Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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How well do you shepherd your flock?

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Shepherd with Sheep
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In judgment of the Nation of Israel, God said this through the prophet Zechariah:

“For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. ‘Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock!’” (Zechariah 11:16–17a, ESV)

In this verse-and-a-half, we are giving a list of the qualities of a bad shepherd. This is one who is worthy of judgment because he:

  • does not care for those being destroyed
  • does not seek the young
  • does not heal the maimed
  • does not nourish the healthy
  • devours the fat sheep.

Those of us who have been identified as church leaders should take note of this list. We have an opportunity to do things differently. Looking at the list above, some questions come to mind.

  • Do we care about those in our community that have not yet heard the truth about Jesus Christ?
  • Do we actively reach out to those who are outside of our fellowship?
  • Do we encourage young people to engage with us over spiritual matters?
  • Do we have a vibrant youth ministry or are we just going through the motions?
  • Do we monitor our track record for young people remaining in the church after they go off to college?
  • Do we effectively minister to those who come to our church hurt by life’s trials? Or do we heal the wound superficially by pressuring them to cover it up?
  • Do we nourish the healthy people in our congregation by giving them opportunities to grow in their understanding and ministry?

On the negative side, we must also ask ourselves if we are devouring the fat sheep. Are we using up the strong people in our congregations by giving them more to do without providing a nurturing environment where they can find refreshment? Church burnout is a real thing.

Honesty requires the admission that we don’t do any of these perfectly. Inability to do them perfectly does not relieve us of the responsibility to keep them in mind and humbly seek God for strength and wisdom to improve in these areas.

All of the items in the list above are related to the second great command to love my neighbor. A list like this is helpful because it reminds me that to love my neighbor, I have to get to know him and know what is going on in his life.

To do all of this, I have to get my focus off myself and become increasingly aware of the people around me.

Racism, Christians and the NFL – For what it’s worth . . .

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Time To Listen
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I realize that I am late to this conversation, but recently I was in conversation with some folks who are so angry about the National Anthem protests that they will not watch their favorite teams but will only follow the score via the internet. So I felt the need to speak out in response.

This post is primarily aimed at those of us who call ourselves Christians, but it may have wider application.

My concern is that with all the calls for boycotts, protests and other angry responses, we can lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with real people, not just concepts.

I have not lived in Colin Kaepernick’s shoes, I have no idea what it is like to be him. I also really can’t know what motivated him to take the stand that he took. I don’t fully agree with how he went about his protest but he felt it was important enough to take a stand. This post is not intended to condone or condemn Mr. Kaepernick’s actions.

My point is that Colin Kaepernick is a human being with what I assume to be a normal distribution of fears, aspirations, likes and dislikes. As a Christian, I know him to be in the imago dei and therefore is deserving of the same respect we should show to any member of the human race. Much of the rhetoric that I have heard about Colin’s protest shows neither respect or compassion for him.

To my knowledge, Colin has committed no crime, nor has he advocated anything that would cause social anarchy. A Google search on Colin’s name turned up a link to his web site which is intended to fight oppression. Sure, the devil is in the details, but oppression is worth fighting. Whether you agree with his methods or not, it seems as though the goal is a worthy one.

My plea is this: can we stop the shouting on social media long enough to listen? How different would the world be if we asked questions instead of making assumptions.

Does the perceived disrespect of the flag, warrant the disrespect of a human being? (Tweet This)

On the other hand, can we stop with applying the racist label to anyone who disagreed with the method of protest? Not everyone who disagreed with Colin are closet racists.

As Christians, we know that all of us are deeply flawed. We all carry the seeds of oppression inside of us. The root of pride, lust, violence and hatred is in each of us. That’s the bad news and is part of the gospel message.

Those of us who have this understanding of the human condition should be the most tolerant of it in others.

The good news is that Christ, the one whose name we bear when we call ourselves Christian, came to take the penalty for our flaws and provide the means for those flaws to get addressed.

Rather than fueling the divide between people, Christians should be at the forefront of those who are trying to bring peace and reconciliation. Listening before sharing opinions, would be a good start toward bringing this about.

