feel better, while, at least to a large degree, ignoring the problem of sin.  The strategy is working, evidenced by Osteen’s mega-church.  The problem is it is not really the strategy of man, it is the devil’s strategy.

Satan knows that true faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).  People need, not just positive portions of the Word, but all of it.  Paul said that the responsibility of the evangelist is to reprove, rebuke, and exhort (2 Timothy 4:2).  Joel Osteen is okay with the exhorting part of preaching, but he is determined to avoid the rebuking and reproving aspect of it.  In fact, his philosophy is to accommodate the very people that Paul warned Timothy about in 2 Timothy 4.  He warned Timothy of those who “will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears.”     

In contrast to this approach, Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, was determined to keep back nothing that was profitable (Acts 20:20), and to declare all the counsel of God (Acts 20:26).   In doing this there were times when Paul had to tell people that they were carnal (1 Corinthians 3:3).  There were times when Paul needed to tell brethren that they had been bewitched (Galatians 3:1).  Paul was even once forced to confront a fellow apostle and rebuke him publicly for his inappropriate behavior (Galatians 2:11-17).  I know all of this sounds a little preachy, and even condemning, but unlike Mr. Osteen, Paul was not in a popularity contest; he was in the business of saving souls.

Peter was in the soul-winning business as well.  This is why on the day of Pentecost he was not interested in people leaving feeling better than when they came.  He was interested in sinners leaving saved.  It was because of this that he told the Jews that they were guilty of crucifying the one whom God has made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36).  Peter was not trying to make them feel good, he was trying to make them feel guilty.  It worked! They were pricked in their hearts (Acts 2:37), and about 3,000 of them accepted Christ (Acts 2:41).

What people need today is to hear the Word.  They need to hear all the Word and nothing but the Word.  We should be leery of those who preach a message that is only positive because, the truth is, the gospel of Christ is a message that is both positive and negative.  The gospel both saves and condemns, and the only way a person who is in condemnation can be saved is to hear the entire message.  When a man begins to take an “only positive approach” in preaching, it is usually only a matter of time before he abandons even the core message of the gospel.

In an interview by Larry King in June of 2005, a month before Joel Osteen’s church moved into the Compaq Center, Mr. King asked Joel if the Jews, Muslims, and others were wrong because they did not believe in Jesus.  Osteen said, “I don’t believe that they are wrong.  I believe that only God can judge a person’s heart.”   You see, Joel Osteen, in order to grow the largest church in America, compromised the essence of the gospel.  If those who do not believe in Jesus are not wrong, the gospel of Christ is a vain message, and Jesus was wrong when He said, “I am THE way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).

You cannot preach the gospel without seeming judgmental to someone.  The gospel offends all who do not believe in Jesus and even some who claim to do so.  The fact is the gospel is their only hope.  And we do them no service at all by tickling their ears with a watered-down version of the gospel that makes them feel better but does not help fix the problem of sin in their lives.  There are many preachers in pulpits across this country, as well as on YouTube, who need to remember this.