Stumbling blocks: how we live matters more than our words

Posted on June 27, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

In my previous post, I mentioned a study by the Barna Group, which documents that 59% of young Christians “disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15.” This is a scary statistic and is way too high. You might argue that the number will never be zero, but we should have zero as our goal.

I am not a sociologist and I suppose that to better understand the problem I should read the book that Barna released which adds detail in support of their findings. But I have been involved in the Church since I was born and made some observations along the way. While I never really rebelled or considered walking away from Christianity, I did have my share of questions and struggles with how to reconcile what I thought I knew of God and what I saw in the world around me.

By His grace, at the peak of my questioning, God brought men into my life that could point me toward answers to my questions. It was at that time that I began reading C. S. Lewis, Francis Schaeffer and others who supported my faith with Scripture and clear thought. The result was that while I could not reconcile all of the struggles, I at least came away convinced that my faith was reasonable and that the beginning of answers to the tough questions could be found in Scripture and in Christian thinkers. When I say the beginning of answers, I am not suggesting that Scripture is deficient. The deficiency lies in my ability to understand Scripture and go behind it to the mind of God.

Yet, the struggle paid off in a renewed confidence in God and the church (with all her imperfections).

It is normal for young men and women to question their world. It is normal for them to question their parents and ask why a particular belief is held. The injunction in 1 Peter 3:15 to be ready to give a defense applies as much (or perhaps more) to parents as it does to someone witnessing on the street or at work. We need to challenge and be challenged by our children. They should question and parents should have answers.

Yet Scripture provides warnings to parents and church leaders. A pair of Scriptural warnings comes to mind:

Psalm 69:6: “May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts; May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel.”
Matthew 18:6, “but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”

If we are defensive about inconsistencies in what we say we believe and how we act, we send the message that what is said is irrelevant. Parents have a tremendous responsibility to submit themselves to Jesus Christ for the sake of not laying a snare or stumbling block in the path of their children. “Do as I say and not as I do” has never worked well and never will.

We cannot live the Christian life perfectly (I certainly don’t – just ask my kids), yet if it cannot be seen our lives that we are seeking to live it out in dependence and submission to God, then we give up our credibility and become a stumbling block. Psalm 69:6 declares David’s desire to not be a stumbling block. David does not want to dishonor God by tarnishing God’s reputation.

Jesus steps it up a notch or two and tells us that it be better to be killed than to cause a little one to stumble. This is harsh, but it tells us that God takes parenting and church leadership very seriously and so should we.

Parents and church leaders, the best thing we can do for the next generation is to renounce our selfishness and come to meet Jesus at the Cross in humility and submission. We need to confess where we have compromised and seek to recover the ground that was lost. We want to hear the words of Matthew 25:21, “well done good and faithful slave.” We need to live lives that point to the reality of the Gospel.

Discussion: In what areas have we failed the next generation and what can we do about it?

On baskets, bread and the next generation

Posted on June 27, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

The disciples came to Jesus with a problem. Jesus had been followed by a large crowd, they were in the middle of the wilderness and the people were hungry.

The disciples understood the problem but did not have the means to provide and answer. They did not have sufficient perspective or understanding to anticipate the way that God wanted to work in the situation.

The story is recorded in Matthew 14:15-21 where we read that Jesus took five loaves of bread and two fish and multiplied them sufficiently to feed the entire crowd.

Like the disciples, we struggle to get the big picture and often respond within the limitations of our own experience. The danger for 21^st Century church leaders is that we can depend on tried-and-true church forms and think them adequate to solve the problems we see. When they don’t work, we grumble about the Enemy or the hard hearts of the people to which we are reaching out. Yet, like in the feeding of the 5,000, perhaps God wants to work in a different way and we need to cease being an impediment to that work.

