Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

Home 2016 Archives for March 2016

Archives for March 2016

Character versus Image in the Church

Posted on Written by Leave a Comment

Character vs. ImageThere is the potential for a huge divide between what we are on the inside and what others perceive us to be.

How others perceive me is my image, who I really am is shaped by my character. You may have heard it said that character is determined by “what I do when no one is looking.” Image is determined by what I do when I know others are looking.

Most of Christendom would agree that we are to build character and be less concerned about image, but my experience of church through the years belies this.

By its very nature, legalism is all about image and not about character. For me to be legalistic, I have to ignore all the ways I fall short of the demands that I am willing to place on others. In other words, I will have to maintain a mask of conformity while internally I know that I’m not living up to what I preach. Legalism, by its very nature is deceptive.

On the other hand, if I am living out the Gospel, I know that I don’t measure up.  As a result, I should not be concerned about others knowing that fact. A focus on the Gospel will allow me to function out of my character and allow others to do so. We don’t have to pretend, we don’t have to build an image to hide our failings.

In thinking through the life of Jesus, he broke many of the social conventions of the day so that he could live out the good news of the redemption that he brings. He was accused of regularly hanging out with disreputable people. He dined at tax collectors’ houses. He spoke with a Samaritan woman and drank from her cup. He let a known “sinner” kiss his feet and wash them with her tears. He did all sorts of things that damaged his image among the religious leaders of the day. He got the religious leaders mad enough to cause them to have Jesus killed.

Fast forward to the 21st Century. We have Christians who go out of their way to make sure that they denounce any sin or evil that they encounter. There are entire websites that are dedicated to “discernment ministry” which identifies leaders who are in error or who are associating with the wrong people. If only they could see how ironic it is that they are imitating the very behavior of the Pharisees when Jesus walked the earth.

This type of “ministry” causes people to liken the church to a castle which is build to keep enemies out. In such ministries, it is like they build a moat, put bars on all the windows, pull up the drawbridge and then wonder why they are having little impact on the surrounding community.

Rather than portraying the image of a castle, we should rather be portraying the image of a hospital or health spa where those who are in need can come to get healing. Those of us who claim to be Christians are in need of that healing and should desire that others experience it also.

When people encounter a community that is living in grace and communicating the gospel through word and action, it is very attractive and draws people in. In such a community, it is no longer necessary to worry about image.

What is interesting is that once the desire to cultivate an image goes away, it is then that true character can develop. My failings do not get addressed when I hide them, they get addressed when I allow myself and others to see them and help each other to get them addressed.

The same power

Posted on Written by 2 Comments

This past weekend, I sang these words at a men’s retreat:

“The same power that rolled the stone away,
the same power alive in us today”

PowerThese words got under my skin as I thought about them. I agree that they are true, I agree that Jesus has demonstrated that power to us. But singing them brought up some questions in my mind.

Why then, do I often feel so helpless?

Why then, is my prayer life so anemic?

Why then, do I live as if that power does not exist?

On one hand, I want to avoid the presumption that is displayed by the prosperity teachers peering at me with their toothy grins from their best-selling books. God is not a cosmic vending machine that will give me what I want if I put in the request inputs of faith and positive confession. God does not necessarily want me to be materially wealthy or financially successful.

But on the other hand, my actions display the weakness of my faith.

My favorite prayer in the Gospels is recorded in Mark 9:24, where a father cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Perhaps that is the best starting point for a prayer session. For me it is an honest one.

All around me are situations that need the intervention of God for any good result to happen. In my circle of acquaintance, I could list many situations that are hopeless, or nearly hopeless without a miracle.

The one thing that is true about what the prosperity teachers present is that we should be boldly asking God for what we want. Where they go off track is losing sight of who is to get the glory from the granting of the request.

I should be boldly approaching God (Ephesians 3:12) for the needs I see around me. I should not be doing this for my comfort or for my benefit, but I should be doing this so that God gets the glory for what he has done.

I am not helpless.

My prayer life does not need to be anemic.

I can live as though the Creator of the universe remains in control and wants to intervene to bring glory to his name.

Please excuse me as I go to prayer . . .

The reason for our existence

Posted on Written by 1 Comment

The reason for our existence“The greatest danger of any organization is to lose sight of its reason for existence. This is especially true for the church. A number of years ago someone posted on the front door of a Washington, DC area church a sign that read, ‘Going out of business.’ Not long after the sign was posted someone added these words, ‘We never really knew what our business was.’”

I discovered this paragraph while reading Mark Howell’s commentary on 1 & 2 Thessalonians.

Howell goes on to give statistics about how many churches close every year despite the plethora of church growth books and strategies, some churches fail to grow and eventually close.

The saddest part of this for me is a growing realization that we have over complicated what should be a rather simple directive. Jesus gave us one task, that is to make disciples.

But to make disciples presupposes that one knows what a disciple looks like and also presupposes knowledge of how to become one.

This is where much of Christendom seems to fail. We add programs, doctrinal distinctives and rules (implied and implicit) which turn church into a complicated social game that leaves the players exhausted.

The literal meaning of the word disciple is a learner. Therefore, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is by definition one who learns from Jesus and seeks to live in accordance with his principles.

The problem is that on our own we are incapable of doing this. We are by nature fallen and everything we do carries the taint of sin.

It follows then that one who is truly a disciple of Jesus must have his sin issue remedied, and the only remedy available for this is the Cross.

This is why the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2, ESV)

The point is that we cannot be making true disciples of Jesus if we are not preaching and teaching Jesus Christ and him crucified.

The business of the church is to make disciples and we cannot do it without the message of the Cross being central to our teaching.

This is the reason for our existence as an organization.

No room for self-pity

Posted on Written by Leave a Comment

Self-pityI do a lot of whining to God. On one hand, God is the perfect target of whining because he can take it, and he can apply correction to me and fix the situation that I’m whining about. But in thinking about this, I realize that there is no room for self-pity in Christian maturity.

For proof of this statement, I offer the Apostle Paul as an example. To the Corinthians Paul wrote this:

“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” (2 Corinthians 11:24–28, ESV)

Paul was not bragging nor was he complaining. He was stating, as factually as he could, what he endured for the sake of the gospel.

With all that Paul endured, there is nothing in his letters that remotely hints at self-pity. Luke tells us that when Paul was in prison he was singing praises rather than wallowing in self-pity.

It is so easy to focus on our difficulties. It is so easy to see circumstances arrayed against us. It is so easy, but it is also so wrong.

I need to remind myself that I worship a God who is bigger than my circumstances. I worship a God who has had a plan since before the beginning of time and who is bringing that plan to completion. I am a part of that plan and nothing that happens to me or around me falls outside of God’s control.

When I am whining in self-pity, it is because I have taken my eyes off of God and turned them on myself. I am not adequate to respond to what is happening around me, but God is.

If I am moving toward self-pity, it is because I have lost sight of the greatness of God.

 

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama