Shallow Pulpits — E.A. Johnston

A friend of mine, years ago, was a pastor, and he was driving the famous British theologian Major Ian Thomas to the airport after this man had finished a week of meetings at his church in Tennessee. And my pastor friend turned to Ian Thomas and asked him the following question while they were driving down the road.

He asked, Well, Major, now that you've spent some time among us, what do you think of Southern Baptists? And the British preacher did not respond, but looked out the window in the distance as if he had not heard him.

So my friend raised his voice and he asked once again, Well, Major, now that you've spent some time among us, what is your opinion of Southern Baptists? To which Ian Thomas replied with one word, Shallow, meaning a mile wide and an inch deep.

Shallow Pulpits and the Call to the Old Paths

The title of my message today, friends, is Shallow Pulpits. And my text can be found in the book of Jeremiah. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in chapter 6 and verse 16. And let me read us this word of God at this time.

And may the spirit of the Lord attend the reading of his holy word. Thus saith the Lord. I will pause here, friends, for I fear that our pulpits today have lost the divine authority where a servant of God can stand tall in the pulpit and boldly proclaim.

Thus saith the Lord. I'm afraid we fear men today more than God. And pastors are just like the dialogue, instead of boldly proclaiming the word of God. And let me continue with our text. Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths.

Where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. Let me pause here again, friends. Here, almighty God is calling his people back to himself to stand in his presence and to walk with him in a vital walk of intimacy with him and obedience to him.

Sin as Turning to Our Own Way

But listen to how they respond to this invitation. But they said, we will not walk therein. In other words, they wanted to go their own way. The shortest definition of sin found in the Bible is in Isaiah 53 6.

Which states, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And that's what sin is. It's going our way, when we know it isn't God's way. The people respond to God and Jeremiah by saying, no, we will not walk in the old paths.

But cut a new road out for ourselves to travel on. And God says in effect, go ahead then, without me. And the church in our day has done just that. We have forsaken the old paths of holiness and obedience and fear of God.

And we've made our own way with our own modern devices and modern gospel and see where that has gotten us. And God has withdrawn himself from among us. Few are being saved today and few lives are being transformed by the spirit of God because we have rejected him.

The Shallowness of Contemporary Pastors

Your average pastor today will quote the popular religious guru of the moment, whether it be a Keller or a Driscoll. And they are no deeper than another man's philosophy. But men of former times immersed themselves in the word of God and stayed in the presence of God.

Through their surrendered and holy lives unto God. They knew their Bibles better and they knew their God better. And consequently, they lived better and more useful lives of fruitfulness to God. As they reached their generation with the gospel of the Son of God.

Historic Preachers and Divine Authority

Men like Moody and Stud and Whitfield and Edwards. Men who tried the old paths and in doing so, traversed a different hemisphere in their walk with God. And breathed in a different atmosphere that was full of the presence of the Almighty.

When they preached, they spoke with attending divine authority. And lives were transformed for all eternity. They were Christ intoxicated men who were willing to risk all for God and the sake of the gospel.

And in doing so, their lives stand out down through the centuries. Like black ink on a white page with boldness and clarity as to their usefulness to God and third generation. And I look around today and all I see is shallowness.

Like Major Ian Thomas accurately described the American church those many years ago. What would the old boy think if he could come back and take a look at its sad figure today? This is a call to return to the God of the Bible and to once again ask for the old paths to walk there in.

Repentance and Spirit-Empowered Proclamation

Without power from on high, how can the church continue to make any progress against the forces of darkness. That smother society with perversion and violence. The church must repent and turn from her wicked ways of going her own way.

And turn back to God with her whole heart. And preach the whole counsel of God once again with the anointing of the spirit of God. Society unravels all around us while the world stage is a powder keg ready to explode in war and annihilation.

Choosing Obedience Instead of Judgment

Will we obey God and follow him or will we say like the audience in Jeremiah's day. But they said we will not walk there in. Will we continue to go our own way without God and end up being destroyed by God through divine judgment upon a nation in rebellion to him.

Heaven help us all. Let us pray.