Harvey Starling has a saying at the end of his sermons that expresses something that I believe is important. He says, "Our goal is to do all the good that we can do, to as many as we can, as often as we can, and may we do no harm at all." The last phrase, "And may we do no harm at all," is the purpose of this message. There are often some unintended consequences from preaching the Gospel. These are things that are harmful, but they are not what God wants to happen when people hear the Gospel of His Son. Some of these unintended consequences are within the power of those preaching the Gospel; others are determined by the hearers. Here are some unintended results of preaching of the Gospel.

The true Gospel does not add burdens, but lifts burdens from a sinner’s life. False twisted versions of the Law of Moses and the Gospel have added burdens unnecessarily. Listen to what Jesus told the Pharisees.

"Woe unto you also, ye lawyers! For you lade men with burdens grievous to be borne and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers." (Luke 11:46.)

These teachers of the Law of Moses not only misrepresented the Law, but more importantly they misrepresented the Father to mankind. Some in every generation have mistakenly thought that the harder the message is preached, the better it is. Some have a twisted psychological need to be hammered. They feel better afterwards, but the end result of such is never a more mature Christian character. Paul wrote that such teaching which neglects the rightful needs of the body is will worship and has a show of human wisdom. But these are doctrines of men that say constantly, Touch not, taste not, handle not! (Col. 2:20-23.) Such teaching destroys assurance and confidence before God. The Bible teaches that no man was ever justified by keeping the law. By the law is the knowledge of sin. (Rom. 3:20, Gal. 2:16.)

Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30.)

This wonderful invitation of Jesus stands in bold contrast to the teaching of the lawyers in his day that added burdens upon people who were already heavy-laden. The purpose of the Gospel is not to burden people even more, but to lighten their burdens with the Good News. Even the Old Testament taught, "The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God so that we might always proper and be kept alive, as is the case today." (Deut. 6:24.) Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath." (Mark 2:27.) The commandments of God are good and for man’s good. "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." (Psalm 19:8.)

I like the story about a man walking with a heavy sack over his back. A man driving a team of mules and a wagon came along and offered the weary man a ride. He gladly accepted and sat on the back of the wagon with his heavy sack still across his back. The driver saw the man sitting with his heavy load and asked him if he did not want to sit the bag down in the wagon. He replied, Well, yes, but I did not know that you were willing to carry my sack too!

Christians are much like that man. We do not realize that Jesus is offering to carry all of our burdens.

You can hear it in the tone of Paul’s words. He did not want this to be a consequence of his preaching the Gospel. If it was, he would still seek to please God instead of men, but he did not want this as the outcome. He wrote, "Am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?" (Gal. 4:16.) Paul is pleading with them because he did not want to become their enemy. He did not say as some might, Well, if that is the way you want it, then so be it!

Instead he wrote, "I can testify that if you could have done so, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me." (4:15.) Paul charged that the false teachers in Galatia were trying to alienate the disciples from Paul. No one could charge that Paul softened the truth just to keep his friends. But neither can anyone charge Paul with being so harsh in his attitude that he produced enemies unnecessarily. Paul said that the Jewish Christian teachers (Judaizers) "constrained some to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ." (Gal. 6:12.)

Jesus did not want to have enemies. He had rather that sinners turned to God and received the blessings of God. On the cross, he asked the Father to forgive those who crucified him saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus taught that it was evil and the darkness of the world controlled by Satan that caused many to reject the truth. Jesus said that the world hated him and it would also hate his followers because they are not of the world. This enmity is unintended; it can be avoided by sinners listening to the voice of Jesus and coming out of the world.

In the Bible, there is no necessary adversity between truth and love. We should always preach the truth in love. (Eph. 4:15.) We should not desire to have enemies and provoke people to become enemies of the truth. We should not be so ready to sharply divide from one another over what one considers to be the truth. In the Scriptures, love is the guiding principle. There is nothing as much out of place than two brothers in Christ quarreling over some biblical topic and getting angry with one another. And each contending that his view is the truth! Love is the most important part of Christian doctrine, not the little thing that has become the hottest issue of the day. Issues that change with the passing of time are not the most important things that should arrest our attention.

