Transcription
My friends, we live in an era when the church is more concerned with being liked than being faithful. Many pulpits today are filled with soft words that produce hard hearts. But the word of God is not ambiguous. God is not silent about what he loves, and he is not silent about what he hates. Proverbs 6:16-19 says, "There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him." That's not metaphor. That's not hyperbole. That's divine reality.
So today, I want to shine the light of scripture on seven practices thriving in modern churches—practices God hates. And yet, tragically, they're not just tolerated; they're defended, celebrated, and mass-marketed.
One: Man-centered worship. Worship has become a concert. The lights dim, the fog rolls in, the music pounds, and the audience is entertained. But God is not entertained. Worship is not about what stirs the emotions of man. It's about what pleases the holiness of God. John 4:24 tells us God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Not in performance, not in self-expression—in truth. When the word is sidelined and replaced with spectacle, what you have is idolatry cloaked in church clothes.
Two: Feel-good preaching that omits sin. Too many pulpits are allergic to the word repent. There is a brand of preaching today that tells people they're basically good, just a little misunderstood. But the gospel is not about self-esteem. It's about deliverance from the wrath of God. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." If your church skips that part, it doesn't matter how good the coffee is or how engaging the speaker sounds. It is not a church of Christ.
Three: Entertaining the goats instead of feeding the sheep. Charles Spurgeon warned of the day when the church would be filled not with shepherds feeding the sheep, but clowns entertaining the goats. That day is here. Many pastors now function as CEOs, life coaches, or stand-up comedians. Jesus said in John 21:17, "Feed my sheep, not amuse them, not pamper them. Feed them the word." The church exists for the glory of God and the equipping of the saints, not for attracting the world by acting like it.
Four: Tolerating false teachers. Scripture is not silent on this. 2 Peter 2:1 says, "There will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies." But rather than confront these wolves, many churches invite them to headline conferences. They sell their books. They quote their teachings. They excuse their heresies in the name of unity. But unity at the cost of truth is not biblical unity. It's betrayal.
Five: Elevating emotion over doctrine. Some churches now suggest doctrine divides. And what really matters is your feelings. But God's word says otherwise. Titus 1:9 says that a true elder must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. Truth divides, but it also sanctifies. John 17:17 God is not honored by ignorance dressed up as sincerity.
Six: Replacing holiness with relevance. The modern church is obsessed with being relevant. Fashion, language, entertainment—it's all designed to look like the world. But James 4:4 rebukes this: "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" If a church has to look like the culture to reach the culture, then what does it even offer? If salt loses its savor, it's good for nothing. Relevance at the cost of reverence is a betrayal of the church's calling.
Seven: Making the church about people, not about God. Many churches now use slogans like "It's all about you" or "You belong here." But that's not the message of the gospel. The gospel begins with the holiness of God, not the comfort of man. Colossians 1:18 says, "In everything he might be preeminent." That means the church isn't about our story. It's about his glory. When churches become platforms for self-improvement rather than places of self-denial, they cease to be the church of Jesus Christ.
You may say, "Well, people are being reached." My friends, if they're being reached with a gospel that isn't true, they're not being saved. They're being deceived. Ezekiel 22:26 says, "Her priests have done violence to my law. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, so that I am profaned among them." That is a warning to us. The question is not, "Does this church attract a crowd?" The question is, "Does this church honor Christ?"
My appeal to you is this: Return to the book. Return to the cross. Return to the God who does not change because he still hates what he has always hated, and he still blesses obedience.
In churches across the globe today, there is a growing trend that centers worship around the preferences, feelings, and experiences of people rather than the glory, majesty, and holiness of God. This man-centered approach to worship is not merely a stylistic shift. It is a theological disaster. The fundamental purpose of worship is not to entertain, impress, or emotionally move the congregation, but to ascribe glory, honor, and reverence to the God of scripture. When churches redefine worship to satisfy the tastes of man rather than the will of God, they move from true worship into idolatry.
Scripture gives us a clear picture of what worship is meant to be. In John 4:24, Jesus declares, "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth." This is not a suggestion or a flexible guideline. It is a divine command. Worship that is not rooted in the truth of who God is and the truth of what he has revealed is not worship at all. It is falsehood cloaked in religious practice. The spirit in which we worship must be one of humility, awe, reverence, and submission to God's holiness. The truth we hold to must be the unchanging word of God, not the shifting philosophies or preferences of culture.
Yet in many modern churches, worship has been downgraded into a product. Congregants are viewed as consumers. Music is engineered for maximum emotional impact. Lyrics are crafted to be vague, repetitious, and emotionally charged rather than doctrinally rich. Lights flash. Smoke machines fill the stage. Performers move and sing with the precision of a professional concert. And all of this is defended on the grounds that it draws people in or creates an atmosphere where people can feel connected. But here's the question: Connected to what? If worship is not grounded in the truth of God's word, then people are not connecting to God. They are connecting to an experience. And emotional experiences can be manufactured. The world does that every day. Concerts, rallies, and entertainment venues stir emotion too. But that is not worship.
