I had some thoughts today on the way to work. I wanted to know if you thought they were crazy. I wonder if they cross the line from the what a church should be or if they are right on target.
Trick or Treating is a pretty big thing in Antwerp. The main trick or treat area is one central area. There are two good spots where I think a church could pull off what came to my mind.
During trick or treating we set up a tent and give away hot dogs, chili, nachos, and soda to anyone who wants some. Then at the close of the scheduled period for trick or treating we host a costume contest in which we give away, hopefully donated, prizes from community businesses. Then we take a ten to fifteen minute break followed by a worship service with an evangelistic sermon.
What are your thoughts? Does it cross the line on what a church should do? Is it too manipulative?
Watch out for potholes.
The Completed Sermon - Priesthood of Believers
With the election going full-steam, all that is on the news is pieces on John Kerry or George Bush. So it got me and my wife talking, something we probably need to do more often. And I decided to send an email to President Bush. I hopped online. Went to whitehouse.gov. And found the President’s email address. Typed up the email and sent it. Off it went while I wondered if I would get a response. Within seconds, lucky me, I received the only response I have yet to get.
Thank you for e-mailing President Bush. Your ideas and comments are
very important to him.
Because of the large volume of e-mail received, the President cannot
personally respond to each message. However, the White House staff
considers and reports citizen ideas and concerns.
In addition to President@WhiteHouse.gov, we have developed White House
Web Mail, an automated e-mail response system. Please access
http://www.whitehouse.gov/webmail to submit comments on a specific
issue.
Additionally, we welcome you to visit our website for the most
up-to-date information on current events and topics of interest to you.
Now, if you would, please turn in your Bible to 1 Peter. We’ll be reading from the beginning of chapter 2. A portion of Scripture that sets up a concept about God that gives him a completely different leadership style than our President showed when I received the automated response.
1 Peter 2:1-10
1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Today, I want to focus on the last section of this passage. “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.” Jeff focused last week on the concept that we are the temple. That we need to be holy. The first half of this passage deals with that. The second half deals with the subject of what being the
Too often we have turned God into a being that is so distant from us that we designate men or women to become intermediaries between us and God. Somewhere along the journey from the time of Christ until now we have made God and his truth into such a mystery that we need specialists to interpret it; we need professionals to head up loving those that need to be loved. We have, albeit not consciously, turned many of the things of God into things that can only be done by the experts, the trained clergy, the "priests" of the church. And we might not label our pastor's with the title "priest", but we still give them all the power, authority, and responsibilities that the pagan cultures give their priests. We have created a god who is like the wizard from Oz, a god where only trained people can look behind the curtain and see the reality. However, unlike in the Wizard of Oz, when the curtain comes down, everyone will see the face of God. There is no gimmick here. Being the priesthood of believers is about taking that curtain down, about bringing God to the world.
When I was a youth pastor, there were multiple parents who came to me and asked me to talk with their children about making a decision to follow the Lord. I remember having teens in the youth group asking me to go and talk to their grandparents in the hospital about coming to the Lord. Although I don't mind being given the opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus, these instances tell me that we have a serious problem. And I don't think these experiences are unique to my ministry. They tells me that we have either a serious education problem in our churches or a dangerous misconception of the priesthood - or even worse - we have a dangerous misconception of the priesthood and a serious education problem. If you are a believer, you are just as qualified as an ordained minister to be a witness for Christ. And if you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified. Let me repeat that because it is important. If you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified than people like me who have been trained for years on how to be an effective minister. Each one of us is a priest, a member of the priesthood of believers. Just like the priests in the Old Testament were used in making sacrifices to make people right with God, we are called to sacrifice ourselves to help people see God.
Paul wrote, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Paul doesn't appeal to just the paid pastors or the leadership in the church. He appeals to every brother and sister. He asks them all to present their bodies as a living sacrifice. We were told by Peter to come to Jesus, the living stone, to become a royal priesthood in order that we will offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. And here we are told by Paul that our spiritual act of worship is to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. What a different place the church would be if the believers really did that. What a different place the world would be if the church was as God planned it to be.
But we are held down, oftentimes, by our misunderstanding of the priesthood. We leave the sacrificing to those paid to do it. But we see here that we are all called to be part of the priesthood. We are all called to sacrifice.
And before I get too far into this, I want to give a disclaimer in order to not be stoned after this sermon. Living out being the priesthood of believers and still accepting the role that the leadership plays is a tough concept to grasp. I still wrestle with balancing the two on a regular basis. But I do not want to be clear that by no means am I denigrating those who give their lives to serving Christ by being in the paid ministry. Most of them are where God has called them. I'm not talking about them or to them here today. If I was, I would have a different message. I'm talking to a group of believers who are not paid ministers yet have the potential to change the town of
One of my favorite deceased authors, Elton Trueblood, wrote in 1952, "A way in which the ministry is unique is that, in performing it, the amateur often has advantages which are denied to the professional practitioner. In many fields, such as natural science, the increased professionalism of the individual makes him more trustworthy whereas in the life of religion the increased professionalism may make him less trustworthy...Most words of a clergyman are minimized simply because he is supposed to say them. A pastor's convictions are discounted because he is supposed to have a professional stake in the effort to make them prevail. Sometimes people sink so low as to remark that this is what he is paid for; he is on the side of the angels by virtue of his employment. The contrast in effect is often enormous when a layman's remarks are taken seriously, even though he says practically the same words. His words are given full weight, not because he is more able exponent, but because he is wholly free from any stigma of professionalism."
And what Elton Trueblood wrote in 1952 is still true today. As I've said, I've been on the other side of the fence. I've been a paid youth pastor. But I want to be clear to get this across. I think there is a role for a pastor. I'm not saying let's stop having pastors. What I'm saying is let us stop exalting pastors above everyone else. Pastors have an important role to play in equipping and training the flock to be the priesthood, and with that role comes some weaknesses that a healthy body of Christ can remedy.
I noticed when I was a youth pastor that people, oftentimes, disregarded what I felt led to share. They disregarded my loving actions. In the back of many people's minds, I assumed, was the thought that I was being paid to do what I was doing, that I was being paid to say what I was saying. That wasn't true. Most people go into the ministry, not for money, but because they are trying to be faithful to the call God has placed on their lives. The fact that many people disregard the actions of a paid minister shows us how important it is for us to live in such a way that Christ is shone through our lives where we work, play, and live. The message we share with our actions and our words cannot be misconstrued as us being paid to do it. The gospel of Christ needs to be proclaimed in the streets, not only by those paid to do it, but by everyone that is a follower of Christ, by every member of the priesthood of believers.
So what does this change? Maybe you already live your life as a believer who views the pastor as another brother in Christ rather than an exalted superior that is absolutely necessary for us to hear and communicate with God. If so, sorry for wasting your time, but thanks for enduring this sermon patiently without throwing rotten tomatoes at me.
But if this is a concept that is new to you, the fact that you are as a much of a priest as the ordained ministers filling the pulpits of this town this morning, as much as the ordained ministers that have spoken from where I stand, then it should probably change some things.
First, you will realize the importance of your relationship with God. You are a priest responsible for sacrifices to God. And what you should be sacrificing is yourself daily, so that others will be able to see God through you. One of the biggest misconstrued concepts of the Christian faith is the idea of freedom in Christ. I will touch on it very briefly here because it is important to this point, but it could be a whole sermon in itself. Paul wrote in Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love becomes slaves to one another.” Priesthood does not give us freedom to use for self-indulgence. We are given freedom to be slaves one to another. When you think of the ideal pastor and how he should be a servant to his congregation, that is what you are supposed to be to those around you. Being in a right relationship with God is essential to being an effective priest.
Second, your calling to be a factory worker, an office worker, a retail worker, or whatever else God has called you to is just as high of a calling as someone called to be in the paid ministry. The only thing that makes your calling less important is a lack of faithfulness - if you are where God didn’t intend for you to be. And that can also be true of pastors. It matters whether we are being faithful to God rather than the importance of our position or being exalted by others.
Third, all of us are first, priests of God. That needs to consciously be our primary occupation. When we’re at work, we need to have the mindset of a priest and seek the
And if you’re sitting out there today and are not in a relationship with God. This message should bring hope to you. You don’t need to depend on people like me or the other people who get up and share to have a relationship with God. God wants you to be one of his priests. He wants you to have a direct link with him. And he has provided the power for that through the sacrifice of Jesus, the high priest of God. No matter what you have done, how long you have strayed, God says that he wants you to be a priest for him.
There's a story about an extremely wealthy man who possessed vast treasures of art. The man had only one son who was a very ordinary boy. The child passed away in his adolescence and had little effect on anyone. The father greatly mourned his son's death. Within a few months after the death of his son, the father died as well.
He stipulated in his will that all his possessions and art treasures were to be auctioned. And, strangely enough, he added that one particular painting had to be auctioned first. It was a painting of his son done by an artist whom no one really knew. The auctioneer in accord with the man's wishes, directed the assembled crowd to the painting of the rather obscure son of the wealthy man. He started the bidding there. Since no one knew the boy or the artist, the bidding was silent.
After a long time had passed without any bid at all, an old man who had been a servant in the house of the wealthy man came forward and said he would like to place a one-dollar bid on the portrait. He wanted to buy the painting because he had loved the son very much. At that point in his life, however, a dollar was all he could afford to pay. There were no other bids and the servant was able to purchase the painting of the son for one dollar. Then the dramatic moment came as the auctioneer read the next portion of the will. It said this: "All the rest of my treasure shall go to the one who loved my son enough to purchase his portrait. "
Each one of us has the opportunity to be fortunate like that servant. God has placed a high calling on each of our lives – to be a member of his priesthood. And each one of us can become a member of the priesthood by being like the servant in the story and giving God our all. And unlike our being American citizens unable to communicate with our President, God wants us to be in a relationship with him. He wants us to know him. He wants us to share our thoughts and desires with him. He is there for us any time we need him. We never have to go through another human to talk with God or to learn what God wants for our life. We are the priesthood of believers. And, the greatest thing is, he wants us to join in on his work of redeeming the world. So, fellow priests, let’s go serve.
The end of my sermon on the priesthood of believers
Here it is. The end that will be tagged onto what I wrote the other day. Feel free to criticize. I just ask that you be constructive. What you say can have an effect on what I say on Sunday. I also wonder if it will be long enough, but I figure if I have said everything I felt I was supposed to say, who cares if it long enough.
So what does this change? Maybe you already live your life as a believer who views the pastor as another brother in Christ rather than an exalted superior that is absolutely necessary for us to hear and communicate with God. If so, sorry for wasting your time, but thanks for enduring this sermon patiently without throwing rotten tomatoes at me.
But if this is a concept that is new to you, the fact that you are as a much of a priest as the ordained ministers filling the pulpits of this town this morning, as much as the ordained ministers that have spoken from where I stand, then it should probably change some things.
