american christianity ™

Seeing The Invisible Mission Field

Frank

Recently the National Museum of the American Indian held a symposium on the depiction of Native Americans in sports. Being hosted in Washington, DC, the conversation naturally steered towards their NFL team, the Washington Redskins. The mayor of Washington has gone on record to oppose a new stadium for the football team inside city limits unless they drop the name.

A few weeks ago a blog previewed the hats that Major League Baseball teams would be wearing for spring training, showing a sample image of the Atlanta Braves’ cap featuring an image of their mascot, the “screamin’ indian”, Chief Knockahoma, which hasn’t been used since 1986. After considerable backlash, the Braves are wearing their traditional script A on their hats.

And don’t get me started on the legal dispute over the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

I’m not going to weigh in on one side or the other. But I want to call it to our attention. How many of us cheer for a team, or wear a particular logo, without consideration of where that name or brand came from? The AP story on the Native American symposium highlighted a fan who wore his Redskins gear and was so moved by what he heard that he ditched them. He simply never thought of it before.

Face it, the Native American is the nameless, faceless race that used to inhabit North America and is often depicted as the bad guy in classic westerns. How many of you know a Native American? Depending on where you live, it is unlikely you’ve ever seen one. The idea of a sports mascot named the Braves, Warriors, or Chiefs doesn’t cause us to flinch. A super-fan dressed up in a war bonnet with his face painted might strike us as odd, but not necessarily racist. Familiarity may breed contempt, but unfamiliarity breeds indifference.

We may not know them, we may not see them, but they’re still there. They are still a strong and proud people. And they, just like the “foreign savage” we send missionaries to overseas, need Jesus.

I’m sensitive to this myself. I grew up just outside the boundaries of an Indian reservation. I grew up with classmates who were Arapaho or Shoshone. Every year my hometown would celebrate the “Gift of the Waters” pageant, an artistic reenactment of a treaty signed between the Shoshone tribe and the US Government handing over some of their land that included a natural spring the tribe considered sacred. Before I went away to college I knew the family of the Shoshone chief, Joseph.

Many missionary organizations emphasize raising up indigenous people to lead in local ministry. Yet we’ve forgotten about the indigenous in our own country.

So I was sad to hear of the sudden passing of “Uncle” Richard Twiss, a Native American missionary and founder of Wiconi International. If you’ve never heard of him, don’t feel bad because neither had I. But I was ashamed because as much as I try to be “plugged in” to American Christian Culture I was ignorant to the man and this much-needed ministry.

Not knowing him, I can’t speak much about him. But I encourage you to check out what others have said honoring his memory. (Lots of links: Christianity Today, InterVarsity, Out of Ur, Urban Faith, Sojourners, Patheos, and Red Letter Christians)

Also please pray for the indigenous of this country. Twiss’ work is far from finished. May we be as moved to be missionaries to the natives of our own soil as we are to send missionaries to foreign lands.

What if?

Frank

In the busyness of the Christmas season, I’ll be reposting some of my favorite posts and scaling back my original content. Reading Multiply by Francis Chan and gearing up for a Multiply Movement study in the New Year, I’m going to select posts on evangelism this week and Christmas next. This particular post was first published in August 2011.

***

Much of what passes for doctrine in American Christianity (TM) is based off of a what-if theology. You get these kinds of responses when reaching out to others to spread the Gospel. In an over-correction to be “seeker-sensitive” churches have gone out of their way to try and answer every what-if. But you don’t need to. The Bible answers sufficiently and our faith should take care of the rest.

What if there’s some tribe in the middle of the desert that never hears of Jesus? Then maybe God is calling you to pack your bags to go there and change that.

“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” (Acts 17:26-27)

But what if in the middle of the desert there’s no water to be baptized? Well, first of all, people can’t live where there isn’t water. And we can’t get too far from it and still live. Did you know that there’s a military spec for building a baptistry out of boxes of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and tarp?

“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Go south to the road—the desert road’… As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized?‘” (Acts 8:26,36)

What if someone is a prisoner of war with no hope of release? Do you think God is that small?

