Better make it good….you only have this 30-45 minute window to make an impact and get that seed planted and message across. Then you hope and pray.
There is so much I could say here but will refrain and stay on task. :- )
Interestingly, there are plenty of verses in the bible that addresses teachers and pastors/shepherds. Many of them warn us to be on guard against false teachers and such. Jesus made it clear there would be no shortage of them and that would even come in ‘His Name’ leading many astray. (Matt 24) He would describe them as ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ and yet did not seem overly concerned with them as He said it would be clear by the fruit in their lives as to whether they were of God or not. (Matt 7:15-20)
James advises that many of us should ‘not become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment’. (3:1)
Jude had some stark observations he made about these apostates who would ‘only serve themselves being clouds without water…and trees without fruit’. (12)
And then there was Paul who held no punches back regarding this subject matter with countless warnings being offered up. He also tells us the spiritual component that drives these false prophets and teachers mentioning that ‘Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light and his minions (implied) transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.’ (2 Cor 11:14-15)
Please understand that I don’t offer this up here so that you walk into your service this morning full of suspicion and doubt. I know no man’s heart nor the motive in which compels them to speak from the pulpit this morning. I like to assume they are there for genuinely sincere reasons and their motives are pure. And I would (having been a pastor myself) maintain that outlook towards them until their ‘fruit’ proved otherwise.
Keep in mind that this is a ‘two-way street’ though. Pastoring or leading a flock is a tough gig… and if you have never done it, you have no idea. Do a little research on the statistics regarding ministers and the effect on them. It’s eye opening.
The bible addresses the heart attitudes of the ‘sheep’ as well. Just take a quick look at passages like in Isaiah 30:9-11, Jeremiah 5:23-23, 30-31; Ezek 33:30-32.
Paul would warn Timothy in his second letter that ‘the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers, and they will turn their ears away from the truth.” (4:3-4)
Probably one of the more sobering warnings Paul gave us was in his second letter to the Thessalonians where he talks of many who will ‘perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for THIS reason, God…will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.” (2:10-11)
Oh, and let’s not ignore the words of Jesus who in several places reveals the heart of so many who ‘were invited’ but ‘made light of it’ or were ‘unwilling’ or had other things to tend to like tending to a new piece of land or oxen or business or family. (Matt 22; Luke 14:18)
There is nothing like creating a diversion if you want to commit the perfect crime. And there is no shortage of diversions and distractions today so that an unseen enemy can come in and take people captive. There is a plentiful supply of divisions and discord and distrust today that is, I fear, setting up the stage for some great upheaval and destruction. If there was ever a time to ‘be still and know that He is God’, that time is now…and you better know His voice.
Where am I going with all this today? I would submit to you that for the most part, so many of our pulpits have been paralyzed, rendered powerless and ineffective and for one reason alone.
There is sin in the camp (Joshua 7).
Hear me out on this.
Who can argue that sin is NOT destructive or counter-productive to the mission Christ has given to us?
What was Paul’s warning regarding a ‘little leaven in the loaf’? (1 Cor. 5:6; Gal 5:9)
Hebrews 3:13 admonishes us to ‘exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
It is such a subtle, gradual hardening to where we become ‘lukewarm’ and stale and our hearts ‘wax hard’. (Think frog in boiling pot analogy)
I’ve said it before and will say it again…we spend more time and effort excusing, justifying, and coddling our sins than we do overcoming them. And we have paid a very steep price for it.
My goodness…we can barely even define sin today, let alone cease from doing it. Sin is destructive and ensnares us and eats away at our souls like a moth and rottenness. Jesus paid a pretty steep price to set us free and we neglect it. He told us Himself that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin which means Jesus is not our master…yet…He came to set us free. (John 8:31-36)
So why do I claim the pulpits have been paralyzed?
No doubt, there are those ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing who are just fine with it all.
On the flip side of it, there are those who might bang the pulpit continually against the evils of sin and the impending judgment that will destroy all the sinners…yet it is delivered in a spirit of anger and wrath and hypocrisy as they themselves are enslaved by their own sin. Perhaps their rage with their own personal demons is manifested in their preaching, which does no one listening…any good at all, because they offer no solution on how to overcome then. (I would think)
But it’s this third group that my heart goes out to. It’s the ones who have become entangled or struggle with their own shortcomings…and for whatever reasons have not been able to overcome them. So in turn, they ‘back off’ on preaching on/against sin, seeing the hypocrisy of it all; and think ‘who am I to rave against this one sin when I am guilty and struggle with another one.’
So back off they do and get diverted talking about so many other things while the congregations die a slow death because…that is indeed what sin does…it brings death.
Oh, they may give broad, sweeping, maybe ‘lip service’ comments about sin in a general sense…but if we have all bought into the lie that we are always ‘gonna be sinners saved by grace’, then how does one effectively teach to overcome sin verses just learn to live with it? Yes, I know…”IF…we sin…we have an advocate”…and we run to Him for mercy and forgiveness. But that should be the exception and not the rule.
Of course, we know how easy it is to address those ‘big sins’, … you know, the ones we don’t struggle with like maybe murder or adultery or homosexuality. Yet, when you read through Romans 1:28-32, Paul gives quite the list of ‘sins’ and those who practice such things are deserving of death. And not only those who do them but also those who approve of those who practice them.” Might I mention that some of those ‘others’ include gossip, and pride, and strife and envy and being disobedient to parents, and unforgiving and unmerciful’, to name a few?
All that to say this…. Maybe we have been in the dark on some significant truths in scripture and maybe the Holy Spirit is wanting to do a new work in all of us…you know…bring a little truth…bring some more freedom…so after we get those planks out of our own eyes…we can see more clearly and with a humbled heart where we can in turn help others out of the same pit that we were all wallowing in.
I know what He did for me and in me. And I can show you the scars…but they are not as impressive as the ones He bore to get me here. It’s my prayer daily that I can be empowered by His grace to speak His truth in love with the hope that “God will grant others repentance so they may know the truth and that they may come to their sense and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” ( 2 Tim 2:24-26)
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