Attempts at Honesty

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Orthodoxy alone is not enough

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I read this in Center Church by Timothy Keller

“It is, of course, possible to lose the gospel because of heterodoxy. That is, if we no longer believe in the deity of Christ or the doctrine of justification, we will necessarily slide toward relativism. But it is also possible to hold sound doctrine and yet be marked by dead orthodoxy (a spirit of self-righteousness), imbalanced orthodoxy (overemphasis on some doctrines that obscure the gospel call), or even ‘clueless orthodoxy,’ which results when doctrines are expounded as in a theology class but aren’t brought together to penetrate people’s hearts so they experience convection of sin and the beauty of grace. Our communication and practices must not tend toward either law or license. To the degree that they do, they lose life-changing power.”

In other words, it is possible to have an accurate grasp of theology but lose the gospel.

This is certainly not to imply that good theology doesn’t matter. But it does say that good theology is not an end, it is a means. The proper goal of theology is a right relationship with God.

For those of us whose worship traditions place an emphasis on Biblical teaching and preaching, we should ask ourselves if we are caught in dead orthodoxy, imbalanced orthodoxy or clueless orthodoxy as Keller lists them above.

The danger is real and I think there is a fairly simple test to determine how well we are doing.

Are people’s lives being transformed by the teaching/preaching in our church? Do we see vibrant life change in those who come to our fellowship?

For those of us who cannot process things when they are too complicated, Jesus simplified the law to two commands. Love God, love your neighbor.

If we are not helping people progress in fulfilling these two commands, we need to go back and figure out where we strayed.

What is the misery of man’s fallen condition?

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Question 19 - The misery of man's fallen conditionQuestion 19 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the misery of man’s fallen condition?”

The answer given is, “By their fall all mankind lost fellowship with God and brought His anger and curse on themselves. They are therefore subject to all the miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.”

As I read this question, I am reminded that there are parts of Christian teaching that make us uncomfortable. No true believer relishes the idea that there is a real judgment and real people will spend an eternity in torment. This statement is not negated by the existence of some groups  like Westboro Baptist Church who do appear to revel in the pending judgment of others. These groups clearly misunderstand and misrepresent the grace of God and display attitudes that are contrary to the savior they claim to worship.

Jesus, himself, lamented over the unrepentance and hard heartedness of the people of Israel when he said,

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”(Matthew 23:37-39, ESV)

We see all around us the effect of man’s fallen condition. Just watch the evening news where there are stories of death, war, terrorism, abuse, estrangement, exploitation and every other form of evil, in every country on the planet. No governmental system has been successful in eradicating injustice and poverty.

Why is this the case? The catechism teaches us that it is because we have lost fellowship with God as a result of our sin.

Jesus lamented over Jerusalem because they would not understand that Jesus came to fix the breach we made in our relationship with God. In their stubbornness, they could not see that Jesus was the Messiah who came to die for the sins of the world. Please note that I am not singling out the Jews in this. The crucifixion of Jesus came about as a result of the collusion of Jews and Gentiles. The correct answer to the question of “who killed Jesus?” is “we did.” We are all guilty.

But those of us who are in Christ and have accepted his provision for us have had that guilt removed. We are no longer under condemnation (see Romans 8:1). We can begin to rise above the misery of this life and experience joy in our relationship with God.

And we have the opportunity to share that joy with others.

Inward vs. Outward Focus

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FocusChurches can have an inward focus (all about nurturing the members) and/or an outward focus (all about reaching those outside the church). It is my belief that in a healthy church, these two should both be present.

I have been to churches that were so focused on body life that they became ingrown and unfriendly to outsiders. I have been in others that were so focused on bringing in outsiders that there was no plan to bring members into spiritual maturity. Either extreme must be avoided.

I understand that it is difficult to find a balance between reaching outsiders and ministering to insiders. But I am convinced that we need to do both and we need to do both well. The goal that the Apostle Paul gives us in Ephesians 4:13 is that “all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

While we cannot lose sight of reaching out, neither can we lose sight of Christ’s demand of leaders to build up their flock, and to that end, leaders must participate in the “equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:12) It is my hope that as churches look to grow in reach and consequently grow in numbers that we do not lose sight of the need to grow deeper in Christ.

After a wind storm there is plenty of evidence of what happens to a large tree with shallow roots. That shallow rooted tree becomes firewood because the roots cannot keep the tree upright.

Those of us in church need to reach out to our communities. But, we must also have a strategy and a plan to bring that community to maturity in Christ.

It is not an either/or proposition. Jesus called us to the process of making disciples. Making disciples entails more than just getting more people through the doors of the church.

In the book DiscipleShift, the authors ask their readers to assess the disciple making process in their churches:

“. . . attendance, busyness, construction, finances, and programs are not real indications of success. The core question of effectiveness — the question that ultimately matters — is whether the people who are getting saved are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Are we making mature disciples of Jesus who are not only able to withstand the culture but are also making disciples of Jesus themselves?”

Are we making disciples that are also making disciples?

Clowney on spiritual decay

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In reading the opening chapter in The Church by Edmund Clowney, I encountered this paragraph:

“To be sure, if the church rather than Christ becomes the centre of our devotion, spiritual decay has begun. A doctrine of the church that does not centre on Christ is self-defeating and false. But Jesus said to the disciples who confessed him, ‘I will build my church. To ignore his purpose is to deny his lordship. The good news of Christ’s coming includes the good news of what he came to do: to join us to himself and to one another as his body, the new people of God.”

I have been in churches that had a particular end times scenario as their primary focus. I have been in churches that were focused on growth in numbers. I have been in churches that got side tracked by a building program. All of these churches lost their focus on Christ as our primary need and our only hope.

As Clowney points out, when this happens it is a sign of spiritual decay. It is a sign that the leaders of those churches lost sight of their true purpose.

But more importantly, those leaders lost sight of whose responsibility it is to build the church. They  usurped the authority and responsibility of Jesus Christ to build his church his way. When the focus is on “denominational distinctives” or a large building, a subtle form idolatry has crept into the church.

Focusing on denominational distinctives smacks of a marketing strategy to build a brand identity. But Jesus didn’t say that he wants or needs marketing strategists to build his church. He calls his leaders shepherds, not generals.

Jesus told us that he would build the church and all we needed to do was be faithful to him.

We are faithful to him by living out our calling to lives of integrity. We are faithful to him by following his command to make disciples. We are faithful to him by following his example of proclaiming the gospel in a way that is completely gracious and completely truthful.

Jesus will build his church and anything that we do that is not prompted by him or endorsed by him is a sign of spiritual decay as Edmond Clowney reminds us.

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