Heart Tracks - Foolishness?

"Since God in His wisdom saw to it that the world would never know Him through human wisdom, He has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe." I Corinthians 1:21...."The secret of America's greatness is in the righteousness being declared from her pulpits." Alexis de tocqueville...."Where are the gut-wrenching holiness messages, the assaulting of sin and compromise from the pulpits?" John Burton

Alexis de tocqueville was a Frenchmen who traveled throughout America in the early 19th century to try and discover just what it was that set this young, vibrant nation apart from the rest of the world. He saw many wonderful things in the existing society, but what moved him the most was the message of righteousness being preached in the churches, the effect of which salted all of the society and culture. He didn't say it was a perfect society. It was not. He didn't deny the flaws, which existed. Yet he saw America as a whole as a nation that was at its heart, good. He saw that goodness as having its source in the message that was coming from the pulpits of her churches across the land. Can we ask, where is that message today? Once the church was seen as completely relevant to the culture surrounding it. Now "experts" tell us that we have become irrelevant to it. If this is so, dare we ask if its the result of our message having become irrelevant as well? Do we even have a message at all? If we do, where are we seeing the impact of that in our culture? If we do, why has our culture fallen into the state that it has?

I have been hearing the mantra of "We need to change our methods, not our message." I have no problem with that, except that I see more evidence that along with the needed change in our methods, we have added the unneeded change in our message, and are suffering the consequences of that everywhere.

More and more voices are devaluing the ministry of the pulpit. Preaching is no longer seen as the primary call of a pastor. The pastor has become first a CEO, a facilitator, a motivator, a corporate leader instead of a spiritual one. I once discussed this with a spiritual mentor of mine who reminded me of our denomination's decision to place the pulpit in the very center of the platform. This was to symbolize that the preached Word was to be central to all that took place in the church. Upon my ordination in 1987, Dr. Charles Strickland, himself a gifted proclaimer of the Word, said to me, "There are strange winds blowing through the church. Preach the Word!" If such was needed then, how much more now?

John Burton's above words should convict us all. Where is the holiness preaching that consistently brings conviction of our sin and compromise? How extensively has it been replaced by messages that tell us how we can have more contentment, more happiness, more of the blessed life? Burton said that the call of church leadership is not to confirm people's salvation, but to challenge it. In the "average church," and "average" ought never to be applied to any church, is this happening.....at all?

Our culture is a very long way from what de tocqueville observed. Yes, there are stains upon our history. Slavery perhaps the deepest, but how many even know that it was the church that was the strongest voice against it in this nation, and in England, that was steeped in the slave trade until God came against it through His church. Our culture has become a cesspool, and we fail Him by our failure to not only address it in the culture, but our failure to address how that very culture has infiltrated the church. Are we ready to cry out, "Enough!" Are we ready to be foolish once more?

The strange winds that Dr. Strickland spoke of are still blowing, harder than ever. How do we respond? Hold another meeting? Speak of helping a person to have better self-esteem? Comfort people in their sin and disobedience? Or do we, as he said, preach the Word, without fear of the consequences. Without fear of offense. Trusting God to honor and bless. And once again, to be salt and light in a dying world.....and perhaps a dying church.

Blessings,
Pastor O