Last Sunday, during my sermon on the feeding of the 5,000 (Mark 6:30-44), I compared pastors that preach Christ-less, gospel-less sermons to pedophiles. “I would rather have my daughter have a sleepover at a pedophile’s house than have her go to a ‘Christian’ church that preaches a Christ-less message.” Was that too much? Did I step over the line?
In Mark 6:30-44, I[1] see a connection between Jesus caring for the people as shepherd-less sheep and the promised Son of David that would come and care for God’s shepherd-less people that had been promised in Ezekiel 34. Surveying the religious leaders of Ezekiel’s day, God not only condemns the religious leaders for using their position to feed themselves and not the sheep but also promises that he himself will one day care for the people by sending the Son of David. In Mark 6:34, it says that Jesus miraculously fed the crowd because, “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (ESV).
The people of God in Ezekiel’s day, as in Jesus’ day, were being cared for inappropriately by their religious leaders. Is it possible that the same is occurring today? Are there pastors today that similarly feeding themselves at the expense of the sheep?
One way that I believe this occurs is when pastors utilize verses of scripture, outside of its redemptive context, to preach sermons that people like. The people, because they like the sermon, pay the pastor’s salary, while they (the people) starve spiritually. For example, I recently listened to a sermon condemning the evils of materialism. It was a wise and eloquent presentation. Using a text from Ecclesiastes, it suggested that being content with what you have is the most appropriate way to live. Though the pastor drew from the Bible for many of his points, it completely ignored the Gospel. Ecclesiastes is a book written by, for and about Christ. It should lead us to utter despair, a realization that all of life is meaningless, causing us to flee to Christ, our only hope of sigificance. Connected to Him, through his substitutionary death, we have meaning. Apart from him, there is no meaning. Utilizing a book that is supposed to send us to Christ to play to the anti-materialism sentiments so popular in some America circles piratizes God’s word to tickle the ears of an eager American crowd. The Christ of the Cross always offends, keeping the message Cross-less helps support the pastors ego (more people in the pews) and salary (more money in the coffers).
Deceptive, maybe. But worse than pedophilia? I think the comparison to pedophilia is an appropriate modernization of Jesus sermon in Matthew 23. Looking at a similar problem in his day, Jesus compared the Pharisees to “white-washed tombs” (Matthew 23:27, ESV). Paul says (Romans 10:1-13) that the difference between the message of Jesus and the message of the Pharisees was not that God had given a better “deal” to Jesus than Moses, but that the Pharisees had misinterpreted the Bible and were trying to create their own system (using the very words of the Bible) to establish their place before God. This resulted in religious pride, which blinded them to the righteousness that was available only through faith. Similar to many Christian pastors in our day, they preached sermons on how to be a better person that left out faith in the Messiah. They preached that following certain religious rules made one more acceptable to God or at least took pride in their ability to follow their rules (self-justification by legalism). Some pastors today preach an identical message, but others preach sermons on how to fix your marriage, create better community or be a more authentic person. Though such sermons may contain great advice, they similarly replace the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, with alternative advice on self-improvement. Such a substitute is dangerous. Just as the Pharisees distracted the people with a message of good works, modern sermons filled with pop-psychology similarly distract people from the only message that can actually bring real hope.
One of the major flaws of the Pharisees was that they used a pseudo-bibilical message to get to a wrong conclusion. Many contemporary pastors entertain their crowds with pseudo-biblical messages that rip sound bites out of their redemptive purpose and insert them as “quotes” in their self-help lectures.
So what is modern equivalent to a white-washed tomb? In that culture, such an insult was a combination of some thing that looks nice (whitewash) and the pinnacle of uncleanness (a tomb). Jesus is saying that listening to the teachings of the Pharisees was like being in a tomb. It makes you unclean, though outwardly you may appear nice. That is exactly what listening to Christ-less, Gospel-less sermons does. It makes you unclean. You think you can follow the advice and improve yourself, but really it kills, spiritually. What is the pinnacle of uncleanness in our day? Pedophilia. So comparing pastors who preach sermons that don’t hang on the Cross of Jesus with pedophiles is appropriate, especially because it is so offensive.
Christ, the Christ of the Cross is our only hope.
Have to say, I enjoy reading your blog. You speak truth, and that often is hard to hear. Christ should always be the center of every message.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate this. My husband and I were asking ourselves just last week, why is it so hard for pastors to preach the gospel on Sunday mornings? And with all of their schooling in the Bible, how do they manage to take so many verses out of context to make them say something they want them to say?
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Did I really just help disseminate information worse than pornography involving minors? Do you really, really accept the practical ramifications of what you're preaching?
I'm disturbed by how much you are justifying this. If you had simply said that you were using some type of hyperbole to show that nothing compares to how much you love Christ and the gospel, it might be be a sketchy, albeit, acceptable metaphor. (The writers of the Bible utilize this rhetorical device on a number of occasions, and you can too!) I label it sketchy because you would still have to reconcile your choice of words with how it might be perceived by actual victims of pedophilia.
However, your justification further digs you in a hole. What if a pastor has a congregation that doesn't know how to live in a happy marriage, be a good friend, or manage money? Teaching a lesson that is "Christ-less" might be the best choice for that pastor, at least for a little while. Teaching useful lessons minus pontifications on the sovereignty of Christ happens everyday in schools, and I'm firmly convinced the kids are better off for it. Helping and training people to make sound choices is a loving thing to do.
Moreover, who gets to decide what is Christ-less? You? This seems like a supreme form of judgement with your opinion at the center. There are forms of religion that explicitly reject Christ as the only savior. There are fundamentalist churches. There is a lot in between. Are you teaching your congregation to label the "in-between" as worse than pedophilia?
I'd be highly interested in specific and exact criteria or a list of churches that you believe fit this mold. I suppose if I could investigate it for myself, there is a slim possibility that I might begin agreeing.
Moreover, the gospel is not offensive because we make a habit of using low class metaphors to articulate it. It is offensive precisely because repentant murders, rapists, pedophiles, the poor, the smelly, and people who are wrong, and everyone else, can receive God's grace and stand arm-in-arm in equality with the esteemed of society in their relationship before God.
I'll conclude with a caveat. I understand context is half the message. I'm on the other side of the world, and I could misunderstand something or be wrong. However, taken out of context, I don't believe this article helps your cause in any way.