Joel Osteen Redux
I previously blogged about my admiration for Joel Osteen here. Well, well, well, how fickle we all can be. I have since changed my feeling about my toothy brother.
Osteen preached a sermon called "Broaden Your Life", where he encouraged people to try new types of food or go to the Opera if they never have before. My personal favorite admonition was to drive a new way to work. I'm serious - this was the whole sermon - try new things.
And then he had a sermon called, "Encourage Yourself". In this message he actually told us to write letters of encouragement to ourselves.
I now see that Osteen's entire ministry is anthro-centered, rather then theo-centered. His gospel is centered on man, not God. It's easy to build the biggest church in America, if you keep telling people how awesome they are - who doesn't want to hear that?
I am a preacher. This is my job. A large part of my work is crafting a sermon during the week, and then presenting it on Sunday mornings. The whole mission and reason for the existence of the church is to draw people to Jesus Christ and help them become "little christs", or disciples of Him. So, in my sermons, I am always seeking ways to bring people into the reality of God and His mission on earth, and help them in practical ways make lifestyle changes so they will better reflect Christ-likeness.
There are so many important topics that need to be communicated on Sunday mornings: the atonement, the trinity, the incarnation, sanctification, ecclesiology, eschatology, the Holy Spirit..... the list goes on and on.
Despite, this plethora of topics to be preached from, Osteen never seems to deviate from one message - namely living your best life now or becoming a better you.
Don't get me wrong, Joel Osteen is a follower of Jesus Christ, and my spiritual brother. I just wish he could dig a bit deeper in his preaching into the souls of human beings, rather then just trying to re-wire their thinking from negativity to positivity. Although, having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong w. positive thinking - I just think it is an abuse of the pulpit to just focus on that, and not the centrality of the cross and Christ.
All kinds of drama and hassles at Day Camp today - some woman who never registered her kids, assumed she could just drop her kids off. She was adamant that we take her kids, despite our repeated statements that we were full, and that she needed to pre-register, and it was Tuesday, and the camp started on Monday, and it was 10:30 and the camp started at 9:00.
My tennis game got rained out - re-scheduled for Friday.
Osteen preached a sermon called "Broaden Your Life", where he encouraged people to try new types of food or go to the Opera if they never have before. My personal favorite admonition was to drive a new way to work. I'm serious - this was the whole sermon - try new things.
And then he had a sermon called, "Encourage Yourself". In this message he actually told us to write letters of encouragement to ourselves.
I now see that Osteen's entire ministry is anthro-centered, rather then theo-centered. His gospel is centered on man, not God. It's easy to build the biggest church in America, if you keep telling people how awesome they are - who doesn't want to hear that?
I am a preacher. This is my job. A large part of my work is crafting a sermon during the week, and then presenting it on Sunday mornings. The whole mission and reason for the existence of the church is to draw people to Jesus Christ and help them become "little christs", or disciples of Him. So, in my sermons, I am always seeking ways to bring people into the reality of God and His mission on earth, and help them in practical ways make lifestyle changes so they will better reflect Christ-likeness.
There are so many important topics that need to be communicated on Sunday mornings: the atonement, the trinity, the incarnation, sanctification, ecclesiology, eschatology, the Holy Spirit..... the list goes on and on.
Despite, this plethora of topics to be preached from, Osteen never seems to deviate from one message - namely living your best life now or becoming a better you.
Don't get me wrong, Joel Osteen is a follower of Jesus Christ, and my spiritual brother. I just wish he could dig a bit deeper in his preaching into the souls of human beings, rather then just trying to re-wire their thinking from negativity to positivity. Although, having said that, there is absolutely nothing wrong w. positive thinking - I just think it is an abuse of the pulpit to just focus on that, and not the centrality of the cross and Christ.
All kinds of drama and hassles at Day Camp today - some woman who never registered her kids, assumed she could just drop her kids off. She was adamant that we take her kids, despite our repeated statements that we were full, and that she needed to pre-register, and it was Tuesday, and the camp started on Monday, and it was 10:30 and the camp started at 9:00.
My tennis game got rained out - re-scheduled for Friday.
Comments
Maybe I should send our brother in Texas a copy of Shape Shifters?
Derek
So... If we are to believe that the people listening to him are already 'in the fold', then is it not beneficial to have this form of preaching that is directed at improving ourselves (if we are already one with Christ, etc.)? Should we not accept his preaching as just another differing form of worshipping God? Personally, if I still attended church (which I don't), the type of preaching that I would be attracted to is the type that helps me be a better reflection of God's image in my everyday life.
This is not meant to negate 'Biblical' God or the Holy Trinity or especially not the incredible value inherent in teachings from scripture. However, if we can't relate those teachings directly back to ourselves, what's the point?
peace, c.