Monday, September 24, 2007

Future Trends Every Pastor Should Know

Good Evening. A Puritan’s Mind brings you the old time radio program The Wild Boar News Podcast from Sunny South Florida. Welcome, I’m Dr. Matthew McMahon.

The Christian Post of Nashville had an article encouraging change in the church, for the better, or so they think. It covered points that pastors need to know in order to enlarge their borders, and gather more people into the church. Pastors, if one could call them that, of “Synergize! Pastors Conference” where 35 renowned leaders will teach synergistic strategies to help pastors build their church and reach the unchurched, said there are four points that pastors of today need to understand.

First, they say, one must be sensitive to how people are marketing through the internet. Keeping your church, and your eye on worldwide fame based on something as simple as blogging, is a key to church growth.

Second, the "well curve" replaces the "bell curve." Take extremes and unite them together ecumenically. Ecumenicalism builds big churches.

Third, epic rules. Leonard Sweet, one of the speaking “pastors” at this conference wrote a book called “The Gospel According to Starbucks.” This futurist calls the church to master the "EPIC" living that Starbucks has mastered. EPIC stands for Experience, Participation, "Images that throb with meaning," and Connection. In other words, follow the marketed strategy of the world’s most popular and expanding companies. That way, the church will grow. "The culture helps the church become more of an epic community," he said.

Fourth, everything in this culture is becoming more digitized. As a result of the Internet being the new "skin" for the world, everything is becoming decentralized and some, hyper-centralized. "If you digitize, you decentralize." Community marketing in this way brings bigger groups together.

This is all interesting to me. There is no mention of Rahab the harlot and her family who, when the people of God attacked her city, that she alone was the only one of faith. Strange evangelism by God? Or what of Joshua and Caleb who alone has “different spirits” than the rest of the entire nation which rebelled against God? Again, God’s strange evangelism! What of God’s choice of Noah and his eight in the ark? Again, the mass of humanity was destroyed. Where was God’s sense of well curve, or bringing in images that cause people to throb with meaning? Where was God’s sense of decentralization?

However, these gurus are not after evangelistic ideas, rather, they are after growth in numbers. You know, those scoreboards in your lobby that tell you how many people came to Sunday School today, or were at your service? They want to see those numbers grow big so that you too can install a Starbucks in the foyer of your church.

And what of Jesus? Christ did not decentralize, instead He particularized. The Gospel weeded out the difference between the Apostles and the Temple Priests. He did not come to join the church together, but to divide the sheep from the goats and the wheat from the chaff. It seems Jesus did not have the same message or mindset that these marketers of the church have today. Jesus, the Great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls, did not have the internet, or structuralized EPIC ideas to incorporate. Rather, the Gospel alone was preached, and that Gospel was “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” Jesus’ exclusivism, and non-centralization in His preaching the Kingdom is the exact opposite message of the New Age preaching gurus that want to copy the globalization market of ad campaigns that turn the church into a CEO’s arena.

What are you looking for pastor? Faithfulness to God or faithlessness to attract the world? Oh, with money, anything to attract people is easy. I mean, have a bake sale. People will come. Give them something to watch, give them something to do, give them some way to feel special and you will draw thousands. Give them the Gospel, as Jesus did, and you give them an excuse to go down the street to another church that more suits their needs. “This is hard teaching, who can accept it?” That is what Jesus heard.

The New Age preaching gurus want you to think that going into the temple and setting up a booth next to the money lenders is a good idea. That way you can win them over. Market like they market. But instead, be like Jesus Christ, who, in opposition to that mindset, went in and overturned their tables.

But you ask, who will remain in the church? If we only preach the Gospel, is the Gospel enough?” The Gospel has always been enough. It was enough for God, enough for Christ, and it should be enough for you. God is not interested in numbers, rather, He is interested only in His people coming to faith. He is not interested in four points to a big building, rather, He is interested in whether or not pastors that HE sends trust Him enough to preach His Gospel.

This is Dr. Matthew McMahon signing off.

