2010-08-29 -- Be Bold

First, please allow me to thank the church, spiritual life committee, and Pastor Ray for allowing me to preach this last Sunday. The kind words, handshakes, and hugs that many of you shared with me after services were very much appreciated. FCC-Shawnee has had a great influence on my life throughout the past 12 years. Without God and this church in my life, I simply do not know where I’d be. You have all given so much and I personally thank each of you for that.
“I had tried to drive certain long brass-headed nails into a wall but had never succeeded except in turning up their points, and rendering them useless. When a tradesman came who understood his work, I noticed that he filed off all the points of the nails, the very points on whose sharpness I had relied, and when he had quite blunted them, he drove them in as far as he pleased. With some consciences our fine points in preaching are worse than useless. Our keen distinctions and nice discriminations are thrown away on many; they need to be encountered with sheer force and blunt honesty. The truth must be hammered into them by main strength, and we know from whom to seek the needed power” (The Quotable Spurgeon Copyright 1990 by Harold Shaw Publishers).
Oh, how true the aforementioned analogy is! Far too often we are too politically correct and afraid of hurting feelings or stepping on toes when we should really be blunt and to the point. The image of Christ that I have in mind is not of a limp-wristed, feminine, soft spoken male that many artists have portrayed over the centuries; no, the image I have in mind is of a brute, real man’s man, who was both physically and mentally strong. I picture the incarnate as a man who didn’t shy away from confrontation or honest-to-goodness bluntness.
Many times in Christian teaching we try to use the subtle approach of sharpen brass nails – a feel good way of teaching the good news – when maybe we should be more like the tradesman and use a blunt straight-forward approach, just as Christ did. For instance, Christ didn’t shy away from confronting the Pharisee’s about their heresies, nor should we shy away from teaching His straight-forward message. However, I do feel like I need to add a disclaimer here: Don’t use this as an excuse to seek out confrontations! Choose your battles wisely, my brothers and sisters, but when the time calls, be ready to go to bat with the sword of the spirit.
Another caution though: watch out for man’s rules on God’s words. Many Christians and denominations have suffered from using the blunt approach of teaching inerrancies of God’s holy word. Don’t let your own personal afflictions get in the way of God’s truth. This can be difficult, especially as a member in the Disciples of Christ church, where we are all called to seek and understand the scriptures according to our own understanding through the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Ultimately what I am stressing here is simple: speak truthfully, honestly, earnestly, and openly about Christ as the Savior of the world. Don’t back down from the world when the world wants to teach differently. Be strong in your faith.
“Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Acts 4:29-31
Josh