Leaning Forward

God Sized Vision Part 2

Write this down. For the most part, the purveyors of the health-wealth gospel are trying to get into your wallet. Before you get all steamed at me for painting with such a broad brush let me add an disclaimer: by "For the most part", I mean virtually all. Check it out yourself. Many of these self-appointed and ordained thieves are or have been or will be under federal indictment or investigation for the lies they tell to get you to sow seed, that would be money, in their ministry.

What is the health-wealth gospel? Well, it has many wrinkles and perhaps defies specifics. In short, at least for me, it is basically the teaching that giving money to a ministry insures health and wealth for the giver. Also known as the "prosperity gospel", it further indicates that personal health and wealth are measures of how much you give. Therefore, if you are a believer, and are plagued with financial or physical struggles, then you just need to give more.

Of course, this house is constructed on a very flimsy foundation. Most of the so-called tele-evangelists who hawk the "word-of faith" belief system use Scripture out of context and loosely apply Bible truths in an untruthful manner. Among their many contrivances, adding to or taking away from the Word of God may be the most severe. Of course, having a millstone around their necks and being tossed into the sea for leading people astray doesn't sound too good either. This is to conclude, more to the point, that the entire belief package purported by these rascals is flawed by their mis-interpretation and use of the Bible.

One of the Scriptures they use to peddle their wares is the text I will be examining with the Northwood congregation Sunday: John 14:12-14. This text declares, in part,  "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things that these because I am going to the Father." These quacks teach that each of us possesses the potential to do greater things that our Lord Jesus---things beyond the raising of Lazarus, the healings that marked his ministry, and even the resurrection. This, of course, is heresy.

Someone even said to me recently that Jesus never actually healed anyone. Instead, the people healed in Scripture were cured by the faith that was in them. This is the "word of faith" perversion that has been popularized by Messrs. Hagin, Tilton, Hinn, Copeland, Osteen, Duplantis, and a roster of their disciples. Once again, this application of the New Testament record is faulty. I mean, check it out! Did Jesus not ask the blind men, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" (Matthew 9:28).

To be clear, be assured of this truth: to possess a God-sized vision is not to denigrate Christ or lower his position as Lord. At the same time, it is not to have faith in faith, that is, to believe that there is anything in us greater than the one for whom all things were created. When we talk about God-sized vision and operating in the realm of faith, we are placing our trust in him, not placing our trust in even our ability to believe. Faith like a mustard seed can move mountains not because I can actually summon up that kind of belief, but rather because that faith is in Him. Remember: all things exist by him, through him, in him, and for him (see Colossians 1).  

While at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for the fall trustees meeting, I enjoyed a hour or so poking through the seminary book store. It is a great bookstore, LifeWay on steroids. Rummaging through the recent releases I found Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church, by Michael Horton. The basic argument of the book is compelling. "My argument in this book is not that evangelicalism is become theologically liberal but that it is becoming theologically vacuous", Horton announces on page 23. By this he means that we are becoming more and more focused on self, what is within us, our personal experience, than on the truth which exists in Christ.

The Church that Jesus is Building possesses a God-sized vision. Such vision is focused on Jesus Christ and him alone.

God Sized Vision

Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia, has written and produced three feature films, the latest of which, Fireproof is showing in theaters across America. First Baptist Church of Leesburg, Florida, operates ministry centers for abused children, women, the homeless, the elderly, people struggling with addictions, and a long list of other social interactions that have resulted in over 7,000 baptisms over the last thirty-three years. One congregation of around 100 members offers Bible School each year to more than 2,000 children. Another feeds thousands of homeless Americans on Thanksgiving Day. Many operate successful schools, a few Bible colleges, several own and operate restaurants, coffee shops and cafes, more outstanding book stores.There are community counseling centers, child development programs, street ministries, and groups who hand out water at flea markets.

These are all congregations with God sized vision! Their vision is not the shrink-wrapped dreams of human origin held in bondage by the concepts of a little, diminished God. At the same time, they are neither wild-eyed idealists who waste God's precious resources on every gimmick and wrinkle under the sun to reverse a declining influence. In most cases, they are congregations who have taken a very serious assessment of their ministry context, evaluated their congregational resources, and made the adjustments necessary to join God in what he is doing.

