The Tyranny of Mediocrity

I remember a story heard a long time ago of a minister who reported to the church that had just ‘called’ him to be their new preacher.  His very first Sunday, he preached a great sermon.  The people of the church complimented him on such a great job and the church’s elders knew they had hired the right guy.

The next week, it is time for the sermon and the new minister gets up and preaches a truly great sermon.  Once again, the people of the church complimented him on a great job and the elders were reassured they had made the right choice.

The third week, it is time for the sermon and the new minister gets up and preaches a truly great sermon.  This time some are beginning to recognize parts of the message and he seems to have used the same scriptures again.  But, it is a very good sermon and he still receives compliments and affirmation from the elders.

The fourth week, it is time for the sermon and the minister gets up and preaches again.  This time everyone is beginning to realize he is preaching the same sermon he preached the week before which was the same sermon as the week before, etc.

After the worship service was over, the elders finally approached their new minister and told him they realized he had been preaching the same sermon over and over again.  They told him they thought it would best if he preached a different sermon next week.  His response was, “When you start doing what this sermon said to do, I’ll start preaching a different sermon.”

While we recognize this story is a joke, we also must recognize the reason it is humorous is due to the fact that there is much truth in it.  We hear sermons, good sermons, all the time but we seem to forget the message to the sermon as soon as we get to the restaurant after church or definitely no later than half-time of the afternoon game.

As Christians, we are anointed by the Holy Spirit.  This is the same spirit that “anointed Jesus and gave Him the power to do good, to heal and to rescue those who were under the tyranny of the Devil.” (Acts 10:38)

Our jobs as Christians is not to go to church, feel good about what we have done and then go live our lives as though we didn’t go to church at all.  We have been given a commission to do exactly what Jesus did; to do good and to rescue those who are under the tyranny of the Devil.

Unfortunately, too many of those in our churches have become complacent, satisfied with the status quo, and put forth a mediocre effort to our faith at best.

Mediocrity in the church has caused the church to be influenced by culture rather than the other way around.  Jesus has called us to be His hands, His eyes, and His feet and are to continue to do what He had done.  We cannot rescue those who are held captive by the tyranny of the Devil when we respond to life in fear, anger and hatred.  None of these are character traits of Jesus, but they are the character traits of too many in the church.

I want to encourage us that we MUST be the people of God He has called us to be.  We MUST no longer take a complacent attitude in our approach to our faith.  We MUST take the commission Jesus gave to us seriously.  There are way too many who need to be rescued from the tyranny of the Devil and those of us who make up the church must take immediate action.

Our attitude of mediocrity is an indication we don’t take our faith seriously.  We hear the Word of God proclaimed, but we do not DO what the Word of God instructs us to do.  When we are hearers of the Word and not Doers we deceive ourselves.  Scripture tells us that to hear the Word and not Do it is like the man who looks at himself in the mirror and then turns and forgets what he looks like.  (James 1:22-24)

My friends, we must put our mediocrity behind us.  We must be doers of the word not simply hearers.  We must boldly go and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, bursting through the very gates of hell and rescue those who have been taken captive under the tyranny of the devil.

What happens when we don’t?  Just watch the news tonight.