Sometimes I preach my heart out on a weekend -- delivering something I feel God really gave me, and at the end of the day I was confident I said pretty much what He was asking me to say. It was something people needed to hear. But sometimes - on those weekends - attendance is down for whatever reason and I feel like a lot of people missed that Word. Maybe they missed it because they knew what I was going to be talking about and it wasn't interesting to them on the surface.
Now ... I am the last person who wants attendance to be down - or to preach things I'm pretty sure people are not going to be interested in. I'm just saying the temptation to deliver something that people will be curious about is always there. And I don't think that's all bad. There's a balance there.
But ... but ... here's what I think can't happen in my ministry. I can't fall into the trap of just giving messages that will 'pack the house out.' I can't fall into the snare of thinking the goal of my communication is to make people laugh or help them have an 'enjoyable' experience. In the words of Francis Chan: 'I can build a bigger church than Jesus if I'll just tell everyone what they want to hear.' Yikes.
I have to be willing to help people struggle with 'uncomfortable' parts of Scripture ... deal with the 'hard' teachings of Jesus ... not water down the requirements for following Him - OR - add in new requirements that He didn't lay down. I have to deal with issues that nobody would ever give me a hard time about if I never brought them up. It's not my job to make people come to church; it's not my job to make people listen; it's not even my job to make them open their hearts and ears to what God wants to say to them.
Know what my job is? To speak the Word. To speak what I feel God has given to me ... to do it with authority and in love. To speak the whole thing ... even the parts a lot of people don't want to hear. That's my job.
And be blessed.
3 comments:
Amen PK! This is the reason I stayed at KFA all these years. The people that want the Bible with gobs of sugar aren't there for the Word as much as the sugar. Keep it sweet but not too sweet. The hardest sermons are the ones that make me grow the most if I'm honest enough with myself. Don
..."here"
Keep preaching the truth! Attendance from tickling people's ears is not real Church growth. Paul says it better than anyone: "Preach the Word; be prepared . . . correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear (2 Timothy 4:2-3)." Thank you for not being one of those teachers!
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