The Plague: 1,000 Ways to Say Nothing
Allow me to get straight to the point void of flowery banter or introduction.
Part of what plagues the evangelical church is found sitting squarely on the shoulders of it’s leadership; pastors, preachers, teachers, authors, and and personalities. I willfully include myself in this august group.
I don’t hate Christian TV, it can be a wonderful tool. I actually preached on TBN a few years ago and it was a tremendous opportunity to communicate the gospel to millions of people worldwide. But I was reminded recently as I viewed another joker raising money by selling religious nick-nacks and what-nots on a local religious station that after a 30 minute rant, this rascal had said absolutely nothing about Jesus, His gospel or His Kingdom. And I had sat there like a hypnotized lab-rat wasting a half-hour of my life I could never win back.
And isn’t that a tangible temptation for those of us who preach and teach the gospel? That we become wrapped up in something else; politics or gay marriage or the environment or Obama or “Crucifying The Clintons” or abortion or the newest issue on FOX News or CNN. We are so adept at finding 1,000 ways to say nothing at all.
There is no excuse to avoid controversial issues, for these are the very battlegrounds upon which thousands of future corpses will potentially lie (consider over 44 million aborted children since the year I was born, 1972). But the reason why I have an opinion about the environment (we must protect it because God gave us dominion and stewardship over the earth) is because of the gospel. The reason why I have an opinion on nuclear weapons (I wish there were a realistic way to get rid of all of them, in every country and every terrorist’s suitcase) is because of the gospel. Logic would dictate that the world be better off (in a perfect world) without the ability of the human race to kill every last one of itself, leaving some people on earth to whom the gospel could be proclaimed.
My point? For crying out loud, people, let’s say something with substance! Let’s anchor every conviction, every sermon, every point, every conversation, and every flag-waving bandwagon we jump on in THE GOSPEL OF THE RESURRECTED SON OF GOD.
As W.A. Criswell is reported to have said…”If there were more preaching against sin from the pulpit, there would be less sin in the pew.” If given a platform to speak a word to a crowd of people, large or small, God forbid that I dilly-dally around with absurdities. If we have something to say worth saying, then may we say it clearly, deliberately, and without apology. If we have nothing to say, then let’s quit talking and wasting everyone’s time.
March 31st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
I do love it when our bandwagons have more to do with our selfish pride and insecurities and nothing to do with God.
March 31st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
hey bro, “As goes the pulpit, so goes the pew.”
April 1st, 2008 at 6:05 am
Well said, Clayton. I often tell my preaching students: “The difference between a sermon and a speech is the Scripture.” Without a serious engagement with the Word of God, it’s just a speech, no matter how exercised we get about what we’re saying.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:28 am
Dr. Stacy,
I am both honored and intimidated to have you, a mentor, teacher and friend, read my blog! Thanks for the encouraging words, and also for the affirmation that my very next post was inspired by The Holy Spirit…I have already written an entry concerning the “silent scriptures” in the American church, specifically the pulpit, but once I started writing, I realized I had much more to say than could be communicated in one post. I will have to see where this goes, as I always desire my posts to have both a prophetic edge and a pastoral touch.
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
YES! The pastor at our church just finished a series called Hot Potatoes. At the end of each sermon, we were encouraged to write questions down and leave them in a basket on the way out. At the end of the 6 week series, an entire Sunday was dedicated to answering those questions by a panel of Christians who were well thought of in the church (a Christian psychologist, a professor, the pastor and associate pastor, etc.)
I found this extremely helpful in dealing with the hot potatoes, themselves. Every Sunday, I was always left with some burning desire to know more about what God may think about the preached upon topic. It directed me to the Word, of course, but it was so interesting hearing knowledgable, well-read Christians give their opinions on things like divorce, gay marriage, sex, racism, pornography, etc.
I was so bothered growing up, at the very conservative church that I attended, where topics like these were left out of any type of church setting. Wouldn’t want to step on any toes, ya know? It’s real life, people. I look at it like eating my vegetables as a child. Sure, brussel sprouts smell like feet beside the big pile of mashed potatoes and butter but my body needed the vegetables…still does.
Preach on.