We can’t just replace one set of traditions with a new set
Dave Black has written many things that made me think about my life in Christ. Recently, on his “unter-blog” he wrote about a particular chapel on the campus of Southeastern Seminary (Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 6:25 p.m.). He was encouraged at the number of people who were going to Asia to proclaim the gospel and build up the churches there.
However, he pointed out that Christians in America do not seem that interested in leaving their way of life (American way of life, not Jesus way of life). Then, he made these statements:
Frankly, I don’t believe the evangelical church in America is ready for this. Our churches, as they operate today, lack the fidelity to Scripture that is needed to face the challenge of the Great Commission. We’re going to need massive breakthroughs in our understanding – and application – of the New Testament to our churches…
The upside to all of this renewed interest in the church is that more and more of them are questioning the traditions of their elders; the downside is that this questioning often leads to the creation of what might be called “church planting fads” and a new group of elites arrayed in their blue jeans and sporting their goatees, men who are just as committed to church growth fads as their parents were.
Have no doubt, merely replacing one set of human traditions with another set of human traditions won’t cut it.
I think we need to seriously consider Dr. Black’s words. We cannot merely replace one set of traditions (which we might call outdated) with another, newer, fresher set of traditions.
Instead, as he urged, we must return to the source. In Scripture, we see men and women willing to give up everything in order to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and in order to travel from place to place to build up the churches formed by the disciples who received the gospel and were indwelled by the Spirit.
This is the only program that we need. Give up everything else and serve the Lord Jesus Christ through the opportunities that he gives us.
Is the church in America ready for that? Is that too “radical”? Perhaps, as Dr. Black says above, the church in America is not ready for that.
So, if “we” are not ready, how do we help one another grow towards that way of life?
Let’s keep things positive, shall we?
My good friend Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has decided to change the tone of his blog posts. He writes about this in a post called “It’s Easier to Blog About the Negative.”
Eric describes how he gets more feedback and comments when he writes negative posts. But, he says he doesn’t want to do that anymore.
Here is part of what Eric writes:
I write this post because I’m going to try to blog more positively about church life. Of course as I do this I will at times compare and contrast what I believe is biblical with what I think are man-made practices. This will by nature have some negative bent to it. However, the goal will be constructive.
This is all easier said than done. I’m tired a lot these days. In my fatigue, it will be simpler to get negative, destructive, and mean on this blog. I’m determined to avoid that downfall. Therefore, I hope you see somewhat of a shift in tenor here.
I also try to write positive blog posts, but it’s not always easy. It is difficult to always write positive blog posts. In fact, even when I write a post that I think is positive, they are sometimes taken negatively by those who disagree.
Why do you think people are more likely to respond to a negative post that they agree with than to a positive post that they agree with? Or, do you think this tendency is true?
People recognize shallow relationships among the church
Yesterday, I received a “heads up” about a recent survey conducted by Crosswalk.com. The results of the survey are revealed in an article titled “Crosswalk.com Survey: Lack of Connection Biggest Reason Christians Leave Church.”
Here are a few interesting points/quotes from the article:
- 34% of people who attend church leave because of a lack of personal connections there.
- One participant who voiced his discouragement with his church body said, “There is no depth in relationships. People did not have time to be friends to other members.”
- 18% have abandoned a church because they felt unwelcome, and 16% stated their reason as an inability to connect with others.
- 53% agree that the primary reason they currently attend a place of worship is because of the friendships they’ve established.
Now, we can argue about terms like “place of worship” or “abandoned a church,” but let’s not miss the big picture here. People recognize the importance of true relationships. I’m not talking about smiling people who wave and pat you on the back on Sunday morning.
Instead, people are interested in real relationships, in spending time with others – and, generally, the hour or two on Sunday morning does not count (unless of course, Sunday is in the context of Sunday-Saturday). Do you care about them enough to change your busy schedule and include them in your life?
That’s what we do with family. We make time for them.