“After [Paul and Silas] had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
 
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, ‘Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!’

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’

They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.’ Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.” (Acts 16:23-34)

What if God creates a rock he cannot lift? Ah, the classic canard. So what if he does?

“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.” (Isaiah 59:1)

What if my grandma was the sweetest person I ever knew? Eventually, the what-ifs become personal. But at some point we have to let go of our vested emotional interest and just trust God.

“[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)

What if Ghandi (or pick your strawman) was a really good person!

“No one is good- except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)

What are the what-ifs you struggle with?

Reproduce Yourself

Frank

How did you get to where you are? Chances are, you have someone to thank for it. Maybe it was a favorite teacher or someone who took you under their wing. If you are successful at anything, it is unlikely you figured it all out yourself.

Somewhere along the line, participating in countless clubs and organizations through school, I learned that to propagate the values, skills, or ideals you bring to that organization, you need to replicate those in others. And if you leave an organization, you should replace yourself if you want to leave a legacy.

That is all well and good for organizational philosophies. But shouldn’t the same be true for our spirituality? You can’t come to know Jesus by yourself- “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Romans 10:14) When it comes to discipleship the goal shouldn’t be to replicate ourselves, instead shouldn’t we be trying to reproduce Jesus? “One of you says, ‘I follow Paul’; another, ‘I follow Apollos’; another, ‘I follow Cephas’; still another, ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13) and later in the same letter Paul writes, “follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (11:1)

When you read the Bible and something new jumps out at you from the page, don’t you want to share it with someone? Or if you read an inspiring story or practical how-to on a blog, don’t you want to share it? (That’s what is behind the increasingly popular social media site Pintrest) Or maybe a better question would apply the Golden Rule- wouldn’t you want someone to share those things with you?

This is not a new idea. I quote Paul above, but the principle goes all the way back to the time of the Israelites wandering the desert, building monuments to God to remind them to share their stories with their children and their children’s children. More importantly, this instruction comes straight from Jesus’ own mouth: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (most of us know the Great Commission up to this point, but it continues) and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Churches get in the bad habit of focusing only on the first part, emphasising growth in numbers, to the neglect of the second part. When that culture dominates a church’s membership, the result is a congregation full of immature Christians, many of whom will eventually leave much like a seed planted on rocky ground that may germinate, but will die for lack of deep roots. (Mark 4:5-6)

To get around this some churches have programs, others have anointed teachers, still others organize themselves into small/family/prayer/discipleship groups. In each of these, the responsibility of passing along spiritual knowledge is delegated to one or a select few individuals. Yet Jesus’ command above is for us all. It is each of our responsibilities to raise up and teach others to be like Jesus.

Does that sound intimidating? You are responsible for teaching someone else to be Christ-like. Where do you begin? What do you do? How do you do this? This may be a foreign idea, a ‘hard teaching’, a new concept to many of you. The truth is, a majority in the American Church are ill-equipped to take on such an important role.

So in comes Francis Chan and Mark Beuving with their book, Multiply: disciples making disciples. This isn’t a book review (yet), but an introduction. Chan has partnered with David Platt to form Crazy Radical. Just kidding. To start what they call the Multiply Movement, an effort to encourage the Church to get back to discipleship as Jesus defined it, to plant seeds of the Gospel around the world, and to pass on those teachings and experiences to others to go and do the same.

If the idea of leading another to Christ, or to raise someone up to be Christ-like, is intimidating or if you don’t know where to start. I encourage you to pick up this book, check out their online materials, watch their videos. More importantly, I encourage you to do this with someone else.

This is a theme you’re going to see more and more on this blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. Later this week I’m going to talk more about evangelism and later write my own book review (I have a few chapters left!). In the meantime, I pray you take these words from Paul to heart:

It was [Jesus] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.(Ephesians 4:11-16, emphasis added)

Jesus the Philosopher

Frank

That Jesus, he’s such a nice guy!

He sure taught a lot of wise things.

Jesus was a great teacher and philosopher, the world would be a better place if we lived out what he taught.

