“Wise and Persuasive Words” for the 21st Century

I confess I don’t keep up very well with the evangelical left and its culture-lapping delight in all things morally degenerate. So I’m rather late getting into the discussion of Perry Noble and his ignoble attempt to catch Mark Driscoll’s mantle before it reaches the ground. Way back in December of last year, Noble preached a sermon on the 10 Commandments (except that in his sermon they weren’t commandments, but promises), which he has since distilled into blog entry (you can safely go here; unlike his sermons, his blog is rated “G”).

In Noble’s recasting of the Decalogue we find that the 3rd command becomes “You can trust in a name that is above every name,” paving the way for profanity-laced rhetoric that is divinely sanctioned (actually God gave Noble’s sermon directly to him, so he really didn’t need corroboration, but I guess it helps). Other reinterpretations include the 1st command—“You do not have to live in constant disappointment anymore”; the 4th command—“You can rest”; the 5th command—“Your family does not have to fall apart”; the 6th command—“You do not have to live in a constant state of anger because you will be motivated by love and not hate”; the 8th command: “I will provide”; and so forth.

Noble’s words of assurance and delight relieve the itching ears of a great many fans parishioners each week (27,158 pairs of ears to be exact, with 2,946 freshly baptized sets in 2012 alone), vaulting his church to #1 among Southern Baptist Churches last year. And despite the concern of some of his fellow-SBC brethren, Noble doesn’t really need to offer a genuine mea culpa, because, as he informs us in the opening salvo of his January 9th “apology,” “I did this sermon on the Ten Commandments once and everyone loved it…  :-)”

And therein lies the problem. Noble is preaching sermons that offer no tether to Scripture and Christian theology, but only a new 21st century version of “wise and persuasive words” that shock and delight his hearers (1 Cor 2:1ff). Such is the bane of Christianity today. In the website Christian Today, we find the final word going to those who approve of such garbage. Writing an op. ed. piece on the controversy, Mark Woods writes,

The mindset [of Noble’s critics] puts adherence to a theological purity and doctrinal correctness defined by a particular sub-tribe of evangelical Protestants before anything else. But here’s the thing: that’s not what I want from a sermon. I want someone with flair and imagination, someone who’ll take risks and go off-piste. I want someone who’ll speak without notes and enter into an emotional and dramatic relationship with the congregation. I don’t mind if they aren’t “right” about something. I have a Bible, I can read it myself. Because I don’t believe that preaching and Bible teaching are the same thing.

Indeed, you can have what you want. But if there is any Scripture that can rightly be turned to address this situation, I would suggest reading Matthew 18:9, replacing the word eye with ear.