One of the biggest misconstrued concepts of the Christian faith is the idea of freedom in Christ. I will touch on it very briefly here because it is important to this point, but it could be a whole sermon in itself. Paul wrote in Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love becomes slaves to one another.” Priesthood does not give us freedom to use for self-indulgence. We are given freedom to be slaves one to another. When you think of the ideal pastor and how he should be a servant to his congregation, that is what you are supposed to be to those around you. Being in a right relationship with God is essential to being an effective priest.
Second, your calling to be a factory worker, an office worker, a retail worker, or whatever else is just as high of a calling as someone called to be in the paid ministry. The only thing that makes your calling less important is if you are we’re God didn’t intend for you to be, although he will still use you where you are at. And that can also be true of pastors. It matters whether we are being faithful to God rather than being exalted by others.
Third, all of us are first, priests of God. That needs to consciously be our primary occupation. When were at work, we need to be worried about doing the things of God. When were shopping, we need to be worried about doing the things of God. Whether we are entertaining ourselves, hanging out with friends, getting ready in the morning - whatever it is that we are doing – we need to be concerned about being priests of God. Priests are in the process of making those around them right with God, and that needs to be our focus. Our primary role in life as a Christian is being a member of the priesthood of believers.
Each one of us has a high calling from God – to be a member of his priesthood. And unlike our being American citizens unable to communicate with our leader. God wants us to be in a relationship with him. He wants us to know him. He wants us to share our thoughts and desires with him. And he wants us to join in on his work of redeeming the world. So, fellow priests, let’s go serve.
Watch out for the potholes.
An Email to...
I thought I would try something new this week. I got online. I looked up an email address, typed up a message and pressed send. Off it went while I wondered if I would get a response. Within seconds I received the only response I would ever get.
Luke 11:9-13: 9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Thankfully we have a high priest that allows us to enter into the presence of our Lord anytime we desire. Hopefully, we remain in that presence our whole lives.
This will somehow be turned into the introduction of our sermons. As the priesthood of believers there isn't a barrier between us and God. We have a direct link with our commander. We do not need an intermediary. I find such assurance in that.
Watch out for the potholes.
Thank you for e-mailing President Bush. Your ideas and comments are
very important to him.
Because of the large volume of e-mail received, the President cannot
personally respond to each message. However, the White House staff
considers and reports citizen ideas and concerns.
In addition to President@WhiteHouse.gov, we have developed White House
Web Mail, an automated e-mail response system. Please access
http://www.whitehouse.gov/webmail to submit comments on a specific
issue.
Additionally, we welcome you to visit our website for the most
up-to-date information on current events and topics of interest to you.
Luke 11:9-13: 9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?12 Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Thankfully we have a high priest that allows us to enter into the presence of our Lord anytime we desire. Hopefully, we remain in that presence our whole lives.
This will somehow be turned into the introduction of our sermons. As the priesthood of believers there isn't a barrier between us and God. We have a direct link with our commander. We do not need an intermediary. I find such assurance in that.
Watch out for the potholes.
A Call to the Priesthood
Here is the meat of my sermon. I'm still working on it. This doesn't have an intro and conclusion yet, although I'm pretty sure of what I'm going to use. I post it here beforehand to hear your thoughts, critiques, and whatever else you feel like telling me. Did I miss something important? Did I say something I shouldn't have said? Your comments on this post will, more than likely, influence what a church has to endure on Sunday. And if you're going to be at the Antwerp Community Church you might not want to read so you can be surprised. But I have no problem with you reading ahead of time.
1 Peter 2:1-10
1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Too often we have turned God into a being that is so distant from us that we designate men or women to become intermediaries between us and God. Somewhere along the journey from the time of Christ until now we have made God and his truth into such a mystery that we need specialists to interpret it; we need professionals to head up loving those that need to be loved. We have, albeit not consciously, turned many of the things of God into things that can only be done by the experts, the trained clergy, the "priests" of the church. And we might not label our pastor's with the title "priest", but we still give them all the power, authority, and responsibilities that the pagan cultures give their priests.
When I was a youth pastor, there were multiple parents who came to me and asked me to talk with their children about making a decision to follow the Lord. I remember having teens in the youth group asking me to go and talk to their grandparents in the hospital about coming to the Lord. Although I don't mind being given the opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus, these instances tell me that we have a problem. And I don't think this experience is unusual to my ministry. This tells me that we have either a serious education problem in our churches or a dangerous misconception of the priesthood - or even worse - we have a dangerous misconception of the priesthood and a serious education problem. If you are a believer, you are just as qualified as an ordained minister to be a witness to Christ. And if you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified. Let me repeat that because it is important. If you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified than people like me who have been trained for years on how to be an effective minister. Each one of us is a priest, a member of the priesthood of believers. Just like the priests in the Old Testament were used in making sacrifices to make people right with God, we are called to sacrifice ourselves to help people see God.
Paul wrote, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritualworship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Paul doesn't appeal to just the paid pastors or the leadership in the church. He appeals to all the brothers and sisters. He asks them all to present their bodies a living sacrifice. We were told by Peter to come to Jesus, the living stone, to become a royal priesthood in order that we will offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. And here we are told by Paul that our spiritual act of worship is to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. What a different place the church would be if the believers really did that. What a different place the world would be if the church was as God planned it to be.
But we are held down, oftentimes, by our misunderstanding of the priesthood. We leave the sacrificing to those paid to do it. But we see here that we are called to be part of the priesthood. We are all called to sacrifice.
And before I get to far into this, I want to give a disclaimer in order to not be stoned after this sermon. Living out being the priesthood of believers and still accepting the role that the leadership in the church plays is a tough concept to grasp. I still wrestle with balancing the two on a regular basis. But I do not want to be clear that by no means am I denigrating those who give their lives to serving Christ by being in the paid ministry. Most of them are where God has called them. I'm not talking about them or to them here today. If I was, I would have a different message. I'm talking to a group of believers who have the potential to change the town of Antwerp by standing up and being the priesthood of believers.
One of my favorite deceased authors, Elton Trueblood, wrote in 1952, "A way in which the ministry is unique is that, in perfoming it, the amateur often has advantages which are deinied to the professional practitioner. In many fields, such as natural science, the increased professionalism of the individual makes him more trustworthy whereas in the life of religion the increased professionalism may make him less trustworthy...Most words of a clergyman are minimized simply because he is supposed to say them. A pastor's convictions are discounted because he is supposed to have a professional stake in the effor to make them prevail. Sometimes people sink so low as to remark that this is what he is paid for; he is on the side of the angels by virtue of his employment. The contrast in effect is often enormous when a layman's remarks are taken seriously, even though he says practically the same words. His words are given full weight, not because he is more able exponent, but because he is wholly free from any stigma of professionalism."
And what Elton Trueblood wrote in 1952 is still true today. As I've said, I've been on the other side of the fence. I've been a paid youth pastor. Again, another disclaimer. I want to be clear to get this across. I think there is a role for a pastor. I'm not saying let's stop having pastors. What I'm saying is let us stop exalting pastors above everyone else. Pastors have a role to play in equipping and training the flock to be the priesthood, and with that role comes some weaknesses that a healthy body of Christ can remedy.
I noticed when I was a youth pastor that people, oftentimes, disregarded what I felt let to share. They disregarded my loving actions. In the back of many people's minds, I assumed, was the thought that I was being paid to do what I was doing, that I was being paid to say what I was saying. That isn't true. People go into the ministry, not for money, but because they are trying to be faithful to the call God has placed on their lives. The fact that many people disregard the actions of a paid minister shows us how important it is for us to live in such a way that Christ is shone through our lives where we work, play, and live. The message we share with our actions and our words cannot be misconstrued as us being paid to do it. The gospel of Christ needs to be proclaimed in the streets, not only by those paid to do it, but by everyone that is a follower of Christ, by every member of the priesthood of believers.
Watch out for the potholes.
1 Peter 2:1-10
1 Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.6 For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the very head of the corner,”
8 and “A stone that makes them stumble,
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10 Once you were not a people,
but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
but now you have received mercy.
Too often we have turned God into a being that is so distant from us that we designate men or women to become intermediaries between us and God. Somewhere along the journey from the time of Christ until now we have made God and his truth into such a mystery that we need specialists to interpret it; we need professionals to head up loving those that need to be loved. We have, albeit not consciously, turned many of the things of God into things that can only be done by the experts, the trained clergy, the "priests" of the church. And we might not label our pastor's with the title "priest", but we still give them all the power, authority, and responsibilities that the pagan cultures give their priests.
When I was a youth pastor, there were multiple parents who came to me and asked me to talk with their children about making a decision to follow the Lord. I remember having teens in the youth group asking me to go and talk to their grandparents in the hospital about coming to the Lord. Although I don't mind being given the opportunity to talk to someone about Jesus, these instances tell me that we have a problem. And I don't think this experience is unusual to my ministry. This tells me that we have either a serious education problem in our churches or a dangerous misconception of the priesthood - or even worse - we have a dangerous misconception of the priesthood and a serious education problem. If you are a believer, you are just as qualified as an ordained minister to be a witness to Christ. And if you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified. Let me repeat that because it is important. If you are in a relationship with the person that needs to see and know the Lord, you are more qualified than people like me who have been trained for years on how to be an effective minister. Each one of us is a priest, a member of the priesthood of believers. Just like the priests in the Old Testament were used in making sacrifices to make people right with God, we are called to sacrifice ourselves to help people see God.
Paul wrote, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritualworship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Paul doesn't appeal to just the paid pastors or the leadership in the church. He appeals to all the brothers and sisters. He asks them all to present their bodies a living sacrifice. We were told by Peter to come to Jesus, the living stone, to become a royal priesthood in order that we will offer up spiritual sacrifices to God. And here we are told by Paul that our spiritual act of worship is to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice. What a different place the church would be if the believers really did that. What a different place the world would be if the church was as God planned it to be.
But we are held down, oftentimes, by our misunderstanding of the priesthood. We leave the sacrificing to those paid to do it. But we see here that we are called to be part of the priesthood. We are all called to sacrifice.
And before I get to far into this, I want to give a disclaimer in order to not be stoned after this sermon. Living out being the priesthood of believers and still accepting the role that the leadership in the church plays is a tough concept to grasp. I still wrestle with balancing the two on a regular basis. But I do not want to be clear that by no means am I denigrating those who give their lives to serving Christ by being in the paid ministry. Most of them are where God has called them. I'm not talking about them or to them here today. If I was, I would have a different message. I'm talking to a group of believers who have the potential to change the town of Antwerp by standing up and being the priesthood of believers.
One of my favorite deceased authors, Elton Trueblood, wrote in 1952, "A way in which the ministry is unique is that, in perfoming it, the amateur often has advantages which are deinied to the professional practitioner. In many fields, such as natural science, the increased professionalism of the individual makes him more trustworthy whereas in the life of religion the increased professionalism may make him less trustworthy...Most words of a clergyman are minimized simply because he is supposed to say them. A pastor's convictions are discounted because he is supposed to have a professional stake in the effor to make them prevail. Sometimes people sink so low as to remark that this is what he is paid for; he is on the side of the angels by virtue of his employment. The contrast in effect is often enormous when a layman's remarks are taken seriously, even though he says practically the same words. His words are given full weight, not because he is more able exponent, but because he is wholly free from any stigma of professionalism."