Do any of these sound familiar? I’ve heard those responses, or variations thereof, countless times when talking about the deity of Jesus Christ. My favorite is when someone responds that we should follow his teachings, like to love your neighbor or to turn the other cheek, but that doesn’t mean he’s the Son of God. My response is usually to turn it right back on them- do you love your neighbor? How about your enemies? Do you really turn your cheek when someone is mean to you?

It is easy to pick and choose favorite one-liners from Jesus’ teachings and turn those into a philosophy of how we should live. But no matter how many may say so, few really do. Even among the ranks of Christians are few who can honestly say they are living out every one of Jesus’ commands. I haven’t sold everything I have and then gave it all to the poor, have you? If we take out the hard teachings (eat Jesus’ flesh?) we are usually left with something that looks an awful lot like the Sermon on the Mount.

I guess if we cling to something from the life of Jesus, it might as well be this, right? But even these instructions are hard to keep (cut off my hand?). So Jesus’ teachings are usually boiled down even further to the Beatitudes. Even before I took the Bible seriously, I could recite every one of these. But to live them out? A.W. Tozer writes in A Pursuit of God:

“In the world of men we find nothing approaching the virtues of which Jesus spoke in the opening words of the famous Sermon on the Mount. Instead of poverty of spirit we find the rankest kind of pride; instead of mourners we find pleasure seekers; instead of meekness, arrogance; instead of hunger after righteousness we hear men saying, ‘I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing’; instead of mercy we find cruelty; instead of purity of heart, corrupt imaginings; instead of rejoicing in mistreatment we find them fighting back with every weapon at their command.” (pgs 77-78)

Let’s check our attitudes against the beatitudes: poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, persecuted because of righteousness. If I were to measure myself against these I could confidently lay claim to two; on my best days. I’m not going to go into detail defining each of these and writing up a mini-sermon supporting it. Instead I encourage you to check your heart. Do Jesus’ descriptions of a blessed heart match yours, or do you more closely resemble what Tozer describes above?

Do not be discouraged by your conclusion. Instead be inspired by the rewards, the blessings, Jesus promises: the kingdom of heaven, receive comfort, inherit the earth, be filled, be shown mercy, see God, and be called sons of God.

Now can a mere philosopher promise such blessings or can these only come from the Son of God himself?

This blog is part of a book club reading The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. Please join the discussion here and at our hosts, Jason Stasyszen and Sarah Salter. Need a copy of the book? You can get it for free on Kindle.

R12: Are you tired of trying hard and feeling guilty?

Frank

***Thanks to Google searches, the post here that has gotten the most hits is from my series studying the book Living On The Edge by Chip Ingram on “why is the Christian life so difficult?” (Until more recently when my post, Label or Content answered the question that everyone seems to be asking: is Carolina Liar a Christian band? They’re not, for the record.) A follow-up post titled “are you tired of trying hard and feeling guilty” (the titles are straight from the book) has recently been the target of spammers, receiving roughly one hundred comments in the past two weeks. When the most comments I typically see is 3 or 4, I knew something must be up. So I’m deleting it reposting the main content (minus the book Q&A) here.***

We have to remind ourselves of the context of the Book of Romans. Rome, home of pagan polytheism, infanticide, political corruption, the decay of traditional marriage, slavery, and murder for sport. As the Church grew in Rome they were the objects of severe persecution, discrimination, and in many cases outright murder. They had the reputation of saving abandoned babies, caring for the “the poor, the orphan, and the widow”, for separating themselves from the corruption around them, and for being joyful doing so. To them, the commands in the Bible (not yet established as Canon) were not a list of “to dos” or “s’pozdas”, but were a way of life.

Some time ago, a teen my wife and I were close to told us that he didn’t want to be a disciple of Jesus because he didn’t want to miss all the fun. That’s what Christianity has been reduced to for many- missing all the fun. Why? Chip writes,

“I am convinced that most of us have relied on willpower, self-effort, and religious activities in our attempts to live a holy life. And eventually when we figure out that those things don’t work, we do one of two things: we start faking that we’re holy and develop lives of duplicity and hypocrisy [(boy, we never hear that criticism of Christianity, do we?)], or we simply agree with one another that “the bar of holiness” is too high.”

