The Goal of Christian Teaching – Love From a Pure Heart

Posted on July 12, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

Confused About the Goal

In Matthew 22:37-39 and Mark 12:29-31, Jesus tells us that the two great commands are to love God with our entire being and love our neighbors. The concept is simple but the execution is difficult. Only two commands and if we’re honest, we admit that we cannot keep either one of them on our own.

If these are the two great commands, it seems that every time Scripture is taught, every time a sermon is delivered, every time we worship in song, it should encourage us to the fulfillment of these.

Yet, often we miss the opportunity to reinforce these commands in our expressions on a Sunday. We should come away from worship with a burning desire to love as God commands us to love.

The Goal is Love

The Apostle Paul reinforced love as the goal when he wrote to his protégé Timothy. He writes, “the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Timothy 1:5)

The goal, the end game, the desired result, the proof that we have progressed is love. What is the source of that kind of love? The source is a pure heart, a good conscience and sincere faith. Encouraging people to this kind of love should be the goal of every teaching opportunity.

The Path Toward the Goal

From this passage in 1 Timothy, we can see that if our teaching is geared toward developing a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith, that teaching will be in support of the two great commands.

David asks a pair of rhetorical questions in Psalm 24:3, “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?
And who shall stand in his holy place?” His response is found in the following verse where he writes, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” In Psalm 51:10, David cries out to God “create in me a clean heart” after confessing his sin with Bathsheba.

A clean heart, a pure heart is required to love as God wants us to love. I am reminded that in 1 John 1:9 we read, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and confession of our sin, we can have a pure heart.

Romans 5:1 tells us that we are not condemned if we are in Christ Jesus. We can have a good conscience if we are waling in the Spirit (see Galatians 5:16). To be waking in the Spirit precludes any behavior that would tarnish our conscience.

The Greek word translated sincere in this verse means literally without hypocrisy. In other words, the faith that is on display is genuine; what is on the inside matches what is on the outside. I should also point out that the value of faith is dependent upon the object of faith. As a Christian, our faith is dependent upon Christ and the reality of who he is.

Conclusion

While not every sermon should have the two great commands as their subject, every sermon should have the two great commands as their goal. Everything that is said from the pulpit should be evaluated by preacher and pew sitter alike in light of the two commands.

My guess is that if we did a better job of this, our churches and our world might be a lot different than they are.

Why do we make church so complicated?

Posted on July 10, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 9 Comments

Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. Why then do we make church so complicated?

We have programs and activities that would make the average cruise ship activities director envious.

We have men’s groups, women’s groups, singles groups, youth groups, coffee shops, concerts, ministry days, outreach events, the list goes on and on.

I’m not saying that any of these activities are wrong or not helpful. The question is, do we know why we are doing them? Do they serve a purpose or are we doing them because someone, somewhere decided that that is how we do church?

I know that the expectations of church shoppers are quite high and the competition is stiff. If the denominational outlet down the street has a gym, we better think about a building program to keep up. We don’t want to loose the families with athletic kids. If our air conditioning isn’t up to snuff, or the carpet is grungy or the seats are uncomfortable then visitors might not return.

My point is that many of the expectations people have of churches and church staff are not based on the Bible. We have often lost sight of what Jesus said we are to be about in an attempt to meet the perceived needs of the people.

The Church’s overarching mission, per Jesus, is to make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Do our activities help us accomplish this? Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us to encourage each other to love and good works. It seems to me that fulfillment of these two responsibilities requires more personal interaction than the Sunday morning blitzkrieg at the average church will allow. Sure, we can use resources such as gyms and air conditioners to do the work of ministry. But we often frantically do stuff without stopping to determine if progress toward the goal is being made.

In any endeavor, it is easy to mistake activity for progress. I’ve observed this mistake in both business and religious organizations. Gerbils on a wheel are being active. Salmon swimming upstream to spawn are making progress. The difference is whether or not we are arriving where we should be going.

I have observed in churches that while they say they’re all about fellowship, too often people are so busy getting kids to their proper classes and themselves off to their ministry stations that very little fellowship takes place. Church staff are busy plugging ministry holes left by vacationing volunteers so it is difficult to get in much more than a hello. Often we are more like shoppers at the mall checking items off our list than worshipers in fellowship.

Can we slow down this Sunday morning and really say hello to someone? Can we take the time to recognize the person who is barely holding it together? Can we create an environment where it is OK to be not OK? Can we show the breathless world how to rest? Can we be examples of people who know where to find true rest?

If we stop long enough we may discover that the yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden is light.

I don’t have the chutzpah to pick up the first stone

Posted on July 7, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

I have heard it said that chutzpah is illustrated by the man who kills his mother and father and then pleads to the judge to let him off because he is an orphan. In other words, chutzpa is that behavior that knows no self limitation.

This evening a friend sent me a link to a web site which denounced Church A for associating with a man who associates with Group B. The author knows beyond a shadow of doubt that Group B is apostate and therefore Church A must also be apostate because they associate with someone who associates with Group B. I’d give you a link to the web site, but frankly it’s not worth reading.

