Preaching Gold Candlesticks

September means the end of my Naval contract and the beginning of life as a pastor. This time last year I was excitedly awaiting my R&R leave to begin so I could meet my newborn daughter. Now I am anxiously awaiting the beginning of a vocation that will allow me to spread God’s word throughout a community and minister to the needs of my church and the lost in our area. I’m not going to claim a lot of prophetic stuff and say that God sent down a word to me and I have had visions…none of that, but in my prayer and quiet time with the Lord I have come to believe that God is ready to do big things in Miller, SD. Our church just needs to be open and willing to be His vessels. And I believe that willingness is there.

I pray for a lack of distraction to what isn’t important. Questions have come up among people I know who are saved most of them are about peripheral issues that ultimately won’t matter to anyone’s salvation. One today that stood out, “What translation will you preach from?”

I skirted around the issue because I really didn’t want to get into a KJV only argument first thing in the morning after a three day weekend. I really like the KJV, but to say that a translation is inerrant is to miss the point entirely. I was raised reading the NIV and while it is not currently my translation of choice I would have to say it was sufficient to teach me about Jesus.

There are KJV-only advocates running around asking us to bow to a translation. They want us to translate the KJV into other languages rather than translating from Greek and Hebrew into those languages. This rides the fence of idolatry to put a translation of the Word above the Word itself.

I do think we need to be careful not to take certain translations as authoritative. As nice and popular as some paraphrases are, they are really more like commentaries than objective translations. A paraphrase will undoubtedly reveal the opinion of the person paraphrasing. A translation should utilize formal and dynamic equivalence in a way that ensures clarity of the gospel and optimal accuracy. Perfection is impossible in translation, but if we properly pray and discern as we study God’s word, He won’t fail us.

For myself? I probably find myself in the NASB and ESV more than anything else as of late. But if something in one of those translations doesn’t make sense or isn’t clear, I am happy to jump over to the KJV, NIV or HCSB to gain some clarity or a different perspective. I suppose I will settle into preaching from one specific translation eventually, but I will always compare translations, and once I have a little bit of Greek and Hebrew know-how I will undoubtedly take it deeper.

Most of all though, we can’t let an issue like this divide the church. We can’t sit around and make arguments about whether or not a painting of Adam and Eve should have belly buttons or what color the carpet should be in the sanctuary.

Mar 3:24-26 (KJV) "And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25] And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. [26] And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end."

In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, John Proctor is asked why he has not been attending church. Proctor says that Reverend Parris preached nothing but “Gold candlesticks” until the pewter ones on the altar were replaced. I pray that as followers of Christ we can move past things like this and remain faithful to the body of believers and support our leadership. But more than that I pray that I never “preach gold candlesticks” when the Gospel will suffice for eternity.

But my Dad was a Christian!

A very kind elderly gentleman at a Baptist church in central London explained to me quite simply a primary difference between a Baptist and other lanes of Christianity.

“We aren’t particularly popular among the masses for the very simple reason that we ask people to make a choice for God. We ask them to make that commitment to Jesus and they feel it should simply be given freely with no effort on their part. It’s the choice. The choice is what sets us apart.”

How many people do you know who feel their place in Heaven is assured simply by believing that there is a God? I know many. I know some who feel their salvation is imminent because their parents were Christians.

“I don’t know if there is a god, like THE god in the bible, but I do believe there is a higher power who watches over us. I can’t say that it is the Christian god for sure though.”

This type of comment is typical of those who wish to have the belief without the effort. They want fire insurance but do not care for the personal sacrifice that it will take to let Jesus be real in their lives. They want a faith that will not offend.

It has almost become cliché for pastors to point out how offensive our faith truly is to

nonbelievers—but it doesn’t make it any less true. Our faith says that many will go to hell. And that offends people regardless of how true it is.

 Let’s face it: It is hard to give up sin. It is hard. Sin is fun while we are engaged in it; it only stinks afterwards when we face the consequences through guilt, a spiritual deficiency and possibly physical ailments.

Must we actually make a choice for God? Or is the choice made for us?

I sit in awe as I read Genesis and see how it outlines the early dealings between God and man. By the time we get to Abraham, God has a plan, but man is still learning how to deal and interact with God. God manifests himself to Abraham both from the Heavens and in human form. He gives Abraham opportunities to follow him. God goes so far as to ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son. And then guess what? Abraham chooses to obey him.

God reveals Himself to Abraham and promises the impossible in return for Abraham’s faith. He reveals Himself also to Isaac and Jacob but for each of them a faith in God does not seem to be an inherent trait that they are born with. God proclaims His promise to them and they in turn choose to follow.

All three of these men sin. Each of them fail to live up to God’s standard and yet they remain in God’s grace. Abraham twice presents his wife as his sister out of self preservation. Isaac does the same. Jacob deceives his brother and father and neglects his wife. But God still fulfills his promises to them because they have chosen to follow Him. They choose to live where God wants them to live and take the wives God wants them to take.

Perhaps it all relied to some extent on the willingness of these men in the early stages of the Bible to choose a life that would honor God. There could come from this a great debate about free will versus predestination. But I believe all of these men throughout the Bible had a choice. A choice to follow God or follow man. A choice to live for God’s glory or for their own gain. By choosing the way of righteousness they accepted their role in God’s plan for the Salvation of Man.

God could have and surely would have used others of course had these men fallen to the wayside, but they didn’t and He didn't. And because of the choices made in these early years of history a prophecy was given and fulfilled through our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we find our salvation.