Last week we started talking about humanism in the church. We started to look into how this humanistic mindset governs how many churches “do church”. In my last thread, I started discussing the three priorities that lead so many pastors in the ministry models. They are numbers, reputation, and excitement (buzz). Previously, we looked at numbers. This week I want us to look at the next two priorities together since they go hand in hand. When speaking about reputation and excitement as it relates to many modern churches, you will find that it is the latter that causes the former.

Let’s look at reputation first. I don’t know of any pastor in their right mind, including myself, that does not want to be successful. Every pastor is striving for success. But what kind of success and whose definition of success? Many pastors today want to be known. They want to be seen as important, likeable, and edgy. Pastors as men who spend a great deal of time in studying the word of God and presenting the deep truths of sound Biblical doctrines have been replaced with pastors who know more about MTV, R-rated movies, Twitter, MySpace, and the latest cultural fads than propitiation, substitutionary atonement, and the implications of God’s sovereignty and who are more interested in preaching sermon series that help their members become satisfied “in the sack” than sermons that help believers become truly satisfied with Christ. If we measured Jesus with the same standards of success that we measure pastors with today, Jesus was a failure! (John 6)

Many pastors no longer want the unheralded, often lonely job of faithfully tending the flock of God and guarding against the ravenous wolves of this world. Instead, they want to be ranchers. They want to be known for the size of their herd, and too many, it doesn’t matter if the herd is made up of a mixture of sheep and goats. As a matter of fact, some even allow wolves in sheep’s clothing because outwardly they look like sheep and are counted as such. Many pastors have left the path of servant and teacher to walk down the broad path that is paved with celebrity and notoriety as they strive to become the “spiritual rock stars” of our day.

In order to achieve this new status of pastor, you need to have a following, a large following. I’m not talking about a following of grey-headed Bible-thumpers either. That’s doesn’t rate very high on the cool scale. I’m talking about a large number of “20-30somethings” that like kickin’ music, edgy “talks”, and services that allow their non-believer friends to feel comfortable. And in order to build that following, you need offer only one thing: what they want! Sadly, many churches do just that. They issue questionnaires on a regular basis to people in the church as well as those in the community. They ask such questions as: What do you like about church? What would you like to see more of in church? What is you favorite style of music? What topics are important to you? Then, once this information is compiled, the “worship team” begins planning the services tailoring them to these expressed desires and “needs”. (Where is the Biblical pattern for this?)

This has given rise to the secularization of many churches. Some churches have opened services with AC/DC’s Hell’s Bells and Madonna’s Material Girl. Sermon series no longer consists of exegetical preaching through a book of the Bible or a Biblical truth that is universally applicable. Now many sermons (er…talks) consist of super heroes, ‘80s lifestyle, s-x life enrichment, or any number of the latest TV shows or movies. In order to draw and maintain the numbers and the reputation, extreme and even unbiblical measures are taken to create excitement. A teaspoon of Scripture is taken and mixed with a bucket of worldliness, and it is called relevant ministry.

Scripture-based, Spirit-led ministry has given way to pragmatism. Whatever works do it. How do you know what works? If it’s putting fannies in the seats, it’s working. The sad thing is scripture tells us that Biblical truth is rejected more than it is embraced.

Are You an Active Member of the Church?

Humanism in the Church - Pt. 1

A little over three years ago, God in His incredible mercy open my eyes to His sovereignty in the salvation of lost man. It is interesting to look back and see the progression that He led me through. First, I stood against it in order to prove it wrong and my understanding to be right. Slowly the Spirit, through scripture, revealed to me my lack of understanding in some of the key areas of regeneration, salvation, and sanctification. I’ve spent many, many hours reading, studying, and learning the blessed truths of God’s sovereignty and what it means to believers. In this process, I have had to fight many battles, some with other people, many within my own heart and mind. But at the risk of greatly understating the significance this has had on me and my walk with the Lord; let me say that my understanding of many things has changed.

One of the things that have changed the most is my understanding of the condition of man’s heart. Before, I thought of people as being basically good. Of course, there were some exceptions, Hitler, Bundy, and the like, but for the most part, I saw mankind as basically good people striving to do and be better. The problem with that view is that it describes how man views man. It does not describe how God views man. It was a very man-centered, humanistic worldview that I had! And now I stand utterly amazed, or more like shocked, when I realize how much this way of thinking has permeated the Church.

The revived humanist philosophy of the past 20+ years is most obvious in the way churches seek to improve, expand, and better their churches. Gone are the days when the majority of pastors sought to challenge their parishioners and their culture to pursue godliness, holiness, humility, and sanctified lives through the proclamation of expository sermons and powerful exegesis. Today most pastors’ top priorities are numbers, reputation, and excitement (buzz). These goals are completely humanistic in their motivations. Let me explain by looking at these “priorities” individually.

First, let’s look at numbers. In today’s modern church there is not greater measure of success than numbers. Numbers in the minds of most people trump increasing spiritual maturity by a long shot. But how can we claim that we are preaching a Biblical message that is drawing hundreds and even thousands and being elevated to almost celebrity status when the Bible clearly states that the true Word of God will have the opposite affect, abandonment and persecution.

Matthew 13:21 - But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

Luke 6:22 - Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

Matthew 7:14 - But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

We know from scripture that the biblical message of repentance repels most people. It does not attract the masses. 1 Corinthians 1:18 tells us that the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. The only way to consistently draw large crowds (of unchurched people) is to continually offer them what they want to hear, and we know from scripture that they do NOT want to hear the truth!

This driving desire to have numbers has slowly eroded the two main purposes for which we have church services, the worship of God and the equipping of the saints. To the surprise of most modern Christians, the main purpose of our services is NOT evangelism! In the New Testament, we find that the vast majority of evangelism was done by the individual believers outside the context of the worship service. The early church did not create a festival atmosphere where anyone at anytime would “pop in” to “give them a try” (Acts 5:11-14).

Scripture makes it clear also that the early church saw an explosion of new converts. But these new converts were not simply seeking a purpose for their life or their best life now in order to become a part of the coolest, hippest, rockin’est church in the area. No! They were rejecting a life of carnality and the pleasures of this world through genuine repentance to become a part of a group (the Body of Christ) that were being persecuted, even unto death, by the government under which they lived.

As we have slowly left the original purpose of church services behind, we have seen the prophetic words of Charles Spurgeon’s sermon “Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats” fulfilled. In it, Spurgeon said, “The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.” (You can read it in its entirety here, www.crossroad.to/Quotes/Church/Spurgeon.)

This leads me to the next to priorities of the modern church which we will discuss next time.

The Lost Doctrine - Paul Washer from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.