Ron Luce
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. - John 10:14
A quiet time is an intimate, face-to-face, heart-to-heart connection with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. It's the time when you actually build your relationship with Jesus. Specifically, it is a time for you to get up every day and read the Bible and pray and get closer to Him.
A lot of people say to think to themselves: "I prayed a prayer, but I don't feel closer to God; or I felt really close to God when I was at that retreat or camp, but now I don't feel very close to Him."
You're not going to feel close to anybody if you're not spending time with them.
If you were married and didn't spend time with your spouse, the two of you would not grow any closer. Actually, you would move farther and farther apart.
A quiet time is an expression of your commitment to be a true follower of Christ. It's as if you're saying, "Lord, I'm going to make sure that I don't accidentally get farther and farther away from You. In fact, I'm going to use this time to get closer and closer to You.
I'm going to use it as a time to get fed by You and to get filled up with You and to understand more of You." Before you do anything else, start your day with God. Talk to Him, seek Him in His Word and pray through your day. Make it your top priority.
Maybe you've never had a quiet time with God before. Start thinking about what kind of quiet time you want to have and where you want to have it. Think about what time you need to get up in order to have enough time to read your Bible and pray before you start your day with the world.
Your personal relationship with God is the dynamite that it will take to effect this generation. You will begin to spread the gospel as your character becomes like Christ. This transformation process can only happen in direct relationship with Christ.
The more we know Jesus, and look like Him, the easier it will be to lead people to him.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Don't Go It Alone
By Che Ahn
Without transparent friendships, ministers are dangerously vulnerable.
Our world values independence. "Making it on your own" is the "highest achievement," and depending on others is viewed as weakness. That's far from a kingdom mentality.
God, the consummate Being who could run the show alone, valued relationship so highly that apart from the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Father does nothing—and vice versa. The original picture of ideal interdependence is modeled in the Godhead itself.
As a young believer, some of the earliest teachings I heard were about accountability and being "in covenant." Although some believers have shipwrecked on these concepts through wrongful control, these truths, in balance, are vital.
I wonder how the many leaders who have fallen from grace in the last 10 or 15 years would have fared if had they had a close, wise ear to talk to and a kind heart to glean from, or a small group of covenant peers to offer safe counsel.
Christian leaders face closer scrutiny than the average person. The Bible warns that those who teach "shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). We see such judgment daily in the media. We are often open targets to anyone except a just Savior. That's why I believe those in ministry—perhaps more than any other field—desperately need transparent, effective friendships and means of accountability.
God designed us for relationship—first with Him, and then with each other. Our success is exponentiall when paired with each other: If one can put 1,000 to flight; then two can put 10,000 to flight (see Deut. 32:30).
In contrast, the Bible says that "he who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment" (Prov.18:1). We become dangerously vulnerable without healthy and insightful relationships.
Our busy schedules make it hard to maintain close contact with others. But such shared time is not a luxury; it is a necessity and a protection. Whatever time we spend deepening trusted friendships is an investment more precious than riches.
I encourage you to seek safe and open relationships on two levels. The first is for your personal growth, edification and safety. The second is for that of your ministry. Webster's dictionary defines safe as "free from damage or the risk of damage; giving protection, trustworthy, prudent." We can all use that kind of protection!
On a personal level, my close, covenant friendships are irreplaceable. We are charged to "submit ourselves to one another" (Eph. 5:21, NIV). Doing so provides both safeguards and insights we lack alone. I believe accountability is a part of that submission. It means we are open to being called into account, and we are willing to present or defer to others as appropriate for decisions and counsel in our lives.
On a corporate or ministry level, I believe God created the apostolic realm of the fivefold ministry to provide a safe place of corporate submission to best encourage the growth of His church. There is a very clear blueprint of this plan in the New Testament. I believe apostolic alignment is key to healthy growth, direction and provision. Just like the solo person, a "solo church" is dangerously poised.
If these areas need shoring up in your life, seek God and establish these foundations. I'm confident you'll treasure the results.
Without transparent friendships, ministers are dangerously vulnerable.
Our world values independence. "Making it on your own" is the "highest achievement," and depending on others is viewed as weakness. That's far from a kingdom mentality.
God, the consummate Being who could run the show alone, valued relationship so highly that apart from the Holy Spirit and Jesus, the Father does nothing—and vice versa. The original picture of ideal interdependence is modeled in the Godhead itself.
As a young believer, some of the earliest teachings I heard were about accountability and being "in covenant." Although some believers have shipwrecked on these concepts through wrongful control, these truths, in balance, are vital.
I wonder how the many leaders who have fallen from grace in the last 10 or 15 years would have fared if had they had a close, wise ear to talk to and a kind heart to glean from, or a small group of covenant peers to offer safe counsel.