The Old Testament reveals how serious God is about the manner in which he is worshiped. In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire before the Lord. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them. Why? Because they approached God on their own terms, not his. They tried to innovate in the realm of worship, and God killed them for it. This was not cruelty. This was holiness. God had made clear how he was to be worshiped. And their actions showed contempt for his commands. That account should strike fear into the heart of any worship leader who thinks that innovation is more important than obedience.
The Psalms, the great worship book of scripture, are filled with doctrine. They exalt God's attributes, his works, his law, and his justice. They plead for mercy. They praise his sovereignty. They confront sin and celebrate holiness. Biblical worship is theological at its core. It is about proclaiming who God is and what he has done. And it is striking that modern worship songs so often avoid these themes. Instead of the majesty of God, we hear about vague feelings of intimacy. Instead of exalting his sovereignty, we hear about our dreams, our seasons, our victories. The language of modern worship has shifted from theocentric, God-centric to anthropocentric, man-centric. And the effect is profound. Man-centered worship not only dishonors God, it deceives the people. It trains them to think that the purpose of church is their experience. It builds their confidence in what they feel rather than in what God has said. It subtly teaches them that God exists to serve their needs and make them feel good rather than that they exist to glorify him and serve his kingdom. When a church replaces reverence with relevance, the result is not more powerful worship but more profound idolatry. It is not an upgraded model. It is a return to golden calves.
Furthermore, man-centered worship undermines the sufficiency of scripture. When worship leaders and pastors believe they must create an atmosphere for worship through ambiance, technology, and performance, they are implicitly saying that God's word and spirit are not enough. But Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is living and active. Isaiah 55:11 declares that God's word does not return void. If the word of God is not sufficient to provoke awe, repentance, and joy in the heart of the believer, no amount of lighting or emotion will compensate.
The early church did not gather around a stage. They gathered around scripture. Acts 2:42 says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." There was no fog machine, no band, no amplification. Just the people of God gathered around the truth of God and the fear of God. And that church turned the world upside down. The modern church, with all its technical resources and production tools, cannot even turn its own congregation toward holiness when it abandons the centrality of the word and the supremacy of God in worship. This is not an issue of personal taste. This is an issue of biblical fidelity. God has spoken. He has told us what pleases him. He has told us what true worship is. And when churches ignore that in favor of market strategies, emotional manipulation, or cultural trends, they are not just making a mistake. They are offering strange fire. Worship is not for us. It is for him. It is not about what we feel. It is about what he is worth.
One of the most dangerous trends in the modern church is the rise of feel-good preaching that omits any mention of sin, judgment, or repentance. This type of preaching is not just incomplete; it is deceptive. It presents a distorted gospel that offers comfort without conviction, grace without truth, and salvation without surrender. It fills buildings, garners applause, and boosts popularity, but it does not save souls. A gospel that does not confront sin is not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is abundantly clear that the problem of humanity is sin. Romans 3:23 declares, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." This is not an abstract theological statement. It is the defining reality of every human life. Sin is not a mistake, a flaw, or a psychological disorder. Sin is rebellion against a holy God. It incurs his wrath. It demands judgment, and it leads to eternal death. The gospel begins with the recognition of this truth. Without it, there is no need for a savior, no urgency for repentance, and no understanding of grace.
Feel-good preaching avoids this. It offers motivational messages, self-help strategies, and personal anecdotes designed to uplift and inspire, but it avoids the hard edges of scripture. It tells people how to improve their lives rather than how to die to themselves. It preaches about destiny, purpose, and potential, but not about sin, hell, or the cross. It speaks often of God's love, but rarely, if ever, of his holiness. In doing so, it reduces the character of God to a divine cheerleader eager to fulfill our dreams and endorse our desires. But God is not a motivational speaker. He is not a cosmic therapist. He is the righteous judge of all the earth. Hebrews 10:31 says, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." The preacher who refuses to declare this is not being compassionate. He is being cowardly. He is not protecting the flock. He is abandoning it to wolves. Preaching that withholds the reality of sin is not kindness. It is cruelty. It gives people the illusion of peace while leaving them in danger of eternal punishment.
The Apostle Paul warned against this very thing in 2 Timothy 4:3-4. He writes, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." That time has come. Churches are filled with people who want to be affirmed, not confronted. And pastors have responded by giving them what they want rather than what they need. Yet, biblical preaching does not cater to the desires of man. It proclaims the truth of God. It exposes sin not to shame people, but to lead them to repentance. It warns of judgment not to frighten people but to awaken them. It calls for repentance not as a legalistic burden but as the only path to true freedom. Acts 17:30 says God commands all people everywhere to repent. That is not optional. That is not negotiable. That is the demand of the gospel.
When Jesus began his public ministry, his first message was not about living your best life or discovering your purpose. It was this: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). The apostles followed the same pattern. On the day of Pentecost, Peter did not deliver a feel-good message. He declared that the people had crucified the Lord of glory. And when they were cut to the heart, he told them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins" (Acts 2:38). The early church was built not on therapeutic sermons, but on the unflinching proclamation of sin, judgment, and grace.