Arthur describes meeting with the church last Sunday
Arthur from “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia” and his family recently moved. They are meeting with different groups of believers, not necessarily to find “their church,” but to meet some of the brothers and sisters who live near them.
His written a few posts about the church meetings that they’ve attended. His latest post is called “Sunday Report.”
I appreciate the description very much! I also enjoyed getting a “behind the scenes” glimpse into how this church makes decisions, decisions that might be impossible (or at least extraordinarily difficult) for most churches.
What do you think of Arthur’s description?
“I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger”
The title of this post reflects the words of Paul, not Alan. I have not learned the secret yet, but by God’s grace, I hope that I’m learning.
I was reminded of this struggle for contentment in my own life last night. Keith at “subversive1” wrote a very good post called “For Richer or Poorer?” His post has nothing to do with marriage.
Instead, Keith is writing about trusting money for contentment. Early in his post, he writes this:
However, Jesus confidently assures us that, if we will change our perspective, we can enjoy exactly the same sort of life right this very minute. He tells us that we already have all that we need for our life today. God has already provided each of us with our daily bread. Just as God cares for the daily needs of sparrows, He cares even more for us.
Yes. Only God is the source of true contentment. And, he cares about us. He truly cares about us.
How awesome is that? Why am I not content in know that God is with me. He is enough.
So many things (thinks of this earth) vie for my affections. I need to be reminded constantly. Thanks for the reminder, Keith!
Let me tell you about my family… the church!
As many of you know, I think that it is very important that followers of Jesus Christ recognize and live with one another as brothers and sisters (real brothers and sisters, not just honorific “brothers” and “sisters”). Plus, I would add that these relationships (real relationships) must exist apart from (and perhaps in spite of) the divisions that are caused by “church membership.”
Eric from “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has been writing alot about church as family lately. I don’t know how many more posts like these he is going to write, but I wanted to highlight what he’s written so far:
Family Permanence and Intimacy
I’m glad that more people are examining the importance of treating other Christians as brothers and sisters!
An allegory with cookies has to be good!
Arthur, from “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia,” has written a new post called “An Allegory.” Guess what? It’s an allegory.
Arthur is examining the common practice by some leaders of requiring pay before serving (as elder/pastor/whatever), and another common practice of requiring pay for certain leaders but not for others who do the same things.
Plus, the allegory includes cookies. So, you know it has to be good.
Here is a snipped of Arthur’s allegory:
That afternoon after nap time, Fred came over and asked Boris to come sit with him. Fred sat Boris down at the table where Fred liked to draw because it had book cases around it and was kind of private. Fred looked at Boris and said, “Boris, I know you are new to the family but you can’t go around causing trouble about this whole cookie thing. The family is in turmoil. We have always done it this way. One of the brothers helps everyone else and leads our family meetings every week and in return the rest of the kids give him some cookies. We have always done it this way and I am sure that is what dad wants.†Boris knew that sharing was important. Dad had made that very clear when he brought Boris home but the way dad described it all of the kids were supposed to share with each other, not just with Fred. Boris didn’t want to cause trouble and he was kind of intimidated so he just kept his mouth shut until Fred was done speaking.
I think this allegory could have been a little better… if it also included ice cream.
What do you think of Arthur’s allegory?
An unbiased reading of the New Testament concerning the church?
Art at “The Itinerants” has answered one of my questions in his post “New Wine for New Wineskins (revisited).”
In the post, Art responds to this question that I asked in my post “In the NT there is no distinction between clergy and laity“: “What would it take for churches and Christians today to move towards this way (all believers serving, not just some) of life in Christ?”
Art’s answer is quite complete. So, I invite you to read the whole thing. However, I want to highlight the start of his post:
It is VERY hard to divorce from our heads all that we “know†about the church already from experiencing what we have grown up with, and to NOT read into the scriptures reinforcement for these (mis)understandings by twisting scripture, pulling single verses completely out of context, etc.
