The Pilgrim Pastor

In marketing, it has been said that “excellence always sells.”  Oh, how I wish that were true!  In terms of modern biblical preaching, often heresy sells.  Or, perhaps excellence does sell in the pulpit – so long as the excellence spoken of is how God is going to make my present life excellent!  In my experience and observation, too few are scouring local churches seeking to find excellent Bible teaching which is based on excellent exegetical methods.   Most commonly, church goers today are primarily interested in whatever is the most entertaining, easy, and expedient. 

This certainly is the case of most that ascend the ranks or purchase enough airtime on Christian television.  With the exception of a few quality preachers and ministries, the vast majority are pushing the prosperity gospel, which is no gospel at all.  Why?  Heresy Sells.

I caught a couple of minutes of a broadcast of Joseph Prince this evening.  Here are his words as I tuned in just in time for the conclusion to his sermon: “Just see yourself with the check with all of the zeros, thank God, thank God, you are having it!  You are having it!  You are having it!” Now, that was plenty for me but just before I went hunting around the dial for more spiritually edifying television, like say a Green Acres rerun, I caught the sales pitch at the end… “Call land receive this resource to learn secret truths of the benefits of biblical mediations.”

I have listened to Joseph Prince before.  I have actually even heard him say a few things to which I could easily give a hearty “amen."  For example, on this same snippet of hisbroadcast, he said something like “The further you are away from God the more you judge.  The closer you are to God,the more you see other believers as covered by the righteousness of God.”  Depending on his context, I could probably get on board with a statement like that.

Here’s the trouble, as I see it.  We are as much to blame for Prince’s heretical prosperity preaching as he is. Ok, perhaps not as much to blame, but certainly the modern church is complicit.  Why?  Heresy Sells. If we weren’t buying into such nonsensical unbiblical ideas as the notion that biblical meditation is primarily a way to “believe things intoexistence,” he would actually have to exposit the Bible, teach the Bible on its own terms in light of historical Christian methods of interpretation, rather than to look for “hidden meanings” in the text in order to hold the attention of his sizable audience.

Heresy sells because we buy it.  We buy it for a whole host of reasons that basically boil down to perhaps two:  it satisfies our me-centered worldview and/or because we have not gone to the Scriptures forourselves to see if that is actually what God says to us in His Word.  

Prosperity gospel Heresy will stop selling when we stop buying it.  Junk food vendors are not invited to a whole food convention.  

I am almost done preaching through the book of Romans.  Here is a thought for expository preaching: It can be done by preaching one verse from this book and one verse from that book in a non-systematic way, but, preaching & teaching through a complete book of the Bible is like completing a sentence, finishing a thought, or saying your peace in one conversation.

Preaching a verse here and a verse there is a bit like writing someone a letter then tearing it up and mailing it to them one piece at time and not necessarily in proper order.  It is much clearer to read a letter from start to finish. 

Rather than seeking out texts which lend themselves well to eloquent sermons and expedient ideas, pulpit workers need to concern themselves most with matters of clarity and completeness – preaching the whole counsel of God with lucidity and a sense of urgency. “Eloquence is vehement simplicity.” RichardCecil (1748–1810)

There is a right way and wrong way to do things...  More specifically there is a thoughtful way and a hasty way to do things! My three year old son Ephram calls himself “Pastor Ephram.”  He has every intention, at least for now, of pursuing full time ministry when he grows up. He even has a complete wardrobe of “pastor clothes” as he refers to them.  When he is not wearing his latest superman or batman pajamas, he has suits and ties just his size, although he usually shows up to church wearing with one of my ties dangling just below his knee caps. 

Yesterday while he and my five year old son Sebastian assisted me in the grocery store, he proved my point about a right and a hasty way to things. Sebastian and I were calmly examining his shopping list to ensure that we didn’t forget the most important items – marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate for a backyard bbq round of S’mores.  Meanwhile Pastor Ephram, who is slightly taller than a parking stump, decided all on his own initiative to “gently place,” uhhh… I mean heave like a discus thrower, a carton of 18 eggs into the cart!  17 of them broke.  1 remained intact.