And what Elton Trueblood wrote in 1952 is still true today. As I've said, I've been on the other side of the fence. I've been a paid youth pastor. Again, another disclaimer. I want to be clear to get this across. I think there is a role for a pastor. I'm not saying let's stop having pastors. What I'm saying is let us stop exalting pastors above everyone else. Pastors have a role to play in equipping and training the flock to be the priesthood, and with that role comes some weaknesses that a healthy body of Christ can remedy.
I noticed when I was a youth pastor that people, oftentimes, disregarded what I felt let to share. They disregarded my loving actions. In the back of many people's minds, I assumed, was the thought that I was being paid to do what I was doing, that I was being paid to say what I was saying. That isn't true. People go into the ministry, not for money, but because they are trying to be faithful to the call God has placed on their lives. The fact that many people disregard the actions of a paid minister shows us how important it is for us to live in such a way that Christ is shone through our lives where we work, play, and live. The message we share with our actions and our words cannot be misconstrued as us being paid to do it. The gospel of Christ needs to be proclaimed in the streets, not only by those paid to do it, but by everyone that is a follower of Christ, by every member of the priesthood of believers.
Watch out for the potholes.
New Arrivals
Well, I'm sitting here and trying to think of something to write. How many worthless posts begins with a phrase similar to that?
I speak to the Economics class at the Defiance High School this morning. I figure that is on my mind and preventing me from thinking about anything else.
Isaac is now 3. Pictures of him and his birthday party will be coming soon.
Eli is still 0. His birthday will be in 3 and a half years. He was born on leap day.
Okay, I thought of a story. (I've actually included a few photos below.)
It was leap day.
Lindsay woke up around 2:00 a.m. with labor pains. She was going to try to ride it out as long as possible at home before going to the hospital. (For those inexperienced in childbirthing, most books say that is a very good idea.) Around 4:00 I woke up and she notified me that we were going to have our baby. And we hopped in the car, she was screaming in pain the whole way - oh, wait. That is the Hollywood movie version. I casually took a shower, called the hospital and notified them that we would be arriving, loaded up the car, called grammy to come out and watch Isaac, and, eventually, helped Lindsay into the car. It is now 6:00 a.m.
The only event of any significance as we are driving down the road is that we kill a rabbit hopping across the road. Weird. I guess we needed to sacrifice the rabbit in order to have a smooth birth.
We arrived at the hospital around 6:30. They were ready for us. Lindsay immediately began to scream and the baby was there. Oh, wait. That's Hollywood again. We went to the room and a nurse proceeded to ask question after question to Lindsay. Lindsay didn't really want to have anything to do with the questions. Little did we know, but she was almost fully dilated. It was time, but we were still filling out the entry papers.
Lindsay asked the nurse to check her because she felt ready. Then chaos erupted. Lindsay didn't even have an i.v. in her yet. They tried and failed. It was too late for that. Now this was like a Hollywood movie. The nurses were frantic. They weren't ready. The doctor wasn't there, yet Lindsay was ready to deliver the baby. They told her to wait until the doctor arrived although her body was more than ready to begin pushing. She waited. I wouldn't have. But who knows, maybe the pain isn't actually that bad. :)
After a couple of pushes Elisha ("Eli") Zane arrived in the world. However, he was born on leap day and will only have a birthday once every four years.
I spent the next few days hanging out, eating snacks, changing diapers, finding out that Doritos has wheat (something I'm allergic to) and watching Lord of the Rings win a bunch of awards because you watch stupid shows like that when you're stuck in the hospital.
That was a good day (except from that bunnies perspective).
Watch out for the potholes.
I speak to the Economics class at the Defiance High School this morning. I figure that is on my mind and preventing me from thinking about anything else.
Isaac is now 3. Pictures of him and his birthday party will be coming soon.
Eli is still 0. His birthday will be in 3 and a half years. He was born on leap day.
Okay, I thought of a story. (I've actually included a few photos below.)
It was leap day.
Lindsay woke up around 2:00 a.m. with labor pains. She was going to try to ride it out as long as possible at home before going to the hospital. (For those inexperienced in childbirthing, most books say that is a very good idea.) Around 4:00 I woke up and she notified me that we were going to have our baby. And we hopped in the car, she was screaming in pain the whole way - oh, wait. That is the Hollywood movie version. I casually took a shower, called the hospital and notified them that we would be arriving, loaded up the car, called grammy to come out and watch Isaac, and, eventually, helped Lindsay into the car. It is now 6:00 a.m.
The only event of any significance as we are driving down the road is that we kill a rabbit hopping across the road. Weird. I guess we needed to sacrifice the rabbit in order to have a smooth birth.
We arrived at the hospital around 6:30. They were ready for us. Lindsay immediately began to scream and the baby was there. Oh, wait. That's Hollywood again. We went to the room and a nurse proceeded to ask question after question to Lindsay. Lindsay didn't really want to have anything to do with the questions. Little did we know, but she was almost fully dilated. It was time, but we were still filling out the entry papers.
Lindsay asked the nurse to check her because she felt ready. Then chaos erupted. Lindsay didn't even have an i.v. in her yet. They tried and failed. It was too late for that. Now this was like a Hollywood movie. The nurses were frantic. They weren't ready. The doctor wasn't there, yet Lindsay was ready to deliver the baby. They told her to wait until the doctor arrived although her body was more than ready to begin pushing. She waited. I wouldn't have. But who knows, maybe the pain isn't actually that bad. :)
After a couple of pushes Elisha ("Eli") Zane arrived in the world. However, he was born on leap day and will only have a birthday once every four years.
I spent the next few days hanging out, eating snacks, changing diapers, finding out that Doritos has wheat (something I'm allergic to) and watching Lord of the Rings win a bunch of awards because you watch stupid shows like that when you're stuck in the hospital.
That was a good day (except from that bunnies perspective).
Watch out for the potholes.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Faking It
Poor Ashlee Simpson. Exposed for being a lip-syncer on Saturday Night Live. She probably doesn't actually have the talent that it appears she has when she sings on her recorded albums. I feel sorry for her.
But this brings up a bigger issue. How often do we fake our faith? Maybe we haven't been lucky enough to be exposed for the fraud we are.
Soren Kierkegaard wrote:
There was a guy, who I respect and was probably just frustrated when he shared, in my father's adult Sunday school class at our church last week who shared the story that he was sick and tired of being worried about whether the person behind him in the grocery store would see that he is a Christian by his actions. He was sick of being worried if his actions were reflecting Christ wherever he went.
It seems to me that we shouldn't be too overly concerned about what people view our actions as. I think the guy is right and wrong at the same time [very post-modern of me :)]. None of us should be worried about the perception our life creates because of our following Christ. But if we are worried, then we need to quit being worried. We need to just focus on being who Christ wants us to be and leave all the cares of this world behind.
We need to be focused solely on being like Christ and doing what he wants us to do. When we get feelings like the man expressed in Sunday school class, that is a call for us to strengthen our relationship with God, not to give up on the loving actions. We need to desire only to love God. That's it. All else is vanity.
Watch out for the potholes.
But this brings up a bigger issue. How often do we fake our faith? Maybe we haven't been lucky enough to be exposed for the fraud we are.
Soren Kierkegaard wrote:
Reading Kierkegaard's book has been a serious call to me to examine and make sure that my faith is real, that I'm not just putting on a show of Christian living and love.
Yes, there is a sense of shame, that is favorable to the Good. Woe to the man who casts it off! This sense of shame is a saving companion through life. Woe to the man that breaks with it! It is in the service of sanctification and true freedom...
...For this sense of shame intends to serve him better than the best friend. It will help him better than all human sympath which easily leads into double-mindedness - not into willing one thing. there is no question but what a man usually acts more intelligently, shows more strength, and to all appearances more self-contol, when under the scrutiny of others than when he believes himself to be unobserved. But the question is whther this intelligence, this strength, this self-control is real, or whther through the devotion of long-continued attention to it, it does not easily slip into the lie of simulation which kindles the unsteady blush of double-mindedness in his soul. Each one who is not more ashamed before himsel than before all others, if he is placed in difficulty and much tried in life, will in one way or another end by becoming the slave of men. For to be more ashamed in the presence of others than when alone, what else is this than to be more ashamed of seeming than of being? And turned about, should not a man be more ashamed of what he is than of what he seems?
There was a guy, who I respect and was probably just frustrated when he shared, in my father's adult Sunday school class at our church last week who shared the story that he was sick and tired of being worried about whether the person behind him in the grocery store would see that he is a Christian by his actions. He was sick of being worried if his actions were reflecting Christ wherever he went.
It seems to me that we shouldn't be too overly concerned about what people view our actions as. I think the guy is right and wrong at the same time [very post-modern of me :)]. None of us should be worried about the perception our life creates because of our following Christ. But if we are worried, then we need to quit being worried. We need to just focus on being who Christ wants us to be and leave all the cares of this world behind.
We need to be focused solely on being like Christ and doing what he wants us to do. When we get feelings like the man expressed in Sunday school class, that is a call for us to strengthen our relationship with God, not to give up on the loving actions. We need to desire only to love God. That's it. All else is vanity.
Watch out for the potholes.
Scary World and Funny Blogs
I forgot to mention two things in my blog.
I have been saying since Bill Clinton left the White House that he would want to be ruler of the world next. I guess my gut feeling might be true. Check this out.
I am going to try to watch the debate tonight with Alan Keyes and Barack Obama. It will be on C-Span 2 and online. Whatever you do, make sure you root for the black guy.
Also, Mike Fabian has started a blog with the goal of being the funny guy in the blogverse. Although Bob has been doing a good job of that lately, it will be nice to have Mike making me laugh in blogland.
Watch out for the potholes.
I have been saying since Bill Clinton left the White House that he would want to be ruler of the world next. I guess my gut feeling might be true. Check this out.
I am going to try to watch the debate tonight with Alan Keyes and Barack Obama. It will be on C-Span 2 and online. Whatever you do, make sure you root for the black guy.
Also, Mike Fabian has started a blog with the goal of being the funny guy in the blogverse. Although Bob has been doing a good job of that lately, it will be nice to have Mike making me laugh in blogland.
Watch out for the potholes.
Church Growth Tricks
I'm still not feeling well. I'm pretty sure it is the flu.
So I've asked another good friend of mine, Greg Laurie, to write my blog today. (In case you don't really know it, I'm not friends with Soren Kierkegaard or Greg Laurie. I just read their books.)
Here is what he had to say.
Recently I was at a gathering with some other pastors. Many of them were expressing frustration with the lack of numerical growth in their churches and were trying to figure out how to make their churches larger. One of them said, "My feeling is whatever works, and if it pleases God, that is what I want to do."
I said, "You know, I don't want to be nitpicky, but I really have to correct that statement. It's not whatever works. It is whatever is pleasing to God. Period."
If it's pleasing to God, it will work.
