It's funny how God uses circumstances sometimes to make us think of a particular thing. For me, there were two things that God had me hear and that spawned this blog. The first was a radio podcast of Renewing Your Mind, a ministry by R.C. Sproul that was endorsing a book called "Feed My Sheep." The book is directed at pastors and teachers to not be trying to attract the unchurched or unsaved people in their teaching and preaching. Instead they are to simply explain to the congregation what the Scriptures say without bringing any personal presuppositions to the text.
The second circumstance was from reading Ephesians 4. There was a part in that chapter that I remember hearing before in a different context. It regarded what role the church has in whether or not to be relevant, and if so, how important it should be. The specific passage was Ephesians 4:11 and following, "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for..." stop right there. How would you finish that sentence? What would you say pastors and teachers are given by God (verse 8 talks about God giving gifts to men) for? Or maybe the better question is, who are pastors to focus their pastoring or teaching on? From the way many pastors act today in the U.S., the answer would be for unbelievers. Even more specifically, it would be to get unbelievers to come to church, using means that may not based on Scripture, or may even be further fueling their greed or selfishness. Once they are in the church, relevance is key. If your teaching is relevant, which usually means trying to be cool, you will try to avoid the less cool parts of what Christianity is all about, things which are essential to Christianity. Some of those things include telling people they are not in good standing with God right now, or that God will hold them accountable for their actions after this life... all of them. Also, hell awaits all who do not give their life to Jesus Christ. There may be more, but these truths are part of the gospel. And if we leave those out and simply teach the positive things, then it would be as empty as only talking about hell and sin and that everyone is wicked without mentioning that God loves us or Jesus died for sinners so that we might be forgiven. Some of those positive things that may be taught are that God loves us and wants us to be in relationship with Him (which I never fully understood because we all have some relationship with God, either as His friend or as His enemy), and that Jesus died on the cross for sinners and we have a way of escape from hell, which in their intended meaning are true, but what is the point of only teaching that? In other words, I am claiming that only understanding the good news and not the bad news is just as wrong as only understanding the bad news without the good news. It takes both the good news and the bad news (for of what purpose would the good news be if there was no bad news?). The bad news is that all are sinful, and sinful people deserve hell. The good news is that Jesus died for sinners and those who commit the rest of their lives to God and believe Jesus is God's Son and that Jesus rose from the dead are forgiven. But I digress.
This good news without the bad news is what many pastors end up doing when trying to use their gifts for unbelievers. But let's finish the Ephesians 4 section: "He gave some... as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." Pastors and teachers were given for the saints. Shepherds don't shepherd those that are outside their fold, only the sheep in their fold. Their concern (in this passage) is not to try to get the unchurched in the church building and preach a relevant message that avoids the less easy-to-swallow teaching of Scripture. Their purpose is to equip the saints by teaching and preaching to them about "the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man..." This surely means more than just recognizing Jesus is God incarnate. In Christ is hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). So the sheep (speaking as one of them) need to be taught wisdom and knowledge of which the storehouse for these is greater than anyone could imagine. Surely we are not able to understand everything that God understands since we are finite and He is infinite, but the Word needs to be preached and explained to us who are so easily led astray (Isaiah 53:6).
Pastors and teachers were given for this reason. Yes, we need to hear the gospel too. Both the saints and the unbelievers need to hear it, but not at the expense of failing to equip the saints, or making them to be somewhat of a mature man, or just a little like the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We are called to be fully perfect (Matthew 5:48), and that is what we are to be trained for. God will bring those whom He has chosen; there need not be compromise for unbelievers to believe, for all they have is compromise. We, both pastors and laymen need to fulfill our calling by God which is a holy calling: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