Christian leaders face closer scrutiny than the average person. The Bible warns that those who teach "shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). We see such judgment daily in the media. We are often open targets to anyone except a just Savior. That's why I believe those in ministry—perhaps more than any other field—desperately need transparent, effective friendships and means of accountability.
God designed us for relationship—first with Him, and then with each other. Our success is exponentiall when paired with each other: If one can put 1,000 to flight; then two can put 10,000 to flight (see Deut. 32:30).
In contrast, the Bible says that "he who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment" (Prov.18:1). We become dangerously vulnerable without healthy and insightful relationships.
Our busy schedules make it hard to maintain close contact with others. But such shared time is not a luxury; it is a necessity and a protection. Whatever time we spend deepening trusted friendships is an investment more precious than riches.
I encourage you to seek safe and open relationships on two levels. The first is for your personal growth, edification and safety. The second is for that of your ministry. Webster's dictionary defines safe as "free from damage or the risk of damage; giving protection, trustworthy, prudent." We can all use that kind of protection!
On a personal level, my close, covenant friendships are irreplaceable. We are charged to "submit ourselves to one another" (Eph. 5:21, NIV). Doing so provides both safeguards and insights we lack alone. I believe accountability is a part of that submission. It means we are open to being called into account, and we are willing to present or defer to others as appropriate for decisions and counsel in our lives.
On a corporate or ministry level, I believe God created the apostolic realm of the fivefold ministry to provide a safe place of corporate submission to best encourage the growth of His church. There is a very clear blueprint of this plan in the New Testament. I believe apostolic alignment is key to healthy growth, direction and provision. Just like the solo person, a "solo church" is dangerously poised.
If these areas need shoring up in your life, seek God and establish these foundations. I'm confident you'll treasure the results.
Tongues 101
By Jack Hayford
The church needs to look at tonges as a gift, not as a cause for endless theological debate.
It's been five years since this page contained a column titled, "Why Bother About Tongues?" In it, I wasn't suggesting we not bother, but that we acknowledge the significant number of pastors who do, in fact, see tongues as "a bother." I described my own private practice of daily praying and worshiping—singing and speaking with both "the spirit," and also "with the understanding," as Paul affirmed of his own practice in 1 Corinthians 14:15.
Now I stand on the brink of entering my 52nd year of pastoral ministry, and I still lament the entrapment into which many sincere leaders fall when tongues are discussed. It's called the "initial physical evidence doctrine," or the dogma that asserts (with biblical justification) that if a person has truly received the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, the sign confirming that experience will be that he or she "speaks with tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance" (Acts 2:4, NKJV).
The entrapment, as I describe it, is that equally sincere leaders argue there is equal evidence in the Bible of people being filled with the Holy Spirit without mention of their speaking with tongues. Of course they are correct, which has led to a century-long debate that has driven the focus on when people are filled with the Spirit instead of whether or not they are being filled (as Ephesians 5:18 exhorts). Further, it traps all caught in this doctrinal snare into debating the necessity of speaking in tongues as a proof, rather than examining the blessings of praying with tongues as a benefit or resource.
While I have never opposed the initial physical evidence doctrine, neither have I felt I was charged by God to be a judge and decry the testimony of anyone who said they had been filled with the Holy Spirit but had not—or not yet—spoken with tongues. So while I have always practiced, taught and led people to expect to speak with tongues when they are "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (see John 1:33; Acts 1:5), I have urged that expectation as a welcoming of the Spirit's enablement to enlarge my worship of God Almighty. The result has been that at least 80 percent of the members of the congregation I serve have received the blessing of tongues.
Perhaps the best thing about this approach is that it doesn't encourage the idea that the first experience of speaking with tongues is a climax. Rather, it is seen as a commencement into an abiding practice, not a seal of evidence for a required proof. I have sought to show thousands of pastors and other leaders how to lead people toward this fulfilling entrance to the fullness, flow, liberty and language of the Spirit of God.
So this springtime—at the 101st annual observance of the birth of that remarkable, earthshaking awakening called the Azusa Street Revival, I want to offer three possible resources to pastors interested in this ministry.
The first is The Spirit and the Glory, an 80-minute DVD in which I provide introductory instruction and guidance for believers desiring to receive the fullness of the Spirit. It can be ordered through jackhayford.com.
The second is "A Brief on 'Tongues' and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit." Thousands of pastoral leaders have used this resource to help communicate an even-handed yet biblically passionate pursuit of ministering this truth to people in a way that becomes fruitful, non-divisive and empowering to their personal life of prayer and service. It is also at jackhayford.com and is free of charge.
