Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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A tale of two cities

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Tale of two citiesWith an apology to Charles Dickens for the theft of his title, rather than Paris and London, I’m thinking of Sychar and the Decapolis (which is actually ten cities).

In one city Jesus did no miracle other than tell a woman about her past. In the other cities Jesus delivered a demon possessed man in a spectacular manner. It is interesting to note that where Jesus did no miracle, he was received and the people believed. In the other they could not wait to get Jesus to leave them alone.

Often I am tempted to think that it would be so much easier for me and others to believe if only we saw some incredible miracles like the ones recorded in the gospels. But would it? Did the people seeing the overt miracles show any increased tendency to believe?

I am reminded that we cannot say that there are no miracles around us. Is there any question that a changed life is in itself a miracle? Maybe the change is so gradual that it seems a natural process, but the fact that I am not what I was is testimony to God’s power.

We must be careful not to ignore the clues all around us. Like the Samaritans in Sychar, we need to be listening for the truth in what we hear and act upon it. If Jesus is correct and one day we will all give an account for our belief and consequent actions, we cannot lightly dismiss the evidence in favor of Jesus being who he claimed to be.

We need to come to grips with the fact that some will see miracles and hear truth and walk away in complete rejection. We can be cavalier about this and offer our proof texts about election and predestination and wash our hands of it. Or, we can be like Jesus and weep for those who reject the truth. We can turn up our noses at those who most loudly oppose Christianity or we can pray for them and implore God to intervene and have mercy upon them.

Yes, we should be confident that God knows who will accept and who will reject his offer of salvation, but he sees fit to keep that knowledge from us. Therefore should hope and pray that all accept Jesus, even while knowing that all will not.

We should stand waiting by the roadside with the loving father for the prodigal to come home.

No basis for discourse

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DiscourseIf I say that I like red cars, it is not logical to conclude that I think that all non-red cars should be immediately assigned to the scrap pile. It is true that I like red cars, but for a variety of reasons, none of the cars that are currently in my driveway are red. I don’t hate non-red cars. A positive statement about one color of car is not an implied hatred of all other colors. To think so is a logical fallacy.

But on several hot-button issues in our day, this understanding of logic seems to be lost on the political pundits and media personalities.

What brought this to mind is the “controversial” hiring of David Tyree by the New York Giants. David has gone on record saying that he is of the opinion that marriage should be between one man and one woman. This is a positive statement. But somehow this gets construed as hate speech by those who support gay marriage. A few years ago, we has the same bustle over statements may by Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-a.

No evidence has been presented that either Dan Cathy or David Tyree has issued threats or said anything that would put anyone in the LGBT community at risk. David Tyree is not preventing anyone from pursuing what they think will make them happy. He simply made some statements about what he thinks is true and optimum for humanity.

We seem to have gotten to the point in our society where we can no longer have civil discourse. If someone makes a claim for truth, rather than take on his arguments and present counter arguments, it is much easier to just label his opinion as hateful and thereby wrong. It is easier to discredit the messenger than to respond to the message.

But that sword should cut both ways. Why then is it not wrong for comedians like Bill Maher to make derogatory comments about Christians and other people of faith? Is it too much to ask that those who preach tolerance would be sure that those who support their point of view do so in a tolerant manner?

Apparently it is too much to ask.

But fear not. I am reminded that when Paul wrote most of his letters, Nero was the Emperor. The conditions arranged against faith in general and Christianity in particular were formidable. But two observations should be made:

  1. Paul spent no time complaining or otherwise advocating that Christians seek or wield political power to bring societal change.
  2. All the might of Rome could not quench the truth and Christianity spread despite the efforts to stamp it out.

Jesus said, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:18). If Jesus is who he claimed to be, no redefinition of marriage, no labeling of belief as hatred, no intolerance can thwart what God has purposed.

As we consider the injustice of how Christians get lampooned in the media, we need to take seriously Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek (Matt. 5:39) and Paul’s command to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

Paul expected, and received opposition. Why should we expect it to be any different for us?

12 Signs of a Controlling Church Pastor

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Update December 11, 2015: The web site to which this post was originally linked is returning an error so I have removed the link. If the web site is put back up and I can find the original post, I will reestablish the link.

Angry

I don’t often do blog re-posts, but this is one I have to pass on. Below are the first six signs as related by Jose Bosque in the article of the title “12 Signs of a Controlling Church Pastor”:

  1. First, he acts like he is the Source and the Owner of the Vision.
  2. He travels but you don’t. It all about you helping him achieve “his Ministry”. He travels because he loves the worship given to Americans in third world countries.
  3. He is not a Gatekeeper; he is more like a Prison warden. No one has permission to go anywhere except where he says, when he says.
  4. He refuses to release the people to God’s call in their life. He talks a good talk, but reality is there is a human junkyard of those he has blacklisted.
  5. He is always training you for ministry but you never graduate because you never quite measure up. The truth is he is only interested in spectators for His next Wow-teaching. It’s a power trip! He “needs” to be heard.
  6. The only legitimate ministry is that which is hyper-linked to him and to the name of his ministry. It’s about a name rather than about Jesus.

If you would like to read the remainder of the article to view the remaining six signs, please click on this link: 12 Signs of a Controlling Church Pastor.

My advice to anyone who is under the leadership of such a pastor is to run and do not look back. You may not become a pillar of salt if you look back, but looking back may cause you to be trapped into thinking that parts of this pastor’s behavior are normal and/or admirable. While they might be considered normal due to the frequency of occurrence, they are  not normal when viewed as to how God wants church leaders to operate. Read 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 and see if you think that this type of church leadership is acceptable.

It isn’t.

Tim Keller on the Gospel

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Tim Keller Center ChurchIt is quite easy to assume that if we understand the gospel accurately and preach it faithfully, our ministry will necessarily be shaped by it. – but this is not true. Many churches subscribe to gospel doctrines but do not have a ministry that is shaped by, centered on, and empowered through the gospel. Its implications have not yet worked their way into the fabric of how the church actually does ministry. These churches’ theological vision has likely arisen from something other than sustained reflection on the gospel.

Gospel centered ministry is more theologically driven than program driven. To pursue it, we must spend time reflecting on the essence, the truths, and the very patterns of the gospel itself. It is an unfortunate development within the history of thought in general and the history of the church in particular that has insisted on driving a wedge between theory and practice. The two belong together in dialogical relationship. Theology here is understood to be fides quaerens intellectum, the ministry of Christian understanding – an understanding that aims for the church’s fitting participation within the drama of God’s redemption.

Tim Keller in Center Church

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