Religious Free Enterprise: Comfort Over Conviction
If I had to narrow down the list of problems and challenges facing the Evangelical Church at large in the United States today to one major problem, it would have to be a religious free enterprise system. What do I mean by that exactly? Well, to word it quite plainly, a la carte Christianity- meaning we can pick and choose off our religious preferences menu and create a worship experience of our own heart’s desires. Now, this is not to say I disagree with denominational differences- being a Presbyterian, I acknowledge the validity of my brothers and sisters in Christ that are affiliated with other denominations despite the theological differences we may share. Denominations are perfectly healthy in their own regard as people have different convictions when it comes to certain issues such as the sacraments, style of worship, etc. No, what I am referring to is the churches that cater to human emotion by soft-pedaling the gospel of Jesus Christ while elevating man’s desires to have their ears tickled.
This problem, which essentially creates religious competition between churches, puts pastors in a rather unfortunate predicament- serving God, or pleasing man [1, pg. 248].
There are, quite frankly, two reasons why this occurs. First, we see a pastor’s desire to not offend their congregations. In 2 Timothy 4:2 we see Paul tell Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (ESV). While it is important to approach rebuking and exhortation with patience, and also gentleness- this does not mean we bypass it all together to keep people in the pews. There very well may be many well-intentioned pastors today that truly love Christ, but do not have the gumption about them to call out sin and speak the tough truths of the Word of God to their congregation, and thus they end up preaching purely comfort- as opposed to confronting the issues of sin. Unfortunately, this does not make it right, and it should be an area of improvement in these men’s lives.
A second reason for this comfort preaching is unfortunately greed-based. There is no denying that many today continue to promulgate a prosperity gospel and theology of comfort in order to keep the laity happy with them and keep their pockets lined. This also includes improper exegesis of the Scriptures that turns into eisegesis and a man-centered hermeneutic.
Such events are apparent through the teaching of Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. In a recent sermon by Furtick, he was teaching on the passage in Mark chapter 6:3–5 where Jesus was rejected in his hometown of Nazareth. Verses 5 and 6 states that “he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief” (ESV). We acknowledge that the Lord’s sovereign power is never rendered impotent by mere human unbelief, but there is a refusal from the people in Nazareth to trust in Him, and this deprived the people of His presence [2]. Unfortunately, Furtick did not take this approach- instead, he most likely was using a New Living Translation which renders that passage to say because of their unbelief, he couldn’t do any miracles. Furtick went on to say that even Jesus could not override your unbelief- this is one thing that even the son of God can’t do [3].
What is most alarming here, is we see a gifted orator using his gift to diminish the deity of Christ to elevate the power of man’s ability. Instead of using this passage as an opportunity to show the hardness and wickedness of man’s heart along with their inability to save themselves, he chose to thwart the power of God by man’s unbelief [3]. There is no call to repentance, there is no desire to challenge our belief or fight against our sin, but rather a desire to make people feel good by showing them that we are supposedly the masters of our own fate.
Examples like this speak directly to the issue of religious free enterprise and the notion that we are the ones building our churches. Jesus, upon responding to Peter’s answer that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God in Matthew 16, states that “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18). As for me, I am certainly not interested in contending against Christ in the building of His church, but rather seek to humbly submit to the teaching of the Word of God and not pleasing man.
There are definitely less heretical examples of this comfort theology that occur in many churches across America on a weekly basis that seems to slip right past the laity. Those who would teach nothing but love, and mercy, and grace each week without acknowledging the need for repentance, or discussing tough issues like sexuality and the Biblical call for the preservation of life are just as guilty of comfort teaching. The Westminster Confession of Faith in Chapter XV Article V summarizes that we must not be content with just general repentance, but rather it is our duty as Christians to repent particularly- or rather specifically of our individual sins [4]. If a pastor is not calling out these things from the pulpit then he is failing to teach the whole counsel of God to his congregation and thus is disqualifying himself from ministry by failing to be above reproach and is also clearly unable to teach (1 Tim. 3:1–2). If there is no call for repentance, there is no true understanding of the human condition.
It is vitally important to note, however, that this authority by which a pastor is exhorting his congregation does not come from himself, but rather the Word of God. Taking a direct approach to confronting and challenging the call to self-denial and following after Christ as per the Scriptures is not one that should be coming from the pastor, but rather the Word itself [1 pg. 250]. The response then from the congregants need be one of humble submission to the authority of Scripture and not man. This is where we see people leaving churches in droves to the nearest comfort preaching church they can find. Pastors who are not afraid to challenge the laity risk losing members because people want to be constantly lifted up and never confronted (2 Tim. 4:2–3).