God can meet the needs of our generation with or without a lot of spiffy marketing techniques to help Him out. At best they're optional. But what the church can never do without is God's own blueprints.
If there was ever a church growth plan that worked, it was the one used by the first-century church. Talk about numbers. Talk about effectiveness. This church exploded. Why? Becaus the believers knew why they were there and what they were supposed to do.
Eventually this little church scattered, divisions came, and persecution forced perseverance and, ultimately, growth. They certainly weren't perfect Christians or problem-free churches. However, when we talk about the upside-down church descreibed in Acts, we're seeing the Origina Plan in action. The apostles' letters to the churches complete the picture.
In the rest of this book I want to focus on that picture. What are the principles ofr "doing church" God's way? What should a world-changing body of believers really look and feel like? And what can we expect to see happen in our own congregations if we get it right?
In chapter 2, we quoted Acts 2:42-47, which describes the first church. In this passage we find four foundational qualities:
1. They were a worshiping church.
2. They were an evangelizing church.
3. They were a learning church.
4. They were a loving church.
Greg Laurie also had the following to write.
In a recent article entitled "The Myth of Church Growth," published in Current Thoughts and Trends, David Dunlap cites some troubling statistics. For example, at the very time megachurches have sprouted across the landscape, the proportion of Americans who claim to be "born again" has remained a constant 32 percent.
According to Dunlap, growth isn't coming from conversions but from transfers; they account for up to 80 percent of all growth taking place today. He goes on to quote C. Peter Wagner, one of the leading spokesmen for the movement, who admits, "I don't think there is anything intrinsically wrong with the church growth principles we've developed...yet somehow they don't seem to work."
I would suggest that one reason they don't work is that they tend to approach church as if it were a business. But a business-driven respons may only make things worse. In the long run, if we train people to be consumers instead of communers, we'll end up with customers instead of disciples. It might fill up an auditorium, but it'll never turn the world upside down for Christ.
I would like to thank my friend Greg for these words today. Next week I hope to be in better health and will write things that are on my mind.
Until then, click on the Amazon links on the left and by Greg Laurie's Upside Down Church. It is one of the best church leadership and structure books I have ever read.
And watch out for the potholes.
So I've asked another good friend of mine, Greg Laurie, to write my blog today. (In case you don't really know it, I'm not friends with Soren Kierkegaard or Greg Laurie. I just read their books.)
Here is what he had to say.
Recently I was at a gathering with some other pastors. Many of them were expressing frustration with the lack of numerical growth in their churches and were trying to figure out how to make their churches larger. One of them said, "My feeling is whatever works, and if it pleases God, that is what I want to do."
I said, "You know, I don't want to be nitpicky, but I really have to correct that statement. It's not whatever works. It is whatever is pleasing to God. Period."
If it's pleasing to God, it will work.
God can meet the needs of our generation with or without a lot of spiffy marketing techniques to help Him out. At best they're optional. But what the church can never do without is God's own blueprints.
If there was ever a church growth plan that worked, it was the one used by the first-century church. Talk about numbers. Talk about effectiveness. This church exploded. Why? Becaus the believers knew why they were there and what they were supposed to do.
Eventually this little church scattered, divisions came, and persecution forced perseverance and, ultimately, growth. They certainly weren't perfect Christians or problem-free churches. However, when we talk about the upside-down church descreibed in Acts, we're seeing the Origina Plan in action. The apostles' letters to the churches complete the picture.
In the rest of this book I want to focus on that picture. What are the principles ofr "doing church" God's way? What should a world-changing body of believers really look and feel like? And what can we expect to see happen in our own congregations if we get it right?
In chapter 2, we quoted Acts 2:42-47, which describes the first church. In this passage we find four foundational qualities:
1. They were a worshiping church.
2. They were an evangelizing church.
3. They were a learning church.
4. They were a loving church.
Greg Laurie also had the following to write.
In a recent article entitled "The Myth of Church Growth," published in Current Thoughts and Trends, David Dunlap cites some troubling statistics. For example, at the very time megachurches have sprouted across the landscape, the proportion of Americans who claim to be "born again" has remained a constant 32 percent.
According to Dunlap, growth isn't coming from conversions but from transfers; they account for up to 80 percent of all growth taking place today. He goes on to quote C. Peter Wagner, one of the leading spokesmen for the movement, who admits, "I don't think there is anything intrinsically wrong with the church growth principles we've developed...yet somehow they don't seem to work."
I would suggest that one reason they don't work is that they tend to approach church as if it were a business. But a business-driven respons may only make things worse. In the long run, if we train people to be consumers instead of communers, we'll end up with customers instead of disciples. It might fill up an auditorium, but it'll never turn the world upside down for Christ.
I would like to thank my friend Greg for these words today. Next week I hope to be in better health and will write things that are on my mind.
Until then, click on the Amazon links on the left and by Greg Laurie's Upside Down Church. It is one of the best church leadership and structure books I have ever read.
And watch out for the potholes.
Sick Again
I was sick as a dog today. I came home from work early.
Isaac and I always watch Wheel of Fortune. It is part of our nightime routine. He doesn't want to go to bed until Vanna tells him "Bye." Anyway, I'm usually pretty good at figuring the puzzles out. Tonight I only figured out two. That means my head isn't working all that well. So I will not be able to think of any good religious thoughts for the day.
However, I decided to have a guest blogger today. I asked my good old friend Soren if he had anything else to say. Here is what he came up with.
One dare not say of repentance and remorse that it has its time; that there is a time to be carefree and a time to be prostrated in repentance. Such talk would be: to the anxious urgency of repentance - unpardonably slow; to the grieving after God - sacrilege; to what should be done this =very day, in this instant, in this moment of danger - senseless delay. For there is indeed danger. There is a danger that is called delusion. It is unable to check itself. It goes on and on: then it is called perdition. But there is a concerned guide, a knowing one, who attracts the attention of the wanderer, who calls out to him that he should take care. That guide is remorse. He is not so quick of foot as the idulgent imagination, which is the servant of desire. He is not so strongly built as the victorious intention. He comes on slowly afterwards. He grieves. But he is a sincere and faithful friend. If that guide's voice is never heard, then it is just because one is wandering along the way of perdition. For when the sick man who is wasting away from consumption believes himself to be in the best of health, his disease is at the most terrible point. If there were some one who early in life steeled his mind against all remorse and who actually carried it out, nevertheless remorse would come again if he were willing to repent even of this decision. So wonderful a power is remorse, so sincere is its friendship that to escape it entirely is the most terrible thing of all. A man can wish to slink away from many things in life, and he may even succeed, so that life's favored one can say in the last moment, "I slipped away from all the cares under which other men suffered." But if such a person wishes to bluster out of, to defy, or to slink away from remorse, alas, which is indeed the most terrible to say of him, that he failed, or - that he succeeeded?...
...The call of remorse is perhaps the best. For the eager traveler who travels lightly along the way does not, in this fashion, learn to know it as well as a wayfarer with a heavy burden. The one who merely strives to get on does not learn to know the way as well as the remorseful man. The eager traveler hurries forward to the new, to the nove, and, indeed, away from experience. But the remorseful one, who comes behind, laboriously gathers up experience...
...The indolent youth speaks of a long life that lies before him. The indolent old man hopes that his death is still a long way off. But repentance and remores belong to the eternal in a man. And in this way each time that repentance comprehends guilt it understands that the eleventh hour has come: that hour which human indolence knows well enough exists and will come, when it is talked about in generalities, but not when it actually applies to the indolent one himself. For even the old man thinks that there is some time left and the indolent youth deceives himself when he thinks that difference in age is the determinig factor in regard to the nearness of the eleventh hour.
I will stop there, but I strongly recommend reading Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. So far, it has been a great book.
Watch out for the potholes.
Isaac and I always watch Wheel of Fortune. It is part of our nightime routine. He doesn't want to go to bed until Vanna tells him "Bye." Anyway, I'm usually pretty good at figuring the puzzles out. Tonight I only figured out two. That means my head isn't working all that well. So I will not be able to think of any good religious thoughts for the day.
However, I decided to have a guest blogger today. I asked my good old friend Soren if he had anything else to say. Here is what he came up with.
One dare not say of repentance and remorse that it has its time; that there is a time to be carefree and a time to be prostrated in repentance. Such talk would be: to the anxious urgency of repentance - unpardonably slow; to the grieving after God - sacrilege; to what should be done this =very day, in this instant, in this moment of danger - senseless delay. For there is indeed danger. There is a danger that is called delusion. It is unable to check itself. It goes on and on: then it is called perdition. But there is a concerned guide, a knowing one, who attracts the attention of the wanderer, who calls out to him that he should take care. That guide is remorse. He is not so quick of foot as the idulgent imagination, which is the servant of desire. He is not so strongly built as the victorious intention. He comes on slowly afterwards. He grieves. But he is a sincere and faithful friend. If that guide's voice is never heard, then it is just because one is wandering along the way of perdition. For when the sick man who is wasting away from consumption believes himself to be in the best of health, his disease is at the most terrible point. If there were some one who early in life steeled his mind against all remorse and who actually carried it out, nevertheless remorse would come again if he were willing to repent even of this decision. So wonderful a power is remorse, so sincere is its friendship that to escape it entirely is the most terrible thing of all. A man can wish to slink away from many things in life, and he may even succeed, so that life's favored one can say in the last moment, "I slipped away from all the cares under which other men suffered." But if such a person wishes to bluster out of, to defy, or to slink away from remorse, alas, which is indeed the most terrible to say of him, that he failed, or - that he succeeeded?...
...The call of remorse is perhaps the best. For the eager traveler who travels lightly along the way does not, in this fashion, learn to know it as well as a wayfarer with a heavy burden. The one who merely strives to get on does not learn to know the way as well as the remorseful man. The eager traveler hurries forward to the new, to the nove, and, indeed, away from experience. But the remorseful one, who comes behind, laboriously gathers up experience...
...The indolent youth speaks of a long life that lies before him. The indolent old man hopes that his death is still a long way off. But repentance and remores belong to the eternal in a man. And in this way each time that repentance comprehends guilt it understands that the eleventh hour has come: that hour which human indolence knows well enough exists and will come, when it is talked about in generalities, but not when it actually applies to the indolent one himself. For even the old man thinks that there is some time left and the indolent youth deceives himself when he thinks that difference in age is the determinig factor in regard to the nearness of the eleventh hour.
I will stop there, but I strongly recommend reading Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing. So far, it has been a great book.
Watch out for the potholes.
A new blog
You will notice in the links to the bottom left that there is a new blogger in blogville.
Troy has started his own blog.
Since I wrote last night that is all you're going to get from me this morning.
Have a great day. And keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. And thanks for riding America's roller coast. That's a Cedar Point reference for those who have never been to Cedar Point, the world's best amusement park. Although I don't like rollercoasters.
Troy has started his own blog.
Since I wrote last night that is all you're going to get from me this morning.
Have a great day. And keep your arms and legs in the vehicle at all times. And thanks for riding America's roller coast. That's a Cedar Point reference for those who have never been to Cedar Point, the world's best amusement park. Although I don't like rollercoasters.
