Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”
Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning!

• Acts 2:5-15

“The covenant of life is not preached equally to all, and among those to whom it is preached, does not always meet with the same reception. This diversity displays-the unsearchable depth of the divine judgment, and is without doubt subordinate to God’s purpose of eternal election.”

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volume 2

Calvin is using this as his introduction to the concept of predestination.  Even today, this is a volatile topic.  No one can understand how to resolve between predestination when we have free will to accept or deny Christ.

But I just wanted to look at those first two sentences.  A message is given and yet the receivers are all on different walks of faith, maybe some without faith at all.

Quite some time ago, for a few short years that felt like a death sentence, my wife and I attended a church that had an extremely liberal pastor.  They explained that they did not agree with what he had to say, but he was the only one who was willing to preach at the small church.  They felt that if he left, the church would collapse.  They were right, knowing how hard it was to get him, they closed the doors of the church when he eventually retired.

But I quit going to the church when I noticed a crowd form as we filed out of the church to shake this man’s hand.  He did not preach to edify.  He preached to offend every Bible believing person in the church.  And when I offered a hand, he shook my hand, smiled with sadistic glee and asked me what I thought of his sermon.

Come to think of it, I have never before or after had a preacher who asked that question.  If they had an opinion, the pastor might not want to know.

But this pastor singled me out.  He said one time that he thought I was the only one of his intellectual level, the only one who could survive an argument with him.  Did I mention he had an ego far more inflated than his supposed intelligence?

Anyway, I would tell him what I thought.  I would quote Scripture that he had taken and trod upon in the mud.  I tried to always have a biblical answer for his non-biblical insane rants.  Did I mention that he believed in reincarnation and he was once a black female slave in a past life so he identified with the plight of the African-Americans?  Yeah, very intellectual.

Anyway, one Sunday, I heard someone a few pews back into the church say to his friend that he thought I had won the last couple of arguments hands down.  That was the next to the last week that I attended the church.

The next week, he started a three-part sermon on Tiger Woods versus Jesus Christ.  He asked his same silly question.  My reply was something along the lines of… “Study the Scriptures and look for the abomination that causes desolation and then look in the mirror.”  I never said another word to him. I refused to be the sideshow that caused people to come to the church. Why hear garbage just to hear one person in the fifty people that showed up telling the pastor that he was wrong?

My wife was the moderator of the board of deacons at the time.  She served her term and then we found another church, infinitely better, but the bar was low.  She told me that after the three-week sermon on Tiger Woods versus Jesus Christ, his conclusion was that Tiger Woods was a better golfer.

But let’s go into a fantasy world where everyone leaving tells the preacher what they got out of the sermon.  Notice this is one sermon, not several over time.  They each heard the same words.

• Preacher, that sermon was the worst I ever heard.
• Preacher, that sermon was one of the best I ever heard.
• Preacher, at one point, I thought you were on the right track and then you got derailed.
• Preacher, I really liked the story about the frogs.  Note:  There was no story about frogs, but the preacher talked about his dog that he had as a child.  Maybe the guy needed new hearing aids.
• Preacher, you crossed a line.  You stopped preaching and started meddling.
• Preacher, I did not think you went far enough to convict me in this matter.  I need a strong kick in the pants, and you almost got there.
• Preacher, I would like to tell you what I thought of the sermon, but my wife has not told me what my opinion should be yet.
• Preacher, I would like to tell you that was a good message, but frankly, I didn’t wake up until the third verse of the final hymn.

I could go on, but from these responses, I think you know why pastors do not ask the congregation about the sermon.

Some hear differently because they are on a different place along their faith journey.  And far too many are on the wrong path entirely.

And before I close, I have heard so many people hear Acts 2:15 and laugh.  These days, the drunks are still drunk at that hour the next morning, so Peter should have used a different argument to explain that these people were not drunk.

If you like these Tuesday morning essays about philosophy and other “heavy topics,” but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Tuesday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.