Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Flailing for Relevance

Right now at Pulpit Helps we're in the process of totally redesigning our website (those of you who've seen the current one are probably saying "it's about time!").

This is just one step in a larger plan to bring the magazine back from the brink of closure; in a sense, it's an act of desperation. As the publishing industry continues to contract, more and more periodicals are shifting their focus online. To ignore the facts and remain print-only is a one-way ticket to going out of business these days.

By the same token, however, print offers a level of legitimacy that can't be had by online-only sources - having a print version takes time, effort, expenditure, and a staff. Anybody and their kid brother can build a website and publish information to their heart's content. Incorporating a publication provides oversight and editing that sharpen content and keep a consistent message that enables you to stand out from the sea of sources available to readers. As such, we're grateful to have that foundation as a print magazine - it's not going to go away.

We're stuck somewhere in between new media and old, flailing for relevance in an era when having something worth saying and saying it "in words that aren't half-dead" isn't enough to garner people's attention anymore. You have to sell yourself and explain what makes your work more worth reading than anyone else's, all without intruding into any potential readers' time for more than a few seconds. The trouble is, people who are good at selling the "sizzle" and people who are good at having something to say and saying it well are very seldom the same people. At larger publications this isn't much of an issue, as you can employ all the people necessary to put both faces forward. For our in-house staff of two, it's a huge shortcoming.

When the chips are down, though, I'd rather we stick to making sure we have something to say. We're hoping that a new website with better technology will enable us to tell more people than ever about the work we do without sacrificing our substance in the process.

Friday, August 31, 2007

Remembering Katrina . . .

The following is an article I wrote following a Bryan College relief trip to New Orleans just a few weeks post-Katrina in 2005. I'm posting it here in rememberance of two years of hardship for the gulf coast and as a reminder that God is still sovereign over all the works of men and nature.

Judgment and Mercy in New Orleans
by Justin Lonas

“Everybody keeps saying that God sent this thing as an act of judgment on our city. I think it was really an act of mercy – there are people here who have been praying for something like this for years – just waiting for an opportunity to get out of a bad situation.”

These level-headed words from a New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary student’s wife didn’t blend with their context.

She spoke them while inspecting her salt-encrusted Chevy Cavalier to the background noise of six men from Bryan College stripping appliances and furniture from her neighbor’s apartment.

I never associated mercy with destruction. The mold-blackened walls, rancid refrigerators and pervasive stench of flooded homes more closely matched my conception of hell than of God’s love. Pausing from our grim task to hear her wisdom sharpened the meaning of our work there.
Before heading to Louisiana for a week of ministry, I wondered how I could show God’s love to people who thought He Himself had destroyed their lives. The words of the seminary wife caught me off guard with the simple truth that God was behind the whole story of Hurricane Katrina, in ways that I never conceived.

New Orleans needed judgment. The city of gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes and revelers, was ripe for sentence to be passed. Gulfport and Biloxi in neighboring Mississippi weren’t much better. Then again, neither is any place on this earth. What cities and towns don’t play host to people who are financially irresponsible, those who depend on alcohol and drugs, the sexually promiscuous and self-absorbed partygoers? “Normal” places carefully pass over these woes as those who partake of them deftly cover their tracks to avoid condemnation.

New Orleans wore her sins on her sleeve. Did we rush to proclaim the wrath of God on the Big Easy because she deserved it or because we were glad that our own closet hadn’t been blown open by the storm?

Too often we mistake nudges from the Almighty as blows from His sword. We forget that He works in mysterious ways. If He wanted to destroy the city, He could have – beyond the shadow of a doubt. Looking at roofs crushed by trees, windows exploded by 140-mph winds and 10-foot-high piles of trash that were once the contents of a home, it’s very easy to think of judgment.

Looking deeper, mercy overtakes judgment as the theme of this saga. A city of
500,000 people losing only 1,000 to a direct hit by a monstrous hurricane for which it was almost completely unprepared is mercy. Letting people see the church do the work of restoring lives wrecked by the storm because the government bungled its attempt at the same is mercy. Leading National Guard soldiers and Red Cross relief workers to salvation is mercy. Allowing the terrible beauty of a hurricane to thrash our lives so that we wake from the slumber of Christless apathy is mercy.

New Orleans needed mercy. We all need mercy. God loves to show us His gracious care. We’re just slow to pick up His frequency.

New Orleans was not destroyed. Today, it is bustling with the activity of reconstruction. The South isn’t about to let the bosom of its culture wash by the wayside. More importantly, Christ isn’t about to let hurting people go untouched through this upheaval. I’ve never seen as positive an outpouring of energy and resources from the church in my lifetime.

Those of us who could go offer tangible help did, some more than once. Those who could give to the cause gave generously; so much so that there has been an overabundance of supplies for the refugees. The hand of the Lord has been active the whole time. It touched refugees herded into shelters with hot meals and listening ears. It touched uninsured homeowners by preparing their homes for reconstruction free of charge. It touched people living in makeshift trailer parks with welcoming embraces and simple services. It touched relief workers from Bryan with the strength, patience and generosity we needed to be that hand to the people of southeast
Louisiana.

Years from now, when we look back on this incredible story of God’s redeeming mercy, no one will think of it as a judgment from on high. We can’t waste the gift He has given us. If we allow our lives to return to “normal” after the dust of all this settles, the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina will not be the destruction of the Gulf Coast but the destruction of spiritual fervor by comfortable circumstances.

The words of the prophets linger in the background. “‘I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the Lord.” (Haggai 2:17). God got our attention and allowed us to rebuild His body with a righteous work ethic. To Him be the glory, even (or, should I say, especially) when we can’t immediately see His purposes.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Book Review: Nouwen's "In the Name of Jesus"

For those of you not familiar with Henri J.M. Nouwen, you are missing an incredible opportunity to deepen the spiritual understanding of your faith - his writing has a prophetic, soul-piercing quality seldom found in modern Christian authors.

The Dutch-born Nouwen studied for the Catholic priesthood and spent nearly 20 years teaching theology and psychology at Notre Dame, Yale, and Harvard before moving into the Daybreak L'Arche community for developmentally handicapped persons near Toronto. Much of his best theological writing comes from this experience caring for those the rest of society had abandoned - L'Arche gave him a unique perspective on the broken, childlike spirit that Christ requires of his followers.

In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership is just one of about 40 works Nouwen published. This short book (at barely 80 pages, really more in the pointed tone of an essay) was printed from the transcript of a speech Nouwen gave to a conference on 21st Century Christian leadership in 1989 (the speech was actually delivered while Bill Van Buren, one of the L'Arche residents sat on stage with Nouwen as a testimony to the ministry he was calling them to). In it he lays out, quite bluntly, that for the church to be effective in the future, its leaders must follow the example of Christ in resisting the three temptations Christ faced in Matthew 4:1-11: The temptation to be relevant, The temptation to be spectacular, and the temptation to be powerful.

The book is divided into three chapters (each dealing with with one temptation).

Chapter one, "From Relevance to Prayer", likens Satan's tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread to the believer's temptation to meet the felt needs of society, to become vital to the culture by obtaining knowledge of its workings and pointing out its failings. Nouwen asserts that Christ's repeated question, "Do you love me?" (John 21:15-17) is a challenge to the Christian to maintain our focus on Him through the discipline of contemplative prayer. He maintains that our goal should be to show Christ as He is (the suffering servant) to all people, regardless of their position, in such a way that allows us to diminish and Him to shine through.

"The leader of the future will be one who dares to claim his irrelevance in the contemporary world as a divine vocation that allows him to enter into a deep solidarity with the anguish underlying the glitter of success and to bring the light of Jesus there," he says on p. 22.

