The Problem of Inconsistency with the Question of Fellowship

One of the biggest challenges in wrestling this alligator (fellowship) is the potential for inconsistency. Let me first say that names are hardly relevant. The denominational name a person wears has nothing to do with that person’s salvation. That’s like me putting on a lab coat and thinking that makes me a doctor. Or thinking that just because I call myself a Christian makes me one. What does matter is how you define Christianity; or how you believe a person becomes a Christian.

I suppose this applies primarily to folks who are closely acquainted with, or are a part of, the Churches of Christ heritage.  For us, baptism is the most fundamental of all sacraments. It is an absolute requirement for salvation. It is a non-negotiable that isn’t up for debate and is as sacred as any doctrine out there. I have met people who thought the Five Steps were bunk. But I have yet to hear of someone who was faithful to the Churches of Christ deny the absolute necessity of baptism.

So here’s the rub. If we want to say that we should embrace other followers of Christ as our brothers and sisters in Christ, that’s fine. Perhaps we should; and I’ve yet to fully determine that for myself. But it seems that we ought to at least be consistent with how we define Christianity. How can a person who believes that baptism is necessary for admission into the family of Christ conclude that someone who hasn’t been baptized a part of the family? That I can not answer; and that’s the first inconsistency problem.

The second is just as difficult. First consider this question . . . how can good, God-fearing people possibly be denied heaven on a “technicality.” When you unroll that question and take a step back it starts to look differently. I understand, I’ve looked at it from every angle I can think of, and I haven’t found a good answer. Would God, who has defined himself as love, send someone (that devoted their lives to his service) to hell because they didn’t complete step five in a five-step plan that has isn’t actually ever spelled out in the Scriptures? I don’t know. I suppose we’ll find out eventually. The difficulty and lack of clarity with those questions leads to another inconsistency–changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game. In other words, change our theology and doctrine so that a wider net is cast and our friends and these God-fearing people can be covered.

For all the questions that I have yet to answer. One thing I’m sure of is that being inconsistent is not one of them.

Did the Spirit of God Leave Us?

I understand why we disagree on a lot of issues. Often times, the Scriptures are just not clear or decisive on issues. There’s simply a lot of gray on some specific issues. However, the nature and work of the Holy Spirit doesn’t seem to be one of them. It seems that those who oppose the work of the Holy Spirit are putting the cart before the horse. In other words, they have their mind made up and go looking for scriptures to fit their conclusions. To be fair, that’s a generalization and it’s only my observation. Just for a point of reference, I’ve included an excerpt of a blog from a self-ascribed conservative. In my estimation, his views are a fair representation of those who believe that the Holy Spirit exists today in word only.

I don’t believe the Holy Spirit works directly in the Christian today like He did in the first century. We must be very careful not to confuse specific events for the first century church for the church of all ages. What I mean by this is that the Holy Spirit works through the revealed word of God. John chapters 14, 15, 16 were spoken by Jesus for His apostles and His apostles only. The Comforter (more accurately advocate) was to reveal all truth to the apostles (John 14:26) and they were to reveal all truth that was revealed to them to the His disciples that they baptized (Matthew 28:18-20). Later, in Acts 2 we notice the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles of Jesus on this day and that all 12 of them spoke in tongues (languages…not jibberish) and that Peter’s sermon was recorded by Luke. This is a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32 which was a prophecy of the New Covenant which would be for all peoples not just for the Jews (Jeremiah 31:31-32). The Holy Spirit is promised to all people or at least what He revealed was promised to all people as the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism. The gift in Acts 2:38 is not the Holy Spirit Himself, but is a promise of the revealed Word of God which is promised in Joel 2:28-32. Therefore, today we receive no new knowledge about God and His will other than what we have received by the Word of God (the Bible). The Holy Spirit was an Advocate for the apostles for the revealing of Jesus’ words, not for us today. Jesus Christ is our mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 12:24). 

Here are some general responses to his comments.

–         He said that the comments in John were for the Apostles only. The implication is that they don’t apply for us today. Well, yes and no. Were those comments directed specifically at the Apostles? Yes, of course. Just like the rest of the New Testament was directed at a specific audience. By using that logic, we would conclude that none of the comments apply to us today (since they were all directed to specific audiences in the first century and not to us some 2,000 years later). So that means that when Paul wrote that “therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” he wasn’t talking to us. That’s depressing.

