April 15, 2008
The Pits
In years past we had an invitation at the conclusion of all of our worship services. The thought was that we should not close a service without giving people an opportunity to come forward and accept Jesus. Today we can’t always recognize the invitation-time because it keeps morphing. For a time we had one of the strangest invitations I had ever come across. From the pulpit we were told if you want to make a decision for the Lord, “…just turn to the person next to you and ask him what to do.” Excuse me? Sometimes I don’t even know the person setting next to me. Jesus warns us, “…If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matt 15:14 NIV) Here’s my suggestion. Before you ask the person next to you about decisions concerning your soul, ask him how familiar he is with the inside of a pit.
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3 comments:
Honestly Gail, I hadn't read this blog when I made reference to "pit directer" in my response to your blog of yesterdy!
Steve
Too funny...
Gail
Gail;
-----On a more serious note, many, many years ago, I used to sit there and think, “Why is this invitation needed? I’ve come to the Lord, the rest of us have too.” And I suppose it would not be needed in a meeting where it was fully known by the preacher that all in the room were duly processed into the Lord. I am very big on doing things for the effective fulfillment of real purposes, only. If that objective is not present, I want nothing to do with it. So, at times, in a church where only the familiar faces, only the saved and gracious are present, I would much feel the altar call to be disingenuous, unless it was toward deeper commitment, prayer, and other necessities of the new life.
-----The contemporary church purpose is to run herds of unwashed people through the auditorium for a sermon upon some sociological issue also having mixed into it a measured sprinkle of religious overtone. One would think that having this mass of unwashed, Lord needing folk in the auditorium would certainly necessitate a clear and pointed invitation to come to Jesus Christ and get that washing we all know they must have. But to hear the invitation time reduced to a quick, one-line, cutesy, quip leads me to reflect suspiciously upon the truth of their stated intent to save these passer-bys in the first place. Then to notice that most of this mass passing through are just other Christians church hopping and shopping convinces me the whole “dilute the message dissolve the culture” drive springs from an ulterior motive having more to do with hushing up the Word than spreading it around.
-----Thankfully the Word has had continued presence in your church, if not skilled usage. Unfortunately, without the latter, the former is only a few steps better than no Word at all. I pray for the backlash to begin, the open cry for the Bible to finally be brought forth there by skilled minds, the service led from truly loving hearts, and a clear, unmistakable invitation once again to go out to those who need to receive.
God bless you all
Steve Corey
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