Remember the tv show Friends? There was a scene in which Phoebe attempted to teach Joey French. Phoebe would say something in French, and then have Joey repeat it. Well, Joey would repeat what he heard, but it was nowhere close to what Phoebe had said. Funny thing was, to Joey, he was repeating Phoebe word for word. To Joey, everything he said was perfect French, just as Phoebe told him…
We want to hear what we want to hear. We want the Truth…but we want our version of the truth…We take God’s Truth…and mold it into our own. Why? We want to hear what we want to hear.
We have forgotten who the potter is…and who the clay is… (God is the potter; Isaiah 64:8)
Who is the “WE”…Let’s find out!
Charles Spurgeon was criticized heavily for his downgrade theory. I invite you to go and read about it. Maybe I will do a separate writing on it, but for now, I won’t bore with the details.
Ok, just a quick overview…At its core (downgrade theory), Spurgeon believed, and I feel rightly predicted, that the Church was shifting away from core Biblical beliefs…Ok, I will stop there.
Here is the issue, the shrinking pulpit as I would call it…
Sound, Biblical preaching and teaching comes into conflict with culture and society…the world. The pulpit of literal interpretation (The Bible understood in its literal, normal, natural sense) of God’s Holy Word clashes with a world seeking truth for and of itself…a molded truth…molded not by the potter…but BY the clay…the “WE.”
Sound, Biblical preaching is therefore…at risk…not only from the world…but from within. As Spurgeon so urgently warned, the Church shift away from God’s Word to man’s word will accelerate…and I believe…is currently accelerating (rapidly)…
As more and more Churches seek to deliver what man wants to hear…those who stay true to the message God speaks to us through His Word become a target…
Rigid, bigots, fundamentalists, narrow minded, fanatic, extremist, intolerant…
The TRUTH of God becomes extreme in a world molding together its own “WE truth.”
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” (2 Timothy 4:3)
The world then views “churches” that adopt the beliefs of the world as friendly to the cause…and those Churches who remain True to God’s Word as enemies to the cause…Jesus warns us about this…(John 15; Matthew 10)
The Truth of the pulpit is shrinking…
Once the Church allows the culture to dictate teachings…the downgrade begins…and it has begun…indeed…the slope is steepening, and the pace is accelerating.
The edges of Scripture are being shaved off and the Truth of God’s Word is becoming an ancient relic of ideals dusted off for the occasional “nice quote.” And even worse… this ancient relic is being dusted off to create and illustrate “the Jesus who best suits me.” “My Jesus in my world.” “My world made in the image of how I FEEL Jesus would want it to be!”
We are living in a time where cultural trends, societal beliefs, and worldly morals are being woven into Scripture. Bible verses are being plucked out to defend outrageous positions and beliefs merely because the culture demands and says so…
The Truth pulpit is shrinking…
The Church…the pulpit…must not seek relevance by adopting the values of the culture…values that fail the test of Scripture. All morals and values must be discerned through, and only through, the very Word of God.
“But test everything; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:21)
You know what Jesus never did? Jesus never changed or altered His message…even as many walked away in disbelief…or outright rejected Him.
The downgrade accelerates when we stop asking… what does God ACTUALLY SAY…and replace it with the notion…what do I WANT God’s Word TO say.
We must deny ourselves…(Yes, Jesus said that)
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Let us pray for Churches to remain, or return, to sound Biblical teaching and preaching.
Let us pray for believers and nonbelievers to seek the Truth of the Gospel…the Truth and nothing but the Truth…even if we do not like it.
God’s Word is timeless. It is infallible and inerrant.
Let us pray for all those TRUTH seekers who preach and teach the Gospel, the Good News, that certainly does and will conflict with the culture around them…
Pray that they stand firm in the Truth…dedicating their life to God.
Jesus never changed or altered His message…let us all do the same… let us all demand the same…
And walk with Jesus down the path of Objective Truth…HIS TRUTH…
It is not I who live…but Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20)
Love you all! I would love to speak with anyone seeking a relationship with Jesus!
Blessings,
Pastor Jason Pauley