False Unity in an Overly-Simplistic Jesus?
I've become involved in a discussion on the GLCC Alumni Forum concerning unity and the essentials of Chrsitianity. This is a compilation and revision of my various posts.
In order for us to be unified we need to stop focusing upon intellectual unification but on acts of love that we can participate in together. I seem to always be singing the same song, but that seems to be the song the body of Christ could unify on. I think that is why I sing it.
If we start doing things together, we will eventually be unified. In my experience, nothing joins people together more than working together. If we just talk about unity and allow it to remain an intellectual concept, it will never happen because we disagree on some of the intellectual concepts.
Since the Church of Christ/Christian Churches are such a scattered bunch of congregations, unity can really only exist on a local level. It doesn't matter if the professors of the various Bible colleges of the different brotherhoods are unified. It doesn't matter if a few of the leaders in the different brotherhoods are unified. It will only matter if the churches themselves find common ground and start doing things together. It needs to be a task that we take on locally and not globablly because two of three branches only exist locally.
But we are left with the huge question of what are the essentials that we cannot compromise for the sake of unity. What are the essentials of the faith? I'm betting that even those of us in the same branch of the Restoration Movement wouldn't even agree on those. And those of us reading this blog haven't been able to do it either.
When it becomes an intellectual unity, unity will never happen. For everyone that thinks instruments are a secondary issue, there is someone who thinks it is essential. For those who think that homosexual ministers is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. For those who think that speaking in tongues is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. For those who think that pre-millenialims is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. There are so many subdivisions in the church that think certain minor issues are essential. The problem is where to draw that line between essential and secondary.
And we must remember that it is always easier for the more liberal people to accept unity because they are not the ones who feel they are associating with a pagan.
The general reply to a discussion about the essentials of the faith is "Jesus" is the essential, but I believe it is much more complex than that.
Here is an interesting article on the subject.
Here are some of the highlights.
"Mr. Barna defines "born-again Christians" as those who report having made a personal commitment to Christ and expect to get to heaven because they accepted Jesus."
"More than one in three (35 percent) born-again Christians do not believe that Jesus rose physically from the dead."
"Over half of born-again Christians (52 percent), according to Mr. Barna's data, do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living entity."
"born-again Christians are more likely than non-Christians to have experienced divorce (27 percent vs. 24 percent). "
"Preachers sometimes exhort people to "invite Jesus into your heart" without proclaiming who Jesus is and what He has done for sinners. This is evangelism that forgets to preach the gospel. The result will be "nonevangelical born-agains.""
Here is another interesting story.
"A recent Gallup Poll shows that 84 percent of this nation firmly believe in Jesus Christ and a separate poll indicates that 94 percent believe in God. "
If you define Christians as people who believe in your view of Jesus, then, of course, all Christians will share your view of Jesus, but if you say believing in Jesus makes you a Christian, then we are about as Christian of a nation as one can be. The question is what do we do with people who claim they are Christian, use the name of Jesus, but don't really mean the Biblical Jesus. Do we seek to have unity with them? Where do we draw the line with people when it comes to having unity? The common belief is at Jesus. I asked at what view of Jesus.
I think we have a bad case when take the "only Jesus" approach because we have not unpacked the word Jesus. We say Jesus with the assumption that the concepts that define who he is are really simplistic when our view of Jesus isn't simplistic. We have a lot of complex ideas that we carry with our concept of Jesus, which I do assume is the right one. Virgin birth. Sinless life. Died on the cross for our sins. Rose from the dead. Those are just the beginning.
Just because an individual has "died to themselves" doesn't mean that the "Jesus" they are living for is the Biblical Jesus. We could be referring the Jehovah Witnesses' Jesus who is the archangel Michael. We could be referring to the Mormon Jesus who was just a man. We could be referring to the modern secular scholarly Jesus who didn't perfom miracles. We could be referring to all sorts of different imaginary Jesuses.
I think that when we say "Jesus" we bring a lot of baggage. We mean that the Bible is accurate and that the presentation of who Jesus was in Scripture is the one we are to follow. So we've already thrown another essential into the mix, the trustworthiness of Scripture.
I've been trying to come up with a list of essentials for years. I remember having conversations about this when I was in college. I still can't do it. I don't know what to narrow the essentials down to. It seems if I make a list I compromise some essentials. The whole Bible is an essential. It gets difficult when I try to minimize it to a slogan or a list.
If people can come up with essentials that are necessary for unity, I would love to hear them. However, I think I would rather error on the side of being unified with the wrong people rather than being exclusive, but that could be wrong.
Watch out for the potholes.
In order for us to be unified we need to stop focusing upon intellectual unification but on acts of love that we can participate in together. I seem to always be singing the same song, but that seems to be the song the body of Christ could unify on. I think that is why I sing it.
If we start doing things together, we will eventually be unified. In my experience, nothing joins people together more than working together. If we just talk about unity and allow it to remain an intellectual concept, it will never happen because we disagree on some of the intellectual concepts.
Since the Church of Christ/Christian Churches are such a scattered bunch of congregations, unity can really only exist on a local level. It doesn't matter if the professors of the various Bible colleges of the different brotherhoods are unified. It doesn't matter if a few of the leaders in the different brotherhoods are unified. It will only matter if the churches themselves find common ground and start doing things together. It needs to be a task that we take on locally and not globablly because two of three branches only exist locally.
But we are left with the huge question of what are the essentials that we cannot compromise for the sake of unity. What are the essentials of the faith? I'm betting that even those of us in the same branch of the Restoration Movement wouldn't even agree on those. And those of us reading this blog haven't been able to do it either.
When it becomes an intellectual unity, unity will never happen. For everyone that thinks instruments are a secondary issue, there is someone who thinks it is essential. For those who think that homosexual ministers is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. For those who think that speaking in tongues is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. For those who think that pre-millenialims is a secondary issue, there are some who think it is essential. There are so many subdivisions in the church that think certain minor issues are essential. The problem is where to draw that line between essential and secondary.
And we must remember that it is always easier for the more liberal people to accept unity because they are not the ones who feel they are associating with a pagan.
The general reply to a discussion about the essentials of the faith is "Jesus" is the essential, but I believe it is much more complex than that.
Here is an interesting article on the subject.
Here are some of the highlights.
"Mr. Barna defines "born-again Christians" as those who report having made a personal commitment to Christ and expect to get to heaven because they accepted Jesus."
"More than one in three (35 percent) born-again Christians do not believe that Jesus rose physically from the dead."
"Over half of born-again Christians (52 percent), according to Mr. Barna's data, do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living entity."
"born-again Christians are more likely than non-Christians to have experienced divorce (27 percent vs. 24 percent). "
"Preachers sometimes exhort people to "invite Jesus into your heart" without proclaiming who Jesus is and what He has done for sinners. This is evangelism that forgets to preach the gospel. The result will be "nonevangelical born-agains.""
Here is another interesting story.
"A recent Gallup Poll shows that 84 percent of this nation firmly believe in Jesus Christ and a separate poll indicates that 94 percent believe in God. "
If you define Christians as people who believe in your view of Jesus, then, of course, all Christians will share your view of Jesus, but if you say believing in Jesus makes you a Christian, then we are about as Christian of a nation as one can be. The question is what do we do with people who claim they are Christian, use the name of Jesus, but don't really mean the Biblical Jesus. Do we seek to have unity with them? Where do we draw the line with people when it comes to having unity? The common belief is at Jesus. I asked at what view of Jesus.
I think we have a bad case when take the "only Jesus" approach because we have not unpacked the word Jesus. We say Jesus with the assumption that the concepts that define who he is are really simplistic when our view of Jesus isn't simplistic. We have a lot of complex ideas that we carry with our concept of Jesus, which I do assume is the right one. Virgin birth. Sinless life. Died on the cross for our sins. Rose from the dead. Those are just the beginning.
Just because an individual has "died to themselves" doesn't mean that the "Jesus" they are living for is the Biblical Jesus. We could be referring the Jehovah Witnesses' Jesus who is the archangel Michael. We could be referring to the Mormon Jesus who was just a man. We could be referring to the modern secular scholarly Jesus who didn't perfom miracles. We could be referring to all sorts of different imaginary Jesuses.
I think that when we say "Jesus" we bring a lot of baggage. We mean that the Bible is accurate and that the presentation of who Jesus was in Scripture is the one we are to follow. So we've already thrown another essential into the mix, the trustworthiness of Scripture.
I've been trying to come up with a list of essentials for years. I remember having conversations about this when I was in college. I still can't do it. I don't know what to narrow the essentials down to. It seems if I make a list I compromise some essentials. The whole Bible is an essential. It gets difficult when I try to minimize it to a slogan or a list.
If people can come up with essentials that are necessary for unity, I would love to hear them. However, I think I would rather error on the side of being unified with the wrong people rather than being exclusive, but that could be wrong.
Watch out for the potholes.
The Things Of God Are More Than Years
We had our first small group meeting last night. It went great. It has been a while since I have had a good Christian experience like that with a group of believers. It was a weird experiecne in a way because it was the first time I have ever led a group of people mainly older than me. The only people younger were the children. This morning when I was thinking about what to write an idea I read yesterday from Soren Kierkegaard came into my head.
The things that are of God are beautiful no matter what age the person is who they are manifested in. While the things that are of this world are destructive and disgusting no matter what age the person is who they reveal themselves through.
It seems like the older you get the more your real self comes out. Older people seem to quit going through the hassle of trying to appear as they ought and just appear as they want. The problem is when they haven't spent their life trying to become who they should be. I have encountered incredibly beautiful old people, and I have encountered incredibly ugly old people. No matter what age we are, the only things that matter are the things of God. We all, no matter how old we are, need to set example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. A life that excels in that is beautiful no matter what age the person is.
Watch out for the potholes.
(1 Tim 4:12 NASB) "Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe."
If the wisdom of life should ever alter that which concerns the eternal in a man to the point of changing it into something temporal, then this would be folly whehter it be spoken by an old man or by a youth. For in relation to the Eternal, age gives no justification for speaking absurdly, and youth does not exclude one from being able to grasp what is true. Should someone explain that the fear of God, in the sense of that felt in this world of time, should belong to childhood and therefore disappear with the years as does childhood itself, or should be like a happy state of mind that cannot be maintained, but only remembered; should someone explain that penitence comes like the weakness of old age, with the wasting away of strength, when the senses are blunted, when sleep no longer stregnthens but weakens; then this would be impiety and folly. Yes, to be sure, it is a fact that there was a man who with the years forgot his childish fear of God, was swindled out of the best, and was taken in by that which was insolent....When it happens, it is a horrible thing. And even if a man should become a thousand years old, he would not have become so old that he dares speak otherwise of it than the youth - with fear and trembling. For in relation to the Eternal, a man ages neither in the sense of time nor in the sense of an accumulation of past events. No, when an old person has outgrown the childish and the youthful, ordinary language calls this, maturity and a gain. But willfully ever to have outgrown the Eternal is spoken of as falling away from God and as perdition; and only the life of the ungodly 'shall be as the snail that melts, as it goes' (Psalm 58:8)."
