Suffering Surpasses Spiritual Sensationalism
by Christopher Hendrix
In a few weeks, our family will visit the States. Along with experiencing time with family and friends and fellowship with other believers, we’re looking forward to some of our favorite restaurants. Being in Italy, delicious foods like Tex-Mex, BBQ, and burgers practically don’t exist. And, if you happen to find a restaurant with one of these things, you’ll quickly realize that it shouldn’t exist! One restaurant usually tops the list for our family: Chick-fil-A. Chick-fil-A has captured the evangelical community’s hearts. They’ve done an excellent job at serving, providing yummy food, making the ordering and receiving process easy, and making the experience great.
But those benefits don’t fully explain the evangelical's love affair with Chick-fil-A. What makes it so attractive for Christians? After all, it’s still fast food. Chik-fil-A is not a 5-star restaurant that serves gourmet food. Many higher-quality restaurants would put them to shame. If we can glorify God with a steak or a Chick-fil-A sandwich, most people would choose the steak (despite the Chick-fil-A cows protest). Is it the Christian founding? The fact that they close on Sundays? Their stance for truth in an age full of hatred for God? All of these reasons play into it, but one hidden reason exists that most people wouldn’t recognize. Evangelicals have been conditioned through their church services to enjoy it.
Listen to Pastor Chris teach on 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
Adulterated Worship
How so? The typical evangelical church has turned the worship service into an amenity-filled, emotional-based, spiritually sensational experience. Time, energy, and money are spent on making the building look up to the people’s standards, whether the lovely, ample, expansive space in the suburbs or the ‘cool’ looking warehouse in the urban district. Movie theater-style chairs have been installed to give the most comfortable, individualistic, and soft feel while seated. Lights are dimmed through the congregation and brightened at the stage to provide a performance vibe. Musicians and singers are driven to play and sing at levels the congregation can’t reach, so the service becomes more of a concert. They have to put forth high energy to get the people moving to say, ‘The Spirit is moving in this place’! As if they can control the Spirit like a puppet with the strings of their guitar.
Underneath all the flair and cosmetics, though, is content that is mediocre at best. The typical sermon is more of a motivational speech that teaches people how to improve. The main message is usually centered on how to conquer fear in 11 steps, defeat the Goliath in your life, or be more spiritual. It’s a man-centric message that burdens people with work instead of pointing them to the One who has done the job. It’s fast food. It quickly fills the stomach but leaves the body in bad shape. But, the 30 minutes of yakking is tolerated because the children’s ministry is so good.
Man-Centric Worship
Evangelicals have learned to judge a church based on the services and provisions to make their lives easier, more comfortable, a higher view of themselves, and to be served. The songs, service, and sermon content are less weighted, and more importance is given to the amenities surrounding the worship time. Just like the convenience and ease of Chik-Fil-A earning their customer base despite their product still being fast food, churches are filled because of the comfort and convenience they provide and not because of the content they provide. This is what I call, 'spiritual sensationalism'-the focus on the emotional and experiential aspects of worship, rather than the depth of the content. Spiritual sensationalism outranks spiritual maturity.
The Holiness of Suffering
Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:1–10 flips this mindset on its head. He describes this amazing spiritual experience he had. God granted him the chance to see where the throne of God dwells. He heard things that God forbade him to speak. Paul truly encountered something far outweighs any evangelical emotional high to the latest Hillsong track. Yet, he didn’t boast of this. He didn’t brag or even look back to this as a sign of his spiritual maturity. Instead, he tells this story because it led God to give him a thorn in the flesh. This thorn, brought on by a demon, plagued Paul and made him weak. Paul even begged God thrice to remove it. However, God responded by redirecting Paul’s mind to the truth. Paul was suffering, but God’s grace is greater than the suffering. Though Paul was hindered from ministry in some ways, God’s power was seen through Paul’s weakness. Paul’s suffering highlighted Christ’s work in him. This was God’s grace at work in Paul.
Paul looked back at God’s response to him and demonstrated a spiritual maturity like no other. He’s content with all the suffering, pain, trials, persecution, and even sickness because it makes the power of Christ known. Was this true? Of course! Almost 2000 years later, we have Paul’s words from the inspiration of the Spirit. Paul, who struggled in his body and was weak, penned words that would last for eternity. Only the power of God can do that.
What’s the call then for us evangelicals? It’s to abandon the idols we’ve brought into our worship. Thrust down the desire to please the self, self-comfort, and self-exaltation. Destroy the want for an emotional high to make ourselves feel holy. Break the pride in our hearts that we can please God with our lights, sounds, and energy. Refuse to allow our pastors to feed us feel-good messages that don’t address sin and make much of Christ. Instead of complaining about not having certain cosmetic things in the service, complain about the watered-down, weak, short talks that have replaced robust, fiery, passionate, long sermons. The church should not tolerate sermons that do not point to Christ but are man-centric. Demand a gourmet feast on Sundays, not fast food that provides ease and comfort. Though we enjoy Chik-Fil-A, let us not be content with fast food content in our churches. And most of all, let us remember that suffering surpasses spiritual sensationalism.