I am old enough to have had the experience of sitting occasionally under the ministry of Dr. Robert Ketchem. Many from my generation and before would recall his message from 2 Corinthians, chapter three, titled, “The High Cost of Writing Paper”. In this message he details the splendid work of the Holy Spirit in carving the image of Christ upon His people. I believe that it was in the context of this message that he made the statement that, “a lot of big-shots turn out to be nothing but buck-shot when you get to know them a little better.” The book of Second Corinthians could be summarized as Paul’s conflict with “Big-shots”. There were those in the church at Corinth that pressed an issue of appearance and talents as the real measure of authentic Christian ministry. And by that standard they belittled and mocked the great apostle:
2 Corinthians 10:10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
As Paul concludes this epistle he characterizes authentic Christian ministry as reflecting: 1) personal sacrifice, 2) submission to God’s Word, and 3) both professional and personal humility. It seems to me that this would be a good way for us to measure churches today. It appears however, our way of measuring churches presently is a matter of sophistication, worldly attractiveness and giving the “worshipper” a pleasurable experience.
Would you allow me a rather profane observation here? Years ago there was an advertisement for “Virginia Slims” cigarettes that pictured a very sophisticated looking woman smoking with the statement, “You’ve come a long way baby”. It always seemed to me that it should have said, "You’ve gone a long way baby!" I wonder if that same could not be said of many of our churches.
