A Plea To The Church: Preach The Gospel

It is quite a humbling reality to consider that God would choose the avenue of individuals to proclaim the good news of the Gospel.  However, the troubling reality that settles in our hearts is the fact that we will be held accountable to how we handle the Word of God in presentation and deed. 

The Gospel is “good news” that has the power to change lives.  God help us if we present anything but the full and clear truth of the Gospel.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit and throwing out a text of Scripture, then only to fly off the cuff with trivial issues for the next 30 minutes, which by the way is only showing your ignorance of the Gospel and your lack of study.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit without having wrestled with the text through diligent study as well as applying the same principles to our lives that we expect our hearers to follow.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit to only talk about the way things used to be while ignoring what God is doing today.  God help us for standing up in the pulpit and taking Scripture out of context because we’ve never taken the time to study out the context of the book or chapter, thus taking truths out of context and ultimately adding to or taking away from Scripture.  Preach the Gospel, the whole Gospel with passion and clarity and if you cannot stand up and Preach it accurately with compassion then don’t Preach it at all.

Some Gospel Myths I’ve actually heard from the Pulpit-

1. “What’s wrong with the church today is that we need to “get back to the old paths,” referring to Jeremiah 6:16, and then use this text to preach that “Southern Gospel” music is the only thing that honors God and that unless you read and hold to the KJV, you are a heretic bound for Hell.  Sorry, but God wasn’t talking about 1960 fundamentalism when he inspired these words.  He wasn’t talking about honky-tonk music that decided to add Jesus lyrics to its melody in the mid 1900′s and he definitely was not talking about the King James translation as the only inspired translation that we can read as English-speaking people.  Yes, I have actually heard Preachers say, “if you got saved out of the NIV then you’re not saved.”  It is so far from the truth it is almost comical.  However, the context of the passage is actually an exhortation for the people to get back to living out the truths of the Bible (God’s Commands) because their lives had spiraled out of control due to their lack of obedience to read it and thus live it.  If that’s what you’re talking about, then Preach it.  Otherwise, please don’t waste our time by adding to the Word of God. 

2. ”If you ain’t got old-time religion then you ain’t got nothing at all.”  Umm, what the heck does this mean?  The last time I checked, the Gospel is not a Religion and could you please define ”old.”  Would Paul have agreed with this statement?  I believe Jesus was quite angry with following traditional ideologies for the sake of tradition (study the Gospels and focus on Jesus’ dealing of the Pharisees). 

3.  “The Health Care bill is just another sign of the end times.  The world as we know it is coming to an end.  We just need Jesus to come rescue us from all this mess.”  Newsflash to all believers of Christ.  Our hope is not built on Washington.  Our hope is not built on a President who openly professes another faith.  Our hope is not built on a Christ-less government.  Our hope is not built on what happens in Congress; our hope is built on the finished work of the Cross.  Should we pray for our President and government?  Yes.  But the majority of them do not know Jesus, therefore how can we expect them to make Christian decisions?  How can we expect Washington to care about Abortion when they have never been radically transformed by the giver of life?  How can we expect Washington to fix the economy when they don’t understand that every good and perfect gift comes from above?  Maybe the problem in Washington isn’t the government; maybe its the church who has failed to be salt and light.  Maybe the problem in America is the fact that the church has become content waiting on a place (Heaven) that we haven’t been called to yet; while having little to no impact on the one (World) Christ died for.  Instead of building up walls to keep us out of the world; maybe we should consume the world with the Gospel. 

• The Gospel is not about our prosperity.
• The Gospel is not about a list of moral guidelines to follow and if we fall off the white line then God is going to smack us with his ruler.  This is nothing less than Deistic Moralism.
• The Gospel is not about mixing a little bit of Jesus into your life while you try to live out the American Dream.
• The Gospel is not a set of religious ideologies filled with traditionalism.
• The Gospel is, “He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthains 5:21.  That’s Good News that changes lives.

