Friday, November 19, 2010

WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER AS A CHURCH

INTRODUCTION
The primary gathering of the church each week is specifically intended for (1) the worship of God and (2) for the edification of believers—the primary gathering of the church each week is not intended to evangelize the lost.

This discussion must be had not only because of misconceptions that have infiltrated the church over the centuries, but also because of practices and traditions that have crept in among the ecclesia, the “called out ones”, the church. Among the misconceptions, practices and traditions are:
Preaching to the “Margins”
Abandonment of Theology/Doctrine 
Man-centered view of evangelism/salvation 
“Crusades” held in large venues 
The “altar call” 
• “Revivalism”

Each of these will be addressed very briefly, in order to illustrate why many have come to believe that the primary gathering of the church is for the purpose of evangelism, and why such a view is Biblically indefensible.

PREACHING TO THE MARGINS
In most evangelical churches today, the preaching is “to the margins”, that is, the man in the pulpit will preach the truth only to the point that he thinks will not offend the “marginal” Christian or the possible unbelieving visitor in the pew. The goal is to make sure nothing offends, so the marginal believer or the unbeliever will possibly return the next week. This watering down of the Scriptures, in order to not offend an unbeliever or a supposed believer at the edge, is a serious misstep by the preacher, and is undertaken with the misguided belief that the goal of the primary meeting of the church is evangelism.

It was not always this way. Charles Spurgeon, for example, preached expository messages from the Word of God in a profound, intentional manner, without worrying about offending anyone.

George Whitefield did the same in the fields of colonial America. God used both men mightily to further his kingdom.

Nowhere in Scripture do we see an example of preaching to the margins; instead, we see preaching to believers for their edification, for their building up, to equip them for the work of ministry.

ABANDONMENT OF THEOLOGY/DOCTRINE IN THE PULPIT
Again, men in the pulpits of most evangelical churches today are preaching “how to...” messages, “when you feel...” messages, “what to do when...” messages, as well as messages from Bible study guides, messages revolving around psychology, “felt needs”, or even “messages” that are made up of stories and jokes, rather than expositing the Word of God for the benefit God’s church. They will talk about what movies or books their people should avoid.  Coming across certain accounts in Scripture, they will inject legalism into the discussion, addressing issues such as tattoos, piercings, the use of alcohol, or mode of dress in church, rather than expositing the doctrine and/or theology that begs to be addressed. These men in the pulpits, as well as the congregations in their care, seem to view theology and doctrine as something for the academics, and not useful to the church body. They could not be any further from the truth. How is the preacher in the pulpit going to fulfill the mandate to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” without teaching theology and doctrine? Failure to do so will result in anemic believers who become stagnant. Failure to do so is to send the flock out into the field unprepared and ill equipped to declare to others the good news of Jesus Christ.

This writer can recall attending a “revival”, where a guest preacher was brought in. This man, a leader in a large denomination in California, spent the time in front of the church telling stories, and making people laugh. Even children in attendance recognized he was not teaching the Word of God. The sad thing is that at the State Convention a few months later, where he had the opportunity to expound on theology and doctrine to that gathering of believers, he chose to tell the same silly stories.

The exposition of Scripture naturally includes theology—the “study of God”—and doctrine—“the study of the Scripture for the sake of instruction”—both of which Paul not only did, but also exhorted other pastors to do. Failure to do so is to fail—period.

MAN-CENTERED VIEW OF EVANGELISM/SALVATION
James Arminius—whose theology is taught in the majority of evangelical churches—held that salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God, who takes the initiative, and man, who must respond, with man's response being the determining factor in salvation. Further, that God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive role; thus, according to this body of teaching, man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation. Such teaching cannot be supported Biblically.

As a result of this teaching, many people in churches in America today believe that they must get their friends to church with them so they will “get saved”. They believe that if their friend hears the word preached, they will come under conviction and will be saved. The all-important altar call will be the time that they “surrender to Christ”. This is a man centered belief system as opposed to being God centered. The fact of the matter is, God is the author of salvation, not man. What takes place in a man’s heart is the work of God, not of man. Man is utterly unable to rescue or save himself. (See Ephesians 1, Ephesians 2, Romans 9)

God has charged the church to go out and evangelize, but he never charged the church anywhere in Scripture to stay within its doors and evangelize. Every time God charged the church with respect to preaching, he did it in such a way as to give the charge to preach to believers. For example, in 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul instructs Timothy to “Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. One does not reprove, rebuke and exhort, and teach unregenerate people, but those covered by the blood of the Lamb.

