Selling God?

Last weeks' headlines were jarring to me as a person of faith. Time and again, I saw this line or one similar. "Pope Benedict XVI out of touch with American Catholics." One TV news story featured an angry young woman railing on the Catholic church for not being "more responsive to the demands of women in the church." These are the reflections of people so accustomed to having everything shaped by their opinions and/or their dollars that they simply assume even their church should bend to their will. In our consumer driven culture everything is for sale at the right price. Churches of all persuasions are being forced to play along with consumer demands or they wither and die. Look no further than the church just down the road that is affiliated with one of the large mainline denominations. Many are within a decade of death! What we see results from watering down the Truth and hanging onto superfluous traditions for too long. In many of those churches, which once held the prominent place in every town, about half the members are women over the age of 60, according to a professor of advertising named James Twitchell. One doesn't have to be in advertising to know that if the largest group of people 'buying' your product is over age 60, the future for your business is not bright.
- The Divine Commodity, Leadership, Winter, 2008

But, is Christianity about marketing? Is it about giving the public what it wants? Is it about taking polls and adjusting the content of our message to please the maximum amount of people? I think not!

The church is not serving hamburgers that you can 'have your way!' Christ's church provides guidance for life, both present and eternal. Christianity is about a pursuit of revealed Truth not a pursuit of maximum profit. (Or at least it ought to be!) We hold certain statements to be true regardless of how many are offended. To be sure, adaptations in the ways we worship, or even in the ways we apply what we believe to be True to our lives, are in order. There are traditions that can change without compromise of the message. A pipe organ is not more holy than a guitar. Robed clergy are not more pleasing to God than preachers in street clothing. The Bible translation commissioned by King James of 17th century England cannot be said to be more accurate or more holy than the New International Version.

But, God's revealed Truth about the Deity of Christ, His commands about holy living, the fact of salvation from sin available only through His grace given at the Cross, and such things; are not up for vote, nor are they subject to revision to fit current sensibilities.

Believer, let's make it personal. Are you a spiritual consumer, quick to move to a different church when you collide with some stand on a matter you regard as inconvenient or unpleasant? Are you quick to criticize spiritual leadership in your church or even in the wider Church when their teaching runs headlong into your choices or values? We need to rethink the way we relate to the place and the persons who provide spiritual care for us and our family. We do not want somebody in our church pulpit whose primary qualification for ministry is his great charisma and glib tongue. He will substitute his opinions for eternal Truth to win our loyalty and applause! Those who teach us the Scripture should be deeply devout, reverent before God, and careful students of Scripture, who are full of the Spirit. If our preacher is telling us things we want to hear, all the time; if he does not make us think and occasionally perspire with some level of discomfort over the way we are living, we ought to question his devotion to the Truth! He might love our money more than our souls. Don't confuse sincerity, earnestness, or even the volume of presentation with passion for the Truth. While some churches err by falling in love with tradition, I fear that in the evangelical church we have fallen so in love with 'relevance and change' that our preachers are adrift on the sea of novelty, without an anchor in immutable Truth! There is no substitute for hearing, "the Bible says" from the lips of one who has "been diligent to rightly divide the Word of Truth."

In a letter to a younger pastor named Timothy, Paul, inspired by the Spirit of God, wrote: "Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you." (2 Timothy 4:2-5, NLT) Such a commission is demanding. It requires that the pastor resist the latest fad sweeping through the Church even when he knows that some will leave for a church more 'open to the move of the Spirit' taking their support and service! The true servant of God will remain steady and solid when people say, "but, Rev. Riches says..." and he is a big-name preacher on TV who appears to be oh-so-successful. In those kinds of situations, as a shepherd of God's people, I pray for the humility to be teachable, but also for the courage of a lion to remain faithful in defense of the Truth.

Here's what God asks of each of us. Take this word from the Word and let it shape your love of God's church and support for those godly men and women He has called to serve as teachers in His body. "Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. . . . Now may the God of peace— who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood— may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen." (Hebrews 13:17, 20-21, NLT)
_____________

The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord;
She is His new creation by water and the word.
From heav'n He came and sought her to be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

Elect from ev'ry nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
Her charter of salvation - "One Lord, one faith, one birth;"
One holy name she blesses; partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses, with ev'ry grace endued.

'Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war,
She waits the consummation of peace forevermore;
Till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious, shall be the Church at rest.

Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed,
By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed:
Yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, "how long?"
And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.

The Church's One Foundation
Samuel Wesley © Public Domain