No Egg, Extra Bacon
I find it increasingly hard to get the sandwich I ordered from some of our local restaurants. The problem that continues to arise has to do with the people hired to work for these local restaurants. There is no question about whether or not they are hard workers. The problem is that more and more of the people being hired are from another country and they have difficulty with our language. The order may be typed in on a computer and a screen in the back reveals what has been typed in. However, if the person looking at the screen does not understand our language, I wind up with egg on my sandwich.
I find an interesting parallel in the spiritual realm. There are individuals who read what God has written and yet cannot apply that to their lives. Nothing wrong with what is typed on the computer or the screen showing what was typed, the problem is in understanding what is meant. For years many had hid behind the false notion that we cannot understand the Bible. The common man sitting in the pew is getting a steady diet of the idea that he cannot understand the Bible. He needs some "preacher" or "school" to inform him about life and what is important to him. Some preachers take great pride in letting everyone know that they know more than anyone else. Likewise, some of our universities have sold their soul in the name of being accepted in the community.
Should not preachers be educated? The answer is a resounding "yes". Where they choose to be educated is the problem we need to consider and solve today. If the faculty at a school or university does not have absolute faith in the Word of God, an education from such an institution is of no value in training men to step into a pulpit to preach. Many men have pursued higher education at institutions where the Word of God is laughed at and despised. Men with their feet on the ground and their faith settled can deal with such a setting and come out with a good degree and in some areas, acceptability.
There was a time when our pulpits rang with a "thus saith the Lord". Faithful men were taught by other faithful men. There was no new truth coming out, only better prepared men to explain God's Word to His people. Gospel meetings were a common happening. We went to the radio and then the television. The printed page was going into the homes of most Christians. Then we got national. A television program that could go out into "all the world". Big is not, in and of itself, wrong. We just got big without our faith being settled in our own hearts. The truth of a "thus saith the Lord" had to be toned down and couched in a less offensive language in order to reach, what was now our larger audience.
The principle to go big is right within Scripture. The problem is that the bigger we get, invariably God gets smaller. It does not have to be this way. We can do things on a large scale. Does not Jesus teach that a person must believe and be baptized in order to be saved (Mark 16:16)? Does not the Lord reveal that baptism saves us (I Peter 3:21)? What then is the problem? Is it not reveal that baptism comes before remission of sins (Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19)? Do we not see that the problem has to do with the "person reading the screen?" Not words or the meaning of words but rather men's hearts who cannot understand that this is something God wants you to do.
God declared through Jeremiah that He would make a new covenant. That new covenant was to be written in the hearts of those who choose to follow Christ (Jeremiah 31:31; Hebrews 8:10). Instead of changing our message to accommodate the different kinds of heart why not use the same seed in all hearts and allow God's Word to do its work in the hearts of those who will accept it.
I can deal with getting egg on my sandwich from time to time. I cannot deal with the multitudes who are going out into a Christ-less eternity because they did not take time to understand what God was saying to them through the written Word.