Unless you have been living under the proverbial rock you are aware that the local church is undergoing massive change on a broad scale which far eclipses the traditional issues that we have dealt with in the past. We have fallen prey to Satan and his devices (2 Cor. 2:11). This paper addresses six tsunami-like waves which are striking our churches with deadly consequences. These waves of opinion have been used by Satan to erode our commitment to the truth, all the while; deceiving us into thinking we are the ones who are actually being obedient! Do we share any of these attitudes?
Tsunami Wave #1: Successful ministries must be both practical and relevant! We assume the message must be practical to be fruitful. Much of this discussion centers on just who defines the word relevance. The Bible is very clear: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, KJV)Therefore, all scripture is relevant! All scripture is profitable. God has not given us anything which is not relevant. However, not all scripture is immediately relevant or immediately practical. This is the unbiblical mandate we have imposed on our pastors. We must be gratified immediately upon hearing the message. Generations of preaching have demonstrated that those men of God who have consistently taught the whole Word of God (Acts 20:27) have consistently borne the most long term spiritual fruit. Pop preaching, springboard preaching, and messages adapted week after week to the perceived needs of the people leave your flock spiritually anemic. Junk food is filling and satisfying. It is neither relevant nor practical. I like to call this the irrelevance of relevance!
Tsunami Wave #2: Successful ministries must keep the cookies on the lower shelf. Translated: “Feed the babies. The older believers can fend for themselves or meet in small groups.” In reality, this philosophy demands that we only serve baby food from the pulpit. Q.: What has been the end product of this popular truism? A.: Fat little babies. The shallow pastor is derelict regarding his primary duty, to edify the saint for the work of the ministry and to protect him from false doctrine. That edification is accomplished through teaching sound doctrine on a regular basis: “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; ” (Ephesians 4:14, KJV)Sound doctrine must be taught to the whole assembly on a consistent basis. This is noted scores of times in your Bible: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. ” (1 Timothy 4:16, KJV)Local church preaching should resemble a one room schoolhouse. There should be truth for everyone at every level of growth, and equally as important, believers must be stretched and challenged. Parents don’t eat baby food at the table any more than babies can eat grown up food but both usually eat at the same table. In fact, that’s how we teach babies to eat grown-up food.Satan intimidates pastors and congregations with the irrational fear that theologs will ultimately rise up and dominate their assemblies, and we all know how irrelevant and impractical theology is. Satan knows that ignorant congregations are easily seduced.
Tsunami Wave #3: It is arrogant and egotistical to speak with authority! Our generation has been nurtured in groups since preschool days. Because we are dominated by group thinking, pastors feel they can best posture themselves by diminishing their roles in favor of demonstrating their equality in the body. In reality, these are not polar ideas.If one were to sample ten typical sermons given in fundamental pulpits last Sunday with the preaching of the Apostles, one fact would likely stand in great relief. In contrast to our preaching - the early church leaders all spoke and taught with boldness and authority, even at the risk of being seen as outspoken. In fact, they prayed time and again for that boldness. They did so in a group oriented culture. They were not men pleasers, they preached and proclaimed with all boldness and authority, they rebuked with severity, the exposed false teaching and false teachers just as consistently as they proclaimed the love of Christ and his infinite mercy. “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. ” (Galatians 1:10, KJV)Men, in their natural or carnal states, do not want to hear the whole truth. This thirst for soothing messages will increase, not decrease in the last days: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; ” (2 Timothy 4:3, KJV)Pastors who stop “filtering” their messages in terms of their listeners and boldly preach the Word of God will bring both fruit and criticism upon themselves. It is the role of the pastor. The pastor who cannot speak with boldness and authority, rebuke with severity, and expose false teaching and teachers with the same regularity and freedom he has while proclaiming on the love of Christ is under Satan’s thumb. Such a pastor should either repent or retrain for another vocation.
