When I preach/teach at PCC, I do
so in a manner to make it understandable (to anyone regardless of age or spiritual
background). I'm not responsible to make God's Word relevant. My job as an expositor is to show people how relevant it already is. I am not permitted to dull its edge because some might find its message as sharp as a razor. And because the Bible is literally God-breathed, I can count on
it to speak for itself. There is no
guarantee that people will like or agree with the sermon since I strive to
teach whatever the text is saying regardless of its potential receptivity. But, we do call it a “win” if people
understand and receive what is being proclaimed. And I'm glad to say that hundreds of people each week find this to be a positive experience at PCC.
Having stated that, our goal is not to find people
who – don’t like church – and get them
to like church. Our goal is to preach
Word and make disciples. Besides, most disciples will like church
automatically because church is where they worship God, fellowship with saints,
and learn the Word.
If, on they other hand, our goal
is to find people who don’t like church and get them to like church, we have to
do something different. We have to
remove the things the don’t like and replace it with things they do like.
For now, it appears there are a
handful of themes that will do the job. Many people who
are cold to church are nonetheless warm to self-improvement regarding marriage,
family, communication skills, relationship conflict, sex, money, and
occupation. As a result, such themes can
be marketed year after year because they are inoffensively therapeutic.
My concern is the attitude which is assumed by all parties: If people come to church it means they love Jesus.
My concern is the attitude which is assumed by all parties: If people come to church it means they love Jesus.
That’s simply not true.
For example, many of the themes churches are using to get people to “like church” are NOT anchored directly in the core message of God’s Word.
The Top 7 Themes to attract
people who don’t like church are:
- Marriage
- Parenting
- Communication
- Conflict Resolution
- Sex
- Money
- Occupation
It’s just enough of the Good Book
to make it feel like church, but not so much that people are confronted by the Bad News
that gives them a need for the Good News.
From this sort of nonsense, one
could, in all sincerity, “like church” because it’s not really church, leading
people to believe that they love Jesus, when in fact, they don’t!
But when confronted with the core
of Jesus’ gospel, such people would gag worse than a thirsty man in a desert trying to
swallow a horse pill with a case of Arizona dry-mouth:
“23 If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but
whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a
man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever
is ashamed of Me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he
comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.” Luke
9:23-26
This is Jesus’ unequivocal message
in less than 100 words. And I might add, this is the only
message that saves.
It’s easy to love church when it’s
merely a religious version of the Jay Leno show. But it’s a different thing to
love Jesus (as He truly is) and the Church He died for.
To be a follower of Jesus means you love the
things He loves, hate the things He hates, and delight in the full council of His Word.
No comments:
Post a Comment