Christian on Christian crime

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Crime
Copyright: 72soul / 123RF Stock Photo

In his multi-volume work on church history, Philip Schaff wrote this:

Besides being assailed from without by the followers of false religions, the church suffers also from intestine wars and violence. Witness the religious wars in France, Holland, and England, the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, all of which grew out of the Protestant Reformation and the Papal Reaction; the crusade against the Albigenses and Waldenses, the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition, the massacre of the Huguenots, the dragonnades of Louis XIV., the crushing out of the Reformation in Bohemia, Belgium, and Southern Europe; but also, on the Protestant side, the persecution of Anabaptists, the burning of Servetus in Geneva, the penal laws of the reign of Elizabeth against Catholic and Puritan Dissenters, the hanging of witches and Quakers in New England. More Christian blood has been shed by Christians than by heathens and Mohammedans. (emphasis added)

The last line really hit me. “More Christian blood has been shed by Christians . . .” is a terrible legacy and something that we need to face honestly.

Granted, this was written in the late 1800’s, before the totalitarian states in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have attempted eradication of Christian belief. So perhaps the last statement in the quote above is no longer technically true.

But this highlights one of the secrets of the church that we should be open and honest about. That secret is that membership in the church does not immediately fix all of our problems.

Let’s set aside the issue that not everyone who claims to be a Christian is actually in relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jesus himself told us that many who claim relationship with him will be turned away in the end (Matthew 7:21-23). We might offer the excuse that much of the Christian on Christian crime was perpetrated by those who were not true believers.

But, to face this issue in a serious manner requires that we look at our own behavior and acknowledge our own failures, even if those failures to not actually end in the death of another believer.

Our failures include so called “discernment ministries” that destroy the reputations of pastors and leaders without any attempt at reconciliation and restoration. Our failures include turning non-essential Christian doctrines into spiritual litmus tests for orthodoxy and pronouncing anathema upon those who disagree. Our failures include any and every attempt to appear more holy than we really are. Our failures include a long list of ways that we do not live up to what we claim to believe.

We may not have literally shed the blood of other Christians, but as Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount, it is the intent, not the result that makes us guilty. Stopping short of murder does not relieve us of the sin of inappropriate anger (see Matthew 5:21-26).

A proper reading of Scripture reveals that we (collectively and individually) have much to repent for. It turns out that we are not better than the culture around us. Our mess stinks just as much as everyone else’s.

But this highlights the beauty of the Gospel. We are accepted because of the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ, not on the basis of our own obedience.

We are failures, but God loves failures.

So rather than revel in (and gossip about) the failures of others, it seems that we should be honest about our own. We might then have an opportunity to point to Jesus as the one who accepts us as we are.

A prayer for today

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This morning, I have been reading the opening chapters of With Christ in the School of Prayer, by Andrew Murray. In it, I found this prayer and thought I would share it (I hope that the King James English does not detract from the content):

“Blessed Lord! who ever livest to pray, ‘Thou canst teach me too to pray, me too to live ever to pray. In this Thou lovest to make me share Thy glory in heaven, that I should pray without ceasing, and ever stand as a priest in the presence of my God.

Lord Jesus! I ask Thee this day to enroll my name among those who confess that they know not how to pray as they ought, and specially ask Thee for a course of teaching in prayer. Lord! teach me to tarry with Thee in the school, and give Thee time to train me. May a deep sense of my ignorance, of the wonderful privilege and power of prayer, of the need of hte Holy Spirit as the Spirit of prayer, lead me to cast away my thoughts of what I think I know, and make me kneel before Thee in true teachableness and poverty of spirit.

And fill me, Lord, with the confidence that with such a teacher as Thou art I shall learn to pray. In the assurance that I have as my teacher, Jesus, who is ever praying to the Father, and by His prayer rules the destinies of His Church and the world, I will not be afraid. As much as I need to know of the mysteries of the prayer-world, Thou wilt unfold for me. And when I may not know, Thou wilt teach me to be strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Blessed Lord! Thou wilt not put to shame Thy scholar who trusts Thee, nor, by Thy grace, would he Thee either. Amen.”

It seems to me that Christians, as a group, would be better served to spend more time in prayer and less time using social media as an outlet for verbal hand wringing.

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