THE ALTAR CALL
Under Charles Finney, a Pelagianheretic, the “altar call” came into use in the church. In order to get people to “make a decision”, Charles Finney and those who followed him in his thinking used what they called “techniques” or “new methods” to accomplish that end. Finney’s “new methods” included emotional tactics that resulted in fainting and crying, and other "excitements," as Finney and his followers called them, as well as the “Anxious Seat”.

In approximately 1835, Finney instituted the use of the “Anxious Seat”. Finney held that the Anxious Seat took the place of baptism in the days of the apostles “as a public manifestation of their (new converts) determination to be Christians". The Anxious Seat was not rooted in Scripture and was not rooted in the early church.

The Anxious Seat evolved into what it is today—the walking of an aisle, the raising of a hand, or the praying of a prayer, which, it is believed, is the public manifestation of one’s belief in Christ. It is typically referred to as an “invitation” or “altar call”.

Finney—and altar calls—misconstrue the actual Ordo Salutis, the Order of Salvation and make salvation something that man accomplishes for God rather that what God accomplishes in the hearts of men.

Friday, August 13, 2010

ALTAR CALLS


After attending my church for the first time, one may ask “Why is there no Altar Call? Why was there no ‘invitation’ after the preacher finished the sermon?” After all, a majority of believers grew up in and/or came to salvation in a church that had an “altar call” every Sunday. The “invitation” has become a central part of many Protestant church services across the nation. In fact, in the majority of churches that employ such a technique,



Walking the aisle in response to the ‘altar call’ (is) so closely identified with conversion that coming to Christ and coming to the front (are) treated as one and the same thing. Behind the practice (lies) the fallacy that saving faith is of the same nature as a physical decision, and that if only sinners will answer the evangelist’s invitation then grace will secure their rebirth.1

Anyone that has attended a Billy Graham Crusade has seen people being called to the front for salvation. Not only that, but experience has shown that when serving as a “Counselor” at a Graham Crusade, the counselors are instructed to begin moving down toward the stage as soon as the invitation is given. The stated purpose: to encourage the unsaved to begin moving down in response to the call to come down, in response to the plea:



“Don’t let distance keep you from Christ. Your friends will wait for you. Christ went to the Cross because he loved you. Certainly you can come these few steps. Those of you up high in the stadium, begin moving right now. Come right now. We will wait for you”.

In local churches that employ the Invitation System, the congregation will continue to sing “Have Thine Own Way, Lord” or “Just As I Am”,

PREACHING TODAY


Preaching in a large number of evangelical churches today leaves a lot to be desired. What is preached does not measure up to the examples of preaching in the Word of God. Too many preachers--and too many congregations--settle for "sermonettes", addresses that do not delve deeply into the Bible. They give their people "sound bites", pithy comments and stories which is what the people will remember. They talk about what they think people "want to hear" (can anyone say "tickle the ears"? Paul warned the church about such men, telling them to beware.

Then there are the "preachers" who buy into the post-modern way of thinking, and then tweak the Bible to fit the mold.


The Scripture is clear in its instruction: "Preach the Word!" Settling for stories, jokes, anecdotes, drama and the like is to betray the trust given to the man behind the sacred desk. God's word is to be opened up on Sunday mornings for the true believers who make up the church. Once edified, once trained for the work of ministry, the church then goes out to share the gospel and evangelize.

This faithfulness to the Word can and will cause problems for some preachers who do not preach to the "felt needs" of the congregation. They may be chastized for not "including" everyone as the audience. However, there is no example in Scripture of preaching to "felt needs", rather the examples reveal a faithfulness to opening up the Scriptures, drinking deeply, in what's called an expository fashion.

“To be right with God has often meant to be in trouble with men.” A. W. Tozer

Praise God for the faithful preachers who are true to the calling.