What you Win them With, is What you Win them To
Text: 2 Samuel 6:1-10
OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING
Good morning everyone… I want to share with you something that I believe is extremely important in our day and age. In-fact; I think this might be one of the biggest things the Church needs to deal with if we hope to ever see revival and repentance, and a return to normalcy in our world. In-fact; I’m convinced that until we and I mean the Church as a whole, deal with this issue, I don’t know that we’ll ever get to the point of the kind of repentance that will bring revival to our churches and our land.
So what is this thing? What is this big issue? Well, in one word – Pragmatism!
Now people hear me say that and they kind of nervously laugh and say, “Is he serious?” Yes! Dead Serious! And I’ll tell you why… but before I get into that, let me give you a couple of definitions of pragmatism, just to make sure we’re all on the same page, and that we all understand what I’m going to be talking about today.
So what is pragmatism? It’s the philosophical idea that says “If it works, it must be true.” Or, “If it works, it must be ok to do it, or use it.” Or we might say it’s the idea that “The ends justify the means.”
So in other words, in the context of the Church, let’s say you’ve got a congregation, and this congregation is trying to get more people to attend Sunday services… so instead of looking at Scripture and finding the clear things that God says a church should be doing, instead this particular church says, “Well in the business world, this seems to work.” Or “In the corporate world, this model is very effective.” Or it might say, “Yes, this particular thing we’re going to be doing isn’t found anywhere in Scripture, but we know that if we do this, it will generate excitement in our church, so we’re going to use it and put our time and effort and even our money towards that program, or that gimmick, or toward this process, because of the success it seems to have in the world.”
So to the pragmatist – what is true – is whatever works.
Now the question we need to ask is – How is pragmatism in the Church… or is it even in the Church? And if it is, why is it so bad?
So let me just put this out there for you to pause and think about… How do you do get more people to come to your Sunday morning worship service? If you give any answer other than, by sharing the Gospel with them, leading them to the Lord, and inviting them to come gather with you to worship. You’re engaging in pragmatism. In other words, if you say, “Well, we have to have the right kind of music, and the right kind of children’s programs, and our worship service needs to be exciting, and more of an experience than discipleship. And we need to have the right kind of events, and comfortable chairs, and climate controlled buildings.” Or anything other than, sharing the Gospel and inviting people to gather to worship the Lord… you’ve engaged in pragmatism.
Now does all of that stuff draw a crowd on Sunday? Yes, it can. There are mega-churches all over that show us it can draw a crowd. And when __________ tells his people that he’s God, and that they can be God too, that also draws a crowd. Or when __________ does fake healing services, that also draws large crowds. Or when _________ - Church advertises that they are all about giving you some kind of “experience” that elicits an emotional response and glorifies your flesh… that obviously draws a crowd. But none of that is Biblical. God never says to do any of that.
And God is very clear in His Word, how we are to get people to join us on the Lord’s Day as we gather to worship. And when you push back on that, and you say, “Hold on just a second, let me look at my Bible and see if God is giving us the ok to do something like that.” Most of the time, those folks come at you and say, “How Dare You!” Kind of like evangelical Gretta Thunbergs… “Don’t you try to put God in a box. We’re reaching people. Maybe our methods aren’t in the Bible, but look at the size of our congregation!”
And here’s the problem… to the pragmatist… truth and I specifically mean the truth of God’s Word… it then becomes relative or optional. To the pragmatist, what’s true is what seems to work best for whatever they’re think they’re trying to achieve. So it doesn’t really matter to them if God never said it, or if God says, “This is the way I want you to reach people.” Because this other way seems to be more effective, and more successful.
How does that affect the Church… well let me just throw out one obvious and verifiable way.
In Church growth. What do I mean by that? Well every study, every poll, every statistic out there, and that’s being done today tell us… There is no real Church growth taking place in the United States of America. What’s happening is membership transfer. In other words, and please hear me here. Churches are not growing because they are out reaching the lost with the Good News of Jesus Christ… They are growing because members from other congregations transfer their membership to this new congregation. And why do they do that? Something like 90% of the time it’s because the church they are transferring to has better music, and offers more options for an emotional experience.
