I was up early this past Sunday morning and decided to get some things done before heading to church. While I was busy in the kitchen, I turned on a local Christian radio station to listen to something while I worked. One local church had commercials promoting traditional and ‘contemporary’ services depending on your taste in music. The message I listened to(from the same church) might have been preached at either type of service. The Pastor didn’t mention the specific service where it was presented.

The message began with an interesting story about how the Pastor had lost his car keys, having not put them in their proper location the day before because he had been distracted. He went on to talk about how we get distracted sometimes from the Lord and need reminders.

We need to be reminded that God wants to be connected to us and desires a relationship with us. The Pastor didn’t really tallk about why we are separated from God (sin) or how to ‘connect’ to God, but after his message listeners were asked to meditate silently about God while some music was played. There wasn’t even a pastoral prayer, but maybe it was omitted for the radio version.

I can say that it as a nice sounding message, completely non-threatening, no fire and brimstone, no uncomfortable vocabulary like sin, repentance, or judgment – just right to keep ‘seekers’ coming back and ‘Christ-followers’ feeling good about themselves, having already made their ‘connection’ to God. I kept hoping that before the Pastor finished the message he would actually present the Gospel message that contains the power of God to save (1 Cor 15), and that he would challenge believers to something besides needing a reminder now and again, but neither was presented.

I couldn’t help but feel sadness thinking about the two sorts of people that would have listened to the message the saved and the lost, live sheep or ‘dead in sin’ rebels. The sheep didn’t receive food suitable for healthy growth, while the dead received nothing that would have given them life.

I wonder how many other ‘sheep’ in how many other churches are being starved by their ‘shepherds’? How many lost souls, in desperate need of a savior, listen to messages devoid of the Gospel then leave as dead as they were when the arrived?

One thing is certain, those who starve the sheep and abandon the dead will be held accountable on Judgment Day.