The third is The Beauty of Spiritual Language, a book presented in a manner that has found a welcome among leaders in every denominational environment. It's still in circulation more than 10 years after its initial release. It can be ordered through conventional outlets.
I want to encourage—at the very least—that pastors explore the matter. I cannot believe the Holy Trinity was dabbling in providing a spectator-sport by "allowing" so dramatic an exhibition as took place in Acts. Since Christ introduced this grace of spiritual language, and caused all who were present to experience it on the day He was introducing His church at its birth, it seems dubious the phenomenon of speaking with tongues was meant to be a one-time curiosity, an endlessly inflammatory debate, or a flamboyant display of heavenly showmanship to impress a crowd.
If the Bible is clear on anything, speaking with tongues is a heaven-designed benefit. Interestingly, Paul is the primary advocate of tongues-speaking as a devotional resource for one's private prayer life. So, after his model, my dealing with the subject is in no way a quest to see the triumph of a doctrine. Rather, it is to see the blessing of congregations with a growing band of people who graciously, unpretentiously and faithfully "pray with the spirit and ... also pray with the understanding." Such a church will be blessed in a way Jesus intended His own to know. And such people will be enabled for worship and intercessory prayer in a way that can enhance every disciple and expand each of our prayer lives.
The church needs to look at tonges as a gift, not as a cause for endless theological debate.
It's been five years since this page contained a column titled, "Why Bother About Tongues?" In it, I wasn't suggesting we not bother, but that we acknowledge the significant number of pastors who do, in fact, see tongues as "a bother." I described my own private practice of daily praying and worshiping—singing and speaking with both "the spirit," and also "with the understanding," as Paul affirmed of his own practice in 1 Corinthians 14:15.
Now I stand on the brink of entering my 52nd year of pastoral ministry, and I still lament the entrapment into which many sincere leaders fall when tongues are discussed. It's called the "initial physical evidence doctrine," or the dogma that asserts (with biblical justification) that if a person has truly received the baptism or infilling of the Holy Spirit, the sign confirming that experience will be that he or she "speaks with tongues as the Spirit gives them utterance" (Acts 2:4, NKJV).
The entrapment, as I describe it, is that equally sincere leaders argue there is equal evidence in the Bible of people being filled with the Holy Spirit without mention of their speaking with tongues. Of course they are correct, which has led to a century-long debate that has driven the focus on when people are filled with the Spirit instead of whether or not they are being filled (as Ephesians 5:18 exhorts). Further, it traps all caught in this doctrinal snare into debating the necessity of speaking in tongues as a proof, rather than examining the blessings of praying with tongues as a benefit or resource.
While I have never opposed the initial physical evidence doctrine, neither have I felt I was charged by God to be a judge and decry the testimony of anyone who said they had been filled with the Holy Spirit but had not—or not yet—spoken with tongues. So while I have always practiced, taught and led people to expect to speak with tongues when they are "baptized with the Holy Spirit" (see John 1:33; Acts 1:5), I have urged that expectation as a welcoming of the Spirit's enablement to enlarge my worship of God Almighty. The result has been that at least 80 percent of the members of the congregation I serve have received the blessing of tongues.
Perhaps the best thing about this approach is that it doesn't encourage the idea that the first experience of speaking with tongues is a climax. Rather, it is seen as a commencement into an abiding practice, not a seal of evidence for a required proof. I have sought to show thousands of pastors and other leaders how to lead people toward this fulfilling entrance to the fullness, flow, liberty and language of the Spirit of God.
So this springtime—at the 101st annual observance of the birth of that remarkable, earthshaking awakening called the Azusa Street Revival, I want to offer three possible resources to pastors interested in this ministry.
The first is The Spirit and the Glory, an 80-minute DVD in which I provide introductory instruction and guidance for believers desiring to receive the fullness of the Spirit. It can be ordered through jackhayford.com.
The second is "A Brief on 'Tongues' and the Baptism with the Holy Spirit." Thousands of pastoral leaders have used this resource to help communicate an even-handed yet biblically passionate pursuit of ministering this truth to people in a way that becomes fruitful, non-divisive and empowering to their personal life of prayer and service. It is also at jackhayford.com and is free of charge.
The third is The Beauty of Spiritual Language, a book presented in a manner that has found a welcome among leaders in every denominational environment. It's still in circulation more than 10 years after its initial release. It can be ordered through conventional outlets.
I want to encourage—at the very least—that pastors explore the matter. I cannot believe the Holy Trinity was dabbling in providing a spectator-sport by "allowing" so dramatic an exhibition as took place in Acts. Since Christ introduced this grace of spiritual language, and caused all who were present to experience it on the day He was introducing His church at its birth, it seems dubious the phenomenon of speaking with tongues was meant to be a one-time curiosity, an endlessly inflammatory debate, or a flamboyant display of heavenly showmanship to impress a crowd.
If the Bible is clear on anything, speaking with tongues is a heaven-designed benefit. Interestingly, Paul is the primary advocate of tongues-speaking as a devotional resource for one's private prayer life. So, after his model, my dealing with the subject is in no way a quest to see the triumph of a doctrine. Rather, it is to see the blessing of congregations with a growing band of people who graciously, unpretentiously and faithfully "pray with the spirit and ... also pray with the understanding." Such a church will be blessed in a way Jesus intended His own to know. And such people will be enabled for worship and intercessory prayer in a way that can enhance every disciple and expand each of our prayer lives.
It's About the Kingdom
By Sunday Adelaja
Too much light burns the eyes. Too much salt burns the tongue. When Christians make church the focal point of their lives and ministry, they burn each other like an oversalted dish and blind one another like a room full of spotlights. Salt and light aren't meant for themselves. We aren't called the salt of the church but the salt of the earth. We aren't called the light of the church but the light of the world (see Matt. 5:13-14). And we aren't called to be church-minded; rather, first and foremost, we're called to seek God's kingdom.
When a church neglects the Great Commission and becomes self-absorbed, it falls into several predictable traps:
Infighting. When a church loses focus, people get busy fighting among themselves. A church that has an outward-looking kingdom focus simply has no bored people. Everybody is busy in the proper direction. Nobody has time for internal squabbles or unimportant questions.
Egocentric leadership. Having met with billionaires and famous people, I've found it's actually easier to approach many of them than it is to approach some pastors. God help us!
Size focus. It's OK to talk numbers and to rejoice in God's blessing of numerical growth, but it's childish to revel in it and compare ourselves with others. If a church grows in numbers, the point is to glorify Christ.
Egocentric followers. Egocentric leaders produce egocentric followers. When a pastor uses a church to meet his own needs, this trickles down to people in the pews, who begin to see the church as existing to meet their personal needs. A culture of self-gratification grips the church.
Teaching fragments of the truth. Unless a church continually pursues a total kingdom agenda, it's easy to fall into teaching partial truth. But the kingdom and its gospel is a totality.
So how do we create a church culture that's not insulated and self-absorbed? It begins by understanding that to be kingdom-minded is to reject the world's way of thinking and live by superior principles from a superior place. Our hearts and minds are consumed with better things, yet we are to thrust ourselves into the world because that is where we set people free. We don't run from problems; we run to them. We have the answer for every problem in the world. That is our Great Commission calling—through active application of kingdom principles. Here are two of those principles that can help any church become a kingdom-minded, problem-solving powerhouse:
1. Repentance. You can only transform something if you aren't conformed to it (see Rom. 12:2). The problem for many people is they don't fully reject the principles of this world. They try to mix kingdoms. They use principles of the kingdom of darkness to establish their rule.
Many preachers don't preach repentance, but Jesus did (see Mark 1:15). To repent means to change your mind and your belief system as often as needed. It's the process we go through to become kingdom-minded. We repent because the kingdom of heaven is here. It is about rejecting the old and embracing the new. There is no life apart from the kingdom.
2. Love. If I could sum up kingdom-mindedness in one word, it would be love. As we shift away from church-mindedness, we need to realize that without being identified with God and being kingdom-minded, we'll simply go back to our natural ways and won't change anything in our world. Love people! Love them no matter who they are or what they do. Love people regardless of their faults. Love them unconditionally.
Many ministers can teach, but fewer can love. That's why many churches remain so small and irrelevant. People don't come to church to be taught. They're seeking love, and that's our first commission. Let's be kingdom-minded and embody the nature and culture of our King, which starts with love.
Too much light burns the eyes. Too much salt burns the tongue. When Christians make church the focal point of their lives and ministry, they burn each other like an oversalted dish and blind one another like a room full of spotlights. Salt and light aren't meant for themselves. We aren't called the salt of the church but the salt of the earth. We aren't called the light of the church but the light of the world (see Matt. 5:13-14). And we aren't called to be church-minded; rather, first and foremost, we're called to seek God's kingdom.
When a church neglects the Great Commission and becomes self-absorbed, it falls into several predictable traps:
Infighting. When a church loses focus, people get busy fighting among themselves. A church that has an outward-looking kingdom focus simply has no bored people. Everybody is busy in the proper direction. Nobody has time for internal squabbles or unimportant questions.
Egocentric leadership. Having met with billionaires and famous people, I've found it's actually easier to approach many of them than it is to approach some pastors. God help us!