When the Barna group reports that 59% of young Christians leave the church, it is time to admit that we are doing something wrong. In my own experience I see that despite good preaching, despite youth retreats, despite frequent youth activities and despite Christian education, many kids have lukewarm connection with the church or have left it entirely. Too few are active and engaged following high school.

Perhaps we have been guilty of trying to manufacture the food ourselves rather than coming to Jesus to provide it. Perhaps we have gotten so caught up in the activities of the church we have lost touch with the central message of the Gospel. Maybe we have become so preoccupied with looking good rather than living well. Perhaps we have been so active that we have allowed distance to creep into our relationship with Jesus. Maybe we’ve been carrying around empty baskets.

All the disciples had to do was carry the baskets; Jesus provided the food. They had two things to do. They had to keep from spilling it and get it to the people. It was not complicated.

Are we carrying baskets full of spiritual food? Are we getting spiritual food to the people who are starving for it? The answer seems to be that we are not if so many are leaving the church.

Like the disciples carrying the baskets, we have two main jobs. We are to love God with our entire beings and love our neighbors as ourselves. One way to look at this is that the love of God is the food and our love of our neighbor is the reason why we carry the food to that neighbor.

I’m not sure of the entire answer to the problem of youth leaving the church, but I suspect that it involves getting our own hearts right before God. If we are indeed following the first great command to love God, then we will have something of value to impart to the next generation.

As Muddy Waters said, “you can’t spend what you ain’t got.”

What do you think? What is it that we need to do to reduce the numbers of youth leaving the church? Please comment below.

5 Tests to assess disciple making in the Church

Posted on June 23, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

The church is called by Jesus Christ to make disciples. How does one assess how well a local church is doing at making disciples?

Quality versus Quantity

Quantity is easy to assess by counting heads on a Sunday morning, but how about quality? How do we assess the quality of the disciples that are being made?

Numbers tell part of the story, but cannot be the only means of assessment. A good preacher and a good worship band will pack the house on Sunday mornings. But there needs to more than 20 to 60 minutes of instruction on a Sunday morning or Wednesday night. Discipleship and growth have to happen in one-on-one meetings, small groups or perhaps even classroom instruction.

No church is doing this perfectly and the point of this exercise is to provide food for thought as to how to identify good discipleship. Toward that end, I thought of 5 ways of assessing how well your church is doing.

1 – Are disciples grounded and ready to give an answer for their hope?

In an increasingly ill-informed and possibly hostile cultural environment, disciples need to be able to explain what they believe and why they believe it (1 Peter 3:15).

Recently there have been some really scary statistics as to the high percentage of teens who leave the church, many of them never returning. I wonder how many of those who leave do so because they have not been properly trained to understand and defend their faith. With proper training, would these teens succumb to attacks from their peers and teachers? If parents have been trained to explain their faith, would the numbers of children who walk away be lowered?

2 – Are disciples growing in their display of the fruit of the spirit?

Even the most mature believer among us will look at Galatians 5:22-23 and reflect on how much improvement is still possible in displaying the fruit of the Spirit. One never arrives, but we should see progress. Do visitors to the church feel loved, see joy, experience patience, etc.? Do the members of the church experience these things from each other? Can you look at people that have come to Christ in your church and see progress in Spiritual fruit being displayed? Is this the norm for people in the body?

3 – Are disciples growing in their ability to understand and explain Scripture ?

Have the disciples been taught the skills they need to rightly understand Scripture (2 Timothy 2:15)? Have they been instructed in using Bible study tools? Have they been given an overview of Scripture so that in reading they can place what they are reading in a proper historical context? Have the disciples been given grounding in the fundamental beliefs of Christianity? Can the disciples explain what they’ve learned and bring others along in the disciple making process?

4 – Are disciples equipped for the work of ministry?

Do disciples have a handle on how they are gifted and how they fit into the body of Christ? Has the leadership of the church helped them with this understanding? Has the leadership equipped them and empowered them to exercise that gift (Ephesians 4:12)? Is spontaneous ministry happening or does the leadership of the church need to coordinate everything that is taking place?

