It’s a language spoken by those meshed into church
culture. “Churchy” Christians speak it
fluently! Let me illustrate.
“I’m so glad I’m saved, regenerated and born again. I appreciate His wonderful mercy and grace in
my life. Every day I seek His face,
asking Him to meet every need of my life, as I place my hands in His nail-scarred
hands. I ask Him to lead, guide and
direct me in His perfect will. I plead
the blood over all the details of my life.
I invite Him to daily convict me of my sin that I might experience His
sanctifying grace. I look forward to
each and every Lord’s Day, when I gather with those of like-precious faith to
lift up holy hands and to hear messages from God’s Holy Word. I enjoy listening to the testimonies of God’s
saints. What about you? Have you been washed in the blood of the
Lamb?”
Did you enjoy the preceding cliché festival?
I’m really not trying to poke fun at what I call
“Christianese,” the language of many who hide behind church doors and who
seldom, if ever, mingle with those outside the world of church. But I do want
you to understand that while we’re not of the world, we’re still in it; and we
need to communicate the Gospel in ways that those outside the realm of church
life can clearly understand.
I am on a quest to remind Christians everywhere to re-think
their manner of communication to those who are far from God and who need to
find new life in Christ. I believe I’m accurate when I say the world knows more
about what the church is against, than what the church is for! I still laugh about the little girl who after
returning from church was asked by her father, “What did the pastor preach
about today?” She replied, “Sin.” He then said, “What did he say about
it?” She replied, “I think he’s against
it!”
Law-based preaching seemingly dominates our pulpits, while
anti-grace proponents continue to harshly judge and criticize those who are
trying to make a difference in a generation that continues to remain suspect of
the church’s real message.
Perhaps like you, I surf Facebook quite regularly. And I’m constantly amazed at how predictably
many Christian streams communicate the gospel message. I find that a lot of Christian ministries
forget their target audience. They speak
“Christianese” to people who either have never darkened the door of a church,
or who know little about the Christian Faith.
And sadly, communication breakdowns continue to create barriers.
Then, I regularly note that Christians and churches in
general tend to “talk down” to people. I
often say, “You don’t achieve positive results with a negative (condescending)
message.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is earth’s greatest, most compelling
message. Why then do we major on what’s
wrong with people? Why do we often
emphasize what we’re against?
I completely understand that God has not gone soft on sin,
but I don’t believe we have to beat people up with a hard-sell message. Many sermons and churches communicate with
law-based Bible thumping instead of hope-filled messages. We often hear, “You should…” “You never…” You
always…” These three phrases, when used
by spouses during marital spats incite further anger; so what makes us think
our listeners are going to embrace what we say if we constantly tell them “what
they’re not doing?” Remember, “the Law
came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
In addition, we have more than enough angry messengers. Perhaps some preachers who say, “We love the
sinner, but hate their sin,” struggle with personal biases and anger issues
that override any good they attempt to achieve.
I recently heard a minister talking about “those sick-o fags,” all the
while discerning anger, even hate in his voice.
Angry preaching and angry preachers always discredit our Gospel of love.
I also grow weary of ministers criticizing other churches
and other well-meaning, sincere ministers of the Gospel. This serves only to aid and abet the enemy
camp. Why would any Christian sit under
a minister who constantly criticizes and maligns other churches outside their
stream of theology and practice? This
anger-driven type of ministry smacks of self-righteousness. The world needs to see our love for one
another in the face of disagreement. I applaud all the Christ-honoring churches
in Jefferson!
Yes, Jesus is Holy.
Yes, He is the way to heaven. Yes,
He wants us to serve Him with our whole heart.
But on the flipside, the Apostle Paul reminds us that “God demonstrates
His own love for us in this: That while we were sinners, Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8). And He needs us, His
representatives of grace, to speak this language in a clear and effective
manner.
Always remember, while “Christianese” is a major language
spoken by many church-goers, it has a lot of dialects, and they too tend to
bring conflicting messages to a world that is desperately looking for relevant
answers to life’s every day problems. Perhaps we need to quit defending what we
believe and engage people out of a broken heart.
Do we hate what sin does in peoples’ lives, or are we more
interested in setting people straight according to the dictates of our personal
convictions? The late evangelist, David
Wilkerson used to tell preachers, “Sermons that have not been wept over have no
place in the pulpit.” Perhaps he was right.
Let’s determine as God’s people to speak in understandable
terms to those who are far from God and never darken the door of our
churches. Let’s communicate on their
level of understanding and make this wonderful Gospel relevant and easy to
embrace. I’ve heard it said for years, “Preach the Gospel and use words if
necessary.”