The things that are of God are beautiful no matter what age the person is who they are manifested in. While the things that are of this world are destructive and disgusting no matter what age the person is who they reveal themselves through.
It seems like the older you get the more your real self comes out. Older people seem to quit going through the hassle of trying to appear as they ought and just appear as they want. The problem is when they haven't spent their life trying to become who they should be. I have encountered incredibly beautiful old people, and I have encountered incredibly ugly old people. No matter what age we are, the only things that matter are the things of God. We all, no matter how old we are, need to set example in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. A life that excels in that is beautiful no matter what age the person is.
Watch out for the potholes.
Trendy Ministers of Christ
Man, I am a posting fool today. I need to get off this computer.
Paychop wrote:
Those who do traditional church because they enjoy it.
Those who do traditional church because they know that that is what their parishioners want and they are there to serve them.
Those who are cutting edge and want to try programs because they have a passion for the church to be what they feeled it is called to be.
Those who are cutting edge and rip off programs because they do ministry as a job but they want to be successful.
Those who are radical because they are rebellious.
Those who are radical because they are sensitive to what God is leading them towards.
There are varying degrees of all types, and I'm sure that this list isn't complete. But it is just what I have observed.
I interviewed Ryan Dobson a while back and I think during the interviewed we encountered a guy who just wanted to copy programs to be successful. Here is the full interview, but following is the excerpt that pertains to this topic.
I was in a conversation with my mom on the phone today. We were talking about a conversation we had with one of my uncles last night. During the conversation speaking in tongues and end-times views came up.
Speaking in tongues is one of the most controversial things in the church today. I prefer to not even share my opinion on it. And end-times views. Churches have split over it. I think having a dogmatic stance on either of those things is divisive without producing any fruit. The only thing I want people to have to disagree with me over is being loving like Christ is loving. We can disagree on almost anything else and I will be fine accepting them as a brother/sister in Christ. Too often we focus and debate on minor issues when we should spend our time focusing on the major thing of the faith, love.
But maybe God is convincing me that the trend I believe in isn't a trend, so that I will be more passionate about it. Only God knows.
Watch out for the potholes.
Paychop wrote:
"I have been asked by several friends if I was going to "catch the wave of what God is doing today". They were referring at that time to a trend, teaching, church program or whatnot. (I don't mean to sound elitest, or anything) but have you thought that maybe there are some people that are pastors-- that all they can do is follow trends and "Christian movements" because all they do in their ministry is respond to the perceived needs of the congragation?I guess there are many types of ministers.
I have the sneaking suspicion that may be the case, and perhaps there are contrarians, like us, that enjoy moving away from current trends and movements because God is placing us--not where the trends are now---but preparing us for where things are going to be happening down the road. **absolute speculation** what do you think?"
Those who do traditional church because they enjoy it.
Those who do traditional church because they know that that is what their parishioners want and they are there to serve them.
Those who are cutting edge and want to try programs because they have a passion for the church to be what they feeled it is called to be.
Those who are cutting edge and rip off programs because they do ministry as a job but they want to be successful.
Those who are radical because they are rebellious.
Those who are radical because they are sensitive to what God is leading them towards.
There are varying degrees of all types, and I'm sure that this list isn't complete. But it is just what I have observed.
I interviewed Ryan Dobson a while back and I think during the interviewed we encountered a guy who just wanted to copy programs to be successful. Here is the full interview, but following is the excerpt that pertains to this topic.
ON POST-MODERNISMIt might be true that we are just one trend ahead, but I don't know. I tend to think that trends happen when we forget the basics. There is nothing complex about the basics of Christianity. If the faith was lived out in our lives, we wouldn't even have to be concerned about trends.
We stopped recording at this time and watched the second round of skateboarding. However, during the round a guy came up and introduced himself. His first question probed where Ryan goes to church. Ryan answered that he used to go to Saddleback and now goes somewhere else. I can’t remember where that somewhere else is right now. That’s what a tape recorder is for, and I didn't have it on at the time. Then the guy asked Ryan if they are a post-modern church. I asked part way through his reply if he minded if I turned on the tape recorder because he was saying some good stuff. He gave the ok.
Ryan – There is a website. I don’t know if it is emergingchurch.com, but they are so mad over my view of post-modernism as a thought theory (against being a worldview). There’s a semantical difference. That’s all it is. It’s like saying “gay” means “happy” rather than “homosexual”. That’s all the difference is. And they’re so upset by it because they view post-modernism as people in a post-modern time. Not as the traditional theory of post-modernism as a thought process. Post-modernist thought is relative thought. It’s more relativism as a whole. And because they (churches) have chosen to call themselves a post-modern church, people respond by saying, "You believe there isn't absolute truth."
The other guy – So churches shouldn’t call themselves post-modern?
Ryan - They shouldn’t get mad when people think they teach relativism. It’s like if I had a gay church and said, “Oh, no. It’s a happy church.” People are going to assume I mean something else, so you can’t be upset by that. It’s okay if you believe that and just explain to people when they come into contact with you. “Our church is a post-modern church.” “Oh, do you this?” “No, we just live in a post-modern time and are part of a post-modern movement.” I wouldn’t call a church post-modern unless you believe truth is relative. If you do, then it seems pretty consistent.
ON SENIOR PASTORSHIP
The other guy – (He said something about Post-Modernism is just a label we put on it. It was hard to hear because he was standing a distance away from my tape recorder.)
Ryan – Our church is a younger church. We have lots of community involvement. We have tons of small groups. We have a real Bible-believing pastor that preaches from the word, from his heart, and where God leads. Our church is interesting. Our teaching pastor, the one who preaches on Sundays, is not our head pastor. Our worship leader is our pastor. It allow our teaching pastor to focus 100% on weekend services.
The other guy – Isn’t that the way a lot of churches are heading?
Ryan – I think it would be great if they did. Not a lot of pastors were meant to be managers, administrators, or fundraisers. They were born to preach. To allow them to do what they were called to and allow someone else, who is a good administrator, to do that part of it, it’s awesome. I’m a speaker. I’m really bad at organization. I have an agent who does all my contracts, bills, accounting, and contracts. If I had to do that, who knows if I would get to any events. It’s great that way. It allows me to do what I was called to do.
I was in a conversation with my mom on the phone today. We were talking about a conversation we had with one of my uncles last night. During the conversation speaking in tongues and end-times views came up.
Speaking in tongues is one of the most controversial things in the church today. I prefer to not even share my opinion on it. And end-times views. Churches have split over it. I think having a dogmatic stance on either of those things is divisive without producing any fruit. The only thing I want people to have to disagree with me over is being loving like Christ is loving. We can disagree on almost anything else and I will be fine accepting them as a brother/sister in Christ. Too often we focus and debate on minor issues when we should spend our time focusing on the major thing of the faith, love.
But maybe God is convincing me that the trend I believe in isn't a trend, so that I will be more passionate about it. Only God knows.
Watch out for the potholes.
Chaos in the Kingdom
Well, bad things are brewing one town over. Antwerp rests right between Hicksville and Payne. Both towns are about a 10 minute drive from one another, so they are rather close and news spreads quickly.
The Church of Christ in Payne hired a recent Great Lakes Christian College Graduate who came in and began to reform the church. The problem rose up when the reforming only happened on Sunday night where he implemented a full-blown modern day worship service. Then, for some reason that remains unknown to me one and a half towns away, the Sunday night service announced they were branching out on their own to start their own church called Living Waters. Soon after that, the Church of Christ asked the minister to leave. This is all public information around here, so I really don't feel I am gossiping.
Why do I bring this up? Because it brings up an interesting issue that has been mulling around in my head lately, and I would love to hear what others think about it. Can a church be reformed without the leadership being reformed? Or is that always a formula for trouble?
And there is another side to the issue. If a minister feels a vision on his heart for what the kingdom should be like, should he try to reform a church or should he just go and plant a church? Is that just up to the individual and their feel of what the will of God is? It seems like many church splits are a result of ministers who are hired from the outside and come in trying to implement what they feel the kingdom of God should be rather than serving the church they are ministering to in the way they are expected to serve.
I personally feel that it is unhealthy to try to make a church do what they don't want to do. If I ever go back into the paid ministry, I would explain what I think the kingdom of God should be like and what needs to be changed, if anything, in that particular church. Then the church would have the option to accept that or choose someone else. I don't want to get into a church and then be in the position of trying to convince them to go in the direction I feel they should go. That seems to usually result in manipulation and ill feelings. I want to be involved in a group heading in the direction God wants them to go with all the people being open to the guiding of the Spirit of God.
Anyway, a few things are really brewing in my head. Should I apply to be a non-paid or lightly-paid minister of the church I attend? They are in an extreme financial crunch, so it would relieve them of the burden of paying a full-time minister. The financial situation prevents them from being loving like the church should be.
Everything in the Nazarene denomenation has to go through the district office, so if the heads of our district didn't think it was a good idea it would never be brought to the church. In my mind, it would be like it never happened if the district didn't think I fit. The thing is that I know the people that go to my church have great hearts and want to do the right things as a church and as individuals, but I don't think they have ever been taught how. If you happen to read this and you're from my church, just ignore it. This never happened (I use my jedi hand trick on you.)
I've also been debating about approaching them about a house church idea in which I would plant a Nazarence house church in Defiance rather than one on my own.
Also, I am debating on whether to approach the Payne Chruch of Christ at pulpit filling for the meanwhile. So I guess I could use a lot of prayer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Watch out for the potholes.
The Church of Christ in Payne hired a recent Great Lakes Christian College Graduate who came in and began to reform the church. The problem rose up when the reforming only happened on Sunday night where he implemented a full-blown modern day worship service. Then, for some reason that remains unknown to me one and a half towns away, the Sunday night service announced they were branching out on their own to start their own church called Living Waters. Soon after that, the Church of Christ asked the minister to leave. This is all public information around here, so I really don't feel I am gossiping.
Why do I bring this up? Because it brings up an interesting issue that has been mulling around in my head lately, and I would love to hear what others think about it. Can a church be reformed without the leadership being reformed? Or is that always a formula for trouble?
And there is another side to the issue. If a minister feels a vision on his heart for what the kingdom should be like, should he try to reform a church or should he just go and plant a church? Is that just up to the individual and their feel of what the will of God is? It seems like many church splits are a result of ministers who are hired from the outside and come in trying to implement what they feel the kingdom of God should be rather than serving the church they are ministering to in the way they are expected to serve.
I personally feel that it is unhealthy to try to make a church do what they don't want to do. If I ever go back into the paid ministry, I would explain what I think the kingdom of God should be like and what needs to be changed, if anything, in that particular church. Then the church would have the option to accept that or choose someone else. I don't want to get into a church and then be in the position of trying to convince them to go in the direction I feel they should go. That seems to usually result in manipulation and ill feelings. I want to be involved in a group heading in the direction God wants them to go with all the people being open to the guiding of the Spirit of God.