Let’s get this out of the way: Spiritual growth does not equal trying hard! Let me say again, spiritual growth d.n.e. trying hard! For you computer programmers, spiritual growth != trying hard! More, from the book:

  • Spiritual growth does not begin with focusing on behavior.
  • Spiritual growth does not even begin with focusing on our attitudes.
  • Spiritual growth always begins by focusing on our thinking.
  • Spiritual growth is accomplished by the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, in the context of authentic community, for the purpose of glorifying God.
  • Spiritual growth demands that we by faith appropriate the grace of God given to us through the conduits of His Spirit, His Word and His people.

And it all requires us to “be transformed by the renewing of [our] minds.” We have to change how we think about holiness, about sin, about the World, and most importantly about our relationship with God. It starts with the last one and works up the list from there. I’ve already spent several posts on changing how we think about the World, now let’s focus on our relationship with God. Remember Romans 12 begins, “Therefore, in view of God’s mercy…”

I consider marriage to be a sacrament. As a disclaimer, I was raised Catholic and the fellowship of churches of which I now belong isn’t much for the definition of sacraments. But I consider them to have utmost spiritual importance because they are physical things, living symbols if you will, of spiritual truths. Marriage falls into this category as symbolic of the relationship between Jesus and his Church (Ephesians 5:32). Reverse the analogy. When you’re not getting along 100% with your spouse, do you suddenly decide that you’re no longer married? Do you stop being married when a younger person of the opposite sex catches your eye and maybe that eye lingers a little too long? Does the marriage end when your spouse doesn’t do exactly what you think he/she should? (that one actually does happen too often) Do you stop being married if you feel like you don’t measure up? Do you stop being married if you don’t do the dishes one night? Of course not. But this is how we treat the Church. So many give up and quit because they slip up, or there’s friction in a relationship, or they don’t think they can ever be as holy as the person in the pew next to them. And we all feel the same way when we fully commit ourselves to God that we do when we choose to get married- this is it, this is for life. Or at least, that’s how we should feel.

Thankfully marriage isn’t as fickle as our church. But why do we treat our relationship with God this way? After all, isn’t the church just a group of people who all want to have the same relationship with God? If it’s more, you’ve made it to be more than it was ever intended. The church is a means to build one another up, strengthen one another, teach one another. And that is all. If you say your a Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, or whatever and that description has nothing to do with your relationship with God, you need to check your motivations for being part of your church. Sorry to go there, but so many go to the church they do, or say they are the brand of Christianity they do because of no other reason than that’s what they’ve always been. And we’re surprised spiritual growth is so rare in the American Church (TM).

We need to change how we think. About church, about the spiritual disciplines, about our relationship with God. The Bible is full of commands. Not “to dos”, but “will do because I love God so much”. Until our minds change to accept that, we will forever be stuck spiritually. We will always resent deep down, maybe even subconsciously, Christianity because it is robbing us of our “fun”.

Finally, again from the book:

“Can you imagine the freedom that you will begin to experience when you break
free from the performance-oriented Christian life where the focus on duty,
attendance, spiritual disciplines, tithing, and guilt management with regard to
all the things “you are supposed to do”? It’s not that these things in and of
themselves are bad, but for millions of Christians they’ve become little more
than attempts at behavior modification accomplished through self-will and the
energy of the flesh.”

So how do we do it? We need to change what goes into our mind to renew our mind.

  1. Hear God’s Word (Romans 10:17)
  2. Read God’s Word (Revelation 1:3)
  3. Study God’s Word (2 Timothy 2:15)
  4. Memorize God’s Word (Psalm 119:9)
  5. Meditate on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8)

And stop trying so hard.

    Crunch Time

    Frank

    I’ve been putting off this topic for weeks. I look at my bookshelf and a few specific titles jump out at me. I log onto Facebook and cannot avoid it. And as I turn one more page on the calendar I am forced to face this reality.

