Charles Pogue
Except for a few (and I seriously believe it is a very few) congregations certain subjects are taboo in the pulpit. Unless you are a member of one of those few congregations, I doubt seriously that you have heard many sermons on moral issues. Sermons against immodest attire, even though there are scriptures addressing that very issue (1 Tim. 2:8-9; 1 Pet. 3:1-3; Rev. 3:18), are almost never heard. They aren’t heard, because so many of the members of the church today dress as immodestly as people of the world. Preachers, if they aren’t involved in the immodest attire themselves, do not have the backbone to preach about that lest they get fired.
Unless you are a member of one of those few faithful congregations, I doubt you have heard a sermon in a long time that covers issues like dancing, which thing is included in the definition of the word revellings found in Galatians 5:21 and 1 Peter 4:3. Why don’t you hear sermons on that issue? Well, if parents don’t go out to a dance, they either allow them to go, or even send their children to the high school proms. I think I have mentioned it before, one sister brought the pictures her daughter had taken at the prom and passed them around for all the sisters in the congregation to ooh and aah over. Under those circumstances, what preacher is going to preach against the modern dance? The one who is determined to preach the whole counsel of God like Paul said he had (Acts 20:27). The faithful preacher who is concerned about the immoral activities now embraced by so many church members, will preach against the modern dance.
How long has it been since you have heard a sermon on drinking alcohol? Again, it has likely been a long time, unless you are a member of one of the faithful few congregations. Our brethren who want to get what they must think of as a buzz, but not what they consider drunk, manifest a rapidly growing number of social (actually unsocial) drinkers. They say it isn’t wrong to drink, just to get drunk. What they ignore is that when they take one drink of alcohol, whether it is beer, wine, or hard liquor they are that much drunk. They refuse to accept the true meaning of Ephesians 5:18 which condemns drinking alcohol in any amount. What preacher is going to preach against drinking when he discovers one of the elders likes to take a nip or two now and then? The one who cares more about preaching the word than padding his wallet; that is the one!
It used to be that we heard sermons against the immoral activities that are part of the lives of those of the world, but which are not to be part of the lives of Christians. That is true because of the guilt of two parties, the preachers and preached to. The gap between the behavior of worldly people, and those who are supposed to be the people of God is becoming so narrow with so many that it doesn’t even take a baby step to cross it.
One more question: how long has it been, since you, a member of a congregation where the above subjects have not been preached in a long time, have approached the man who fills the pulpit and asked him why he hasn’t preached on these important things that have to do with living the Christian life? How about taking the initiative to do that? What do you say? I wonder if the answer back would be, “I’ve been told, don’t preach on that?”
The last place I filled fulltime had one elder who attempted to place that restriction on me. He did not want any conservative viewpoint, esp.. those you mentioned here. I’m thankful he was not successful, instead he resigned.