The reason feel-good preaching is so destructive is because it inoculates people against the real gospel. It convinces them they are fine when they are not. It tells them they can have peace with God without being at war with their sin. It offers the crown without the cross, the joy without the sorrow, the salvation without the surrender. But Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." There is no other way.
Furthermore, feel-good preaching robs the cross of its meaning. If sin is not serious, then the cross was not necessary. If judgment is not real, then Christ died for nothing. The horror of the cross makes sense only in light of the horror of sin. Jesus did not die to enhance your self-worth. He died to bear the wrath of God in your place. Isaiah 53:5 says he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. To preach Christ without sin is to strip the gospel of its power and empty it of its purpose. True gospel preaching always leads to brokenness before it leads to healing. It wounds before it binds up. It convicts before it comforts. That is the divine pattern. Only when a sinner sees the weight of their sin can they see the worth of the Savior. Only when they understand the danger of judgment can they rejoice in the mercy of justification. This is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:18, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." The cross is not a motivational symbol. It is an instrument of death. And until we preach it that way, we are not preaching the gospel.
One of the clearest signs of a church in decline is its tolerance, if not outright embrace, of false teachers. This is not a small issue. This is not a side concern for the discerning few. The toleration of false teachers is a direct rebellion against the word of God and a violation of the church's mandate to guard the truth. Scripture repeatedly and emphatically warns about false teachers infiltrating the church. And yet many today ignore these warnings in the name of love, unity, or platform building. The result is devastating. Souls are led astray. The gospel is corrupted, and Christ is dishonored.
In 2 Peter 2:1, we are given this unambiguous warning: "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction." The language here is stark. These are not well-meaning Christians with slightly different views. They are destroyers, stealthy, subtle, and dangerous. They introduce heresies that eat away at the church from the inside. And they often do so with charisma, persuasion, and wide appeal. Yet, the church is called to expose them, not excuse them.
The Apostle Paul was no less forceful in Acts 20:29-30. As he said farewell to the elders in Ephesus, he warned them, "I know that after my departure, fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them." Paul did not speak of wolves as a theoretical threat, but as a guaranteed reality. And not only would they come from outside, they would arise from within the very leadership of the church. That is why discernment is not optional for pastors and elders. It is essential. Yet in the modern church, discernment is often ridiculed as divisiveness. False teachers are platformed for the sake of popularity. Their books are sold in church bookstores, their messages streamed in church small groups, their names dropped with admiration. When someone raises concern, they are labeled judgmental, unloving, or overly critical. But scripture never rebukes those who expose error. It rebukes those who tolerate it. In Revelation 2:20, Jesus rebukes the church in Thyatira, saying, "I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and is teaching and seducing my servants." Tolerating false teaching is not compassion. It is compromise.
What makes false teachers so dangerous is not just what they say, but what they fail to say. Many do not blatantly deny biblical truths. They simply ignore the ones that are inconvenient. They avoid the doctrine of sin, omit the necessity of repentance, and downplay the exclusivity of Christ. They use Christian language but fill it with unbiblical meaning. They speak about grace but remove any reference to judgment. They speak of faith but never of obedience. Their messages are palatable, appealing, and popular, but they are spiritually lethal. Jesus himself warned in Matthew 7:15, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." They look like Christians. They sound like Christians, but they are not shepherds. They are predators. And when the church invites them into its pulpit and conference stages, it is not being open-minded. It is feeding the flock to the wolves.
The idea that false teaching must be tolerated in the name of unity contradicts the entire thrust of New Testament instruction. Unity must be based on truth, not on peace at any cost. Paul tells us in Romans 16:17-18, "I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them, for such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites." Notice the command: Avoid them. Not dialogue with them, not platform them, not excuse them. Avoid them. The damage they cause is not just intellectual confusion. It is spiritual destruction. They deceive the hearts of the naive with smooth talk and flattery.
One of the greatest tragedies in the modern church is that false teachers are rarely confronted. Instead, they are often invited into the fold under the guise of diversity, innovation, or growth. Leaders may justify this by pointing to growing attendance or emotional responses, but numerical success is not proof of doctrinal faithfulness. Jesus said, "The way is narrow, and few find it" (Matthew 7:14). The presence of crowds does not validate a ministry. The presence of truth does. Biblical shepherds are called to protect the flock, not just to feed it. Titus 1:9 instructs elders to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. Rebuking error is not optional. It is part of the pastoral calling.
Many in the church today have confused niceness with holiness. They believe that calling out false teachers is unloving, even though scripture commands it. Love does not tolerate lies. Love tells the truth. Galatians 1:8-9 could not be clearer: "But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed." Paul repeats it twice for emphasis. The strongest language in the New Testament is reserved not for immoral pagans, but for those who distort the gospel. False teaching is not a peripheral issue. It is a central threat. It pollutes the gospel, confuses the saints, and dishonors the name of Christ. The toleration of it is not humility. It is rebellion against the authority of God's word. The church must once again become a pillar and buttress of the truth. As Paul describes in 1 Timothy 3:15, it must reject pragmatism, popularity, and passive tolerance in favor of conviction, clarity, and courage.