    The next presidential election is just over a week away. When I first started this blog one of my observations that drove me to this was the uncomfortable marriage between faith and politics. One show on Christian-talk defines politics as “faith put into action”. I wonder if Jesus would agree. I heard another Christian talkshow host hang up on a caller who disagreed about homosexuality. No honest open debate, rather he literally hung up on the caller mid sentence as he was trying to quote a scripture. And now, six years after I started this blog, twelve years after George W. Bush and the “value-voter” Christians are identified as much by how they vote than by how they live, if not more.

    I had wanted to do a series of blogs on some of the stickier issues this election but I just couldn’t bring myself around to it. I hate to say that I just haven’t cared that much about this election cycle. But that doesn’t mean my apathy is acceptable or that my vote is not important.

    I won’t get around to hitting on every hot-topic between now and then, in fact I’m not even going to try. But to be consistent with the theme and intent of this blog, I do want to focus our hearts and minds towards the Word of God so that we can make political decisions based on God’s Will rather than any political party.

    I’m not the only one who has this ambition. I’m sure if you looked around enough and listened to enough lessons, you’ll find someone who agrees with you politically. I’m not interested in that. I want to hear from someone who is going to challenge the way I think and convictions I may hold because of my upbringing, my race, my socioeconomics, or my geography.

    I’m a big fan of the ministries of Living on the Edge and Ransomed Heart (just look at the buttons on my sidebar). I encourage you to listen to the series Culture Shock over at Living on the Edge and the last few podcasts from Ransomed Heart. Set aside your preconceptions. Set aside your political affiliations. Open your heart and your mind and just listen. There’s a lot there to catch up on (I’m not totally caught up myself) but at least start with Chip’s lesson on “The Church and Politics” and John’s discussion on “Voting” and “Jesus’ View on Government”. Then come back here later this week and we’ll talk about this some more.

    Agree to Disagree

    Frank

    To the secularist, Christians and hypocrisy go hand-in-hand. The easy dodge is to admit that “all have sinned,” so in God’s eyes we are no different other than the Christian being saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. The risk then, is when Christians become sanctimonious and holier-than-thou on a particular moral issue. Ted Haggard wouldn’t have drawn nearly the media attention for his drug-fueled homosexual dalliance had he not been a conservative evangelical pastor who was outspoken against homosexuality. And it doesn’t even have to be apples-to-apples, is it fair for a minister to preach against homosexuality while having an affair on his wife (sadly so common it’s become cliche)? Or let’s not even go fruit-to-fruit, is it right to pontificate against one particular sin while willfully ignoring another? Homosexuality, promiscuity and drug addiction are all well-recognized and easily condemned while gossip, laziness and gluttony are seldom addressed from the pulpit. So the issue isn’t so much hypocrisy as it is a double-standard.

    Jesus spoke plainly when he said in the Sermon on the Mount: “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) If we all humble ourselves before the cross of Christ then we recognize others not by their unique personal sin, but by our collective sin and need of redemption. The stranger next to you on the train needs Jesus just as much as you do. And so we must extend mercy.

    That’s looking down at sin. What about looking up at discipleship? Books such as Crazy Love, Radical, Not A Fan and others all hit the same note of calling the reader to a higher bar, a higher standard of Christianity. They are not the first to do so, nor will they be the last. One might argue for “totally committed” or “completely sold-out” or “on-fire with the Holy Spirit” but what do any of those things really mean in a practical relatable sense? Is it fair to expect a single mom scraping by just to feed her kids to go above and beyond in the name of “commitment” by giving more than she can afford to an annual missions contribution? Is it realistic to be “fired up for God” every day, even through all the ups and downs of life? Not to mention one person’s cause-of-the-moment may not be the same as another’s. So can we look down on someone who isn’t fighting to stop sex trafficking but is sacrificing their time to open their home to after-school care? Or what about the person who may not be able to make a church function because they have to work overtime in order to pay the bills, yet happily serves in children’s ministry every Sunday morning? Bottom line, what is important to me in defining my discipleship may not be what is most important to you. I need to beware my plank before I judge.