Here’s another take on it. Instead of saying that the Holy Spirit doesn’t serve as a Helper (or Advocate as he suggests) for us, wouldn’t it be just as reasonable to conclude that the Holy Spirit doesn’t help us today in the same manner? Since our ministry has changed, our needs have changed. So the response of the Spirit will change. In John 16:13 Jesus said that “He (the Helper) would guide them into all truth.” Since the truth has been revealed then we are no longer in need of that specific guidance. But we definitely need His help in other areas—such interceding in my prayers (Romans 8:26).

–         The writer said that “the Holy Spirit is promised to all people or at least what He revealed was promised to all people as the gift of the Holy Spirit at our baptism. The gift in Acts 2:38 is not the Holy Spirit Himself, but is a promise of the revealed Word of God which is promised in Joel 2:28-32.” What?! This is ridiculous on many levels. He has blatantly changed the Word of God for his benefit. First, the “gift of the Holy Spirit” means that the Holy Spirit is the gift. This is consistent with several other passages. For example, in Acts 8:20, Luke refers to the Holy Spirit as the “gift of God.”

Second, that’s not what Joel 2:28-32 is talking about. That’s just poor scholarship or a lack of integrity. This passage tells of a time when Yahweh will “pour out his spirit upon all flesh,” which most likely is referring to Judah. There are at least two OT passages that are thought to serve as background to this text: (1) Num 11:29, in which Moses wishes that all of Yahweh‟s people would prophesy; and (2) Ezekiel‟s prediction that Yahweh will pour out his spirit on his people (Ezek 36:26-27; 37:14; 39:29). Yahweh will be with his people in the same manner that he was with them upon their return from exile (cf. Hag 2:5). At some future point, Moses‟ desire and plea will be fulfilled. It will no longer be reserved for the religious elite; it will be available to the common person as well. This text is predicting the return of prophecy to the nation of Israel (that had been removed as a punishment for their sins). As with all the other New Testament writers, this text was applied loosely in order to make their inspired point.

Here’s the logical problem with this argument: there’s no logic to it! If Peter was referring to the Word of God when he old that crowd of people that they would be given the gift of the Holy Spirit then he sold that audience a bag of goods. The full and complete Word of God wouldn’t be available for another 150 years, at least. That means they were never going to actually receive the gift! Even the prophecy that they would hear in their life-time wouldn’t be the full revelation. That’s still not much of a gift from God.

It doesn’t take very long to pick apart the “Word only” argument. There are just too many holes to start with. And we haven’t even looked at what the Bible actually does say yet. It’s interesting that, in making the “Word only” argument, the dozens of other references to the Holy Spirit are conspicuously absent.

ATTENTION ALL PARENTS!!!

Calling all parents and grand-parents! You’re attention please! Actually, to be fair, this is really a call to all our church leaders as well: Ministers, Youth Ministers, Elders, Deacons (and anyone else who cares about all of our younger Christians).

I’m a life-long CofCer. I grew up as a part of some great youth groups. We had terrific Bible classes and devotionals where I was encouraged and motivated and also challenged and rebuked. I also had many terrific experiences at youth rallies both large and small. All of these were exciting and formative experiences that included powerful worship, vulnerable moments of faith-shaping fellowship and wonderfully close encounters with God. Then reality hit and we went home; where we promptly threw it all out the window because evidently that’s not allowed back at our home churches. Nope, none of that deep genuine fellowship or powerful singing of songs that were written after 1960. Not for us. At our church, worship included the carefully scripted exercises that had not changed since before we were born: welcome, opening prayer (because you can’t have a worship service without first formally opening it with prayer), two or three songs, communion, song, sermon (on The Five Reasons that We Don’t Do Something. . . ), invitation (where about two people a year came forward), song and then the closing prayer (since we had an opening prayer, logic naturally would dictate that we close worship with a prayer). Ahhhhh! (and a deep, long sigh).

What’s that definition of insanity? Doing the same thing and expecting a different result? Well, then I need to be committed! Because not only did I spend my childhood and teen years going through those hypocritical motions, but then I went into ministry and became the hypocrite. The last time I took a youth group to a big-time youth rally was Exposure, exactly two years ago. The kids had all those experiences that I had when I was a kid. They came home on a spiritual high and then the crash happened. And everyone stands looking around lamenting the sad spiritual state of everyone else’s children.  That’s hypocritical, dishonest and not fair to the kids.

