IN TRANSIT: February 2010

I am reading through a small book called "What is a Healthy Church Member?" by Thabiti Anyabwile and got my highlighter warmed up. Here are a few things that I highlighted:
- "Just as the pastor's preaching agenda should be determined by the meaning of Scripture, so too should the Christian's listening agenda be driven by the meaning of Scripture." p 19
- "When we listen to the preaching of the Word, we should not listen primarily for "practical how-to advice, " though Scripture teaches us about everyday matters. Nor should we listen for messages that bolster our self-esteem or that rouse us to political and social causes. Rather, as members of Christian churches we should listen primarily for the voice and message of God as revealed in his word." p 19-20

I highly recommend this book for every pastor and member of a Christian church. The reason is that I have found there to be a troubling number of people who have become spiritually emaciated at their church. Many people are quick to blame the pastor and leadership for "not feeding" the people of the church. Just as the leaders are to blame, the members are to blame even more-so. The reason I believe this is because too many people willingly trade in Biblical doctrine and truth for feelings of goodwill and warm fuzzies. And before they know it, the Christian sitting in the audience on Sunday morning has become the epitome of 2 Timothy 4:3-4. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires (warm fuzzies), they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." (Parenthesis was added by me).
So who's the guilty party? The teacher? Perhaps- especially if the teacher is willingly doing his job to bolster his ego or his checking account. The listener? Absolutely. Paul tells us that those who are at fault are the ones who gather around those who may make them feel good, give them warm fuzzies, or "say what their itching ears want to hear."

This is absolutely commonplace in our church culture in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Example- a recent text exchange between a teenager and a student pastor (true story): "Hey man, where were you at church this morning?" "I was at so-and-so church." "What did he preach about?" "I'm not sure but it was really good." "Okay, well what passage of Scripture did he preach from?" "I don't remember that. I think he read from Matthew and Corinthians and stuff but he mainly speaks from his heart and not the word."

The tragedy is that speaking from the heart and not the Word has become admirable among Christians today. God help us and God help those who have itching ears! And hide me from the temptation to entertain people with itching ears instead of faithfully loving my God and His people through the intentional, Gospel-saturated, proclamation of the Word of God.

So, Christian, are you a healthy member of a congregation who listens for God's voice in the midst of everything that happens on Sunday morning, or are you a member of a guilty party who has itching ears? Think long and hard about your answer. It's really important.