Anyway, a few things are really brewing in my head. Should I apply to be a non-paid or lightly-paid minister of the church I attend? They are in an extreme financial crunch, so it would relieve them of the burden of paying a full-time minister. The financial situation prevents them from being loving like the church should be.
Everything in the Nazarene denomenation has to go through the district office, so if the heads of our district didn't think it was a good idea it would never be brought to the church. In my mind, it would be like it never happened if the district didn't think I fit. The thing is that I know the people that go to my church have great hearts and want to do the right things as a church and as individuals, but I don't think they have ever been taught how. If you happen to read this and you're from my church, just ignore it. This never happened (I use my jedi hand trick on you.)
I've also been debating about approaching them about a house church idea in which I would plant a Nazarence house church in Defiance rather than one on my own.
Also, I am debating on whether to approach the Payne Chruch of Christ at pulpit filling for the meanwhile. So I guess I could use a lot of prayer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Watch out for the potholes.
Wind Against Wings and The Will of God
If you’re going to be in the
I hate (at least that is what I tell myself) to always be always be contrarian, but every belief is in contrast to another belief. And one in particularly struck me as being wrong when I saw that hawk flapping its wings. American Christianity tells us to find where God is working and join him. We are told to find the wave of God’s will and ride it. Imagery that seems to make doing God’s will seem easy and enjoyable. Like normal, it seems like I disagree with one of the cornerstone beliefs of American Christianity, but in an effort to not misrepresent something, I am going to try to share what I believe.
Sometimes God calls people to do things that are rough. Sometimes people are forerunners into living out God’s will in a way that will make them be looked down upon by others, even by others who also claim to be following the will of God. Maybe God is calling you to do something that wouldn’t be popular. Maybe you see a teaching of Scripture that isn’t being lived out and you would be unpopular if you began to live it out. How can that be if God’s will should be what the American Christian culture says it should be. I think I have been lied to by people who are themselves deceived. Take for instance one part of the story of Ezekiel.(Ezek 4:4-17 NASB) ""As for you, lie down on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of
I’m sure that if I walked up town and saw a man who had been laying on his side for 390 days eating food prepared over roasting cow dung I wouldn’t be envious of his calling. I probably wouldn’t even think that what he was doing was the will of God. I would label him a crazy man.
I expect God’s calling to be something grand. I want to be used for great things. Then I realize that I am deceiving myself. That isn’t what following Christ is about. Sometimes I might be called to be that man laying in the town square eating food prepared over cow dung.I am reminded of the people at the end Hebrew 11.
(Heb 11:35-40 NASB) "Others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; {36} and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. {37} They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated {38} (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. {39} And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, {40} because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect."These were the great people of faith. There calling was much more humbling than the great and extraordinary calling I have longed for. I would love to be famous. I would love to have the world listen to what I feel God has laid on my heart. All my dreams and aspirations are useless. They are like the cow dung Ezekiel was supposed to cook his food on.
God might call me into obscurity. If so, I need to be happy with that. God might call me into something I might not particularly enjoy. If so, I need to find joy in that. God might call me to do something that would lead to my death. If so, I hope we would all be able to praise him in that.
God’s calling isn’t always a wave to be joined. It is sometimes lonely, embarrassing, and/or deadly. It isn’t always glorious. It isn’t always fun. Sometimes it takes sacrifice, sweat, and tears. I hope that I can be content with whatever God calls me to. If God is calling me into the wind where my wings can’t even reach, I pray that I will have the patience and endurance to be like that hawk and keep trying. Because if it is God’s will, then the wind will let up and my wings will soar like never before.
Watch out for the potholes.
Why I Rant
This is in reply to Muddy's comments. I always appreciate her thoughts and they make me think. You should probably read them before reading this.
I once went down on the path of just worrying about myself and my faith. I didn't like it there. It seemed extremely selfish to me. I worried about my own personal spiritual life and ignored teaching anyone anything. Then I was asked to start teaching Sunday School at the church I was remaining incognito at. Then God called me from there to plant the churches in Lansing. I thing remaing focused only on myself isn't what I am called to. As always, I could be wrong.
I am trying to plant a church here and not just have critical thoughts about church. I am looking for people to work alongside of. Paul travelled with his fellow planters. I have to find them. Progress seems to be happening, but it isn't happening overnight. And that frustrates me because patience isn't my #1 spiritual gift.
I am not in a position in the church I attend to change things. I might teach and preach. I've thought about just focusing on ministering to the high schoolers and leaving my life at that, but that isn't all that fulfilling to me. I don't think it is what I am called to. I want to be in a church that uses their resources to do God's will and that is the only thing they focus on. I firmly believe that God wants every church to be that way. What good would any of our beliefs be if we didn't share them and hoarded them to ourselves. Beliefs are free to give. The giver doesn't lose anything. People can reject my beliefs or use them to change their church and their lives.
I know you can't see the actions of my life on a blog, but I do try to be as loving as possible to those around me. I don't want to list the loving things I do, but I assure you that my ranting isn't the only thing I try to do with my faith.
I believe in the church and not an individual Christianity. That is why I believe it is important for the church to be what God wants it to be. And in the majority of the churches I see, they need a major overhaul. I bet if every person in America that believed in individual Christianity stood up to fix the church, many of the churches would be changed and God would be glorified. Our faith is not just for ourselves.
I believe in accepting sinners, including redeemed sinners, where they are at. We are going to fail. All I'm asking is that we quit living expecting ourselves to fail. We start living as if we can reach the goal of what God wants us to be, as individuals and as a church.
I've been in the leadership of multiple churches and I know the simple, yet difficult, decisions that would need to be made in order to straighten a strayed ship. The people just have to want one thing and one thing only, to do the will of God. Once we all agree on that we can disagree on other things. That is fine. But we need to all be focused on the church doing the will of God.
Many of the things I talk about probably don't apply to people outside of leadership. However, a lot of the people that visit here and comment are in positions to change thigns. Some are pastors. Some are leaders. Some are in house churches. All those people are in decision making capacities at their churches. The decision to make a church loving in its gathering depends upon them. The decision to make a church an educational outpost depends on them. They are the ones I hope will institute changes in their church.
So sometimes I am talking about something I am struggling with and trying to work through those thoughts. Other times I am trying to convince my friends and strangers in power to make the church into the loving kingdom it is destined to be. Maybe I'm mistaken in thinking that someone needs to step up and say something. Or maybe I'm just mistaken in making that someone me. I'm sure you expect your pastor to think about what is best for the church. You might not have to worry about it, but someone has to focus on it.
I will try to share more about the good stories in my life; however, most of the time I feel they violate people's privacy. And it would make it even worse if that someone came here and read about me talking about them. I share the stories when I can, but most of the time I feel it isn't appropriate.
Anyway, I do love your comments, Muddy. They get me to think. And I'm pretty sure I am a better person because of them.
On another note, I've been wanting to ask for everyone's prayers. There is a 14-year old boy I know who is going through a tough time going to school. He is having some mental paranoia about the whole thing and isn't able to go any more. I told his parents I would homeschool him while at they were at work if they needed. They appear to be taking me up on that offer. I'm looking forward to it, but it is a big task. I also haven't talked to my dad, the owner of my store, about it yet, so I hope that that goes well. I also hope he doesn't read about it here first, but he is also not a regular reader.
Watch out for the potholes.
I once went down on the path of just worrying about myself and my faith. I didn't like it there. It seemed extremely selfish to me. I worried about my own personal spiritual life and ignored teaching anyone anything. Then I was asked to start teaching Sunday School at the church I was remaining incognito at. Then God called me from there to plant the churches in Lansing. I thing remaing focused only on myself isn't what I am called to. As always, I could be wrong.
I am trying to plant a church here and not just have critical thoughts about church. I am looking for people to work alongside of. Paul travelled with his fellow planters. I have to find them. Progress seems to be happening, but it isn't happening overnight. And that frustrates me because patience isn't my #1 spiritual gift.
I am not in a position in the church I attend to change things. I might teach and preach. I've thought about just focusing on ministering to the high schoolers and leaving my life at that, but that isn't all that fulfilling to me. I don't think it is what I am called to. I want to be in a church that uses their resources to do God's will and that is the only thing they focus on. I firmly believe that God wants every church to be that way. What good would any of our beliefs be if we didn't share them and hoarded them to ourselves. Beliefs are free to give. The giver doesn't lose anything. People can reject my beliefs or use them to change their church and their lives.
I know you can't see the actions of my life on a blog, but I do try to be as loving as possible to those around me. I don't want to list the loving things I do, but I assure you that my ranting isn't the only thing I try to do with my faith.
I believe in the church and not an individual Christianity. That is why I believe it is important for the church to be what God wants it to be. And in the majority of the churches I see, they need a major overhaul. I bet if every person in America that believed in individual Christianity stood up to fix the church, many of the churches would be changed and God would be glorified. Our faith is not just for ourselves.
I believe in accepting sinners, including redeemed sinners, where they are at. We are going to fail. All I'm asking is that we quit living expecting ourselves to fail. We start living as if we can reach the goal of what God wants us to be, as individuals and as a church.
I've been in the leadership of multiple churches and I know the simple, yet difficult, decisions that would need to be made in order to straighten a strayed ship. The people just have to want one thing and one thing only, to do the will of God. Once we all agree on that we can disagree on other things. That is fine. But we need to all be focused on the church doing the will of God.
Many of the things I talk about probably don't apply to people outside of leadership. However, a lot of the people that visit here and comment are in positions to change thigns. Some are pastors. Some are leaders. Some are in house churches. All those people are in decision making capacities at their churches. The decision to make a church loving in its gathering depends upon them. The decision to make a church an educational outpost depends on them. They are the ones I hope will institute changes in their church.
So sometimes I am talking about something I am struggling with and trying to work through those thoughts. Other times I am trying to convince my friends and strangers in power to make the church into the loving kingdom it is destined to be. Maybe I'm mistaken in thinking that someone needs to step up and say something. Or maybe I'm just mistaken in making that someone me. I'm sure you expect your pastor to think about what is best for the church. You might not have to worry about it, but someone has to focus on it.
I will try to share more about the good stories in my life; however, most of the time I feel they violate people's privacy. And it would make it even worse if that someone came here and read about me talking about them. I share the stories when I can, but most of the time I feel it isn't appropriate.
Anyway, I do love your comments, Muddy. They get me to think. And I'm pretty sure I am a better person because of them.
On another note, I've been wanting to ask for everyone's prayers. There is a 14-year old boy I know who is going through a tough time going to school. He is having some mental paranoia about the whole thing and isn't able to go any more. I told his parents I would homeschool him while at they were at work if they needed. They appear to be taking me up on that offer. I'm looking forward to it, but it is a big task. I also haven't talked to my dad, the owner of my store, about it yet, so I hope that that goes well. I also hope he doesn't read about it here first, but he is also not a regular reader.
Watch out for the potholes.
