Several things I have read in the past couple of days have really rooted deep in my soul. They have caused me much thought. The thought today is the difference between intellectualism and emotionalism when it comes to matter or theology and faith.
The church I attended after getting saved would definitely fall more on the intellectual side than the emotional side of the spectrum. We did not clap. You rarely heard anyone "amen" the pastor delivering a sermon. You certainly never witnessed anyone with a raised hand. They were a conservative group. We certainly were fed the scriptures. Charles M. Roberts preached expository messages through books of the Bible. That is exactly what I needed as a young convert to build a solid Bible base underneath me before going off to college to study to be a preacher. Three times a week Brother Charles expounded the word of God to eager congregants. We did not get caught up in the flash and dash of more emotional churches. We made fun of such congregations supposing ourselves to be superior.
Once I started preaching God opened doors to preach in many different kind of churches. Doors really opened when I entered a full time traveling ministry. I got to preach in some very exciting and emotional churches. I even preached in churches outside my denomination. I saw people very exuberant in their expressions of worship. Some of those church were very loud, like African American churches who know how to help the preacher preach with their feedback. The more I preached in these emotional churches the more I liked it. I felt at home there. Yet, often the word of God is not as highly valued and watered down by some in those churches preferring the emotional hype over Biblical substance.
I wandered for a long while feeling like a man without a true spiritual home. I loved the Biblical preaching from my roots with Brother Charles but often found stifled in my worship in Baptist churches. In my early ministry I even prayerfully considered leaving the Baptist denomination altogether in favor of a Bible church or non-denominational church.
One day when contemplating this move God met with me. I felt the strong impression that I was supposed to stay and show life in the Baptist church. That is what I have tried to do since then. That is also when I started my own denomination. I call it Baptecostal. As far as I know, I am the only member.
There is cause for concern on both the intellectual and emotional fronts. Those who prefer the intellectual mode of faith must be careful that they do not become cold hearted. We have people who can offer a defense of their faith but have lost all zeal and power for service. God gave us minds. I believe we are supposed to think. There is no greater subjects to tax the mind than God and the Bible. We should not shy away from thinking the deep thoughts of God. We should embrace them. Through careful, focused, strenuous, and arduous systematic study we need to learn more of God and His word.
We can't stop there. We might be able to intellectually argue doctrine but are our hearts on fire. Do we have passion for knowing and serving God. Is there any zeal in our worship, any passion in our praying. Jesus said the lukewarm church made Him nauseated to the point of vomiting.
On the other hand, the emotional church gets caught up in fire, passion, zeal, freedom of expression, shouting, clapping, raised hands and the rest of it. They are not nearly as concerned in some cases with Biblical truth. You may never hear an expository message in such churches. You will certainly have your ears tickled. They want a feeling.
What does God want? An intellectual minded church set on fire by the Holy Spirit!. The Puritans put it a different way. They called it logic on fire. Logic meaning using their minds in study and fire meaning passion.
I fear we have lost the fire. I also fear that we are quickly losing logic in the pulpits as shallow messages are preached devoid of doctrinal substance. A revived church is both intellectual and emotional at the same time. That is the church I want to pastor. I cannot say Spring Creek is fully there yet, but we are making huge strides. May God stir all His churches with logic on fire. May we be serious minded students with a tremendous zeal and passion for knowing Him and making Him known.
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