Enemy of Soul Winning 6
Church
Leaders (Nobles)
Not Soul
Winners -
An Enemy
of Soul Winning
Nehemiah
3:1-5, "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the
priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the
doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of
Hananeel. And next unto him builded the men of
My
ministry has spanned two generations. I have preached in the great churches of
both generations. I have preached in the great fundamental colleges and Bible
institutes of both generations. I have watched the deterioration of churches and
colleges and Bible institutes. I have wondered what caused it. I have studied
the cause, and in this chapter I present
at
least one thing that has aided the deterioration of our churches and schools.
When
I became Pastor of the
I
inherited a church where my predecessor preached in formal attire with striped
pants and a scissor-tail coat. The church would not allow the piano to be played
on Sunday morning. They allowed only a pipe organ for accompaniment. They would
not allow a congregational song leader on Sunday morning. Sunday morning was the
formal worship service. Sunday night was an informal service, attended by a
handful.
When
I went to the
In
the church there was a constitution committee. Every adult Sunday school class
was required to have a constitution. Each constitution was submitted to the
constitution committee for approval.
Shortly
after I arrived we had a missions conference. Dr. John R. Rice and Dr. Walter
Wilson were scheduled to preach. The missions committee came to me and said,
"You can't have the missions conference without permission from the
missions committee." (They soon found out that they were wrong on this!)
At
the first service of the missions conference we took an offering, whereupon I
was advised by the finance committee that I could not take an offering without
permission form the finance committee. (They soon found out that I could take an
offering without permission from the finance committee!)
It
wasn't long until we had a deacons' meeting, whereupon the deacon chairman
asked, "Pastor, do you have any speaking engagements that you want us to
approve? The deacons must vote to approve where you speak." (They soon
found out that this would not work either!)
Soon
the deacon chairman said, "We would like to have a list of all the
organizations where you serve as a board member so we can approve them."
(Of course, I would not submit to this either.)
There
are many other things that would simply enlarge upon the situation that I
inherited which are unnecessary to be mentioned. What I'm saying is that this
church, at that time a member of the American Baptist Convention, had become
what so many other churches are now becoming. Now this wasn't the way the church
was first organized. Nobody starts a new church with this kind of
super-organization and unnecessary baggage. What caused this deterioration? What
is causing a similar deterioration in many of our churches today? Such
deterioration has brought formal worship services, a paralyzed pulpit, weak
pastoral leadership, an over abundance of unnecessary committees and a
de-emphasis on soul winning.
When
a church is started, it is an exciting time. Especially is this true of an
independent, fundamental Baptist church. These churches are started on street
corners, in vacant lots, in storefront buildings, in basements, in tents and in
many other places. When a church is started, there is a fervor of soul winning;
people are getting saved. No one ever thinks about a music committee,
educational committee, a missions committee, a flower committee or a finance
committee! They are
simply
interested in getting people saved and down the aisle and building an
old-fashioned, New Testament Baptist church. Notice the step-by-step
deterioration of a convert in a young church.
1.
The period of spiritual infancy. During this time there is usually a period of
adjustment while learning the songs, some Bible, and the Christian vocabulary
and manner of life.
2.
The period of enthusiastic work at the church. The people become excited about
the work. Though awkward, they attempt to win souls; they are zealous. This
period continues for some time.
3.
The period when the work becomes a ritual. After a while, some get adjusted to
the work. They keep on teaching a class but are not too excited about it. They
keep on working on the buses but have lost much of their enthusiasm. However,
during this time, they become known in the church. They come to a place of great
respect. Perhaps at one time they had the biggest bus route or fastest-growing
Sunday school class. This made them highly visible in the church. Everybody
knows them, and they are becoming, to an extent, church leaders.
4.
The period of becoming noblemen. Now one is a deacon, a trustee, church clerk or
church treasurer. He can be called a "nobleman" in the church. Perhaps
he is Sunday school superintendent or treasurer. Then he becomes so busy in the
organization and business of the church and in his place of leadership that his
Sunday school class is neglected. His bus route is low on his list of
priorities, and his soul winning has diminished. After a while, he quits his
soul winning, resigns his bus route, and makes only a token effort in his Sunday
school class. He has too much to do as a deacon or a trustee or as a church
officer, until finally he resigns his Sunday school class.
While
he does this, there is another group of people who have not been saved for long.
They are building the church while he is running the church. The new, zealous
Christians are
doing
the work, so we have a cast system that has developed. The older, seasoned
Christian has traded the building of the church for the running of the church.
The younger, less-experienced Christian is building the church. This will
eventually lead to its destruction. One group builds the church and another
group runs the church; the commoner does the work while "their nobles
put not their necks to the work of their Lord."
Every
deacon ought to be a soul winner. Everyone who sings a special ought to be a
soul winner. Every church officer should be a soul winner. The same people who
lead in the church should build the church. There are hundreds of churches in
Sometimes
the nobles even get involved in some other project outside the church -perhaps
some interdenominational organization which is a parasite off the New Testament
churches. The greatest child evangelism in the world should be in the local
church. The greatest youth for Christ program should be in the local church. All
across this nation there are men who once built the church who have become
nobles and stopped doing what they once did in soul winning, Sunday school
building, passing out tracts, street preaching, etc. They have become nobles who
run the church while another group builds the church.