    Here is a word of exhortation: The Bible clearly states that we are to test and try every spirit.  Every believer should be able to discern every word that is presented from the pulpit.  In fact, Scripture commands us to do so.  If you are part of a church that does not clearly and accurately Preach the Gospel, then you will be held accountable before God for not clearly discerning truth and allowing yourself or your family to sit under a false Gospel.  I trust that if you do not receive clear biblical truth from the pulpit that you will be obedient to the Gospel and find a church that does.

A Plea To The Church: Movement or Incubator

As I continue to flesh out my plea to the church I want you to understand my heart a little more clearly.  My plea is one of deep concern for the state of the church.  I grew up in the church as previously stated but I was never given a platform for why I believe what I believe.  I never had a landing pad for my beliefs as a Christian until I was 22.  My memory of the church growing up is not one of monumental victories.  I don’t remember people coming to Christ by the droves.  I don’t remember people surrendering their lives to the call of God with passion and exuberance.  I don’t remember our church sending out people to infuse the Gospel within our city.  I don’t remember families teaching other families about the Christian faith.  I don’t remember seeing the movement of God dispel outside the doors of our church.  I believe that where the presence of God is real and the move of God is authentic, there will be individuals and families changed, which will result in a movement that stretches outside the walls and consumes the community and the culture.  

Here’s what I do remember.  I remember thinking that the church looks like a factory that investigates little lab rats in order to watch their tendencies with the expectation of producing a formula to control the environment.  I remember feeling like as long as I was in this controlled environment that nothing on the outside really mattered.  What is the dilemma here?  The major problem with this mentality is that I was stuck in a culture that didn’t effect “the culture.”  I was in an environment that was merely holding hands and looking at each other all while keeping our back turned from the very culture God called us to reach. 

If we build up walls within the church, how can we ever be a city within a city?  If we expect those who do not know Christ to come into our buildings and look like us and dress like us and talk like us, how can we expect anything less than a production of ”lab rats,” who just run around in their controlled environment looking for a way out?  However, when the church experiences the presence of God it will create a movement that will break all barriers of race, status, personality, tradition, and heritage.  It will consume the city.  God is so much bigger than our tradition and our preference.  My plea is that we won’t shrink the Gospel down to “this is how we’ve always done it,” so we can build status while forgetting to do ministry. 

A Plea to the Church-The God Who Is

I have been around the church my whole life.  I love the church.  I’ve seen the ugly, the bad, and the good.  It’s what God has called me to be obedient to because I am his follower.  I love the church because he has called me to minister to it.  I want to take some time over the next few weeks and make some pleas with the church because quite frankly you are losing a lot of people.  My plea today is this:

Stop focusing on the God who was and relentlessly puruse the God who is.  I’ve been around the conservative movement my whole life and growing up in the late 80′s and 90′s you heard a lot about the conservative resurgence that took place in the 50′s and 60′s.  There was a big wave of mass evangelism going on during this era that flooded the church.  People were coming to Christ by the droves, the pews and altars were full, and people were faithful and passionate. 

There is nothing wrong with looking to the past as a rich source of strength and encouragement.  But if the past never compels you to do anyting in the present then you are bound for failure.  “If we are not progressivly moving in the presnt toward the future then we will be stuck in the past.”  Let me flesh this out- What I find in the church is a great priority placed on what God did rather than what he is doing and can do.  I respect the move of God that took place in the 60′s but I wasn’t there.  The people that I minister to were not there.  Thousands of people sitting in our pews were not there either.  What I’ve found is that the church is putting so much emphasis on what God did back then, that we expect everything to look like it did back then as well.  If our music isn’t the same, if our formalities and structures aren’t the same, if our dress isn’t the same, if our methodologies aren’t the same then God is just STUCK.  Let me plead with you:      