The second chapter, "From Popularity to Ministry", addresses the temptation to be spectacular (as illustrated when Satan urged Jesus to leap from the temple spire and be caught by angels); to make a difference in the world and to appear stoic, resourceful, and driven while doing so. This, Nouwen says, is a twisted perspective on ministry that flows both from the Western business model of church organization and the age-old distinction between clergy and laity. As he points out on page 39, "Stardom and individual heroism, which are such obvious aspects of our competitive society, are not at all alien to the Church. There too, the dominant image is that of the self-made man or woman who can do it all alone."

He counters that by extrapolating on Christ's repeated command to "feed my sheep" in response to Peter's confession of love in the aforementioned passage. Nouwen's perspective (heavily influenced by his years at L'Arche) is that real Christian leadership involves caring for the flock from within, from a position of honesty and commonality developed through the disciplines of mutual confession and forgiveness. He rejects the notion of a pastor or church leader "maintaining his distance" from the congregation or reveling in authority over them. He says that "a new type of leadership is asked for in the church of tomorrow, a leadership which is not modeled on the power games of the world, but on the servant-leader, Jesus, who came to give his life for the salvation of many."

The final chapter, "From Leading to Being Led" is based on John 21:18 "Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you to where you do not wish to go." Nouwen uses this verse as a rebuttal of the temptation to be powerful; that is the temptation to own and rule rather than to love and serve. He reminds us that it is not our place but the Lord's to guide the steps of His followers. This temptation is particularly attractive because it appeals to our weakness. As he says, "What makes the temptation of power so seemingly irresistible? Maybe it is that power offers an easy substitute for the hard task of love. It seems easier to be God than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to own life than to love life."

The antidote to this is what Nouwen calls theological reflection; not a study of God's person but a meditation on it. Only when we draw near to Christ and allow His spirit to fill us, he says, are we humbled enough to shepherd the flock. He says that the Church's greatest need is "a leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love . . . people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly." He adds "If there is any hope for the church in the future, it will be hope for a poor church in which its leaders are willing to be led."

In the Name of Jesus should shake your understanding of what it means to lead, and draw you into the deeper fellowship with Christ that will give you the grace to follow Him into servanthood. This is a must-read for pastors, church leaders, and anyone called to ministry.

To learn more about L'Arche, click HERE. To learn more about Nouwen, read his books! Some of his other well-known titles include The Way of the Heart, The Wounded Healer, Compassion, Intimacy, and Making All Things New.

Monday, August 06, 2007

The Nature and Aim of the Church

by Justin Lonas – 7/16/07

The Church as we know it in Western society is such an established institution that it is often ignored by those who are not a part of it and taken for granted by those who are.

If we are to recapture the vibrant, living nature of the Church (as Christ created her) from the staid and self-conscious organization it has become in our culture, it behooves us as believers to understand our purpose in the time we have on earth—not simply our individual callings, but the reason for our collective existence as the body of Christ this side of heaven.

In recent decades, the question of church identity and purpose has been answered by what we do. We who call ourselves Christians wage the culture wars on the battlefields of life issues, sexuality, morality, freedom for public expression of faith, etc., and we wonder why the fight is so hard and the victories so sparse. We provide a wide array of social services to the needy and misguided, and we wonder why we can’t seem to break through to non-believers. We faithfully teach and study the Word to further our knowledge of God, and we wonder why our own children are slipping away from the Church in droves as they grow up.

While our actions give voice to our identity, in and of themselves they are not who we are. If our beliefs only entail our outward displays of Christ, they are hollow and incapable of producing real change in our lives. The returns from our deeds are often more visible than the returns from our quiet devotion to Christ, but the long term result of performing works instead of striving after God’s heart is a Church with neither purpose nor passion. All the great achievements of the Church are for naught if not part and parcel of walking with Christ.

In a nationally syndicated July 7 column by Helen T. Gray of the Kansas City Star, Barna Group president David Kinnaman is quoted as saying, “Most Americans do not have strong and clear beliefs, mainly because they lack a consistent and holistic understanding of their faith…They say they are committed, but to what? They are spiritually active, but to what end? There is increasing pressure on Christians to bend and shape their views into something that’s popular, something that fits the pop culture’s view of what spirituality ought to be…And why would so many Americans—seven out of 10—say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus but show so little evidence in their lives? For one thing, the church has failed to teach young people to think as Christians, so that many of them put Jesus on the shelf after they reach adulthood. (emphasis added)”
What is the “holistic understanding” of our faith that Kinnaman speaks of? Micah 6:6-8 holds the answer. In contrast to the astounding acts of worship and repentance listed in verses 6 and 7, verse 8 shows that what the Lord really wants of us is “to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly” with Him. The New Testament restates that, painting “walking humbly” as knowing the person of Christ. In John chapter 6, several Jews who were fed by Jesus multiplication of the loaves and fishes asked Him what they must do to “work the work of God.” In verse 29, Jesus responded, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Believers know that the whole of our faith lies in knowing and following God, but many of us cannot grasp the profound simplicity of that. We recite Micah 6:8, but we focus on the concrete nature of doing justly and loving mercy rather than the not-so-defined walking humbly with our God. To know Christ and to walk humbly with Him requires the sacrifice of doing things (even the “work of God”) in our own strength and according to our own plans.

If that individual calling is rightly applied to the body as a whole, it seems as though the purpose of the Church has been largely missed—lost in a sea of policies and programs.
As a pastor, what is the church to you? Is the body of Christ (whether local or global) simply a source of social interaction? A provider of services to the sick and poor? A force for good in culture and politics? A counselor to the wayward souls that call it home? None of these models inherently has anything to do with the calling to know and walk with Christ. They are useful only as facilitators of the primary purpose, and should be pursued only as they flow from it.

The nature and aim of the Church is a single-minded devotion to Christ and bearing Him in all things. When we focus only on that, our actions then become truly the work of God. True revival can only come when we find that it is not our responsibility to bring it about. Few of us would admit that that our churches do not function as if this is their true purpose, but collectively walking humbly with God is often not our top priority. Until it is, the life that is Christ will continue to escape our grasp.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Sex, Lies and Symbolism in the Culture Wars

By Justin Lonas

Christians these days are all too aware of the grave social issues that revolve around sexuality in today’s world—abortion, promiscuity, homosexuality, pornography, etc.—and all too unwitting about how they attempt to stem the tide.

We gird up our loins to combat the egregious sins of our culture, but we fail to gather the necessary intelligence to fight the right battles. We say abortion is inhumane, promiscuity immoral, homosexuality unnatural, and pornography unloving, selfish, and conducive to unfaithfulness. All those arguments are correct, but they fail to target the core issue, a world so lost it no longer understands the purpose of sexuality.

Scripturally, we should understand our sexuality as a gift of God, perhaps one of His most generous (and least appreciated). Our very masculinity and femininity are, by design, portraits of different aspects of the nature of God. As a psychologist friend of mine put it, masculinity answers the questions “Is God powerful?” and “Is God going to do something?” Femininity answers the questions “Is God good?” and “Is God beautiful.” This is seen from the very beginning in Genesis 1:27: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

You see, God created men and women separately to tell different parts of His story. Marriage, then, brings the two together to reveal a fuller depiction of the God’s character to the world. Not only that, the unity of a husband and wife is further picture still—that of Christ’s redeeming relationship with the Church (Eph. 5:22-32). Some even construe the marriage relationship as symbolic of the unity of God’s being within Himself in the form of the Trinity.

Our sexuality is important precisely because it is symbolic. Even the act of sex is a portrait of love, given as the receiver needs it in complete unselfishness. It is beautiful because its every aspect is filled with the mark of the Creator (see Song of Solomon, Proverbs 5:19, and many other passages for details). Outside of God’s model, however, it is utterly hollow because it ceases to serve His purpose.

The world for many years now has confused the symbol for the substance. They’ve adopted the radical theories of Sigmund Freud and others who assert that the wonders of life are merely symbols pointing back to sexuality rather than the other way around. They read erotic overtones into all things and glorify sexual gratification (in any form) at the expense of all other things. That’s why sins of the flesh are ubiquitous and even the murder of our most vulnerable fellow humans through abortion is thought of as a “right”. When sex becomes their god, they will allow nothing to impede their ability to “worship” at that altar. They don’t listen when we tell them their actions are repulsive to God because they have no god but self.

That’s why the so-called “culture wars” are not being won—they’re being waged on grounds that our combatants don’t understand. We can’t fight such obvious, external transgressions on a national scale without first engaging people at the base level of their sin. We’ve got to meet them at a personal level and confront their ignorance, self-centeredness, and pride. In short, we need to impress upon them the falsity of their core beliefs and introduce them to the saving grace of Christ Jesus. Fighting these battles from the outside in is simply ineffective—they are ultimately a matter of the heart.

In order to transform the fight, we have to see our Christianity as so much more than just “sin management.” The Truth of God is so much deeper and more winsome than than we want to allow it to be. In framing the battle for righteousness in our time, we should take a page from the playbook of legendary British abolitionist William Wilberforce. Before he could tackle the slave trade, an entrenched vice that was extremely financially profitable and politically active (much like today’s abortion lobby), he knew he had to first change the minds and hearts of the people. Doing that, he knew, required that Christians think deeply about their faith and fight for the right as much as against the wrong. Wilberforce understood that Christianity is something ever more valuable than “a scheme of mere morals.”*

If we are to fight a good fight in this arena, we must seek to understand the surpassing beauty and purpose of God’s plan. As with all other aspects of our Christian walk, this one begins with the Great Commission. Unless Christ changes the hearts of sinners, righteousness will not come about. Unless we share Him and His truth with them, how can they be expected to change?

*From A Practical of View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes of this Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity by William Wilberforce, 1846 ed. Page 100.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Major Morality

by Justin Lonas

It's interesting that the passing of Jerry Falwell would come on a day when I've been thinking a lot about my own personal application of Christ.

I think we all, to some degree, struggle with a balance between the private, relational nature of our faith and the need to exercise it in the public arena. The confusion comes because the public application of Christianity often depends on black and white responses to the issues of the day, whereas the personal application is wrapped up in the gray of listening to and following the Father's bidding. Obviously, God has unchanging standards of morality. On the same token, our public actions are carefully weighed on a case by case basis. Too often though, the public (and political) aspect of Christianity seems like little more than a reincarnation of the very law that Christ came to free us from.

The list of Falwell's achievements in the public sphere is long - he arguably reintroduced Christianity to public policy with more fervor and effectiveness than anyone since Wilberforce. He also arguably sacrificed grace on the altar of principle in terms of how he chose to deal with sinners.

The lesson to us is to be always on guard against the easy (taking sides in the public debates of the day), and not to lose sight of the arduous (earnestly seeking God and treating sinners as people rather than opponents). We have to always remember that moral principles cannot save anyone (indeed, without Christ, they can only convict) - if they could, Christ died for nothing (Galatians 2:21). Our public Christianity (and treatment of fellow men) has to flow out of the grace we know as sinners redeemed. Otherwise, we are very much in danger of letting the rigid stances we take in public alter our personal view of God.

It's a fine line to walk, but one that we are asked and expected to. Thank God for His indwelling guidance that makes meeting the expectation as simple as submission to Him.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

40 Slides and a Sunset . . .

by Bob Gerow

Have you ever attempted to break an old habit? It was probably not very easy. You knew you “ought” to change, but could not. The habitual activity provides more irritation and guilt than the satisfaction it once did, but you persist anyway. Several attempts later, you might have given up and resigned yourself to this less-than-productive way of being.

For many of us, “missions emphasis” is little more than an old, annoying habit. We “do” it, but not without wondering if there’s a way “out” that won’t kill us. We’ve sat through innumerable convert counts from faraway places, pictures and films that seem dreadfully predictable, and awkward travelers with big families who don’t quite “fit” in our day-to-day world. The home office pummels us with bulletin inserts, special mailings, phone calls, and itinerant staff looking for their next Sunday engagement. A handful from our congregation occasionally reminds us that “we ought to be doing something,” but none of them seem ready, willing or able to lead the attempt.

How do I break this habit? How do I interrupt this routine? What will it take to find relief?

There are important features of a success story that are worth noting. It’s often more productive to think about creating a new habit than of breaking an old one. I’m not just giving up (you fill in the blank), but I am gaining better health, longer life, stronger friendships, new strength, better skills, and so on. At this point you are not just breaking an old habit, but learning a new one.

Another element of success is that replacing habits is part of a larger program, designed to meet a larger objective. A ministry associate once told me that he got up at 4:00 AM every day because he wanted to be around a long time, and in good health for his wife and children. He also ate well, read widely, and cultivated friendships that reinforced his values. Running replaced being sedentary and overweight as a necessary part of fulfilling a larger objective.

The Great Commission (Matthew 20:18-20) is addressed to the Body, and is stated as something all of Christ’s followers should be doing as a matter of course: “Wherever you go, make disciples …” Both by definition, and by command, making disciples is no longer an agenda item, but that which identifies us in our daily “going.” A New man or woman in Christ cannot help but reflect their newness. Being New means bearing witness. It’s about all of life in Christ. “Missions” is now replaced by Christ-likeness that is inevitably attentive to others still to be drawn into the circle of disciples.

That change of perspective – and in our thinking – can make all the difference. “Missions” is no longer something we “do.” Witnessing is not just for the “called.” Handing out tracts on a street corner is not itself the point. It’s not about whether you are in the United States or in some remote jungle. Embracing Christ is about repentant sinners, not for those seeking only a temporary fix. Convert counts are meaningless unless the new recruit is discipled in Christ.

You may be thinking “Nice thought! But how do I turn those big ideas into meaningful events in the life of our congregation?” Thanks for asking!

First, What is the overriding theme of your ministry as Pastor? You and I, who are in positions of ministry and influence, have a sacred trust. We cannot allow the lead for our ministry to come from our favorite agenda or the felt needs of our congregants. We are to shepherd the flock in our care in the ways of Christ. We are called both to be, and to shepherd disciple-makers.

The great and overriding good toward which every providence in our lives is focused is that we conform to the Image of Christ (Romans 8:29). That ought to be our central ministry emphasis as well. Every meditation, homily and sermon should “ooze” with Christ-likeness. Every counseling session should center on becoming like Christ. The disciple’s noble end of being conformed to Christ should urged as the central objective every time we help folks manage their money, or raise their children, or settle with their neighbors.

In time, they’ll “get the picture!” Talking about “Missions” will come a lot more easily because that is what the Body of Christ longs for. Ideas about and for Missions “events” will be the product of individual giftedness, and the common awareness and interests of the fellowship. Events and programs will be means rather than ends – which will infuse them with new life. Your encouragement and leadership as Shepherd of the flock will help keep it all in focus.

Imagine! The old “40 Slides and a Sunset” becomes PowerPoint, or drama, or arts & crafts. The awkward family with all those kids are now fellow believers in whose life you have a stake through fellowship and partnership. You also have a new, and better, set of criteria for sorting through all that material from the mission agency marketing department!

