After posting about pragmatism yesterday I spent some time “corresponding” with various people about it, mostly by email and MSN Messenger, though at times I do step back in time and carry on old-fashioned verbal communication. I found that there is a misunderstanding about what pragmatism is. So let me explain by way of two examples.
Example 1
A church of 250 people has been offered the opportunity to have a popular female minister preach in their church in a few weeks. Though the church believes that having a woman preach is unscriptural, they see the benefit of allowing her to preach just this one Sunday (no matter your feelings on women preachers, for the sake of this fictional story you’ll have to at least pretend you do not approve of women in teaching ministry). They share the news with the congregation and the people are electrified. They hold meetings to determine how they can best leverage this amazing opportunity. Eventually they decide they will spend a good portion of their advertising budget for that year on advertising this event. Each person is given cards to hand out to their friends and posters to hang in the work places. Prayer teams form to pray about this event and teams are trained to help respond to those who may wish to make commitments to Christ through the event.
As the big day approaches the excitement mounts. The morning of the service the members of the church arrive early, anticipating a great day in the history of their church. They are thrilled to see many of their friends and co-workers arrive. They are even more thrilled to see many strangers. By the time the service gets underway the church is packed. Literally hundreds of guests fill the seats that morning.
The service goes off without a hitch. The worship band plays songs that honor God and lead people to worship Him. The guest minister preaches an evangelistic sermon that shares the gospel message. By the end of the service many people are in tears and the prayer room at the back of the church is filled with people praying and making commitments to Christ. The congregation is overjoyed to see twenty five people come to the Lord.
In the aftermath of this service the twenty five people who made commitments to Christ all join the church and become active members. They grow in the Lord, becoming strong, committed Christians and even leading others to Christ. The church experiences a time of growth.
Example 2
A church of 250 people has been offered the opportunity to have a popular female minister preach in their church in a few weeks. The leaders gather the congregation together to speak about the opportunity and after prayer and discussion they decide to affirm their belief that the Bible does not allow for female preachers. Though they acknowledge that his opportunity could help their church grow and lead people to the Lord they politely decline the invitation.
Several weeks later on the day the guest minister would have been there, the church has 250 people in attendance. There are two or three guests, conspicuous by their hand-written name tags. The pastor continues in his message series which is a 10-part exposition of Ephesians. He preaches a good sermon. At the end of the service no one goes to the prayer room and no one sheds a tear.
In the aftermath of this service the church continues its slow growth..
Which Is Right?
Now please, do not get hung up on the issue of women preachers. I simply used that as an example (frankly, I couldn’t think up anything better)! Feel free to replace that example with any contentious issue. What we need to determine is which of these two churches did the right thing.
From our human perspective we would see no reason to doubt that the first church did the right thing. They took a step of faith and God blessed them richly, and not only that but He also furthered His kingdom as twenty five people became believers that day. We have to acknowledge, though, that our human perspective means little if it does not agree with God’s perspective.
What would God say? God, above anything else, desires obedience. More than sacrifice, more than excellence, more than results, God wants obedience. In eternity when all is made clear, God will tell the second church that they were the ones that did His will. Results simply cannot excuse disobedience. God may choose to use our disobedience to further his purposes, but this does not give us license to be disobedient.
Evidently the first church was the pragmatic one. They foresaw wonderful results but ignored the Bible. The second church was the obedient one, foreseeing wonderful results but choosing to heed the Bible. The point is this. Either the Bible or the results need to be our standard. The results, no matter how wild, cannot make up for disobedience.
Tomorrow I will move on to a specific area where pragmatism has taken root.
Comments (6) »
1. Ochuk
February 4, 2004
3:29 PM
I think some the pragmatists I encounter love to quote this verse that says, “Wisdom is shown by its fruit.”
What do you make of that? I’m not sure how to respond.
2. Bill Wallo
February 4, 2004
3:44 PM
I’m confused by this post. What “disobedience” did the first church engage in, unless it is the “woman preacher” thing that you kept mentioning? Or was that your point: that they violated what they believed to be scriptural commandments regarding women in the pulpit, and thus they disobeyed God?
Candidly, while you keep suggesting that readers “ignore” the issue of the woman minister thing, I see that as a major problem: the question of whether it is, in fact, disobedience to have a woman in the pulpit would have to be answered before one could ever suggest which church was actually “right” or “obedient” in its behavior. In fact, your statement that God will “tell the second church that they were the ones who did His will” suggests that you believe
one perspective to be valid. Otherwise, I don’t believe you could suggest that the second church did His will at all: it is only if, in fact, the first church violated His will by having a woman preach would there be any issue of obedience.
Anyway, from my perspective here’s the one directive I think most critical in terms of what the “church” should be doing. Matthew 19:28: Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That’s Jesus’ command to his disciples, and it is equally valid today. Anything less, and you’re just playing church; it’s us four and no more. The Gospel of Christ must be preached, and God must be obeyed, but I’m not certain that your example displays “pragmatism” as much as you suggest.
“Pragmatism” to me suggests compromising essential truths of the Gospel (for example, those churches which eliminate reference to sin or other “downer” aspects of doctrine in order to make people more comfortable). I’m not sure that this example illustrates that point.
3. Tim
February 4, 2004
3:48 PM
Ochuk - I am guessing you are referring to Luke 7:35 which says “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” I think some fairly basic study would show that it is not referring to human wisdom as being show right or wrong through the results. Job 12:13 says “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.” Wisdom is God’s, not ours.
Check a couple of decent commentaries and you’ll get more than enough informatio to answer those people.
4. Tim
February 4, 2004
3:51 PM
I tried to make it clear that the first church was disobedient in having a women preach. The majority of churches today (or at least through history) have held that God does not permit women to preach. The actual issue is not the point of the story which is why I said not to get hung up on it. You can change it to be a story about the removal of preaching about sin if that makes the story speak to you more. I merely meant to portray a church that chose results over the Bible.
5. Tim
February 4, 2004
7:15 PM
The question needs to be asked. Was the fruit the result of the woman preacher or the churches zeal in promoting the event? Is this an example of God turning a blessing into a cursing? The congregations willingness to go against what they viewed as the clear teaching of Scripture (Just this once) is evidence that God’s glory was not their motive. Now they will be doubting their convictions and be tossed to and fro like the waves of the sea. The genuine fruit of this Pragmatic approach to discipleship and evangelism won’t be seen for several generations. AAAhhhh…that’s the kicker of Pragmatism!
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