Note: Some user issues with WordPress have delayed me this week. I am truly sorry for all six of you who regularly read this site. I do want to tell you this; because you share this site with others, I have gotten to have some good talks about Jesus with some folks who are looking for something real.
Thanks to you.
To our subject…
The Latin would have it (I think) Crimen laesae majestatis, or Affront against Majesty. I wonder if much of our current crisis is caused by the vulgarization of our culture, which is, in turn, caused by our loss of reverence for the Person of God. We trade worship for entertainment and lose sight of the majesty of God.
Little wonder, then, we hear less and less about Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, in our churches. In fact God seems an extravagance in many churches. The Holy Spirit? Well, I mean, really.
I was once (for decades) an installed Lead Pastor of local churches. I, too, wanted ten more small groups and enough new people to justify another staff member. I know the temptation. Believe me, I have felt the addiction to grow the numbers.
I believe we may have forfeited reality to get a bunch of new folks. A nearby mega-church minister has now announced he plans to teach on Biblical doctrine because his people do not know any theology. This is the same fellow who bragged for years about a church “a mile wide and an inch deep.”
Perhaps he discovered shallow pools dry up quickly.
I do love to see new, unchurched persons come into a congregation. I do contend, however, corporate worship is not to be “dumbed down.” Corporate worship, regularly practiced, is to build up the congregation in their knowledge of the faith and to help them grow in their discipleship. Church growth in our day is mostly card shuffling from one congregation to another one. For one church to grow, one or two others have to diminish. This is not Kingdom growth, so it cannot be Kingdom work.
Yes, I have a remedy. Preach and teach about God as Tri-une, the Trinity, as God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. To explain the Trinity is not easy in our post-Christian times when many persons just do not know our imagery. If you think it is easier to vote today than to join a health club, you should see how we dilute Christian belief. Something must change.
God is now our Pal. Jesus is a friendly brother. The Holy Spirit? Well, really.
We need to recover the Scriptures, not like Southern Baptists who argue endlessly over who believes the Bible as much as they do, proving repetitively they do not No, we need to reclaim the Scriptures the same why they have always been reclaimed. That is, let’s read them, pray over them and preach them.
Teach and preach Jesus. The rest will fall into line. We will no longer affront the majesty of God.