Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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Why people lie – Infographic

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The infographic below was brought to my attention in response to one of my earlier posts which mentioned lying. I found it interesting so thought that I would share it with you.

From a Christian perspective we know that the answer to the question of “why people lie” can be found in Genesis 3. The result of the first sin was deception and blaming of others. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. The root cause of lying is our severed relationship with God which results in brokenness and alienation from others. In that brokenness and alienation is the drive to present things as being different than they are.

The church should be the one place where triumph over this effect of the Fall should be observed. But often the church is a place where people are less real about who they are. We feign that things are good when they are not. We intentionally mislead people into thinking that we are better than we really are.

Perhaps those of us in the church can look at the infographic below and purpose to be more honest about who we are and where we stand in our spiritual life.

The world does not need false spirituality, it needs Jesus. The only way they will recognize their need of Him is to see the church as a group of people who are honest about who they are and are demonstrating real progress in becoming something better.

As Paul reminds us in Ehesians 4:25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.” As Christians, we know that we cannot do this in our own power. It is God “who is at work in you, both to will and to work for HIs good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)

Abusive Churches

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Abusive ChurchIn an article called Abusive Churches, Pat Zukeran lists eight characteristics of an abusive church. A summary of the characteristics in Pat’s words (bold emphasis added by me) is below:

First, abusive churches have a control-oriented style of leadership. Second, the leaders of such churches often use manipulation to gain complete submission from their members. Third, there is a rigid, legalistic lifestyle involving numerous requirements and minute details for daily life. Fourth, these churches tend to change their names often, especially once they are exposed by the media. Fifth, denouncing other churches is common because they see themselves as superior to all other churches. Sixth, these churches have a persecution complex and view themselves as being persecuted by the world, the media, and other Christian churches. Seventh, abusive churches specifically target young adults between eighteen and twenty-five years of age. The eighth and final mark of abusive churches is the great difficulty members have in getting out of or leaving these churches, a process often marked by social, psychological, or emotional pain.

My point in sharing this is twofold:

  1. I want to encourage church leaders to examine their leadership style against this list and see if there are areas in which repentance and reconciliation should take place.
  2. I want to encourage church members / attenders to examine the church they attend in light of this list. If you find that you are in a church that is described by these characteristics, find a new church.

Compulsion and manipulation should never take place in the body of Christ. Either God is in control of a local body or the leader is. There is no shared control. The leader should always keep in mind that he is an under-shepherd who is responsible to the Master Shepherd. The pastor or elder must never lose sight of the fact that he is leading his peers; we are all equal at the foot of the Cross.

I have been in churches that had several of these characteristics but I have never been in one that had all eight. Even so, I have found that the eighth item listed above is especially true. My experience is that coming out of a church that only had a few of these was indeed a painful process.

Satan is shrewd. If he cannot get us to embrace doctrinal error, he will trip us up with spiritual pride. Those of us who are identified as leaders in the church must be constantly vigilant in watching for pride to creep in. As I see it, pride is the foundation upon which the control and manipulation described above is built.

Leaders who walk in humility and submission to Jesus Christ will not fall into the eight errors listed above.

Giving them reason to blaspheme

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BlasphemeIn Romans 2:24, Paul declares that the name of God was blasphemed among the Gentiles because of the behavior of the Jews. I think that the church in America needs to confess that we have done little better. We need to identify and address the reasons we have given for non-believers to blaspheme the name of God.

The problem

How have we caused non-believers to blaspheme? I believe it is because we seem to gravitate to one of three extremes:

  1. The first, and perhaps most damaging, is what I would call the “frozen chosen.” The good news is that these are people who expend great efforts in studying Scripture and understanding it. However, they go wrong when they then become smug in their doctrine and draw a hard boundary around what they consider right belief. Whether it is intentional or not, these folks pronounce judgment against all those who do not agree with their doctrinal stands. As a result, they stand in condemnation of the surrounding culture. Because of their condemnation, the right answers that they may have from Scripture go unheard by those who desperately need to hear them.
  2. The second group is the hyper Pentecostals or others who take an anti-intellectual stand with regard to belief and practice. These are the ones who would claim, “I don’t have to understand it, I just believe it.” Their faith is real but lacks understanding. As a result, they become out of touch with the surrounding culture and are of limited help when the hard questions get asked. Their anti-intellectual stance reinforces the impression of outsiders that faith is a belief in something despite evidence to the contrary.
  3. The third group includes those who have sought to bring more people into the church by blurring the lines of distinction between the church and surrounding culture. These see the message and mission of the church to be fluid and changeable. For these, the Bible becomes a guideline rather than a standard. They succumb to the ethos of the day and seek to reconcile the Bible with that ethos. These are of little help to the surrounding culture because they are part of it. A drowning man needs a lifeguard and will find little comfort in having someone drown along with him.