The
same thing happens in colleges. While in college, the student is a soul winner.
He brings folks down the aisles, he passes out tracts, he witnesses on the
street corner. He may even
preach
on the streets. Perhaps he builds a bus route. When he graduates, he has
impressed the administration, and he is hired on the faculty. Far too many
times, he thinks he no longer has to be a soul winner. He has graduated from the
production end. He is now on the faculty. He is now a nobleman. Certainly you
wouldn't expect a nobleman to do the work of soul winning! So, the result in
many colleges, seminaries and Bible institutes is that the students do the work
and the noblemen teach the classes. This, of course, will lead to the spiritual
destruction of a college. When the students obey the Great Commission, and the
administration and faculty do not, the wrong people are doing the teaching!
This
same thing happens in our day schools. Many of our Christian high schools,
junior high schools and elementary schools literally ignore the local church.
Every teacher in every Christian school in
Once
again, we have arrived at the place where we do not think the nobles have to put
their necks to the work of the Lord. The faculty is supposed to win souls just
like the students. The administration is supposed to win souls just like the
faculty and students. The staff is supposed to win souls just like the laymen.
The deacons are supposed to win souls just like the custodian. The Ph.D. is
supposed to win souls just like the illiterate. The old folks are supposed to
win souls just like the young people. Nobody has a right to be a nobleman in a
church unless he is participating in the carrying out and obeying of the Great
Commission. Now how can we avoid this dreadful situation of the nobles who put
not their necks to the work of the Lord?
1.
The noble should keep working. This should be kept before the church constantly.
I preached this sermon vigorously at First Baptist Church of Hammond, and the
statements that have been made in this chapter have been made many times from my
pulpit. No one has a right to be a deacon at
Some
nobleman is reading this chapter. You know who you are. There was a day when you
were active in production. There was a day when you built a great Sunday school
class. There was a day when you went soul winning. There was a day when you
built a bus route. There was a day when you were bringing folks down the aisle
receiving Christ as Saviour, but, you have become a big shot, affluent and
"high brow." You have no right to remain a nobleman unless you remain
in the ministry of obeying the Great Commission!
Our
churches are filled with committee members who feel that is their job as a
member of the church. We are incumbered by unnecessary, superfluous committees
such as flower committees, Christian education committees, pulpit committees,
music committees, youth committees, library committees, literature committees,
etc. who do nothing to obey the Great Commission and are using these committees
as shields behind which to hide, deceiving others and trying to deceive
themselves into believing they can totally disobey and disregard
the
Great Commission! Because they put petunias on the communion table once a week;
or because they belong to the missions committee, the finance committee, the
budget committee, the roof committee, the ceiling committee, the wall committee,
the floor committee, the picture committee, the painting committee, the mashed
potatoes committee, the "bother the preacher" committee, the "run
the pulpit" committee or the "pester the pastor" committee, they
think they are immune from obeying the Great Commission!
God
pity these churches that are organized for everything but soul winning. Why not
organize a tract committee, a jail-preaching committee, a street-preaching
committee, bus committee, soul-winning committee, rescue mission committee, and
obey the Great Commission instead of having a group of professors in some
college who have never built a church, never had an altar call, never seen a
mourner's bench, never preached a tent revival, never felt the breath of the
Holy Ghost upon their lives but sit in their halls of ivy behind the shields of
their desks training our young people and killing our churches as they fill our
pulpits with their own clones!
2.
Make the builders the most famous. This is why we at
Let
us make the soul winners the famous people in the church. Instead of boasting
about "Mr. Big Bucks" because he gives a big offering, brag on the
fellow who has the biggest bus route. So many of our Christian colleges have
gotten to the place where we recruit athletes and give athletic scholarships and
music scholarships, speech scholarships. Brother, why
don't
we give soul-winning scholarships and bus route scholarships and magnify those
who do what God says to do!
3.
Do not put the church or the school in the hands of the non-working nobles or
intellectuals. Do you know what's happening to our schools? The churches are
building schools that are not like the church! Our people go to church on Sunday
and hear one kind of music and then go to school on Monday and hear another kind
of music. Praise God, at
One
of my deacons, who is a multi-millionaire, came to me one day and said,
"Pastor, I'm resigning from the deacon board. I think you are the greatest
preacher alive, but I do not agree with you on business. If I stay on the board,
I'll get upset with you and leave the church. I don't want to do that. I want to
come to this church. I want to hear you preach. I want to see people saved. I'm
resigning the deacon board because I do not agree with you on business, and I do
not want to cause you trouble." What he was saying was that he was afraid
if he stayed on the deacon board he would become a nobleman and not keep on
obeying the Great Commission. Praise God for a man like that!
