My Unusual Journal 24

My Unusual Journal

My Unusual Journal 24 - Friday, September 02, 2011, 6:34 PM

A Few Caveats on Common Pulpit Behavior

Since this is MY Unusual Journal I assume I can air my thoughts and make them "unusual" while at the same time making sure they are wrapped in love. Now you are uneasy; you're thinking, "What will this babbler say next?" I hope what I have to gently complain about will be taken in the same spirit in which it is given. I love my spiritual brothers and sisters and it makes me uncomfortable when we are so illogical and even extreme about some of our ways of acting and the attitudes we take when some "babbler" wants to gently relieve us of the baggage we carry around with us. Here are two or three of my niggling constructive criticisms:

• Many of our guest ministers, when introduced to the church, seem to have no end of the special people they want to honor. They "give honor" to 1) any bishops in attendance, 2) any secular dignitaries, 3) the First Lady, 4) the guest minister’s friends in the audience, 5) the chandeliers) 6) the walls and 7) the auxiliaries.

I may be overstating it a little with the last three items, but you get the picture. It is in line with pulpit etiquette to make a few acknowledgements, but we seem to want to cover every possible honoree so that we don't offend anyone. Dispense with the superabundant preliminaries and preach the Word!

• Before he or she gets into the message of the moment they may say, "Praise the Lord, saints!" and the audience will respond in like manner. That is good. But sometimes he is not satisfied with the lack of enthusiasm and will prod the congregation for more fervor. "I said, 'Praise the Lord!" and by that he means to say, “Praise the Lord louder, you lukewarm saints!” and that will continue until he gets them sufficiently "heated up." Come on, my brother, my sister, if they don't have the height of emotion you want and if you are really anointed with a message from God, then it's up to you and God. Don't go in expecting a whoop and a holler all the time; don't make yourself dependent on the fever pitch of the audience; that is not your responsibility.  
• In the ideal situation the basic facts are these: God has ordained you to deliver a certain message for that particular occasion. Don't be sidetracked by incidentals that have nothing to do with what God wants you to do at that time, whether the emotions of the congregation are at the boiling point and you feel buoyed up by it or whether your own emotions for some inexplicable reason have reached an all-time low – just preach the Word! Be instant (ready) in season or out of season. Preach the Word! That is your sacred, solemn duty before God.  Preach the Word!

 Don't be quick to strip, in a sense, others of their salvation just because you deem them not to be as close to God as you are. If they are apparently genuine in their protestations of love for God and believe in His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, avoid antagonizing them by saying in a deprecatory manner (or by your condescending attitude), "You ain't got this or that" because they have not had the same experiences with God that you have. You (we) don't have a lock on the truth of God. Walk in love; pray for and fellowship with them until they become known by the fruit they bear. Frankly some of us staunch Pentecostals are not so proficient in that area.

 The items of criticism are small, but they give outsiders an unfavorable view of us – and any more self-inflicted unfavorable views are what we do not need. We cheerfully accept the harassment that comes with walking with Christ, but why add unneeded fuel to the fire?

If you are a preacher/teacher of the Word of God, please take these criticisms (that I pray are in fact constructive) to heart; sometimes it is not a big obvious error, but an accumulation of pesky little faults that seriously hinder one’s ministry.

Comments

[Edward Matheny]

Oh brother Jack (in my Elder R.F. Tobin voice)! Good advice and welcomed!

Brother Matheny