What's that you say?
One of the most informative and inspirational books I've read in years is Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, who is the very young pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. The Celtic Christians, according to Batterson, had a name for the Holy Spirit--An Geadh Glas, or "The Wild Goose."
You might not have imagined that following the leading of the Holy Spirit is like chasing a wild goose. In his book, Batterson weaves Biblical examples in with his own spiritual journey, making note of the learning and spiritual growth that took place along the way, and of the transformation and the change that took place as a result of following, as opposed to the feeling of being trapped or imprisoned when going your own way and making your own path.
Sometimes, says Batterson, you have to step forward in faith to see the Spirit move. He uses the example of the Israelite priests who, under Joshua's leadership, stepped into the flooding Jordan River before the waters had parted in order to cross with the Ark, as God had instructed. It was not until they put their feet into the river in a deliberate move to cross that God parted the water and made it possible for the entire nation to move forward. Likewise, in following the Spirit's lead, sometimes we need to simply step out in faith in order to know where the Spirit wants us to go.
Are you chasing the Spirit in your worship? Is your Sunday morning just a ritual, tradition and a routine or is it a meaningful experience during which God speaks to you and you hear from him? Is He invited to lead your worship experience? Are you open to God's leading you where he wants you to go?
I think our church needs to get back in the wild goose chase. It may not be predictable, it may require us to move forward across rivers that seem impassible, and it will most definitely take us out of our comfort zone, but here we are, a church, a body of Christ in the middle of a community that needs to know him. We claim to have been changed by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit as a result of our relationship with Jesus. If that's the case, then we need to be chasing after that same Spirit, wherever he leads. Self must get out of the way. We need to get out of the prisons we have created for ourselves. We need to have a desire to do whatever God asks us to do, whether it suits our preferences or not.
Let go, and let God.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
The End of Christian America or a Tremendous Opportunity
http://www.newsweek.com/id/192583
Dr. Al Mohler, who serves as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the oldest and now largest seminary belonging to Southern Baptists, is troubled by the news, reported in Newsweek, that the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has increased to 15%, representing double the number of a decade and a half ago, and that New England has joined the Pacific Northwest as a region of the country with the smallest percentage of people claiming church affiliation. Is this news all that much of a surprise? And really, how much different is the religious climate in America?
We should know from our own record keeping among Southern Baptists that even those who claim some kind of "affiliation" with the church is not representative of the actual numerical strength of either a local church or a denomination. There are more than 16 million names on the church rolls of the more than 45,000 churches affiliated with the SBC, but on any given Sunday, according to the same record, fewer than 6 million bodies are gathered in the pews. Most other denominations, give or take a few percentage points, have similar figures to report, which means that the actual percentage of Americans who can be found in churches on any given Sunday is probably closer to the 35 to 38% range, rather than the 73% total number of "church affiliated".
I'm less disturbed by regional religious demographics than I am by the fact that the institutional church as it exists in America today seems to be both unwilling and unable to lead younger people to a faith in Christ and motivate them to serving in his name. We seem to be unable to distinguish between methods and practices of doing church that are traditional, and doctrines and teachings of the church that are eternal, and in mixing the two, are incapable of preaching the gospel in a way that is meaningful and relevant to the next generation. Our elders and our ancesters in the faith were able to make successful transitions from generation to generation, and the church in this culture always saw its better days down the road, until now. Today, those who have been able to cross the cultural bridge have been roundly criticized and pushed away from the traditional denominational tent, yet they have been far more effective in communicating the gospel and engaging people in the church than the traditionalists have been.
Taking the gospel where it is most needed, a practice that was modeled by Jesus himself when he accepted a dinner invitation from Matthew, a tax collector, is not a common practice in a church culture where the gospel has become cloistered within the walls of church buildings and buried in an attraction model of outreach (our church is better than your church; our preacher is better than your preacher so leave your church and come over here where "everyone else" is going) that cannot be found anywhere in the scripture. A church in St. Louis, with a high degree of success in penetrating the postmodern generation with the gospel, was subjected to severe criticism, and the state Baptist convention that had loaned them some church starting money threatened to call in the loan because they dared to venture into the world and take the gospel with them. A local pastor told me he was reluctant to become involved in ventures where members of his youthful congregation encountered older believers in traditional church settings because they had experiences in the past where they encountered mean-spirited criticism and mocking anger as a result of choices they have made regarding how they choose to share the gospel.
We're an affluent church in an affluent culture, and we are used to having things our way in everything we do. We've taken that attitude inside the church we've created for ourselves, and rather than be challenged by the changes taking place around us, and seeing them as unique opportunities that require the moving of the Holy Spirit and the use of our collective spiritual gifts as the body of Christ, we've retreated within the walls of our fortress and set about to protect ourselves during the siege. "Do it our way or get out!" That's the message we send, and that's why Newsweek, and most other secular media, can write articles about the "end" of Christian America.
Well?