This is what I just don’t understand: why is it okay for us to send our kids to have that type of worship at a youth rally, but not on Sundays at their home Church? What possible justification could we have for that? The truth is that so many of our churches are allowing their traditions and routines to chart their course for the future. Unfortunately, if we keep charting our course this way, then our future will include fewer and fewer of our kids. And we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.

Okay, that’s my rant for the evening. 😉

Having a Vision is Scary

As I grow older I realize the truth in this statement more and more.

Steve Jobs died today. Man, if there was ever a person (not divine) who was worthy of being called a visionary it was him. I marvel as I consider where he started, where he has been and what all he accomplished in his brief life. When you’re talking about a man who experienced this level of success, there’s never just one or two things that made it happen. I’m sure he had a tremendous love for what he did, a crazy work ethic, a little luck (right place, right time) and a whole lot of vision. I believe that being able to see a picture of something great and the road map to get there is a God-given gift.

There’s some days when I feel like God has gifted me in that way – especially when it comes to the Church. But you know, even though having a vision is nice and being given the opportunity to implement your vision is a blessing – neither are really worth much unless you choose to find the courage to go after it. Courage is a nice word. We use it a lot to make people look good (or bad). But really, when you peel away the onion, courage is just the application of faith. Now there’s the rub.

This is the point where I go from puffing out my chest (because I am thinking of myself as a visionary) to dropping my head in shame because I don’t have enough faith to go and make the vision happen. This has been me for . . . well, too long. Give me a moment to try and explain why.

When you cast your vision, chart your course and then set out on the journey there’s a really strong possibility that people won’t like it . . . and there’s a few things to choose not to like. It may be kind of simple, some people just may not like you. Others may not agree with the vision. While others may not think the course you’ve charted demonstrated much wisdom. Then of course, there’s likely some who never thought a new vision was needed in the first place. So as a visionary, as a leader, you can imagine where this leaves you. There will always be some folks who simply aren’t happy.

This is part of what impresses me so much about Steve Jobs. Just think about all the innovative products that Apple has produced. Well, actually, there really hasn’t ever been anything produced by Apple that wasn’t innovative. From the outside, all we see is the end result. We see the small personal computer, the iPod, iPhone, iPad (and who knows what else). These are all products that have really molded our culture. But we never heard all the people who said it wouldn’t work. We didn’t really pay attention when his critics were saying how crazy he was for spending so much money on things that wouldn’t sell. All we know is how successful he has been.

The same thing applies to people who have made a big difference in the Lord’s Church – guys who have really cast a vision and had the courage to chase their vision. I think of men like Rick Atchley, Patrick Mead and Terry Rush. I see all that they have accomplished with their own congregations. I hear all the great things about them. I’ve read their books. But what I haven’t realized, until recently, is how much it hurts to be consistently attacked by people who are supposed to be your Christian family. I have never been there when they were corned by an angry Church member who was convinced that they were the Antichrist. And until recently I had never known the pain of seeing your name in print because someone that disagreed with you took it upon themselves to attack you in front of as many people as possible.

For a while now I have tried so hard to not have that kind of experience. I’ve been careful where, when and how I ask difficult questions. I’ve always looked around first before saying something that may seem controversial. In other words, I’ve lacked courage. I’ve lacked faith. I do have a vision and I do have a plan (whether they’re good is another issue). But until recently I hadn’t realized that I lack the amount of faith it takes for a vision and plan to matter. That’s why having a vision is scary. They are such a precious commodity to begin with. So to let one go to waste because it’s not accompanied by faith is . . .

The 5 Acts of Worship. Err . . . Actually, Make that 16.

This was posted on 2/1/09 by Jay Guin. You can view the original post here. This fits nicely into the recent series on hermeneutics and biblical interpretation. It’s a little long, but very thought provoking and worth your time.

Good morning, class. I think we’ve had some fabulous worship services these last few weeks, don’t you? The class nods vigorously. I mean, the worship committee has really put some extra effort in these last several weeks, and I can really tell the difference.

Charles, one of the committee members, is on the front row and beaming. Worship committee members don’t usually get much praise.

I’d like to make a list of some of the exciting things that have been happening in our worship lately. The teacher walks to the board and picks up a marker.

One of the students in back joins in. “We had two couples place membership!”

That’s right. What else? Another student speaks up. “We had a baptism last week. And Gloria came forward a week or two ago and asked for prayers.”

“And we had a couple of members confess sin and repent,” adds a third student.

The teacher writes on the board-

• Confess Jesus
• Baptism
• Place membership
• Request prayer.
• Confess sin.
• Repent.

