Nickles & Noses By
Milburn Cockrell
(1941-2002) Through pride King Hezekiah showed all his wealth to the ambassadors of Babylon. II Kings 20:13 says: “And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the
house of his
precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the
precious
ointment, and all the house of his armour,
and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his
house, nor in
all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not.” For this act of
pride he
was divinely judged (II Kings 14:14-19).
The sin of Hezekiah led to the
Babylonian Captivity. Hezekiah’s problem, in a manner of speaking, was
that he
wanted to impress the people from Babylon with how many nickels he had. “And
Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. And
David
said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from
Beer-sheba
even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.” (I Chronicles 21:1-2).
This was done through the pride of David’s heart to impress other
nations with
his great army. It showed he was trusting the arm of the flesh more
than God.
In a manner of speaking, David wanted to know how many noses he had.
For his
folly and vain glory a plague was sent on Israel which resulted in the
death of
seventy thousand people (I Chronicles
21:14). <>One would glean from these two passages of
Scripture
that God does not care as much about nickels and noses as men do.
Carnal men
glory in such things as nickels and noses. We live in a time of big
meetings,
big churches, big church buildings, big preachers, and big church
budgets. The
failure or success of a church and its pastor is judged by the number
of
nickels and noses that they have. In all too many cases, there is seen
in this
more Satanic pride than spiritual piety.
WHAT
PEOPLE WANT TO SEE The
first thing most religious
folks look for when they visit a church is the record board, which
reveals how
many nickels and noses that a church has. If they fail to see a record
board,
they are frustrated and confused. They may assume that the church has
gone hardshell
or into apostasy. Much distressed, they will cry out, “What is your
attendance
and offering in this church?” As a
pastor for over thirty years I
have many times been asked this question, and, no doubt, I will be
asked it
many more times if I live. Never has anyone ever asked me such
questions as the
following: “Are your services spiritual?” “Is Christ real to your
people?” “Are
your members hearing the whole counsel of God?” “Are your people
growing in
grace and in the knowledge of Christ?” “Is there a spirit of unity and
love in
your church?” Evidently, these things are not important to modern-day
religionists, who judge religious success by worldly standards ---
nickels and
noses. I just wish one single time that a person would ask about
something
other than nickels and noses! When
you have a revival in your
church and people ask about your services they will always ask: “How
many
additions did you have?” Never do they ask: “Did the evangetist preach
the
truth?” or “Was Christ glorified?” Evangelists for revivals are usually
chosen
by the crowds they can draw and the number of additions they can get by
nook or
crook. Today
every thing centers around
nickels and noses. Pastors are hired and fired on this basis.
Missionaries are
supported or not supported by this criterion. Sunday school teachers
are put in
or out on this standard. People seem to forget that it was Satan who
invented
nickels and noses in the days of King David. NICKELS,
NOSES, AND GOD The God
of Heaven is independent of
nickels and noses. Consider Acts 17:24-25:
“God that made the world and all things therein, seeing
that he is Lord
of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither
is
worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he
giveth to
all life, and breath, and all things.” God does not need any thing
or any
person. He is perfectly happy in and of Himself. He is not dependent
upon men
or angels to accomplish His sovereign will. God may
accomplish His work with
few or many, according to His sovereign pleasure. Jonathan told a young
man in
Israel: “… for there is no restraint to
the LORD to save by many or by few” (I Samuel 14:6).
Omnipotence can
accomplish His will by the few and feeble. The Almighty can make a
thousand “flee
at the rebuke of one” (Isaiah 30:17). It
would seem that the Lord takes
pleasure in using the feeble and few in the Bible. When Gideon went out
to
fight against the Midianites, the Lord said to him: “The
people that are with thee are too
many for me to give the Midianites
into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine
own
hand hath saved me” (Judges 7:2).
Gideon started out with 32,000 men and ended up with 300! Jehovah
intended to
have all the praise for the victory of Israel over the Midianites. The
Prophet Elijah went up against
850 prophets of BaaI and the groves (I
Kings 18:19). Look what God did with the Israelites who “were
the fewest of all people” (Deuteronomy
7:7). Jesus Christ took “a few small
fishes” (Mark 8:9) and fed 4,000
people. Even in the matter of eternal salvation “many are
called, but few are
chosen” (Matthew 22:14). This is
so “no flesh shall glory in his presence”
(I Corinthians 1:29) and that all
might “glory in the Lord” (I Corinthians
1:31). THE
EFFECT OF THIS ON OUR CHURCHES 1. The
philosophy of nickels and
noses has drastically changed our churches for the worse. In the craze
for
nickels and noses churches have replaced preachers and pastors with
puppeteers
and pranksters. The gospel of Christ has been superseded by gimmicks,
gum,
gadgets, and games. Psychology has taken the place of Holy Spirit
conviction.