Contributors for a blog from Westminster Seminary California discussed the dangers of comfort in a reflection from February 2017. They summarized that today in our culture, we love comfort in all areas of our lives. There is a desire to never be challenged or suffer for Christ, and even further, there is never a desire to suffer even in the mundane experiences of our lives (no air conditioning, poor living conditions, etc.). The main warning provided in this blog was that, while comforts and luxuries are not bad in and of themselves, we need to be careful because the desire and elevation of these gifts over the giver creates idolatry [5]. Using key texts such as Luke 9:23 where Jesus says to take up your cross and follow me, or 1 Corinthians 2:2 where Paul only wanted to know of Christ and him crucified, we see that the theology of the cross is at odds with comfort [5].
So, you may be asking yourself, how does this all tie together? Well the answer is simple- today, in America, we have become so obsessed with our own comfort that we have opted out of placing ourselves under the authority of the Word of God, and instead opted in to false teachers that wish nothing more than to pad our egos, stroke our pride, and keep our tithes and offerings. Men like Steven Furtick, along with droves of those so-called pastors, want nothing more than to keep us happy and attending their church each week because they know the competition is fierce for loyal members. The problem is, loyal to what- God or them? When evaluating a church and its ordained leaders, we should be careful to examine their approach along with what they are teaching.
For those considering leaving their church to find a less confronting one, you should- no you must ask yourself, why am I unsatisfied here?
This particular issue is why certain aspects of church polity are stressed so highly in some churches. When there is a risk of a pastor being fired because they take a stand on a particular issue or do not shy away from confronting sin, they stop most times as to protect their position. However, when a church polity structure is Presbyterian in nature, there are avenues of procedure that require the laity to address these issues with the Presbytery as opposed to being able to fire their pastor because they do not like being convicted. Surely, there are many healthy churches that do not operate from a Presbyterian polity stand-point; however, this is my current situation so I am merely speaking from my experiences. It should be noted as well, that preaching the whole counsel of God does indeed include comfort. The intent of this post is not to encourage pastors to stand at the pulpit week after week preaching nothing more than condemnation and fire and brimstone, but rather, a proper balance of grace and repentance.
We need to be able to see that because of our sinfulness and iniquities, we need Christ and Him crucified- without Him, we have nothing.
Ultimately, there is a problem with our comfort-oriented culture today. Postmodernism has infiltrated the minds of our churches and created an atmosphere of subjective truth instead of the objective truth of Scripture. Too many pastors today opt to spare the emotions of their congregants and splice apart the Bible to find only passages that provide comfort for their people instead of challenging them to holy living. We need to always be willing to point people to the reality of their sin, but never leave them there. Always point them to the comfort and mercy provided in Christ, which leads to the pursuit of holy living and chasing after Him.
We should seek to exhort one another in all Godliness, and most-assuredly, seek to pull people back in who are looking to leave for their own comforts; however, if there is a desire to leave because people do not like such conviction and teaching straight from the Word- I would have to say let them leave if they refuse church discipline. We must not be so willing to please man as to reduce our convictions and create a club-membership environment in our churches- this is what is aiding and creating the religious free enterprise market mentality of the church. There should not be a market mentality in the church, but rather people of every tribe, tongue, and nation coming together to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Regardless of your denomination, you need to always be asking yourself, am I seeking to be comforted all the time, or am I looking to humble myself and be challenged by the Word? The challenges and confrontations allow us to see the splendor and majesty of God in light of our sinfulness and truly enjoy Him forever because He is rich in mercy, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex. 34:6).
Works Cited
[5] “The Dangers of Comfort.” Westminster Seminary California, 14 Feb. 2017, www.wscal.edu/blog/a-pastors-reflections-the-dangers-of-comfort.
[3] Gilbert, Grayson. “Steven Furtick Is the Most Dangerous Kind of False Teacher.” The Chorus In The Chaos, Patheos Explore the World’s Faith through Different Perspectives on Religion and Spirituality! Patheos Has the Views of the Prevalent Religions and Spiritualities of the World., 23 Aug. 2018, www.patheos.com/blogs/chorusinthechaos/steven-furtick-false-teacher/.
[1] Grunlan, Stephen A., and Milton Reimer. Christian Perspectives on Sociology. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001.
[2] Sproul, R.C. REFORMATION STUDY BIBLE-ESV. P & R Publishing, 2011.
[4] “Westminster Confession of Faith.” Reformed Standards, reformedstandards.com/westminster/wcf.html#chapter-15.