Wow! That’s a lot. What else happened in, oh, I don’t know, this morning’s service? Let’s get the obvious ones out of the way.

Pretty soon, the class lists these additional items-

• Pray
• Preach
• Communion
• Give
• Sing

All right, but that’s not all. What else did we do this morning?

“Oh!” one woman adds. “We had announcements! I hate announcements. They seem to last forever!” The class laughed loudly. They obviously felt the same way.

“And we had a time of fellowship. We stopped and shook hands and greeted the people near us,” another student adds.

And didn’t we have a scripture reading? And an invitation?

“Well, that’s part of the sermon,” one class member objects.

No, someone else read the passage, and while the reading usually goes along with the sermon, it doesn’t always. I’m going to write it down — but you don’t have to put in your notes if you disagree.

• Make announcements
• Extend the invitation
• Fellowship
• Scripture reading

What about last Sunday night?

“Well, we had a mission report.”

The teacher writes –

• Testimony

“That wasn’t testimony,” another member objects. “It was more like a sermon!”

No, our missionary simply told what Jesus was doing in Russia today. The only “lesson” was his telling us what happened. He didn’t quote scripture. He didn’t draw a moral. He just said: this is what happened in Russia this last year — and it was powerful!

Now, the teacher asks the class, are any of these things unscriptural. Has Charles been obeying the Bible? Or is he having us act in the worship service without authority?

Charles, fortunately, has developed a thick skin being on the worship committee, so he isn’t as defensive as you might expect. (The teacher had warned him this was coming).

Is it okay to baptize or extend the “right hand of fellowship” or say what Jesus in doing in Russia during the assembly?

“Of course,” several class members say. One woman is particularly agitated. “How can be wrong to baptize someone at church?” She seems to think the teacher is the stupidest man alive and wasting her time.

I count 16 different things — 16 acts of worship. The teacher smiles, waiting for a reaction. I was always taught we can only have five! And not just any five — it has to be these special five listed here in the middle of the board. He draws a circle around “Pray, Preach, Communion, Give, Sing.” But we do at least 11 more things!

Some of the class reacts to this thought without noticeable concern, but a few are visibly bothered. Eventually, a man on the side of classroom farthest from the door speaks. “Some of these things can be combined as part of the sermon. People come forward to be baptized or confess sin or ask for prayer in response to the sermon. And the invitation is certainly part of the sermon! I don’t think you have 16 distinct acts of worship at all!”

You may be right. It may be a smaller number. But it’s not five. There’s no way this list reduces down to five.

I know for a fact that the people who came forward were all planning to do so before the sermon. They’d all met with the elders or the preacher in advance, and we knew they were coming forward.

If the preacher were to ever skip the invitation, no one would say to him “You didn’t finish your sermon” or “Your sermon is too short.” They’d say, “You forgot to extend the invitation.” In fact, I’ve been in services where the invitation was offered at a separate time from the sermon! So, maybe it’s 15 or 14, but it’s still a whole lot more than five.

Now, consider this. I’ve always been taught that it’s a sin to add anything to the five acts of worship. There are a number of arguments on instrumental music, for example, but one popular one is that it’s an addition to worship that has no authority. So I guess we need to ask: is their scriptural authority for each of these? How about baptism?

The woman with the you’re-the-stupidest-man-on-earth look says, “The Bible plainly commands us to seek and save the lost!”

True, but does it say to baptize people during the assembly? Why not wait until later, like we do when the Freed-Hardeman chorus is in town and we can’t let them sing during church because it would be unauthorized? We could wait, you know. And we could wait to do a lot of these things.

Does anyone know when we first started having people come forward during church? No one answers.

In the 19^th Century. It’s a practice that was unknown to the church until about 150 or 200 years ago. It’s known to historians as “frontier revivalism.” The idea is to center the entire service on the sermon, with the music and Bible reading and such all pointed to encouraging people to come forward and accept “the invitation.” Before then, the assembly was pointed more toward the members, whereas in the 19^th Century, the sermon was often focused on the unconverted or the backslider. It was a big change in how church was done.

Now, I’m not saying it’s wrong. But no one has any evidence that this was a First Century practice.

If it’s not First Century practice, where do we find authority for this to be part of the assembly? I mean, there are lots of things we are authorized to do, but relatively few we can do in the assembly. I doubt that Jesus meant for us to hold our building committee meetings or to do our cooking for Meals on Wheels during church!