I can tell you from personal experience. In my 20+ years as a pastor, I’ve had folks… good folks, come to me and say, “Pastor we’re leaving this congregation.” And you ask them “Why? Was something said or done?” And they say, “Oh no. In-fact; we’ve grown so much under your preaching, and we’ve learned so much of God’s Word at this church… but that new plant down the street has different music, and more things for our kids.”
That’s pragmatism. Why is it so dangerous?
Well let’s go to God’s Word… If you have your Bibles please open them up to 2 Samuel 6:1-10 (READ).
Now as we read that you probably saw it… but before I unpack that, let me just give you a little history lesson here. So after the Reformation… and you had all these Protestants coming out of the Catholic Church… God was opening their eyes, and they all realized that the way the Catholic Church did worship was not Biblical. And so the Reformers were saying to themselves, “Ok, we’ve go to change this up, because we know the Catholic Church is wrong in this.” And what you had was the Anglican Church (or Church of England), say, “Ok, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do those things that God says we should in His Word… and also… if He doesn’t expressly prohibit anything, we’ll do that too.” They called that the “Normative Principle of Worship.” On the other hand, you had the Puritans and Presbyterians in Scotland saying, “We can and must only incorporate the things that are expressly prescribed in Scripture and nothing else.” And they called that the “Regulative Principle of Worship.” So in one sense, the Puritans and Presbyterians were saying, “God has given us a very specific and limited way in which He says He wants us to worship, and that’s what we’re going to do.” And the Anglicans were saying, “God has given us a blueprint, and we’re going to take that blueprint, and use it, but also put our own little spin on it.”
Here’s another way to look at it… The difference between the normative principle and the regulative principle is that the normative principle of worship says, “This pleases me, I will give it to God as worship.” And over time that morphs into, “This pleases a lot of people, so we will give it to God as worship.” On the other hand, the regulative principle of worship says, “I will pay close attention to what God says in His Word that he desires for worship, and I will give Him that. Because our starting point in worship is not man, and it’s not what man wants, or what man holds valuable… it’s about Jesus, and it’s about what Jesus wants, and what pleases Him.”
And so when we are not obeying God’s specific commands for worship, or evangelism, or preaching, or doing church, we find ourselves doing it our way instead. We find ourselves doing exactly what David does in this passage. Where he completely ignores God’s clear instructions for transporting the Ark of the Covenant, and tries to do it in the most pragmatic way, and he ends up getting a man killed.
Now understand this… David wasn’t apostate. He loved God. He desired to do the right thing. But he didn’t take the time to see what God had said concerning this… or he just figured that God would make an exception for this, because David’s heart was in the right place. Besides it’s easier and more effective to use a cart to transport something than it is having two priests use specific kinds of poles to carry it, along with a religious procession involving animal sacrifices. So it was easier… it was more practical… it was more pragmatic – BUT IT WAS WRONG! And where David messed up was in his view. You see; the goal wasn’t to get the Ark back to Jerusalem… the goal is to obey and glorify God.
Now understand this… the Ark of the Covenant is a type of Christ. It’s made of wood, and overlaid in gold. The wood represents Jesus’ humanity, the gold represents His deity. Inside are the 10 Commandments, which are the Law and Word of God, Aaron’s rod that budded, and mana. They show God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice, and that Jesus is the Word made flesh. They show us that Christ is the bearer of our sin, and that He is our provider and sustainer. In a very real sense it is the presence of God to the people of Israel. And so this is a picture for us. This is a picture of David trying to experience the presence of God, and trying to get the people to experience the presence of God. That’s not bad – in and of itself… But God in His Word tells us – “Here’s how you do that.” You don’t manufacture that. You don’t get that by worldly, pragmatic means. You don’t get that by doing things the way the world does.
David wants the right thing… but he’s attempting to go about getting it in the wrong way.
Now are there other examples of this in the Bible? Yup! Real quick, turn with me to Leviticus 10:1-2 (READ). Nadab and Abihu offered up strange, or unauthorized fire, and God takes them out because of it.