Size focus. It's OK to talk numbers and to rejoice in God's blessing of numerical growth, but it's childish to revel in it and compare ourselves with others. If a church grows in numbers, the point is to glorify Christ.
Egocentric followers. Egocentric leaders produce egocentric followers. When a pastor uses a church to meet his own needs, this trickles down to people in the pews, who begin to see the church as existing to meet their personal needs. A culture of self-gratification grips the church.
Teaching fragments of the truth. Unless a church continually pursues a total kingdom agenda, it's easy to fall into teaching partial truth. But the kingdom and its gospel is a totality.
So how do we create a church culture that's not insulated and self-absorbed? It begins by understanding that to be kingdom-minded is to reject the world's way of thinking and live by superior principles from a superior place. Our hearts and minds are consumed with better things, yet we are to thrust ourselves into the world because that is where we set people free. We don't run from problems; we run to them. We have the answer for every problem in the world. That is our Great Commission calling—through active application of kingdom principles. Here are two of those principles that can help any church become a kingdom-minded, problem-solving powerhouse:
1. Repentance. You can only transform something if you aren't conformed to it (see Rom. 12:2). The problem for many people is they don't fully reject the principles of this world. They try to mix kingdoms. They use principles of the kingdom of darkness to establish their rule.
Many preachers don't preach repentance, but Jesus did (see Mark 1:15). To repent means to change your mind and your belief system as often as needed. It's the process we go through to become kingdom-minded. We repent because the kingdom of heaven is here. It is about rejecting the old and embracing the new. There is no life apart from the kingdom.
2. Love. If I could sum up kingdom-mindedness in one word, it would be love. As we shift away from church-mindedness, we need to realize that without being identified with God and being kingdom-minded, we'll simply go back to our natural ways and won't change anything in our world. Love people! Love them no matter who they are or what they do. Love people regardless of their faults. Love them unconditionally.
Many ministers can teach, but fewer can love. That's why many churches remain so small and irrelevant. People don't come to church to be taught. They're seeking love, and that's our first commission. Let's be kingdom-minded and embody the nature and culture of our King, which starts with love.
So That's Why My Church Is Full of Babies!
As a pastor, you naturally want to see those you lead become spiritually mature followers of Christ. But if your congregation is still full of infant believers, here's something to chew on from the latest Barna study: You may be the reason they're still that way.
According to a survey of more than 1,000 Christians and a secondary one of more than 600 pastors, more than half of all churchgoers can't describe how their church defines a mature believer. An overwhelming 81 percent believe spiritual maturity correlates to "trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible," and even among born-again Christians (a small subset of the entire group polled), only 30 percent mentioned having a relationship with Jesus as one of the characteristics of spiritual maturity. Other elements included living a moral lifestyle (14 percent), applying the Bible (12 percent) and sharing your faith with others (6 percent).
Possibly more revealing than these statistics is the disconnect that exists within church leadership. Among pastors surveyed, nearly 90 percent said a lack of spiritual maturity was one of the nation's biggest problems—yet a minority of them stated that this wasn't the case in their own church.
Fewer than half of the churches represented have written documents defining, describing or outlining what a mature Christian is like. In addition, most pastors add to this ambiguity by using vague biblical references when actually trying to measure spiritual maturity. When asked to identify the most important portions of the Bible that define spiritual maturity, more than three-fourths gave a generic response: one-third simply answered "the whole Bible," 17 percent said "the gospels," 15 percent said "the New Testament," and 10 percent offered "Paul's letters" as their source of definition. Just one-fifth of pastors cited specific Bible verses that speak of a mature believer.
"America has a spiritual depth problem partly because the faith community does not have a robust definition of its spiritual goals," said Barna Group president David Kinnaman. "The study shows the need for new types of spiritual metrics. One new metric might be a renewed effort on the part of leaders to articulate the outcomes of spiritual growth."
Such an effort begins with most pastors recognizing their systems of measurement is lacking. Yet further indicating the disconnect from reality, the majority of pastors surveyed were moderately satisfied with their current methods and standards. (Granted, only 9 percent were completely satisfied with how they measured and assess spiritual growth of those they lead.)
In light of this, Kinnaman offered a warning to any grow-quick solutions: "As people begin to realize that the concepts and practices of spiritual maturity have been underdeveloped, the Christian community is likely to enter a time of renewed emphasis on discipleship, soul care, the tensions of truth and grace, the so-called ‘fruits’ of the spiritual life and the practices of spiritual disciplines. A related challenge is that as spiritual formation becomes ‘trendy’ it will inevitably become ‘watered down’ with products that over-promise or are simply counter-productive. Leaders have to take on this issue more effectively, and part of that task is weeding out the good from bad." [barna.org, 5/11/09]
According to a survey of more than 1,000 Christians and a secondary one of more than 600 pastors, more than half of all churchgoers can't describe how their church defines a mature believer. An overwhelming 81 percent believe spiritual maturity correlates to "trying hard to follow the rules described in the Bible," and even among born-again Christians (a small subset of the entire group polled), only 30 percent mentioned having a relationship with Jesus as one of the characteristics of spiritual maturity. Other elements included living a moral lifestyle (14 percent), applying the Bible (12 percent) and sharing your faith with others (6 percent).
