Absurdity

To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (1Corinthians 9:22)

It is interesting that we take noble things and make them base, then take a verse to explain our depravity. We choose to remain infants in the faith yet use verses to make others respect our waywardness.

Why do some assume that becoming all things to all men means that we become sinners to win the sinners? Or compromised to win the compromised?

The essence of that verse is making ourselves acceptable to be offered the responsibility of lifting people out of their depravity as opposed to making them comfortable there. Or have you ever seen a drug addict looking to be rescued out of addiction by another addict?

It breaks my heart when I see pastors avoiding confronting sin to keep sinners coming to church. A prostitute can get so comfortable in church that she may assume that her trade is useful even in heaven due to the value being placed on her person by the sermons being preached year in year out.

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6: 9 - 11)

Keeping sinners cozy in church could be healthy for the church’s balance sheet but is disastrous for their eternity. I for one know that had I chosen the popular route in ministry I could be swimming in earthly prosperity and provision, but at the expense of being rendered useless in the spiritual realms and probably accursed like many I see.

If the difference between a secular leadership ‘expert’ and a Christian one is the presence of verses in one then the truth is that both are secular, only that one chooses to deceive the gullible with an appearance of spirituality. And it is the same with motivation and many other efforts people use to make money.

Our effort should lead people to a total surrender to Christ, not a pocket full of money. We are therefore deceived when we associate great financial returns with effective ministry.

I will repeat. I must be out of the dumps to be able to rescue anyone out of the dumps. And I must be completely out of the dumps in his eyes for him to consider me able to rescue him. It is also important that he sees me as completely outside the dumps for him to desire to be helped. Trying to help him make the best out of the dump is therefore detrimental to his person. Yet that is what we do when we do not challenge sin.

We love them to change them, not to make them feel better. We accept them unconditionally so that they can get a foundation to change, not to feel alright where they are. That is how Christ operated.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)

All these things we are doing to draw people to church are sadly not drawing them to Christ.

Yet there is something even worse we are doing. We have completely refused to draw any distinctions whatsoever on many of the things we do.

Listen to a Christian advert and a secular one. Is there any difference? Listen to Christian and secular radio and tell me the difference as far as content, programs and presenters are concerned, forget the verses being quoted. The things being sold are the same, only that pastors are the salesmen and churches investors on Christian media. I speak as one who was in the media.

Sermons have become so cheap that a beggar can preach them to beg as they have stopped being releases from heaven.

Our search for relevance has gone full circle. We have become trivial and irrelevant to the world we seek to draw to Christ, ending up becoming worldly and spiritually worthless in the process. We have become irreverent to the point that a man of God has sunk to the level of a trickster, at best a motivator.

Our relevance originates from heaven and nowhere else. Seeking it elsewhere defiles it irretrievable at times because we actually sell ourselves to the devil as we do so.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)

And I say this as someone who is involved in rescuing people from dumps; drugs, sin, rejection, backsliding and many other dumps. Just look at your motivational expertise and tell me how many desperate cases you have rescued from sin by keeping them motivated. Yet they are always coming to one who is hard on sin to be helped out of it, and they are able to get the victory.

The Gospel has never changed. Only the preacher is deceived to think that confronting sin chases people from Christ when the reality is that it is the offerings they want to keep flowing without caring to know whether the offerers are right with God or not.