THE CROWD STANDARD

A while back, I was watching a TV show called "Divine Restoration" in which this man and woman team goes around to selected North American Afro-American Churches, and restores portions of the church's building (it's kind of the "Trading Spaces" of Christian Television). And in every episode, the show interviews several people of the church they are restoring and--as you would guess--the Senior Pastor of the church is always one of the people.

In one of these episodes, they were interviewing a pastor and asked him two interesting questions. The first one was, "What is your preaching style"? To which the pastor says "I have what they call a "hooping" style. I like to 'hoop'". Now, while this answer can raise several issues in and of itself, the second question asked him--and the pastor's answer to this question--was very disturbing. The pastor was asked, "What happens if the congregation does not respond your preaching (i.e, in an emotional outburst) "? To which the pastor replied, "In that case, it's over and I might as well stop preaching and sit down and let someone else take over"! In short, this preacher saw the congregation's approval as the means to the success or failure of his preaching.

However, it is very interesting to me that the LORD Jesus never had this mentality when it came to His own preaching. In fact, if the crowds were the standard, Jesus Himself would be a failure because there were times that people walked away from his messages due to the hardness of their hearts (John 6:66). In addition, some messages were so rejected by the people they almost got Him killed (Luke 4:18-29; John 8:31-59). Equally, Paul told Timothy to "preach the Word in season and out of season"--that is, when the people want to hear it and when they don't want to hear it (2 Tim. 4:2b). So faithfulness to the message "as it has been taught"--as Paul states in Titus 1:9--is the true barometer and not public approval.

Now, in saying this, I am not stating that there should not be passion in preaching. It is just as wrong to be cold and dry in your preaching as it is to be commercialized. In fact, the Bible tells us that Jesus was passionate and authoritative in his preaching (refer to the Greek word for "preach" in Matt. 4:17 as an example). Equally, a preacher should not be "too educated" over his congregation (i.e., using words and/or phrases that the people don't know without explanation). However, the Afro-American church has to also realize that getting the people "emotionally stirred" is not a proper determiner either, because it is not the people we should strive to please in our preaching. We are to please God because it is He who will use our faithful preaching to save those whom He has chosen.

And thus, this is where the Reformed Faith shines in its truthfulness. Because true Reformed pastors understand that it is God's job to add to the church (Acts 2:47). Thus, they will stay "within the game plan"--that is, they won't submit to worldly ideas, philosophies, or unbiblical methods to attract a crowd. In short, they shape their preaching around the directives of the Word of God. So, may God shape all his Ministerial leaders to stay faithful to His Word and not be drawn by the cunning of tradition or methods that ultimately give a false sense of true Biblical growth.

FYI: For a further study on this topic, let me suggest you order a video series called, "Does the Truth Matter Anymore" hosted by John MacArthur. To order it, please click on the Cross TV link to the right.