The Church that Jesus is Building does not hedge the fantastic and miraculous claims of Scripture by always demanding rational and reasonable approaches to ministry, you know, Wall Street balance sheet management, calculated financial plans, standard operating procedures, coverage assessments, charts, columns, or spread sheets. Budgets, buildings, by-laws, bulletins, business meetings, and other such functions are seen as avenues to ministry and not protections from it. So, The Church that Jesus is Building understands that our assignment is a faith enterprise and must be accomplished in the ways and provision of God. When we try to do it our way, we just get things messed up. And, most of all, we miss the joys of walking with Him.

Jesus prepared his disciples with some incredible claims. In John 14 he said. "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going ot the Father (v. 12). Now, we usually explain away what he was saying by offering a disclaimer or two: well, you have to understand what he really meant, or you have to know that he really didn't mean for us to go there with that.  Get real!

Now, I've looked at several versions of this verse and have not located as asterisk in any of them. But, you're right. We do need to know what he said, and what he meant. He said that believers lives would be surrounded by miracles and they would do even greater things than he did. That is very straightforward and unarguable. Is this heresy, to estimate our potential for ministry with that of the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Yes, if we diminish the person of Christ by elevating our own position over his. At the same time, no, especially if our goal is to honor him as Lord and establish his headship over the church as our formative guide. 

In this text,he specifically referenced going to the Father, meaning that he would ascend after the resurrection to sit in a glorified state at the Father's right hand. His disciples would serve and minister under the supervision of the Holy Spirit, whom he promised to send. He further guaranteed that he would be with them always, even to the end of the age. Their reach would be extended, more people would hear the message of the Gospel, spiritually empowered Christians would preach in the population centers of the world, stupendous things in the greater scope of time would occur in his name. Down through the ages technology would advance the cause of the Kingdom, travel would enable the messengers greater mobility, the wheel, the printing press, the world wide web would spring load the Good News to the most remote locations in the world. Greater things indeed. But, nothing that would position us over Jesus. That would be heresy.

The Church that Jesus is Building functions in the promise of his miraculous provision and possesses a God sized vision.

Want to read more. Get a copy of Your God is Too Small by J.B.Phillips. Here, you'll be introduced to the God-sized vision of The Church that Jesus is Building.

Trust and Obey

In an instant I can be transported back fifty years to a Sunday night, really any Sunday night, at West Greenville Baptist Church. A small crowd is gathered for the evening worship, a good many of them my wonderful aunts and uncles and cousins, the extended family that taught me many of my first valuable lessons of faith. Paul Ducker or Homer Smith are leading the singing. Mavis Ducker is on the piano, and Laura Vess is playing the organ. Rev. O.F. Owens, my first pastor and grandfather will preach the evening message.  I can look around and see familiar faces---Ma Rogers singing off key and very loud, N.J. and Nellie Faye Carroll, Wyatt and Betty Duncan, Adger and Wilma Williams, the Saxons, the Frosts, the Gilstraps, all the Miles family, the Reeces, and several rows of other precious believers whose faces are etched in my mind and memories engraved in the chambers of my heart.

At the moment of my recollection, they are all singing their faith---

    When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his word,
    What a glory he sheds on our way.
    While we do his good will, he abides with us still, 
    And with all who will trust and obey.
    Trust and obey, for there's no other way
    To be happy in Jesus, just to trust and obey.

Their's was a simple faith, held dearly, without many of the complications that often defines our own. When they sang about trusting Jesus they weren't talking about creeds or confessional statements, any of the mysteries of faith, hermeneutics, soteriology, or arguing about the documentary hypothesis. For them "trust" was the simple act of walking in the assurance of his word every day that actually constituted the fabric of their belief system. When they turned to the "obey" part, they weren't caught in the tension of legalism or licentiousness, an empty faith of words with little meaning, or license to live a free-wheeling lifestyle without standards. Somehow they knew that walking with Jesus made a difference. These wonderful people just loved Jesus and tried to live for him. 

