Christ Gave... Pastor/Teachers

The current phenomenon of ministers downloading or otherwise cribbing sermons is yet another symptom of a church that is spiritually out to sea.  The Bible says that the ascended Christ gave pastor/teachers to his church (Eph. 4:11), not that he gave sermons.  And there is a big difference.  Instead of men of God weekly engaging in the spiritual labor of feeding Christ's flock with His living Word, we seem more and more to view the sermon as a mere product.  And why not, if consumer appeal is sovereign in the church!  Along these lines, a trend here in trendy South Florida is for megachurches to open satellite campuses where the celebrity preacher is digitally projected onto the screen.  So now we have marketing firms to manage our "fund-raising", American-idol style musical celebrities to lead our "worship singing", and mass-market sermons piped into our pulpits.  One has to say that it is increasingly the case that the word least suited to describe such an institution is the word "church".

Ultimately, this all amounts to a rejection of the Holy Spirit, which is also to say a rejection of the present ministry of the Lord Jesus.  More and more, as these trends advance, it simply is not His church.  And more and more, it is obvious that evangelicals are not worshiping the Triune God but a worldly vision of success.