The author of the web site condemned a whole bunch of people because of who they associate with. There was no indication that those condemned were leading people astray. There was no evidence presented that they were teaching heresy. They were condemned solely on the basis of association.

This reminds me of many of the encounters that Jesus had with the religious purists of his day. They condemned him for hanging out with disreputable people on a regular basis.

I’m not saying that what we believe doesn’t matter. I’m not saying that Scripture isn’t narrow and that the Gospel is not a narrow gate. Yes, Scripture is the truth and any belief that deviates from Scripture should be repented of immediately.

My point is that Jesus, not the self-appointed doctrinal policeman, is the gate-keeper and Jesus will know who is in relationship with him.

Jesus said to the would-be judges of his day, “he who is without sin should cast the first stone.” As I read the judgmental web site this evening, this phrase kept rumbling through my head. Who has the chutzpah to ignore his own sin and condemn someone else? Is that what we are to be about?

Can we stop with the condemnation of others and teach the truth? I know that the author of the web site in question is trying to be helpful. I have every reason to believe that he intends his work to be used to build up the church. Yet to me it seems rather to pull down than to build up.

How much damage does it do to create confusion where it need not be? How harmful is it to call someone’s character into question based on flimsy evidence? It seems to me that these tactics do more harm than good to the body of Christ.

I’ve heard it said that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. Can we agree to teach the Bible without compromise? Can we strive to preach “Jesus Christ and him crucified”, as the Apostle Paul did?

My brother who wrote the article meant to do well but his words and the seeming emotion behind them hurt me. I was not encouraged, I was not built up, nor was I instructed in the truth of Jesus Christ. I was drug through the mud.

And in spite of this type of stuff, we wonder why the world thinks that the church is useless. Shame on us, we should know better.

Jesus said that the world would recognize us by our love. He did not say that the world would recognize us by our doctrinal purity. Love must be the priority.

Already Compromised – What You Should Know About Educating Your Child

Posted on July 4, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

The Opportunity

I have seen some students emerge from Christian colleges with a passion to live for Jesus Christ. I have seen others come away from their learning experience discouraged and disillusioned about their faith.

As a result of this, when given an opportunity to read Already Compromised on the condition that I do a review of the book, I jumped at the chance.

The Problem

The book begins with a bunch of statistics. These are intended to provide the basis for the remainder of the discussion. If you are not one who enjoys statistics (I am in this camp), press on, the effort will be worth it.

The statistics show that many Christian colleges have begun the process of compromise on critical issues of Christian belief. Further, they show that leaders of these institutions are not always in agreement with faculty with regard to these issues. In response to the statistics, I have to quote Sam Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings, “There’s an eye-opener, and no mistake.” The statistics will cause you to sit up and take notice.

The authors make a good case that many colleges and universities that claim to be Christian are on a trajectory that will result in the spiritual decline that the Ivy League schools experienced in previous generations. When faculty and leadership of a school abandon a firm commitment to the inspiration and authority of Scripture, when that school seeks to compromise with a naturalistic worldview, when academic credibility is valued above Scriptural authority, compromise will result.

Consider this quote from Chapter 2:

The Central issue is this: as Christian leaders it is time to face the issue of just how committed we will be to the authority of Scripture. It is also time to answer to the Church for this problem. It is time to realize that it is possible to hurt young minds. With vigilance we must work to put our young people in classes taught by professors who are committed believers, who even though they might require students to think and develop their own faith, will not compromise Christian truth and exchange it for a liberalism or unbelief that breaks faith instead of building it.”

One of the best tests of belief in the inspiration and authority of the Bible is how the opening chapters of Genesis are understood and taught. Too many of the seminaries and graduate schools which are training Bible teachers have allowed a flawed view of science to distort their understanding of these foundational chapters.

The Solution

The solution begins by understanding why the Church’s influence has been reduced and then take steps to reversing the trend. The authors outline three reasons why we have lost our influence.

We have abdicated our position in the battle for the mind
We have twisted the message of the Gospel to make it unattractive
We have morphed the Christian message into one of personal preference and happiness

Parents, church leaders and Christian educators need to step up and begin the process of training children at an early age how to think within a Christian world view. Children need to be trained to know their Bibles and how Scripture speaks to the issues they face in the world today. Believers of all ages should be taught how to defend their faith when challenged by anti-Christian world views.

Parents have the additional responsibility of seeking out educational institutions that will build rather than destroy the faith of their children. We, as parents, need to spend the time to understand not only the stated philosophy of the school, but how well the instructors within the school follow that philosophy.

The Book

I recommend this book for any Christian parent, not only those who are actively considering colleges for their child. Church leaders, especially those who are making decisions with regard to children and youth ministries would also benefit.

There is much to chew on in this book and I plan on reading it again.

If you would like to purchase the book, there are live links above. Also, additional useful information can be found at www.creationcolleges.org.

A list of the colleges interviewed for this book can be found by clicking here.

Check out the Christian Post Article about this book.

For the record, there were no stipulations as to what I could or should write in review of this book. The book was given to me with only one condition; that was to write a review of the book on this blog. This post is the fulfillment of that one condition.