Preach The Word

I suppose that nobody plans to pastor a small church. In our pastoral minds we see people flocking (pun intended) to the church to hear our excellent preaching and teaching. Eventually the church will grow so that it is no longer a small church. But the truth is that most of the churches are actually small - less than 75 people.

Pastoring a small church means that the pastor is a shepherd (which is what pastor means). The shepherd is personally responsible for feeding the sheep, protecting them against predators, and dealing with their individual injuries. In a larger church the pastor is actually more of an administrator and the sheep are cared for by their small group leaders. (So the small groups are actually small churches within the large church...)

But pastoring is full of painful disappointments. For one thing people are not generally flocking to hear biblical preaching. Andy Stanley writes that people are not all that interested in truth - they are interested in happiness. So the solution (according to him) is to scratch their itch and make the church services and messages about their happiness. Messages that are more motivational talks than divine proclamation. Everything is topical and gives people practical advice that they can take home and plug in.

The problem is that I cannot do that. The commission I have from God goes like this...

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:1–4) 

It seems to me that this specifically orders me to be concerned with communicating the truth rather than with teaching the things that suit people's own passions. If suiting people's passions is the secret to building a big (or bigger) church, then I guess I'm in trouble.

The word of God does not address the temporal happiness of people except to say that is not what they should be pursuing. They should be aiming higher - at eternal happiness.

Ironically, Andy Stanley justifies his happiness approach by referencing Jesus' sermon on the mount. Stanley (correctly) points out that the "blessed" in the beatitudes can be translated "happy." So, he says, Jesus is attracting people by telling them how to be happy. But look a little closer at Matthew 5:1-12

According to Jesus they would be happy if they:

• Are poor in spirit (i.e., afflicted)
• Are mourning (ironically)
• Are meek (i.e., not the great and powerful)
• Hunger and thirst for righteousness
• Are merciful
• Are pure in heart
• Are peacemakers
• Are persecuted for righteousness sake
• Are reviled, persecuted and slandered for following Christ

The general point of the passage is that things are not the way they seem to the people of this temporal world. Those who are happiest and most powerful here are not the ones who will ultimately be happy. Those who are oppressed here for the cause of Christ (which involves a knowledge and obedience of God's truth) are the ones who will be ultimately blessed. But that blessing is beyond this world.

So, I guess I'm stuck. I would like to see people flock to the truth, but they don't. And while bigger flocks of people would make me happy in this temporal world - I am counting on happiness in the eternal life God has promised me. Part of that eternal happiness for me will be related to obeying God's word by preaching God's word - the whole counsel of God.

Preach the Word. It is the truth that people need - even when they don't want it.

What You Would Do

People often excuse someone's bad behavior by saying, "You don't know what you would do."

But the Bible directs us to take steps that will prepare us for any test, temptation or trial we might face. If we follow this directive we will be ready when the time comes to do the right thing.

Sermon In A Sack - A Bank Check

The Gospel says that Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins and that if we will take God at his word, he will forgive us our sins and provide us with eternal life. This can be illustrated with a check.

The check is a promise that the balance is on account and that it will be "payed to the order of" the bearer. Jesus said, "Whosoever" believes will be saved. That gives us the initiative to put our own name on the "Pay to the order of" line of this check and to call on God for the salvation he promises.

Standing Steady

Soldiers facing an enemy charge may be afraid. They may feel like running away from the battle. But their sergeants see their hesitation and say, "Steady, men." "Stand firm."

The Philippians were facing various difficulties and might have felt like they were under attack. (Don't we all feel that way sometimes?) But the word of God to them (and to us) is "Stand fast in the Lord!"

God's Great Gift

What do people think about at Christmastime? Very often they are thinking about gifts. So let us think about the gift that started it all.

Progressives, Homosexuality and The Bible

The "progressives" are raging again - this time against "Duck Dynasty" star, Phil Robertson, for his negative remarks about homosexuality. He believes it is immoral and that people who practice it are sinning against God.