Does it look like too much? Discipleship is a life-long pursuit. It never happens quickly. As Wayne Barber puts it, “Discipleship doesn’t end at conversion; it only begins there!” But since disciple making is the equivalent of our “marching orders,” how long it can take should not deter us. "Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." (Galatians 6:9)

Bob Gerow grew up on the mission field in Argentina. He served in various capacities with multiple ministries before becoming development administrator at AMG International in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Titles Often Mask Pride

By Joe McKeever

Not far from where I live stands a little church that always puts negative stuff on its signs. They seem to be forever infuriated that not everyone uses the King James Bible, as this seems to be their primary message. Last week, the sign was apparently addressed to Catholics. Quoting from Matthew 23:9, it said, “Call no man on earth your father, for one is your father, who is in Heaven.” If they read the rest of that chapter, Jesus also warned against being called “teacher‚” and “leader‚” and said “servant” is the proper title for those who would be great in the Kingdom of God. These are all good words and excellent roles in life, but the point seems to be that God’s people are to avoid pretentious titles that place barriers between people.

What kind of person would want to be called “servant”? I’ll tell you: hardly anyone. The word “minister” is roughly the equivalent, and is a good name for preachers as well as anyone else in the Kingdom, although some have tried to infuse it with a certain grandiosity. The remedy adopted by a lot of preachers? Get a doctorate. Now, everyone has to call you “Doctor.” A visitor to our services recently said he was slightly offended for me that everyone calls me “Brother Joe.” “With your degrees and position,” he said, “they ought to call you something with more status.” I told him if he knew what some called me, he would know how happy I am for them to call me “Brother”!

I once went to an orthopedic surgeon whose office staff called him by his first name. Surprised by this informality, I asked about it. “There are too many barriers between people,” he said, “and this is one I can do something about.” However, I noticed he did not encourage his patients to address him by his first name. That was fine with me. I feel about this the same way I felt flying in the old Valu-Jet airliners a few years back: the informality of the crew unnerved me just a little. I want to feel they are professionals and maybe a cut above the rest of us.

God’s people who take their discipleship seriously have to wage a never-ending struggle against pride. Pride is a soul-deadening, people-dividing, ministry-killing cancer which never quits coming, never admits defeat, and forever looks for new ways of taking over its host. Pride has a thousand faces. It masquerades as merit (“I earned this”), as concern (“It will be good for them”), as love (“I’m doing this because I care”), as ministry (“You’ll be a better Christian”), and even as humility (“Lord knows, this is far less than I deserve”).

Jesus said His followers should think of themselves as unworthy servants who are getting far more than they deserve. He did not say God sees us that way, or that we should treat one another that way—only that we should think of ourselves in this way (Luke 17:10). In so doing, He gave us a key that unlocks a hundred doors in the Christian life and solves a multitude of problems before they strike. The attitude of a lowly servant also drives a stake through the heart of pride. But don’t be fooled; pride will be back tomorrow wearing a different outfit. Be watching.

When opponents of the Lord’s people wanted to caricature them and belittle them, they called them “Little Jesuses.” That’s what the word “Christians” means. It was first given at Antioch in Syria and was intended as a put-down (Acts 11:26). What they meant as ridicule, the Lord’s children began to wear as a badge. The very idea—that we get to be like Jesus! Now there is a grand all-encompassing name. A Name above all other names! A Name to really take pride in!

Joe McKeever is director of missions for the Baptist Association of Greater New Orleans, Louisiana

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Why Join a Church? 4 Practical Reasons

Part 2 of 2
By Tim Schoap

Church membership is on the decline across America. Even in strongly evangelical, Bible-believing churches, there is a growing number of Christians who view church membership as unnecessary at best, unbiblical at worst.

Four Practical Reasons for Church Membership

1) Join the church for the sake of other Christians
Mature Christians need to set an example for weaker Christians, and weaker Christians need the encouragement of stronger Christians. Being a member of a local church provides significant opportunities for just that.

Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D. C., tells of a man in fulltime ministry who didn’t want to join the church he regularly attended because he thought it might slow his ministry down. Dever agreed, joining the church may well slow him down. But had he given serious thought to the idea that joining the church may speed others up?

Mature Christians need to realize that not joining a local church sets a poor example for weaker Christians who truly need the accountability of formal church membership.

Further, Christians are called to love one another (Matthew 22:37-40; John 13:34-35; 1 John 3:16). Biblical love is characterized by commitment and sacrifice. That’s why Paul compares a husband’s love for his wife to the love Christ has for the church: completely sacrificial (Ephesians 5:25). The weakest Christian needs to be committed to a body of believers to be loved, encouraged, and held accountable through good times and bad. The strongest Christian needs to be committed to a body of believers for the same reasons, and to make sure the weaker Christians have someone to do all that encouraging.

Join a church to encourage and to be encouraged, and to make your love for Christ known by committing to love others.

2) Join the church to encourage godliness and obedience in Christ
Part of identifying with a local church is the accountability that such a relationship provides us. Consider First Corinthians 5:1-5, where Paul addresses a man in the Corinthian church who is living in a sexual relationship with his father’s wife, a relationship so immoral, Paul says it was even unknown among pagans.

Paul says that this man needed to know that he could not live the life he was living and consider himself a Christian. In directing the church to put him out of the fellowship, he was driving this man to an awareness of his sin and his need to repent of it.

Being willing to submit to such accountability, and caring enough for people to exclude them from the fellowship to clarify what God requires, is an act of love.

God has given the local church the responsibility to encourage one another in the faith and to correct unrepentant sin. Join a church as a means of accountability, to encourage holiness in your life and other’s.

3) Join the church to be under biblical authority
This reason goes hand in hand with the previous. God has ordained that the church be led by elders and deacons (Acts 14:23). Elders are responsible for the spiritual well-being of the believers in their care. The qualifications listed in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:4-9 make it clear that elders are to care for the church in the same way they would care for their own families.

If elders are entrusted by God with a leadership role to direct the affairs of the church, they must know who the church is. Most churches have many more members than attendees. How can a pastor or an elder watch over a flock he never sees? How can he watch over a flock that doesn’t identify with the church in membership? How can leaders serve the church if they do not know who the church is?

How can the individual members of the body of Christ place themselves under the elder’s authority if they are not part of a local body, governed by elders? Join a church to be under biblical authority.

4) Finally, join the church because it is God’s design
In the New Testament, God is not building a collection of individual believers. He is building an ekklesia, a gathering of believers called out of the world together.
In Acts 2, through Peter’s proclaiming the Gospel and the faith that resulted, many people were saved. As we saw in Acts 2:47, “…the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

Their number,” the known and identified believers, the local church of Jerusalem. They were identified with the church in a personal way. When Jesus confronted Paul on the Damascus road in Acts 9:4, he said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Who had Paul been persecuting? The church. Jesus is saying that when Paul is persecuting the church, he is persecuting Christ. Christ identified with the church completely. Christians should do the same. Join the church because it is God’s design for you as a Christian.
Slated for publication in Pulpit Helps, June 2007

Tim Schoap is co-pastor of Signal Mountain Bible Church—
a non-denominational body in Signal Mountain, Tennessee

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Why Join a Church? Biblical & Philosophical Reasons

Part 1 of 2
By Tim Schoap

Is Church Membership Biblical?

The U.S. Congregational Life Survey (www.uscongregations.org), the largest profile of worshipers and their congregations ever done in the United States, found that 10 percent of the people sitting in church pews are not members of any congregation. The survey, conducted in April, 2001, of more than 300,000 worshipers in over 2,200 congregations, also confirmed what many pastors already know, that a growing percentage of active churchgoers are hesitant about something that was once taken for granted: church membership.

