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In the last issue I presented what I believe to be the obvious
short-comings of the Seeker Sensitive movement. It has been my
observation that this movement, though beginning with good intentions,
has strayed from the biblical model of evangelism. “Seekers” have
become a market place and the gospel a commodity, the price of which has
been continually lowered to meet the demands of the consumer. The
tragic loser is the sinner himself who has been misled to believe that
salvation can be on his terms rather than God’s.
The Seeker Sensitive movement has coined a good phrase but it is a
misnomer, a name wrongly used to describe what is happening in
contemporary churches. A poor person who buys an expensive product
because of how it was advertised can’t be said to have had his needs
met. Sinners who are drawn to church by advertising the church to be
worldly can’t be said to have had their needs met. Seekers by
convenience must become sinners by conviction if their needs are to be
honestly met. As has already been said, any church could draw a crowd.
But to what extent is it willing to go just to attract people to the
church?
After a couple decades of studying generations and fads, from boomers to
millennials, postmoderns to convergents, I wonder if we will one day
discover that these were but a small percentage of our society yet we
had changed all our churches to please them. It wouldn’t be the first
time a society has wagged the whole dog by the tail of the culturally
elite. (The next time you are in a crowded grocery store or the local
auto parts outlet, ask yourself how many of these people know or care
which French deconstructionist turned semiotics into the methodology of
kitsch within the church!) Most people are still normal people. They
understand normal language and they will make an intelligent decision
when presented with one. The gospel will be understood and either
accepted or rejected as it should be and must be. If there is a small
segment of society that has become angry at God and cannot love His
church, then that is a human choice for which they will be responsible
before God as well. Let’s give them the gospel too, plainly and
lovingly, but without change, compromise or regret. There are still
many people who are waiting to hear the message of hope and who will
respond positively when they hear it. In Corinth, Paul might have been
tempted to make his message more palatable because of the negative
reception and the threat of Gallio’s judgment seat, but the Lord
appeared to him and said, Be not
afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no
man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city
(Acts 18:9-10). God still has “much people” in our towns and
cities who are waiting for the good news of Christ.
In the early part of the twentieth century, J. Gresham Machen was
noticing similar trends within the Presbyterian Church, USA. Long
before his departure from that body he wrote the following words,
The fundamental fault of the modern Church is that
she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task -- she is busily
engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are
trying to bring men into the Church without requiring them to relinquish
their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin.
The preacher gets up into the pulpit, opens the Bible, and addresses the
congregation somewhat as follows: 'You people are very good,' he says;
'you respond to every appeal that looks toward the welfare of the
community. Now we have in the Bible -- especially in the life of Jesus
-- something so good that we believe it is good enough even for you good
people.' Such is modern preaching. But it is entirely futile. Even
our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall
be no more successful than He.1
The
Sinner-Sensitive Model
Jesus did not call the self-righteous to repentance. That is, He knew
that a person must see himself as a sinner before he will truly
believe. It is in this regard that I believe we must become “Sinner
Sensitive.” The following points parallel but contrast with the six
points made about the Seeker Sensitive movement.
1. It starts with separation
Whereas the Seeker Sensitive model starts with assimilation of the
church into the world and the world into the church, conservative
Christianity has understood that God commands His children to be
separate from the world because this brings power and effectiveness to
our witness. This is true both of personal separation issues:
Let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:19); and also of
ecclesiastical separation issues: But
in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but
also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If
a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto
honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every
good work (vss 20-21).
In spite of the untrue accusations that separatists hide their heads in
the sand and don’t go out into the world as witnesses, time has shown
that more people have been won to Christ in the age of grace, especially
the last hundred years, by separatists than anyone else! But, we go
into the world without being of the world. It’s all right for the ship
to be in the sea, but when the sea gets into the ship the whole project
is lost. The cross of Christ is a stumblingblock and even brings shame
to the carrier, but that is what brings power to the gospel message:
the power of his resurrection, and the
fellowship of his sufferings (Phil. 3:10). Paul said:
God forbid that I should glory save in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:14). C.H. Spurgeon,
in his own “Downgrade Controversy” wrote, “At any rate, cost what it
may, to separate ourselves from those who separate themselves from the
truth of God is not alone our liberty, but our duty.”2
2. It is designed for the saint
The Church of Jesus Christ is the body of believers gathered to do His
business. Sinners are not only welcome to come but are also invited to
come! When they come they will see what believers do in church and may
find that to be uncomfortable. But that is what they should find. That
is the beginning of the conviction process which is necessary for the
gospel witness. Not every patient that walks into the emergency room of
the hospital finds it to be comfortable, yet it surely is necessary. As
Paul admonished the Corinthians, if all
prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he
is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus are the secrets of
his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship
God, and report that God is in you of a truth (1 Cor. 14:24-25).
