"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."Heart includes intellect, will and emotions. If these be impure, the person cannot see God, neither in eternity, nor all about him everywhere. We who have been made clean in Christ have new eyes to see God at work in us and all about us in nature, and one day we will see him in heaven.
What Vance said is, "Atheists CANNOT understand what we are saying. This needs to be part of our message to them." His reasoning was good. The point was, if we speak to them as though we expected them to accept our apologetics, as if we expected them to understand and agree, then we fail to relate to them the real spiritual Gospel. We must speak as to spiritually blind people, yes, even in a condescending tone. This unpleasant tone is the same as that used by Jesus, when for example he says to the Pharisees, "You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel." Pride is the hallmark of the unbeliever. We need more than ever not to stroke their pride with pleasantries.
If they cannot understand the message, what should we aim to do? We must plant the seed, sowing generously. And if we plow the ground a little first, as by making the hearer mad, well that will allow at least some of the seed to germinate, by God's grace.
One thing the emerging church does well is make people comfortable with the gospel. I'm convinced it is the wrong approach with Pharisees and other proud folks. The prophets heaped insult upon insult to the hearers. John the Baptist was very direct about sins, e.g. the sins of Herod and his mistress. What are we doing trying to make our churches more friendly and sensetive? We have demons to slay!
So the sermon idea is not really a text but a tone. Whatever message I preach, it needs this "edge", this spiritual hoe with which to plow the hard-packed ground. The "edge" is that tone God gave to Isaiah,
"Go and tell this people: Be ever hearing but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving."Let's call it, bluntness about the spiritual depravity of the listeners. They will merely see this as condescension or rudeness; but when God speaks thus, it is designed to make them spiritually aroused, mad if you will, enough to either act upon the Word or further reject it.
"Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes."This was God's exhortation to Isaiah. Now I think I see why and how this is the only way to get through to the proud American also. For until they see how impure their intellect, they cannot begin to see God, nor comprehend the things of God.
God in heaven, raise up preachers, prophets like Isaiah, who can at least make people mad, that is, somehow stir them to think honestly about why they reject your Son, love evil, hate truth and harden their hearts. Lord, make me pure, that I may see you, see your hand at work, see your Spirit poured out, and see the glorious faces of many who will come to faith in your blessed Son Jesus. AMEN
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