5 – Are disciples turned loose to be lead by the Holy Spirit to build up the church?

If the pastor or the elder board feels the need to approve every Bible study or prayer group that is formed within the body, people are not free to minister. Either God is in control or the church leadership is, there is no middle ground. 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us that the Holy Spirit gives gifts as He sees fit to be used to build the church.

It is a well used phrase, but it applies here: you can’t steer a parked car. If you turn people loose to begin Bible Studies, prayer groups and practical ministries then God can use those people for his glory in a way that the church leadership never could have dreamed.

Leaders, remember that if you reprimand someone (no matter how gently) for doing something without checking with leadership, you are diminishing their initiative. After several thwarted attempts at taking initiative, they will either become passive and wait to be told what to do, or they will leave and find another church. Neither of these results is good for you or the Body of Christ.

These are five that I’ve been thinking about. Can you add to the list? What else can be used to assess the disciple making process? Please comment below.

This little light of mine – Thoughts on Matthew 5:14-16

Posted on June 22, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 3 Comments

#14 in the Sermon on the Mount Series

Matthew 5:14–16 (NASB) — 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

For those of us who grew up in the church, we can easily power through these verses thinking the song “This little light of mine” neatly sums up what they are about. But in thinking about these verses, I would like to make some observations about the source, the nature and the effect of the light.

The source

Light of the Moon — Image provided by Freefoto.com

Jesus tells us that He is “the light of the world” in John 8:12 and John 9:5. If Jesus is the light, how then can we also be the light? The classic analogy is that of the moon and the sun. The moon dominates the night sky with its brightness, but the source of the light is the sun. In the same way, we may be excellent or poor reflectors of the light of Jesus. However in the darkness of night, even a poor reflection may provide sufficient light to be a guide.

Without Jesus and the good news concerning his birth, death, burial and resurrection, we have no light to offer. It is only the gospel of Jesus Christ that can rescue us from the darkness.

The nature

Darkness and light cannot coexist. When I turn on the light, the darkness vanishes. Where there is light there cannot be darkness; the converse is also true. This was true in Jesus’ day and remains true today. Light and darkness cannot be mixed; you have one or the other.

The same is true in the spiritual realm. I can embrace the truth or I can embrace a lie. There is no middle ground. Jesus is the light and truth or he is not. He cannot be “sorta” true. Jesus made some very bold claims about himself, claims that are ridiculous if they are not true. Just consider the “I am” statements in the gospel of John if you would like a taste of those claims.

The effect

It is the nature of light to dispel darkness and when it is given the opportunity to do so, the light of Jesus will dispel the spiritual darkness. He came to light our path to God. When that light shines, men are called to make a choice. We see this in John 3:20-21:

“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

Some prefer the darkness and seek to remain in it. Because light and darkness cannot coexist, to remain in darkness requires a suppression of the light. Should we be then be surprised by the level of animosity that is expressed against believers by those who want nothing to do with God? We should not.

Others move into the light that Jesus provides and move into relationship with God. There is no middle ground. There is no semi-light, no gray (or is it grey, I can never remember). When our deeds are exposed to the light, we can confess them and move toward forgiveness, or we can prefer those deeds and move away from the light.

I remember Chuck Colson once saying that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. This is true because the candle makes the darkness flee. Even a dim light allows sight and movement. We should strive to be the best reflectors of the light of Jesus we can be but even a poor reflection can provide sufficient light to draw men to Jesus.

Three ways we can shine Jesus’ light to those around us

In reflecting upon this, I thought of three ways we can convey the light of Jesus to the world around us:

We can be the light that keeps people from danger – a lighthouse
We can be the light that makes the path forward clear – headlamps on a car
We can be the light that provides comfort in difficulties – fireplace

I am sure there are others. Can you think of some other ways that we can shine the light of Jesus? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.