One fourth of the people who are actively involved in a church congregation declined to join for at least six years, and almost 20 percent resisted membership for more than 10 years. The reasons given for not joining a church are many.

Some Christians are opposed to church membership on practical grounds. They think that if they come to worship, fellowship, and serve alongside the members of a local church, there is no reason to formally join with that church.

Some Christians are opposed to church membership on what they believe are biblical grounds. They say that since church membership isn’t mentioned in the New Testament, it isn’t something they need to do.

But joining a church is not simply something you “do,” like registering to vote or going out to eat. The church is far more than a spiritual social club. In fact, I believe Scripture provides a solid basis for church membership, and for the conclusion that every Christian should be an active, practicing member of a local church. Here’s why:

The Church, the Body of Christ
Scripture is clear: all who trust Christ as Savior are already members of the Church; the universal, supernatural Body of Christ that is made up of all believers, in all churches, for all time (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

This is the capital “C” Church, described by C. S. Lewis in The Screwtape Letters as “spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners.” All who have confessed Christ are part of that Church.

That Church is not visible to us, at least in its entirety. But there is another church that we do see—or perhaps more accurately, an aspect of the universal, triumphant Church that is decidedly fixed in space and time. This one is spelled with a small “c,” the local church.

The Local Church
While there is a big difference between the “Church” and the “church,” every local expression of the Church is the visible expression of Christ’s Body, and is just as much part of that Body as the part that is “terrible as an army with banners.”

The establishment of local churches is clearly taught in the New Testament (Acts 14:23,27), and believers are directed to associate together in local assemblies (Heb. 10:25).

Most often in the New Testament, the word “church” is the translation of the Greek ekklesia, from ek, “out of,” and kaleo, to call or invite. In secular usage, an ekklesia was a gathering of citizens called out from their homes to a public place. In Scripture, an ekklesia is a gathering of Christians “called out” from the general populace to come together for a common purpose. A church, an ekklesia, is not a building. If our church buildings fell down around our ears, we’d still be the church, living and functioning as a local expression of the greater Body of Christ. So why join a local church?

The Biblical Evidence for Church Membership
While the New Testament does not use “membership” language, it most definitely presumes that Christians belong to and identify with other Christians with whom they fellowship, and submit to a central authority who has responsibility for that group.

The New Testament church knew who was a part of that group and who was not. Acts 1:15 says the “number” of the church was about 120. That’s fairly specific. Clearly, somebody counted. In Acts 2:41, “… about three thousand were added to their number.” In Acts 2:47, “… the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Again, in Acts 4:4, a specific number is given. Some form of record was being kept, tracking who was coming to this new work of God.
In 1 Timothy 5:9, Paul directs Timothy to put certain widows on “the list” for financial aid from the church. A list of widows approved for assistance means the New Testament church was not haphazard about who belonged to it.

Scripture consistently underscores commitment to the local church as an important and public statement of commitment to the Lord. The way Scripture speaks of that commitment presumes a formal, public identification with a local church that is analogous to our church “membership.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 stresses the importance of membership for the sake of biblical fellowship: “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Obedience to that command outside of the local church is impossible.

Hebrews 13:17 highlights the importance of membership for the sake of accountability: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” All Christians are to be accountable to their church leaders. Obviously, that assumes membership in a specific body of believers.

Finally, the “one anothers” of Scripture underscore the importance of the local church for spiritual maturity. “Love one another,” John 13:34; “be kind to one another,” Ephesians 4:32; “Encourage one another,” 1 Thessalonians 5:11; and on, and on. Without public, formal commitment in a local church, the “one anothers” don’t make much sense.

It is clear from the New Testament that even in the earliest days of the church, membership mattered. Membership in a local church is God’s design for fellowship, for accountability, and for spiritual maturity.

To be concluded - Originally published in Pulpit Helps, May 2007

Tim Schoap is co-pastor of Signal Mountain Bible Church—a non-denominational body in Signal Mountain, Tennessee

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Power to Devalue Human Life?

By R. Albert Mohler, Jr.

Editor's Note: Last week's Supreme Court decision on partial birth abortion may or may not be a bellweather of things to come in the public debate over the unborn child's right to life. Still, Dr. Mohler's commentary provides thoughtful insight into the issues at hand and the language each side uses to describe them."

In an historic 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the government’s right to ban the partial birth abortion procedure. The court reversed the rulings of six lower courts that had struck down the ban. The measure had been passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in 2003.

Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. Kennedy has succeeded retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor as the most frequent “swing” vote among the nine justices. Kennedy also wrote the majority opinion in the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision—a decision that basically affirmed the court’s infamous 1973 decision legalizing abortion, Roe v. Wade.

The decision handed down, Gonzales v. Carhart was a stunning blow to pro-abortion forces because it represented the first time a specific abortion procedure had been successfully banned.

A closer look at the majority opinion reveals even more. Justice Kennedy acknowledged that, for many, even the most common abortion procedure is “a procedure itself laden with the power to devalue human life.” This is rather amazing language in itself, but Justice Kennedy then argued that the partial birth procedure “implicates additional ethical and moral concerns that justify a special prohibition.”

The explicit inclusion of this moral language marks a great achievement in this decision. So is the decision’s acknowledgement that “it seems unexceptionable to conclude some women come to regret their choice to abort the infant life they once created and sustained.”

Then, follow the progression of this argument:
“In a decision so fraught with emotional consequence some doctors may prefer not to disclose precise details of the means that will be used, confining themselves to the required statement of risks the procedure entails. From one standpoint this ought not to be surprising. Any number of patients facing imminent surgical procedures would prefer not to hear all details, lest the usual anxiety preceding invasive medical procedures become the more intense. This is likely the case with the abortion procedures here in issue....

“It is, however, precisely this lack of information concerning the way in which the fetus will be killed that is of legitimate concern to the State.... The State has an interest in ensuring so grave a choice is well informed. It is self-evident that a mother who comes to regret her choice to abort must struggle with grief more anguished and sorrow more profound when she learns, only after the event, what she once did not know: that she allowed a doctor to pierce the skull and vacuum the fast-developing brain of her unborn child, a child assuming the human form.”

Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts joined in Kennedy’s opinion. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas joined the decision, but issued a separate concurring opinion that included this bold assertion: “The Court’s abortion jurisprudence, including Casey and Roe v. Wade...has no basis in the Constitution.”

In an angry dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg declared the majority decision to be “alarming.” Most remarkably, she attacked the majority’s concern for the emotional health of mothers (due to the unique bond between mother and child) as “discredited.”
Here is her statement: “This way of thinking reflects ancient notions about women’s place in the family and under the Constitution—ideas that have long since been discredited.”

The acknowledgement of a unique bond between mother and child, born or unborn, is an “ancient” notion long since “discredited?”

Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, and Stephen Breyer joined Ginsburg in her dissenting opinion.

April 18, 2007, will go down in history as a landmark day in the struggle to recover human dignity and the sanctity of human life. This ruling is an important step toward that recovery—and we still have a very long way to go. There is reason to believe that this decision may be even more important than might first appear. After all, the majority opinion does recognize that for many citizens, any abortion is “a procedure laden with the power to devalue human life.”
Via Crosswalk.com

©2007 www.albertmohler.com, All rights reserved. Used by permission. Dr. Mohler, serves as president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a theologian and ordained minister, as well as an author, speaker, and host of his own radio program, The Albert Mohler Program.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Sixteen Months in Darfur

". . . when I stepped into the sweltering heat pulsating from the sun-baked tarmac of the Nyala airport in South Darfur, Sudan, I was totally ill-equipped and unprepared for what would soon become my life." ~ Jonathan Drake - "Sixteen Months in Darfur" (Pulpit Helps Magazine, March 2007).

