Pressed Sawdust

What passes for preaching these days can be easily confused with modern motivational speakers.  I watched for a minute or two this morning before heading off to church.  What I saw was a highlight reel of well-known preachers camping on the theme of self-empowerment.  Every sound bite was uttered to bolster my self-worth.  There was never even an attempt to reference scripture.  The highlight reel was designed to stir my emotions as various preachers delivered messages with sensational gravity and profound pauses.  One of the pastors informed me and many others that the devil is scared out of his wits because of my power.  The problem is, there was no theology and little truth in anything I heard.  This humanistic distortion has permeated much of the preaching people are exposed to on television.  A tiny shred of truth is a whole lie.

The primary danger the modern church faces is one of the most ancient:  the departure from preaching God's Word.  When the foundation is no longer Jesus Christ and Him crucified; if sin, law, grace, love, future judgment, and the blood of Jesus are strangely absent from sermon after sermon, then it would be better not to preach at all.  Though we live in a day when many people daily have an abundance of food on their tables, the words of Amos 8:11 have been fulfilled before our eyes:  "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "that I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD."  Turn on the television any Sunday morning and preaching likely will be found.  Drive down main roads in many cities and it is not hard to find a church.  But will you be treated to the pure meat and milk of the Word - or humanism distilled with Christian jargon and maybe a token paraphrased verse from the Bible?

I appreciate the different styles of preaching even as hungry people enjoy different styles of cooking.  But we're all after the same thing no matter the presentation:  fresh ingredients, delicious fruit and vegetables, quality cuts of meat, savory, sweet, or spicy sauces, tender pasta, decadent desserts.  If you were to substitute sawdust for the meat, people would instantly know something was dreadfully wrong.  But spiritually speaking, pressed sawdust with the sauce of positive thinking passes for meat all the time.  People don't know the difference because they've never had the real thing.  They have never been taught to read and study their Bibles outside of a Sunday morning.  Showy emotionalism has become a substitute for spiritual vitality, and church is an opportunity to rev up to get through another week.  This kind of church is no better than a drug that pumps you up until you hit the wall.  It leaves you empty and craving a fix - a fix that more and more isn't getting the job done.

Back to that preacher's claim:  is the devil really scared of me?  Not at all.  He could pop me in his mouth like chewing gum and blow a bubble.  But the devil understands the authority of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, God made flesh.  And when Jesus Christ saves a man through His shed blood by grace through faith, the Holy Spirit regenerates and resides inside that man.  Jesus therefore gives authority to born again Christians over all the powers of darkness.  But the preacher on TV said that I frighten the devil!  I wonder where that is written in the Bible.  James 4:6-7 reads, "But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." ⁷ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you."  The Bible tells me Satan is as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8-9).  There is no being more proud than Satan, though man tries very hard.  All are exhorted to submit to God in humility.  Only those who are in Christ can resist the devil by God's grace, and then the devil will flee.  Satan likes nothing more than fools strutting around full of themselves rather than being filled with the Holy Spirit.  Last time I checked, lions aren't afraid of sheep.  But they are afraid of the Good Shepherd.  When He throws a blow, He doesn't miss. 

Never stray from expository Bible preaching.  Even more important, never be fooled into thinking that preaching is a substitute for your own study of the Bible.  When we open God's Word in faith, seeking His face in humility, that is the primary way God will speak to us through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Hosea 10:12 is a fitting exhortation for us all:  "Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, till He comes and rains righteousness on you."  God's Word is like good seed.  If we will repent and prepare our hearts to seek the LORD, His good Word will take root in our hearts and produce much fruit.  Plant all the pressed sawdust you want, but it will never grow.  It's hardly fit for the fire.  Let's choose to eat quality meat instead!