We recently attended a church while on vacation. It was a rather large church with 3 different services. But what we experienced was shocking to say the least but at the same time in this generation of people with "itching ears" it shouldn't have been so shocking.
The sermon was out of Acts 6 where the apostles appointed men to "wait on tables" so that they could continue to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. His whole sermon which lasted about 10-15 minutes, probably 10-12 of those minutes were stories and illustrations, had the main point of caring for the poor. Not only that, he seemed to have equated caring for the poor with the gospel. Now those who know me know that I am all about helping the poor and the less fortunate. I have such a heart for orphans, widows and the poor but never to the neglect of the gospel. All "good deeds" need to be accompanied with gospel proclamation otherwise what is the end result, people have a more comfortable ride in this life on their way to hell in the afterlife?
His sermon was similar to cotton candy. It may be sweet and taste good but when you bite into it, you realize how fluffy and how much it lacks any substance. It is nothing better than a motivational speaker could have done. I was reading a book awhile ago (I can't remember which book it was) but he basically said that you know that a sermon is solid or not by asking yourself could a Jewish Rabbi or Muslim or Priest have preached the same message?
There was no mention of the true gospel. There was no mention of the cross. In fact, there was very little quoting from the very words of God.
To cap it all off, as we got out our Bibles at the beginning of the sermon as he began to read from Acts, we felt a little awkward and as we looked down the different rows, we realized that no one had their Bibles. Really? You come to the house of God, with the people of God to worship God and you don't have your own copy of the very words of God?! I was in shock! How could this be?
Then the sermon ended with an attempted presentation of a salvation invitation but it was very short and basically asked people to say a "simple prayer" that consists of "telling God you want to accept his offer of a home in heaven" and "ask God to take away your past sins". No talk of repentance. No talk of the Lordship of Christ over your life. No talk of Christ's atoning sacrifice at the cross in which the wrath of God was poured out on the sinless, Lamb of God.
And as I sat through this service, I just wanted to weep for the people of this church. For those who were Christians there, I wanted to weep knowing that under this type of teaching, it is likely that they will never dig deeper in their Christian walk than simple surface things such as caring for the poor and loving people unless they dig into the Word for themselves. For the non-Christians that thought they were Christians, I wanted to weep because they were never going to be confronted about sin or challenged to test themselves to see whether they are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5).
I thank God that the church that I belong to does challenge me in my walk. I thank God that we have a Pastor that faithfully brings the Word week after week. I thank God for his mercy and grace in my life that he has opened my mind's eye to His word and that the Holy Spirit has illumined it to me. There is nothing in me that is any better than the most wretched of humans on this earth except that God has intervened in my life and brought to life that which was spiritually dead. I have nothing to boast in except the Lord and the cross of Christ.
I pray that God will bring a new love and a new reverence for the Word of God in churches across the world that seems to be lost; for in it and it alone are the words of eternal life.
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