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.

Erin Daily Devotions: Ambitions

Sometimes our ambitions to succeed can become idolatrous monsters to feed.

I have never really been comfortable around ambitious pastors. I’m of the old school that believes if you want a bigger church to lead, then grow the one that you’re leading right now. I’ve been in ministry for 22 years and in that time I’ve only led two charges. The average time that a pastor spends with one church is about four to five years, so by this time I should be leading my fifth or sixth congregation…if I was truly ambitious.

Podcast version here

It’s not that I don’t have ambitions and dreams for the congregation that I lead, or that I have jettisoned all my hopes and goals for the future. I just think that stability and dependability in pastoral leadership are more important than paper credentials and scholarly works. Those pastors who want to reach the top of the ladder are driven by a worldly view of success. For me, success is listening to God and trying to do what He wants for His Church and its people.

Matthew 20:22 "You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said to them. "Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?"
"We can," they answered.

When the mother of James and John approaches Jesus about having her two sons sit beside Him in His glorious Kingdom, she is being ambitious on their behalf. Like any mother, she wants the best for her children, so she asks Jesus to grant her sons this ambitious request. James and John don’t ask this of Him directly, probably because they understand that Jesus isn’t big on power struggles within His chosen band of disciples. Sheepishly, they get their mother to petition Christ on their behalf. If they were truly ambitious, they would have personally asked Jesus to grant the request.

I like how Jesus answers them. He lets them all understand that He is also working under a Higher Power and that such a request is not His to give. He makes them aware that in order to be worthy of such a high honor, they would have to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the Kingdom. They answer this positively, in the hope that Christ will give them these positions of power. Jesus accepts their willingness, which has more to do with ambition and greed rather than service and loyalty. They will be required to sacrifice themselves for the cause, but it’s still up to God to allot the appointed thrones on the right and left of Christ.

Sometimes we allow ourselves to be overcome by our ambitions and in our zeal to fulfill our dreams, we lose a precious part of ourselves. James would be martyred for the cause and John would be exiled for many years. They both would pay a heavy price for their ambitions. If we also become obsessed with greatness and glory, then we can lose our humility and honesty, our faith and fidelity. There’s nothing wrong with wanting things to be better in our lives, but when we sacrifice our families and friends, our church and our charity, then we have taken the wrong path and have turned our ambition into an idolatrous monster that feeds upon our greed.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, keep us from grandiose schemes and ambitious dreams that would ruin the precious things in our lives. Help us to maintain a sense of balance, so that our desire to succeed does not become an idol of our greed. Allow us to seek to please You with our faith by placing our goals and dreams into Your hands. May we also use our successes to resource the eternally glorious work of Your Kingdom. In Your Holy Name, we earnestly pray. Amen.

Humble Pie

Many people talk and write about putting Christ back into the word “Christmas,” but perhaps we should all put the word “Christ” back into the word “Christian” first.

Podcast version here

There’s a lot of talk these days about freedom and faith, and how these two noble human qualities are supposed to interact. Coming into work this morning, I was listening to a radio talk show. The host was encouraging his audience to talk about the separation issues between Church and State. As usual, each side was berating the other: Christians claimed to be persecuted by local, State and Federal laws; Federalists were claiming that Christians were interfering in school and county policies.

Galatians 5: 13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.

No one, however, wanted to talk about the freedom that Christians called to express – the freedom to serve one another. Some Christians believe that their religious freedom gives them the right to do what they want, but that’s not who we are supposed to be. Faith in Christ frees us from serving sin, Satan, and our selfish desires. We are freed from the bondage of boundaries, banality and belligerence, in order to effectively and compassionately help the broken and needy people in our communities.

When we use our faith to freely do what we want, we are showing a side of Christianity that Christ would not recognize. If we use our faith to get our own way and denounce others, then we are forgetting how to love the very same world that Christ died for. Christians can look like spoiled religious brats when they insist upon preserving their rights above all others. The world can’t see Christ because of the amount of self-serving Christians who stand in the way.

Many people talk and write about putting Christ back into the word “Christmas,” but perhaps we should all put the word “Christ” back into the word “Christian” first. A little more humility and a lot less hurt feelings would go a long way in enhancing our faith to the world.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, forgive us for seeking to get our own way in the world. We forget that we represent You and not ourselves. Help us in our struggle with humility and teach us the value of serving You by serving others. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Pride

Audio version here ... or here

Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (NIV)

My mom often used to say to me, “Watch out! Pride comes before a fall, John!” Usually, she said it when I was being a typical teenager and wouldn’t heed her advice. I’d be going to do something stupid and, in my ornery, essert, and stubborn way, I wouldn’t accept her maternal wisdom.

For example, I used to sit on the porch in my front garden and ridicule the kids who walked by in the street. We’d call each other names and I guess it was a twisted form of territorialism. My mom was never impressed with this, and scolded me on several occasions, which usually ended with me walking away as she voiced those awful words, “Pride comes before a fall.”

Inevitably, my mom was right, because one day a kid from the neighboring subdivision walked past my front gate. I did my usual jeering, expecting him to do the same. He didn’t. He walked through the garden gate and dealt me a swift uppercut to my jaw. His name was Eddie Connelly and he was training to be a boxer. I ran into my house in pain, whilst Eddie continued his journey. My mom had seen the whole incident and she was very unsympathetic to my plight. I didn’t know what humiliated me the most – Eddie’s first class punch or my mom’s words ringing in my ear. I had learned a lesson on both accounts. I had been taught what I didn’t want to hear.

Pride leads us into blind alleys and causes us to reject help. Pride paralyzes addicts from seeking a cure. Pride stops us from asking for forgiveness and keeps us from healing broken relationships. Pride is amongst the deadliest of sins to our souls, and it always comes before a fall.

Jesus discarded pride when He humbled Himself and became, as Paul states, ‘obedient to death.’ He didn’t have to sacrifice Himself for our sins. He didn’t have to go to Jerusalem to be falsely accused and corruptly judged by the authorities. He didn’t have to walk the way of suffering to the Cross at Calvary, so that our world may be saved. Pride could have kept Him from doing all of these things. Love, mercy, and grace empowered Him to overcome pride and bring salvation to sinners everywhere.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, sometimes our pride imprisons our spirits and damages our relationships. Sometimes our pride ruins our dreams and diminishes our faith. Forgive our vanity; pardon our stubborn ways. Grant us the strength and courage to overcome pride. Be with us and lead us by Your love. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.