Speak the Truth plainly

John Chapman gave this very interesting story during his talk... (i'll try to be as accurate in my recall and interpretation as possible... and if I falter, please correct me. For best accuracy, go buy the cd-recording of his talks :p)

"There was once this evangelistic meeting I (John Chapman) went to and the pastor told me, 'Chappo, we have 25 counsellors ready for all the converts tonight' When I heard that,I was pressured. I mean... Old Bill (Billy Graham) averaged a 10% conversion rate and there were a lot less than 250 people in the room. How was I supposed to live up to that?!"

When I heard that story, I silently nodded. This was so true... we live in a world where results matter the most. Heard the phrase, "By hook or by crook, I want it done"? And I had to admit to myself that this mentality has crept into the Church... oh dear...

Which brings me to the second lesson I learnt...

"But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God's word, but by the open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God"

2 Cor 4:2 [ESV]

This verse reminded me of what was REALLY important in Christian ministry-- Speak the truth plainly.

Do I practice cunning ways and tamper with God's word? Unfortunately... I think I have. You know how music soothes the soul? Well, it's true as psychologically speaking, music reaches out to Man on a sub-conscience level. And in a hands of a master, one could easily hypnotise a group to accept an ideology, simply by having conducive music in the background and communicating that ideology in a soothing "DJ" sorta voice. Emotions can be controlled by the person who has power over what is being played over the PA. And I have been guilty of doing that. (not that I have a "DJ" sorta voice :p)

However, this is not to say that music should be banned. Rather, music should be used to help propel the message of the gospel even further and to make it even clearer to all. The problem however, is that music can and has been used instead to cloud people's judgement on what the gospel really means. Intentionally or unintentionally.

John Chapman shared another story about how John Stott was preaching in India and in the middle of his preaching, he could feel that there was an emotional wave flowing through all who were present and listening. Stott then stopped, told everyone to stand up and stretch awhile before he continued.

John Stott broke the 'moment'. This can be described as one of the 'deadly sins' of a public speaker--to break the 'moment'. However, John Stott did it. Why? Cos he didn't want people to accept and understand the gospel on the backdrop of an emotional high. It wouldn't do them any good.

I feel that this all boils down to the fact that we all get so caught up and worried about HOW TO communicate the gospel that we don't realise that the power of the gospel, is the GOSPEL ITSELF. By trying so hard in fine-tuning the vehicle that is gonna carry the gospel, we fail to focus our attentions to fine-tuning our UNDERSTANDING OF the gospel. And in doing so, harsh as it may sound, we have already turned to disgraceful and underhanded ways...

I personally have tampered with God's Word by thinking that if the gospel is not presented in so and so a way, nobody will pay it any attention. This here is the foolishness of Man's thinking: that his wisdom is greater than God's wisdom-the gospel. What's more, we are not just told to merely avoid or stop all these disgraceful and underhand ways... we're told to renounce it.

Lesson I learnt? Strive to speak the truth (the gospel) plainly and clearly.

Now on a lighter note, please go and check out Yifen's blog. She has provided a real neat summary of some things she has learnt at MM, and I must say this... She is A LOT BETTER at summarizing things than me! :p

One more thing though... I've tried to be as clear as I can in as short a blog as possible and I really would tresure any feedback on my blogs ;)

Anyway, this here's another story that I'll leave everyone with and its about another pastor saying these words to John Chapman before he was to speak to his congregation...

"Preach Jesus Chappo, Preach Jesus."