Preachers are idol worshipers! Strong statement (but remember I am one--so as one finger may point to you, three point back at me). In fact, people are idolators.
Think with me--years ago it was Barth and Bruner and Bultmann. Then it was Criswell and Rogers and Stanley. Now it might be Hagee or Piper or Maxwell or (you fill in the blank).
We might do it as Saddleback or Willow Creek or Brooklyn Tabernacle. Or it might be done as legacy church or house church or organic church. Or traditional or contemporary or blended.
It might be Calvinist or Reformed or Baptist or Catholic. It might be Driscoll or Chan or (you fill in the blank for today).
We live in a world that idolizes experts, successful people (as we deem success) and big. It might be Tomlin or Blackwood or Moen. Or it could be Augustine or Edwards or Kierkegaard. Or it might be (for some of the ladies) Meyer or Moore or Paula White.
Labels--categories--niches--success--but all human--human, just like you and me. Someone said years ago, "They put their pants on just like you do--one leg at a time."
Or it could be Paul or Apollos or James or Peter or Isaiah or Hosea. Paul talked about it in his own day in 1 Corinthians 3:1-9, about the factions that came about when people got behind a person or a structure or form. Paul said they are all God's "servants." He suggested they get back to Jesus above all.
(By the way, I got this blog idea as I read Neil Cole, Organic Church--[Sam, you're doing it.])
Henry Blackaby said, in Experiencing God [there I go again], in paraphrase, that if you are just reproducing what someone else has done somewhere else, that is not God speaking nor it is God's way. God reveals Himself and His ways to each of us, if we invest the time to study and listen and wait. And each message from Him will be unique to our person and situation.
But it's so easy just to do it the way someone else (an expert--because they wrote a book or spoke at the last conference or have the biggest church) did it. Much easier than waiting on God. One of my friends recently posted of preacher's need to preach their own sermons, given them by God, rather than just repreaching some other's sermon (whether outline or actual manuscript). I agree as well.
One thing to remember though is what the writer of Ecclesiastes said, "There is nothing new under the sun." God can use the writings of others to inspire us and encourage us and give us insight, but we must listen to God above all.
Years ago, I did a study about prayer by T.W. Hunt, Disciple's PrayerLife (there you go again, Sam). At the beginning of it, Dr. Hunt said when he had just completed his doctoral work, he felt convicted by the Lord that he should for a while, read only Scripture. He said his life was so immersed during his studies by secularism and humanism that he felt God wanted him only to listen to God through the Bible for a while. During that time, he memorized and read and reread massive amounts of Scripture. And he felt it had purified his life.
One of the things that Neil Cole, Organic Church, and Cultivating a Life for God [oops--did it again!] considers crucial in discipling believers is that the guys or gals get into groups of three. One thing they do is read during the week between 25 and 30 chapters of Scripture. (They also meet weekly for accountability and prayer for unbelievers.) That is getting people into the "pure word of God" rather than someone's interpretation or someone's interpretation of someone's interpretation.
Lately, I have felt that maybe I read too many books about the Bible and not enough Bible, taking time to read, study, and listen for God's voice in the Scriptures, for me. (How many devotional books/blogs/studies do you read each day?) Some of you who are voracious readers may feel that way too. (Maybe it's not books, but it is blog posts [like this one] or internet sources.)
Beware! Let's quit just promoting a church or way of doing that, or a movement or structure. Let's quit pushing the experts we read and get back to the source--the True Source--Jesus and God and God's Holy Spirit.
In some churches I hear more about the pastor than I do about Jesus. From some people, I hear more about an expert than I hear about God the Lord. Could it be WE have also become idolators?
Three fingers at me--I can only speak for me. But I know where I need to be right now. Now will I do it? That's the next question.
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