For the rest of this inspiring story of trial, challenge, and rethinking of "the way things are", click HERE. It's a three part series - just follow the links at the end of each to keep reading.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Life Together:

Small Groups and the Congregation Dynamic
by Justin Lonas

This is a follow-up to the post from 4/10 "Counting Heads or Changing Hearts"

Why is it that when Christians meet together under threat of arrest in communist China and other closed countries, they praise God with a fervor and unity seldom seen in the free environments of the West?

Why in America, where Christianity is freely practiced, do church members so often treat each other with a distrust and indifference that rivals worldly business competition?

If we want to reclaim our culture from the world’s value system and reach the lost for Christ, we have to begin by recapturing love for one another in Him. A powerful, relevant body is not a product of church size, financial assets, programs, influential members, or a prominent location. It is simply the outflow of brethren abiding in Christ’s command to love one another.

The Common Denominator
The first step to loving one another is remembering where we all came from. In First Corinthians 6:9b-11, Paul reminds us of the fact of our common redemption: “Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our Lord.”

We are all Christ-bought sinners! That’s the beauty of Christian community—our partaking in the church is not about our contribution, but about Christ’s uniting us through His blood. The sooner we take this truth to heart and put away the tacit segregations that divide us into “good,” “bad,” or “backslidden” categories, we can become a church ready for God to use. As C.S. Lewis put it through one of his characters in The Great Divorce, “That's what we all find when we reach [heaven]. We've all been wrong! That's the great joke. There's no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we begin living.”

Rejoicing in the Privilege
If we can’t live in love toward one another in the church—as 1 John 3:18 says, not “with word or tongue, but in deed and truth”—it’s no wonder that the rest of the world has serious doubts about the legitimacy of our faith. The first step to an effective witness is an abiding appreciation of our own fellow partakers in grace. That’s what has always made Christ’s teaching unique—He said that we would be known by our love for one another (John 13:35), not our achievements, adherence to morality, or relevance.

We need to experience a paradigm shift in the way we view our fellow believers and what it means to be a church together. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer addressed this in his 1939 book, Life Together, stating that we should enter into Christian community “not as demanders but as thankful recipients.” He went on to say that “We thank God for giving us those who live by His call, by His forgiveness, and His promise. We do not complain of what God does not give us; we rather thank God for what He does give us daily.... It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians.” Bonhoeffer’s call to viewing membership in the Body of Christ as a privilege should wake us. That’s why oppressed believers can rejoice so vibrantly—they are acutely aware of the tremendous cost that Christ paid so that we may have intimate fellowship with Him and with each other! Here’s where it gets sticky, though—the issue is not some intangible philosophical concept about global church unity or an argument against the proliferation of denominations. This is about you and me and our local church bodies.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Working out the teaching of love for another “in deed and truth” to a congregation is a huge undertaking because the love John is speaking of only comes from Christ’s transformation of our hearts.

What does it mean to love in truth? In practical terms, we need to cultivate intentional, continual fellowship with those in our church, to the end of deepening our relationships to Christ and to one another. The “truth” aspect almost solely comes over time through devoted relationships that carry us beyond the one or two relatively “sanitized” church meetings each week (where we so often operate behind a façade of spiritual contentedness) and into our daily lives. If God is concerned about all of our lives, so should we as believers be concerned with the lives of our fellow men.

One of the best ways this is played out is through small groups meeting together regularly outside of Sunday worship services. Such gatherings over time give participants a chance to truly know each other, to cultivate relationships, sharpen each other’s knowledge of the Word, to practice the “one-anothers” of Scripture and, above all, to exhort one another to seek God’s glory. Intentionally meeting together is much more important in an era when many church members drive long distances to attend services—in other words, congregations aren’t necessarily a part of each other’s lives outside of church anymore, so we need to make the effort to bond together in Christ.

In bringing church members closer together in Christ, small groups also help in developing a church’s attitude toward the community at large. Often, groups in my church will start ministering to the people around them in practical ways that a more “organized” church program never could. By simply working toward a true fellowship with other Christians, we are awakened to the need to be the salt and light to everyone else around us as well.

Churches with vibrant congregational life beyond Sunday worship almost always have a more vibrant congregational dynamic on Sunday morning, too. These churches, by seeking to love one another, are often the most ready to respond to community needs, the most willing to reach out to non-believers, and the most willing to take bold steps for God. This fact is too important to ignore. Unless our congregations are willing to submit to one another in love and the common gratitude of redemption, the other aspects of our church life will not flourish. The privilege of communion with one another is a crucial aspect of God’s design for our time on earth; we forget that at our own peril. When we honor that, however, we draw closer to His will in our whole walk.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Boasting . . .

What does it mean to boast in Christ?

It certainly has nothing to do with "overcoming" or "living the victorious Christian life". It probably doesn't even have anything to do with "Christian service" or "worship" as commonly understood today. It's really not even anywhere near the discussing of our spiritual experiences with one another or speaking of what "Jesus has done for/taught me" of late or of shouting out a "praise" in the prayer-request session (as I have at points past fuzzily understood it).

Boasting in Christ must simply mean one thing (though it's rather multifaceted) - the total amelioration of self into the person and message of the Lord. It means realizing the utter (and oft-repeated) truth of Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." It means daily arising and remembering that it's not about me; remembering to pray as John the Baptist that Christ would increase and I would decrease. It means remembering that I offer nothing to God that wasn't already His; that any and all good that comes through me flows from His grace.

As Paul says in II Corinthians 10:17-18, "But 'He who boasts is to boast in the Lord.' For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends."
The last verse of "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" by Stuart Townend puts it further into the simplest of terms:

"I will not boast in anything;
No gifts, no power, no wisdom.
But I will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death and resurrection.
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer.
But this I know with all my heart:
His wounds have paid my ransom."

Folks, it ain't about us!

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Counting Heads or Changing Hearts?

By Justin Lonas

One of the primary factors that defines who we are at Pulpit Helps is our focus on small churches, implicitly or explicitly. It’s what makes us unique.

In truth we shouldn’t be as unique as we are; small churches represent a massive demographic that is largely untapped by the Christian publishing industry. According to a 2003 Barna Group poll, approximately 60 per cent of American Protestant churches have fewer than 100 people in attendance each Sunday (while only 2 per cent attract 1,000 or more), and just over 40 per cent of American churchgoers attend those small churches.

In an era where numerical (and financial) growth seems to be the driving force behind most churches’ development, however, small churches are often viewed as inferior, unsuccessful, and even unspiritual. Because they lack the programs and services of larger congregations, they are often stereotyped as irrelevant. This is, more often than not, an untrue indictment. Still, many churches (large and small) have taken it to heart, leaving many small churches thinking that they must grow or die.

We need to ask ourselves why our first instinct for a church or ministry that starts and begins to fill a successful role is to expand it. As a society, we feel as though anything that is not growing is automatically receding. While this may be true in terms of business and finance, the same measurements cannot be applied to dealings with people.

Think back to the Great Commission. Christ’s command was to make disciples. As I brought out in an article in the February issue (“Remembering the Great Commission”), the sense of the command is that it is a process, not an event. We can’t allow a focus on church size to supplant our true mission. There is a great temptation to focus on rapid and highly visible numerical growth instead of the gradual and internal nature of disciple-making. When we hold up growth as the higher goal, we believe it’s somehow better to reach a large number of people at a cursory level than it is to reach a few very deeply and effectively.

The small church is uniquely equipped to make a move away from prevalent “dog & pony show” methods of growth and focus on cultivating a Christian community that builds real disciples.