Dr. Al Mohler, who serves as president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the oldest and now largest seminary belonging to Southern Baptists, is troubled by the news, reported in Newsweek, that the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has increased to 15%, representing double the number of a decade and a half ago, and that New England has joined the Pacific Northwest as a region of the country with the smallest percentage of people claiming church affiliation. Is this news all that much of a surprise? And really, how much different is the religious climate in America?
We should know from our own record keeping among Southern Baptists that even those who claim some kind of "affiliation" with the church is not representative of the actual numerical strength of either a local church or a denomination. There are more than 16 million names on the church rolls of the more than 45,000 churches affiliated with the SBC, but on any given Sunday, according to the same record, fewer than 6 million bodies are gathered in the pews. Most other denominations, give or take a few percentage points, have similar figures to report, which means that the actual percentage of Americans who can be found in churches on any given Sunday is probably closer to the 35 to 38% range, rather than the 73% total number of "church affiliated".
I'm less disturbed by regional religious demographics than I am by the fact that the institutional church as it exists in America today seems to be both unwilling and unable to lead younger people to a faith in Christ and motivate them to serving in his name. We seem to be unable to distinguish between methods and practices of doing church that are traditional, and doctrines and teachings of the church that are eternal, and in mixing the two, are incapable of preaching the gospel in a way that is meaningful and relevant to the next generation. Our elders and our ancesters in the faith were able to make successful transitions from generation to generation, and the church in this culture always saw its better days down the road, until now. Today, those who have been able to cross the cultural bridge have been roundly criticized and pushed away from the traditional denominational tent, yet they have been far more effective in communicating the gospel and engaging people in the church than the traditionalists have been.
Taking the gospel where it is most needed, a practice that was modeled by Jesus himself when he accepted a dinner invitation from Matthew, a tax collector, is not a common practice in a church culture where the gospel has become cloistered within the walls of church buildings and buried in an attraction model of outreach (our church is better than your church; our preacher is better than your preacher so leave your church and come over here where "everyone else" is going) that cannot be found anywhere in the scripture. A church in St. Louis, with a high degree of success in penetrating the postmodern generation with the gospel, was subjected to severe criticism, and the state Baptist convention that had loaned them some church starting money threatened to call in the loan because they dared to venture into the world and take the gospel with them. A local pastor told me he was reluctant to become involved in ventures where members of his youthful congregation encountered older believers in traditional church settings because they had experiences in the past where they encountered mean-spirited criticism and mocking anger as a result of choices they have made regarding how they choose to share the gospel.
We're an affluent church in an affluent culture, and we are used to having things our way in everything we do. We've taken that attitude inside the church we've created for ourselves, and rather than be challenged by the changes taking place around us, and seeing them as unique opportunities that require the moving of the Holy Spirit and the use of our collective spiritual gifts as the body of Christ, we've retreated within the walls of our fortress and set about to protect ourselves during the siege. "Do it our way or get out!" That's the message we send, and that's why Newsweek, and most other secular media, can write articles about the "end" of Christian America.
Well?
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Resurrection Celebration
Easter comes, we have a big crowd in church, we hear about the resurrection of Jesus from the pulpit and in our music, we enjoy looking at everyone dressed in their spring finery, and we leave. We go have dinner with family or friends, and that's it until next year.
Think about it.
Our culture has managed to bring the single most significant event of the Christian church down to a holiday to dress up and eat, and for the kids, a make-believe bunny that brings colored eggs and candy in a basket. There is much more to it than that.
The church meets on the first day of the week, mainly out of tradition but from a perspective that every weekly meeting of the body of Christ is designed to be a celebration of the resurrection. I don't think Jesus ever intended for the church to limit its meeting time and its ministry to just an hour or so once a week, nor did he intend for the day of his resurrection to be commemorated just once a year. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead confirms his mission as the savior of the world, and that's worth a lifetime of commitment to service on the part of his followers.
"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words." Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 ESV
If you are planning to come and worship with the body of Christ this Easter, come with a serious commitment to make celebrating the resurrection part of your daily living.
Think about it.
Our culture has managed to bring the single most significant event of the Christian church down to a holiday to dress up and eat, and for the kids, a make-believe bunny that brings colored eggs and candy in a basket. There is much more to it than that.
The church meets on the first day of the week, mainly out of tradition but from a perspective that every weekly meeting of the body of Christ is designed to be a celebration of the resurrection. I don't think Jesus ever intended for the church to limit its meeting time and its ministry to just an hour or so once a week, nor did he intend for the day of his resurrection to be commemorated just once a year. The fact that Jesus rose from the dead confirms his mission as the savior of the world, and that's worth a lifetime of commitment to service on the part of his followers.
"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore, let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business and a fool's voice with many words." Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 ESV
If you are planning to come and worship with the body of Christ this Easter, come with a serious commitment to make celebrating the resurrection part of your daily living.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
A Biblical Obligation
"We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up." Romans 15:1 ESV
Selfishness is the church's enemy. It is a sinful attitude that runs contrary to the very character of Jesus himself. Where would we be if Jesus had decided that bearing our sins and becoming the complete sacrifice for them didn't fit with his own desires or plans for life? Selfish interests do not fit with Jesus' plan for his church.