1. God cannot be put into an equation or formula-I do believe there is such a thing as irrerevent worship of God but no man can tell me that A+B=THE MOVE OF GOD.  Does God have boundaries and guidelines? Yes, read your Bible!  My plea to you is please don’t tell me that just because God did it up big way back then that it has to look that way today.  I hardly think that the worship service that took place in 1 Kings 18 at the base of Mt. Caramel remotely resemembled the resurgence of 1960. 
2. Generations are lost because you are stuck-I believe that the most evident stronghold that this mindset has tainted is our youth.  They do not understand the logic of what is promoted within the majority of our churches.  Why do you put so much emphasis on what God did, and rarely ever praise him for what he is doing?  Does that mean he can’t do that now?  Does that mean that he won’t use me?  Does that mean that God has already done his most glorious and powerful work?  Students are totally lost within the culture of this mindset because it completely ignores what God is currently doing in them.  Sure, they look different, talk different, have different interests, they may even desire to worship different, but can you prove that God is not working in the midst of their lives?  Does God’s Word limit every culture in every place in every time to a certain method of worship?  My plea to you is to move on from the past and relentlessly pursue God today.
3. He is the same yesterday, TODAY, and forever. As I study the implications of worship in the Scriptures, I find that worship is primarily individual and internal.  True worship is between the worshipper and God.  If I’m not worshipping God daily and consistently then when I engage in a corporate service, i’m really not worshipping.  If I’m solely stuck on what God did, how he did it, why he did it and expect that move to look just like it did way back then, my personal worship is dry and thirsty.  When we remove our traditional glasses and read the Scriptures with un-biased eyes, we will find a God who never changes.  The same God that brought the world into existence; the same God that walked with Enoch; the same God that brought fire down from heaven; the same God that let John lay his head on his chest; the same God that walked on water; the same God that sat in the middle of a house full of sinners; the same God that hung on the Cross and shed his blood for my sins, is the same God I have the privilege to worship and experience today.  Sure, the way I experience him and the setting in which I sense his presence will be a little different than Enoch, David, Peter, Paul, and John; yet he is still the same.  So I want to focus on the God of today, the God who is-not just who was.  My plea is that you will do the same because I may not appreciate all that God did way back then but I know without a doubt he is waiting to do big things TODAY!                   

A Celebration of Grace

This past week has probably been one of the most emotional and stressful weeks of my life.  On Saturday evening, my grandmother went home to  be with Jesus.  This is the first person close to me that has passed away so all of the emotions that come with death have been quite difficult.  I also had the privilege to be with her at the bedside as she took her last breath to wake up in the arms of Jesus.  The glory of his presence in her room was indescribable.    

The greatest honor for me was to stand up on Wednesday, November 18 and preach her funeral.  Of all the great memories that I have of my grandmother, most of them all have to do with Jesus.  She preached her funeral long before November 18, 2009.  Her life can be defined by one word, which is grace.  Her life exemplifies the unlimited, unmerited, and inexhaustible grace of God.  ”All of grace is her story, all the way from earth to glory.” 

Grace radically changed her life, it changed mine as well.  There are many Christians that do not resemble the life changing grace of Christ in their lives but my grandmother not only talked it, lived it, walked it, she fought the fight of grace as well.  You see, grace is more than a one time event in the life of a believer.  It is more than a principle.  It is more than an abstract idea.  It is more than doctrine.  It is the continual working of God in the life of his children.  It is humanity fellow-shipping with divinity.  “Grace is not merely about getting humanity to Heaven; it’s about brining heaven down to humanity.”  Grace radically changes lives!  Just the mention of his name would bring tears to her eyes.  Just the conversation of the goodness of God would make her weep and cry for joy.  She loved the way Jesus desired to be loved.  She followed the way Jesus desired to be followed.  She forgave the way Jesus desired for us to forgive.  She lived the life of grace.

It was truly my highest honor to be able to publically express the kind of life my grandmother lived.  The greatest thing about her life is the same grace that formed this world out of nothing and brought it into existence; the same grace that made man in the image of God; the same grace that God sent his son to the Cross to die and bring hope to all of humanity; the same grace that changes lives; the same grace that brought my grandmother safely home, is the same grace that sustain us until we meet again.  Today, she is face to face with grace waiting on the awesome reunion day when we will all be rejoined together and for all eternity worship the God of grace.  But until that day comes, I want to grow in the grace of Christ while standing on the shoulders of a true spiritual giant-my grandmother (Melvina Sadie Grace Barbary).