Choose Life

In my last post, I mentioned some of the blessings of obedience that we have as Christians. While all the Old Testament promises don’t transfer directly to us, we can learn an important lesson from Moses’ last words to Israel: “I invoke as a witness against you _⌊today_⌋ the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set _⌊before you_⌋, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring, by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he is your life and the length of your days.” Break this out: “Choose life so that you may live… by loving God and listening to His voice… for He is your life.”

Lest you think this too is uniquely an Old Testament truth, hear the words of Jesus, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Whereas Moses may have brought up images of literal, physical death (which the Israelites suffered repeatedly), the Apostle Paul carried the message into the New Testament by using death as a symbolic state of being – symbolic, yet just as dire in its consequences. He says time and again that all of us were dead in trespasses and sins before we were made alive in Christ. He also uses the metaphor to encourage Christians to put to death the things of the world that remain part of our nature after we have been redeemed. Like Moses, the Apostle sets before us life and death.

Here is a blessing of obedience I failed to mention in my last post: life. I don’t mean brain waving, heart beating warm flesh type of life. The Greek language of the New Testament has several words that can be translated life. The one most often used for life in Christ, indeed, the one Jesus used in John 17:3 is the word zoe (ζωή). In our English versions, this word is often preceded by the word “eternal” to indicate its unique characteristics. While the eternal nature of zoe is part of its meaning, we miss an important aspect of zoe-life if that’s as far as we take it. It has immediate benefits for those who choose it.

When Paul was explaining to the Romans why they should abandon their former lives of sin, despite the fact that grace covered those sins, he used the picture of baptism to make his point. “Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so also we may live a new way of life.” The life he referred to was zoe, and he qualified it with the word “new.” Greek has two words for new; one refers to time – new as in not old. The other one, the one Paul used here, speaks of new as a different quality. The life we have after being rescued from death (after baptism into Christ) is a different kind of life. Zoe life.

There are several aspects to this new life we have. One I have so often repeated that my regular readers may be tired of hearing it, but it is so essential I must say it again. It’s found in Jesus’ statement: “This is life (zoe): that they may know You.” Knowing God is essential to new life. When we were dead, we couldn’t know God. Paul made this clear when chastising the Corinthians for being too unspiritual (Soulish is the word he used.). He told them the things of God are spiritually discerned, and the human mind – the dead mind, the soulish mind – is unable to grasp them. So, one indispensable blessing of life in Christ is the ability to hear and know the truth – the spiritual truth contained in Scripture as well as the whispered truth in our inner being (our spirit).

The benefits of this blessing cannot be overstated. Without the ability to hear from God we are left saddled with the results of our own devices. Paul details these consequences for the Corinthian believers in the next chapter. The Apostle tells them that soulish works – things done in the flesh (aka not Spirit led) – would not earn any eternal reward. In fact, he uses the imagery of the fires of judgment which everyone must go through, even Christians, to picture soulish works being burned up while works done in the Spirit are purified like gold, silver, and precious stones.

Thankfully, Paul does not say that believers who work in unspiritual ways will perish. He says that their misguided efforts will be burned up, but that they will enter eternity smelling of smoke. I would much rather soar into eternity on the wings of a Dove than to scrape by with singed tail feathers. Notice also that the unspiritual actions Paul referred to were not wicked; the Corinthians behavior may even have seemed righteous. They were arguing over relative status of the preachers they knew. It almost sounds like typical church disagreements today: what color carpet in the auditorium, what type of music in the services, stained glass or plain windows, are the people in the church down the road truly our brothers? I like the way J.B. Phillips words Paul’s rebuke: “For you are still unspiritual… you are living just like men of the world.”

Paul said elsewhere that believers are all baptized into one Spirit. If we are all listening to that one Spirit, there can be no dissention. Agreement to disagree maybe, but that is done in a loving way without rancor. And the other blessings of zoe-life come into play. Paul listed some for the Ephesians: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self control. The fruit of the Spirit is a benefit of life in the Spirit –zoe-life. The next time you are about to make a decision, whether it is in the church or in the grocery store, pause to consider its backdrop. Does it flow from the Spirit, or does it come from things of this world; are the results likely to be gold, silver, and precious stones or wood, hay, and stubble? Remember: things of this world lead to death; things of the Spirit are life – zoe-life.