Possibly more revealing than these statistics is the disconnect that exists within church leadership. Among pastors surveyed, nearly 90 percent said a lack of spiritual maturity was one of the nation's biggest problems—yet a minority of them stated that this wasn't the case in their own church.
Fewer than half of the churches represented have written documents defining, describing or outlining what a mature Christian is like. In addition, most pastors add to this ambiguity by using vague biblical references when actually trying to measure spiritual maturity. When asked to identify the most important portions of the Bible that define spiritual maturity, more than three-fourths gave a generic response: one-third simply answered "the whole Bible," 17 percent said "the gospels," 15 percent said "the New Testament," and 10 percent offered "Paul's letters" as their source of definition. Just one-fifth of pastors cited specific Bible verses that speak of a mature believer.
"America has a spiritual depth problem partly because the faith community does not have a robust definition of its spiritual goals," said Barna Group president David Kinnaman. "The study shows the need for new types of spiritual metrics. One new metric might be a renewed effort on the part of leaders to articulate the outcomes of spiritual growth."
Such an effort begins with most pastors recognizing their systems of measurement is lacking. Yet further indicating the disconnect from reality, the majority of pastors surveyed were moderately satisfied with their current methods and standards. (Granted, only 9 percent were completely satisfied with how they measured and assess spiritual growth of those they lead.)
In light of this, Kinnaman offered a warning to any grow-quick solutions: "As people begin to realize that the concepts and practices of spiritual maturity have been underdeveloped, the Christian community is likely to enter a time of renewed emphasis on discipleship, soul care, the tensions of truth and grace, the so-called ‘fruits’ of the spiritual life and the practices of spiritual disciplines. A related challenge is that as spiritual formation becomes ‘trendy’ it will inevitably become ‘watered down’ with products that over-promise or are simply counter-productive. Leaders have to take on this issue more effectively, and part of that task is weeding out the good from bad." [barna.org, 5/11/09]
10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe
Many Christians, new and seasoned alike, tend to bank on promises that God never made, says one pastor.
So when God doesn't come through on those "promises," some are likely to become angry at God.
And "that to me as a pastor over all my years is always one of the saddest things," says Larry Osborne, teaching pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, Calif.
Osborne, whose church draws over 7,000 people, is hoping to spare a lot of Jesus followers from that anger. He’s also hoping Christians will peruse Scripture more and align themselves with what God really says rather than the “word on the street.”
So he spelled out some of the "dumb things smart Christians believe" – ten, to be specific – in a new book.
He calls those "dumb things" spiritual urban legends – a belief, story, assumption, or truism that gets passed around as fact even in Sunday-school class or a Bible study.
"What happens ... is somebody passes out a truism that sounds good and we've just heard it so many times [that] we don't bother to check it out," Osborne explained to The Christian Post. "And that's the source of most of these urban legends. They're true partially, but they're not true completely."
One of the partial truths many Christians fall victim to is the belief that living God's way will bring good fortune.
"The Bible makes no such promise," Osborne writes in 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe.
The 57-year-old pastor recalls one moment when a church attendee named Tim waited in line to talk to him after a weekend worship service.
"[A]s soon as I said, 'Hey, what's up?' he let loose," Osborne writes. "'Bleep your bleeping God!' he exclaimed. 'I'm done. Your Jesus hasn't done me a bit of good. I've tried to clean up my act. I even tried your damn tithing thing. It doesn't work. I just lost my job. My wife needs surgery, and now I don't have any insurance. Where's your bleeping God when we need him?'"
"After a few more expletives, he finally turned and stormed out. I never saw him again."
Osborne notes that it wasn't a series of "tough breaks" or "unfortunate events" that caused Tim's tirade. Rather, it was "a set of unfounded and unrealistic expectations about what it means to follow God and what should happen when we venture to do so" that set him off.
Tim's case isn't unique. Many Christians expect things to work out when living God's way, Osborne says.
"They all figure that a little bit of God might bring a little bit of luck. So why not rub the bottle and see if a genie pops out?" he writes.
Holding such a belief, however, could prove to be spiritually dangerous. Moreover, it results in a lot of "pretenders or dabblers" who try to play by the rules of Christianity but not really believe in what they're abiding.