Today, as l make my final preparations for worship, I am asking God for that kind of simplicity, a "trust and obey" kind of faith without all the embellishments that we sophisticates append to our practice and, somehow lose in the process, the focus of our faith. 

My devotional this morning reviewed the Transfiguration, Matthew 17:1-13. I was blown away by verse 8: "When they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus." Wow! What a lesson. I am praying today that all we will see is Jesus as we worship together.

Join me in that prayer!

Electile Dysfunction

OK, last week I used the term "electile dysfunction" in one of my posts, resulting in a few questions and comments about what was meant here. So, let's straighten this thing out.

Electile dysfunction...

1. is not a typographical error.

2. is not connected in any way with popular TV commercials of a similar bent.
3. is not a reference to, in any way, shape, or form, to the Biblical doctrine of election.
4. is totally a play on words.
5. is a comment on the November 4 election and the schizophrenia of the polling data.

By "electile dysfunction", I specifically mean the volatility of the polls and the seeming absence of thought reflected in the opinions of the voting public. Now, I don't actually trust polling data all that much and the daily opinion surveys seem totally divorced from what I'm hearing out there. I will admit to living in somewhat of a Red State Christian bubble. As a result, I am apparently isolated from what many Americans are expressing as they make voting decisions.

So, "electile dysfunction" for me is the uninformed voter, the drones who chant the slogans, gaze starry-eyed at the prospects of change, and who mindlessly accept the rhetoric without verifying for one minute anything that is said. Even more, "electile dysfunction" is voting without values, taking political stances that oppose standards of faith, not knowing how our Biblical world view speaks to the issues. "Electile dysfunction" is abusing the franchise of the vote by being uninformed and ignorant.

We live in the information age. It's there for the finding. Search  it out. Check out a few sites on line: www.iVoteValues.com; www.erlc.com; www.afa.net. Pick up a voter guide at church.

Don't let "electile dysfunction" hinder the joys of democracy.

Warning: the results of this search will last longer than four hours. Yes, beyond your lifetime.

Give Glory to God!

Coloring Between the Lines

My introduction to college life, forty years ago, was culture shock! On the first day of school we were separated from our parents, issued a mattress cover full of uniforms, a box of military cleaning supplies, an M1 rifle, and by the end of day one had received knob haircuts, got yelled at by sophomores and juniors, encouraged along by a few seniors, and were marching in squad formation on the parade ground like Gomer Pyle himself.

Sometime during the first week we received the regulation manuals that would guide our lives for the next four years. Our cadre sergeants reminded us that we were to memorize them all. Now, the school had already issued each knob a litle book called The Guidon for us to memorize during the summer before our matriculation. It is a compilation of organizational facts, school trivia, military rank and standard operating procedures that would be our little "bible" during our first weeks a The Citadel. When we arrived, however, they issued more---

1. The Red Book            The Fourth Class Manual

2. The Blue Book            Regulations of the Corps of Cadets
3. FM 22                        Field Manual for Drill and Ceremonies
4. The While Book          Organizations, Functions, Standard Operating Procedures
5. The Honor Manual      The Cadet Code of Conduct 

Talk about being overwhelmed! While my buddies at Clemson and USC were attending frat rush parties and mixers, I was being yelled at all day long and trying to memorize these manuals all night. They were attempting to teach this undisciplined seventeen year old to color between the lines, to live within the boundaries, to set some limits around life.

So, they made it a little easier for us. The whole of cadet life was reduced to a few elementary rules. No matter what, just remember the following:

Yes, sir.
No, sir.
No excuse, sir.

A cadet doesn't lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do.

God gave the Israelites the law to teach them the same thing. They stretched the rules, bent the rules, and broke the rules, invented a long list of their own rules just to help God out some, and then colored outside the lines anyway because they were by nature obstinate and unruly. They were so caught up in the letter of the law and the its many regulations, they forgot the spirit of it all. It became a sham.