 

Blessings of Obedience

Every time I read the blessings of obedience found throughout the Books of Moses, especially Deuteronomy, I am struck by the apparent simplicity of the equation: if A then B. It seems as though God told the Israelites that if they were obedient, then He would bless them. I suspect that is true; in a perfect land, perfect people would be perfectly obedient and be perfectly blessed. Israel was not perfect, so we get patches of blessing and patches that were not so blessed – like draught, pestilence, conquering armies and captivity to name a few.

On this side of the Cross of Calvary, it is an academic exercise to wonder if the equation was as simple as it seems. It is also true that from our New Testament vantage point, we no longer look for the same blessings as the nation of Israel. Under the Old Covenant, God promised demonstrable, physical prosperity; read Deuteronomy 28. In the New Covenant, our blessings are first spiritual and only physical secondarily. Certainly we have Jesus’ promise that if we seek the Kingdom of God our physical needs will be met. But notice that Jesus’ promise of “all these things” referred to food and clothing, not unlimited physical blessings.

We cannot honestly look at the life and writings of Paul and draw the conclusion that obedience should bring health and wealth. The Apostle certainly didn’t expect it. He spoke of the tribulations he experienced as par for the course. He considered his trials a badge of authenticity for a servant of Christ. When writing about the “thorn in the flesh” he suffered with (by God’s hand), he chose to boast about it as it magnified the power of Christ in him. Surely, Paul is a stellar example of an obedient follower of Christ, yet far from expecting blessings, he insisted that he was content with whatever circumstances he found himself in.

As I have said before, the so-called prosperity gospel gets it wrong. (See Abraham's Promises = Solomon's Rules) The proponents of the health and wealth message speak of the Old Testament economy as if it still applies with no alterations. They miss the message of Hebrews which announces that the new covenant comes with new and better promises. What is better about the new covenant is precisely that it is NOT physical. Jesus, our true high priest, serves in the true temple, of which the earthly temple was only a shadow.  He intercedes for each one of us personally and perfectly. In place of the physical presence of God in the pillar of fire or cloud, we have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. Instead of making annual sacrifices to atone for our sins, we have the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ which assures us of our salvation. That assurance may be the best of the new promises; the resurrection to glory is guaranteed. Old Covenant saints had no clear picture of what to expect when they died.

While these spiritual blessings are tremendous, and it is wonderful that they come to us not through anything we have done, we are not to presume that the way we live our lives is unimportant. God has work for us to do. We are His instruments to bring others into His family. We are agents of His love and grace in a troubled world. And we have a larger purpose as I have written in “Necessary Obedience:”

“I believe that there is another elemental factor in the necessity of works as part of our relationship with God. One of the first responsibilities God gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden was to work: “And Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.” We know that God’s original plan was for Adam and Eve to spread the Eden-like quality of creation across the globe. Sin, of course, interrupted that, but God is still working toward His original goal via the plan of redemption of man and Earth through the Cross of Christ. The first Adam’s boo-boo is erased, and the Kingdom of God (Eden) is accomplished through the works of the followers of the Second Adam.

I developed the idea of Christians as agents of God’s original plan more fully in “Bringing the Kingdom” and “It’s Not All About You,” but I want to repeat here that our individual salvation is part of a much bigger operation that has truly cosmic dimensions. We are supposed to be agents who fulfill the request found in the prayer Jesus taught His disciples: “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Our salvation is, quite literally that we should work towards God’s ultimate goal: Earth as Eden.”

There is some indication in Scripture that God intended Israel to accomplish that goal. They were supposed to be a light to the nations. They failed. At their best they were insular and exclusive; at their worst they were downright wicked. Now it’s our turn. Jesus called His followers to be the light of the world. Having been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son, we must set our minds on things above; we must not use our freedom as an opportunity for physical gratification; we must make the most of our time because the days are evil; we must count all our physical accomplishments as loss compared to the excellency of knowing Christ. We must share Jesus with the world. It is a blessing that God gives us that responsibility. There’s your blessing.

