4 days ago
10
The modern church has increasingly become a place where emotional excitement is mistaken for spiritual growth. Many leaders have learned how to stir crowds, provoke reactions, and create atmosphere, yet the true measure of spiritual leadership is not how loud people shout, how emotional they get, or how charged the room feels. The measure is transformation. Real ministry produces change in character, convictions, habits, and lifestyle. Emotional stimulation without transformation is empty religion.
During Jesus’ ministry, large crowds followed Him. They listened, cheered, and marveled, yet many walked away unchanged. After feeding the five thousand, Jesus confronted the crowd’s motives saying, “Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves” (John 6:26). They followed Him for experience and benefit, not for repentance and discipleship. This same spirit exists today when people chase emotional experiences over commitment to Christ.
Emotional expression in worship is not wrong. Scripture shows people weeping, rejoicing, and expressing praise. David danced before the Lord and the early church rejoiced in the Spirit. God created emotions, and He moves through them. The problem arises when emotion becomes a substitute for holiness, repentance, and obedience. Emotional highs feel spiritual but do not necessarily lead to spiritual maturity.
When preachers focus on emotional hype, they often preach motivational messages that make people feel empowered yet leave their sin unchallenged. Paul warned that such preaching would arise in the last days, saying, “They will turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (2 Timothy 4:4). Fables are stories that inspire but do not transform. They can stir the mind but cannot convert the heart.
Emotional hype can pack a building, but it cannot build disciples. Jesus commanded the church to make disciples, teaching them to obey His commandments (Matthew 28:19). Discipleship involves discipline, growth, and accountability. These things require teaching, correction, and instruction, not just emotional stimulation. A sermon that makes people feel good for an hour but leaves them unchanged for the rest of the week is not fulfilling the Great Commission.
The prophet Hosea addressed a similar issue in Israel, saying, “Your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away” (Hosea 6:4). Their devotion was emotional but short lived. God desired steadfast love and knowledge of God, not temporary emotional gestures. A ministry built on emotional hype often creates shallow Christians who fade when trials come.
Jesus also warned about this in the parable of the sower. He described those who received the word with joy but had no root. When tribulation came, they fell away (Matthew 13:20). Emotional response without spiritual root cannot sustain faith. This is why transformation must follow proclamation.
A true preacher does not merely entertain the crowd. He feeds them. Jesus told Peter three times, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Feeding involves doctrine, correction, wisdom, and truth. It produces believers who can withstand temptation, endure hardship, and walk in holiness.
Spiritual transformation always bears fruit. Paul described this fruit, saying it is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22). These qualities cannot be manufactured through hype. They form over time through obedience to Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.
A ministry that relies on emotional hype creates dependency on the atmosphere. A ministry that teaches transformation builds dependency on Christ. One fades when the lights go out. The other endures beyond the moment.
In this generation, the church must return to preaching that convicts, instructs, and transforms. Emotional experience is not the enemy, but emotional experience without spiritual formation becomes deception. Real revival does not simply make people shout. It makes people repent, surrender, and change.
English (US) · 