"When we assume, imply, or promise that God is supposed to bring us good luck and lots of success, we're set up for deep disappointment and spiritual cynicism," he writes. "Even worse, we risk turning the King of kings into little more than a good-luck charm."
Osborne also warns that those who introduce Christ to others and testify of only the "abundant Christian life" while downplaying the "harder teachings of Jesus" set the stage for disillusionment when things go awry.
Following Christ can be tough and having faith isn't always going to fix everything.
It's another spiritual urban legend – that faith can fix anything – and another one that can lead to an angry outburst or a spiritual meltdown.
As a pastor, this is one of the most common urban legends Osborne has encountered.
Many Christians believe ridding themselves of doubts and having clear positive thinking – which is how many define "faith" – will lead to their desired outcome such as physical healing. But having faith doesn't always lead to victory, at least not in the earthly sense.
While the Bible famously "tells of kingdoms won, lions muzzled, flames quenched, weaknesses turned to strength, enemies routed, [and] the dead raised," it also speaks of people of faith who were "tortured, jeered, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, and put to death by the sword."
They all lived by faith "yet their faith didn't fix anything," Osborne points out.
What faith does promise, however, is forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.
"Faith is ... not an impenetrable shield that protects us from life's hardships and trials. It's not a magic potion that removes every mess," Osborne writes in his book. "It's designed to guide us on a path called righteousness."
Faith, Osborne says, is trusting enough to obey.
The other eight spiritual urban legends he lists are: forgiving means forgetting, a godly home guarantees godly kids, God has a blueprint for my life, Christians shouldn't judge, everything happens for a reason, let your conscience be your guide, a valley means a wrong turn, and dead people go to a better place.
The common thread through all of them, Osborne said, is the "disillusionment that comes when we bank of promises that God actually never made."
They're "partial truths that we shouldn’t be building the whole house on," said Osborne, who has been teaching a four-week series on urban legends – which include more than ten – over the past summers.
While Christians are not likely to buy into all of them, most may have one or two that they fall victim to, the North Coast pastor believes.
"Sometimes we treat the Bible as if it's a series of sound bites and little sayings that we can put on t-shirts, coffee cups and posters," Osborne pointed out. "But it's a big book."
"We need to look at what the Bible says about any subject in all of its passages. And when we do that we'll avoid these urban legends."
So when God doesn't come through on those "promises," some are likely to become angry at God.
And "that to me as a pastor over all my years is always one of the saddest things," says Larry Osborne, teaching pastor at North Coast Church in Vista, Calif.
Osborne, whose church draws over 7,000 people, is hoping to spare a lot of Jesus followers from that anger. He’s also hoping Christians will peruse Scripture more and align themselves with what God really says rather than the “word on the street.”
So he spelled out some of the "dumb things smart Christians believe" – ten, to be specific – in a new book.
He calls those "dumb things" spiritual urban legends – a belief, story, assumption, or truism that gets passed around as fact even in Sunday-school class or a Bible study.
"What happens ... is somebody passes out a truism that sounds good and we've just heard it so many times [that] we don't bother to check it out," Osborne explained to The Christian Post. "And that's the source of most of these urban legends. They're true partially, but they're not true completely."
One of the partial truths many Christians fall victim to is the belief that living God's way will bring good fortune.
"The Bible makes no such promise," Osborne writes in 10 Dumb Things Smart Christians Believe.
The 57-year-old pastor recalls one moment when a church attendee named Tim waited in line to talk to him after a weekend worship service.
"[A]s soon as I said, 'Hey, what's up?' he let loose," Osborne writes. "'Bleep your bleeping God!' he exclaimed. 'I'm done. Your Jesus hasn't done me a bit of good. I've tried to clean up my act. I even tried your damn tithing thing. It doesn't work. I just lost my job. My wife needs surgery, and now I don't have any insurance. Where's your bleeping God when we need him?'"
"After a few more expletives, he finally turned and stormed out. I never saw him again."
Osborne notes that it wasn't a series of "tough breaks" or "unfortunate events" that caused Tim's tirade. Rather, it was "a set of unfounded and unrealistic expectations about what it means to follow God and what should happen when we venture to do so" that set him off.
Tim's case isn't unique. Many Christians expect things to work out when living God's way, Osborne says.
"They all figure that a little bit of God might bring a little bit of luck. So why not rub the bottle and see if a genie pops out?" he writes.
Holding such a belief, however, could prove to be spiritually dangerous. Moreover, it results in a lot of "pretenders or dabblers" who try to play by the rules of Christianity but not really believe in what they're abiding.
"When we assume, imply, or promise that God is supposed to bring us good luck and lots of success, we're set up for deep disappointment and spiritual cynicism," he writes. "Even worse, we risk turning the King of kings into little more than a good-luck charm."