 

 

Excusing the Pharisees

When you consider the uniqueness of the nation of Israel in the mind of the Pharisees, it is hard to blame them for being somewhat arrogant. According to their precious Torah, Israel was singled out by God for special treatment. Michael S. Heiser explains it like this: “Though all the earth and its nations belong to Yahweh, Gen 11:1–9 describes God disinheriting the nations of the world. After the Babel event, God turned the nations over to lesser gods (Deut 32:8–9; compare Deut 4:19–20). In the next divine act recorded in the [Old Testament], He called Abram and promised him a line of descendants that culminated in the sons of Jacob—the 12 tribes of Israel.” (Faithlife Study Bible, Ex 19:5)

While the idea of “lesser gods” may seem to fly in the face of our modern conception of the Jews as fiercely monotheistic, there is ample evidence in the Old and New Testament to suggest otherwise. Quoting Heiser again: “The idea that corrupt gods (sons of God) both populate and control certain geographical regions was still prevalent in the New Testament era.” In his book, Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, Heiser demonstrates that numerous passages in the Old Testament can be properly translated as referring to other gods and sons of God. Thus, it is not out of bounds to imagine that Paul’s mention of “principalities, rulers, thrones, authorities, powers, dominions” in Ephesians 6:12 has these “gods” in mind.

Paul was swimming in the same water when he spoke to the Athenian philosophers as recorded in Acts 17. He informed the men of Athens that, “[God] made from one man every nation of humanity to live on all the face of the earth, determining their fixed times and the fixed boundaries of their habitation.” This emphasizes the fact that while Israel was God’s chosen nation, He was mindful of the “times and boundaries” of the others. That these other nations were in the hands of lesser gods is made clear when Paul told the Corinthians that those who worshipped other gods in the past were in fact worshipping demons – in other words, supernatural powers were at work in them.

This may explain why the Pharisees in particular and Jews generally felt special, and it explains why they were so adamant about not straying from the rules and regulations passed down directly from God on Sinai. Heiser points out, “The law informs the Israelites how to approach God and live with their fellow citizens. It was, in effect, a national constitution designed for Israel’s theocratic kingdom. In addition to providing Israel’s national and spiritual identity, the law was also a covenant treaty between the nation and God.” They were special; the problem was that they missed the ultimate fulfillment of the law when it was presented by their Messiah, Jesus.

When Peter preached to the Jews gathered on Pentecost after Jesus was crucified, was buried and had risen from the grave, people visiting Jerusalem from various nations heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and had an opportunity to accept that message. Peter specifically pointed to the prophet Joel predicting what they were witnessing. 3,000 of them got the message that day. Thousands more followed in the coming days and weeks. However, what was good news to many was a growing threat to the legalistic Pharisees. It seemed to them that the Torah was being disregarded completely.

Once more from Heiser, “Israel was to be a kingdom of priests, mediators between the disinherited nations and the true God…. The New Testament—which records in the book of Acts and through Paul’s letters the spreading of the good news of the salvation Jesus offers to the world—shows how Christ ultimately fulfills the purposes God set out for Israel.” In his first epistle, Peter makes the connection between Israel and the church saying, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s possession, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, ¹⁰ who once were not a people, but now are the people of God.”

When you read the specificity of God’s commands to Moses regarding the law and the temple and the priestly garments and ordinances, you can excuse the Pharisees of Jesus’ day for thinking little things matter. When you read the Levitical laws in all their minutiae, you can see why they were such sticklers for details. When you understand the threat they faced as pawns in a cosmic battle, you can almost forgive them for missing their Messiah. However, legalism was not the answer. Not if it is offered as righteousness even in the Old Testament. It has always been about grace not law.

Where is the lesson in this for us? There are still Pharisees among us. They try to make salvation about what they do instead of Who they know. Instead of living as citizens of the Kingdom, they gather in their holy huddles once each week and live the rest of their lives as if they don’t know Jesus. Instead of announcing that Messiah has come giving light to the world, they curse the darkness and hide in their homes waiting to go to heaven. It is true that Jesus defeated the enemy on the Cross of Calvary, but the battle rages on and the Pharisaical Christians are AWOL. There is no excuse for that.