His reply to my rebuke, "Well daaaaaaad... we neeeeeeeded them..." Should the lord actually lead him into ministry, my advice to him then will be similar to my chastisement that day in the store.  Slow down and do it right. I've taught you that it is ok to ask for help. In other words, get training. Anything worth doing is worth taking the time to prepare for.  “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.” (II Timothy 2:15-16 KJV) 

We don’t need intellectual elites in the pulpit. However, we do need trained pastors who understand the difference being pleasing God and men; between proclaiming truth and earning favor; shaking hands after a worship service, for example, as an extension of the service of ministry to the people of God, not fishing for a pat on the back.  Not everyone is going to like every sermon.  Not everyone should like every sermon! While a preacher hopes for his sermons to be received on their own merit and used by God, some sermons should be challenging, exposited from challenging Bible texts, to the point that they bring conviction.  

Pastor Ephram, I will say, Seek respect as an honest expository preacher more than to be liked as a jovial preacher.  It is good to be loved but faithfulness is a higher virtue than likability.  Make Christ the center of your preaching because He is the gospel! I am afraid for my son though, in light of all of the abuses and lack of plain, honest, biblical preaching in our day.  It may well get worse before it gets better.  When that day comes, Pastor Ephram may have to stand in very short company in the gate of biblical faithfulness.  

Yet stand he must and so must we all.  Truth is immortal. (visa-vi Balthasar Hubmaier) 

(http://brad.chando.net/2007/01/28/truth-is-immortal/) 

There was a time when I thought that to love meant it was wrong to confront something that was wrong. More specifically, I used to be convinced, though suspiciously, that it was possible to stand for truth without ever confronting lies.  I have become completely unconvinced of that idea.

In Matthew 7:15 Jesus tells us to “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” (NIV)  Today, false prophets abound. What is more troubling to this shepherd is that there are droves of people who gladly follow after them, buying their latest cliché ridden self centered books, tapes, DVD’s, and whatever else they are selling for just one easy payment of $19.95.

Listen to what megastar celebrity prosperity preacher Joel Osteen says on a recent installment of “Moments of Encouragement” which is broadcast on YouTube and made available on his ministry website.  Joel says that, “Praise precedes the victory,as you were giving God praise today; you know what, your praise is just sending out your faith.  That’s allowing God to just arrange things in your favor… You are supposed to reign in life, as the Scripture says, like a king.” (link at bottom of post)

Here’s the trouble with what Osteen says here.  Well, here’s one of the many troubling things...  Where in the Bible does it say that we are supposed to reign on this earth now like a king?  Since Osteen seldom quotes Scripture directly, I am forced to guess what passage he is presently taking out of context, and my best guess is that he is alluding to II Timothy 2:12: “if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us.” (NIV)  Here’s where Joel’s sloppy exegetical work is so obvious that I would expect even the simplest of Bible reader to catch it, but sadly, they don’t.

Perhaps it is not that we are unable, but unwilling.  Like so many spiritual children, cotton candy is greatly preferred to a healthy meal.

The passage says that we shall reign with Him.  Not that we are reining.  In this life Christ endured suffering and pain and shall one day return to earth to reign.  Presently the world groans under the weight of sin, pain, sorrow, and the Devil’s attacks on believers.  The preceding passage says “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him.” (II Timothy 2:11 NIV)

Friend, while in this world, Jesus suffered and died.  He put the mercy of God on display.  Jesus didn’t have His “Best Life Now.” (One of Osteen’s book titles)  Our calling is to look like Jesus and we are not necessarily going to have our best life now either!  In fact, I don’t want my best life now!  Even the best life in this broken and fallen world pales in comparison to the life that is coming through faith in the one who suffered and died for sin.

Praise is not a means to an end.  We don’t worship God because of what we will get out of it. We worship Him because He is worthy. That’s it.  We don’t allow God to do anything.  He does what He does according to His sovereign and supreme will.  God is arranging things according to His will in a way that celebrates His glory and when we get lost in His worth we find our ultimate peace and joy. We are His servants, His people, His children, His Church!  God is not our genie in a bottle. 

This is just more of the common-sell coming from American pulpits… I I I ... You You You… Me Me Me… but more on that in another post… 

  1. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6eK-W32IME0#at=186)