The solution

For the church to be what she is called to be, each of these groups needs to repent and return to the words and methodology of Jesus.

  1. The frozen chosen need to return to the Gospel and focus upon it. They need to allow freedom of interpretation in areas where the Bible is not clear. For example, eschatology (the study of last things or prophecy) should not be a distinctive over which Christians should divide. It would be much more productive to focus on the things in which we agree. These need to imitate their Lord in his empathy for the hurting and lost. These need to repent of their pride in superior understanding.
  2. The hyper Pentecostals need to move beyond an emotional response and deepen their understanding of how Jesus Christ answers the questions that the world is asking. These will have to repent of their pride in their exercise of “supernatural” gifts and exuberant worship.
  3. The cultural relativists need to repent of their ignorance of Scripture and the pride in refusing to submit to it.

Before we complain about the culture around us, Peter reminds us that “it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God.” (1 Peter 4:17) We need to get our own house in order so that we can be used by God to impact our culture.

Whose church is it anyway?

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Church-of-the-Resurrection_thumb.jpgIn Matthew 16:18, after Peter makes his inspired confession that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus claims ownership of the church when he says, “upon this rock, I will build my church.”

In Greek, the order of the words can allow for emphasis to be put on one of the words. In this phrase, the emphasis is on the word my. It is Jesus’ church. It is not Peter’s church, nor Paul’s church, nor does it belong to any mega-church pastor or denomination. The church belongs to Jesus. Jesus began the church and he maintains the responsibility for its growth and health.

Below are five implications that can be drawn from Jesus’ ownership of the church.

  1. It is Jesus’ responsibility to build the Church. Yes, good preaching plays a role. A vital youth group can play a role. Exhilarating worship may also play a role, but the ultimate responsibility is on Jesus. It is Jesus that brings people into relationship with himself. We can only make the introduction.
  2. All of the “church building” methodologies should be reexamined for their faithfulness to what Jesus taught us either directly or through the Biblical authors. We should not confuse building attendance with building the church. Gimmicks such as the “Toronto Blessing,” motivational talks in lieu of sermons and trendy worship music may build attendance, but do they build the church? Do they bring people into solid relationship with Jesus Christ?
  3. We need to guard against a cult of personality built around a gifted preacher or teacher. When I lived in Southern California, we attended a congregation pastored by a well known radio preacher. On the Sundays when the preacher was out of town there would be a significant drop in attendance. Is this a healthy church or is it a gathering of consumers who want to get their weekly fix of “spiritual” entertainment?
  4. Pastors need to be careful about assuming too much responsibility for the growth of the flock they lead. As under-shepherds, they rightly feel responsibility to minister to those God brings into their care, but that responsibility should not be an excuse for attempting to control all that goes on in the local congregation. I attended one church where the pastor made all the decisions and gave little freedom for others in the body to be led by God in their ministries. His strangle hold actually inhibited growth by driving away people who understood their own gifting. They moved on to another congregation that valued their gift.
  5. The leaders need to be sensitive to where God is leading the congregation. True Biblical leadership allows for God to orchestrate how the various gifts and talents work together for the building of his church. Even a casual reading of 1 Corinthians 12 or Romans 12 shows that God is the one in control of bringing together the various gifts that are necessary for the health of the local body of Christ.

The church is initiated and maintained by Jesus. Jesus commissions elders and deacons to maintain order and oversee the care of the congregation but they are to do so in a way that is consistent with Jesus’ direction. Jesus is to remain in control.

When that control is wrested from the hands of Jesus, the local congregation becomes less than what it should be. It then becomes a social organization at best and a cult at worst.

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