Christians must be careful about how they present themselves to others who are not Christians. It is easy for non-believers to get the impression that we think that we are better than they are. Sinners are already suffering from the weight of sin and guilt; they generally do not have a positive self-image.

The Jews believed that they were better than the Gentiles. They made no bones about it either. They spoke down to them and called them dogs. But Paul wrote to his fellow Jews and said, "What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise; for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one." (Rom. 3:9-10.)

It is an unintended consequence of preaching righteousness and holiness to make people feel defeated and undone. Many who are lost have expressed to me that they do not feel that the effort is worth it to try to become a Christian. They think that it is more than they can do. (Truth be told; it is more than anyone can do.) But it is not more than Christ can do through us. It is not so much what we do, as it is what God can do when we allow him to work in us.

We should not leave the impression that we think that the word, Christian, is an adjective. That is, "Christian" does not mean how good a person is who follows Christ. But rather, we should say that it is a noun and it means that we are a disciple of Christ. Our hope is because he is righteous and good. Following Him and confessing faith in Him means that we are looking outside ourselves to another for our salvation. Self-exaltation and self-righteousness are out of place. Such attitudes deny the Lord. Being a Christian means that we need another to stand in our place and that we are not commending ourselves. But non-believers will often think that we feel that we are better than others who do not believe. We must somehow remove that misconception and remove that attitude if it exists within us.

The Gospel we preach is serious business. We speak openly about life and death. Jesus came to conquer death and free man from the bondage of the fear of death.

"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb. 2:14-15.)

We also preach about a coming judgement of God and heaven and hell. Even for adults, the purpose of such preaching is not to produce fear. There is a fear that is wholesome and good. Solomon wrote that the beginning of knowledge and wisdom is the fear of the Lord. (Prov. 1:7, 9:10.) But there is also a fear that is not wholesome. It causes the believer some difficulties. John wrote:

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement; because as he is so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear hath torment. He that fears is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us." (1 John 4:17-19.)

Producing a slavish fear is an unintended consequence of preaching. Yes, people need to be moved by the Gospel and stirred to respond to it. But we should not use fear that produces bondage and immaturity in the end. Lost people should be stirred by the love of God and their lost condition. If one obeys God out of fear alone, that person is not made perfect in love. This is not the result that God wants. He wants us to love him because he first loved us. Love is more powerful than fear. It will motivate us to do more. Fear causes one to do the minimum to avoid punishment. Love goes far beyond that in its response.

When we speak about the terror and severity of the Lord, little children should not be concerned or fearful. (2 Cor. 5:11, Romans 11:22.) Jesus said concerning little children, "Suffer little children and forbid them not to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 19:14.) Children and adults need to hear that the heart of the Gospel is the love of God for mankind. He is not a dictator that delights in distressing or demeaning man.

Religious divisions are an unintended and undesirable result of preaching the Gospel. The Gospel promotes unity among believers. God desires it. Listen to Jesus and the psalmist:

"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me and I in thee; that the world may believe that thou hast sent me." (John 17:20-22.)

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard, that went down to the skirts of the garments; as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." (Psalm 133:1-3.)

Paul added, "Now I beseech you brethren by the name of the our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgement." (1 Cor. 1:10.)

The difficulty arises, of course, when people begin to speak something contrary to the important doctrines of Christianity. Jesus and others in the New Testament warned about false teachers and false prophets. We should not divide over frivolous matters. There are areas where we have freedom of individual judgement. (Romans 14.) We need not divide over these. But when the central elements of the Gospel are at stake, we must not tolerate perversions of the Gospel, no not for an hour. (Gal. 2:5.)

But we must remember that unity is a major part of the truth of the Gospel that we should protect. To see unity as good but not essential is to have too low a view of what God desires and expects of us. We should rather see unity as a part of truth. When we see unity this way, we will not be so quick to sacrifice unity as if it is not very important. Divisions are not desirable and if they must exist they are an unintended consequences of preaching the truth.