Pastors, Say Something!

On July 5 I attended worship at a church in a different city and was excited to be reunited with old friends.  I was also anxious to sit under the preaching of the Word instead of delivering the Word that particular morning.  My excitement grew as the text was read aloud:

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave [2] to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.” (John 8:31-38)

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).

 

What great texts from which to expound upon our freedom in Christ and to compare that freedom with the freedom we have as Americans just as we celebrated our Independence.  I could hardly wait to hear the freedoms of Christ extolled and the victory over death proclaimed.  However, instead, what I heard was a rant against the ACLU and an explanation of how we are free as Americans because Christ has set us free.

Pastors, first, be true to the text.  The text was written for a purpose and that purpose was not to explain the freedoms of modern day America.  Christ set us free, not from Britain or tyrannical rule, but from sin, death, hell and the grave.  We have been set free from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and the possession of sin.  To compare Christianity with patriotism is idolotry.

I left that service angry and broken hearted.  I was angry because the text of Scripture was maligned and God was not glorified in that political rant.  I was angry because the pulpit is the sacred desk from which the Word of God is to be proclaimed, it is not a political platform.  I was broken hearted because I knew that the gospel was not proclaimed and I knew that sinners couldn’t have been saved from that message.  I summed up the sermon at the bottom of my notes with two words…”WASTED OPPORTUNITY!”

So pastors, say something.  Something about God’s glory and the greatness of His Word.  Say something about His plan that spans the ages of time.  Say something about the fact that all of the freedoms we have in this world cannot compare with the freedom we have in Christ.  Say something about sin and about Christ’s atonement for it.  The text is the pool into which your sermon should dive into and swim around, not the diving board from which you are called to leap.