Related posts: Bringing the Kingdom; Why Witness; Understanding Salvation; Why Heaven Matters

The Blessing of Jacob

Jacob is an interesting Bible character. I don’t recommend that we imitate his behavior, but we can learn from his life. Even before he was born, his mother, Rebekah, felt the struggle he was having with his brother. God told her she was carrying twins who would become great nations, but that there would be friction between them. From the moment of his birth, Jacob was marked as a manipulator. His very name hints at his eventual behavior. He was the second twin to be delivered, his brother Esau going first, but Jacob came out of the womb grabbing onto Esau’s heel. Hence his name which means, “supplanter,” which is often interpreted as someone who seizes, circumvents, or usurps.

The first evidence of his living up to his name comes quickly in the narrative. When his older brother comes to him to ask for a meal, Jacob connives to get the birthright belonging to the older son. Esau rashly agrees to trade his rights for a bowl of gruel. Jacob follows this with his most egregious act of deception and manipulation when he tricks his father into giving him the blessing owed the firstborn, Esau. Admittedly, Rebekah initiates the ruse, but Jacob goes along willingly. When Esau comes in later to secure the blessing due him, Jacob’s subterfuge is discovered. This leads to the first indication that Jacob may have to pay for his deceptive behavior.

Quite understandingly, Esau is angry with his brother. Fearing for his safety, Jacob travels to his mother’s relatives in Haran. Having run away from home with little to call his own, Jacob throws himself on his Uncle Laban’s mercy. Rebekah had suggested Haran as a safe place with an ulterior motive: Jacob needed a wife, and the women of Canaan were off limits. The beautiful, young Rachel shows up at the well when Jacob arrives. He is smitten with her, and immediately asks her father, Laban, to allow him to take her as his wife. Since Jacob is virtually penniless, they negotiate a seven-year labor agreement to fulfill the bride price.

At the end of seven years, Jacob discovers what it feels like to be deceived: his uncle substitutes Rachel’s older sister, Leah, on their wedding night because it was customary to wed the oldest daughter first. Laban offers to let Jacob keep Rachel if he will work another seven years for Laban. Having served Laban for over fourteen years, Jacob becomes homesick. However, he has no possessions to speak of because he has been Laban’s servant. The two men negotiate again, making arrangements for Jacob to earn flocks of his own. Once again, Jacob’s conniving heart leads him to manipulate the breeding of the sheep and goats so that his flocks prosper while Laban’s languish.

Jacob finally sneaks away from Laban. Unbeknownst to him, Rachel stole her father’s household gods, perhaps having taken a page from Jacob’s SOP. When Laban finds them gone, he chases after them and demands his possessions be returned. Jacob innocently turns Laban loose to find his things. Rachel uses her feminine wiles (and the time of month) to dissuade Laban from locating his treasures.

On the way back to Canaan, Jacob receives a night visit by what is first called a man, but who is later identified as Yahweh Himself. No reason is given for the wrestling match, and it is curious that the supernatural figure, whoever he is, fights to a draw when his victory would seem to be inevitable. In order to break the stalemate, the man dislocates Jacob’s hip, and a discussion ensues. They exchange names, a typical ancient custom, before Jacob lets the man go. The result is a life-long limp and a name change for Jacob, the new name being Israel.

The final consequence for Jacob’s behavior happens when his sons get tired of their little brother, Joseph’s, arrogance and sell him into slavery. We know that turned out well, but for many years, Jacob suffered with the belief that his beloved son, one of only two borne by Rachel, had been torn apart by wild beasts. The brothers kept that secret for almost twenty years before they were caught in another trap set this time by Joseph, though it was manufactured out of love instead of hate.

It seems natural to ask why God continued to bless Jacob throughout his life of deception and manipulation. Long story; short moral: we are not blessed because of what we do; we are blessed because of who we are. Jacob was Abraham’s blessed seed. The nation named for him, Israel, would, like Jacob, go through many years of trials and tribulations before ultimately serving God’s purpose: the offering of Messiah. Likewise, Christians are blessed because they are adopted into the family of Christ, the ultimate Seed of Abraham.

This wonderful news is not license to live as we please. Paul makes that abundantly clear in Romans 6:1-2: “What therefore shall we say? Shall we continue in sin, in order that grace may increase? May it never be! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Through baptism, we are identified with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We live the resurrected life through the power of the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. That power helps us to live properly. When we fail like Jacob, we don’t lose the blessing, but we may have to pay the consequences. So, I’ll take the blessing of Jacob, and I will try my best to avoid behaviors that might earn me Jacob’s consequences. You too?

