The Confusing Gospel of Bill Hybels
A comment on Part Four of my series on Gourds prompted this response. Bill Hybels is a product of Dr. Robert Schuller who canvassed his neighborhood to determine what people wanted to hear preached instead of following the lead of the Holy Spirit to give them what they NEEDED to hear preached. Hybels appeals to those of an itching ear mentality. "The time will come (and has) when they will not endure sound doctrine, BUT ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN DESIRES, because they have itching ears, THEY WILL HEAP UP FOR THEMSELVES TEACHERS, and they (the teachers) will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables"- 2 Timothy 4:3-4. One of those myths is seeker sensitive preaching.
Seeker sensitive churches, like Billy Hybels church, are similar to whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outside but inside they are full of hypocrisy (Matthew 23:27-28). Hybels shows expository preaching, that is verse by verse, out the back door and brings in common or felt need sermons. In effect, Hybels repackages his messages to appeal to his listeners ears, those itching ears that demand sermons according to their own desires. They don't want to hear sermons on hell, judgment, and holiness so instead they receive a watered down gospel. Instead of messages of self-denial that congregation gets self-esteem.
Jesus knew well of that concept. "When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did, but Jesus did not commit Himself to them"- John 2:23-24. Those people were there for the Entertainment Value of Christ, which Hybels church offers abundantly. Jesus said, "Sanctify (set them apart) by Your truth. Your word is truth"- John 17:17, yet Hybels preaches what his congregation "wants" to hear. Unbelievers don't want the truth of the gospel, they want entertainment which Hybels provides them.
Paul did say that he wished that everyone spoke the same thing but if you compare Hybels preaching to John MacArthur or even the Simply Agape Project Discernment Ministry you will discern a vast difference. The problem is that Hybels congegation cannot discern those things because their preacher keeps them in the elementary principles of the gospel and they never get to the meat of the word so that they might discern deeper things (Hebrews 5:12-14). "Note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them, for those who are such do not serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple"- Romans 16:17-18. Hybels does look good on the outside, but as for the inside...?
David Norris
Spiritual Pathways Ministries
posted by Tim Wirth | 4:06 PM
3 Comments:
- man, it seems as though anyone with a big vision, who is stepping out in Christ's name, and not quoting Spurgeon every chance they get are heretics?? - what good are you doing? You aren't teaching people anything, you are catering to Christians who already agree with you and for what? So you can all sit around and pat each other on the back? Get out there and spread the good news of the gospel, feed some widows and orphans, be Christ. Sifting through other people's work trying to hen peck heresy isn't a ministry, it's a waste of precious little time. God may be working through other's in a different way than makes you comfortable but that doesn't give you the right to declare it unclean. We are to be like Christ, not the religious people he rebuked the harshest.
- My two cents.
Thank you so much for your time on this post. I am guessing this is a was the response to my comment made in the Gourds Part 4. I was hoping I could hear something back even if you won't post my comments. Anyway, I've been working a lot and not had time to check up on your site for a while so please pardon how late this is.
From that post I read two things. Number one it is bad to compromise and let sermons, doctrine, how a church is run, and so forth be determined by the world/sinful people. Agreed, we need to trust in God not numbers, not ourselves, not what "people" want. Some of how you interpret actions as this is a little extreme to me, but I at least have a sense where you are coming from. I would argue that the Holy Spirit can move in those surveys and God can speak in a variety of ways, but even without that I don't believe that Willow really ignores what they should teach and looks to statistics for guidance. Yes, Willow does have more of a pattern with entertainment and show to it but I don't believe that is wrong either as long as it is not the whitewashed pretty on the outside only stuff, but that is a whole other topic that we could disagree about :)
Back to it:
The second thing I saw was that you left us with a question, "Hybels does look good on the outside, but as for the inside...?" It seems this question was never truly addressed in the post. Sure you put how the outside is polished and had plenty of verses about the dangers of false prophets, but you never answered the question... Is Bill Hybels dirty on the inside? What is wrong with his doctrine that shows us what you suggest but never dare to say? You know, I believe that Hybels is full of good on the inside and that bleeds through every message of his. Willow is not perfect and Hybels is not perfect. If you look for something wrong it will be there. Just as it will be with both you and I, but do Willow and Hybles blatantly go against God and his will for this church? Discern all you want about strategies and differences, at the end of the day you two are different parts to the body of Christ. You work very differently and God loves both of you and the ways you do his work. Be careful to seperate a congregation from this body because your outsides are different. As you post makes very clear: The inside is what really matters.
If you still don't want to post my comments I'll live with that, but another response would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time.
By the way:
Loved seeing the Faith in Times of Crisis and Meaning of Worship posts. It was great to see less sarcasm about the problems of other people and more on God. I'd be interested to see some posts on doctrine/theology and history or common mistakes made with it. Example: the Star Wars theology that God is a force flowing around us that we control and use for ourselves
I don't know if it's up your alley at all but I was at a RZIM conference and really loved diving into it there. While I was just writing I thought you might have something to say on the subject. Don't feel pressusred, just a new direction to try. Give the truth you know.
This is not my regular blog. If you want to get a picture of the whole of my ministry go to http://spm1313.blogspot.com or
http://spm1313.wordpress.com
I was filling in here for Tim Wirth and comments do not come back to me
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