At the exact moment of God's appointment, he became a man to introduce the covenant of grace. Humans just cannot accomplish righteousness through their own effort. Coloring between the lines is simply beyond human ability. So, Jesus invites us into a personal relationship with him, to love him above all others, focus on him and him alone as our Savior and Lord, and live according to his gracious provision in a way that will honor him. Yes, there are still standards of holiness, lifestyle adjustments that reflect our relationship with him, and expectations of living a life that acknowledges his gift of eternal life. But, "The work of God is this", accordingto Jesus "to believe in the one He has sent"  (John 6:29).

Living for him is not a checklist, regulation manuals, and standard operating procedures. It is a heart change that radiates outward to a life lived for him. Coloring between the lines occurs when we know by his grace, through our personal communion with him, where the lines are, and allow him to guide us In filling them in.

What a beautiful picture!

At the Top of the Slippery Slope

After several decades of close observation, most of us are aware of the growing mounds of debris piling up at the bottom of the slippery slope---lowered standards, compromise, moral digression, loss of decency, skyrocketing crime statistics, marriage under attack, and all the other demographic indicators of a culture on the decline. Still, many of us will not acknowledge the top-of-the-heap dysfunction that triggers such a trickle-down morality.

At the top of the slippery slope is unbelief. Wait a minute! We are a Christian nation, One Nation Under God, and all that other God, mom, and apple pie stuff. Ninety-eight per cent of our citizens believe in God, and a good portion of them attend church, cathedral, synagogue, mosque, stake,  coven, therapist, or self-actualization group each month. Most people pray, especially when in the car. The Bible is the hottest selling book year after year, and Jesus ranks fourth on the recognition chart of young people, behind Ronald McDonald, Mickey Mouse, and Santa Clause. Don't tell me, you may counter, that we don't have beliefs!We have plenty of them. They just don't amount to much. And that, my fellow American, is the problem. The trash at the bottom of the slippery slope is there because our beliefs are so flimsy.

You see, what we believe, and therefore, what we teach is important. Let me illustrate how this slippery slope thing works. Understand, this illustration is not a real person but a composite, it is improbably absurd, and devised by me to make my point. It is my blog, after all.

So, meet Anita B. Good.

1.    Anita believes in God.
2.    She reads the Bible regularly, at least every Easter, and attends church twice a year.
3.    Prayer is a daily occurrence.
4.    For Anita, the Bible is not inerrant or infallible, but rather inspired.
5.    The first 12 Chapter's of Genesis are mythical accounts for Anita, good stories, all fables.
6.    Creation occurred in a big bang, and man evolved from pond scum.
7.    Human beings are no better than the rest of creation. Trees have souls.
8.    Anita thinks that morality is relative, and that there are no absolute standards.
9.    She is a social drinker, uses drugs occasionally, and sleeps around, but only with guys she likes.
10.  Abortion is every woman's right because her body belongs to her alone.
11.  Anita B. Good will vote for Barry Obama.

OK, flog me for speaking faith and voting in the same paragraph, but this is how the slippery slope slides. The bottom of the slope is always ugly, though painted in various hues of individual perversion. But, the trail head is some aberration of unbelief.

The Church that Jesus is Building understands the importance of doctrine and teaching! Stanley J. Grenz, Professor of Baptist Heritage, Theology, and Ethics at Carey Theological Seminary, writes "Beliefs are important. They are crucial if for no other reason than they determine how we live." (What Christians Really Believe and Why, Westminster Press, Louisville: 1998). Of course, this is part of the breakdown of our culture, the failure to connect the cess-pool of behavior at the bottom of the slippery slope to our core values, that would be, our basic belief systems, at the top.

Society spends much energy and many resources trying to clean up the mess at the bottom of the slippery slope! We invent new language every day to give this garbage an air of respectability and to ease our consciouses about its reality. The solution, however, is not to make it prettier and disguise its horrific odor. Fixing the slippery slope is simply a matter of changing what is at the top---solid, Biblical values---a Biblical world view, if you will, that will change us, establish standards for living, and even affect how we vote!