Related posts: Understanding Salvation; Lies We Have Been Told

The Awkward Funeral

A friend recently asked me to suggest some Scripture to comfort a mutual acquaintance who had lost his son in an accident. To our knowledge, neither the father nor the son had trusted Christ. I was stymied. The harsh truth will be no comfort; the son is gone and there is no hope for a blessed eternity for him – not if you believe the Bible. I am certain this type of situation is what makes the idea of reincarnation popular. It may also explain why annihilation appeals to some. If my departed loved one will come back in some pleasant form, that is comforting. Likewise, if death is the end of life and not a beginning as the Bible teaches, annihilation erases the painful thought of eternal punishment.

Regardless of what a non-believer thinks, as believers we have a responsibility to share truth. After giving it some thought, I recommended my friend share Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 for starters. It is biblical truth that death is part of life, and though it offers no comfort, at least it states the inevitability and universality.

“To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

² A time to be born,

And a time to die;

A time to plant,

And a time to pluck what is planted;

³ A time to kill,

And a time to heal;

A time to break down,

And a time to build up;

⁴ A time to weep,

And a time to laugh;

A time to mourn,

And a time to dance.”

I suggested she follow that up by saying that our Christian faith teaches us to weep with those who weep. It is a Christlike thing to show sympathy for those who are mourning. I suggested that at some point, it would be appropriate to ask the grieving parent if he was comfortable with his own idea of the afterlife. She might try something like the Evangelism Explosion tactic of asking why God should let him into Heaven – assuming he believes in Heaven. If that’s too harsh, she could simply ask what he thinks comes after death. It may sound heartless to push this kind of thing on a mourner, but that state of mind is often where we make our most dramatic descoveries.

Sadly, this situation is going to become more the norm than the exception as our society becomes more fully pagan. It is surprising how quickly we have traveled down this road. My parents’ generation either professed Christianity or at least used biblical language to excuse or accuse their behavior. There was an undercurrent of Judeo-Christian thought that provided a basis for conversation with almost any American. Even the people who spurned Christianity would often admit that they were probably going to Hell, but they pretended not to care. “Foxhole prayers” were common among those who otherwise had no relationship with the God of the Bible.

It has taken less than fifty years to almost fully erase God-consciousness from our society. We often point to the removal of the Bible and prayer from schools as the cause of this tragic situation, but I suspect that was more a symptom than a cause. Had the parents of the 1960’s and 70’s been more concerned and involved with such decisions, the move to secularize education might have been thwarted. Many of those who were concerned did what I did: withdraw from public education and join the Christian school movement. That was a fine thing, but I feel a little guilty that we didn’t do more to fight against the ruination of public schools. The late twentieth century concepts of values clarification and situation ethics has morphed into what we see today: WOKE attitudes toward gender and morality, critical race theory, and outright enmity against anything Christian.

As believers, we need to prepare for more of those awkward funerals. The best way to do that is to talk to our pagan neighbors before we have to attend their wake. I have previously alluded to W.B. Yeats poem, “The Second Coming.” I am surprised at how prescient his observations were. We have witnessed his prediction:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity…

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand…. 

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

 

The Bible predicts that things will get worse and worse before the end comes. That fact is not a reason to hunker down and wait; it is rather the very reason we should redouble our efforts to spread the news that God’s kingdom has come and to make every effort to see His will done on earth as it is in Heaven. Everyone we reach with the good news is rescued from the awkward funeral. Everyone we bring to the Savior born in Bethlehem will be safe from the rough beast whose hour seems to be coming round at last.

Related posts: Why Witness; Hell? Yes!; Today’s Chaldean Chastisement; I Pray for America

What’s Wrong with That?

A friend encouraged me to listen to an Andy Stanley message that he had found helpful. I accidentally listened to the wrong one, then found the one he recommended. I was struck by the fact that in both messages, Stanley was well over half-way through his allotted time before he mentioned the Bible in any way. In “Paper Walls,” the recommended one, it was at minute twenty-seven of the thirty-two-minute message when the anchor Scripture was brought up. I admit to being interested with and agreeing with Stanley’s ideas up to then, but I had to ask myself if it was really a Bible sermon or just a well-presented self-help counselling session with Bible back-up.

