Becoming a Holy Servant of God

"So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Lk 16:8.

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” I Cor 9:24-27.

“Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.” Phil 3:17.

“But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.” I Tim 4:7-9.

Prayer: Christian must discipline themselves to pray often every day: “pray without ceasing.” I Thess. 5:17 “continue steadfastly in prayer.” Col. 4:2 “pray always with all prayer.” Eph. 6:18 “continuing steadfastly in prayer.” Rom. 12:12 Jesus offers a guide to the contents of our prayers. Mt. 6:6-15 If we believe the promises then we will pray: Phil 4:6-7 James 5:16

EASY LISTENING
by Gary Workman

Maybe it's just because of my age, or maybe because of the era in which I grew up, but somehow much of today's music I find unappealing. I have no inclination to go to a concert where the volume of the instruments is so loud that I fear permanent ear damage. Nor do I enjoy hearing a singer scream out his lyrics and call it singing or watching a singer belt out a song with his or her face contorted as if in terrible pain. I just prefer the "easy listening" type of music that was more the norm in bygone days and that is still performed by a few "good" artists today.

Well, I admit that my tastes in music may be a bit prejudiced. And I wouldn't try to force them on anybody else. If you want to crank up your stereo to a deafening, head-pounding volume, I have no problem with it. All I ask is enough advance warning so that I have time to leave your house before the "entertainment" begins.

Something got me to thinking about the prevailing trends in preaching. People's tastes have changed, that's for sure. And "easy listening" sermons are definitely "in." Today my wife and I visited a congregation where they said 1097 were in attendance at the second morning assembly. Well, they may have missed a few, so let's say 1100. That plus the first assembly made the total come to nearly 1700. There was no doubt in our minds that what attracted so many people to that congregation was the "easy listening" preaching they could get there. Like watching a popular TV show, you could just settle back and enjoy the performance. And with the sermon ending after about eighteen minutes, it had about the same amount of content as a half-hour show, considering the commercials.

Yes, times have definitely changed. Half a century ago sermons were usually "hard-hitting," for lack of a better term, and music was usually "easy listening." Today it's just the opposite. People want the volume cranked up by the musician on the stage, not the preacher in the pulpit. As a Christian woman once told me, "When I listen to a sermon, I don't want to  hear yelling." Well, she probably didn't want to hear anything very challenging either. After all, strong convictions in the heart cannot very well be conveyed without excitement in the manner and urgency in the voice.

I guess prophets of old would not attract today's large audiences because God told one of them, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions" Isa 58:1.  That would be too hard to take!  If a preacher like that were working with a very large congregation, I'm afraid he would soon be receiving a "moving" letter from the elders. Even Jesus would be hard to take. After he delivered a pointed sermon one day, "many of His disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" Jn 6:60.  Those hearers obviously wanted an "easy-listening" lesson rather than the one Jesus gave. And after Jesus responded by saying, "Does this offend you?" and four or five more sentences, "many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more" (v. 66).

No, in the main, people today are just not going to stand for preaching that is too challenging, too emotional, too demanding, too full of Bible, or too long. They may go for music that is hard-hitting or full of pathos, but they want their sermons "easy-listening." And they don't even want much of that. This is why the Sunday night attendance in large congregations is rarely half that of the morning attendance and in some places has ceased to exist at all. And this is why sermons in such churches often contain no more than two or three scripture quotations at best but are chock-full of cute stories.

Well, what should we do in the face of current trends and popular expectations? Bend with the wind and go with the flow? If so, we cater to the desires of those on the lowest spiritual levels while the sincerely interested and truly committed are left short-changed. Does this passage
sound familiar? "Preach the word . . . Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, . . . they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Tim. 4:2-4).  Somehow I think that time has come.

In the church of yesteryear, people were not nearly so entertainment-oriented. Serious matters like regular and diligent Bible study occupied a place of much higher priority in the homes of Bible-believing people. They somehow had the idea that if you owned a Bible and believed the Bible, you should spend a fair amount of time reading the Bible. Today entertainment is much more important. For many people now, going to church is much like going to a movie. You shell out a few bucks, sit back, and watch the show.

But guess what -- even in the past some people went to hear preaching just for entertainment value. Notice this striking passage where God speaks to the prophet Ezekiel. “And as for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, "Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord." So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, and they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them” Ezek 33:30-32. The difference back then, though, was that the preachers wouldn't go along with the whims of the crowd. God said, "They will know that a prophet has been among them" (v. 33).

Sometimes we preachers come to a crossroads where a major decision has to be made. Will we go with the many or stay with the few? I would much rather preach for a spiritually alive congregation of 100 than for a half-dead congregation of 1000. And this is for the simple reason that the dead part of that large congregation will just not tolerate true, Bible preaching.

God once said, "I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen’” Jer 6:17. If sermons don't resemble after-dinner speeches, many people will get unhappy in a hurry. And by the way, that congregation of 1700 that I mentioned hasn't had a gospel meeting in years. I think they realized quite some time ago that the members just wouldn't attend that sort of thing.

Now, I don't mean that Bible preaching is mainly negative preaching, though preaching on sin does have its rightful place. I mean that true, Bible preaching is the kind that provides a nourishing feast from God's word rather than just a few tidbits of junk food. It's preaching that has substance, not froth. It's like the difference between eating a steak dinner and just having some chips and dip. Christians are urged to progress to the "strong meat" or "solid food" of the word of God Heb. 5:12, and we preachers are like chefs. If we don't serve up a nutritious meal, the hearers go away malnourished. God indicted some of his children for being "carnal” and remaining "babes in Christ” 1 Cor 3:1.  Others too were chastised for subsisting on milk and being "without experience of the word of righteousness” Heb. 5:13. If God on Judgment Day levels the same indictment against any of our hearers, we too may have to share the blame if we haven't been doing the right kind of preaching.

"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!” Joel 3:14. What will our decision be when it comes to the kind of preaching that we go for?  Preaching is not supposed to vacillate through fads and changes like fashions that come and go.  Preaching is supposed to remain the same. A prophet once said, "Stand in the ways and see, and ask for old paths where the good way is, and walk in it” Jer 6:16. Let's make a wise decision on this. Let's make sure that the preaching where we stand or sit is the kind that lifts up the hearers to higher ground rather than the kind that lets down the hearers and plays down the Word with easy-listening sermons.

The Better Messenger: The Son

The Book of Hebrews teaches on the "Better Things" concerning Jesus Christ and what He would have us to do. In fact, the first chapter of Hebrews is devoted to the Better Messenger: The Son, Jesus Christ. The writer states: "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers In the prophets In marry portions and In many ways, In these last days has spoken to us In His Son, Whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world” Hebrews 1:1 -2. The writer of the Book of Hebrews states clearly that we are to listen to the Son of God; that Is Jesus Christ for our rule and guide today. 

We hope you find this bulletin useful in your Bible study.

2 Sam 22:31
 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the LORD is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. NKJV

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