Don't

We had our precious grandson John Lewis Carpenter with us weekend before last. At eighteen months he's mobile and has learned to climb. Baby cribs and pack-and-play devices can no longer contain him. He's tall for his age and stronger than me, which is no great surprise. He can open doors, navigate stairs, and plunder cabinets, drawers, and closets. Of course, he's smart as a whip and handsome, a chip off the old Ganga block. Like his Gammy, though, he's inquisitive and wants to know how everything works. So, he takes his toys apart, explores the inner workings of machines, and rips into anything that moves. Trouble is, Ganga can't get any of it back together. This is where the chip and the block just don't equate.

So, the weekend could be reduced to one word. DON'T. Don't touch this, don't touch that. Don't climb the stairs, don't slam the door, don't open the cabinet, don't pull Oliver's tail, don't squeeze the Fig Newtons, don't smash the chips, don't pry open the clock radio, don't stand on the CD player, don't flush the toilet, don't stick your fingers in the light socket, don't pull up the Peace Lily, don't put your greasy hands on the wall, don't eat that, don't, don't don't---rag, rag, rag. Poor kid. Life for him was reduced to a list of don'ts bigger than him.  

For a moment it was comical, then tragic. He became a little disoriented, not knowing what he could or couldn't do, tentative to a fault because he didn't want to break the rules again, get yelled at by these big people with regulations covering everything under the sun.

Yes, rules are good, giving us boundaries and limits, defining standards, giving guidance. If we didn't have rules children would play in the streets or run off with every friendly stranger down at the park. But, give me a break. Too many rules, administered in the wrong way, can break a child's spirit, inhibit his or her growth, and stifle talent and gifts. We had to remember, he's just a child, a baby. That's why he has parents and grandparents, to protect him from all the big, hard stuff in life.

Legalism has the same effect. It usually proposes a long list of rules---more don'ts than dos--to define the narrow boundaries of life and the spiritual depth of the person keeping them. Of course, no one can remember all of them, recite them, or even calibrate life around them. So, they are codified into written standards that the religious leaders use to keep the flock in line. They are the rules. They define orthodoxy.

Jesus warned his followers about this kind of faith, and told them he had a better way, a new covenant of grace, where the standard of acceptance would be a faith relationship with him.

My faith then, isn't do or don't. It is did. Not what I do or don't do, but what he did.

Praise His Name Forever! Hallelujah, what a Savior!

Religious Teaching

OK, here we go again. Matthew 16 is an important chapter of the New Testament. For the legalists out there, this is not to say all chapters of the Bible are not important. Three significant things happened in Matthew 16:

(1)    Jesus warned his disciples about the teaching of the religious people

(2)    Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, son of the living God

(3)    Jesus began to talk openly about his death

In a parallel passage (Luke 12:1), the yeast of the Pharisees is clearly defined as hypocrisy, the double standard that religious people usually use to include themselves and exclude others. Preparing for a message in the series The Church that Jesus is Building, I discovered an interesting variation. In Matthew 16, Jesus warns his disciples about the "teaching" of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Here the yeast is defined as their teaching.

Of course, much of our Lord's ministry was devoted to contrasting their teaching with his Kingdom truth. Scroll through the Sermon on the Mount and count the number of times Matthew records, "you have heard" and "I tell you the truth." It was a constant interplay between the conventional religious instruction of Jewish legalism and the life-giving truth of the gospel of grace. Jesus did not avoid speaking the truth nor did he rail against the legalists interpretation. He did contrast the two, in a very clear and distinct fashion. What is more, Matthew 16:12 indicates they finally got it! After he explained it to them in great detail, using homespun images, they understood.

The Church that Jesus is Building is aware of the dangers of legalistic teaching. In fact, it is the only warning that Jesus gave his followers, to be on guard against legalism. This injects a clear tension into our understanding of faith, the pull of no standards and the opposite pressure of too many, most of them man made.

Of all the dangerous things in our world---WMDs, biological warfare, criminals gone berserk, STDs, markets crashing, electile dysfunction (be careful here), evil, and a whole lot more, Jesus told them to be careful around this legalistic stuff. It can be destructive.