Think about that just a moment. Whatever your current understanding of the church might be, when you read Scripture, you will naturally read that understanding into what you are reading. This is true for everyone. We all read Scripture (and anything else) with bias.
Let me say that again: We all read Scripture with bias.
Trying to remove that bias is very difficult. However, it is beneficial to begin by recognizing your own bias before critiquing someone else’s bias.
Just something to think about…
(By the way, I like what Art has to say in his blog post. But, then, I’m biased.)
What do you do when you can’t find fellowship with others?
Because I write about church and fellowship and community, I get alot of emails from people who are truly interested in finding fellowship and sharing their lives with other brothers and sisters in Christ. Some of these people are seeking simple churches and some are part of more institutional churches.
I just ran across this post by Wayne at “Lifestream Blog” called “Loneliness in the Journey.” Wayne also gets emails from people asking about finding fellowship. (In fact, I’m sure that he gets much more email than me, and for very good reasons.)
I thought that Wayne’s response to an email from someone seeking fellowship was very good. I especially liked this last part:
But be assured of this, Father knows the fellowship that he wants to bring into your life. Look where you can, but beyond your own abilities, know that he is at work. Right now I suspect God wants you to learn dependence in him so when others come along, you can find the friendships that trust in him allows as people encourage each other to live loved. It is a process. I know this isn’t the easiest part, but as you get through this season you’ll find it well worth it…
It’s not easy when you want (and know you need) fellowship with other believers but find that it’s just not there. There are certainly steps you can take to open up opportunities for fellowship and sharing life.
However, the most important thing that you can do is trust God. Know that he loves you more than you know, and that he will bring people into your life. Look for those people.
Constantly reevaluate your priority system
I’m going to quote my PhD mentor Dave Black again. However, I will first publicly apologize for calling his site an “un-pseudo-blog-type-thing” instead of using the proper technical term of “Unter-Blog.” And, second, I will publicly thank him for inviting me to teach Greek for him tomorrow!
Anyway, on his unter-blog, Dave talks about life and death and priorities.
On Sunday, April 3, 2011 at 6:44 p.m., he wrote:
Tragically, it often takes a “severe mercy” in our lives before God gets a hold of us and we begin to affirm God (rather than success or relevance) as the only source of our identify as Christians. A few years ago I stood at the place in Bucharest where the brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were executed because of their abuse of power. Contrast that with a scene in Alaba, Ethiopia, where in 2005 I had gone to meet the parents of a 19-year old who had been murdered for his faith. There I met a man named Tesfai whose 8-year old daughter had just been beheaded by the enemies of the cross. I asked him what I could pray for. Instead of asking for money or safety he responded, “Pray that I might be loving and forgiving like Jesus.” There was nothing “relevant,” “spectacular,” or “powerful” about Tesfai. But here was a man who had his priorities right. Jesus did not come to condemn the world but to save it. And His mission is to be carried on through His disciples. Like Jesus, we are to do the Father’s work and announce the Father’s kingdom, and we are to do this by loving all people, even those who hate us.
As I write these words my life expectancy is about 20 years. I want to commit myself for these 20 years to doing all I can to reconcile lost sinners to God, to themselves, and to one another. If my scholarship can contribute to this end, then I am content to continue teaching and writing books. But never again can my focus be on academics. The human problem is essentially a problem of the heart. Forgiveness of sin is at the root of Jesus’ radical message. And with the forgiveness of sin the Gospel also brings an empowering liberation from the seduction of those secondary things in our lives that pull us away from reality.
Friends, a time comes when each of us must reevaluate our priority system. Life is too short to live it for temporal dreams
As we’ve studied Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we’ve noticed that Paul begins by praying that his readers would know the will of God in “spiritual” wisdom and understanding. Spiritual things are eternal things. Too often, we get caught up in physical and temporal things.
It’s always good to reevaluate your priority system. Are you spending your time, energy, resources, talents, and opportunities with spiritual, eternal things, or with physical, temporal things?