I encourage you to read Malachi 1:6-8, 2:4-8, 17; 3:13-15. In this Book, the prophet Malachi is rebuking the spiritual leaders of Israel for several reasons. 1. They were despising God’s name, and not honoring Him. They were teaching the people that God’s Word - even God Himself - was not very important, and that it’s okay to disobey Him and dishonor Him (1:6-8). 2. People should be able to hear God’s truth coming from their pastor, but they weren’t. The pastors were actually doing the opposite. They were teaching the people that it’s okay to do evil, and God delights in you and that there is no judgment from God (2:4-8, 17). 3. They then went so far as to say there is no point in obeying God, and that the prideful are happy (will prosper), and that the wicked are exalted! (3:13-15).
The Apostle Paul said that the church of Jesus Christ is the pillar and ground (support, basis) of truth (1Tim 3:15). But what happens when pastors do not teach God’s truth from their pulpits? What does the church become then? Perhaps like saltless salt (Mt 5:13)? Last month a One News Now article covered an interview of pollster George Barna by American Family Radio. Here is part of what was said:
George Barna--research expert and founder of The Barna Group--shared with American Family Radio’s ‘Today’s Issues’ about new information he’s compiling at American Culture and Faith Institute over the last two years, gauging where theologically conservative pastors are at politically. “What we’re finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues?--and the numbers drop...to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it.” Now you know.
Charles Finney Said: “If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the public press lacks moral discernment, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the church is degenerate and worldly, the pulpit is responsible for it. If the world loses its interest in Christianity, the pulpit is responsible for it. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.”
Martin Luther said: “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
If we pastors are not addressing the issues of the day in society and the church, then we are not only failing God, but the flock he entrusted us with, as well as our generation. It is our responsibility to Biblically address the issues of the day, and declare God’s view on the subject; and not just say, “God is love”. The phrase “God is love” has been stretched, abused and misused to mean something completely contrary and foreign to the Biblical understanding of the phrase.
The term has somehow become synonymous with, “Believe how you want; act how you want; think how you want; live how you want; vote how you want; You’re number one; You’re the center of the universe; God exist to please you and bless you, and nothing else matters.” True, God is love; but He is not only love. God also commanded. Jesus commanded. Paul, John, James, Jude and Peter commanded. The question is: Does the church command?
Was the message of Jesus and all of his Apostles simply, “God loves you”? The answer is no, of course. If it was, the Bible would be the size of a tract! There are 180,552 words in the NT. Another 602,585 words in the OT. That’s 783,137 in the KJB. Paul said all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine (learning), reproof (evidence), correction (to make straight), and instruction (education and training) in righteousness (2Tim 3:16)
The Apostle Paul, the champion of grace, gave no less than 60 types of people, behaviors and attitudes that Christians are to avoid, put off, and put away from them (Rom 1:18-32, 1Cor 6:9-10, Gal 5:19-21, Eph 4:25-5:5, Col 3:5-8, 2Tim 3:1-5). Do these Scriptures simply not fit in with the “new” doctrine of “God is love”? Or perhaps, the “love” the church has been preaching is not God’s love at all, but the love of humanist - aka - the love of self.
Hypothetically speaking, let’s say “God loves you” is all that matters. Well, what does God’s love look like? Jesus said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent”. (Rev 3:19). See also Pro 3:11-12, 13:24, Heb 12:6.
A pastor who does not preach the whole counsel of God, and avoids declaring God’s Word on every subject - regardless of who might be offended - doesn’t love his flock. He loves himself. He doesn’t care about God’s people. He is a coward, unfit for duty, and needs to find some other line of work.
Psalm 94:12 says, “Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law.” Like a parent, God’s first and best way to chasten his children is through His Word. If we will have a love for the truth, and desire to be more conformed into the image of Jesus day by day; then we will allow His Word to impact us, and we will yield to it. Those that hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled.
May we honor God’s name, and declare all of His eternal word. No apologies. No watering down. No ear tickling. No avoiding controversial subjects of the day. No worrying about what big tither we might offend. Let us walk as the apostles and prophets - and Jesus - before us. They made enemies by speaking the truth. We will to. Let us not be hirelings, but true shepherds. We will stand before the Chief Shepherd one day. Selah.
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