The Effects of Femininity on Our Culture. Part II: Our Preaching

I mentioned last time the sermon illustration about the mother who took her kids to the zoo and they got too close to the lion enclosure, endangering themselves with the possibility of falling into it. The preacher wanted to present God's disposition toward us by likening him to that mother's appeal, "Boys, come give Momma a hug." The boys quickly ran from the enclosure and into the safety of their mother's arms. It's a very sweet story. It moved everyone in the assembly. It's a fantastic example of what a mother should do in that situation. And, as I said before, it is absolutely the opposite of what God does with us when we are in sin and the way His Word should be preached. We know this because we have more than enough examples in Scripture of God rebuking people both directly and through human agents. 

Unfortunately, most people are stirred emotionally to the point of convincing themselves that God does speak this way to us, and therefore, our preaching should mimic this mother, and in some cases, that may be true, but in most cases where sin is present, it is not. The mother's way of convincing others to do what is good is the way most people in the congregation should probably talk to one another about their sins, but pastors are fathers. It is not a father's way, and God is described most as Father, not mother. 

You see, a mother appeals. She does not command, as she is not made to be a commander. She's not the one in authority. When she does command, she should do so only to convey the father's authority but commanding is not fitting for her role and so she tends to appeal instead. The father's response would be very different. As I commented last time, it would have looked something like, "Hey Boys, Get your butts over here right now!" Both parents are afraid they would fall in but the father fears that if he leaves it up to the boys, they'll end up in the lion's mouth. He, therefore, commands with authority, as that is fitting to his role. If the kids are playing in the street with a car racing down it, he doesn't offer them sweeties to get out of the road. He orders them out of the road immediately. 

This is the difference of speaking with authority and speaking with an appeal. An appeal is really an attempt to convince someone to agree with what you want them to believe or do by pointing out a benefit to them so that they decide by their own authority to believe or do that thing. It's the mother in the grocery store who offers her kids a candy if they stop screaming rather than ordering them to stop screaming whether they see the personal benefit of it or not.

The problem with the appeal is not that it does not work when you want your kids to do something. The problem is that it leaves the ego intact. I am asking you, leaving the choice up to you as the sovereign lord of Selfville, and in doing so, not infringing upon the person's autonomy.

This is the central theme of the book, How to Make Friends and Influence People, I mentioned last time. Although written decades ago, it is just as relevant today because people are the same in every generation. The book recommends that if you want to be liked by people and have them listen to you, you must not bruise their ego in any way. They must be allowed to maintain their own lordship and not perceive you as attempting to exert any authority over them. Hence, we like people who appeal to us but hate people who speak authoritatively to us because we don't like anyone asserting control in our lives that was not granted by the supreme chancellor of the galactic self, us. 

This is all well and good and why most people who are liked appeal instead of command. The problem is that God isn't asking anyone. He's not appealing to us to obey Him in the sense that we appeal to someone so as to not infringe upon their self authority. Instead, God speaks as only God can speak, from authority. He is the Lord of all things and He speaks accordingly. This means that His Word is one that is spoken from authority and not from appeal. This is why the most common response to authority in Scripture is offense: "Who made this man a judge over us?" (Gen 19:9; Exod 2:14 // Acts 7:35; Mark 6:2-3).

In fact, the goal of the Word of God is to crucify the self of every person to whom it is proclaimed. This cannot happen if the self remains intact when God's Word is spoken with nothing but appeal. What this means is that if God's Word that is to be spoken from authority is instead spoken in appeal, it is not really accomplishing its goal, which is to expose the self-exaltation of every human to which it is speaking. And the reason why it is not accomplishing its goal is because it isn't the Word of God that is being preached.

I realize that might be a shock to the one who reads this but the Word of God, if spoken in appeal rather than in authority, isn't the Word of God. Let me explain. I can say the phrase, "Good morning" in a few different ways. I can say it in a friendly tone, a sarcastic tone, a quick and dismissive tone, an angry tone, etc., all communicating completely different things depending upon what tone is used. Yet, I've said the exact same phrase. Some languages even have different intonations for the same word that have different definitions altogether. We're all aware of emails or texts that we have either written or read by others where different tones were assigned to them, which gave the intent and result of that text or email a completely different flavor. This is because words are not soundless things. Half of what is said is communicated in the way it is said. That's what I mean that one who speaks the Word of God that is meant to be spoken from authority and is instead spoken in an appeal is no longer the Word of God. God doesn't ask people to do things and give them an option to dismiss them without catastrophic consequences. God is authority, and therefore, all that He speaks is authoritative. He's not asking for our kingly permission to rule over us. So when we speak in such a way so as to honor, not God's authority, but the authority of the autonomous individual, we are not speaking God's Word, even when it uses the identical grammar and vocabulary we read in the Bible. They're not technically different words that the preacher is preaching, but they are practically different words, phrases, messages. The people who hear a sermon about a particular command of Christ in an appeal are not hearing the same sermon as those who are sitting under a preacher who preaches that same command of Christ as a command.

