False Profits: Tearing Down the Righteous, and Lifting up the Wicked Since 600 BC

The blogosphere (at least in my circle) has slowed down considerably over the past few years, but four or five years ago, several of my fellow preachers, friends and acquaintances routinely took to our blogs to debate theological concepts and worship practices. During this time, the words "seeker friendly" were popularly used, and many criticized traditional churches.

Modern churches and preachers seem to face a new set of challenges... from our culture openly embracing homosexuality, to increasing poverty and drug use, to our culture turning its back on the churches in general.Churches face the challenge of reaching people in this culture, sharing the truth in love, without coming across like the Westboro group.

In facing this challenge, some have chosen to lash out at traditional churches, and to criticize pastors, preachers and teachers who dare to stand on truth, and call sin for what it is... sin. What the "seeker friendly" movement has done for us is that is has basically criminalized speech against sin in our churches. Teach against a sin, and you will be scolded, and admonished to "love the sinner, not the sin." You will also be told that you, too are a sinner, and there is no difference between you and the sinner out there on the street.

I once read the words of one preacher, who claimed to have told his congregation that he'd "rather offend 100 church members than one first-time visitor." That statement has bothered me for years. I understand wanting a visitor to feel welcome, and wanting to gently guide a new believer, or one who is on the verge of making a decision for Christ, to come to a knowledge of the truth, but why the animosity toward existing believers? You know, the people God refers to as "His children," who have received the "Spirit of Adoption whereby they cry 'Abba,' 'Father?'" You know, the people who have tirelessly worked for years to support the Lord's church and its ministries, whose faithful service God has blessed in a way that has resulted in there being a church there for you to teach and preach at in the first place? Why the animosity?

In many of today's churches, people expect their pastors to preach good, encouraging messages. And if he preaches a message against sin (especially if he addresses a specific sin like adultery, fornication, drug abuse, etc), he is criticized and told that we "should love the sinner and not the sin." He is also reminded that "he is a sinner, too," and the only difference between us and them is that we are "sinners under grace." In today's society, people get more offended by a man who goes to the scriptures and says "X is a sin," than they do about the fact that "X" is going on in the first place, or that "X" destroys lives, or that "X" has become a problem in the church. I can think of one church where the pastor had to leave because the congregation made him so uncomfortable because he dared confront adultery going on among its members.

This mentality boils down to the following mission statement: Encourage the Sinners, and remind the Saints of their Place. During my study of the book of Ezekiel (I am currently preparing a sermon series from that book), I found that the same mentality existed in Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Israel before the captivity. Wickedness had permeated throughout all of Judea and Israel, to the point that even the neighboring heathen nations were taken aback. Ezekiel was taken into captivity, where God called him to be a prophet... and Ezekiel's prophecies (words he received from the LORD) called out the sin of Jerusalem, and Judea and Israel in general.

In Ezekiel 13, God turned his ire on to the false prophets that had propagated the sinful activity that led to Jerusalem's downfall. In Ezekiel 13:22, God says, "Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:"

Those false prophets had lied to the people. They blasted the righteous, those who were right with God, and made their hearts sad. They criticized them, and then promised the wicked (those actively engaged in sinful, unGodly conduct) that God would deliver them. They claimed God's authority in saying these things, but God never said them.

As I read those words in my study, I couldn't help but think of all the things I have heard written and said, that were disparaging toward God's people. I couldn't help but think of the preacher who ripped his congregation on facebook because they wouldn't embrace contemporary worship, or the man who would rather run off the faithful so his church can be more appealing to non-church members. It made me think of the man who would tolerate openly sinful behavior from a non-believer, while blasting an older church member "for just not getting it." If the attitude described in Ezekiel 13:22 is prevalent in our churches today, its no wonder why more are closing than opening, and why the percentage of the unchurched continues to grow. God will not bless that environment.

If we condemn and preach against the members of the church, when God has not led us to confront their sin, or when we promise the wicked eternal life when he has not repented and believed, we are lying! And at that point, we have become false prophets.