Numerical growth can be a good thing, too, when it happens for the right reasons. From 1998-2006, I attended a Christian & Missionary Alliance church in North Carolina that grew from around 250 to 1,200 in weekly attendance in a matter of 3-4 years as the pastor made a decision to be less focused on “doing church” and more focused on sound, exegetical, expositional preaching and missions. The church never did anything specifically directed at “growth”—the pastor faithfully preached the Word and people came in the midst of the spiritual growth of our members.

Such Spirit-directed growth should be our only desire in terms of church size. Any growth pattern aimed simply at increasing a church’s numbers instead of a comprehensive focus on the spiritual health of the body can lead to stagnation and a loss of vision. People that come to a church that’s reaching out to them won’t stick around if the “advertised product” isn’t delivered. Sustained growth requires a commitment to the Word and to the church community.

We need to let that pattern of growth in Christ determine our outreaches, programs, services, etc. How we understand the importance of church growth will ultimately determine how we approach many areas of the Christian walk. If missions is about head-counting, then we don’t need to be actively involved when we hear such encouraging reports from the field. It’s enough to give occasionally and pray when we remember to. If evangelism and discipleship is about head-counting, distributing tracts, street preaching, and big-tent meetings out to have conquered the world for Christ long ago.

Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We have to be committed to Christ and let our numbers rise and fall as He moves people. If we are faithful to His model of disciple-making, our numbers won’t matter.

While I do want to encourage our readers in small churches, we also have to remember that just because a church is small doesn’t mean it’s fulfilling its role as a community of disciple-makers. Whether your church has 50 members or 5,000, the success of your ministry has to hinge on how well you’re following Christ’s example (i.e.—how the fruits of the Spirit are worked out in your congregation). Is your church going to be in the business of counting heads or of changing hearts?

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Living in the Tension of Death: Lessons from the Three Days in the Grave

By Amanda Held

We will never be able to experience Good Friday as the disciples did. We can call it “Good” Friday because we know the end of the story- that in three days, Jesus was alive again.

I never realized until someone pointed it out to me that the disciples had absolutely no hope of resurrection in their minds. Because they we so dense, (as dense as I am most of the time) and did not understand the teachings of Jesus concerning His death, the crucifixion seemed to be the end of the story, the failure of the Messiah, of maybe even God Himself. For years, they had given their lives for this man and His purpose. And now it was over and utterly unsuccessful.

I remember my grandfather’s funeral, the finality of it all. Nothing in me entertained the possibility of him climbing up out of that coffin. We laid flowers and drove away, never to see him again. Such is death.

Our inability to recognize and live in the knowledge of the end of the story, failure to see the big picture—this, in my opinion, is what usually lies at the heart of our despair. The disciples were lost, caught up in the darkness and hopelessness of the moment. Like them, blind to the wonderful work God is doing in His own time, I am a slave to the immediate. What is going on, what I am feeling in this immediate moment, often takes on the guise of eternality. It looms and threatens with the lie that this is all there is, that my whole life will be this way. It becomes my entire story.

I often wonder why God waited those three days. Wasn’t Jesus simply aching to get out of that grave? Perhaps God wanted to teach the disciples something about living in the tension of uncertainty. They needed to learn trust the hard way, needed to learn how to find hope in a hopeless situation. Indeed, they were completely shocked by the resurrection, as shocked as I would be if my grandfather came walking through the door.

It was so unbelievable to them that Thomas even insisted on touching the scars before he accepted it. I, too, am astounded when God works miracles in my life, when He resolves difficult situations, or brings me out of sadness. I get so caught up in the fear of the moment that I can’t even believe it when the storm clears. The thing is, He never does it on my time or in the way I would have expected. You see, God has a much greater purpose than my comfort and a much better story to tell with my life than one of ease and profit.

This Easter, I encourage you to consider the Saturday between Crucifixion Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Perhaps it is very familiar to you. Perhaps it is much like the place you are walking through right now in your life. What does God have to teach you before He rolls that stone away? Most of all, remember that you know the end of the story.

He is risen! There is victory in Christ!

Friday, March 16, 2007

God-in-a-Box?

By Bob Gerow

We’ve all heard it. Many of us have used it. Most of us think we know what it means. “It” is the leadership buzzword of our day: “Out of the box.” It even came up our recent planning for a pastor’s conference! Oddly, and perhaps a bit irreverently, the question was posed this way. “What does it mean to let God out of the box?”

Being somewhat analytical, my first response was to ask what the “box” was. My conclusion was that the “box” is the awkward combination of what we theologically hold to be true about God, and the understanding of God that our behavior betrays. We preach a correct theology about God, but we live with a God of our own making.

The dangers that accompany such divided loyalties are subtle. We hardly notice that imploring God’s favor soon becomes a hope that things will go our way. Divine comfort easily becomes a salve to address our felt needs. We grow comfortable with the assumption that the will of God will always be suitable to our temperament and interests. We embrace God’s promises as cozy reassurances that fit the ups and downs of our days. Rather than embracing the Giver on His own terms, we have unwittingly re-crafted Him into a source of “all that we think we need.” We have limited God by making Him useful and manageable. We have designed a theologically correct, but false, image of God, and have become idolaters!

(Don’t tune me out. I’m not exempt. I’m speaking to myself as well!)

I found a quote from J. C. Ryle (1816-1900) that describes our condition: “True faith does not depend merely on the state of man's head and understanding, but on the state of his heart. His mind may be convinced. His conscience may be pricked. But so long as there is anything the man secretly loves more than God, there will be no true faith. The man himself may be puzzled and wonder why he does not believe. He does not see that he is like a child sitting on the lid of his box and wishing to open it, but not considering that his own weight keeps it shut.”* What I find is that the “box” does not enclose God; it encloses me and is of my own making!
So, how do I pry open the box that encloses me? If you’ve read Isaiah 40:18-31, the next verse provides the first answer: “Be silent before me …” (41:1).

The first thing I need to do is to let God speak on His own terms. I must quit trying to describe Him only in terms I can manage or grasp. If His ways and thoughts are higher than mine (Isa. 55:8-9), who am I to try to comprehend Him fully?

Consider also Ecclesiastes 5:2: “God is in heaven; you are on earth, so let your words be few.” Or Isaiah 30:15, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.” What about Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God.” I once asked my seminary professor about the Hebrew in that verse. His response was to quote his then four-year-old son, who rendered it: “Don’t Move! Don’t you know that I’m GOD?”

So, the silence is not just about who speaks, but about getting out of His way! God must be allowed to be who He is and do what He does without my input! The agenda, it appears, is all about Him! He needs no help from me. Look at the second part of that verse in Psalms: “Be still! Know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations!” (46:10).

Once again, this sentiment is not without parallel in Scripture. God had been frustratingly silent, yet Job’s bitter complains are met with: “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me!” (Job 38:2-3). God never answered Job’s questions. Job himself never sees the whole picture. But he does see God on God’s own terms, and steps out of the way to let God be God.
What does this have to do with your daily work and mine? A lot of leadership is about describing the future, and challenging people to go there. It’s not about doing all the work, but about making sure the important work gets done.

Push open the lid of your box, and step out into the presence of God as He really is. Let your own heart, and the hearts of the people whom you shepherd, get a glimpse of a future that none of us can fully fathom. You can’t create a sunset, but you can call attention to it for others to enjoy with you. You can’t possibly define, predict, manage or comprehend God, but your life and ministry can certainly point in that direction so that others can stare in wonder with you.
Life can be frustrating and messy. The God you serve can seem shrouded in silence and mystery, and His providences can appear to be marshaled against you. You may not get many of the answers you hope for. You may have a plateful that seems impossible to manage.

