Clarity, Conviction, Courage

by   T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                                                      Vol. XII, No. 3, March 1999

In a recent column* William H. Smith writes, "...the church - yes. the evangelical church - has lost her clarity, conviction, and courage. She can't bring herself to say that God has absolute timeless standards for human life that reflect the beauty of His holiness. She shrinks from telling people that they are depraved sinners, unable to change themselves and deserving God's judgment, which they will surely receive. She is unable confidently to proclaim the only good news - that salvation from the mess of sin comes only from the righteous life and propitiatory death of Christ. The church can't help to restrain sin because she is dispensing empathy and therapy rather than declaring law and gospel."

Fallen human hearts - all human hearts - rebel against God's law because it clearly requires judgment. What we really want is uncritical love and sin without consequences. But there can be no love without a standard by which to measure it. Absent such a standard, love slouches off into uncaring toleration, unmoved acceptance. If there is no law, there can be no love. Without a hell, a real hell, there can be no real heaven.

I hear virtually daily of pastors who refuse to stand on God's Word because they are nearing retirement and don't want to make waves, of others who never preach on the sin of abortion or divorce because some families in the church have undergone these traumas and might stop giving, of yet others who would never propose church discipline ... it might be exercised against them and they would be fired. These preachers place more importance on the opinion of peers than on the commendation of Christ. They should seriously apply what Jesus said in James 2:10, " For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." For if they preach gloriously all the Bible and omit one controversial subject, will not Jesus count them with the goats at judgment?

Furthermore, is it truly loving to church members not to confront them with their failures and mistakes? Who would want a doctor who tests you for cancer, finds it is present, and then in order not to make you feel bad assures you that you have a clean bill of health?!

Too often a false dichotomy is erected between love and conviction, between kindness and courage. The purest love of a pastor is to preach the full, undiluted Word. How will they believe if they do not hear? And how will they repent if they are not convicted? Is present peace so dear that a preacher of the gospel w ill risk eternal damnation to avoid criticism or to keep a job that at best will last but a few years?

Clarity, conviction, courage ... what wonderful battle cries for the soldier of Christ!

[*World magazine, 20 February 1999. Call 800-951-6397 to subscribe.]