The class is now reeling. The ideas are coming fast, and they are struggling to reconcile what they’ve been taught with this information. No one is inclined to ban baptism from worship, but neither can they think of a command, necessary inference, or binding example for using the assembly as a time for baptizing.

I’m sorry if I’m upsetting your equilibrium here, but it’s really worse than you think. The two verses that deal with singing — the verses we use as proof texts to oppose instrumental music — are not specific to the assembly. There are a numerous verses on prayer, but I don’t know a one that commands us to pray when we are assembled. For that matter, the passage in 1 Corinthians that says to set money aside on the first day of the week isn’t referring to giving to the church treasury. It was for a special fund for the church in Jerusalem. There’s plenty of authority for giving to the Lord’s work. There’s nothing for giving to the congregation’s general fund on each Sunday.

However, there are two passages that deal very clearly with what we are to do on Sunday. These aren’t the usual proof texts, but they are undeniably dealing with what to do in the assembly — and we ignore them because they don’t fit our paradigm. Sometimes we only see what we expect to see.

Here’s the first –

(Heb. 10:24-25)  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Plainly, one reason to meet together is to “encourage one another.” To do what, class?

“Love and good deeds,” one member answers.

So, here we have the long-lost scripture that authorizes announcements! The class laughs and then groans. Of course, this only authorizes encouraging announcements — announcement encouraging good works, volunteering in church work, anything that shows Christian love.

And so, class, according to this verse, how should I decide whether church has been well done on a given Sunday? What’s the scriptural test for a proper worship service?

“If I’ve been encouraged!” a student responds. Several others nod.

Really? Does it say “let us be encouraged”? Take a closer look.

“If we’ve encouraged someone else!” the student corrects herself.

Exactly. The verb is active. We assemble to encourage others to love and to do good works. There is nothing more holy in an assembly than the times when we recruit others to join in the Lord’s work on earth. There nothing more holy than learning who needs to be visited or called or written a note so we can be better encouragers. You see, it’s not about me; it’s about me being a servant to others.

Now, turn to 1 Corinthians 14. This is a chapter that we’re uncomfortable with because it talks about prophecy and speaking in tongues. But it’s also the most comprehensive discussion on how to judge what’s proper in the assembly.

Paul is confronted with questions about whether to allow tongues or prophecy. We’d expect him to answer with a long speech on commands, necessary inferences, and binding examples. We’d expect him to talk about what is and is not authorized. He might even explain how to understand the silences of the scripture. But he does no such thing. Rather, he tells his readers how to decide what’s proper and what’s not.

The teacher reads –

(1 Cor 14:2-5)  For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit. 3 But everyone who prophesies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified.

According to this passage, what does God say is the test for whether tongues or prophecy is proper?

The class studies the passage intently. Finally, someone speaks up. “Whether it edifies!”

Right. What else?

“Whether it strengthens, encourages, or comforts.”

Exactly. This sounds a lot like Hebrews doesn’t it? These guys seem to have been inspired by the same Spirit! Paul could have just said, “God doesn’t want to hear tongues on Sunday morning!” or “Here are the rules. Learn them! Obey them!” But Paul instead goes to the trouble of explaining his reasoning. He doesn’t just lay down arbitrary rules. Rather, he gives reasons. Why?

“So the church will know how to address other questions that come up in the future,” an older member says.

Excellent! Authority and silences are not the right questions. The scriptures tell us the right questions and they have to do with what serves the purpose of the assembly. They are very pragmatic considerations.

Now, there’s just one more point and the lesson’s done.

(1 Cor 14:23-25)  So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24 But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25 and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”

Paul has said that we must first consider the members of the congregation in a very practical way. Does the proposed practice edify, strengthen, comfort, or encourage? If so, it’s acceptable. If not, not. But now he addresses the possibility that unbelievers may be present. What’s the rule when we have unbelievers in the assembly?

“We shouldn’t let them think we’re crazy!” a student says, and class laughs.

“Well, I guess we can’t ever have any visitors!” another student adds, and the class laughs again.

That’s the point, isn’t it? We aren’t to embarrass the cause of Christ in the assembly. Unbelievers will judge us, and they’ll judge us by their own standards. If we use words they don’t understand or if we are rude and inconsiderate, we may cost our visitors their very souls!

The assembly is foremost for the encouragement and edification of the members. It’s for us. It’s a not a show for visitors. We need the encouragement, and if we serve only the visitors, we’ll lose something very important.

