It is not the distance of the earth from the sun, nor the sun’s withdrawing itself, that makes a dark and gloomy day; but the interposition of clouds and vaporous exhalations. Neither is thy soul beyond the reach of the promise, nor does God withdraw Himself; but the vapours of thy carnal, unbelieving heart do cloud thee. – John Owen
WOW! Just wow.
No one who was not a shepherd or a peasant for five years can understand Virgil in his Bucolica and Georgica. I maintain that no one can undersand Cicero in his letters unless he was active in important affairs of state for twenty years. Let no one who had not guided the congregations with the prophets for one hundred years believe that he has tasted Holy Scripture thoroughly. For this reason the miracle is stupendous (1) in John the Baptist, (2) in Christ, (3) in the Apostles. Do not try to fathom this divine Aeneid, but humbly worship its footprints. We are beggars. That is true.
-Martin Luther (found in his pocket after his death.)
But what do pastors do when they’ve got no time (or creativity) to give this week’s message? Well, if the WSJ has the scoop -they plagiarize it.
The article seems to put the blame for plagiarism at the feet of pride and entertainment, but what disturbs me most is the spiritual impact of this – if a pastor is too tired, too busy, or too culturally unaware to present a cogent, biblically-sound and original sermon perhaps there is something else that needs to be addressed. The spiritual health of pastors is rarely the concern of the congregants, however it should be the concern of the elder’s board.
Two things seem to feed this, in addition to the need to impress (wholly my own observation):
The root of these are pride and idolatry, and the repercussions of them work into Sunday sermons. The intellectual absentia of our pastorate is disturbing, but we need to ask ourselves: is this what we want?
Do we want entertainment or do we want integrity?
I cannot fathom this:
The plagiarism debate grew louder in recent months after a sermon site posted an essay by the Rev. Steve Sjogren titled, “Don’t be original, be effective!” Mr. Sjogren urged pastors to quit spending time striving for originality and instead, to recite the words of better sermonizers.
For me, this opinion creates hypocrisy that will cumulatively lead people away from the truth – for the truth is not hypocritical.
Thanks to Between Two Worlds – who has a far clearer understanding of the matter, I’m just venting!
In reading Ted Haggard’s departure note I was profoundly struck by this quote:
When I stopped communicating about my problems, the darkness increased and finally dominated me. As a result, I did things that were contrary to everything I believe.
This exposes a perspective fault that runs deep in the world of evangelical Christianity, they’re victims of their own spin. They’ve made church meetings into events, pageants, orchestrations, and presentations for the Gospel with all the shine and glamor that goes into a real-estate scam ad on late night TV – and just as much integrity. The first question in the planning of a worship service is not how to worship Jesus rather how can they get the most people in this service.
It isn’t just the Sunday meetings that have been sidetracked, it is the people in them. Christians (not just pastors) routinely find themselves in the same place as Ted did – Satan, through deceiving believers into presenting false fronts does two-fold damage; first, he weakens the church’s ministry by creating an individual who is still victim to his/her old self and therefore has a testimony, that upon close inspection (or a news story), reveals the hypocrisy of the matter; second, the believer is not experiencing the reality of the Gospel and therefore incomplete in their worship of God.
The realization of sin is important, especially these two things:
Once these steps have been done it is fruitful to talk with a brother or sister in Christ openly about your struggles. If you are married, talk to your spouse – be open with them. Husbands, be humble, your wife is your help-mate and you should remember to share these things. Wives, share these things with your husband, it is an issue of manhood if he doesn’t want to hear these things; the husband is the head of the household and as such must be able to support those in it with constant lovingkindness and Christ-heartedness.
I dare suggest that Ted is not an exception, but rather an everyman. We can all be where he is, don’t look on him with scorn, but pray earnestly for him and for your own condition.
worth reading:
Well, this is likely to be the big news story of the day (it was breaking yesterday, and not all the facts were out – so I was hesitant to post), but it looks like the allegations of a male prostitute were at least partially true about Ted Haggard (now resigned as both head pastor of New Life Church and as head of the National Association of Evangelicals.)
Late Thursday, The Associated Press reported that the acting senior pastor at New Life, Ross Parsley, told KKTV-TV of Colorado Springs that Haggard admitted some of the accusations were true, but Parsley didn’t elaborate. (from this Denver Post story)
There’s a reason why I try to post these type of stories, sad as they are, the reality of the matter is that if you don’t battle your in-borne sin then your sinning will hurt Christ’s witness. The whole armor of God does no good, because it is sitting in your closet! You aren’t putting it on – you might be singing about it, thinking about it, making Sunday school lessons about it, talking about it and even preaching about it – but if it isn’t really real then it isn’t effecting you.
“If Christ is risen, nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen — nothing else matters.” – Jaroslav Pelikan
Is Christ risen?
Is He really real?
Live the reality of your belief not just the profession – I beg of you, I pray of me, I pray for all of us.
For most of my “converted” life I’ve been attending Lutheran churches, but gradually it has become less of a community of worship for me and more of a community within which I must be a missionary. The doctrines, the treasures of Luther, the things he would say “everything hinges on this” exist abandoned on the side of the road as they make a anti-pilgrim’s progress back to the “city of destruction.” Reflecting on the reformation (since yesterday was reformation day) I am pained, the great teachers have long since gone home and I truly am weighted with the sense that the vineyard must still be worked, we still need workers – God, please call more workers, even at this late hour!
From Luther’s commentary on Galatians:
Or do I seek to please men?
“Do I serve men or God?” Paul keeps an eye on the false apostles, those flatterers of men. They taught circumcision to avoid the hatred and persecution of men.To this day you will find many who seek to please men in order that they may live in peace and security. They teach whatever is agreeable to men, no matter whether it is contrary to God’s Word or their own conscience. But we who endeavor to please God and not men, stir up hell itself. We must suffer reproach, slanders, death.
For those who go about to please men we have a word from Christ recorded in the fifth chapter of St. John: “How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone?”
For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Observe the consummate cleverness with which the false apostles went about to bring Paul into disrepute. They combed Paul’s writings for contradictions (our opponents do the same) to accuse him of teaching contradictory things. They found that Paul had circumcised Timothy according to the Law, that Paul had purified himself with four other men in the Temple at Jerusalem, that Paul had shaven his head at Cenchrea. The false apostles slyly suggested that Paul had been constrained by the other apostles to observe these ceremonial laws. We know that Paul observed these decora out of charitable regard for the weak brethren. He did not want to offend them. But the false apostles turned Paul’s charitable regard to his disadvantage. If Paul had preached the Law and circumcision, if he had commended the strength and free will of man, he would not have been so obnoxious to the Jews. On the contrary they would have praised his every action.
What prompted this? Several things:
Ultimately, I’m deeply saddened, please pray for me to have the humility to listen to God’s directing – What is my Ninevah? What is my Galatia? Where Lord? Give me eyes to see!