Are churches supposed to be "seeker sensitive"?

Have you every heard of the expression "seeker sensitive"? What does it mean to be "seeker sensitive"? After some quick research, you may find that most people agree that to be "seeker sensitive" means to have a friendly, happy church that only mentions the grace and love of our God without ever mentioning words like "repentance, wrath, judgment and sin."

The goal seems to be to draw people into the church without ever offending anyone. The "mega churches" that have become large and famous in this country are proof that this approach does indeed "draw them in." But, I ask you "Is this approach biblical" and "is this how Jesus operated?" Anyone who has ever read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) knows that the answer is a resounding "NO."

Jesus could have had as many followers as He wanted. In fact, He was well on His way of doing just that. If you read John 6:30-69, you'll see how Jesus thinned out most of his "followers." What happened was that those that were following Jesus asked for Him to give them a "miraculous sign" and instead, He gave them the truth of who He Is. They did not understand and did not like what He told them (basically that He is the bread of life and that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life). Since they did not like or understand what He told them, they stopped following Him, except the twelve. Now they didn't like or understand what He said either, but the difference was that they believed in Him (except Judas, of course, but he had to be there for the scriptures to be fulfilled). The difference between these two responses is the same difference between true and false converts.

The main differences between being "seeker sensitive" and being "Christ sensitive" is that Jesus Christ didn't mind offending the masses and choosing quality over quantity, while the "seeker sensitive" churches of today try hard to be non-offensive as to not hurt anyone's feelings or make anyone angry (where they will leave the church). So it seems that these type of churches are afraid of men and are "man-centered".

In the above mentioned chapter and verses in the Gospel According to John, Jesus also said that no one could come to Him unless The Father had enabled them. This means that if The Father enables someone to come to Christ, that the "offensive" message of the gospel will not chase them away. In fact, it will have the opposite effect! They may not like or understand what is being said, but they KNOW what the words of eternal life sound like when they hear them and are drawn to them! This doesn't mean that we will never understand these words, just not in the beginning of our spiritual walk (like the disciples, who understood later).

The bottom line of this particular blog is that while "seeker sensitive" churches do indeed draw a large crowd, it doesn't mean that they are actually preaching to the elect of Christ (people who are genuinely saved are called "the elect").

One other quick point that I've noticed when I've attempted to watch any presentation (I won't call it preaching) of a "seeker sensitive" pastor to see if they're presenting the gospel message or merely spewing self-help advice, is that they hardly ever use their Bible. They may hold it up before speaking or may put a few out-of-context verses up on the projection screen, but they never seem to use it as the source of their message. It's only there for effect, not to affect! If the pastor of such a congregation doesn't use the Bible, why should the congregation ever read and study it? If they did, they probably wouldn't be sitting in that congregation much longer!

I know that some people love to listen to these types of pastors, but think about it...are they preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? The first recorded word when He began preaching was "repent" (Matthew 4:17). Maybe they're just telling the people what they want to hear. I will leave you with scripture and hope that, if you don't see anything wrong with the "seeker sensitive" pastors and the way they do business, that you would pray and ask God to open your eyes to any false teachings that do not correspond with the teachings of Jesus Christ : (2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV) 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.)

What is wrong with Christians today?

I ask this question because of what I have observed in the behaviour of so-called "Christians" today. It seems that many who claim to be Christians certainly don't act the way that one would expect.

What I have observed is that many "Christians" act one of two ways; (1) they act no different than non-Christians or (2) they act like they are superior to everyone who doesn't attend their church (whether Christian or non-Christian).

Let us first talk about those that claim to be Christians acting no different than those who are not Christians. What does this say about them? In 2 Corinthians 6:16-18, Paul tells the Corinthian believers: 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." 17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (NIV) So, we are told to "come out" and to "be separate." I don't see many Christians doing this today. It seems that Christians are in love with the world and are fascinated by the things of and in the world. In 1 John 2:15-16, John tells us: "15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world." (NIV) So, according to scripture, if we love the world, we do not possess the love of the Father. In other words, if we love the world, we are not true Christians (i.e., false converts).

Now let's address the issue of Christians with a superiority complex. I have personally witnessed these people and it seems that they actively try to recruit Christians that attend other churches more than they share their faith (if they do this at all). When they talk to people who are not saved, they seem to always ask these people to "come to my church" instead of sharing the Gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. These people seem to think that their pastor and church are the way to salvation instead of believing upon Jesus Christ. What is wrong with this picture? Are we so in love with our pastor and our church that we forget who we should be following? Do we tend to put our pastor on a pedestal and believe every word that comes out of their mouth as if it were the voice of God? It seems to me that many people are content with living in ignorance and spiritual infancy by blindly following the teachings of a preacher instead of reading their Bible and spending time with God in prayer every day. They may know their pastor and the members of their church, but they certainly do not know the Living God.

In 2 Peter 2:1-3, Peter gives this warning concerning false teachers: "1 But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. 3 In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." (NIV) You may think that there are no "destructive heresies" being introduced in your church, but how would you know? Does your pastor "bring the way of truth into disrepute"? If you never read your Bible or spend time with the Lord in prayer, how do you know what the Truth really is? Would you recognize false teaching if you heard it?

The bottom line is this: If we have never read our Bible (and don't read it every day) and never spend time with God in prayer, how can we claim to know Him? How can we claim that we have a relationship with One in whom we never communicate with or never read His Words? If the Bible is God's love letter to us and we never read it, doesn't that say that we really don't love Him? If we live a life of prayerlessness and never pray for anything unless it's something that we want, doesn't that say that we really don't know how to pray and that we don't have communion with Him and that we don't abide in Him?

If you have read this and feel conviction, I plead with you to repent and start following Christ. You would do well to remember that Christ is the head of the church, not your pastor. Read your Bible every day and do what it says to do. You need to know for yourself what God requires of you and you can only do that if you know God's Holy Word. Here are some verses to remember:

1 John 2:3-6 3 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. 4 The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (NIV)

James 1:22-25 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. (NIV)

Do these verses describe you? If so, please repent and change your lifestyle and follow Jesus Christ. He is the ONLY way to God:

1 Timothy 2:5-6 5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. (NIV)

Watered down theology

Welcome to my blog. If you're wondering why I named it "Watered Up," it's because of my strong dislike of the watered down theology that is being "preached" in the majority of churches today.

I plan to blog from time to time about such things as what God has done in my life and what the Bible says about prayer, fasting and other subjects of interest (depending on what God puts on my heart).

Why blog? Because I want to share what the Bible says about various subjects that preachers are not teaching in their churches. I also have a desire to blog about subjects that preachers ARE teaching, but not biblically.

We are living in the days of false teachings, false prophets, prosperity preaching and humanistic self-centeredness within our churches (just to name a few things that turn my stomach). It is my desire to post the truth of God's Holiness, the wrath to come, biblical repentance and being hidden in Jesus Christ (which is the polar opposite of humanistic self-centeredness). Unlike Oprah Winphrey, I believe that there is only ONE way in which to enter the kingdom of heaven and that is through my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He said it, He meant it and I believe it!

If you don't like it when someone speaks of sin, hell or God's wrath, then this will not be a comfortable blog for you to read. The gospel message is not necessarily one of comfort and joy, but it is necessarily one of picking up our crosses, fearing God and living our lives in daily obedience to Christ.

Please feel free to post your opinions and to check back from time to time for new posts. Thanks for reading!