2 Timothy 4:3 – “For the time is coming when people will
not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own passions.”
It’s so easy to take the high road and
criticize churches that teach “uncomfortable” theology - the kind of theology
that makes people realize that they are sinners in need of Christ. But I don’t want to go to a church to hear self-help/feel-good messages with shades of New Age Thought and philosophy.
But is it the “church” or is it the people who are at fault? The bottom line is that
hurt people, hurt people and no one is immune.
I've been on both sides of the
aisle criticizing the building and its people. I've come to realize that maybe
- just maybe - it was ME. I know first-hand because my grandmother and her
conservative church loved me to pieces! But they preached the gospel of Jesus
Christ (John 3:16) with no strings and no desire to make you feel
good about yourself. Instead they insisted that you were a sinner and you must
repent because Jesus Christ died to atone for your sins once and for all! When
you are not right with God, this hurts! It’s a very uncomfortable message! So
you leave the church and act like they ruined your life when all they wanted to
do is show you the way and the life! Call it failed communication.
But I couldn't repent because the Holy Spirit hadn't opened my
eyes to receive the truth of Christ until many years later. Oh, I made many
professions of faith and answered the call “to receive Jesus” as Evangelicals
call it. But nothing happened! I don’t care how many feel-good, encouraging
sermons I listened to (and even God's wrath sermons) or Bible studies I
attended, nothing changed because God had a specific plan for me just as He has one for you. So, of
course, I criticized the church and its tacky people because I wasn't right
with God!
Romans 11:33 (NLT) Oh, how great are God’s riches and
wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions
and his ways!
Even when I came to
repentance, it has taken the Holy Spirit years to get me to see how much of a
sinner I am. The sanctification process continues.
So we can love people
all we want, encourage them and make them feel good about themselves, but it
takes sound doctrine and the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit (that has
nothing to do with religion) to change hearts.
But most American people
would rather attend a feel good Sunday worship experience that
promotes their own self-love and disregards obedience to God.Theologian Albert
Mohler says it best, “How can any sinner be
saved, without a clear presentation of sin, redemption, the cross, the empty
tomb, and the call to faith and repentance?”
And, honestly, the work
of the Holy Spirit is convicting because we have much to learn throughout our
human existence. There’s no way to only preach encouragement, self-love and
inner-peace because that’s not God’s message to a sinner in need of salvation. Preaching the true Gospel
of Christ isn't popular – pastors know this.
But it’s that Holy
Spirit conviction that compels us to love and worship the Lord with holy
abandon because we know he has done a beautiful work in our heart! He gives us
true and lasting joy and not false personal happiness! I don’t want to go to
church to hear a self-help message. It’s better to have a small church
committed to teaching the truth of Christ than a wild bunch of thousands
feeling good about themselves. I want to know and learn more about the God of
the universe who saved me from myself! To God be the glory!
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