But if we forget the visitors, then we’ve acted very unspiritually as well. The assembly is not for the lost, but for the saved, but it’s to be visitor sensitive.

And so, to wrap up, we’ve not limited ourselves to five acts of worship in 150 years. Any argument built on five-and-only-five acts of worship is just wrong. Fortunately, we have clear and simple, common sense, practical, gracious guidance on how to conduct our services and what God wants us to do.

First, we need to be busy being encouragers and edifiers. We can’t hire the preacher to do our Christianity for us. We need to each encourage and build up our brothers and sisters.

Second, the test of good Sunday is whether God has given us the opportunity to be encouragers — not whether the preacher has tickled our funny bone or the song leader has picked our favorite song. In fact, we should be asking the song leader to lead songs that encourage others – not ourselves — because this is one way to encourage others.

Third, we need to clean up our act and be sensitive to the visitors so that they will fall down and glorify God. The goal isn’t to astound them with our education, but to show Jesus in a way that touches the hearts of everyone there, including visitors.

I’ll see you next week.

I’m Traditionally Progressive as a Conservative Liberal

I often feel as that guy looks when I think and write about topics that are divisive and a source of arguments and contention for Christians. I’ve lived on both sides of many of these issues. When I was child, I was taught (by well-intentioned Godly men) that being conservative meant being correct and being liberal meant being wrong. I wanted to be right in the eyes of the people I loved and respected and especially in God’s sight, so I did the best I could to think, act and look conservative.

I didn’t realize until I was older that an approach like that was dangerous to my faith. Since then, particularly since leaving college, my thoughts and ideas have grown and evolved. The growth and evolving hasn’t just come as a result of age and maturity (though that certainly does add to a persons’ ability to critically think through ideas). More than that though, God has used my decisions (and their consequences) to mold my faith. After college I went straight into youth ministry. After about three years I realized that I just wasn’t ready for the magnitude of that job, so I went into secular work. It was during those next five years that my spiritual life bottomed out and I realized the mistake I had made in grounding my faith in being conservative. Unfortunately, damage had been done.

It’s important to clarify that being conservative isn’t wrong, or right. Neither is being liberal. That’s not the point. The point is the journey, the destination and the map we use while we travel on our journeys en route to our destination. You see, when I left college I had been on a journey to the wrong destination for much of my entire life. My destination was thinking, acting, looking and being conservative. I did a really good job and had essentially reached the destination; and yet my faith collapsed beneath me as if I were standing in quick sand. Why? Because God never once asked or desired for me to end up there. It turned out that I had spent a short lifetime aiming at the wrong bulls-eye. Once I discovered this, it was just a matter of finding the right bulls-eye.

Unfortunately, I’m not alone in choosing the wrong bulls-eye. Or in my attitude towards those who chose to think differently than I do. For example, I once heard an Elder boast to the entire congregation that he was proud of being conservative, as he denigrated a Christian brother who he referred to as a liberal. So what, you might ask? Well, here’s the problem with that statement. It’s a man-made term with man-made inferences. God never once, in His revelation, said to be conservative, or liberal. He just said to be holy. Notice Peter’s comments in his first letter, “but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in your behavior; because it is written, ‘you shall be holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16).

How often do we use and hear these four words: progressive and traditional, liberal and conservative? When it comes to these words, Christians have done more defining than Webster himself. We’ve used our own definitions of these names to categorize and group ourselves and then to throw rocks at everyone who wasn’t invited into our group. It really needs to stop. Every day, I live with the guilt of knowing that I spent years with my head down looking for the next rock to hurl instead of looking up, searching for my brother to serve. I’ve asked God to forgive me. After God, I owe more people apologies than I could ever name in a lifetime.

For me, the irony is overwhelming. Not only in terms of my own guilt, but because I have been called both a liberal and an ultra-conservative. How is that possible? It’s possible because of the inherent fallacy of the name calling. Like I mentioned, I have spent most of my life being taught to be a conservative and doing my best to live out my training. So, I’m really not shocked that I have been described as an ultra-conservative. But when a friend told me that I was thought of as liberal and the congregation where my wife and I had just placed membership would not allow me to teach Bible classes, I was devastated; and I gave Satan the foothold I knew to avoid. The fact is that I was called an ultra-conservative because of my narrow-minded views and judgmental attitude. I was ‘marked’ as a liberal only because I went to Harding University. I suppose I should have gone to Freed-Hardeman. Although, for those Christians, the Memphis School of Preaching would have been even better.