All
across
leadership
of the church should be representative of the entire church. On our deacon board
at First Baptist Church of Hammond we have professional men, we have
businessmen, we have Ph.D.'s, but we also have men who are illiterate and can't
write their names. We have deaf men on our deacon board because we have deaf men
in our church. We have a blind man on our deacon board because we have blind men
in our church. We have poor men on our deacon board because we have poor people
in our church. We have businessmen on our deacon board because we have
businessmen in our church, but because a man has money or formal training does
not give him any more votes or influence than the fellow who can't write his own
name.
When
I came to the First Baptist Church of Hammond, one of the wealthiest men in town
invited Mrs. Hyles and me to his house to eat. The food we ate was flown in from
I
put my silverware down, looked him in the eye and said, "Sir, you run a
business in this town. If you ever need my advice about how to run your
business, you ask me and I'll give it to you. I'm Pastor of First Baptist Church
of Hammond. If I ever need your advice about whether I join a ministerial
association or howl preach, I will ask you, but until I ask you, you keep your
nose out of my business!"
God
give us sense again. God give us some reasoning power again.
There
is not a week passes but that I get a call from some pastor who is having
trouble. As soon as he tells me he is having trouble, I can take it from there.
Some influential people in the church want to run the pastor. Some fellow who is
president of
the
corporation, president of the local civic club, chairman of the board, and whose
wife presides at the local flower club, is so accustomed to running things, he
wants to run the preacher. It's typical. It happens all the time, and the poor
preacher who is faithful in his preaching the Gospel has his hands tied by some
man who doesn't know any more about preaching than the preacher does about the
man's business.
Sure,
wealthy people in the church should be represented on the board. The
middle-class people in the church should be represented on the board. The poor
people in the church should be represented on the board. The highly, formally
educated people should be represented on the board, and those who have little or
no formal education should be represented on the board. No one class of people
should be allowed to run a church, and, by the way, no one class of people is
better than another class of people because of financial standing, prestige,
political power or formal training!
I
know a big church that was almost destroyed because when the pastor who had been
there over 40 years resigned, the choosing of a new pastor was basically placed
in the hands of seven well-to-do, wealthy men, and these men called a pastor
that, in my opinion, practically destroyed the church. What a pity!
We
have businessmen in our church; we have doctors in our church; we have lawyers
in our church, but they sit side by side with everyone else. The poorest man in
our church is as welcome as the richest, the least formally-trained person is as
welcome as the most formally trained, the illiterate is as welcome as the Ph.D.,
and all are equally represented in places of leadership. The doctors, lawyers,
the college-trained and the businessmen are humble, godly people who realize
that whatever they have is by the grace of God, and they happily sit side by
side with those who have less money, less formal training and less opportunity.
The
vice president of a bank in downtown
When
I first came to
Years
ago at a deacons' meeting at
I
am not in any way trying to cast reflection on the highly trained or highly
successful, but I like what the old fellow said when he said, "The only
difference in the educated and uneducated is that they are ignorant on different
subjects." I am not fighting for diminishing the importance of the educated
and wealthy; I am for putting everybody on the same level.
In
another generation, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes was moving his membership
to a Baptist church in
Several
years ago a very wealthy couple visited First Baptist Church of Hammond. She was
sitting there with her furs and diamonds, and he was sitting there with the best
of apparel. Across the aisle from them was a little Mexican boy who had a hole
in his pants. He reached down and with embarrassment put his hand over the hole
in his pants. The very wealthy lady looked at her husband and with a tear in her
eye said, "Honey, do you know what makes this church great?" He said,
"What?" She replied, "That little Mexican boy over there covering
up the hole in his pants is just as welcome here as we are." She was right.
It could also be said that she was just as welcome as that little poor boy was.
Praise God, the ground is level at the foot of the cross!
4.
Nobles and common men should share the leading of the church. At this writing,
we have seven doctors and three lawyers in our church. We have numbers of
businessmen. I doubt if there is a church in
graduates
than the First Baptist Church of Hammond. Praise God, I also doubt if there is a
church in America that has as many poor little bus kids as the First Baptist
Church of Hammond, and there is not a church that has as many Spanish-speaking
people as we have in the First Baptist Church of Hammond, and there is not a
church in America that has as many deaf people as we have in the First Baptist
Church of Hammond, and there is not a church in America that has as many poor
people as we have in the First Baptist Church of Hammond, but here is one church
where the ground is level! No one is better than anybody else because of the
house in which he lives, the car that he drives, the ring on his finger, the
clothes on his back or the degrees hanging on the walls of his office. Together
every class financially, every class educationally, every class socially should
have representation in the leadership of the church; that is, if all are
participating in the obeying of the Great Commission.
5.
The pastor should preach these truths sternly and lovingly to
his people. God has a way of protecting such a pastor. When I took my stand in
the early days at
Practically
all of these churches were started by workers. That's why the churches grew, but
over the passing of the years, the inevitable happened. Hard-working people
become successful people. When they become successful, they often cease to
become a part of those who build the churches.
Such
was the case in our text. The people were rebuilding the wall around