Our church took the opportunity to reach out to a nearby town with food, music, games, and good ole friendship. During the event our worship band shared some awesome worship music with the crowd that had gathered. It was great to see Christians rubbing shoulders with those who just needed a kind word and some encouragement, and of course, the message of Christ. I was sharing little tidbits before each song our band played and took the liberty to inject humor, but also some real truth. As we continued through the night it was apparent that many people were searching and that searching had brought them to this event. Before one song I shared that they needed to choose one or the other, heaven or hell, and as I was saying the word HELL, it almost got caught in my throat. Why? I guess I was scared to offend anyone? Who knows? But the hesitation really got me thinking. There is a heaven, and there is a hell. Why are we so hesitant to mention hell? Is it embarrassment? Is it “Not the cool thing to say?” Is it not true? Why don’t we weep for those who don’t know Christ? Maybe it’s not my personality to speak of such things! Then I realized something. It’s not about the messenger. It’s about the message. When I remembered that great truth it did something awesome! It took me out of the picture. If I only shared some things about salvation and left other things out because of maybe shyness or embarrassment, then the message of salvation is no longer dependent on God’s message, but on the filter I have on the message through me. In other words, I have made it MY message. I suddenly realized how dangerous that was and took my “feelings” out of the mix and made a firm commitment to share it like it is. I served with a youth pastor a few years ago and he would not say certain things from the Bible for fear of it hurting someone’s feelings or not being cool. His image was premiere and God’s Word was secondary. To say the least, there was a shallowness in his life that became apparent in many areas. His family, his relationships, his convictions, all suffered from the filter he had installed in his personal convictions. That filter took the strong message of God’s Word and compromised it. What a sad commentary. Has this whole thing come to this? Picking out easy passages of the Bible to make us feel better about ourselves? Dangerously sad…
In the book of Revelation John wrote when Jesus taught and here’s what He said in Chapter 3 verses 14-22 “Don’t compromise. If you do, you aren’t any use to me. Keep in touch with my truth that is made of refined gold. I’m knocking at your door, so let me in. If you really are listening, then you will hear what I am saying.” Now you won’t find that translation anywhere but here. But that is what He’s saying. If you will stop long enough to look around, you will see that things in this earth are spiraling. And it’s not spiraling upward! Years ago we would talk about “Jesus coming back” with an urgency that caused people to believe it. In some ways, that urgency has left our message and now we seem to be more “politically, spiritually correct” in our approach to sharing the message. Of course, we need to know our world and be relevant with that message, but it should not go through man-made filters that are weak at best. The message is at it’s strongest when we don’t change it. The story below helped me see this in a whole new light….. A lady arriving early at work one morning witnessed a terrorist, strapped with a bomb, sneaking into the building. As she fled, she passed her fellow workmates coming into the office and wondered if she should warn them. She hesitated and thought: ‘What if they don’t believe me and nothing happens, how foolish I will feel.’ As she quietly agonised on what to do, the office suddenly exploded into a great ball of fire. Later, the police took the lady’s statement. She told them everything she witnessed. When the police asked why she hadn’t warned her co-workers and saved their lives, she responded meekly: ‘I was too embarrassed – I didn’t think they’d believe me and label me a fool.’ In reality, God will get His true message out and the warning will be direct and firm. He just might not do it through you anymore!! Why? God doesn’t like our filters!! If you have found yourself worrying more about “coolness” than Godliness, then possibly there needs to be a “bomb threat” made to your heart to wake you up! I guess if I really worried about the “correct” thing to say in this blog, I wouldn’t even mention this stuff. But I don’t! I’m just sayin….. The threat is real……Trouble is on the horizon….People need to know before it’s too late… It’s up to you and me…..How will you respond? The Pilgrimage continues….. David Warren