Enough of the rambling monologue. Here’s how I define those terms. Perhaps, this will help you to arrive at your own definition or increase your personal understand of how you have been thinking. The idea of being ‘traditional’ implies the idea of sticking to traditions. For example, the congregation where I worship and serve has a tradition of assembling twice on Sunday. We’re traditional in that sense. Whereas, another congregation chooses to meet only in the morning for worship and Bible study then chooses to meet in smaller groups that evening. That congregation would be thought of as progressive because of they have progressed forward away from the tradition of meeting twice on Sunday.

Conservative and liberal is considerably more abstract and relative, which makes them harder to define with consistency and accuracy. This is also one of the fundamental disagreements I have against using these terms in any capacity (as it relates to characterizing Christians or specific congregations). To you, I might be liberal. But to another person I am a rigid and conservative fundamentalist. For example, the fact that I have absolutely no problem with a praise team being used to amplify worship would make me a liberal to some of my brothers and sisters in the area where I live. However, because I am not comfortable with a praise team band, many other folks whom I love dearly would think of me as a conservative. So where is the baseline? How do I know if I am right to label myself (or someone else) one way or the other? You don’t and you can’t. There will always be someone more or less liberal than you. As well, there will always be someone more or less conservative than you.

This leads to the biggest issue I have with these names; and why I am so tired of hearing them. THEY ARE NOT BIBLICAL NAMES. I am proud to be affiliated with the Restoration Movement (though I could hardly classify it as a movement these days). One self-defining term of the restoration plea is calling Bible things by Bible names. I’m not sure if that holds any authority with you or not. But I find it terribly ironic that many who hold to that creed also hold dearly to the idea that conservative is right (correct) and liberal is wrong. None of these four words (progressive, traditional, conservative, liberal) were ever uttered from the mouth of our Lord or those that He commissioned to begin and grow His Church. Why on earth would I then do it?!

Instead of approaching conflict and differences of opinion by hurling rocks across the arbitrary line that we have drawn, let’s step across the line and take our brothers by the hand and love each other. We’re not always going to agree. And on some issues, someone is going to be wrong. But instead of taking on the role of judge and executioner with every issue, let’s reserve those roles for the one person who earned them. Instead, why don’t you and I focus on loving as best we are able, and teaching as best we know how?

The Numbers Will Fool You!

Sometimes Christians confuse numbers for health and/or strength. In other words, we often make the assumption that because we have a “large” church we have a strong healthy church. That’s not necessarily true. It could easily mean that two or three generations ago that church was healthy and grew to a point that years later we are able to live off the fruit of the labors of those who came before us. It’s sort of like a trust-fund baby. Just because they have money doesn’t necessarily mean they are still making money nor have healthy finances. Usually they look and act a lot better off than they actually are. Sometimes it takes a while for the money to run out.

Similarly, just because there are many churches in an area doesn’t mean the Church is necessarily strong and healthy. There are areas throughout the “Bible Belt” where there are large clusters of churches. Take for example the areas in and around Florence and Jasper, Alabama (I just happen to be familiar with these two areas). There are A LOT of churches in these two areas. But the plurality of churches there has nothing to do with the health and strength of the Church there. What it does indicate is that at some point in history there was a lot of spiritual strength and growth in the area. And because these were rural areas at that time, there were many people who did not drive. This created a need for more churches. So instead of having fewer churches that were larger, there were a greater number of smaller churches (which made it more likely to have a church in walking distance for you). Now, since there seems to be a church on “every corner”, or literally in every small community, we assume that the Church in that area is strong and healthy.

A closer look sometimes reveals that some of these churches have been dying a slow death over the past two or three generations. Most of these dying churches have a disproportionate number of grey-headed folks – which almost ensures that the death will continue. Where there are “younger” Christians present, it is usually the family members of the grey-headed who have been raised well and are faithful Christians. The problem is that far too many of these churches have not consistently made new disciples for at least two generations. For example, (at my last count a year ago) in the Jasper area there are something in the neighborhood 40 churches. For a county of only 65,000 that seems like a strong and healthy situation for the Church. For comparison, the county I live in, Adams County, IL (population of 67,000) has two. However, what we don’t see on the outside is that with the exception of one, every single one of those forty or so churches is numerically smaller today than it was ten and twenty years ago. Out of all of them, there is only church that is “growing” larger. Where are the people going? Some are dying. Others have moved away have not been replaced. And many others have left the Church.

