The sin of silence and what to do about it

Posted on December 23, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 4 Comments

Recently, a friend handed me a CD on which were written the words “The in of silence.” When he gave it to me, he informed me that it was a sermon and that I would be challenged by it. Perhaps he identified the speaker on the CD when he gave it to me. If so, I wasn’t listening well and did not catch the name. I have no idea about the identity of the speaker.

Some of the things that the speaker said made me think that the audience was made up of pastors. I assume that the speech was delivered at a pastor’s conference or some such event.

I was challenged by the speaker; it was a very powerful message. In it, the speaker built a case that unless the preachers in America start speaking out against the moral decline in our culture, they will have to face the regret of having missed an opportunity. He drew from the experience of German pastors who failed to speak out during the Nazi’s rise to power in the 1930’s.

When the systematic persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany started happening, most of the German church remained silent and turned a blind eye to the atrocities; they committed the sin of silence.

The call to action in the message was that American pastors need to clearly present what Scripture has to say about current cultural norms without fear of what might happen. Issues such as abortion, militant homosexuality, redefinition of marriage, devaluation of marriage and the breakdown of the family should be strongly addressed. Yes! I agree with this, we need to be strong in our proclamation of what Scripture says on these topics.

Here is my concern. Too often, when Pastors have spoken out on these issues, the tone is one of unloving judgment. The message is lost or rendered ineffective behind the anger and condemnation.

I want to remind myself and my readers that we need to use Jesus as our example. In the Gospels, the only harsh words recorded as coming from Jesus were reserved for the religious leaders and those who sought material gain from religious observance. We do not see Jesus spewing words of condemnation on the people who did not know better. To them he simply proclaimed the truth while healing their diseases and meeting their physical needs.

I recently did a study of the letter to the church in Ephesus as recorded in Revelation 2:1-7. This church was doctrinally correct and did indeed speak out against the pagan culture around it. The Ephesians stood strong against those who would lead people into moral chaos. Yet, Jesus had one condemnation against that church. They had left their first love. They has allowed their love of God to decline.

While I agree that the church in America needs to step up and boldly proclaim what Scripture has to say about the moral issues of our day, we need to so so after we return to our first love.

It is possible to be morally and doctrinally correct and be spiritually dead. The world around us will not accept our morality or our doctrine until it accepts our Jesus. We need to return to him with our whole being if we really want to impact our culture. We cannot expect the world to believe our message about Jesus if we don’t live as he did. We cannot impact our culture unless we love the people as Jesus did.

We must return to our first love.

The balance between worship, service and fellowship

Posted on December 3, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

The Balance

For a church to be healthy, each believer must have opportunity to participate in worship, service and fellowship.

Some definitions are in order. First, when I refer to worship, I am speaking of the activities of the congregation when we come together on Sunday morning. We worship through singing and the teaching of Scripture. Both are important. Yet, a good worship experience cannot be the only aspect of church life. A great teacher and worship band may draw a crowd, but it is the addition of service and fellowship that make it a church.

Service is the acts that are done within and outside the church body to minister to specific needs. An example of service within the body would be teaching Sunday school or working on a cleaning team. Service outside the body would be typified by short term missions, or providing meals or clothing to people having physical needs. Service alone makes for a charitable organization but not a true church.

Fellowship is when members of the body share life together. When the church group starts to feel like family, then we are nibbling at the fringes of true fellowship. Yet fellowship without worship and service makes for a clique, not a church.

When one side is atrophied

If we are not coming together for singing, praise and teaching, then the church body will be fragmented and struggle to find unity. Fellowship may happen, but it will not be centered around a common vision for what God is doing in that church body.

If the acts of service are minimized, the church will become ingrown and proud in it’s attitude toward the community in general and newcomers in particular. This is a Christianity that is self serving and smug.

If we are worshipping and serving without real fellowship, then the saints will advance from feeling unappreciated to feeling abused. People will come and then drift away when they do not find the interaction that they feel should typify the true church.

In my experience of evangelical Christianity, it is the fellowship leg of the triangle that seems to suffer the most. Evangelical, Bible centered churches understand the need for good teaching and worship on Sundays. Even a cursory reading of Scripture prescribes the need for service, so opportunities to serve abound. Fellowship is a different story.

Home group Bible studies, home fellowship groups, adult fellowships, koinonia groups, etc. may be the beginning of fellowship, but they cannot be the total solution. Fellowship is not something that can be arranged with a program.

Toward Deeper Fellowship

If we are in need of deeper fellowship, how do we go about finding that depth? Here are some thoughts:

In John 13:35 Jesus tells us that love is to be the defining mark of the Christian. If there is resentment or division in the church, those who are participating in that behavior need to repent and be restored to the opponent.
Keep in mind that while there may be different roles in the Church, there are no differences in value. (Galatians 3:28) Everyone is to be valued, not for their giftings or accomplishments, but for the fact that Jesus sacrificed himself on their behalf.
In Matthew 25:41 Jesus tells us that by responding to the needs of those who have no resources, it is as if we ministered directly to Jesus. By seeking to support, encourage and meet the emotional and spiritual needs of or church mates, we are ministering to Jesus.
Each of us, no matter how strong we seem now, will come to a place where we will be needy. Since Christmas is upon us, the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” comes to mind. George Baily came to the point where he needed the community into which he had invested so much of his energy. It was there for him. So should the church be.

This certainly is not an exhaustive list. Any other ideas out there? Feel free to chime in with comments.

