"Who Would Want That Rose?" - A Response To Matt Chandler

I write to call to task the increasingly popular "Jesus wants the rose!" meme of megachurch pastor Matt Chandler.

Chandler tells of the time a preacher urged his young audience to maintain premarital virginity. The preacher tossed out a rose and told people to smell it and touch it and pass it around. Then he preached about purity and warned about things like venereal disease. At the end the preacher asked for his rose back. Having passed through many hands it was now shabby and wilted, the stem was broken, and petals were missing. The preacher held up the miserable flower and asked, "Now who would want a rose like that?"

Chandler, sitting in the audience, says that he could barely contain his outrage. "I remember feeling anger - like real, legitimate, 'I-want-to-hurt-him' anger, and it was all I could do not to scream out, 'JESUS WANTS THE ROSE!' That's the point of the gospel! That JESUS wants the rose!" Chandler goes on to quote Bible verses about Jesus dying to save sinners. If you watch the video you'll see Chandler get emotional and teary as he rages against the preacher for "not even teaching the basics of our faith!"

But there are two problems with Chandler's response. The first is that it fails to understand biblical teaching about what Jesus wants. It substitutes an applause line, "Jesus wants the rose!" for patient reflection on the metaphors and parables that the Bible regularly uses to explain where we stand before God.

Suppose the preacher that Chandler wanted to maim had used a different illustration. Suppose instead of a shabby rose he showed a steaming cup of Kona coffee, a tall glass of iced tea with lemon, and a cup of water at 85 degrees Fahrenheit. The preacher says, "Now who would want to drink this lukewarm water?" Would Chandler still want to scream, "JESUS WANTS THAT LUKEWARM WATER"? The Bible says he doesn't, actually. Useless water like that makes him want to vomit. In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus says to the church at Laodicea, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

Or suppose the preacher held up two baskets of fish - one with fresh salmon, swordfish and mahi mahi and the other with smelly, moldy, disease-ridden carp. The preacher says, "Now who would want this basket of rotten fish?" Would Chandler shout, "JESUS WANTS THOSE BAD FISH"? Because again, the Bible says he doesn't. Matthew 13:47-48: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away."

Or suppose the preacher put out two plants, one full of red ripe strawberries and the other a mess of thorny weeds. "Who would want this weed patch?" the preacher asks. "JESUS WANTS THE WEED PATCH!" is the indignant response. But again, no. In Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus explains that weeds will get burned up while the good harvest is taken safely home.

Time would fail me to recount all the stories in the Bible that make the same point. Would Jesus close the door and turn aside people whose behavior indicated that they were not ready for his arrival? Well, yes, as a matter of fact he would - that's exactly what Matthew 25:1-13 teaches. I wonder if on judgment day there will be people shut out of the marriage feast like the five foolish maidens in that story, and they will protest, "But I was told that Jesus WANTED shoddy roses!" No, you heard wrong. Jesus said things like, "Blessed are the pure in heart," not, "Blessed are those who screw around." He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," not, "Blessed are those who indulge themselves and party like frat boys."

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church saying, "I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him." (2 Corinthians 11:2). Imagine that! "A pure virgin." The image is clearly metaphorical and symbol-laden, but it is not hard to understand. Jesus wants a pure bride, not a filthy whore - a sweet rose, not a befouled one. So, if you are impure - a weed, a bad fish, a lukewarm cup, a nasty rose - REPENT. Call out for God's mercy, and, by his grace through Jesus Christ, stop being evil. Repent while there is still time.

Chandler's misguided rhetoric might be understood as a failure to complete a sentence. It is not accurate to say, "Jesus wants sinners." It is better to say, "Jesus wants sinners to repent." Because if they do not repent, Jesus will not want them. I'm sorry if that's offensive, but the Bible says it too clearly too many times to ignore. Or, we might say, "Jesus wants sinners to be made righteous through living faith in him." The point is, you can't merely say "Jesus wants sinners" (Jesus wants the rose!) without skewing the gospel in a bad and misleading way.

But there is a second problem with Chandler's outburst against the "Who-wants-that-rose?" preacher. Chandler faults him for not getting the gospel right, but by Chandler's own characterization, the man wasn't really talking about the gospel but about keeping yourself worthy of a good spouse. In that context, "Who wants a filthy rose?" is a very appropriate question to ask yourself when you are tempted to embark on a filthy life. I wish more people asked themselves that. Let me tell you a couple stories.

Four years ago I got married to the most wonderful person I have ever known. Lisa hates it when I say that, but it's true. I do not lie.

While we were courting I told her frankly my sexual history. I lost my virginity on my wedding night and remained faithful to my first wife through all our 20 years of marriage. I never kissed, caressed or even held hands with anyone else in my entire life. I remained faithful to my first wife even when she was treating me contemptuously and cheating on me with her lesbian friends, for whom she left me in 2005.

It meant something to Lisa that I had held the line on sexual compromise despite my misery. Some time before Lisa met me, some friends had tried to fix her up with a divorced man who had seemed to be eligible enough. But she knew that this man had cheated on his first wife, and so she did not trust him.

What if I had been a broken, befouled, petal-missing, much-used rose? What if I had hopped in and out of bed with a series of partners? Then I never would have gotten Lisa! She wanted to marry a good man. Had I slept around I would have disqualified myself in her eyes - deservedly so - and no words could ever express the regret I would have felt at missing out on such a treasure.

Lisa has a similar story. In 1986 she married a great man, Russell Krausfeldt, whom I'll get to meet in heaven some day. (He passed away in 2001.) Russ was highly regarded by everyone, especially by the one woman who came to know him better than anyone. Lisa told me that, 28 years ago, it was important for Russ, virginal himself, to marry another virgin. She was that. Had she not been, she would not have won the heart of the good man and faithful provider in whose house I am now privileged to live.

So, you who contemplate a life of fornication, please think about the question posed by the preacher who so annoyed Matt Chandler. It's actually a good question, and ought not be batted away with cheap rhetoric and tearful indignation. Sober reflection on it might - just might - preserve chastity and pave the way for a happiness that could not be otherwise obtained. Consider a rose rendered ugly by willful sin and ask yourself honestly,

Who would want that rose?