I asked myself: what’s wrong with that? I’ve had a week or two to think about it, and I have convinced myself that on one level, there’s nothing wrong with good counsel that finds its roots in Scripture. However, my preconditioned, semantically critical self says it’s not Bible teaching. What Stanley did in the two messages I heard was what Bible scholars call eisegesis. The more acceptable form of Bible teaching employs exegesis. (Sorry for the Greek lesson, but here it comes.)

Eisegesis means to “read into” what the Scripture says. In other words, the speaker makes a point and then relates it to a passage from the Bible. He says here is something I find to be true, and here is where the Scripture supports my opinion. That may be fine if the speaker doesn’t take the passage out of context or misinterpret it in some way. Stanley tied his “Paper Walls” message to Hebrews 12:1-2 in an acceptable way – barely. The verses say, “Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, putting aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us, let us run with patient endurance the race that has been set before us.” His message warned against making excuses for bad behavior which he identified as sin. His definition of sin was anything that causes harm to a person. Making excuses may harm the excuse-maker or those around him, so it qualifies as sin. It should be “put aside.”

What’s wrong with that? Probably nothing. It’s just that solid Bible teaching generally uses exegesis not eisegesis. This method is sometimes called expository preaching. The speaker “exposes” what the Scripture teaches; he “reads out” rather than reading into. Usually this involves using contextual references such as historical, cultural, grammatical, and literary clues. (For more see “Understanding the Bible as Literature”) What Andy Stanley (and many other televangelists) does is not pure Bible teaching; it is Bible related social or personal commentary. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what you want.

In the case of the “Paper Walls” message, there is nothing wrong with using a specific sin as an example and then tying it to the Bible proscription against sin. And Stanley’s message does tie properly to the Hebrews point but in a tenuous and tangential way. In fairness to Andy Stanley, I must admit that in the last five minutes of the message, he did show how this particular sin (all others as well, I may add) will damage our relationship with God. What bothered me originally was the five-minute portion of Scripture discussion tacked on to a twenty-seven minute counseling session.

This formula apparently works for Andy Stanley (and many others) as evidenced by the statistics. Outreach Magazine lists Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Church as having average weekly attendance of 22,473 at its 30 partner churches. A Wikipedia article lists attendance at 38,589. (His messages are simulcast to the partner churches.) If numbers were the only measure of ministry success, this would be a stellar confirmation. If revenue were the measure, it is worth noting that Andy’s net worth is above $50 million with an annual salary of $3 million. The Stanley family business, In Touch Ministries, also scores well with $97 million in income for 2019. Andy’s father, the famous Charles Stanley, though retired still works thirty hours per week to earn an annual salary of $530,225. Note that average pastor salary in the US is between $85-117,000 per year, with many making far less than average.

I am going to make my own Bible reference now quoting Paul’s letter to the Philippians regarding contemporary preachers who had questionable motives. Paul said, “What is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.” I guess my attitude should be to say if a few dozen pastors are raking in astronomical salaries, what’s wrong with that if the gospel is proclaimed.

Here’s what feels wrong. Throughout the “Paper Walls” message, Stanley repeatedly said that he did not know his audience; he did not even know if they were believers. This is no surprise. Studies suggest that a pastor can only minister effectively to about 100 people. This would suggest that 22-38,000 people are beyond Andy Stanley’s reach as a “pastor.”  This might also explain current statistics on church size. According to Lifeway Research, “While the average U.S. congregations gathers in a building that seats around 200, only 65 attend the median church each week. This means that half of all churches have fewer than 65 people in their weekly worship service.” Seven of ten churches have fewer than 100 attendees at weekly services.

I believe Andy Stanley and those like him fall into a class of minister not imagined in the Bible. While it’s true Jesus did speak to large crowds on occasion, feeding 5,000 and 4,000 on two occasions, He generally worked best one-on-one or with small groups. The Samaritan woman, the Centurion, Zacchaeus, His twelve disciples were the common audiences the Son of God taught. Again, at the founding of the church, Peter did address upwards of 3,000 people, but throughout the book of Acts, the missionary audiences were likely similar to today’s average church – far less than 100 at the largest.

