Pleasing the Masses

September 1, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
The following is a portion of an article from Ligonier Ministries (author unknown); please read it carefully:
We believe that God has ordained the preaching of His Word, prayer, and the sacraments as the means by which He sanctifies people’s lives. There is no substitute for the Scriptures if we want to know and please God, and this is especially true in our worship. Unfortunately, the church today is dethroning God and the power of His Gospel for alternatives and counterfeits. Instead of transcending cultural preferences and uniting the church on truths of His Word, contemporary worship seeks to please people by catering to particular groups and their tastes, thereby dividing the people of God. The result of using man-pleasing tactics rather than simply focusing on the preaching, reading, singing, and praying of God’s Word is that the knowledge of God’s glory is diminished, His people become spiritually malnourished, and the church becomes weak and susceptible to false teachers and their doctrines [a portion on an article from Ligonier Ministries; author unknown].
Deep within my heart, I know that this article is true. I am more-than convinced, that doing anything for the sake of catering to people and their preferences, serves only to create a man-centered environment, one that reproduces itself over and over, with each new generation being more self-serving that the previous ones.
In my opinion, when the church decided to abandon the Scriptures it also decided to abandon the gospel. When it abandoned the gospel, it abandoned its God-given mission and purpose—to glorify God—and took on a completely different one—to glorify man. The fruit is obvious: churches everywhere are working diligently, albeit futilely, to find ways to please man.
In my opinion, it is time (past time!) for you to take a stand against these self-serving, man-centered, religious shenanigans. Insist that the church you attend stop, as in cease and desist, trying to cater to the preferences and whims of the masses, and, instead, to simply preach the unvarnished, offensive Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you will notice, Jesus never wasted His time trying to please anyone, especially the masses. His mission and passion was single-minded—to please His Father.