4 Minute Devotions: Pandering in Mega Churches

Mega Churches pander to themselves in ways that promote their own churches instead of the Gospel. Small God-fearing churches serve Christ faithfully and preach the true heart of the Gospel.

Podcast version here

2 Corinthians 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake.

One of the biggest mistakes that the American church is making today occurs when preachers preach for their audience and not for the sake of the Gospel. I see too many churches falling into this life-application, life-style series, and life affirming type of preaching. It makes the hearers the center of the preaching, instead of Christ. It makes the congregation the focus of the message, instead of Christ’s ministry. It makes modern Christians the reason for the sermon, instead of the Good News.

And the trouble is this: American Christians don’t see it happening. They turn out in their thousands to hear Gospel charmers and narcissistic preachers who will stroke their egos and pander to their desires. Instead of being humble and becoming servants, the church audiences become proud and arrogant, spoiled and indignant (just visit any restaurant after mega-church members finish worship and you’ll see how badly they treat their servers).

The purpose of preaching is to preach the Gospel. And not just any Gospel – we preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ – where we are told to repent of our sins, to recognize our fallen ways, to seek the blood of Jesus to cleanse us of the past, and to place our lives, hearts, and souls into His hands. It’s not about life-style, or life-application, or life affirmation – it’s about needing Christ as our Savior and putting all our faith in Him alone.

Thankfully, there are small churches all over America where this Gospel is being preached. Their membership may only measure 30, 60, or 100, and they may never take over whole communities like the mega-Goliaths who swallow up local resources to feed themselves. But those small churches with their God-fearing members and Gospel preaching pastors are doing the true work of Christ, and they usually serve in the poorest of areas and hardest places to present the Gospel. They truly are servants for Jesus’ sake and they do not preach themselves.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, teach us the hard lessons of humility and service. Forgive us for turning the Gospel into a sugar-coated and syrupy message that panders to our life-style choices, instead of letting it challenge and change our lives. Bless those wee churches who struggle each week trying to preach Gospel truths and who serve You faithfully. Enable us to follow their example, instead of trying to be something You never called us to become. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Promises, promises

Audio version here.

2 Corinthians 1: 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. NIV

My Grandmother, Rachel Stuart, whom we all called “Grandma,” was a great wee person. She looked like Dorothy’s mother, Sophia, from the TV show “The Golden Girls.” She raised a large family of seven and had umpteen grandchildren and great-grandchildren. My grandparents were married when they were sixteen and seventeen years old, and they enjoyed almost seventy years of marriage together.

Grandma Stuart had a number of sayings, but one of her best was: “He’s a great promiser, but a bad fulfiller.” She usually applied that to national politicians, but she also wanted her grandchildren to learn this important lesson – sometimes what people say they will do is vastly different from what they end up doing.

When Paul writes to the Corinthians about the promises of God, he writes from a background of belonging to a people who longed for God to fulfill His promises. They had waited hundreds of years for a Messiah to come into the world to save Israel, but time after time, they were disappointed. For some, it must have seemed as though God was a great promiser, but a bad fulfiller.

Paul firmly believed that Jesus was the Messiah and that God fulfilled all of His promises through Him. The Christ that the people had been looking for, was the person they crucified. The Messiah that they had all been hoping for, was the Resurrected Son of God, Jesus Christ.

After two thousand years, we still wonder if God will fulfill His promises and when Christ will return. The world needs Christ the Peacemaker, Judge, and Savior to come back into history and put an end to all wickedness, war, and waste. Faith is required for those who wait expectantly for Christ to return - a faith that believes God is not just a great promiser, but a true fulfiller of all that He has said. Or as Paul so effectively wrote it: ‘no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ.’

Prayer: Father God, Time to You is a mere twinkling of the eye, but to us who wait on earth, it can seem like ages. We know that You have Your own plans about when Christ will return to earth. Grant us patience and enable us to live each day as if it will be the moment of the final fulfillment of Your great and everlasting promises. In Christ’s Name, we expectantly pray. Amen.

Giving

2 Corinthians 8:10 And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so.

I don’t like to talk about money from the pulpit. Ask our Stewardship committee. They’ll tell you that I have a hard time asking for general contributions. I don’t know if it’s a Scottish thing or a John Stuart thing. Either way, I have to be totally convinced when it comes to asking.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate stewardship. I really do like the positive attitude that some people have when it comes to sharing and giving of their time, talents, and money for God. I think it’s because I grew up in a deprived household with a poor family. My Dad was too proud to ask for help, even when he was unemployed for almost a year. During that tough time, I can remember going to school with holes in my shoes, trousers, and shirt. I couldn’t accept invitations to go to friends’ birthday parties because we had no money to buy gifts. It was an awful year.

Anyway, I think that’s why I find it difficult to ask for money from the congregation. Paul, however, didn’t have any qualms about this. He felt that giving was the best expression of faithfulness that any church could display. That’s why he writes directly to the Corinthians about their contributions to the church in Jerusalem. The previous year, they had been amongst the first to give and were bursting with enthusiasm about how they supported the whole church. A year later, they seem to be dragging their feet about fulfilling their pledges and promises which, in turn, concerns Paul. If they are not giving as they should, then they are backsliding in their faith. As an old pastor once said to me, “You can’t be devoted to God and steal from Him at the same time.”

So, I guess this devotional is about stewardship after all. Paul’s advice about giving is something we all need to revisit. And during this special time, this Holy Week, shouldn’t we all review what we give to the church because it was established by the One Who Gave Everything for us?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You call us to be disciples of faith and stewards of Your Kingdom. You know what we give and our motives behind our giving. Challenge us about stewardship and change us if we allow pride to get in the way of our giving. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Competence

2 Corinthians 3:5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

There’s a great website at www.despair.com where all sorts of photographs are given humorous tag lines to act as de-motivational messages. It’s well worth a visit and it may cheer up your day, especially if everything you are trying to accomplish is going wrong today. One of the photographs that I like is of a skier who is falling through the snow, whose arms and legs and skis are flying all over the place. Beneath the photo, a caption reads:

INEPTITUDE: If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.

In other words, it’s not a matter of competence – just make sure that your confidence is high.

When the apostle Paul writes about ‘competence’ in his letter, he’s talking about what we accomplish and achieve for God. We don’t do it for ourselves and we are not meant to seek any glory as Christians. Everything that we undertake, do, and fulfill in the Lord’s Name comes from God. His is the victory, we are just vessels. His is the glory, we are just servants. Our attitude should be one of humble gratitude – we are grateful to God that He has used us for His works, His ways, His ministries and missions. As Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church continually points out – it’s not about us – it’s about God.

Wherever you are and whatever you do today, do it for the Lord. And where you experience success, praise God for the gifts He has given you to accomplish your feats. Without those blessings, we would all be incompetent. So let’s learn to do things well for the Lord, and let’s learn to enjoy them humbly.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You have called upon each of us to live our lives according to Your ways. You have blessed us with guidance, direction, and purpose. Anything that we accomplish is because of You. In everything that we experience success, You are the prime reason, mover, and motivator. Thank You for sharing Your gifts of goodness, faith, and love with us. May we all accomplish much for You and God’s Kingdom this day. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.