As I indicated in a previous post, when encountering the purpose-driven, seeker-sensitive methodology in churches, I wrestle with the temptation to think that something is wrong with me. I confess to allowing fear and doubt access to my mind, wondering if there is something so deficient in my Christianity that I experience such revulsion with this new ecclesiology. So, discovering others who regard this movement with similar misgivings is comforting. Especially when they capture the issue with such eloquent simplicity. Well-known pastor-teacher John MacArthur put it this way in his book Ashamed of the Gospel:
“Many in the church today believe that the only way to reach the world is to give the unchurched multitudes what they want…. Subtly the overriding goal is church attendance and worldly acceptability rather than a transformed life. Preaching the Word and boldly confronting sin are seen as archaic, ineffectual means of winning the world. After all, those things actually drive most people away. Why not entice people into the fold by offering what they want, creating a friendly, comfortable environment, and catering to the very desires that constitute their strongest urges? As if we might get them to accept Jesus by somehow making Him more likable or making His message less offensive. That kind of thinking badly skews the mission of the church.
The Great Commission is not a marketing manifesto. Evangelism does not require salesmen, but prophets. It is the Word of God, not any earthly enticement, that plants the seed for the new birth (1 Peter 1:23). We gain nothing but God’s displeasure if we seek to remove the offense of the cross.
Something is wrong with a philosophy that relegates God and His Word to a subordinate role in the church. It is clearly unbiblical to elevate entertainment over biblical preaching and worship in the church service. Sadly, some actually believe that their salesmanship can bring people into the kingdom more effectively than a sovereign God—a philosophy that has opened the door to worldliness in the church.”
I am cheered to learn that the entire protestant landscape has not been deceived into imbibing the Hybels/Warren kool-aid. That doesn’t make it any easier for those of us who are bereft of alternatives in our own communities, yet it gives us reason for hope. God has not abandoned His sheep; He will respond to their cries for proper shepherds. May we depend on Him and seek His guidance to discern them when they come.
—From John MacArthur, Ashamed of The Gospel: When the Church Becomes Like the World (Wheaton, ILL: Crossway Books, 2001).
Hat-tip, OldTruth.com