Tsunami Wave #4: “You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.” Supposedly, our non confrontational culture will reject confrontational teaching. The Word of God is counter cultural and cultural norms have always formed its greatest opposition! The offense of the cross is just that. The power of the Word is in the bitterness it produces in the stomach as much as the sweetness it produces when first tasted. We are not in the fly catching business, and if we were, we would not use honey or vinegar; we would use biological waste. Nor was Jesus Christ in the fly catching business. We are in the soul saving and soul rescuing business, and the Word of God is sufficient to the task. The power of the gospel is in the Person of the gospel. Christ centered preaching produces Christ centered converts. “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. ” (Philippians 1:20, KJV)
Tsunami Wave # 5: Our real problem is that we need to rephrase the gospel. There are some who look at the grave amount of error we are facing today and assume that our failure was in making the gospel too easy. In short “hard believism” will counteract this pervasive “easy believism.” According to them, one must strive in order to be saved. Others have countered with the opposite view, by announcing that salvation is so basic a man could pick up a piece of paper on the street which says “Believe in Jesus,” – agree with that paper, believe in Jesus, and be saved. None of these gospels are found in the Word of God. The Bible does, however, address our gospel dilemma. While the Bible does not speak of “easy believism” it does speak of believing in vain and by that statement it refers to those who have fallen from grace( Gal. 5:4, Eph. 2:8-10). One believes in vain when he does not rest his hope in both the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul makes this gospel indelibly clear in 1 Corinthians 15. The gospel of Christ (not just His name) is the power of God unto salvation. Do you, dear reader, have this confidence? “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. ” (2 Timothy 1:12, KJV)This bitter battle representing both extremes (Lordship salvation and Crossless salvation) is ravaging the body of Christ. It is wreaking havoc because we have sat for such a long time under shallow, content-less preaching that we are vulnerable to every spiritual virus which blows in the wind.
Tsunami Wave # 6. We must either be total Calvinists or Total ArminiansFor generations, Bible teaching Dispensationalists in Bible churches and most Baptist camps have avoided the extreme views of Calvinism and Arminianism. We have reconciled ourselves to the fact that scripture teaches God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility equally, though we may not presently understand all His workings. We have further seen the horrific consequences of going to either the Reformed or Arminian extremes .In recent years, godly but extreme Calvinists have infiltrated our circles subtly promoting their five point agenda through rephrasing their terminology. They have done this in spite of clear and definitive doctrinal statements found in our churches and fellowships. This divisive tendency has, in turn, resulted in polarizing these issues and causing many to swing to the opposite extremes, again, going beyond our doctrinal statements. Interestingly, much of the rhetoric and division has come from sheep who (rather than searching the scriptures alone) are emotionally attached to their respective leaders who can do no wrong. Their popularity proves that.Recently, there has been no more divisive issue than this in fundamental circles and the end is not in sight. That is, the end is not in sight unless men put down their lofty commentaries and return to simple absorption in the Word of God. When we allow the scriptures to shape our thought processes, we will be less impressed with the “church fathers,” on the right, and with the rhetoric or Armnianism on the left, and Satan will not gain an advantage over us.
Will your church survive these tsunami waves? It will if you embrace a biblical ministry. A biblical ministry will:1. Teach God’s people the whole counsel of God’s Word, not just “relevant” passages. (Acts 20:27)2. Teach God’s Word with all authority. (Luke 4:36, Titus 2:15)3. Teach God’s Word on all levels stretching believers with new truth. (1 Cor. 3:1, 1 Peter 2:2)4. Teach God’s Word without filtering that message to the culture while being both loving and confrontational. (2 Tim. 4:3)5. Teach God’s Word leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind as to what the pure gospel really is. (Rom. 1, 1 Cor. 15, Eph. 2:8-10).6. Teach God’s Word openly and honestly (without deceptive rephrasing, 2 cor. 4:2) avoiding the extreme views of Calvinism and Arminianism. Click here to go to the Biblical Intensives site.
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