Expository Preaching Blog #24 – “The Problem with Being Brand Loyal”

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Now I must start with a statement: I am brand loyal. I prefer Verizon over other cell phone carriers. I own Chevys and never Fords. I shop Home Depot and only Lowes when I absolutely have to. But I am not brand loyal when it comes to my faith, beliefs and churches. There I am loyal only to Jesus Christ and His Word. Our modern Christianity is quite brand loyal though.

I am a Bible College graduate and have over 31 years of pastoral and preaching experience. I am not a novice and have been preaching for 50 years now. I am an ordained Baptist minister for over 35 years now.

When I pastored in NY State a couple churches in our area called pastors who were graduates of Bob Jones University. They would no longer fellowship with our churches and our pastors. This was in spite of the fact that we were all part of the same Baptist Association and had been for many, many years. They had their own meetings together and only fellow-shipped with each other. That was until one of them decided to go to a mission’s project to plant a new church. Then that man came to our meetings, wanted to hold meetings in our churches and wanted money from us for his mission’s project. We weren’t good enough to fellowship with but we were good enough to take our money.

A couple of years ago I attended a church pastored by a Hyles Anderson College grad. He would not let anyone else teach an adult Sunday school class or preach in his church except himself, his son or a missionary that he approved of. If he went on vacation he was always back in time to preach on Sunday. He rebuffed several offers to have different ones fill his pulpit so that he could get a break from ministry and refresh himself.

I have seen followers of John MacArthur never allow other men in their pulpit and not allow any teachers in their church unless they followed the MacArthur style, commentaries and curriculum. MacArthur was viewed as infallible and no one else would do.

I recently attended a SBC who has been without a senior pastor for over 3 years now. The youth pastor filled the pulpit every Sunday for over 2 years. Even since the youth pastor resigned I am not allowed to teach Sunday school, preach in the pulpit or have any other ministry in the church except I was asked to sing in the choir. I believe this is because I did not have a degree nor was I trained in a SBC college and/or seminary. They would only accept preachers from their schools and seminaries. This is even when one of those men taught heresy in their pulpit.

There is a problem in Christianity and our churches when we follow men more than God. When we accept certain schools over the Word of God. When we accept only our own training and reject others who may have had their schooling in different places than we have. I graduated from Baptist Bible College in Clarks Summit, PA over 42 years ago. But in my ministry I have often had preachers, missionaries and teachers from other groups, associations and schools. If they faithfully preached and taught God’s Word, I didn’t care where they came from or where they went to school. I wanted to know if they followed Jesus Christ. That is my loyalty and nothing or no one else. That will not change with me even if I am never allowed to preach in a pulpit again. It is a sad state in our world when we put man over God, and it is all around us! Let’s truly get back to the Bible and only be brand loyal to Jesus Christ!

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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