Over and over again, we see examples of this… God’s people say, “Ok, we’re going to do this because we truly believe that it’s God’s will and we truly believe that this is what God wants… but we’re going to do it in a pragmatic or worldly way.” And guess what happens? Things don’t work. Someone dies… things fall apart… they lose a battle… you get swallowed by a big fish, the people fall into sin… God removes the lampstand (meaning the local church closes its doors and shuts down and is no longer viable or even in existence in a community)… over and over again – God’s Word shows us the consequences for not doing it the way that God says it should be done.
And people argue against that… they say, “But wait a minute! What about such and such church across town… they’re doing that, and they’re growing? Somethings obviously working right?” Well again, let’s think about Scripture… Gideon, he’s got this army gathered, and what does God do? Sends most of them away – because it’s God who gets the glory. Jesus feeds 5000 and now He’s got 5000 + women and children following Him, and what does He do? Sends them away. And so… I’m going to say this as plainly as I can… The large church across town has 1000 on Sunday morning… and they drew that crowd of 1000 on Sunday morning by doing things in a way that God never told them to… they drew that crowd of 1000 on Sunday morning by offering things that glorify and excite the sinful nature of man. And they drew that crowd by taking sheep from another under shepherds flock… you know, David had that problem as well… and Nathan the prophet had to confront him… it’s found in 2 Samuel 12… ya’ll remember the story right? David takes Uriah the Hittites wife Bathsheba… and if you’ll turn to 2 Samuel 12 really quickly I want to show you all something… This will be the last thing… but I want to show you, why we are so quick to get into pragmatism.
2 Samuel 12:7-9… so this is after David has sinned and had Uriah killed, and he’s taken Bathsheba as his own wife, and Nathan has told David this story about how a rich man stole the poor man’s lamb. Let’s read it (READ 2 Sam. 12:7-9)… now did you catch that? It’s in verse 9. Nathan point blank asks David – “Why have you despised the WORD of the Lord?”
That’s the real issue with pragmatism church! When we ignore or choose not to follow the clearly laid out commands of God, and instead attempt to do things in our own way, or the worlds, way, or simply because this other way seems to work or be effective… what we are doing is saying, “God’s Word isn’t sufficient for this.” What we’re saying is, “God’s way doesn’t work.” What we’re doing is saying “God for whatever reason… whether it’s because He lacks the power or ability, or will to do this thing, needs our help, and we’re going to make it happen.”
It is a subtle denial of the power, and sovereignty, and authority of God and His Word.
So here’s the final point.
What you win them with is what you win them to.
Our goal in worship is to glorify God. It’s to praise God. It’s to magnify God. It’s all about Jesus!
Our goal in evangelism is to glorify God. It’s to praise God. It’s to magnify God. It’s all about Jesus. It isn’t about the lost sinner. It’s not about appealing to their sinful nature and getting them interested in having some kind of emotional experience. It’s about explaining to them, that they are separated and alienated from the most holy Being in existence. That they have offended a holy and righteous God, and that they are lost and doomed to eternal wrath because of that. But this same God, in His mercy and goodness, has made a way through Jesus Christ in which that lost sinner can be reconciled back to Him, and be forgiven of their sin. And it’s by His grace that He grants them faith to believe and obtain this salvation and forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus Christ His Son. And as He does that for us, He receives the glory that belongs to Him, and to Him alone.
That’s what it’s about church. And that mega-church that is spending all its time appealing to the sinful nature of lost sinners, ends up with a 1000 lost people who are deceived into thinking they are right with God. And that congregation that spends all its resources using pragmatic ways to attract crowds of lost people in order to give them some kind of emotional experience ends up with crowds of lost people looking to have another, and another, and another emotional experience. But in reality they have never truly experienced the salvation and forgiveness that comes through knowing Christ. Their sin nature is gratified for a time, but eventually, they’re going to need more… just like everything else the world offers whether it’s drugs and alcohol, sex, thrills and excitement… eventually you need something new and something more to give you that high. And they bounce from congregation to congregation… whichever one offers the newest and most exciting thing…
Let’s Pray
CLOSING
