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DOES REV. MOON DESERVE
TO BE A MILLIONAIRE #3
WHY BILL COSBY'S STILL ON THE AIR
As we're recording this First Corinthians radio series here in May, the
Hollywood television industry is just charging into the spring Season
of 1999. And every newspaper TV supplement and even TV Guide is filled
with descriptions of seemingly HUNDREDS of new programs that the people
at CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, the Warner Brothers Network and UPN are going to
send out over the airwaves hoping something new will catch hold. Will
the new Cosby show make it? How about Spin City? Last year they said that
some program called Third Rock From the Sun was just about THE ONLY new
pilot to actually get a toehold in the American consciousness.
Today we pause to think about that frantic race-for-the-ratings, because
it was about 20 or so years ago that a bunch of kids from Mel's Diner
struck gold right out of the studio. Richie Cunningham and Pottsy and
Ralph . . . and, of course, "The Fonz." In case you didn't know,
The coolest guy in town, leather-jacketed Arthur Fonzarelli, is 54 years
old, and ABC's sitcom-set-in-the-sixties, Happy Days, was one of the programs
that certainly made it all the way to the top.
Now why do we bring it up today . . . besides to get that birthday mention
in? Friend, television is a viciously FREE-MARKET business. What shows
are going to make it this fall? It all depends on who watches, what the
ratings are, and how much the advertisers are going to have to pay as
a result. Shows that make money will stay, and those that lose money will
go into turnaround or sit on a shelf somewhere in a dusty Hollywood vault.
Nobody complains much about that, because that's the way the world works.
Survival of the fittest. Ratings bring rewards and renewals and even Rolls
Royces.
But you know, in the Christian world, the same thing seems to sometimes
be true there also. Someone who gets RATINGS — makes it! He or she may
not DESERVE to make it, in YOUR opinion. Or maybe not in heaven's opinion
either. But if they've got the ratings, if they can get enough people
to put little green pictures of Andrew Jackson in the offering plate,
they're going to be on for another season no matter what they're saying
on the air.
We mentioned yesterday that the Body of Christ, the church, gives its
stamp of approval to a would-be minister based on two things — according
to our study chapter, First Corinthians nine. First of all, has this person
been with Jesus? And secondly, can you look at the FRUIT of their ministry,
their labors, and clearly see that people are coming into a saved relationship
with Jesus BECAUSE OF THEIR WORK? Those are the twin marks of God's blessing,
AND they also help an organized body decide whether or not to FUND that
person's work. Should that person be PAID a living wage in order to serve
in a spiritual capacity? That was the rule for Paul and it ought to be
the rule here in 1999. In most Christian churches, there are committees
and ordination boards and officially recognized bodies who prayerfully
determine who's going to go on the payroll.
But you know, even our radio series title indicates our belief that there
are imposters out there in the field. DOES REV. MOON DESERVE TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?
we ask. And from a free-market perspective, this guy's made it all the
way to the top, with a personal net worth of more than $15 million. And
it's part of Moonie theology that the Rev. Sun Myung Moon personally encountered
Jesus Christ in vision as a young man standing on a hillside in Korea.
So he's met with an apparent kind of success AND supposedly met Jesus.
Is he for real, according to First Corinthians chapter nine? Should the
Body of Christ embrace him and give him a paycheck?
In case you think this Unification Church question is far removed from
our everyday lives, I can tell you that discernment is required a whole
lot closer to home. Tragically, there have been ministers in my own denomination,
and likely in yours too, who made of themselves what the world would call
a great success. They raised millions with their renegade TV programs.
They had many, many people subscribing to their attack-filled newsletters.
And yes, they claimed the right to financial support . . . and from some
of the rank and file, they got it. But friend, they failed Test #1 and
Test #2 both. They HADN'T been with Jesus and their devotees followed
THEM instead of following the Savior. Did their ministry bring REAL conversions
and create LASTING disciples? Did men and women who followed after these
people find themselves walking more closely with God or being sucked into
a whirlpool of criticism and perfectionism?