This brings us to ask the question as to whether modern preachers in the West are actually preaching the Word of God. Are they being fathers or mothers? Are they commanding as God commands or appealing as a mother would so that people will be less offended and the preacher will be more liked by the hearer? 

This is why our culture hates fathers and loves mothers. There is no toxic femininity to our modern culture, just toxic masculinity, and this is often defined as a masculinity that asserts itself in authority over others. This would explain why so many modern preachers are liked by people who should actually hate them. People may disagree with you but as long as you leave their egos intact by communicating in appeals, you convince yourself that you're preaching the Word of God, as is your duty, but are still able to retain the likeability factor that so many of us crave as human beings. You're saying the same words that the Scripture says. Those words just aren't being said the same way that Scripture says them.

This is what I have often described as being a politician rather than a prophet. We are called, as preachers, to be prophets, not politicians. Politicians are running for office. They need to be liked. Hence, they appeal to the masses rather than command them. Prophets, however, have their office from God, not men. They don't need to be liked by anyone in order to have that office. They need to please God by representing Him and His commands accurately. Hence, they speak the Word of God in commands. "Thou shalt," "Thou shalt not," "Believe," "Repent," etc. They're not sharing suggestions. They're not giving you their personal testimonies of what has worked for them. Our postmodern generation loves it for you to share your personal experience. They see it as loving even if they don't adopt what's worked for you for themselves. You've tried a new product and now you want to lovingly let them know about this product that worked so well for you. You've merely offered them something they can reject and not feel inferior to you for not having received it. "This is just what I believe." "Jesus has really changed my life and you might want to consider Him." But that isn't what Christianity is. It's not something that works for you. It's not a product to share. You're not offering them a beverage. You are a messenger of the living God who has commanded all men everywhere to repent and give their allegiance to His Son because He has set a day to judge them in their sins and if they are not found in Christ, they will perish, period.

Megachurches tend to appeal. That's how they get so mega. Smaller churches tend to pander to their specific group by just saying the things that that group likes and is used to hearing without stepping on any toes. In other words, if sin is brought up at all, the preacher makes sure most, if not all, already agree that it is sin and that they already agree that they should be rebuked for it. But dare rebuke them for things they don't agree are sin and do so in a command rather than an appeal and you will quickly see the spiritual state of that congregation that has largely gone unnoticed in an effeminate/motherly environment of appeal. Egos remain on the throne where the mighty voice of the Lord commanding them to vacate His throne remains absent. 

Now, as I said before, there is nothing wrong with an appeal when that appeal is coming from a mother who is not speaking in the authority of the father. But the mother is unfaithful if she softens a father's commands to appeals when she communicates them to her children. The task of the preacher has the  goal of destroying human autonomy and taking every idea and person captive to Christ as Lord. Many preachers remain well liked and convince themselves they are preaching the Word of God so as to never really feel much commonality in their ministries with the prophets or apostles of old who were hated by so many within their own religious audience. They often come to the conclusion that perhaps they are just more likeable people than those ancient iconoclasts who were hated by everyone; but people are only likeable to those who are the stars of their own show when they become a part of the supporting cast and not those who want to cancel any further seasons of their program. People are still in rebellion against God and God hasn't changed, nor has His authoritative speech, and so the only culprit here is compromise. 

My appeal (pun intended), nay, my command, to every preacher, therefore, is the command of the Lord through the apostle, "I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach [imperative command] the word; be ready [imperative command] in season and out of season; reprove [imperative command], rebuke [imperative command], and summon [imperative command], with complete patience and teaching." (2 Tim 4:1-2)

The Great Commission is not, "Go into all nations, make disciples, baptizing and teaching them all that I suggested to you." We make disciples by teaching what Christ commanded, and we teach what Christ commanded by actually teaching them as commands and not suggestions. If we preach the words of God as the words of men then the Word of God has gone unspoken, and therefore, unheard.

(As an aside, I'm well aware that the word "appeal" is used in Scripture but it is not what I mean here. "Appeal" in Scripture has the idea of pleading with someone to put away his self exaltation and obey the Lordship of Christ. The command has already been given and now there is an appeal to those in disobedience to obey it since they will be placed under judgment if they do not. It is not a stroking of the ego by attempting to sell an idea to someone without suffering any personal damage to that relationship. Hence, even the appeals carry with them the authority of the command and the consequences for not obeying it).