My intention is not to disparage or incite jealousy of mega-church leaders. If God is using them to grow His kingdom, what’s wrong with that? My point is that “real” church ministry takes place on a much smaller scale than that at which the Stanleys of the world operate. As I wrote in Lead a Horse to Water, the Great Commission commands every believer to make disciples, teaching them all that Jesus commanded. We don’t need simulcasting and Internet connectivity to do that. We just need the willingness to do what Jesus commanded: live our lives as disciple-making examples of His love. People may not come in droves to that, but if each one reaches one, look what happens. What’s wrong with that?

 

In Deep Weeds

In his second epistle, the Apostle Peter warns against a group of people who were sowing seeds of doubt in the church. “In the last days scoffers will come with scoffing, following according to their own desires and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming?” He reminds his readers that God sees time far differently than we do saying, “one day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.” Then he continues to explain: “The Lord is not delaying the promise, as some consider slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not want any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”

As I wrote in “The Patience of God,” ever since Adam’s fall from grace in Eden, God has been patiently working His plan to bring His creation back to Himself. So, while 6,000 years may seem like forever to us, it’s only six days to God, in a manner of speaking. But Peter raises the question, “What sort of people must you be in holy behavior and godliness, while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God?” That’s the real question: not why is God waiting, but what should I be doing while we wait?

Jesus hinted at this period of waiting when He told the parable of the wheat and tares. The word for tares refers to a specific plant called darnel. Darnel mimics wheat in appearance, so it would be difficult to tell what’s wheat and what’s weeds. That explains why the farmer in the parable told his servants not to do anything until the crop had matured. At harvest time, the true nature of the darnel would be apparent.

This condition is reminiscent of the state of the church throughout history. The enemy, whom Jesus identifies as the Devil, puts darnels in churches to sow trouble. They often look like fine, upstanding Christians. This is no surprise since the enemy is able to masquerade as an angel of light. The parable doesn’t mention that during the growing season, the darnel steals water and nutrients that the wheat needs, perhaps diminishing the harvest. Likewise, the Devil’s plants in churches mislead people and misuse resources in a way that thwarts the true kingdom growth.

In his comments on this passage, Pastor H. B. Charles suggested that the efforts of the servants of God are often a greater threat to the harvest than the enemy. Ouch! As I consider my years among God’s people, I have to agree. When I recall the battles many churches fought over music styles in the 1970’s, I can see the perfect application of the parable. I shudder to think how many young “wheat plants” were torn up and carelessly thrown away when well-meaning church people tried to excise the “darnel” of contemporary music. A generation later, polls prove that a host of young people, many of whom were the force behind contemporary Christian music, have left the church behind. They typically cite irrelevance as the reason they left; I can’t help but think that musical “irrelevance” played a part in their decision to leave.

On the other side of the music battle, people who enjoyed the new choruses often forced the removal of hymnals from the pews, thus subtracting a wealth of sound Bible teaching amassed over the years by godly hymn writers. What we were left with is a repertoire of feel-good, me-first songs that do very little to advance sound doctrine. (For more see “Music for the Soul”)

There have been many other instances of servants attacking supposed darnel to ill effect. Think of the battle over Bible translations: King James only, The Living Bible, NASB versus NIV. Instead of rejoicing that the Word of God was being made more accessible, misguided servants created noise that drowned out the desire to read Scripture. The Jesus Movement, the seeker model, the emerging church all started with honest intent, yet each was criticized and pilloried in turn by servants seeking to remove darnel. I grew up in a church tradition that, like many others, thought they were the only true Christians. In that attitude, they denounced the errant denominations and drew battle lines between them, thus destroying the unity Jesus desires for His church.

The people attacking the darnel had apparently forgotten the story of Jesus’ disciples who wanted to stop some preachers who were not in their little group. Jesus said, “Whoever is not against us is for us.” Likewise, Paul reminded the Philippians in reference to others preaching with dubious motives, “What is the result?^[g] Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.” It looks to me like we need to stop focusing on the weeds and look for the unity Jesus desired. After all, the harvest is in God’s hands in the end.

Related posts: The Country Club Church; To be Content; Check Your Roots; What is the Church?