Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church (link)

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Recently I Tweeted a link to an article that I found helpful:

I thought I would take a few moments and capture some thoughts in response to this article by Jarod Wilson.

First, I would agree with what Jarod lists as three “Marks of Neutrality.” I have been in large churches that had thousands on a Sunday and almost no real body life. In the largest of these churches, one could tell when the main pastor was not preaching because there would be 30 – 50% fewer cars in the parking lot. Too many people were coming to hear a big name preacher and were not coming to experience real fellowship.

My second thought is that to develop the “5 Distinguishing Marks” requires the church leadership to be intentional about all these areas. These marks need to be modeled by the pastoral staff and lay leadership for them to be part of the DNA of a church body. If the leadership is not committed to these, they will not be engendered in the church.

My third, and last, thought is that the six diagnostic questions Mr. Wilson gives at the end of the article are worth asking. If you are a church leader, these would be good to discuss in your next elder board meeting.

These questions present a challenge, especially in the overly-busy 21st Century. To develop these traits takes time. It takes time for the leadership to provide the opportunities for discipleship. It takes time for the disciplers to get trained. It takes time for the disciplers to disciple. Time is the one thing on which most of us continually run short.

No matter how well your church is doing in these areas, there is always room for growth.

For a plant to sustain itself, its root system must be deep enough and strong enough to support the growth. Churches are no different. If we want to sustain the numerical growth, the people that are already there need to be growing deeper in their relationship with God and others.

It doesn’t take very much drought to wilt a plant with weak roots.

On being Job’s friend

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Listen to your friendOne of the lessons to be learned from reading the book of Job is that we should be very careful when counseling someone who is going through a difficulty. Job’s friends felt compelled to give advice to Job which ended up being not very helpful.

I have noticed in Christian circles that there is a subtle pressure to have the correct Bible verse or the perfect prayer for any situation that one encounters. Too often we function as if quoting a verse or offering a prayer will magically wipe away the difficulty.

God is gracious and sometimes does intervene in spectacular ways, but we must remember that it is God that does the work of changing the situation. Our prayer is an intermediate cause at best.

Job’s friends offered Job some measure of truth in what they said, but missed the larger issue.The friends were blinded by their presuppositions about the situation and did not stop long enough to reflect on what Job was saying before they bombarded him with nonsense.

James tells us that we should be quick to hear and slow to speak. A long time ago I was told that I have two ears and only one mouth and I should use them proportionally. This means that I should listen twice as much as I speak.

We cannot know the difficulty someone is in without listening. Any assumptions that we make are likely to be wrong, so we should not assume.

Our world has no need of pat answers. No-one, Christian or otherwise, needs to be bombarded with Bible verses in response to a difficulty.

This is not to say that Scripture does not speak to that difficulty, but what is shared must be shared with wisdom and sensitivity, both of which require that the situation be understood before offering a response.

My takeaway from this is that I should not feel pressure to have a perfect response in every situation. I sometimes struggle to understand my own context and should have no delusions that I am able to fully understand someone else’s situation.

Be real. Be sensitive. But be wise.

Sometimes the best thing to say to a friend is nothing at all.

Quantity versus Quality

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qualityMy guess is that most Christians would agree that reading Scripture is a good thing. The fact that the Bible is a perennial best seller lends credence to this.

But what is the best way to read it? Should I keep to a reading schedule or take a little bit at a time. Do I want to focus on the quantity or the quality of my reading?

There is merit to the idea that we need to take in large chunks of Scripture so that we can get a sense of flow and an overview of the entire Bible. To do this, a plan to read the entire Bible in a one year period seems like a good idea.

The downside to this approach is that too often, I get so caught up in keeping up with the schedule that I miss opportunities for understanding along the way. When I get behind, it is too tempting to hit the little “Catch Up” button in my Bible software and I end up skipping over entire chapters.

It is a little bit like a road trip. I can be so focused on getting to my destination that I don’t notice interesting places along the way.

To help me with this, I have tried a new approach. Rather than using the Bible software in my tablet, which tracks my reading progress and reminds me when I am behind schedule, I am reading out of a paper Bible. I read and I make progress through the entire Bible, but I am on no particular schedule and whether I read a few verses or a few chapters, I do not allow myself to feel pressured to read the whole Bible in a certain time frame.

This has freed me up to stop and meditate on a verse or verses which gives them time to sink into my crowded and sometimes jumbled brain. If given enough time in my brain, they can then begin to affect my will and emotions.

For example, In reading Deuteronomy 10, two verses jumped out at me and I have been stuck on them for a day or two:

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12–13, ESV)

There is a lot here:

  • I am reminded of the time when Jesus identified the two great commands in Matthew 22.
  • I am reminded that love and respect go hand-in-hand. If I do not respect the commands of God, my claim to love him must be called into question.
  • I am reminded that the commands of God are not to thwart my enjoyment of life, but to enhance it. They are not intended for my harm, but for my good.
  • I am reminded that to walk in all his ways requires effort on my part. I need to know them before I can walk in them.

My point is not to dissuade anyone from keeping to a plan. My point is to remind all of us that when Scripture is opened, it must be allowed sufficient exposure to penetrate our lives.

Whether we read a large or short portion is not the issue.

Allowing Scripture to do its work in us is the one and only issue.

C. S. Lewis on going to church

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Case for ChristianityI ran across these paragraphs this evening and thought them too good not to share.

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it was always talking about a Dark Power in the universe – a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin. The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it doesn’t think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it’s a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.

Enemy-occupied territory – that’s what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you’re really listening in to the secret wireless from our friends: that’s why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery. I know someone will ask me, ‘Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil – hoofs and horns and all?’ Well, what the time of day has to do with it I don’t know. And I’m not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is, ‘Yes, I do.’ I don’t claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I’d say to that person, ‘Don’t worry,. If you really want to, you will. Whether you’ll like it when you do is another question.'”

C. S. Lewis in The Case for Christianity.

We are part of the resistance that is thwarting the usurper and church is where we network and get our instruction for proceeding with the campaign. It’s not just a place to meet friends. It is not just a place to hear motivational speeches. It is not just a place drink coffee and chat. Church is a war room where we make plans for the next offensive. It is serious business and no wonder that our Enemy wants to keep us and others away.

Do you want to know the really good news about this?

Jesus tells us that we will win. The gates of Hell cannot withstand our efforts (Matthew 16:18).

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