    But what about those who are raising the bar through their books, their podcasts and their conference-headlining performances? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to accuse them of looking down upon those who do not prescribe to their definition of discipleship. But are we guilty of holding them to a higher standard? After all, are they not also responsible to practice what they preach? Or are we to take their words with a grain of salt to do as they say, not as they do?

    Recently someone commented on my blog about one such author who writes about making dramatic financial sacrifices in order to advance the Kingdom (one of many points he makes in his book- if it were the entire theme of the book I might feel differently). Meanwhile, he allegedly lives in a half-million dollar home. Is that fair to judge? How do you or I know how much he is personally sacrificing? And just because visibly it appears as if he could definitely sacrifice more, is it up to me to judge him by a standard that I make up on my own?

    This is a difficult subject for me. It seems natural to expect the author, the preacher or the leader to exist on some special spiritual level higher than the average layperson. I’ve certainly been guilty of feeling that way. Several years ago I was part of a committee to reexamine ministry salaries. During one of several open forums where we met with ministry staff, the wife of one minister asked, “you can’t expect me to live on that side of town! I have to think about my family and schools and…” You get the picture. I was appalled. For the longest time I could not look at this person the same way. Another time I was in a meeting with a variety of ministry staff discussing how to address a specific issue and it became clear that no one else shared the same conviction I had. Yet at the same time, I realized that I wasn’t as zealous about the point they were trying to make. This experience forced me to step back and realize that it was not fair for me to expect others to think about things in the exact same way as me. I have since been able to avoid many arguments during our board meetings recognizing not everyone has the same convictions about money that I have.

    We don’t all have the same convictions. I share mine here on this blog. You are free to disagree. So I appreciate the comment this person left on the subject, but as I think more about it, it is not my fight to fight. If someone preaches the Gospel in public but is enslaved to sin in private, that does not invalidate the Gospel. Paul didn’t say to follow him, but to follow his example as he followed the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1) In other words, even if Paul slipped up somewhere along the way it didn’t change who we are really called to follow. Elsewhere Paul went on to point out that many preach out of sinful motives (is wanting to make money by writing a Christian book selfish or worldly?) but it didn’t matter because the Gospel was still being preached.

    I appreciate you stopping by this small corner of the Christian blogosphere. We’re not likely to agree on everything. Chances are, I’ll probably say something that is completely wrong. Feel free to call me out on it. I only ask that you recognize that our convictions may not be the same. And I’ll recognize the same with you.

    Sacred Cows

    Frank

    Authors/pastors such as Francis Chan, David Platt and Kyle Idleman have challenged our conventional wisdom on how we “do” church in the United States. Others like N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, and Mike Breen are redefining Kingdom and Gospel in the context of the first-century Jews who initially heard those teachings. Could it be, that more of what we take for granted as our “old-time religion” is wrong?

    I’ve already hit on two extremes of salvation doctrine, the Sinner’s Prayer and baptism as sacred cows that need to be re-examined. But what if more of our religious practices are merely “traditions taught by men”? (Mark 7) For example, from a young age, we are shown images of heaven as white fluffy clouds inhabited by angels with wings and halos and often playing instruments such as harps. Yet no such imagery exists in the Bible. The cute child-like cherubs of Hallmark porcelain are a far cry from Ezekiel’s description of the Cherubim he saw in a vision: “I knew that they were the cherubims. Every one had four faces apiece, and every one four wings; and the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings.” (Ezekiel 10:20-21, KJV) or Isaiah’s description of Seraphim: “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.” (Isaiah 6:2, KJV) My son overheard a study I was doing once on the holiness of God and instantly connected the descriptions of angels in Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Revelation with the comforting teaching of guardian angels such that he is now literally afraid of angels.

    The consequence of that tradition is easily repairable. But others are much harder to reconcile. Here I need to make a disclaimer up front- I have no formal training; I do not have a seminary degree nor any certification in Bible study; these observations are my own that have jumped out at me from my own personal study; these are not definitive and are not points that are worth me drawing lines in the sand doctrinally, however they are worth studying in more detail so that you can come to your own conclusions rather than relying on religious tradition.