The emphasis I placed in the verse above illustrates a basic principle related to the operation of the body of Christ. We're citizens of the Kingdom but we're living in a lost, sinful world. God's desire, as Peter so clearly states, is that all should reach repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). Paul encourages us to "become all things to all people in order to reach some." The example that Jesus set, not only in going to the cross as a sin sacrifice, but in the way he conducted his entire ministry, was to become the servant of all and he illustrated it beautifully by washing the feet of his disciples.
Remember the guy who took off his shoes and showed his displeasure with President Bush by hurling them at him? It wasn't just that they were handy to throw, but he was showing his contempt by removing them because they were the lowliest part of his clothing. In the middle eastern culture in which Jesus grew up, servants did the washing of the feet because it was generally a dirty, humiliating job. When Jesus did it, he was demonstrating his humility as well as the servant attitude he wanted his followers to model. It was a necessity, no one was volunteering, so Jesus set the example. The passage of scripture never says whether Jesus' feet ever got washed at that particular event, but his attitude clearly conveyed that it didn't matter. It was more important to him that everyone else was comfortable.
And so it should be in the church.
Somehow, I don't think there are a lot of Christians who have clearly understood this part of the gospel. For a number of reasons, we are pretty much bent on having things our own way, and when we don't, we fuss, and protest, and in some cases do our best to manipulate them so that we are once again comfortable. The whole church experience has become about pleasing itself and making sure we are happy and comfortable, and we could essentially care less about a lost world. Oh, we talk about our concern for the lost, but when we encounter them, and everything that comes with living a life apart from God's grace and outside the knowledge of salvation, we don't really know what to do. They aren't like us, they make us uncomfortable and we can immediately conclude that they probably aren't going to follow Jesus anyway.
The end result is that we build bigger, more comfortable sanctuaries, family life centers that are full service health clubs, and spend fortunes on salaries for professionally trained ministers to do all of our ministry for us. The church experience, far from being the Biblical community of the New Testament, has become an hour of entertainment on Sunday morning, or at your convenience. Washing feet, or a similar kind of servant attitude, is not something you are apt to find anywhere in today's church.
We've built a church that is, sadly, a place where we can be almost certain of being sheltered from the wind of the Spirit.
Selfishness is the church's enemy. It is a sinful attitude that runs contrary to the very character of Jesus himself. Where would we be if Jesus had decided that bearing our sins and becoming the complete sacrifice for them didn't fit with his own desires or plans for life? Selfish interests do not fit with Jesus' plan for his church.
The emphasis I placed in the verse above illustrates a basic principle related to the operation of the body of Christ. We're citizens of the Kingdom but we're living in a lost, sinful world. God's desire, as Peter so clearly states, is that all should reach repentance (see 2 Peter 3:9). Paul encourages us to "become all things to all people in order to reach some." The example that Jesus set, not only in going to the cross as a sin sacrifice, but in the way he conducted his entire ministry, was to become the servant of all and he illustrated it beautifully by washing the feet of his disciples.
Remember the guy who took off his shoes and showed his displeasure with President Bush by hurling them at him? It wasn't just that they were handy to throw, but he was showing his contempt by removing them because they were the lowliest part of his clothing. In the middle eastern culture in which Jesus grew up, servants did the washing of the feet because it was generally a dirty, humiliating job. When Jesus did it, he was demonstrating his humility as well as the servant attitude he wanted his followers to model. It was a necessity, no one was volunteering, so Jesus set the example. The passage of scripture never says whether Jesus' feet ever got washed at that particular event, but his attitude clearly conveyed that it didn't matter. It was more important to him that everyone else was comfortable.
And so it should be in the church.
Somehow, I don't think there are a lot of Christians who have clearly understood this part of the gospel. For a number of reasons, we are pretty much bent on having things our own way, and when we don't, we fuss, and protest, and in some cases do our best to manipulate them so that we are once again comfortable. The whole church experience has become about pleasing itself and making sure we are happy and comfortable, and we could essentially care less about a lost world. Oh, we talk about our concern for the lost, but when we encounter them, and everything that comes with living a life apart from God's grace and outside the knowledge of salvation, we don't really know what to do. They aren't like us, they make us uncomfortable and we can immediately conclude that they probably aren't going to follow Jesus anyway.
The end result is that we build bigger, more comfortable sanctuaries, family life centers that are full service health clubs, and spend fortunes on salaries for professionally trained ministers to do all of our ministry for us. The church experience, far from being the Biblical community of the New Testament, has become an hour of entertainment on Sunday morning, or at your convenience. Washing feet, or a similar kind of servant attitude, is not something you are apt to find anywhere in today's church.
We've built a church that is, sadly, a place where we can be almost certain of being sheltered from the wind of the Spirit.
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