What we think about worship
I'm sure just typing the word worship in will get all sorts of commercial ads on the banners talking about worship. And when they talk about worship, they are really just talking about singing. More than likely if you went to a worship seminar, it would actualy be a seminar on music in the church. I know worship as singing is the normal usage of the word, but I try to avoid it all costs because it does seem to exalt singing as a more authentic form of worship than other ways we can worship God. Singing is just one out of many ways to worship.
Our time together as a church is usually just singing and listening to a sermon (also a form of worship). We could include offering, Lord's Supper, and probably a few other things specific to certain denomenations in there. But where are the more tangibles forms of worship. Tangible acts of love need to play a role in our corporate worship and not be set to the side for a committee to handle or to not be handle at all.
(John 14:15 NASB) "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
A good way to worship is to keep his commandments.
(Mat 22:36-40 NASB) "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" {37} And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' {38} "This is the great and foremost commandment. {39} "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' {40} "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
(Mat 25:37-40 NASB) "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? {38} 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? {39} 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' {40} "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
How do we do acts of love to God? It appears to be by doing acts of love to those in need around us. That seems to be the most genuine and authentic way to worship. It's not by raising our hands, closing our eyes, or dancing in the aisles. It's by genuinely loving those in need. We can raise our hands, close our eyes, and dance with the best of them, but if we aren't loving those in need, then I think all our exercie was for naught. It might even receive the same welcome from God that the worship of the Israelites did.
(Amos 5:21-24 NASB) ""I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. {22} "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. {23} "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. {24} "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
Don't get me wrong, there is Biblical precedent for singing in worship. Singing brings a healthy experience (although I am confused on that because I sometimes get that same experience with the music at rock concerts, but that might be another issue) that allows us to grow spiritually. Singing songs of worship played a role in my conversion. Did it play as much of a role as the loving people of Christ around me? Probably not, but I remember being touched and having tears role down my face while singing.
Tangible acts of love need to be the central way we express our love to God as a corporate body. The commands to love God and love our neighbors seemed to be linked for a reason. We love God by loving our neighbor. Yet in church we try to love God by only loving him directly. Something he doesn't need. That is why he tells us to love others. He doesn't need our love, but others do; they will see him through our actions. In a way, God needs us to love others. That is the system he has set up for him to be glorified. Unfortunately, we have removed loving our neighbor from our corporate gatherings. It has become only an individual thing. I find that really ironic because in a lot of cases we have turned evangelism into a corporate thing. (Another post for another day) I think both need to be done as individuals and coporately. Bring on that healthy church.
Watch out for the potholes.
Our time together as a church is usually just singing and listening to a sermon (also a form of worship). We could include offering, Lord's Supper, and probably a few other things specific to certain denomenations in there. But where are the more tangibles forms of worship. Tangible acts of love need to play a role in our corporate worship and not be set to the side for a committee to handle or to not be handle at all.
(John 14:15 NASB) "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."
A good way to worship is to keep his commandments.
(Mat 22:36-40 NASB) "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" {37} And He said to him, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' {38} "This is the great and foremost commandment. {39} "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' {40} "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
(Mat 25:37-40 NASB) "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? {38} 'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? {39} 'And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' {40} "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
How do we do acts of love to God? It appears to be by doing acts of love to those in need around us. That seems to be the most genuine and authentic way to worship. It's not by raising our hands, closing our eyes, or dancing in the aisles. It's by genuinely loving those in need. We can raise our hands, close our eyes, and dance with the best of them, but if we aren't loving those in need, then I think all our exercie was for naught. It might even receive the same welcome from God that the worship of the Israelites did.
(Amos 5:21-24 NASB) ""I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. {22} "Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. {23} "Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. {24} "But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
Don't get me wrong, there is Biblical precedent for singing in worship. Singing brings a healthy experience (although I am confused on that because I sometimes get that same experience with the music at rock concerts, but that might be another issue) that allows us to grow spiritually. Singing songs of worship played a role in my conversion. Did it play as much of a role as the loving people of Christ around me? Probably not, but I remember being touched and having tears role down my face while singing.
Tangible acts of love need to be the central way we express our love to God as a corporate body. The commands to love God and love our neighbors seemed to be linked for a reason. We love God by loving our neighbor. Yet in church we try to love God by only loving him directly. Something he doesn't need. That is why he tells us to love others. He doesn't need our love, but others do; they will see him through our actions. In a way, God needs us to love others. That is the system he has set up for him to be glorified. Unfortunately, we have removed loving our neighbor from our corporate gatherings. It has become only an individual thing. I find that really ironic because in a lot of cases we have turned evangelism into a corporate thing. (Another post for another day) I think both need to be done as individuals and coporately. Bring on that healthy church.
Watch out for the potholes.
Education of All Believers
A fellow named Nate on the GLCC alumni forum wrote:
"The discussion that Alan and Regan are having about the relationship of tithing and paid, "staff" ministers is an issue that I have been wrestling with also. One thought I have had is - while the NT shows that paying a "minister" is allowable, it also show that Paul gave up "this right" so that nothing would hinder the gospel. The example of Paul brings a question to my mind - if I can earn a living in some other way and still devote myself fully to the cause of the Kingdom - why not consider doing just that so that the church can use it's money to help the needy and to send out missionaries?"
Then I wrote:
My beliefs, the belief about intimate community, and my belief on worship (along with God, I hope) led me to plant the church in Lansing.
I feel the experience was extremely fruitful. It was probably because I was surrounded with trained ministers rather than just mediocre Christians. I was blessed with a great group of people to start the church with.
The central premise comes back to the premise of this tithing discussion. I believe we are the priesthood of believers, none higher than the other. If we're priests, the only priest above us the high priest, Jesus Christ. We are all under his lordship, not under someone who is under the lordship of Christ. So church should not be one man feeding everyone but everyone feeding everyone because we are all fed by Christ.
House church would be very draining on the leaders if all the demands were placed upon one individual, but when you have mutual ministry it isn't all that stressful on one person. That is why the Lansing church (now churches) continues to exist and thrive despite my leaving. I was just one of the many ministers. I just happened to be the one who initiated the whole thing.
The key is to train up all believers to be ministers. We shouldn't have a seperate clergy class. We incorrectly see Paul as the example of what a minister should be. We should see him as an example of what a church planter should be. A church planter has more of an authoritarian role because he is working with people who are not yet sound in their faith. He is training them up to be the priesthood of believers, so that they can share in mutual ministry.
We have an education problem in the church, and it works well to keep the heirarchy of ministry going. What would happen if everyone in the pews received the training to be a minister? They wouldn't be content to allow the paid minister to be the one always preaching and doing the works of the ministry. They would want to get their hands dirty and be involved. We need to train up an army of ministers.
I'm trained and in the pew right now, but the sanctuary church has no room for me to serve. I'm willing to do whatever needs to be done, but there really isn't that much that a church needs done. I'm heading up small groups, which are going to turn out to be just another program for the church, and the high schoolers, and I preach on occasion because we don't currently have a paid minister. But I really don't feel involved in any effective ministries like I did while doing house church.
I do think that if we're all honest, most ministry that a paid minister does could be done by a group of five totally committed and trained individuals who also were active in the secular job world. That appears to me what an elder should be. What would be the need to pay a minister in a healthy functioning church like that? And what would you do when have more trained people than there are room for? Why, plant another church. Centralization of leadership seems to usually lead to power struggles and people feeling left out.
Always shoot for the ideal because the worst that could happen is you miss and realize that you are where you would've been if you hadn't tried for the best.
"The discussion that Alan and Regan are having about the relationship of tithing and paid, "staff" ministers is an issue that I have been wrestling with also. One thought I have had is - while the NT shows that paying a "minister" is allowable, it also show that Paul gave up "this right" so that nothing would hinder the gospel. The example of Paul brings a question to my mind - if I can earn a living in some other way and still devote myself fully to the cause of the Kingdom - why not consider doing just that so that the church can use it's money to help the needy and to send out missionaries?"
Then I wrote:
My beliefs, the belief about intimate community, and my belief on worship (along with God, I hope) led me to plant the church in Lansing.
I feel the experience was extremely fruitful. It was probably because I was surrounded with trained ministers rather than just mediocre Christians. I was blessed with a great group of people to start the church with.
The central premise comes back to the premise of this tithing discussion. I believe we are the priesthood of believers, none higher than the other. If we're priests, the only priest above us the high priest, Jesus Christ. We are all under his lordship, not under someone who is under the lordship of Christ. So church should not be one man feeding everyone but everyone feeding everyone because we are all fed by Christ.
House church would be very draining on the leaders if all the demands were placed upon one individual, but when you have mutual ministry it isn't all that stressful on one person. That is why the Lansing church (now churches) continues to exist and thrive despite my leaving. I was just one of the many ministers. I just happened to be the one who initiated the whole thing.
The key is to train up all believers to be ministers. We shouldn't have a seperate clergy class. We incorrectly see Paul as the example of what a minister should be. We should see him as an example of what a church planter should be. A church planter has more of an authoritarian role because he is working with people who are not yet sound in their faith. He is training them up to be the priesthood of believers, so that they can share in mutual ministry.
We have an education problem in the church, and it works well to keep the heirarchy of ministry going. What would happen if everyone in the pews received the training to be a minister? They wouldn't be content to allow the paid minister to be the one always preaching and doing the works of the ministry. They would want to get their hands dirty and be involved. We need to train up an army of ministers.
I'm trained and in the pew right now, but the sanctuary church has no room for me to serve. I'm willing to do whatever needs to be done, but there really isn't that much that a church needs done. I'm heading up small groups, which are going to turn out to be just another program for the church, and the high schoolers, and I preach on occasion because we don't currently have a paid minister. But I really don't feel involved in any effective ministries like I did while doing house church.
I do think that if we're all honest, most ministry that a paid minister does could be done by a group of five totally committed and trained individuals who also were active in the secular job world. That appears to me what an elder should be. What would be the need to pay a minister in a healthy functioning church like that? And what would you do when have more trained people than there are room for? Why, plant another church. Centralization of leadership seems to usually lead to power struggles and people feeling left out.
Always shoot for the ideal because the worst that could happen is you miss and realize that you are where you would've been if you hadn't tried for the best.
5000 and counting
We are about ready to pass an amazing milestone here at Pulling Weeds out of Potholes. And I am amazed. I remember getting my 100th hit and thinking that was neat. Pay attention to the counter on the bottom left. You'll probably have to scroll down. Why you're at it, why don't you check out the ads. If you're the 5000th hit, let me know who you are. Mary Anderson is immortalized as being the 1000th hit.
Good luck and thanks for visiting. And if you're one of the commenters, thanks for commenting. I enjoy life much more because of each of you. Except Mr. Anonymous. I don't dislike him, but I wish he would identify himself. And the new RatMan, I don't know any rat stories. I need a bigger hint.
Watch out for the potholes.
Good luck and thanks for visiting. And if you're one of the commenters, thanks for commenting. I enjoy life much more because of each of you. Except Mr. Anonymous. I don't dislike him, but I wish he would identify himself. And the new RatMan, I don't know any rat stories. I need a bigger hint.
Watch out for the potholes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)