Stepping out of the box can be a risky business. You feel you have turf to protect, but see it slipping away. God As He Is inspires fear and wonder. He can be frightening! As C. S. Lewis noted, Aslan, after all, “is NOT safe, but He is GOOD!”
What a sunset!

Robert H. (Bob) Gerow, M.Div., is an administrator in AMG’s Development Office and oversees Pulpit Helps.

*www.studylight.org, February 14, 2007.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Keeping on Keeping on . . .

I'm sure everyone noticed that there were no posts on this site between November 30, 2006 and March 7, 2007.

I'd like to apologize for that lapse and announce our commitment to faithfully update "Point of View" in the future. I'm imposing a one post per week minimum, and hopefully and even fuller schedule.

Naturally, we'll keep our commitment to preventing at all cost any lazy or unbiblical thinking out of this space, except for purposes of analysis & commentary on our world.

Thanks for your patience, and happy reading!

Friday, March 09, 2007

More from Wilberforce . . .

This is a quote from Wilberforce's book referenced in the last post concerning the unwillingness of most Christians to study the Bible with intellectual rigor (i.e. - to love the Lord with all our minds):

"It were needless to multiply arguments in order to prove how criminal the voluntary ignorance of which we have been speaking must appear in the sight of God. It must be confessed by all who believe that we are accountable creatures, and to such only the writer is addressing himself, that we shall have to answer hereafter to the Almighty for all the means we have here enjoyed of improving ourselves, or of promoting the happiness of others. If, when summoned to give an account of our stewardship, we shall be called upon to answer for the use which we have made of our bodily organs, and of our means of relieving the wants of our fellow-creatures; how much more the the exercise of the nobler faculties of our nature, of invention, memory, and judgment, and for our employment of every instrument and opportunity of diligent application and serious reflection and honest decision! And to what subject might we in all reason be expected to apply more earnestly than to that wherein our own eternal interests are at issue? When God of his goodness hath vouchsafed to grant us such abundant means of instruction, in that which we are most concerned to know, how great must be the guilt, and how awful the punishment of voluntary ignorance!

"And why are we in this pursuit alone to expect knowledge without enquiry, and success without endeavor? The whole analogy of nature inculcates a different lesson; and our own judgments, in matters of temporal interest and worldly policy, confirm the truth of her suggestions. Bountiful as is the hand of Providence, its gifts are not so bestowed as to seduce us into indolence, but to rouse us to exertion; and no one expects to attain to the height of learning or arts or power or wealth or military glory, without vigorous resolution and strenuous diligence and steady perseverance. Yet we expect to be Christians without labour, study, or enquiry! This is the more preposterous, because Christianity, being a revelation from God, and not the invention of man, discovering to us new relations, with their correspondent duties, containing also doctrines, motives, and precepts peculiar to itself; we cannot reasonably expect to become proficients in it by the accidental intercourses of life, as might might learn insensibly the maxims of worldly policy or a scheme of mere morals."

(A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country, Contrasted with Real Christianity, pp. 99-100)


Ouch.

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Amazing Grace


I saw the film Amazing Grace over the weekend. This powerful tale of courage in the struggle to do the Lord's will against the tide of human opposition should be a must see for all Christians. William Wilberforce's example of being fully devoted to God & fully active for Him in this world strikes a contrast with the private faith of the masses and their public accession to all things worldly. We could (and should) learn a lot from God's use of this man to accomplish His purposes.

Yesterday, I found a book by Wilberforce in AMG's library. This particular copy was printed in Scotland in 1846 - the 10th edition of the book (the original was published in 1797), carrying an introduction by "Daniel Wilson, D.D., Bishop of Calcutta". The work's title: A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity. Wilberforce's stinging indictment of nominal Christianity still rings as true as ever. It's been often reprinted in the past two centuries, most recently under the title A Practical View of Christianity. I encourage you to read it when you get a chance.

All that said, the following is an article in a recent issue of WORLD magazine on the topic that says better than I could the rest of what I'd like to share. Most of the quotes from Wilberforce in the article are taken from the aforementioned book. Enjoy.


Humble courage
William Wilberforce reasoned with opponents but did not rant at them by Marvin Olasky


You'll probably hear something about William Wilberforce this month, because an important 200th anniversary is coming. On Feb. 23, 1807, the double-decade determination of Member of Parliament Wilberforce finally brought results when the House of Commons voted to abolish the British slave trade. Year after year, voted down, he had not responded bitterly, and this time the other MPs stood and gave three hurrahs as Wilberforce bowed his head and wept at the culmination of his long battle.

Others are cheering in 2007. Washington, D.C., has a Wilberforce Forum, under Chuck Colson's auspices, and that organization plus the Trinity Forum sponsored Wilberforce Weekends last month. A major film biography of Wilberforce, Amazing Grace, is scheduled to hit theaters across the United States on the bicentennial, Feb. 23. A documentary, The Better Hour: William Wilberforce, A Man of Character Who Changed The World, is scheduled for television broadcast this fall in the United States and the United Kingdom. Members of the state legislature in Alaska have a Clapham Fellowship, named after the British group Wilberforce headed.

Furthermore, John Templeton is funding a national essay contest on Wilberforce for U.S. schoolkids: It's scheduled to begin in September 2007 with awards coming in spring of 2008. I hope students will learn about Wilberforce's theology, including his complaint about those who "either overlook or deny the corruption and weakness of human nature. They acknowledge there is, and always had been, a great deal of vice and wickedness [, but they] talk of frailty and infirmity, of petty transgressions, of occasional failings, and of accidental incidents. [They] speak of man as a being who is naturally pure. He is inclined to virtue."

Wilberforce contrasted that view with "the humiliating language of true Christianity. From it we learn that man is an apostate creature. He has fallen from his high, original state. . . . He is indisposed toward the good, and disposed towards evil. . . . He is tainted with sin, not slightly and superficially, but radically, and to the very core of his being. Even though it may be humiliating to acknowledge these things, still this is the biblical account of man."

His realistic view of man allowed him to deal with many kinds of disappointment—including the agonizing one that many of his initially reform-minded parliamentary colleagues gave in to political lures. As a young man Wilberforce was one of 40 MPs called the Independents who covenanted "not to accept a plum appointment to political office, a government pension, or the offer of hereditary peerage." And yet as years went by, only Wilberforce and one other stuck to that resolution. (Sounds like the Republican Revolutionaries of 1994.)

His realism also helped when he faced sharp attacks. James Boswell, famed now for his biography of Samuel Johnson, wrote of Wilberforce, "I hate your little whittling sneer./ Your pert and self-sufficient leer . . . begone, for shame,/ Thou dwarf with big resounding name." (Wilberforce stood only five feet tall.) Other famous writers, including Lord Byron, also wrote hit pieces. But Wilberforce did not respond in kind. Instead of speaking of his own accomplishments, he often said that one line of prayer summarized his only hope: "God be merciful to me a sinner."

Wilberforce emphasized teaching about Christianity but not imposing it, and wrote that Christians should "boldly assert the cause of Christ in an age when so many who bear the name of Christian are ashamed of Him. Let them be active, useful, and generous toward others. Let them show moderation and self-denial themselves. Let them be ashamed of idleness. When blessed with wealth, let them withdraw from the competition of vanity and be modest, retiring from ostentation, and not be the slaves of fashion."

He proceeded boldly but not arrogantly, knowing that he could commend belief but not command it. He stated, "The national difficulties we face result from the decline of religion and morality among us. I must confess equally boldly that my own solid hopes for the well-being of my country depend, not so much on her navies and armies . . . as on the persuasion that she still contains many who love and obey the Gospel of Christ. I believe that their prayers may yet prevail."

Amen.