The faith has been displaced for finance, fun, and foolishness. Church
discipline has been relegated to the background in order to swell the
size of
the church with religious hypocrites who might give a little money to
the
church now and then. 2. This
syndrome has filled our
churches with unconverted persons. We have far more churchanity than
Christianity. The only change some church members made since joining
the church
was from wet to dry clothes following their baptism. Many church
members are white-washed,
but they are not blood-washed. Their names are upon the church roll,
but they
are not found in the Lamb’s book of life. Many have been reformed, but
they
have not been re-born. Many have been confirmed, but they have not been
converted to Christ. There are so many lost people in our churches
until you
cannot tell the difference between a church member and the unconverted.
The
reason is because there is no difference. Both are headed to Hell as
fast as
time can carry them! 3. It
has produced icy services and
cold, callous, complacent church members. Look at the average church!
They have
their robed choir, their cut and dried program, and their intellectual
preaching. They have a beautiful edifice. They have all the
organization and
rituals one could ask for, but in most cases it is Spiritless! We have
never
faced such in our generation. We have form without reality; we have
organization without power; profession without possession. We have a
form of
godliness without the power of it. We have religion without life. 4. It
has caused pastors to spend
more time worrying with goats than feeding the sheep. The pastor
nowadays must
provide a spiritual diet for people who have no spiritual appetite.
Like Ezekiel
of old (Ezekiel 37:1-10), he must
preach to dead, dry bones,
but without the blessings which Ezekiel experienced. These dry, dead
bones can’t
hear, yet the pastor must keep preaching and pretend someone is
listening.
These dry, dead bones do not grow in grace, for the dead do not grow.
These
baptized bones are in no way sensitive to the appeals made to them from
the
Scriptures by the pastor. Deep down each pastor knows most members do
not enjoy
Bible preaching. They merely pretend to enjoy what they really detest.
They
watch the clock on Sunday morning, hoping the pastor will preach a
short sermon
so they can soon go home and do what they really enjoy. In the
average church there is
constant wrangling, gossiping, backbiting, lying about each other, and
a
constant uproar among the members. One might well get the impression
that about
the only place people can’t get along is in the church. It takes
nine-tenths of
the pastor’s time trying to keep them pacified and trying to keep the
church
together. He is busy running from one church member to the other trying
to
soothe people whose “feelings have been hurt.” The pastor is no longer
a
powerful, plain preacher but a polite, polished politician! This is
because our
churches are cursed with contentious cliques, fighting factions, and
petty partisanism. 5. The
nickels and noses racket has
made some habitual hypocrites in our churches. Church members say they
enjoy
going to church, but a large percentage can’t get to church services on
time.
It is almost impossible to get up in time to come to Sunday school.
They hate
their job with its hard work and long hours. But, strange as it may
seem, they
have no problem going to work at 7:00 a.m. five days a week, but they
can’t
bring themselves to make it to church at 10:00 a.m. Supposedly, it is
possible
to consistently get up and do what is disliked, but it is impossible to
get up
and do what is liked! 6. This
idea has given us the
gimmick gospel. Most church members want to be entertained instead of
instructed in the Word of God. They have far more delight in the gospel
of
amusement than the gospel of the atonement. Gospel celebrities must be
brought
in to entertain these worldly church members. These members love to
hear these
clerical comedians who mix a few verses of Scripture with a large
amount of
humor. Special singing groups must be brought in too. These have the
same
dress, music, hair style, and manners of any rock and roll group. Our
church
services nowadays have become a carefully produced theatrical
production for
the delight of carnal Christians and religious rascals. The only
difference
between this entertainment and that in the local nightclub is that it
has a
religious flavor! But they say it must be done to get nickels and noses! 7. The
vain thinking has killed the
spirit of revival in our churches. Our revivals have been turned into
campaigns
to get members into the church who will help with the church budget so
the
older members can waste more of their money on worldly things. Near the
end of
the church year the pastor begins to think about his annual report, and
as a
result, he puts on a week or two of special services. I say special
services
for it has been so long since most churches have had real revivals
until they
don’t even know what one is like. We do
not have time to wait upon
the Lord to send a revival any more. Most of the time a church
announces that
it is going to have a revival beginning one Sunday and closing on
Friday night.
