Every song
has a “tone” or a “pitch” around which everything is organized. Notes that do not relate to that particular
pitch are said to be “off-key”. There is
nothing wrong with those other notes; it is just that they do not fit in that
particular song. Notes that do not fit
properly create “noise” instead of “music”.
Spiritually
speaking, if our teaching is to have the beauty and harmony that God intended
then it also has to have a centre-point around which everything is organized. Fortunately, we do not have to guess what Jesus’
message ought to sound like because he set the tone for his ministry.
“The Spirit
of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of
sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the
Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19).
Unfortunately,
the church does not always harmonize with Jesus’ tone. Too many sermons sound more like “bad news”
instead of “good news”. Too often, we
spend our time talking about the prison of sin rather than describing the
freedom that is available in Christ (By the way, you do not have to describe the
prison to the prisoners – they already know!).
Instead of talking about the blessing of sight, we often dwell on the
spiritual blindness that is around us. Rather than spotlighting “the year of the Lord’s
favor”, too many teachers put “God’s displeasure and punishment” on centre
stage. Somehow, we have taken a hopeful
and powerful message and turned it into something that sounds bad.
Not only
that, but we have also focused on the wrong people. Most churches that I know are filled with
successful, middle to upper-class people.
However, Jesus described his target audience with words like “poor”, “prisoner”,
“blind” and “oppressed”. It is not that
the successful do not need the gospel (they do), but maybe the message would
get a better reception if we, like Jesus, took it to those who are more keenly
aware of their need.
Jesus said
that if you want to speak for him, then you need to tell a joy-filled, hopeful
message about how he can change people’s life and eternity. That is the tone around which all the other
teaching must harmonize.
Anything else is out of
tune.
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