So you see, even as we read Paul's words here in chapter nine, there's
success and then there's success. Which maybe helps to amplify an expression
we found in one of our Bible commentaries. Where the King James Version
has Paul asking the question, "Are ye not MY WORK in the Lord?",
the writers say this:
"The apostle refers to the fact that the
very ones who were raising objections to his being an apostle had been
converted to the Lord under his ministry. He offers this as proof that
Jesus recognized him as an apostle and blessed him in that work."
Now notice this: "It is unreasonable to think that God would so bless
an IMPOSTER; therefore the establishment of the church at Corinth under
Paul's ministry was a witness to his apostleship. A minister may properly
point to the blessing that attends his work of preaching the gospel as
proof of the fact that he is called of God to the ministry of the Word."
Would God bless an imposter? Has God blessed Sun Myung Moon? Has He blessed
the fallen ministries of some now-in-jail TV evangelists? According to
Hollywood standards — money and numbers — you would surmise that SOMEONE
has blessed these operations. But friend, according to Paul's definition
of success, where people grow to LASTING maturity in the Christian faith,
a preacher's ratings are very differently defined, aren't they?
However, having said that, let me invite you, and all of us, to avoid
what maybe we could call a black-and-white trap of either/or. A successful
preacher, maybe with a huge TV audience and an eight-figure annual income,
preaches a mixture of truth and heresy over the airwaves and finally experiences
a moral fall. We see his picture along with grainy footage of a prostitute
on Hard Copy. Maybe he goes off the airwaves and maybe he doesn't. And
people are tempted to ask: "Was the Lord using that man, or was Satan?"
And it might be wisest to respond, with sadness in our voices, "Well,
the Lord WANTED to use him. The Lord LONGED to use him. And to the extent
that bits of truth found their way into a TV viewer's heart despite the
barriers of sin and greed . . . the Lord DID use him. BUT . . . tragically,
so did the enemy of all truth." Isn't it true that God and the devil
have tugs-of-war over each of us? God WANTS to use us, but sometimes we
only let Him use us the tiniest bit, while Lucifer has his way with all
the rest. And I believe Paul would tell us that the Christian worker,
who enjoys the support and the prayers and the financial backing of the
church, should live a life marked by COMPLETE surrender to God, a FULL
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And here's another point. Even in the Christian realm, there IS a kind
of free market at work . . . and some of that's all right. There are GREAT
singers and there are GOOD singers and there are some not-so-good singers.
And it's just unavoidable truth that the great singer's going to sell
more CDS and get more concerts and be heard on the radio more than the
other ones. Some preachers are tremendously gifted with a powerful delivery
and an keen eye for fresh truths and a vision for innovative new ministries
. . . and others don't have those character blessings. We can't all be
Billy Graham or Bill Hybels. And in a way, there are RATINGS which give
some churches and some ministries and some PEOPLE a head start. I don't
think that has to be an evil thing, because GOD values ALL His servants.
No, you might not get into the Nielsen top ten with your sermons or your
Bible studies. You may wish to be a singer for God, and the only invitations
you get are to perform in the kindergarten department at Sunday School.
No one may ever offer you a salary to go on the road for Jesus. And that's
all right; accept the verdict of the free market and keep on using your
talents as God opens up the doors HE chooses for you to walk through.
However, right here we want to walk around to the other side of the coin
and ask a question from over there. If Paul is right and the people of
God owe a material living to the WORKERS of God, then to what extent does
that come from US? If we go to a church, and sit in its comfortable pews,
and enjoy the lighting and the air conditioning and the bulletins and
the good sermon and the music made more attractive by the new choir robes
. . . and don't then put something in the plate to help fund all that
WE have received, are we in a sense robbing the church? Does this free
market only survive and thrive when we who are consumers do our part?
That's our topic for tomorrow.
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