Keep checking back at A Puritan’s Mind – the series on Election and Reprobation has just been completed. Go to www.apuritansmind.com and click on “What’s New?” There you will find information on this 9 part lecture series. Also in the works is an MP3 series on the Covenant of Grace, and a new book that will be first in a series called “The Writings of A Puritan’s Mind” which will be a compilation of Puritan sermons not yet published. Puritan Publications has already released its latest book, “A Heart for Reformation” which covers how every Christian should desire true biblical reformation. For more on Reformed and Puritan Theology, visit www.apuritansmind.com.

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Feeling Traditional?

Good Evening. A Puritan’s Mind brings you the old time radio program The Wild Boar News Podcast from Sunny South Florida. Welcome, I’m Dr. Matthew McMahon.

How do you feel about worship? How do you feel about a traditional worship service over a contemporary worship service? How do you feel about using musical instruments in worship? How do you feel about singing contemporary praise songs instead of hymns? How do you feel about choirs?

Well, it really doesn’t matter how you feel; but it does matter what the Word of God says.

On Sept. 14, 2007, 4:40PM, a new article was published by Charles Ward in Houston Chronicle that headlined, “A sacred tie that binds: Traditional music and liturgy link worshippers with church history.”

Ward says, and I quote, “For many people, traditional church services mean an awe-inspiring building, time-honored liturgy, great hymns, stirring choral works and grand organ music.” He then says, quote, “Joining in Hark the Herald Angels Sing at a Christmas Eve candlelight service, hearing Handel's Hallelujah Chorus at Easter or being sent triumphantly away from church by Widor's Toccata for organ adds a dimension to worship that words alone can't provide.”

Unfortunately, those attending services outlined in this way have a deep seated sense of exactly what Ward is trying to relay. There is something about externals that demonstrate how people internally feel, or even become enamored, with the setting of a traditional service.

Ward quotes Russell E. Schulz, associate professor of church music at Austin's Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, where he says, “It connects us with each other, our past, our forebears — and we believe it connects us with God. We don't know how it works, but we've all experienced it.”

Unfortunately, this is also a truism surrounding people who have not spent much time in the Word of God, and instead determine the validity of their experience by their feelings in church. Listener, think of this – you walk into a white washed room, four walls and nothing else, and are expected to worship God singing only the psalms. Or, picture going into King’s College Chapel in England, and standing in one of the most elaborate churches on the planet, surrounded by exquisite architecture, and partaking of the traditional service that Ward outlines. Would you not be moved more in the latter than the former?

However, this presses us to consider what our authority is – the Word of God, which alone should dictate the manner in which sinners approach God, or our own feelings because of our heightened senses.

Certainly, our senses and emotions should be fully engaged in worship. God created emotional and sense oriented rational beings. But our senses should be instructed by our rationality as it is instructed by the Word of God.

Ward says, “Music reinforces worship. Ideally, the choir director chooses hymns and anthems because their words elaborate the theme of the Sunday.” But what do we do with our feelings and senses if God alone determines the manner in which we are to approach Him, and that both the Bible and church history clearly delineate the removal of instruments and hymns and music associated with that in a service?

Ward says, “"Significant events (are) underscored by music, Scripture, colors, banners, candles — all of which help people remember how (the Christian faith) came to be." In other words, such traditional elements to things that churches have done for a relatively short time (only about 200 years) help enhance the experience to those who are less motivated by biblical study and more interested in appeasing their consciences for a weekly church service based on feelings.

Ward is right, however, in his final statements and commentary on where worship has evolved during the 200 years that Western Culture has formed worship in the church. He says, “Now, Christianity seems at the far end of the arc where free-spirited populist worship and music dominate.”

Interestingly enough, even the true biblical data that Ward himself should confront would swing his ideas further to a man-centered religion, rather than being instructed by the Word of God. Instead, for him, and many Christians, worship is based on feelings. The louder the music, the better the service. The more contemporary, the freer one feels.