On the difference between a hireling and a shepherd

Posted on November 16, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 9 Comments

In John 10:12–13 Jesus is quoted as saying the following about the difference between a hired hand and a shepherd:

“The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.” (NIV)

What is the primary difference between a hireling and a shepherd according to Jesus? The primary difference is their motivation for tending the sheep. The hireling does it for his own benefit and the shepherd does it for the benefit of the sheep.

When tending the sheep no longer benefits the hireling, he is nowhere to be found and leaves the sheep scattered and unprotected.

In contrast, the shepherd stands in when things get tough and does what his can to protect and care for the sheep.

I have known of “pastors” who have worked the church job market the way that some seek to climb the “corporate ladder.” A true shepherd doesn’t start with a small congregation and then seek to find an opportunity at a larger church so that he can be more comfortable or improve his lifestyle.

Sure, God can call men to change and grow in their responsibilities, but it must be God directed and God focused for this to be a true calling. If God is behind the change, it will be good for both the former church and the new church. If the change is prompted by the desires of a hireling, the former church will feel as though it has been left in the lurch.

Speaking as a sheep, I want a pastor who has a sense of calling, who ministers because he cannot do anything else without violating who he is, and who is in ministry for the long haul, no matter how difficult it gets.

How can you identify the hirelings? It is not always easy since the hirelings are often very good at appearing spiritual and self effacing.

I think that Ephesians 4:11-12 provides some insight to help distinguish between hirelings and shepherds. These verses tell us that the goal of church leadership should be the “equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

If a pastor is seeking to control the congregation, if he is the center of all the activity, if he maintains his place in the spot light, you might find that he is a hireling and not a shepherd.

On the other hand, a shepherd will be seeking to develop the gifts in his congregation, he will be feeding them from Scripture, he will focus on equipping the congregation to fulfill the mission of the church. He will then turn them loose to do the work of ministry. His focus is on the sheep and their development, not on his own position as leader.

In the end, it comes down to motivation. If you are a sheep, ask yourself is your pastor is working for the benefit of the congregation. If the answer is no, then move on and find a true shepherd. Staying under the leadership of a hireling will not be to your benefit.

If you are a pastor, ask yourself the same question. If you are pastoring primarily because you need a job, save all of us a lot of grief and go get a job outside the church. You’ll probably make more money and the collateral spiritual damage will be greatly reduced.

Life on the wheel – 5 reasons why your church calendar is out of control and what to do about it

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

A pastor friend recently referred to the sum of all the activities at his church as “the wheel.” Hearing him say this, a vision of a large hamster wheel came to mind.

There often is a sense in a church body that things need to happen and that everyone needs to pitch in to keep the wheel turning. We have programs that need to be staffed, teaching times, activities, concerts and meetings. Every day of the week has opportunities for people to be involved in some church activity.

At some point, it becomes exhausting and people settle for activity in place of relationship because it seems to be expected of them.

The point of this post is to look at why we fill up the schedules and work people to the point of exhaustion and the talk about what to do about it. We add programs and ministries because we think we must. As a result, we fall into the trap of busyness. I can think of five reasons why churches fall into this trap:

Expectations of People coming from other churches– They have expectations of what it means to “do church.” They evaluate a new church based on whether or not their favorite ministry is done at that church. If enough people express this expectation, then the leadership may feel pressured into providing that ministry.
The church program du jour– Church strategists tell us that this or that program will draw in the un-churched and will promote growth. The experts sometimes promote programs intended to attract a different demographic than currently attends. Remember the fad of adding a “contemporary” worship service to attract or keep a younger demographic?
Desire to be or appear spiritual– If I am doing spiritual things, it means that I am spiritual doesn’t it? We can fool ourselves into thinking that we are indispensible to God’s program and work ourselves to death trying to accomplish what God can do by simply speaking it into existence.
The need to be needed– Similar to #3, we can fall into the trap of needing to be needed which results in the desire to be available 24/7 to do anything that needs to be done, regardless of calling or gifting.
Lack of a clear vision to God’s calling – Without a clear vision of what God is calling me to do, I am subject to being pulled in many directions, some of which God never intended for me to go.

Let’s be honest for a moment and face the fact that at one time or another each of us is drawn toward one of these traps. Expectations, tradition and a false sense of importance each has a strong pull. It does not require much thought to just do what you think is expected of you. I can easily do church activities because that is “how it is done” based in my prior church experience. This same thoughtlessness can happen in a group like a local church.

A wise man once said:

The man who knows how to do something will likely always have a job, but he will work from the man who knows why he should do it.

Strong leaders, who will be especially vital to lead the church through the 21st Century, need to resist these pulls to busyness. We need to ask the question of why we are doing the things we do. We need to seek God to determine if He thinks these things are necessary.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 28:19-20 that the mission of the church is to make disciples. This mission should be the “why” behind every activity of the church. Making disciples is a relational business. The Apostle Paul repeatedly endorses the concept of imitation as the means of raising up disciples (see 1 Thess. 1:6, 1 Thess. 2:14, 2 Thess. 3:7-9, 1 Cor. 4:16, 1 Cor. 11:1, Eph. 5:1 and Phil. 3:17). Imitation implies repeated contact which implies relationship. We are called to be in fellowship and body life so that this imitation can take place.

If people in the church are experiencing burn-out; if some leave the church because they did not feel connected; if it is becoming increasingly hard to staff church ministries, then your church has a bad case of busyness caused by doing replacing relationship.

The fix for busyness is to step off the wheel and begin asking ourselves why we have each activity and asking God to show the real result. We need to have the discipline to drop the activities that are not producing healthy disciples. We need to do a gut check and be honest about how relational our church is and whether we are laying a foundation of love and fellowship on which the good work can be based.

We must be people oriented and not program oriented. Church programs were made for man, not man for the church programs.