Best. Sermon. Ever. And it happened last Sunday at Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, Texas. Dr. Raymond Bailey, the pastor of Seventh and James, began by quoting Nietzsche:
God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, murderers of all murderers, console ourselves? That which was the holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet possessed has bled to death under our knives. Who will wipe this blood off us? With what water could we purify ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we need to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not ourselves become gods simply to be worthy of it?
Dr. Bailey’s point in quoting Nietzsche was to suggest that the trend that Nietzsche thought would happen, that religion would fade away in favor of human accomplishment, has indeed happened and megachurches have been complicit in it happening.
Joel Osteen and others espouse a “Health and Wealth” gospel—also known as “name it and claim it.” If you want that Hummer bad enough, by God, pray for it and God will give it to you. There is no mention of what God demands of believers, only the material benefits he can reap for you.
Other megachurches espouse fundamentalist worldviews, such as John Hagee’s church in San Antonio. Hagee, a noted dispensationalist, once remarked that Americans ought to spread the gospel with a Bible in one hand and an atomic bomb in the other. Because I’m sure we all know that that’s what Jesus would do…
Dr. Bailey, in his sermon, actually suggested that James and John—Sons of Thunder that they were—would have made good megachurch congregants. I agree. The sons of Zebedee were known for their confrontational style, one that Jesus had to reign in from time to time. These megachurches pervert the gospel, militarize it, and create a sad caricature of what Christ actually stood for.
God is dead. And the megachurches have killed him. The notion of humble service, that the first shall be last and the last shall be first, that Jesus would wash the feet of his disciples, has been completely discarded in favor of “what have you done for me lately?” It is up to moderate Christians, both evangelical and not, conservative or liberal leaning, to resuscitate God—the real God, not the belligerent effigy that megachurches have dressed up in a dark wig and a robe, under which there is hidden a bag of money and an M-16.
The God of the Bible is a God of love, not military might. He is a God of service, not a God of “gimme.” He requires of us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). He demands servanthood, not hubris. Megachurches supply their members with feel-good Christianity, the spiritual milk that Peter talks about in his first epistle. It is up to the rest of us to graduate to spiritual meat—to sink our teeth into the difficult path of service, even service to those with whom we disagree.
I applaud the courage of Dr. Bailey to take a stand against the distortions of Christianity that megachurches have perpetrated in the name of power, ambition, and members. Christ was not an emperor or a king, as the Zealots hoped he would be. He was a humble carpenter who washed the feet of his followers. He scolded Peter at his arrest for slicing off the ear of a Roman centurion. He lovingly and gently confronted the Pharisees and Sadducees, and only got angry with his Father’s house was turned into a den of thieves. That is the example we ought to follow, not the example of Joel Osteen or John Hagee or any other pastor that champions man’s achievements—monetary or military to pursue selfish or militaristic goals.
No comments:
Post a Comment