But is worship supposed to be based on the way one feels? Or it is to be managed and submitted to the Word of God? What did the church do prior to the revivalism of the last 200 years when worship has gone astray? If you don’t know the answer to that question, then you ought to take a moment and study the history of the church. I believe you, the listener, would feel very different about the worship of the church today. I believe you would feel like you have been duped, and I believe you would feel like your feelings have been deceiving you.

This is Dr. Matthew McMahon signing off.


Keep checking back at A Puritan’s Mind – the series on Election and Reprobation has just been completed. Go to www.apuritansmind.com and click on “What’s New?” There you will find information on this 9 part lecture series. Also in the works is an MP3 series on the Covenant of Grace, and a new book that will be first in a series called “The Writings of A Puritan’s Mind” which will be a compilation of Puritan sermons not yet published. Puritan Publications has already released its latest book, “A Heart for Reformation” which covers how every Christian should desire true biblical reformation. For more on Reformed and Puritan Theology, visit www.apuritansmind.com.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Do You Really Know the Gospel?

Good Evening. A Puritan’s Mind brings you the old time radio program The Wild Boar News Podcast from Sunny South Florida. Welcome, I’m Dr. Matthew McMahon.

From before time began, God reveals to us in His Word that He is a covenantal God. A covenant is a pact or agreement between two or more parties, and in this case, it is the intra-Trinitarian pact that comes to light. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit work covenantally together and as a result, through God’s ordination, He gives us the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But how well do you know the Gospel? Do you believe God’s Gospel? Or do you believe someone else’s? Do you believe the Gospel of Joel Osteen? His is different than the one Billy Graham purported. Do you believe the Gospel of TD Jakes? His is different than Rick Warren. Do you believe John Calvin’s Gospel? His is different than Warren, Osteen Jakes and Graham. Which Gospel do you adhere to? You might, as a keen listener, say you believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But really, how well do you know God’s Gospel?

God undoubtedly works covenantally. There are over 400 direct references to God working as a covenantally faithful God. God made a covenant with Adam, and that covenant had as one of its signs, the tree of life: "And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die,’" (Gen. 2:16-17). God made a covenant with Noah, and this covenant had the sign of the rainbow, (Gen. 9:9-17). With Abraham, God also made a covenant. When you, listener, think of God dealing with people like Adam, Noah and Abraham, do you think of the Gospel? Or, like most misinformed Christians, do you think the Gospel of Jesus Christ came much later?

The Old Testament makes up more than 2/3rds of the Bible. Most Christians neglect it. They believe, for some strange reason, that the Gospel began in Matthew 1:1 or thereabouts. They do not consider that the Gospel began in Genesis 3:15. The Abrahamic Covenant is called the gospel in Galatians 3:8, "And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations shall be blessed in you.” The Apostle Paul, no doubt, believed the Abrahamic Covenant is still in effect. The Gospel is that all nations will be blessed by God, and that God will be a God to His people and their children. This is called “the gospel” by Paul, and demonstrates very clearly that the Abrahamic covenant is, in reality, this New Covenant made with Jesus Christ. To say the Abrahamic covenant is “Old Testament” stuff, and that it is not currently in effect, is to blatantly contradict what the Apostle Paul teaches when he calls it “The Gospel.”

Christians cannot be confused on the Gospel. If they are confused on the Gospel, then they must, in turn, be confused about the manner in which God works. If they are confused in the manner in which God works, then what God have they fabricated? What God do they really serve if not “their own imaginations?”

Currently this author is working on a book that will be released in the first quarter of 2008 called, “Believing God’s Gospel.” The Gospel is not something that the church can afford to be confused on. It may be through ignorance, or through poor teaching, but regardless of the cause, God never gives us the right to be wrong about His Gospel.

This is Dr. Matthew McMahon signing off.

Keep checking back at A Puritan’s Mind – currently in the works is an MP3 series on the Covenant of Grace, and another MP3 series on Election and Predestination. Puritan Publications has already released its latest book, “A Heart for Reformation” which covers how every Christian should desire true biblical reformation. For more on Reformed and Puritan Theology, visit www.apuritansmind.com.