Frankly, I get frustrated when I hear or read the statements of professing Christians, especially preachers, that indicates they are in love with the world system. I don’t despise the individuals, but I what I feel toward the sin of compromise borders on hatred. The reason is because I was once like that.
It came upon me gradually, over a period of years. When God convicted me, it began a battle with my flesh that lasted for several more years. With the last burst (or what I believe to be my last) of strength, I pressed through to full surrender. When I think of how close I came to being an oil-less Christian, routinely going about my duties, powerless and full of religion, I quake.
Therefore, when I witness preachers mixing godliness with worldliness as if there exists no line of demarcation, I am deeply saddened. I see pastors and evangelists doing this quite regularly. They are feeding crumbs and stones to the people who hunger for bread. It reminds me of a story I read long ago.
Francis Schaeffer had a conversation with a minister who had become cold in his spirit. I remember that the man told Schaeffer, “I went to the seminary, eager for and expecting bread, but when I graduated; all that it left me was a handful of pebbles.”
We need more than a occasional (and often brief) encounter with God to have bread in our sermons. If our idea of “walking in the Spirit” is gorging on a huge lunch, two football games, and then rushing to the church on Sunday night expecting to quickly make the transition from such gluttony to a pure vessel ready to impart God’s word with anointing, we need to repent. It does not matter how great our preaching skills are, or how glibly we can read our sermon, and how well the inflections of our voice can make it into a stirring delivery.
Further, it does not matter to how well we do the clergy strut, how clever we can move the emotions of people, and how much in demand that we are. If we do not have the passion and desire to spend time in deep prayer, we don’t have bread. If our spirits are full of NFL, NBA, NCAA, PGA, MLB and MMA, then we are certainly not full of GOD. As such, we are not fit to fill the pulpit and nothing we say from it will feed the hungry souls.
One of the worst things that can happen to a Christian is to sin or commit spiritual infidelity and not immediately suffer the consequences. One of the worst things that can happen to a preacher is to preach with a carnal spirit and believe that the souls being saved and healed are the results of his efforts. Let me be blunt here. Some (maybe most) of what we preachers witness are not the results of our preaching. Some of the results occur in spite of our preaching. God may be answering the prayers of some godly prayer warrior that attends that church or lives in that community. Evangelistic results may be the fruit of a godly pastor (not the evangelist) who has labored, sowed seed, and gone faithfully before God in intercession.
I exhort every pastor and evangelist. If we are going to be responsible for delivering God’s message to the people, let us make certain that we are proper vessels to deliver it. If we cannot stand against the encroaching allure of the world system, how can we expect the congregation to do so? It is time to be accountable for what God has made us responsible for. We have reached the point in history that requires us to be more than mere parsons that kisses the babies, visits hospitals, and lays out a rote sermons each Sunday. We need to hear a message from God and we need to be prepared to deliver it with the passion and anointing required to make it effective. We must give the people bread, not crumbs and stones.
It is time to rise to the demands of the last days. People need strong and godly leaders more than ever. If we are answering that call, it will require more than a casual and brief encounter with God to fill those shoes.
“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)
The late and notorious liberal Episcopal Bishop James A. Pike was the man Francis Schaeffer was quoting. I think Union was the seminary in question, although he attended more than one.