In the modern Church we seem to have an abundance of celebrity preachers or pastors. They have large churches, TV shows, books galore. Even secular TV hosts will have them on their show. We have come a long way from men like Paul who called himself the Chief of Sinners and the least of all the apostles.
I have seen the magazine from a fairly large church here in Texas where the pastor is pictured in somewhat a Robert E. Lee pose and the list of all his accomplishments are listed to the left of the picture. I have been to conferences where men line up for $10 a pop to have their picture taken with some big name preacher.
If indeed these men are pastoring churches full of saved folks I am glad that the Kingdom of God is advancing and people are being saved. I have some doubts about some of these men though. I also know that the bulk of Christians in America are being ministered to by pastors with not so big congregations. They have no time or money for TV or radio shows and they will never be on famous talk show. They spend most of their days in hospitals, prisons and rescue missions not at book signings. Sadly, they are often criticized by members or corrected because they don't say what Dr Soandso says in his latest book or in his recent TV sermon.
One thing is certain there will be no hot shots in Heaven. More kudos will likely be given to some pastor who has ministered in the inner city or in small town America then to some of the Super Stars. Indeed, blue haired grandmothers in nursing homes praying for their families, genetic and church, their pastor and the nation may get more jewels in their crowns than the jet set preacher who seldom sees his congregation let alone minister to them outside of the pulpit on Sundays.
We need to not be respecters of men. Yes, give honor to whom honor is due, but we must humbly worship God because of our state.
1 Cor 1:30-2:5
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
We are saved by His grace. There is nothing spectacular about us. We are born sinners and we excel at sin. In verse 30 we see that everything we have is in Christ and granted from God the Father. We had no real wisdom before we were saved and none after if we are not walking in his wisdom but our own. We certainly had no righteousness. We were unrighteous to the core. We had no hope of sanctification or being set apart to be used by God for we were dirty and vile unfit for anything but Hell. We could not redeem ourselves by our works for they were a best filthy rags. Redemption came from Him. We were in a sad state of affairs until Christ saved us by His grace through His work on the Cross.
Because He has given us everything we must humbly worship Him. As verse 31 says, we should glory in the Lord, not ourselves or any other man for only He is worthy of glory, honor and praise. If any man seems to be having some success in ministry or life it is only because God has given that success. It is to no glory of his that he is fruitful. Once a man has done all that he can do he is still an unprofitable servant for he has only done that which was his duty to do. (Luke 17: 7-10)
We must humbly worship God because of our example.
1 Corinthians 2
2:1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
Paul was the most learned of the Apostles. As you know, most of them were unlearned fishermen who astounded the Sanhedrin and others with their exposition of the Scriptures and boldness of their message without having their equivalent of seminary training.
Yet, here in verse 1 we see Paul forsaking the ability that he had and did not speak with the learning that he had received from men, but rather that wisdom he received from God just as the fisherman did. He was not eloquent nor did he look like a super star or a candidate for the cover of GQ. Indeed, people said his bodily presence was weak and his speech contemptible. (2 Cor 10:10)
His mission was to present Christ and Him crucified, not promote Himself. Everything he had worked so hard to achieve as a Pharisee he now counted as dung. It was Christ and Christ alone that mattered and though Paul taught many things they all hinged on the Gospel of Christ!
Paul understood his awesome responsibility and so must we if we are worship and serve God in humility.
3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
Paul was not writing to have a little fireside chat. He was not giving wealth and prosperity teaching or motivational speeches. He knew the terror of the Lord and that we must all appear before Christ either at the Bema or the Great White Throne. He knew that his preaching would be a savor of death unto death for some and the savour of life unto life to others. His preaching was not to entertain bit to deliver the ultimatum of God to the rebellious and the love of God to the saints. He performed his responsibility well.
In order to worship God in humility we must be sure of our foundation.
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
Our foundation is in empowerment not eloquence. Many a person will find their soul in Hell because they listened to the eloquence of some man inhabited by evil spirits not the Holy Spirit. The devil is a liar and the father of lies. How eloquent he must have sounded to convince one third of the heavenly host to follow him. How eloquent must have been the serpent to deceive Mother Eve. How many men and women have been deceived by the silver tongues of men like Hitler and Mussolini, Marx and Darwin only to receive damnation in the end. Many who are silver tongued orators will be shocked to see themselves cast away as it is written in Matthew 7. They believed their own lies as well as the lies of the devil and Christ never knew them.
Paul knew that unless he spoke in the power of the Holy Spirit and demonstrated that power the people would not have a sure foundation. O, that we might have men like that again. Better to have the full power of the Spirit than just a systematic theology no matter how sound that theology may be.
To humbly worship God we must have salvation not sensation.
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. KJV
The wisdom of men can often be delivered in a sensational fashion or in a way that moves our emotions and titillates us but what we hear is a lie and has not solid foundation. It is a whiff of smoke on a windy day gone quickly and leaving us frustrated and worse off then we were before. Our faith is to stand upon the Word of God that was inspired by the Son of God, commissions by God the Father and applied to us by the Holy Spirit of God. That power is what keeps us secure, not our understanding or sensations. Yea, be thankful we are kept by the power of God rather than man's understanding for even if we lose our minds to Alzheimer's or some other disease or injury it matters not for our faith is in the everlasting power of God. One dear saint was dying in the nursing home and she had some fear. I told her not to worry that Jesus would send an angel to come and fetch her home. She said, “What if I forget?” I told her, “Honey, not to worry for even if you forget He knows where you are and He never forgets!” She needed not to worry about her mind. Her faith had been place in Jesus and that was all it took for her to stand for she had the power of God to make her stand when she had no strength of her own.
Where do you stand? Are you humbly worshiping the Lord? Does you faith stand in theology or wisdom of men? Do you trust in eloquence or the empowerment of God? Glory in Him and Him alone. If you are standing on the power of God do you recognize your awesome responsibility to win soul and preach the Gospel though you may be the savour of death unto death? Your responsibility is to go and to speak. The results are up to Him. Will you fulfill your responsibility?
If you are not saved and reading this your only responsibility and hope is to be saved. How your life goes from here on and where spend eternity is entirely up to you! Choose wisely! Maranatha!
