·
Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the
first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor
as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)
It even seems that if we get the first one right, the second
one will fall into place:
·
This is how we know that we love the children of
God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. This is love for God: to obey
his commands. And his commands are not burdensome. (1 John 5:2-3)
This means that when we love God and follow His commands, we
love “the children of God” at the same time. Consequently, if we want to love
others, we cannot do it without first seeking to please God.
This principle also pertains to loving the church and our
community. This idea might seem entirely uncontroversial, but it is not. Today,
there are many completing ideas about how to build the church and to serve our
world. For example, In “This Little
Church Went to Market,” Pastor Gary Gilley notes that marketing considerations
have trumped the first great commandment:
·
[People are] into spirituality, not
religion….Behind this shift is the [church’s] search for an experiential faith,
a religion of the heart, not the head. It’s a religious expression that
downplays doctrine and dogma, and revels in direct experience of the
divine–whether it’s called the ‘Holy Spirit’ or ‘cosmic consciousness’ or the ‘true
self.’ It is practical and personal, more about stress reduction than
salvation, more therapeutic than theological. It’s about feeling good, not
being good. It’s as much about the body as the soul….Some marketing gurus have
begun calling it ‘the experience industry.’ (pp. 20-21)
There is nothing the matter with marketing. However, when
marketing and pragmatic concerns marginalize the first great commandment, we
are treading on unholy ground. Jesus illustrated this principle with the
Pharisees who elevated had their traditions to the level of Scripture:
·
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he
prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts
are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught
by men.'" (Matthew 15:7-9)
The seeker sensitive churches seem to be more concerned
about results – numbers and building their church – than in loving God by
keeping His commandments. This concern can take many forms. Not teaching doctrines
that might cause offense and drive seekers away is almost ubiquitous among
them. In contrast, Paul claimed that he was innocent of the blood of all men
because he didn’t shrink back from God’s entire counsel (Acts 20:26).
By pandering to the culture instead of faithfulness to God,
the seeker sensitive church will not preach on many topics, like sexual sins,
creationism, and even the persecuted church. They also tend to be ashamed of
any show of favoritism towards other Christians, even Christian refugees who
face genocide. Fearing the charge of “favoritism,” seekers sensitives hide
their prophetic voice. Instead of serving as the light, they have embraced the
prevailing, popular culture. As one
expert put it:
·
The church must show society that it does not
favor Christian causes. This will merely further the polarization and heighten
the tension between the church and its surrounding culture. (Rough paraphrase)
However, by embracing the culture, we have lost our
prophetic voice.
Instead, we are directed to show mercy first to the
household of faith (Gal. 6:10). Jesus also indicated that loving the brethren
was especially important to Him:
·
“’When did we see you sick or in prison and go
to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” (Matthew 25:39-40)
In contrast to Jesus’ priorities, seeker sensitive churches
pay little attention to the extermination of Christians. Even prayer is seldom
offered up on their behalf.
Instead, a disproportionate number of sermons are devoted to
maintaining the community of believers, sometimes in ways that stretch the Word
of God beyond its limits. For example, one seeker sensitive plant of the
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC wrote in the front of their Sunday bulletin:
·
“Prayer requires community. Prayer is not
possible outside of, apart from, or in spite of the praying community… The
assumption that prayer is what we do when we are alone – the solitary soul
before God – is an egregious, and distressingly persistent, error.” (quoting
Eugene H. Peterson)
Sadly, no one informed Jesus that His solitary mountainside
walks to pray by Himself “is not possible” to do, and that His conduct
represented “an egregious, and distressingly persistent, error.”
Why would this purportedly biblical church print such
unbiblical nonsense? I can only guess that keeping their members in church, the
only place that their prayers would matter, trumps biblical doctrine.
