An intermission to my hiatus from the series on Romans.
In a “Worst Preacher Ever” competition on another blog, I made the following comment in regards to the Kenneth Copeland-Joel Osteen match-up:
This is a really good match-up. Sort of like George Foreman coming out of retirement (after, say, Michael Moorer) to fight Mike Tyson (back when he was the New Great Thing… before Buster Douglas, the rape sentence, and making a snack out of Holyfield’s ear).
Copeland may have his jets, his biker rallies, and his 18,000 sq-ft mansion, but Osteen’s got the friggin’ Compaq Center and a board game! (How do you top a board game?!) Joel can help you “develop a healthy self-image.” Can Copeland do that? I don’t think so.
Osteen. Second round knockout.
Here is the focus of this post: “healthy self-image.” What in the world does this have to do with the message of salvation? Why do modern churches waste time talking about this crap when there are lost souls in the billions thirsty for God’s holy word?
Not, mind you, that I confuse Osteen and his ilk with the church. In fact, the progenitor and host of the above-mentioned competition has dubbed such as he [the whole name-it-claim-it, I'm-okay-you're-okay, send-me-money-and-you'll-get-rich crowd] as “Mammonians,” a moniker which I hereby fully endorse. [Scott may be gratified to know that, as of this posting, his blog has the top two Google hits on the subject]
“Mammonians” is, of course, a reference to Matthew 6:24:
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (KJV)
…And I’m sure he’s not the first to appellate in such a fashion.
In flipping through my Bible at church today, my eye caught a passage I had previously underlined in Galatians 5:
11But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. [my emphasis]
“The offense of the cross,” it seems to me, is severely lacking in the modern Church™. In our rush to grow, to appeal to every member of the community, to be everything to everyone, we have removed so much of the Bible from our normal discourse, as to render it largely unrecognizable. I don’t think that’s a net benefit.
Now, I’m not advocating going around being intentionally rude, crude, or socially unacceptable. [Lord knows I, in particular, am offensive enough without trying] But, as Dr. James Montgomery Boice wrote in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (1976):
Paul uses [the Greek word "skandalon," or "σκανδαλον"— my transliteration] in the sense of that which is so offensive to the natural mind that it arouses fierce opposition… All these things—feasts, circumcision, ceremonies, legal observances, or anything symbolizing external religion today—are of man and are part of a system that seeks to attain standing before God through merit. In opposition to this, the cross proclaims man’s complete ruin in sin, to the degree that nothing he does or can do can save him, and thus also proclaims man’s radical need for God’s grace. The natural man does not understand such teaching (1 Cor 2:14) and, in fact, hates it, because it strips away any pretense of spiritual achievement. [pp 490-491, reference in the original]
We may need to rethink the model we follow in our local churches. I mean, a lot of people talk about how far we’ve come since the days of the “hellfire and brimstone” sermons of our [or at least my] youth. We’re promoting a less offensive, more “accessible” message, replete with mission statements and life applications.
But then, take a look at society as a whole. Then take a look at the microcosm of Christian™ society. Notice the difference?
Me neither.
