In the age of twitter, celebrity preachers, and relevant ideas there is a temptation to live our lives in light of controversies. We want to stir ideas and bring up things that no one is talking about. I will use myself as an example to see how this works. Part of my
Christian walk was a period that I call “the time when I got reformed”. I started listening to a preacher who is now very well known:Paul Washer. He was mainly known by his Youth shocking Message , a very convicting and very direct sermon. Washer’s style tends to be very confrontational and very harsh, yet I think he is a faithful preacher and many of the things he says are true. When I listened to him preach I was convicted of my sin I wanted others to hear the same kind of preaching soon. This affected me in several ways:
Christian walk was a period that I call “the time when I got reformed”. I started listening to a preacher who is now very well known:Paul Washer. He was mainly known by his Youth shocking Message , a very convicting and very direct sermon. Washer’s style tends to be very confrontational and very harsh, yet I think he is a faithful preacher and many of the things he says are true. When I listened to him preach I was convicted of my sin I wanted others to hear the same kind of preaching soon. This affected me in several ways:
1 Fatalistic statements: Because of the conviction and the weight of his sermons and the many truths about the contemporary church, I started to share many of his quotes in social media. I really wanted to stir up hearts and get a bunch of hypocrites converted. The thing is that many of my convictions at the moment didn’t translate into practical repentance in my own life, which made my statements fatalistic because I affirmed myself by what he said.
2. Experimental doctrine: While felt affirmed by what Washer said, I quoted him to numb my conscience to the conviction I felt. I thought that I was spiritually right because I heard his sermons and read his books, assuming that this was automatically imputing his experiences to myself in the subjects of holiness, prayer, evangelism, and missions. As with any author or preacher we may follow, we can soon assume we are like them simply because we like them.
3. We need the word and the Holy Spirit: So many of the things I used to quote to “convert” people from their hypocrisy were attempts to make them feel the weightiness of Washer’s words. The problem is that no one needs Washer’s words. They need to hear the word of God and experience the work of the Spirit. This is not to demean wise, thoughtful authors who write or preach about christian doctrine. But we must recognize that what makes them reliable is the word they preach. The pointedness of a powerful statement doesn’t have any power unless the Spirit is in it and for that we need to submit to the word first. The things we want people to get convicted from are not necessarily found in what Washer, Calvin, or Dever says but in Scripture itself, since these men are students of scripture, not self. Rely on the word as your first source in order to make loving statements.
4. Context: It took me a while to understand that men like Washer speak from a particular cultural context that to which I can partially relate, because I’m familiar with it. But we must not assume that what they are saying is their first attempt. There may have been former conversations and an attempt to persuasion with a calmer, nicer tone before they preached the cutting words that I listened to. If our first attempt is harsh, we may lose an opportunity to bring somebody to Christ by the way we deal with them.
5. Paul Washer doesn’t want you to be like him: We can name many of our favorite preachers and authors and they will tell us that they don’t want us to be like them but like Christ. The goal of a godly role model is to redirect us to the cross and the life of Christ. Washer will admit to being in error and making mistakes, and we should learn from this that even the people we highly esteem have limitations. They would even feel pain that their statements have been misunderstood by us in giving us affirmation in our pharisaism or the way we frame them on twitter.
Getting caught in controversies should not be our goal. Even when we see problems in churches or people’s lives, making strong statements won’t change things by itself. We need to begin working for change by prayer, trusting the Lord in His power. This is not saying that you shouldn’t share quotes or statements that have impacted your life or given you sobriety the way they exalted who God is. This is simply to say that God is the one who initiates and the one who works, and we must see ourselves and others as instruments. Before we begin to act like loose canons, we must first have an experiential submission to the truth. Be encouraged brother and see that God is at work. Pray that any sermon and any book you read would impact you by becoming a reality within you and not just because you like it or think is cool. Otherwise I will have to ask you, “Why are you like this? I am talking about you!”
1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
