"Membership in the family of God is neither inconsequential or something to be casually ignored. The church is God's agenda for the world. Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it." The church is indestructable and will exist for eternity. It will outlive this universe, and so will your role in it."
- Rick Warren
Monday, October 4, 2010
2 Corinthians 4 has been much on my mind recently. Plus I've been hearing it over and over again, in disconnected settings. It's almost like someone's trying to get me to pay attention. Just last night, we had an ordination service at our church, and wouldn't you know it that 2 Corinthians 4 as the focal passage.
Just the first two verses give me enough to chew on, probably for a lifetime.
Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2I've been through a lot of church trends in the twenty six years or so since I became a believer. I remember in particular the description someone gave me, in the early nineties, of how we should approach teaching the Bible in a "seeker sensitive" way. Basically, he suggested we leave out any hard to understand or hard to accept teachings, so as not to throw off the potential convert. Though I was intrigued by the seeker-sensitive model, a large red flag was raised in my mind upon hearing this.
Since that time, I've seen and read about a thousand examples of the Bible taught in disgraceful, underhanded ways, generally by earnest, well-meaning believers who were trying to make the message more palatable to seekers (did anyone ever think about how patronizing and condescending that is?). Bribery, enticement, bait and switch, "relevance", people asking me if I wanted to "make God the CEO of my life", etc.
Paul would have none of it. Paul preached the gospel honestly.
. . . we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth , , ,
Gosh, I hope I've never done any of that. But I bet I have.
. . . the PT Barnum pastoral tribe doesn't trust that the gospel is a compelling message. They don't trust that they can make it sound attractive and exciting just as it is. They've lost trust that it is, actually, power. If they hadn't, they wouldn't feel the need to put it inside the Trojan horse of cash and prizes. - Gospel Driven ChurchLord, kill the desire in us to practice Trojan horse gospelling.
I'll leave you with a few quotes, sourced at David Guzik's excellent commentary.
“Certain divines tell us that they must adapt truth to the advance of the age, which means that they must murder it and fling its dead body to the dogs . . . which simply means that a popular lie shall take the place of an offensive truth.” Charles Spurgeon
“For just as chaste and honourable women are content with the gracefulness of natural beauty and do not resort to artificial adornments, whereas harlots never think themselves well adorned until they have corrupted nature, so Paul’s boast that he has set forth the pure Gospel whereas others have offered a counterfeit Gospel decked out with unworthy additions.” - John Calvin
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Comments on "Tampering":
2. Dave
- 10/04/2010 8:58 am CDT
Great post. I love how your posts are always filtered through grace. And I don't disagree at all. Only thing is, I guess my experience was just a little different, though I do understand why anyone could have issues with some of the seeker churches. But my seminary prof, around 15 years ago, when talking about seeker sensitive, did not tell us to "leave out any hard to understand or hard to accept teachings, so as not to throw off the potential convert." We were told that seeker sensitive meant that you were sensitive to the realities of people exploring the faith. So if you use an uncommon word, explain it. If you use church jargon, explain it. Pay attention to what is being presented in your public services and try to help people who haven't been in church their whole lives to understand what's going on. -- To me, that made sense and it still does. -- Of course, a lot of people have taken the basic idea and used it as an excuse to avoid difficult teachings or subjects, and many churches have opted for being politically correct in order to avoid offending, or opted to put on a show in order to impress. None of that is good. But I do like the idea of considering who is listening to you and making sure you are actually communicating with them as opposed to talking at them.
3. Bill
- 10/04/2010 1:45 pm CDT
But I do like the idea of considering who is listening to you and making sure you are actually communicating with them as opposed to talking at them.
I do too. I agree with you that speaking to people in language they understand is a good thing - there was (and is) lots of good in the seeker-sensitive movement. Let's have the cross be the only obstacle to people embracing the gospel.
I do believe, however, that a lot of the attempts at communicating better have been ham-fisted and, frankly, patronizing to lost people. I mentioned it above, obliquely - the idea that lost people will feel more comfortable if we communicate God's Lordship by using corporate lingo was/is, in my opinion, whacked. God as my "CEO"? For many people, the term "CEO", or "Manager", etc, evokes more Dilbertian images than images of God's majesty and sovreignty. One (slight) beef I have with a number of pastors I've heard is the tin ear they have toward this subject. They themselves have never worked in the corporate world, and so don't always understand that on Sunday people might not want to be reminded of Monday, and certainly many of them don't want to be told that Heaven is just like their cubicle at work.
It's just a minor note with me. I vote we treat all people, lost and saved, with intellectual respect, watching our words so that we don't put stumbling blocks in their way that don't need to be there, but avoiding faddish lingo that makes us feel sensitive but just makes them roll their eyes.
All that being said, I realize I've just chased a rabbit a good ways here. I wholeheartedly agree with what you wrote :-)
6. nhe
- 10/04/2010 4:53 pm CDT
I have a real life example (at our self-labeled seeker church) that I'd like some input on.
Our assoc pastor spoke from John 8 last week - the story of the sinful woman brought before Jesus where Jesus says "he who is without sin..........." and "go and sin no more".
He did a great job explaining how "go and sin no more" is a very empowering encouragement from Jesus and how the sinful woman likely walked away feeling like Jesus believed in her - nothing is more empowering than that!
But then, he turned to the congregation and admonished us - "if you are involved in adultery, go and sin no more!...if you are involved in an alternative lifestyle, go and sin no more!....if you are involved in pre-marital sex, go and sin no more!"
He got some resounding amens from around the room......but it really troubled me.
Did he preach the truth? Sure. But I thought he wasn't "seeker sensitive". I thought he could have got a lot more mileage if he had substituted gossip, anger, and unloving for adultery, homosexuality, and fornication. The former would have included everyone in the audience. The latter drew amens from people who don't struggle with those things - almost like - "Yay! its about time someone preached it around here!"
Am I right? Or am I kind of the person you're admonishing in this post? I'm not sure.
7. Bill
- 10/04/2010 8:14 pm CDT
nhe,
You are absolutely not the kind of person I'm admonishing in this post :-)
I get what you're saying about the example, but given the context (John 8), your pastor's mention of sexual sins doesn't seem out of line to me. I do think that maybe coupling some of the other things you've mentioned would have been good too,
9. Shrode
- 10/04/2010 9:28 pm CDT
I mentioned it above, obliquely - the idea that lost people will feel more comfortable if we communicate God's Lordship by using corporate lingo was/is, in my opinion, whacked. God as my "CEO"? For many people, the term "CEO", or "Manager", etc, evokes more Dilbertian images than images of God's majesty and sovreignty.
Does this mean I should cancel my planned sermon series entitled "Jesus is my homeboy!" ? 
Leave a Comment:
During this time of my life, 2 Corinthians has been like oxygen to me, especially 2 Cor. 1:8-11. That and the greatest chapter in the Bible, Romans 8.