3. It is drawn by pneumatology
Rather than drawing people by seeker methodology, the church has and
should seek the power of the Holy Spirit to draw the sinner to Christ.
When Paul wrote back to the Thessalonian believers he confessed,
For our gospel came not unto you in
word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake
(1 Thes. 1:5). No amount of entertainment and emotional release
can draw a sinner to repentance and faith. In fact, these things only
cloud the issue and place roadblocks in the way that will take a
life-time to overcome. The Holy Spirit desires to speak of
sin, and of righteousness and of
judgment (John 16:8). This is what made Felix tremble before the
gospel and plead for a more convenient
season (Acts 24:25).
4. It continually seeks conviction
Many today have concluded that pressing a person about his lost
condition is a negative to the gospel. Ed Dobson says, “In our context,
walking down an aisle puts people on the spot; it applies pressure that
is inappropriate when people are fragile and confronted with their
relationship to God.”3 I’m sure Agrippa would have liked
Dobson more than Paul when he cried out,
Almost thou persuadest me to be a
Christian (Acts 26:27) and Festus said,
Paul, thou art beside thyself; much
learning doth make thee mad (Acts 26:24). This is the vital
difference in the two approaches! The seeker approach seeks to protect
itself from the sinner’s scorn, but the soul-winner is willing to
commend himself
to every man’s conscience in the sight
of God (2 Cor. 4:2). It is this placing ourselves at risk with
the sinner’s conscience that keeps us from
the hidden things of dishonesty, not
walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully.”
5. It aims toward repentance and faith
Though I believe that the seeker movement desires to see people saved,
their emphasis on pleasing the sinner detracts from the path to
repentance. Historically, when the zeal of preaching public repentance
to sinners waned, easier methods of counting converts arose such as
confirmation classes. People were educated into Christ and blended into
the church. I believe that will gradually happen in the seeker churches
as people are brought in slowly and “brought up to speed” on how a
“Christian” should act in the church. Vance Havner noticed this trend
fifty years ago when he wrote, “We have made it easy for hundreds
superficially to 'accept Christ' without ever having faced sin and with
no sense of need. We are healing slightly the hurt of this generation,
trying to treat patients who do not even know they are sick.”4
Conservatives, whether fundamentalists or evangelicals, have become
known for their forthrightness with the gospel. Public invitations and
soul winning have become trademarks for evangelistic churches.
Knowing therefore the terror of the
Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust
also are made manifest in your consciences (2 Cor. 5:11).
6. It ends in changed lives
The bottom line of effective evangelism is a new creation in Christ!
The New Testament does not entertain the idea of a believer whose life
does not change. In such cases (as with Simon in Acts 8) the professing
believer is either disciplined or not accepted as a true believer. This
is not to discount the normal growth pattern of new believers as
old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become (perfect tense: “are becoming”)
new (2 Cor. 5:17); it is to expect that the new birth makes new
creatures. The sad but obvious truth is that the seeker movement has
proved the adage, “what you win them with is what you win them to.”
Many can claim that lives are changed, but only because the whole
biblical standard for a changed life has been redefined before the
person ever “signed on.”
A common accusation about older saints is that they won’t change. The
irony of that is that our older saints did change! Years ago when they
came to Christ, they left their old lives and became new creatures in
Christ. And, they have remained changed! They are right to object to
this accusation when those making it are refusing to make the same
change and have no intention of changing from what they were to what
they should become. It is not the older people who won’t change, it is
the new generation who is refusing to come to our churches and our faith
unless we agree that they won’t have to leave their old life style.
And So . . . .
Our conservative, traditional or “normal” churches have no need to hang
their heads nor to feel inferior to the seeker sensitive churches. It
is not that our services are perfect by any means. But until a better
idea than the seeker model comes along, I think we’ll stay where we are
and where we have been for centuries. The Scripture is our only measure
of success. We will keep conforming to that, but not to the latest
thing men have proposed.
Notes:
1. J. Gresham Machen,
Christianity and Liberalism
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1923) 68.
2. C.H. Spurgeon,
The Downgrade Controversy (Pasadena: Pilgrim Publications, nd)
72.
3. Ed Dobson,
Starting A Seeker Sensitive Service (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1993) 110.
4. Vance Havner,
Hearts Afire (Old Tappan: Fleming H. Revell, nd) 51.
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