I heard a sermon yesterday by
a young preacher who hit the nail on the head in identifying a glaring problem.
He asked the the congregation how many
of them wanted to be like Jesus? Most people dutifully raised their hands. Then
he pointed out the hypocrisy of the 200-300 people in the congregation saying
they wanted to be like Jesus and yet only 10 of them had been in the pre-service
prayer meeting (busted!). He exposed the yawning gap between what most Christians say
they want and what they are willing to go after--as though the character of
Christ was going to magically fall upon them from heaven one day. He said,
“this is the problem,” and then put a picture on the screen of a man sleeping
with a smile on his face, head half buried in his pillow. He used the passage
from 1 Cor. 9:24-27 where Paul talks about athletes disciplining their bodies
and going into strict training to try and win a crown that will soon perish;
therefore how much more should we do the same to win an everlasting crown?
This is not popular preaching
in most circles, as the American church somehow seems to think there is nothing
more to the Christian walk after salvation than sitting around waiting to die
or get raptured to heaven.
They young preacher went to
great lengths to exhort the people to do what the Bible says; that they who seek the Lord shall find Him when they search for Him with all their hearts (Deut.
4:29).
I answered the altar call with
a few others, probably many of whom had already been in the prayer room before the service, but basically it seemed to go over like
a lead balloon. “Probably won’t add anyone to the prayer room before the next
service,” I thought.
Ass I meditated on this it
seemed to boil down to a question of motivation. People know they should do better—pray more, read the
Bible more, witness more, etc.—but how do we motivate them to do it? Guilting
them--as he was trying to do—doesn’t work. People have learned to live with the
guilt of underachieving. Besides, they reason, “I’m saved by grace, not
works, so all I really have to do is believe.” We can’t scare them with threatenings
of hell for the same reason. I myself have tried preaching the once-in-eternity
opportunity we have been given here on earth to be changed into His image and
acquire His character, and how Christians will be weeping in heaven when they
realize their lost opportunity that will leave them far off from Jesus
throughout all eternity—all to no avail. The flesh with its comforts has great
power. ("I'll be in heaven; what difference will it make how close to Jesus I am?") How do we break through and motivate Christians to take advantage of these
few brief years on earth that will set their destiny for eternity?
(To be continued)
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