The type of lunacy that recently took place in one Memphis church actually kinda makes me laugh:

When pastor Steve Stone initially heard of the mosque and Islamic center being erected on the sprawling land adjacent his church, his stomach tightened. Then he raised a 6-foot sign reading, “Welcome to the Neighborhood.” . . . . “What would Jesus do if He were us? He would welcome the neighbor,” Stone said. . . .

While the 4,000-square-foot worship hall is being completed, Heartsong has opened its doors to its neighbors throughout the monthlong observance of Ramadan. Under a gigantic cross constructed of salvaged wood, nearly 200 area Muslims have been gathering each night to pray.

This pastor has opened his doors and allowed local Muslims to come celebrate Ramadan within the walls of his church. For the express purpose of helping us avoid this type of situation, Jesus gave us two Prime Directives instead of just one:

Matthew 22:36-39
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Loving your neighbor is not the be-all and end-all. Loving God must take priority. And for that matter, if you’re actually assisting your neighbor to commit evil and incur the judgment of God and pursue a false gospel that will ultimately lead to hell, then you’re not even being particularly loving toward the neighbor, either. And you’re certainly not being very loving toward all the other neighbors that this first neighbor is attempting to lead down the same false path!

2 John 1:7-11
Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

But I guess maybe this “tolerance” stuff is the type of instruction a person is basically asking for when he attends a church called “Heartsong.” He gets to learn from a man with a song in his heart but no brain in his head.

Do not be like this pastor.

There is a church practice that I have encountered where, at the beginning of the sermon, the pastor asks the entire congregation to “stand up now for the reading of God’s word.” Then when the pastor says that, everyone stands up and listens while he reads a Bible passage. First of all, I don’t see what particular benefit anyone could derive from standing up. God created chairs for a reason. Some people might argue that standing is a show of respect, but I don’t really buy that line. If we seriously wanted to show respect, it seems like we would salute, or kneel to the ground, or something. The other argument that a proponent of the technique might offer is that standing up causes us to be more attentive. But since when is that the case? Do children stand up while they are learning mathematics in school, or do they sit at their desks? Standing up just makes you uncomfortable. I focus best on God when I am comfortable and not annoyed.

But of course, these prior arguments concern merely peripheral issues. The real question is, Why in the world is God’s word read only at the beginning of the service?? I think a sermon is not even a real sermon at all unless it contains at least ten Bible verses. And I’m being fairly lenient when I offer a number even that low. Moreover, it’s a pretty cheap way to beat the system if you just pick ten verses that are all in a row and then read them all at the beginning of the sermon. The correct method is to spread the verses out throughout the sermon.

Once the pastor makes sure he has the requisite number of verses and that they are properly spread out, then he can either explain what each one means (expositional preaching) or use the verses to buttress a broader biblical argument (topical preaching). Or of course, he can always do some of both. Personally I think the congregation is safest if the pastor just sticks mainly to expositional preaching – because with topical preaching the risk is greater that the preacher will yank verses out of context to support some ridiculous extrabiblical viewpoint — but topical preaching does come in handy for establishing coherent theology.

But aside from these legitimate strategies, there’s also the method I’ve been ranting about, where the pastor just picks half a dozen verses, and then he reads them all at the beginning, and then he rambles on for the rest of the sermon with his own opinions. To finally bring things back to the initial point of my post, if you think it is good to stand up for the reading of God’s word, then you should remain standing for the entire sermon! Otherwise, you are admitting that your preacher is not preaching God’s word.

If you have never been to a church that engaged in this practice and have absolutely no idea what I am talking about…well, just ignore this post and count your blessings.