· "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict. God's job to judge, and my job to love." uhhh, no.

 

·  "It's the Holy Spirit's job to convict. God's job to judge, and my job to love."  uhhh,  No, and here's why not:

· We preachers think we can say things we know will be interpreted as disapproval of other people's way of life and may likely make other people feel terrible, but we do it claiming that any conviction felt by the listeners must come only from God; our only intention is to love people. So we describe our responsibility as "to love" and God's responsibility as "to convict and to judge". We love the sinner.  God is the source of conviction and judgement. There's a huge problem with this kind of role play. It results in abuse in the name of God. "Hey- It's not our fault you feel bad after what we said! Take it up with God - Maybe you will feel better after you repent and start to see things our way." It also results in discrimination and could even result in violence taken up against others by people who believe that what we preach against, is truly sinful in God's sight, and must be dealt with.

·  If conviction in the human heart comes only through the Holy Spirit, then explain the guilt felt by a woman who is assaulted by an abusive husband. Explain also the sense of guilty sin experienced by children that were constantly told they are no good and bad because they spoke their native language in an Indian residential school. Explain also why Huckleberry Finn felt extreme conviction and in danger of hell-fire when he made his decision to help Jim escape from slavery. Conviction does not just come from God. Conviction, humiliation, guilt – these can be inflicted upon innocent people, like weights tossed onto their stooping shoulders, by preachers.

·  The trouble is, some preachers speak vehemently against others because they do not like or appreciate the social norms other people have. But the preacher declares that they are only telling the truth; their own love is pure, and if what they say convinces or convicts anyone, it must be God at work because conviction and judgement are his domain. 

 

·  I believe a more scriptural view and one more consistent with Jesus' message would be that we are co-labourors with God and the degree of our usefulness to Him in the establishment of His Kingdom is in direct proportion to how well our teaching and preaching line up with His Heart. We are called to admonish, rebuke and exhort but the subject matter had better line up with what Jesus indicated was important to God, and not simply be an imposition of our own paradigms: reflections of the culture we are most influenced by and too readily proclaim as "God's Way". Depending upon when in history various Christian preachers have been born, "God's Way" has been among other things capitalism, communism, slavery, the abolition of slavery, conquest of lands by warfare, emancipation of women, the refusal to allow women to vote, child labour, and a myriad of other ideologies that cover everything from hair length, the wearing of hats, bowling, going to movies, dancing, Sunday shopping, marriage and the right to bear arms.

·  Care is needed I say, lest we become a clanging bell or an irritating cymbal. Or worse, that we (although we blame God for the guilty sensations) lay upon others, burdens of guilt that we are not willing to ease.

·Luke 11:46  "Yes," said Jesus, "what sorrow also awaits you experts in religious law! For you crush people with unbearable religious demands, and you never lift a finger to ease the burden. NLT 

Not convinced?  Then what would you say if I preached against women cutting their hair, and refusing to wear hats in public?  Many Christians nowadays would smile quietly to themselves, almost embarrassed for me. “That's not in vogue nowadays! Our present culture doesn't have a problem with those things. That preacher is embarrassing to God and the Christian cause!”  Then, what if I were successful - if I convinced the women and they felt real guilt and conviction because they had not been wearing hats? What if their husbands too, were convinced by my preaching and not only agreed, but forced their wives to wear hats and forbade them from speaking in public against the edict? Then many Christians would say I was manipulating them. That is, many Christians here- in the West, in 2015. Christians on the other side of the world or living in a different era may give credit to God for providing the conviction. What? I thought God doesn't change?  God doesn’t change. But the sin preachers rail against does change – admit it, and in the name of Jesus, we preachers have historically laid guilt upon the innocent and threatened them with hell fire because their lives did not measure up to our social ideals. Holiness isn’t about whether or not I smoke or eat shellfish, but more about that later.

·  Well, we better all be careful what societal norms we preach against this year - lest history prove we were preaching our own tastes and were loading burdens (guilt) on the backs of people that the Lord never meant them to bear. After all, our Lord's command is "teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you". Matthew 28:20

What Is Missing From God's Appearance In Bethlehem?

The Christmas Story:  Luke 2:8-20  

(Can you tell what's missing?)

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The shepherds are just ordinary men. Well, not quite ordinary. According to tradition, they would have been a little less than ordinary.  Especially if you are referring to their personal holiness, personal cleanliness, religious education, vocabulary or place in society.

The shepherds were sitting around after a days work. Picture the usual scene nowadays. Mechanics, labourers, hired hands - sitting around having a beer. "That was a f***'n close call today" "Next time the boss comes around, make sure someone a hell of a lot smarter than Joey explains what happened to his f***'n sheep."  Not the sort of conversation we usually insert into Sunday School Christmas plays.

Then suddenly God visits them in their ordinariness to inform them He had not forgotten them.  No wonder they were SORE AFRAID ! But the angel gives them a message that shall be for all people - even them! Then they are given instructions on how to find the Christ Child and after talking it over, they decide to go and visit the manger. They decide to approach the Holy Son of God - God incarnate, the fullness of the Godhead, dwelling in bodily form, the Word become flesh, Emmanuel - God with us. 

What is truly amazing is what is missing from their visit:

-  No instruction to remove footwear.

-  No requirement to wash up to the elbows, or cleanse themselves seven times before entering.

-  Not even a call to repentance!

-  No specific instructions to follow, on pain of death if the instructions are deviated from in the least.

-  No warning not to touch the Ark of the Messiah (the manger he is set in) on pain of INSTANT death.

-  No long list of who may and who may not enter the stable, but simply "which shall be for all people".

God the Son. Not a burning bush or a thundering mountain, but a little baby - The most express image of God He had ever revealed. As if to say: This is what I am really like - and I am here for all people.