Brethren, I propose we lay aside the church growth/planting books, and we get back to what made the Christian movement so powerful in the first place. I propose we get back into the Word, the Bible, and learn what God wants, how He sees things, and apply the things we learn to our lives. I propose that, instead of trying to manipulate decisions for Christ based on chords in an invitation song, that we actually go about making disciples, working with people one-on-one, teaching them the truth and exhorting them to turn from sin and trust the Lord... and that involves calling sin, sin.Finally, I propose we get back to what church is all about. It's not about modernizing, crowds, change, or presentation. It's about honoring God, worshiping Him in our gatherings, teaching His Word, and carrying out His mission of making disciples in our communities. Besides, if we can not love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, with whom we share the common background of the Gospel, how can we claim to love sinners? It's time to turn our hearts back to the Lord.

Empathy for Sinners

While out on visitation one day, I found myself taken aback by the appearance, demeanor, language, and overall condition of a woman who actually took the time to sit and talk with me. She smoked like a freight-train, and had visible signs that go along with long-term drug abuse. The house was in horrible disarray, and she acted as if she didn't really care to get any better.

While the temptation during visitation is always to steer the conversation toward the church, how great the church is, why the person should come to church, etc etc, I have learned to allow people to talk about themselves. (A) It makes them feel better. (B) It allows me to learn more about them, so I can learn how better to minister to them.

As the woman spoke, I learned a lot. She was basically abandoned by her parents, abused, and endured unspeakable horrors. As a means to escape that situation, she turned to drugs at a young age, and wound up in a bad way. As I learned more about her experience, I came to understand that this present situation which repulsed me was actually an improvement for her. She was making progress in her life.

She still needed the Lord, I believe she still needed salvation. She needed God's guidance in her life, and she needed the healing only He could provide.

When confronted by the devastation sin has left on the life of one who has been in a bad way for a long time, a Christian can be repulsed, jump to conclusions, and even be tempted to write off the one that has had their lives basically destroyed. What we need to do in these situations is try to gain some insight into what happened. No one wakes up and decides, "I am going to trash my life with drugs, and crime, obtain a criminal record, lose my job and home, and alienate my family." No one says, "I am going to trash my body today," or, as the old commercial says, "No one ever says, I want to be a junkie when I grow up."

The dilapidation in which a sinner finds himself is the result of years of sinful choices, bad decisions piled upon each other, each with a seemingly manageable consequence... but once all those consequences have been added up, total destruction is all that is left.

Often times, these decisions are made because of the sinner's background. In John 8:38, Jesus said "I speak that which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father." From those words, we learn that Jesus is righteous, holy and all-powerful, just like His (and our) Heavenly Father. We also learn that we tend to mimic the activities of our earthly fathers.

Remember the Drug-Free America commercial, "Parents who use drugs, have children who use drugs?" Many people today grew up in dysfunctional situations. Having never seen good decisions modeled for them, they grew up making the same dysfunctional decisions, and life seems normal to them.

Others endured abuse. Abuse toward children has devastating effects. As the child fears for his safety, his brain function shuts down the higher-level thinking, and goes into survival mode. If the child remains in this condition long enough, his higher-level thinking never develops, meaning he never learns how to think through situations, make good decisions, and link causes to effects. Further, he becomes stuck in survival mode, meaning he becomes more volatile, develops a quick temper and takes rash courses of action. (Those are all self-defense mechanisms.)

The child who grows up in that environment will eventually become an adult, still incapable of hgher-level thinking. He will still be unable to think through situations, make good decisions, and link causes and effects. Of course, he will marry, or have romantic relationships, and father children, who will then be raised in the same environment that he knew as a child. The process repeats itself.

I tell you all this, not to excuse sinful behavior, bad decisions, or to blame the parents, but to explain why people often make the decisions they do. I am not out to justify Godless living, but it is well worth the investment to get to know people, and to love them on a personal level.

To disciple someone out of a sin-devastated life takes time, patience, energy, and lots of love. There will be setbacks, and there will be times when you wonder if you are really doing any good. However, if you are willing to invest in people, you will see fruit. You will see God work miracles, and you will see lives changed for the better. When that happens, there is no greater feeling on earth. May God bless you as you minister to those around you.