    1. Hell: Rob Bell recently made waves with his book Love Wins which drew sharp criticism and immediate response from the likes of Tim Keller, et. al  and Francis Chan. He questioned the assumption that the lost spend an eternity suffering in Hell in light of an all-loving God. Admittedly, this is a stumbling block to many against Christianity- how can a just God condemn people for eternity for following a savior they may have never heard of. This question makes many uncomfortable when we think about our favorite Aunt Sally whom everybody loved yet never went to church a day in her life. Could a just God condemn her to an eternity in Hell? But what if our definition of Hell is wrong to begin with? What if the eternal suffering refers to the consuming fire itself and not the punishment? That is the premise of Edward Fudge’s book, “The Fire that Consumes.” Now I haven’t read his book yet came to the same conclusion independently. In fact, even Chan in Erasing Hell makes this observation though he intentionally falls short of calling it a conclusion (and humbly so, I might add). Could it be that our religious definition of Hell as an eternal punishment is wrong?
    2. Eternal Soul: One of the counters to the argument above is that God made our souls eternal, and therefore cannot be annihilated. (Though who’s going to stop God from doing whatever he wants?) Yet the only evidence anyone has ever been able to give me that our souls are eternal is the scripture that tell us that we are all made in God’s image. And if God is eternal, then it follows so are we. Our bodies die and decay, so there must be some eternal component and there comes our common definition of a soul. Yet the word we translate as soul is also elsewhere translated in the Bible as heart, or body. The implication is that the word “soul” refers to our whole being. It is more a philosophical point than a theological one (for example, where in your body do you find thought?). The idea of a “being” or “essence” is where we get our word for soul. (And it even gets more complicated in the Greek when soul is translated from the Greek word psyche, as in “mind”.) My son asks me all the time what a soul is and I always struggle to define it. I say it’s the part of us that lives forever, but what does that really mean?
    3. Heaven or New Jerusalem: I ran into this one when debating with a Jehovah’s Witness. They teach that only 144,000 go to heaven based on Revelation 7 and 14 (Of course, why is that number literal when the others in Revelation are not?) and that everyone else either goes to Hell or inhabits the New Earth. (It is important to note that early JW literature shows each of the 144,000 to be white, Anglo-Saxon while the inhabitants of Earth are Jewish and minorities. I don’t know if that was ever intentionally addressed- especially considering their world missions, but I find it amusing nonetheless.) Despite the numerology, the Bible teaches of both a heaven and a new earth. Who goes where? I have yet to find an answer that satisfies my curiosity, but I do think it calls into question our standard dividing lines of heaven and hell.
    4. Gospel: I mentioned above that this definition is being challenged by others, so I encourage you to read their work and come to your own conclusion. But much of what we espouse as the Gospel is self-centered fire insurance. If we call into question our definitions of heaven, hell and our eternal soul, then what we present as the Gospel also needs to be reconsidered as well. Is the Gospel only that Jesus forgives our sin and saves us from hell? Is it not also that Jesus came to dwell among us and that his death reconciled our relationship with our creator? Could it be that the Gospel is more about our relationship with God than it is about our eternal destiny?

    I call out these “sacred cows” because of the potential eternal impact they may have. From the Sinner’s Prayer and baptism to our common descriptions of heaven and hell, changing our perspective to be more biblical and less religious affects what our churches are built upon and how we share our faith with others. These are no small matters and need to be taken more seriously because it coulde be that how we define church could be completely wrong.

    Sacred Cow: The Sinner’s Prayer

    Frank

    This week, the Southern Baptist Convention will be voting on a resolution to “commend” the Sinner’s Prayer as sound and biblical. (h/t to David Croom who blogged about it here) The Sinner’s Prayer has become the centerpiece of salvation for some Baptist churches and many in the Evangelical movement. For the record, I am not Baptist. In fact I am the polar opposite, fellowshipping with an offshoot of the Church of Christ. So I come at this with a certain degree of hostility.

    So rather than jumping on my soapbox, I’ll let others do that for me.

