August 14, 2006
Church Critic
There are all kinds of critics - food, movie and book - and I’ve often thought there should be a place for respected church critics. You know someone who could critique the church without being accused of criticizing and complaining. I’ll admit that I’m sometimes a sermon critic. There was once a stretch of a few months when the Sunday morning sermons just weren’t doing it for me. The Biblical content and application seemed lost amongst the preacher’s jokes, illustrations and family anecdotes. Frustrated, I decided to record the amount of time used for ‘fluff’ and the amount of time given to Biblical teaching and instruction. One Sunday, much to my consternation, I discovered that out of the 30 minute sermon only four and a half minutes were used for Scripture and application. I wonder what the Bereans would think of this. “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Acts 17:11 NIV
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Gail;
----The Bible is rich in illustrations of criticism and response to criticism. It even draws guidelines for how criticism should be done, and it praises some godly criticism. Maybe some of the earliest church criticism was by the Hellenist women who felt that they were being ignored in the distribution of relief to those in Jerusalem. Paul was told by critics about the divisions in the Corinthian church, and the immorality there. And Paul did not shrink from what he found criticizable in the actions of Peter and the other pillars of the Jerusalem church.
----The Bible lays out procedures and guidelines for when one brother has a complaint against another. It even recognizes the validity of criticism and complaints against the elders by setting forth the number of witnesses necessary to validate such complaints.
----But the critic needs to be certain that he knows he is right in his criticism. One is not implicitly wrong to step forward and criticize, but he does take upon himself a great responsibility to The Truth (not to "his truth"). Dathan missed this point when he stepped forward to criticize Moses. Moreover, he ignored the very obvious fact that Moses was being led with precision by the Lord Himself. Ooohh, dangerous!
----But I have never seen the faces of any elders or preachers glow with the glory of the presence of the Lord. I have known some who think they need no flashlights at night, but those kind are generally preceded by their own errors more than the shine of their faces.
----I believe that many of todays religious leaders are in need of receiving some loving criticism. The return of the Lord is impending, and our churches are in a tumultuos mix of denominational and cultural division. It is my opinion that it behooves as many Christians as possible to study their Bibles carefully and criticize what they find in their churches that certainly runs amuck of the Word.
----For example, some churches are considering Jesus as only a spoke in the bigger wheel. Other churches are ordaining women for preaching. Yet others are ordaining homosexuals. Like the marauding Vikings in the Capital One commercial, you can just hear these types greedily wondering, "What's in your pulpit?"
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