Osborne also warns that those who introduce Christ to others and testify of only the "abundant Christian life" while downplaying the "harder teachings of Jesus" set the stage for disillusionment when things go awry.
Following Christ can be tough and having faith isn't always going to fix everything.
It's another spiritual urban legend – that faith can fix anything – and another one that can lead to an angry outburst or a spiritual meltdown.
As a pastor, this is one of the most common urban legends Osborne has encountered.
Many Christians believe ridding themselves of doubts and having clear positive thinking – which is how many define "faith" – will lead to their desired outcome such as physical healing. But having faith doesn't always lead to victory, at least not in the earthly sense.
While the Bible famously "tells of kingdoms won, lions muzzled, flames quenched, weaknesses turned to strength, enemies routed, [and] the dead raised," it also speaks of people of faith who were "tortured, jeered, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, sawed in two, and put to death by the sword."
They all lived by faith "yet their faith didn't fix anything," Osborne points out.
What faith does promise, however, is forgiveness and the gift of eternal life.
"Faith is ... not an impenetrable shield that protects us from life's hardships and trials. It's not a magic potion that removes every mess," Osborne writes in his book. "It's designed to guide us on a path called righteousness."
Faith, Osborne says, is trusting enough to obey.
The other eight spiritual urban legends he lists are: forgiving means forgetting, a godly home guarantees godly kids, God has a blueprint for my life, Christians shouldn't judge, everything happens for a reason, let your conscience be your guide, a valley means a wrong turn, and dead people go to a better place.
The common thread through all of them, Osborne said, is the "disillusionment that comes when we bank of promises that God actually never made."
They're "partial truths that we shouldn’t be building the whole house on," said Osborne, who has been teaching a four-week series on urban legends – which include more than ten – over the past summers.
While Christians are not likely to buy into all of them, most may have one or two that they fall victim to, the North Coast pastor believes.
"Sometimes we treat the Bible as if it's a series of sound bites and little sayings that we can put on t-shirts, coffee cups and posters," Osborne pointed out. "But it's a big book."
"We need to look at what the Bible says about any subject in all of its passages. And when we do that we'll avoid these urban legends."
The God of Relationships
For the love of Christ compels us; because we judge thus: that if one died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them, and rose again. (2 Cor. 5:14-15)
The Bible is all about relationships. Obviously, the first example would be Jesus. When he was asked to sum up the God-centered life, he said that it was quite simple. Love God; love others (Mark 12:28-31).
I concur with St Augustine, one of the early Church Fathers, who observed that everything written in Scripture is meant to teach us how to love either God or our neighbor.
The triune God is a personal being who exists as a joyous community of humility, servant hood and mutual submission. Not only does God exist in a perfect community Himself, He paid a great price to make it possible for us to enter a relationship with Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now He wants this relationship to be made visible in our relationships with others. God knows that not only are we unable to save ourselves, but we are also incapable of truly loving others. So He went beyond offering us salvation; He miraculously infuses us with the ability to love others properly (Rom 5:6).
God created us in His image – with the ability to connect with others in deep and meaningful ways. Yet it did not take long for us to learn how to disconnect and live as enemies. He created relational beings, beautiful and good. Shortly thereafter humans added a creation of their own: revenge. As a consequence, pain, betrayal and loss are now inevitable in a fallen world. But there are two ways to live in such a world: the way of revenge or the way of reconciliation. One road leads to death; the other road leads to life. Make the right choice.
The Bible is all about relationships. Obviously, the first example would be Jesus. When he was asked to sum up the God-centered life, he said that it was quite simple. Love God; love others (Mark 12:28-31).
I concur with St Augustine, one of the early Church Fathers, who observed that everything written in Scripture is meant to teach us how to love either God or our neighbor.
The triune God is a personal being who exists as a joyous community of humility, servant hood and mutual submission. Not only does God exist in a perfect community Himself, He paid a great price to make it possible for us to enter a relationship with Him through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Now He wants this relationship to be made visible in our relationships with others. God knows that not only are we unable to save ourselves, but we are also incapable of truly loving others. So He went beyond offering us salvation; He miraculously infuses us with the ability to love others properly (Rom 5:6).
God created us in His image – with the ability to connect with others in deep and meaningful ways. Yet it did not take long for us to learn how to disconnect and live as enemies. He created relational beings, beautiful and good. Shortly thereafter humans added a creation of their own: revenge. As a consequence, pain, betrayal and loss are now inevitable in a fallen world. But there are two ways to live in such a world: the way of revenge or the way of reconciliation. One road leads to death; the other road leads to life. Make the right choice.
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