    David Platt:

    Francis Chan:

    Paul Washer:

    Cog in the Machine

    Frank

    When asked what he does for a living, a coworker of mine usually replies, “I’m part of the bureaucracy.” A few years ago Monster had an advertisement where kids described what they wanted to be when they grow up. “I want to claw my way up to middle management” was one reply, followed by “I want to be a yes-man,” “yes-woman,” “yes, sir!”

    Maybe you’re stuck in a rut at your job and you feel just like this. Part of the bureaucracy, a cog in the machine. I doubt many of us aspired to this and we wouldn’t describe our dream job this way. And so we come home exhausted, defeated, or burned out. We long for the weekends when we can literally take a break from the world and rest before we have to get in the car and go do it again.

    Doesn’t sound ideal, does it? Have you ever looked at church the same way? Is it a drudgery to participate as you take repeated glances at your watch to see if anything has changed? This description might not be your first thought, but I bet you can relate. Just like if you’re stuck in a rut work, if you’re stuck at church maybe it’s because you’re not doing what you want to. Or better yet, what you’re meant to.

    Isn’t that how it goes? You go blind staring at your computer screen at work knowing you were meant for more than this. Isn’t that what piles on to this feeling of frustration? Church is no different; as we fight off falling asleep during a sermon we think there must be more than this.

    Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers [leadership roles], to prepare God’s people for works of service [service roles], so that the body of Christ may be built up…as each part does its work.” (Ephesians 4:11-12, 16) American church (TM) culture has convinced us that it is the few in front of the church, up on the pulpit, who are responsible for everything while the rest of us sit back and drop a couple of bucks in the tray to pay them. But the Biblical model of the church is not like this.

    “As each part does it’s work.” Just like your job, well just like anything really, if you feel valued and are participating as part of something bigger you are more likely to derive satisfaction from your work. So we all have roles and it is just a matter of identifying what those roles are. Paul gives us samples here in Ephesians, but also in Romans 12 and twice in 1 Corinthians 12.

    Of course, frustration also comes when we mis-identify our roles. At our jobs, we might think we’d be just right for that promotion but when we finally rise up, it proves to be too much for us. There’s this concept called the “Peter Principle” where one can only rise to the level of their own incompetence. What that means is that theoretically, you keep getting promoted until you can no longer do your job (and your weaknesses are exposed) at which point you’re stuck.

    Other times it may not be the rise in position that we lust after, but a different position all together. Yet it might just be right where you’re at is where you’re supposed to be. This too can be frustrating. And it is no different at church. While there isn’t really any means of promotion, we can all feel like we should be doing something else.

    For me, personally, I’ve been frustrated at church because I have mis-identified my role. I’ve called myself “teacher” and on this blog “writer”. I’ve considered that maybe I’m a “prophet” in the context of being inspired by the Holy Spirit to give a message in a specific context. But so long as I’ve been a disciple of Jesus people have told me, “you have the gift of administration!” and for the last twelve years I’ve been resisting that fact.

    Back to work, the coworker I mentioned earlier and I have spent the last 4-5 weeks pushing paper, writing page after page, reviewing every word to make sure every i was dotted and t crossed. And as tedious as that has been, I’ve been good at it. Recently, I put together and hosted a meeting that was very involved and took up most of my time. I complained about how busy I was, but deep inside I could not deny that I actually liked it.

    I’ve been on my church’s board of directors for the last six years. Some meetings go better than others, but when I am honest with myself I see that this is what I am good at. I am good at organization (which is ironic since I am so unorganized): putting people where they need to be to be most successful (at work) and bring the most glory to God (at church). I prefer to work behind the scenes and while I crave the spotlight for the sake of my own ego, I am not comfortable there. I’m an “idea guy” and spend a lot of time thinking about how-tos. This is who I am and I need to embrace that.

    After this last big meeting we had a board meeting. And all this hit me. My gift is administration. I paused and prayed about it, thanking God for making me just like he did. And I felt a peace enter into me that has been missing for some time. I realized that much of my stress and frustration came from trying to be someone I am not. Peace came from thanking God for who I am. I am a cog in God’s great machine. And I am ok with that.

    So what are you gifts? What do you aspire to?