The evangelist comes and tries to imitate some big evangelist in his
methods to
induce people to come into the church. From what goes on one might
think that
Christ is only where the preacher is, and that responding to his
proposition is
part of the process of becoming a Christian. Multitudes are being
deceived by
this method. Children, when very young, are being led by this practice
to think
such is the way of salvation. Churches
ignore the scriptural way
to have a revival. They plan a series of meetings. The evangelist
comes. The
meeting is well advertised in the community. But we neglect the most
important
thing, the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. The results -
sounding brass
and tinkling cymbal. We can plan our big meetings, get our big crowds,
get our
big preacher, organize our members, but unless the Spirit of God is
present, it
will be in vain! In the
average revival meeting
there may be emotions stirred up, a confession of a few sins, a
cleaning up of
lives, and folks coming to some great religious experience. But, as a
rule,
sinners are not broken and brought to repentance. Generally speaking,
the
emotions of people are aroused by intellectual oratory, but as soon as
the
emotions die away, they settle down in a worse condition than they were
in
before. It seems that the evangelist took the revival and the converts
home
with him! 8. It
has made people look down on
small churches. Preachers politic for the large churches which have a
lot of
nickels and noses. They will compromise their principles and preach
almost any
heresy to get a big church. Whenever a preacher is called to one he
says to his
wife: “Dear, you pack while I pray about the matter.” This proves that
we have
more faithless mercenaries than faithful ministers. Some preachers will
not
even consider a small church which has a few nickels and noses. They
look down
on little churches and despise them as being feeble and few. Church
members like big churches so
they can hide out in the crowd and have no responsibilities. They like
the upper
class in society. Such churches have skilled politicians as pastors who
do not
offend their many nickels and noses. With such a large crowd on Sunday
morning
a family can miss to go fishing almost without being noticed. After
all, they
reason, God blesses big in big churches! While
there are some exceptions,
most big churches are worldly churches. They have high carnality and
low
spirituality. Truth is very scarce in such fashionable churches because
the
Word of God has been compromised to keep nickels and noses. These
churches are
more like social clubs than spiritual centers. Christ has departed from
these Laodicean
churches (Revelation 3:14-22). All that
keeps the people in such
liberal organizations is their love for social prestige. When we
speak about big and little
churches we speak after the manner of men. We are viewing churches from
the
standpoint of nickels and noses. With God there are no big and little
churches.
To Him they are all “the churches of
Christ” (Romans 16:16), “the churches
of God” (I Corinthians 11:16), and “the
body of Christ” (I Corinthians 12:27). The biggest
religious thing on earth is a local church, regardless of its size. Men
and
ministers would do well not to despise “the
church of God” (I Corinthians 11:22)
because it does not have 25,000 members and cover a city block. 9. It
has discouraged many
God-called men. Often young preachers, and some who are older, try to
judge
their ministry by Billy Graham, or Jerry Falwell, or some other
big-time
preacher. Since they can’t measure up to these men they think they are
failures, and they go through life grieved due to their little success.
This
robs them of much of their usefulness and tends to hinder their
ministry. Preacher
brethren, God does not
require that we be successful. He does not require that we pastor a
church with
10,000 members which has 3,000 additions each year. The Lord requires
only that
we be faithful (I Corinthians 4:2).
He demands that we “preach the word”
(II Timothy 4:2) and be faithful to declare
“all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). RESULTS
NOT OUR BUSINESS Preaching
the gospel to every
creature is our business. Making disciples is our business. But we
can’t save
sinners. “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah
2:9). Only God can regenerate a dead sinner (John 1:13).
We can plant and water, but God must give the increase. In I Corinthians 3:5-7 Paul
wrote: “Who then is Paul, and who is
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye
believed, even as the Lord gave to every man. I have planted, Apollos
watered;
but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any
thing,
neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” Paul
had planted the Lord’s
vineyard at Corinth, and Apollos followed him and watered it. The
increase in
both cases came from God. The
idea in these verses is taken
from a farmer who grows a crop from seed sown in his field. It is vain
for a
farmer to sow his seed and irrigate his fields unless God shall give it
life.
There is no living principle in the seed, nor in the water, nor in the
soil.
God only can quicken the germ in the seed and make it live. Surely God
does use
the seed, the water, and the soil, but the life is still from God. But
let us
remember that God made the seed, the water, and the soil, and the
farmer used
only what he had received from God. The
same is true with those who sow
gospel seeds in the hearts of men. The power is not in the naked Word,
nor in
the preacher, nor in the heart which hears it. The power to save
sinners
resides in God. The gospel is the power of God, but it has no power
without
God. The sower of gospel seeds uses only what God has made and given to
him.
His success or failure is determined by God. Even Paul and Apollos
could have
had no success unless God gave them the increase. Don’t deify ministers
or put
them in the place of God. The human instrument is nothing in comparison
with
God. God is
sovereign in adding to His
churches: “And the Lord added to the
church daily such as should be saved” (Acts
2:47). “But now hath God
set the members every one
of them in the body as it hath pleased him” (I
Corinthians 12:18). Our business is to be a planter or a waterer.
It is God’s business to add to His church. Concern for nickels and
noses must
not cause us to use unlawful means to add to the Lord’s church. We do
not need
to get the Lord out of an embarrassing situation as some suppose. But
some like
Abraham cannot wait upon God to add to His church, so they help Him out
a bit.
The result is Ishmaelites in our churches! Please
do not take this truth too far. God
does not make seed germinate and grow unless it is sown and watered.
The Lord
of the harvest blesses the faithful use of the means of grace. Some
today are
afraid to preach to sinners lest they get some of the non-elect saved -
as if
such were possible. They are so opposed to the false philosophy of
nickels and
noses that they fear to have any nickels and noses. They are afraid if
someone
is saved that their friends will think they have embraced Arminianism!
To these
do-nothing preachers and churches I would point out that where there is
faithful sowing and watering God gives the increase. The Lord does add
the
saved to His church. The Lord does not add the saved to dead churches -
just to
living ones! |