so i was up early this morning which has become something of a habit since august, when i started having headaches because my teeth have been a disaster...its a long story. anyways, i was putting around on my ipod and i came across a sermon podcast that i had yet to listen to...
i don't want to post any details at all here about who or what the message was, but let me tell you that i was disturbed by what i heard for a few reasons. i found myself wanting to disagree with everything the guy was saying, both he and the radio interviewer-lady.
of all the people i have heard over the years fight to reclaim the truth of the gospel from the vast and barren wasteland of heretical types like rick warren, billy graham, the beatles and elvis, this guy's problems with the church hit me personally.
two reasons stick out to me. first of all, do we really think that greg laurie or any other preacher of the gospel (who preach and love Jesus) is going to derail the force of Jesus' church in america or anywhere else for that matter? pretty sure when Jesus said that noone could stop his kingdom, that meant that even mtv couldn't stand in his way- as much as they may try...secondly, i am honestly tired of trying to fight those who i disagree with on secondary issues. wouldn't it be more profitable to try and change our system of operation than to fight those who have been in charge previously? listen, we, as bloggers and twenty-somethings are the future of the church. one day, sooner rather than later, we will be the ones in the pulpit, entrusted with the preaching and teaching of the word of God. we have the choice right now if we are going to use that to cry down the men who have had areas of weakness (as we certainly do) or are we going to use that place to lift up Jesus? there really is no way to do both legitimately.
two guys at work this morning were bashing on all of the child molesters out there. they were talking about overly elaborate ways of castrating or otherwise debilitating men who perpetuate these crimes (obviously looking past the fact that this is not a man-only problem). i was in one of those argumentative moods today, so i pointed out the fact that we steep our entire society around sex. we fantasize about it as if it were the point of us being on the earth and every tv show/commercial/talk show/sporting event/video game/cartoon is selling sex. then we are so offended and shocked that some men and women choose to act on these fantasies. lets attack them!
this preacher and my friends have the same problem in common- i know because i spend far too much time there myself. the problem is that we think there is a problem that can somehow be solved by ignoring people or by chopping off their private parts. listen, that makes no sense whatsoever. the problems we deal with are not the people that influence us but the fact that there is so much badness in us that whoever is in charge is going to somehow show that weakness that is the fundamental human condition- namely, that we are broken. preachers show this by sometimes missing the mark in their best attempts to communicate the message of the eternal God to a broken people through a broken vessel- bastards. sexual predators reflect society's obsession with sex and take it too far- acting out the broken desires of a broken people- bastards.
we need to realize that we will always be a broken people and that it does no good to knock others down in their brokenness, but to uphold the gospel of Jesus, which offers freedom, redemption, forgiveness, new life, a true and abiding joy in the God of the universe. preaching the gospel doesn't mean preaching against people- it means presenting something that actually works to make sense and give hope to our desperate situation-
Praise Jesus, who offers himself as the source of all our hope!
2 comments:
Just checking for a little clarification here - did I read that right? Do you mean that Billy Graham is a heretic?
I know MacArthur thinks he's a heretic, and we've had our run ins with him over the years. What I know is one is the aggressor and one never engages Might you venture a guess as to who is who?
I'm not sure I've ever understood the charge that Billy is a heretic. Can any of you guys explain that one? I mean I know the guys that have followed us around for years screaming, ranting, raving and generally foaming at the mouth that Billy preaches a "false gospel" that leads to hell.
I'm going to step out and say I've heard a lot more of Billy's sermons than those guys, and I don't see where they are coming from.
MacArthur's problem has historically been that Billy doesn't preach enough about hell. Billy decided to stick with Jesus on that one. He also has been against Billy's desire for cultural relevance, which is something Mac is still against as evidenced by his somewhat strange diatribe last night at the Shepherd's conference.
Here's an excerpt:
"Whether the gospel was preached to Jews or to Gentiles, the message did not change. And all those whom God had chosen, responded to that message in faith.
The apostles went out for absolute disdain for contextualization. The modern drive for cultural contextualization is a curse, because people are wasting their time trying to figure out clever ways to draw in the elect. Contextualization is “zip-code ministry.” The message of Jesus Christ, on the other hand, is transcendent. It goes beyond its immediate culture or sub-culture. It crosses the world, and ignores the nuances of culture. It never descends to clothing or musical style, as if that had anything to do with the message of the Gospel.
Does your message ignore the trends and superficial icons of culture, and bring heaven down in its transcendent reality? Can you take your sermons and preach them anywhere?
What? Then why did the Holy Spirit write 4 separate Gospels? How do we deal with Paul at Mars Hill? Why then is MacArthur not wearing sandals and a smock? Why is MacArthur using the Hymnal which is full of bar room songs with different lyrics? And is that an organ? Oh yeah, Jesus did love him some pipe organ...
Ok - so didn't mean to pile on there - honestly, what is the objection to Billy here?
yeah, for clarification's sake, in no way do I think that Billy Graham, Rick Warren, or Greg Laurie are heretics. My point was that here is this preacher a few miles North of here who is crying these guys down as heretics because he disagrees with something they had been quoted as saying.
One more time for the sake of clarity, these guys are and have been faithful preachers of the gospel who need to be emulated with the understanding that they live in the same brokenness that the rest of us do.
Nice point about the unfortunately named Mac, heaping shame onto the fine name of Steve Jobs' fine machines...
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