Maybe this is why Matthew 16 is so significant. Peter's personal confession of Christ follows our Lord's denunciation of Pharisaic legalism and the disciples' final understanding of religious shallowness. Then, in a stunning moment of candor, Jesus told them in no uncertain words about the cross. Is it possible that we cannot comprehend God's redemptive plan until the religion/relationship dichotomy is settled, and he is Lord on an intimate personal basis?

Bombshell!

Why hell fire and brimstone preaching feels good!

Legalists love their lists, and they also love hard preaching, the hell fire and brimstone messages that tout their lists and condemn those who live outside their prescribed rules and regulations. So, legalists usually preach adherence to a list of rules, each and every one contrived to curry the favor of God and supposedly bring honor to His name. As a result, legalists develop their lists---dress codes, standards of conduct, approved music selections, the A List of places to go, businesses to frequent, people to watch, approved churches, television to avoid, and right on down the line.

Now, there is nothing wrong with standards. Without constraint, that is, vision or boundaries or revelation from God about living, the people perish. I think the Bible says that! So, I'm not advocating libertine theology for a life without limits. Certainly we must live by a standard. That would be the plumb line, Jesus Christ our Lord. He must be our standard.

Jesus warned his followers about the yeast of the Pharisees, and they understood he wasn't talking about bread. This yeast is clearly identified as hypocrisy. In my heart, this hypocrisy was their legalism, the intricate rules and regulations they laid down themselves to give them the outward appearance of walking with God. What a sham! Of course, we know that God is not mocked.

Jesus always spoke the truth, but usually not hell fire and brimstone. You see, legalists love hell fire and brimstone because they think it is aimed at somebody else. Preaching through the approved legalist list of infractions, they could always say, "hey, that's not me he's talking about! I'm clear". Or as the famous lady of the first self-righteous church said to the pastor, "they really needed that."

Jesus was full of grace and truth. He implemented the covenant of grace, and his message amplified the standards of the Kingdom. The only list that matters is the one in the Book of Life. Let's preach that list a little more!

And let's preach some grace and truth! It doesn't always feel so good, but it always applies, even to the very best of us, whose righteousness is just filthy rags.

Look around. Stand in awe!

OK, we're all different. Look around @ church this morning and you'll see it in living color, the vivid illustrations of God's creative genius, maybe His majestic humor. It's not quantum physics, but this diversity looms far deeper that skin color, facial distinctives, or body type. The wrinkles in our brains are arrayed differently, the lobes connected at odd angles, weighted left or right, front or back, some of us no doubt flipped upside-down, every one mysterious and singular. They say we all have a twin somewhere, and it may be so, a look-a-like with awesomely similar construction. Yet, we are each one of a kind, the product of a potter with immensely gifted hands.

God described this uniqueness to Jeremiah, the prophet: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1:5). Yes, we can debate the actual meaning of this text and take the ideas of God's creative plan in more than one direction. To me, it signals God's wiring of each of us for life.

My study with the Gallup organization confirms what I first learned in Scripture. God does wire us for life---equipping each person with a unique array of talents. When these talents are recognized and coupled with our learning and life experiences, they become our personal strengths. When we become believers' God graciously gives us spiritual gifts that are usually very consistent with the strengths He has given each of us. We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

All of this gives each of us a particular angle on life. For example, in my strength array, I am short on context. This means that my basic orientation  in life is not past. Oddly, I love history and devote most of my reading time to historical topics. But, I'm not trying to re-capture history or live my life back there somewhere. One of my strengths is futuristic. I read the past to gain lessons for the future. I don't live back there, I live out there.

Here's he deal! To expect us to worship alike, reverence God alike, approach God in the same manner, or serve Him in the same ways, is to ignore the wonderful individuality of God's hand in forming us. It is very natural for me to live forward, look forward, worship forward, serve forward--you get it---because God wired me with futuristic. In all of life I tend to lean forward. Others are guided by strong context, leaning back. Some are exuberant, others are reflective. And so on and so forth!

Today at church, look around. Notice the genius of God, our creator. Stand in awe!