Who's the Boss?

I'm reading a book by Mark Dever right now called What is a Healthy Church? It's totally legit. On the section where he is stressing the importance of the teaching of biblical theology rather than whatever is easiest, or whatever a passage might be able to say when taken out of the context of the bible, he asks four questions that cause any christian who answers them to see how simple the facts of our faith are, even though it may be difficult to summon up the bravery or the faith to proclaim them.

1) Are people basically bad or good? Do they merely need encouragement and self-esteem, or do they need forgiveness and new life?

2) What did jesus Christ do by dying on the cross? Did he actually and effectively satisfy the just wrath of the Father, or did he merely set an example of self-sacrifice for his followers?

3)What happens when someone becomes a Christian?

4) If we are Christians, can we be sure that God will continue to care for us? If so, is his continuing care based on our faithfulness, or on his?

Now, obviously each of these questions is a trap for anyone who opposes the author's presuppositions. Regardless though, aren't the latter possibilities of 1, 2, and 4 eerily familiar? And also, does it not seem that the latter possibility is using what works practically rather that what is true? If the answer is yes, then my question is this: who are we trusting to change people's hearts? Is it the revelation that comes by the holy spirit, or is it the techniques and presentations that we use to portray a message that is, more or less, the Gospel? Are we picking and choosing the things about God that are easier to understand and are more universally appealing while we throw out the difficult and more counter-intuitive or counter-cultural aspects of our God? I would say yes, the church as a whole (of which I am a part) is guilty of a lack of faith when it comes to God's ability to reveal himself to the hearts of people.

He closes out this section with this:

"Just consider: If we want churches that display God's character, don't we want to know everything he has revealed about himself in the Bible? What does it say about our opinion of his character if we don't?"

This is the question that I am left asking myself, and challenge anyone who reads this to ask as well. May we, God's people, have faith in the power of God to redeem lives, and utter mistrust in our own ability to do anything of the sort. It is God who saves, and God alone. It is all of God who saves, not just the parts of Him that i enjoy, or am comfortable with, or the ones that i understand.