Truth is ancient; it's grey hairs may make it venerable;
it comes from Him who is the ancient of days. --Thomas Watson

 

26 August, 2005   comments: (0) Today's Pragmatism   Pragmatism Missing in Ezekiel The first three chapters of the book of Ezekiel make a very convincing case for the impossibility of pleasing God with seeker-centered preaching. In a nut shell, Ezekiel is told by God to speak the exact words that God gives him to speak, to a rebellious people. No sooner does God tell Ezekiel this, than He informs him of this one critical bit of foresight: "It wont work"! (Ezk 3:7) Never the less, God tells him to preach His Word anyway, and to not be afraid of the people. That's not very pragmatic, is it. There's not going to be any immediate revival from the message that Ezekiel is going to preach. And yet we know that the point of Romans 9 is to teach us that God's word never fails to accomplish what God intends. Therefore, Ezekiel's message will not be a failure, even though it might immediately look that way, from Ezekiel's human perspective. What a temptation it would be today, to tweak Ezekiel's message. Even though God said to speak His words, we could certainly get better immediate results if we were to preach something more seeker-friendly, upbeat, and relevant to the lives of the average person in that culture. Of course, we'd have to get rid of those warnings that Ezekiel was told to give, as we dont want to turn anyone off with negativity. If you follow the line of reasoning that I've outlined above, you get the gist of one of the concepts taught by John MacArthur in his CrossTV.com video series entitled Does The Truth Matter Anymore? Bill Vaughan has written a synopsis of John MacArthur's videos, and here are some excerpts: [Pragmatism] is yet another way to get us to distrust God's word and take matters into our own hands. Unfortunately, pragmatism is sweeping through the modern Church in the form of self-help sermons, positive thinking teaching, drama, dance, psychology, worldly music, avoidance of offending biblical doctrines, etc. BUT God's mandate for the Church is seen in 2 Tim 4:1-2. This passage is best summed-up by the command: PREACH THE WORD! (2 Tim 4:2). Even Peter made this command clear when he called all of those with the speaking gifts to STICK TO THE WORD OF GOD! (1 Peter 4:11) and reminded elders that they are Shepherds (whose primary responsibility is to FEED the flock) (1 Peter 5:1-4). Look at God's words to Ezekiel: Ezekiel 2:1-8 Then He said to me, 'Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!' As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me, 'Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. 'I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' 'As for them, whether they listen or not - for they are a rebellious house - they will know that a prophet has been among them. 'And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. God made it very clear - PREACH MY WORDS and DON'T CONCERN YOURSELF WITH THE RESPONSE! Given that God alone draws people and God alone saves people, it only makes sense to do ministry the way He prescribes! Does The Truth Matter Anymore? - made a huge impact on me as I was on my way out of the seeker-centered system. This video set would make an excellent gift for your pastor, or as an addition to your church library. You can purchase, or find out more about them by visiting this page: http://www.oldtruth.com/crosstv.cfm Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.34   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism