1 Thessalonians 2:3-6 ESV
“For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ.”
Market-Driven “Churches”
I doubt that many pastors of institutional market-driven “churches”
in America today could proclaim what Paul proclaimed here about his ministry,
and to say it in all honesty. For what Paul stated here goes against the whole
concept of the market-driven “church,” which is not the true church, the body
of Christ. For it is all about patterning the gatherings of what is called “church”
after marketing schemes and for the purpose to draw in and attract large crowds
of people from the world.
And if you know anything about marketing, most of it
involves deception and trickery, from what I have seen, and it is all about
pleasing the people they are trying to reach with their product. But it is
certainly not about pleasing everyone. It is not about pleasing God and his
servants and messengers. For you can’t please the people of the world and
please God, too. And usually they have a target audience they are trying to reach,
and there are people they want to exclude, too, like needy people and those who
don’t buy into the whole marketing the church to the world scheme.
My husband and I were involved in institutional church
ministries over a span of about 40 years, and about 6 years of that was in
these market-driven churches. And many of those years we were involved in the
inner workings of the church ministries, and so we got a good hard look at what
is going on behind the scenes. Plus we were church planters twice, and so we went
through the training that many of these pastors go through, so I am speaking a
lot here from personal experience.
And so these market-driven institutional “churches” are
businesses and they are being run like businesses, and since they are being marketed
to the world, they indeed are trying to please the people of the world so that
they will want to come back to their gatherings, and so they will feel
comfortable and at home there. And so their pastors will use marketing
techniques in order to attract the world, which involves flattery and greed,
for they are building their earthly kingdoms, not God’s eternal kingdom.
And that is why they are diluting and altering the gospel
message, too, so that they don’t offend the people of the world with the truth
of the gospel. So they teach that you can make a one-time profession of faith
in Jesus Christ, and now your sins are forgiven (past, present, and future),
and heaven is guaranteed you when you die, but regardless of how you live your
lives on this earth. For most of them are also teaching that you don’t have to
repent of your sins and you don’t have to obey the Lord, for they call that “works
salvation,” which clearly it is not (read the Scriptures in context).
Integrity in Christian Ministry
Now, what was described above, with regard to these
institutional market-driven “churches” is not biblical. The Bible does not
instruct us to use marketing books and schemes to lead us in how to conduct our
gatherings so that the people of the world will be attracted in a fleshly way
to our gatherings. And it certainly does not give us leeway to dilute our Lord’s
gospel so as not to offend the people of the world with the truth of the gospel
and in order to appease human flesh.
Instead our pastors, if they are godly men, should have the
testimony of Paul. They should be men of integrity and honesty and not
manipulative, and not charming, and not ones who use marketing tricks and
schemes to draw in large crowds of people from the world. For our gatherings,
if they are biblical, are for the body of Christ to build herself up in the
faith to maturity in Christ, for the teaching of the word, for prayer, for
fellowship, and for the breaking of bread. And they are so that we can
encourage one another to walk in holiness in obedience to our Lord, and not in
sin.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn
14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:42; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1
Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Php 2:1-8; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25;
1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
And the truth of the gospel is not what so many are teaching
in these market-driven “churches,” but it is that Jesus said that if anyone
would come after him, he must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die
to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives
of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the
sake of Jesus Christ we die with him to sin and live to him and to his
righteousness, then we have eternal life (Luke 9:23-26; cf. Romans 6:1-23; 1
Peter 2:24).
Pray,
Pray, Pray
An
Original Work / September 6, 2012
Based
off Various Scriptures
Pray that eyes may enlightened be,
So they may know Christ.
Pray that they may Him better know,
Strengthened by His pow’r.
Pray that they may grasp
How wide and long
And high and deep
Is Christ’s love.
Pray that they may be filled
To the fullness of God’s love.
Pray with thanksgiving.
Pray for an open door for me,
So I may share Christ.
Pray when the gospel is proclaimed –
Shared with clarity.
Pray words are given me so
I declare the gospel fearlessly.
I pray for you to be active
Sharing your faith, too.
Pray continually.
We oft not know for what to pray,
So we ask for help.
The Spirit intercedes for us –
Words cannot express.
Just keep on praying for the saints
With all kinds of requests to God.
Pray they may have faith to
Please their God in ev’ry way.
Pray with joyfulness.
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