A good friend sent an eye-opening story via email earlier this week. The piece from the Nashville Tennessean highlights the use of billiards by a young preacher at a middle Tennessee church of Christ (you may click here to read the article in its entirety).
According to this young fellow, "if God has blessed you with five talents, he wants you to use all of them." So, by employing this line of reasoning, if a preacher should happen to have a talent for mixed martial arts (see Ultimate Fighting Championship), he should schedule a fight for one Sunday evening and quote Bible verses between rounds? And since I have learned to play the brutally-beautiful sport of rugby, should I invite my team to demonstrate proper form in rucks, scrums, and mauls as I quote verses from the Scriptures?
The point here is this: Where do we get the idea that God wants us to use all our talents in the proclamation of his word? Using illustrations that engage the mind of the listener is one thing; creating a "side-show" atmosphere during the preaching of the gospel is another thing entirely. God has chosen preaching as the method for imparting the good news of salvation to mankind (1 Corinthians 1:18-25). To alter that blueprint is tantamount to the poor judgment used by Nadab and Abihu...and many of us remember the outcome of that ordeal (Leviticus 10:1-2).
The young man highlighted by this article makes a good point in saying that he can go to pool halls and talk with them about Christ because of his gift. Hopefully, we can all find creative ways to communicate with our neighbors as we fulfill the "great commission." The problem lies in creating a "showtime" effect in worship. God seeks those who will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
For those who have been, as one church member puts it, "re-energized" by the pool-playing interspersed with preaching, just what is it that has caused this re-energizing? Is it necessary to supplement the gospel message with entertainment? If so, to what are we being converted -- the message of Christ, or the splendor of spectacles? And if it takes trick billiards shots or anything else under the sun to "re-energize" us, what will it take to keep us energized?
My friend, it's the same old thing that has been attempted thousands of times in hundreds of varying ways...and it never works. There is no staying power in gimmickry. Converts made by carnal means will not remain converted for long.
What was the explanation God gave in this vein through his apostle?
And I, when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5, ESV
What happens when someone is converted by "Billiards Evangelism," and places their membership at a congregation where the preacher is not a pool shark? If being "wowed" by trick shots did indeed play a significant role in their obedience to the gospel, that soul will almost certainly be headed for lukewarmness and, eventually, outright unfaithfulness.
So, the question must be asked: What are we hoping to accomplish when preaching the gospel? If it is conversion and dedication to Christ, the gospel contains sufficient power to to the job (Romans 1:16)! To wrap it in gimmicks and hoopla only diminishes the might of God's only prescribed method for saving a lost human race.
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