The life of Daniel and his friends illustrates the very
opposite of seeker sensitivity. No, they weren’t trying to form a church, but
they were concerned about their witness as Jews. However, it seems that Daniel
hadn’t taken any seminar on influencing the culture. Instead, he rejected the
generous Babylonian provisions of food in favor of vegetables in order to honor
the Word of God. This could have brought upon him and his friends the contempt
of the king. However, they were willing to risk it so as not to offend God. And
God blessed them with great wisdom, and, ironically, the king was favorably
impressed (Dan. 1:20).
Later, Daniel was able to not only interpret the king’s
dream but also to tell him precisely what he had dreamed. As a result:
·
The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God
is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you
were able to reveal this mystery." (Daniel 2:47)
What a testimony! As a result Daniel’s faithfulness:
·
The king placed Daniel in a high position and
lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of
Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men. Moreover, at Daniel's
request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego administrators over
the province of Babylon, while Daniel himself remained at the royal court. (Daniel
2:48-49)
But didn’t Daniel realize that having his friends appointed
would incur the jealousy of the other officials? And it did! The king had made
a great statue of gold before which everyone was required to bow. Some officials
reported to the king that the three Hebrew friends failed to do so. He was
furious and had the three brought before him. He then gave them another chance to
bow and worship the statue.
If they would simply do this, they would not only win their
own lives but would spare their Jewish brethren from the possibility of
persecution. Furthermore, worshipping the statue would demonstrate to the
Babylonians that the Jews were loyal citizens and that becoming a Jew would be
something they’d be able to do without great cost to themselves. However, they
rejected the idea of seeker sensitivity regarding the Babylonians who might
have been contemplating Judaism.
Besides, they could have prayed secretly to Yahweh as they
bowed before the statue. However, they wanted to remain faithful in every way.
Instead, they proclaimed:
·
"O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend
ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace,
the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your
hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we
will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel
3:16-18)
Evidently, this stance pleased God, who miraculously rescued
them from the furnace. Their witness also glorified their God before the King:
·
Then Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his
servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to
give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore
I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the
God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be
turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way." (Daniel
3:28-29)
There is no greater witness than our faithfulness before
God. All of our politically correct thinking pales before the God who will act
on behalf of those who trust in Him. Nevertheless, it is true that some will
die as martyrs. But Jesus warned that once we put our hand to His plow, we
cannot turn back. We cannot compromise for the sake of expediency or cultural
acceptance.
The king then gave the three promotions. He recognized men
of conviction.
Many years later under King Darius the Mede, Daniel had to
undergo a similar trial. The king had appointed Daniel as one of his three
administrators over his kingdom. However, Daniel excelled and incurred the
jealousy of the others. Therefore, they persuaded to king to issue an unbreakable
edict that no one would be allowed to worship another god besides Darius for
the month. Daniel could have demonstrated his loyalty and gratefulness to the
king by complying. This might have been sensitive thing to do for evangelism by
demonstrating that the people could become Jews and remain loyal citizens at
the same time.
However, as his enemies anticipated, Daniel continued in
prayer to his God. They were then able to betray him to the king, who had no
choice but to throw Daniel to the lions. Miraculously God rescued him. The
impression on Darius was profound:
·
Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples,
nations and men of every language throughout the land: "May you prosper
greatly! I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and
reverence the God of Daniel. "For he is the living God and he endures
forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He
rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the
earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions." (Daniel 6:25-27)
Such a witness cannot be the result of seeker sensitivity or
a calculated church growth analysis. Instead, this is the fruit of a man who
will humble himself to trust in Christ alone!
How did God regard Daniel? Did He regard Him as a rigid
legalist who lacked the sensitivity to weigh the obvious costs? Not at all!
·
While I [Daniel] was speaking and praying,
confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the
LORD my God for his holy hill-- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I
had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of
the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have
now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray,
an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly
esteemed. (Daniel 9:20-23)
What greater commendation could anyone receive! Let us trust
in the One who promised that hell and death would not prevail against His
Church. The One who has promised to give us an everlasting kingdom!
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