The Church Needs to Throw Away the Airbrush 

We are a culture obsessed with perfection. We are an airbrushed society filled with artists that practice fabrication and deception on a scale and level never known in the history of the world. Reality is blurring into fantasy, at least in the realm of media. And it dominates our world: globally, locally, interpersonally & spiritually.

Get rid of the airbrush. Stop sanitizing saints who don’t want sanctification. Stop the new lineage of for-profit pastors. Christians in America want our preachers to be famous, the Church to be his platform, and the members his biggest fans. Enter the airbrush: messy Scripture is ignored, convicting truths reformed, and image becomes more important than substance.

Sadly, the airbrush has infected many of our churches. Members think they have to look perfect and act perfect. All this acting has put on a show for far too long. Stop acting and start living! You have real struggles and real problems, but we are so scared that others will perceive us to be “lesser” christians. Acting never got anyone to heaven–remember Judas?! He was the best actor of all and look where he ended up–utterly ruined. Pastors have become peddlers of personal perfection and pundits of pretensions, instead of red-hot prognosticators of purity and the Prince of Peace! Row-after-row of parishioners are left believing the pastor is perfect and his wife is perfect and his kids…well, we know better than that! (For the record: I am a preacher’s kid)

Spoiler alert: Most of the models on the covers of magazines have been more than a little “touched up” by expert editors a.k.a. airbrush artists. We are guilty of “touching up” our websites, our sanctuaries, our pulpits, our tv screens, our people, our kids areas, our logos, our “extras”, our worship-leaders and sadly, our pastors.  Churches have started cashing in on their “cover-boy” pastors. Church members have started believing that they need the latest, greatest, coolest, shirt-untucked, Abercrombie-looking, model pastor. It is ridiculous to see men in their 50’s and 60’s trying to look like they are 25, just so they can reach the younger generation. Do you really think having a “cool” pastor impresses Jesus? Do you think your “cool” pastor will make the Scripture more palatable? Do you think a cool building is what you need? A cool worship leader? A cool sanctuary? A cool website? A cool kid’s area? 

Stop being cool. Jesus had a word for cool. It was neither hot nor cold, it was lukewarm. The gospel has never been cool. It will never be cool, if your gospel is cool, then you have an apostate version. The gospel of Jesus Christ is red hot. It is a consuming fire. There is no cool in it. And, by the way, Jesus said “cool” makes him want to vomit (Revelation 3:16).

It’s evident by many of the messages heard today that many preacher-boys spend more time preening and primping than they do in true preparation for their sermon. They are not prepared to be an “oracle” of God, because they have not heard from God. Seminary taught them how to cut up, divide and Greek-i-fy a passage of Scripture. But, seminary can never teach you the power of God. Oh many professors, presidents, and administers have the power, but they learned it on their knees, through their tears, and in their sufferings. The power of God was never learned in a practicum, in a popularity contest or in a Porsche. It is better learned in a prison, kneeling in a pew or a Ford Pinto!

There are fewer and fewer Spirit-filled and Spirit-led members in our churches. They don’t know the Spirit, so they are not listening for his voice. They learned that the pastor is the authority. Hogwash! Only Jesus is the authority in the Church–his church. The Spirit testifies, searches and calls from the depths, from “deep unto to deep” (Psalm 42:7, 1 Corinthians 2:10). But, we aren’t a spiritually deep people. We are mostly shallow, muddied waters.

How deep is your church? Probably not that deep, because if it is your church it will be as shallow as the newest member. If it is your church, then your shovel will hit bottom very quickly. Oh, but if it is Jesus’ Church, His Bride, then, no rock could ever be dropped to hit the bottom. His depth is unfathomable.

Where has the depth gone in the Church? We don’t want deep sermons, we want entertainment. We don’t want deep hymns, we want anthems. We don’t want to memorize Scripture, we want a new app. We don’t want prayer meetings, we want bounce-houses and coffee shops. We don’t want the poor, we want the wealthy. We don’t want missionaries, we want rock-stars. We don’t want prophets, we want puppets. We don’t the Spirit, we want cheerleaders. We don’t want heaven, we want the world. We don’t want Jesus, we want me. Terrell Owens summed it up very well, “I love me some, me.”

The Church must wake up. Maybe, it’s the Church that needs an ice-water challenge?! We are so busy being so full of our-selves, we’ve left no room for Christ. We’ve pushed him to the fringes of our comfortable, narcoleptic lives. Wake up! Hear the preparations of the King. He will ride upon the Four Winds. The Trumpet will sound.  He will return. He is coming. But, will he find his servants asleep? Will he find his Bride faithful?

“…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Luke 18:8