The "progressives" are not very progressive and they are definitely not liberal. Their ability to tolerate opposing viewpoints is as brittle as an islamic fundamentalist's sensitivity over insults to their prophet. Screams, curses, rants and riots... all because people have the temerity to make statements they disagree with. Wow!

Phil Robertson is only one current example. The United Methodist Church is also getting flayed right now for defrocking a minister who clearly violated the code of the church that he had sworn to uphold.

What is particularly amusing is the way the "progressives" try to argue their case for homosexuality from the Bible. They have a suite of talking points that are all either flat out wrong, contradictory of each other, or both.

• The Bible does not forbid homosexuality.
• The Bible promotes slavery (so it shouldn't matter what the Bible says.)
• The Bible forbids hateful behavior so you should not condemn homosexuals.

In fact, the Bible very clearly and repeatedly condemns homosexuality as always immoral - a sin against God. One simple example is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–10 ESV) 

It is important to note that it is not the ONLY sin, but it is CLEARLY a sin. You can claim that homosexuality is not a sin only if you flatly reject the Bible and everything that it says. If homosexuality is not a sin, then neither is any other kind of human behavior - sexual or otherwise. Anybody who claims that the Bible does not condemn homosexuality as a sin is either ignorant or a liar.

Meanwhile, some of the same progressive rants say something like, "How can you believe the Bible since it approves of slavery? You don't agree that slavery is right, do you?" 

The answer to this is a bit more complicated because the subject of slavery definitely does come up in the Bible and is not flatly condemned in every situation. But here are some points to ponder.

1. The type of slavery that was most prevalent in Bible times was related to debts. Those who could not pay their debts became slaves. That situation has not really changed much in the modern world. You enter this type of slavery whenever you become over your head in debt.
2. In another type of slavery, people are kidnapped and sold into slavery. The Bible does condemn kidnapping and kidnappers, though it did allow enemy peoples to be spared from death to serve as slaves of the conquerors - which was consistent with the culture of the time.
3. In every type of slavery that existed, even where the Bible didn't forbid it, the Bible placed restrictions on it that gave rights and dignity to the slaves and restrained the behavior of slave owners. Slaves were not to be mistreated. Slaves taken because of debt were to be freed after a reasonable time. Christian slaves were told to be good workers. Christian slave owners were told to be good masters.

So where did the modern world get the idea that slavery is wrong? To what did people like Wilber Wilberforce resort in his quest to end slavery in the British Empire? Is it significant that he was a committed Christian and thought it was his Biblical duty to end slavery in his time? What would be the atheistic or agnostic or evolutionary basis for a moral condemnation of slavery (or anything else)?

Finally, "the Bible condemns hateful behavior, so you should not condemn homosexuals."

Well, yes and no. On the one hand yes. The Bible makes it very clear that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23). The fact is that I am just as much a sinner as any homosexual, so I have no room to condemn.

On the other hand, no. The Bible makes it very clear that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men..." (Romans 1:18). I do not have the standing to condemn people as if I were myself perfect, but I do have the word of God on the matter. God condemns it. Homosexual behavior is sin. The wages of sin is death.

If I hated homosexuals and wanted them to face an eternal punishment from God, I would keep my mouth shut and let them go to their deaths in complete ignorance.

But if I really love homosexuals and want them to find God's forgiveness and eternal life, then I must speak up. I must lovingly communicate the true message about sin, judgment, and wrath. Whether it is appreciated or not. Whether it is politically correct or not.

I am not in favor of Christians sitting around with other Christians and bashing the homosexuals as if that were the only sin in the world. But I am very much in favor of Christians standing up for the truth and speaking the truth in love.

Some will see the light. Some will repent and believe and be saved.

Real Zeal

Philippians 3 reveals that the self-righteous zeal for rules and rituals is harmful to the gospel of grace. Salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. We are to rejoice in Christ and put no confidence in the flesh.

So where should we put our zeal? What does "real zeal" that honors Jesus look like?