It’s similar to a Major League Baseball team. For every major league team there is a “farm system” that includes at least six or seven teams that are developing young players. Those young players are being developed and groomed to play in the Big Leagues. When someone on the big league team gets hurt or retires or leaves the team they can just grab a player from their farm system. This works great as long as you are constantly replenishing the farm system by drafting new players who you can develop. The problem with many churches in some of these areas is that they haven’t drafted well or often enough. So even though the numbers are still there, as the Christians leave to claim their reward or are won over by Satan, there are no new Christians to continue the work. And as a result the Church dies a slow death.

How can something that is slowly dying off possibly be considered healthy and strong? Making this determination means we’re either dumb, too ashamed to face the reality and do something about it, don’t care enough to face the reality and do something about it, or too arrogant and self-righteous to see the problem.

How to Make a Church Grow

This is an article written by Keith Brenton.

How to Make a Church Grow.

Don’t try. Okay, that would be my first post shorter than its title, but I’m tempted to leave it at that. Here’s what I mean, though: Don’t make church growth your goal. Make your goal preaching Christ, making disciples, putting people to God’s work with the help of His Holy Spirit. The church that results from that will grow, if the seed finds receptive soil and God gives the growth. Keep watering. Plant more seed; the Word — you know.

Don’t worry about uplifting worship times, awesome praise teams or incredibly gifted worship bands or dynamic speakers or cool videos or  special programs or targeted ministries or awesome marketing or a big, sprawling building or sufficient parking or offering seeker services or traditional services or progressive services. Some of that may come, but fend it off as long as you can.

Tell them about Jesus. Show them Jesus. Win them to Jesus. Demonstrate to them how they are visiting Him in jail; how they are clothing His nakedness and feeding His hunger. When they have worked side by side with each other and with the Spirit, they will want to gather in praise, as often and as devotedly as possible.

People who can see the work of God – the work He is doing through them; in partnership with them – when they see that work in the lives of others … they’ll see it in their own lives too and you won’t be able to shut them up when it comes time for worship. Or any other time. It will well up from within them like a spring of living water. Just stand back and thank God when it happens and you get caught in the spray.

You may not be able to limit them to just meeting on Sundays to worship together. They might just open their hearts and their homes and their dinner tables and their earnings to each other. They might sell their possessions and give to those who have need until no one among them has need anymore.

I know all this sounds too good to be true. I know it sounds like a pipe dream. I know it sounds all but impossible. But it also sounds a lot like the last few verses of Acts 2, and well into Acts 3 and 4. And it also sounds like what Jesus said about nothing being impossible with God (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27).

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate these thoughts. We recently shared this same idea with our Church family. We took it a small step forward though. We have one of those old-school attendance boards at the front of our auditorium. You know, the one that has the attendance and contribution numbers for the past couple of weeks. We would have just taken it completely down. But it’s been up there for a while (probably over 30 years), so I wasn’t sure what was under it or what would happen if I tried to take it down. So we did the next best thing . . . we replaced the attendance numbers with the number one. So now, last weeks’ attendance and today’s attendance reads “1”.

It’s so easy to get caught up in numbers. What does a number mean anyways? Really, it’s just a way to gauge our success and feel good about ourselves. That’s not what we should be about. As a family we’ve determined to be about the next Soul that God sends our way. Jesus would have died for one. So everything we’re going to do, worry over and plan for is the next one that God sends our way. Nothing more, nothing less.

Here’s the way we brought it home. Let’s say that we experience growth that we can notice and feel good about. Slowly the auditorium becomes more and more full. It’s harder to find a parking spot and our favorite seat always seems to be taken by a visitor. That’s terrific! But here’s the problem. While the preacher is applauding the growth from the pulpit and the Elders are feeling good about their leadership, there’s a middle-aged couple sitting in the back whose oldest son left the Church, God and his faith years ago. And after their prayers each night, that Mom cries herself to sleep knowing that her son is lost.

When you put yourselves in their shoes, those great numbers really don’t seem to matter as much. Yes, we will celebrate each success and praise God each step of the way. But we will never forget that Christ came to die for each one of us. And until He returns there will always be another lost son searching for his way home.

Illustration on Unity in the Church

This was posted on FB earlier today. I thought this fit right in with the series on hermeneutics. Rick Atchley is insightful and extremely challenging in this illustration on gaining and maintaining unity in the Church. He brings up some difficult questions.

Reasons Why People Don’t Go To Church

I absolutely love this video! This so describes my Church!