by Ron Livesay
Humans are most certainly emotional beings. This is
part of being created in the image of God. However, our emotions must not be
allowed to control what we do, because emotions are unreliable. How we feel
must be controlled by truth, not the other way around.
I once was involved in a church situation where a
major decision was made on the basis of how a church leader felt about it. I cannot think of one biblical example of a
good and right decision being made on such a basis. Instead, the Bible makes it
very clear that good and right decisions must be made on the basis of good and right doctrine. For example, I do not believe
that Gideon felt very comfortable with the idea that God instructed him to cut
his army to 300 men, but regardless of what his feelings may have been, he
simply obeyed the Lord, and a great victory followed. Many more examples could
be cited. On the other hand, decisions made on the basis of feelings tend to
have disastrous results. I think of the case of Cain. He was upset because God
did not respect his offering. Nevertheless, in his anger at God for not
respecting his unbelief and disobedience, he killed his brother. Again, many
such examples are found in Scripture.
I
recall a church business meeting from many years ago when I was a teenager. A
topic was being discussed and there was no clear agreement on what should be
done. A man stood up and said, "I feel this is right." My dad, who
was never at a loss for words and was never afraid to speak up, stood up and
asked, "What does feeling have to do with it?" He then quoted a
Scripture that was most pertinent to the debate. Someone else stood up and
asked, "Who does he think he is,
quoting Scripture in a business meeting?" Really... someone would actually quote the Bible in a church business meeting? What is the world coming to? But then in reality, what is more appropriate
in any church meeting than the Scriptures?
This
is very much like the deacon board chairman who told the pastor, "We don't
care what the Bible says, we don't believe that, and we don't want you to preach
from that passage." That is a major "oops," to put it mildly. "We don't care what the Bible says" is extremely dangerous ground.
"But as for you, speak the things which are
proper for sound doctrine" (Titus 2:1, NKJV). Sound doctrine leads to sound living.
Loose doctrine leads to loose living. Far too many churches today emphasize
teaching of feel-good "pop psychology" instead of sound doctrine. This certainly can lead to ignorance of biblical principles and the resultant natural disobedience to those principles.
There is also the idea that we must make visitors feel
comfortable in order to attract them to the church and ultimately to
salvation. Nothing could be further from the truth, and nothing could be more
absurd. If unbelievers feel comfortable in the church, there is something wrong
with the church. The gospel message is offensive to unbelievers because of the
sin nature. Without the convicting work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of
God, the natural man is repelled by the truth. "But the natural man does
not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him;
nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Corinthians 2:14, NKJV).
If we think we can draw them in by entertaining them and making
them feel comfortable, it necessarily follows that we must either hide or water
down the gospel. Concerning hiding the gospel, the Scripture says, "But even if our gospel is
veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this
age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord..." (2 Corinthians 4:3-5, NKJV). The gospel must be made
clear and must not be veiled behind "feel good" teaching.
The reality of sin is an important teaching, yet many are afraid
to mention it in this day for fear of offending people and driving them away.
However, a person needs to be aware of his lost condition before he can get
saved. It is a great disservice to hide the truth for fear of being offensive
and causing someone to feel uncomfortable.
Not only are we to avoid hiding the gospel, we must also avoid
watering it down. Watering down the truth in order to make it more palatable to
unbelievers and to make them feel comfortable is to pervert the
Gospel of Christ.
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve
by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that
is in Christ" (2
Corinthians 11:3, NKJV).
"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in
the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but
there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you,
let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone
preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed"
(Galatians 1:6-9,
NKJV).
I once had a young pastor tell me the advice he had been given by
an older, more experienced pastor. It was quite simple and was stated something
like the following: "Don't put your
confidence in methods or new ideas. Just faithfully preach and teach the Word.
Let the Lord bring the results."
You have too many good points for one post. Ouch, Ouch, Ouch and Ouch. I sometimes feel if more people in church would begin reading their Bibles they would probably stop attending because they would not like the standards and expectations laid down.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the guy, who has since left our church, who complained that the pastor's sermons were too negative, they made him feel like he wasn't a Christian.
Grace and peace.