In the American Christian culture, we have been seduced by our belief in the fundamental right for us to keep whatever we want private from whomever we want. Now, before the conspiracy theorists run off half-cocked and start screaming about “Big Brother” and how awful it would be if we didn’t have privacy laws… stop - I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about me… and you - especially if you’re a Christian. I’m not saying we should let the government or anyone just start poking around in our lives without due cause or due process - I’m talking about our own fundamental attitudes regarding our lives and who gets to know what.
In our churches - especially among men - we have something I call Mutually Assured Depravity. I know I sin, I know you sin, I don’t know yours and you don’t know mine… let’s just keep it that way. After all, unless my sin becomes public, why should I burden you with the struggle of being embarassed to know me? So, although confession is something that is clearly discussed in Scripture (James 5:13-16; 1 John 1:5-10), we do not practice it in spirit.
Don’t get me wrong - I know that many of us can claim that we practice it technically because we have no problem raising our hand and saying that we’re dealing with “anger issues” or “road rage” or “pride” or “jealousy” or some other socially acceptable sin (made so due to our adoption of a humanistic moral code rather than a Biblical one). But heaven forbid we talk about real problems like porn addiction, dislike of our spouse, theft, deep hatred, or mental infidelity (fantasizing about a person who is not your spouse).
In his book Humility: True Greatness, C. J. Mahaney discusses at some length our need to be proactive in confession. If we truly desire to pursue Christ, we must utilize the greatest earthly tool we’ve been given to help root out the sin in our heart - other people. We know our sin. In our darkest moments and most difficult times when we reflect on the condition of our heart with an honest eye, we see the monsters that lurk within. Richard once preached about knowing what the monster looks like and ensuring we tell the people we love so they can more readily know when the monster is ruling our actions or motivations.
The problem we have when we seek correction for the sin in our heart is twofold: 1) most of the people we would confess to will readily forgive us just to make the uncomfortable conversation go away or 2) we are really only trying to get it off of our chest and have no real desire to change. This has a tendency to lead us to a place where we confess with the pure intention of being forgiven and prayed for AND having no desire to really change. What’s worse? The confessor and the confessee both want it this way. Mutually Assured Depravity.
How do we break this? We must intentionally seek a person who is both willing to listen with grace and without judgment, but also willing to take us to task and hold us accountable. Once we find this person, we must be honest with them and listen to the very difficult words they have to say. Wow. Finding that person is hard enough… being honest with them? Incredibly difficult.
Step 1 - be that person. Stop judging people by what you think their sin might be or what you think they might not get about the Gospel. Stop considering yourself somehow more enlightened or blessed with knowledge than others. Recognize your own need to root our your sin and how desperately depraved you are when left to your own devices. Recognize that you are the worst sinner you know… it’s absolutely true. If you ever believe that someone else’s sin is greater than your own - you are in a desperate state and I recommend you find someone to kick you in the butt until you recognize just how stupid (and dangerous!) it is to think that anyone else’s sin is in any way greater to or equal to your own.
Step 2 - be honest with the person closest to you. Start small if you’d like - but start. You start seeking correction from this person. If you’re married - it should be your spouse. If you’re not, it should be your closest Christian friend (of the same gender - really, I mean that). Start talking to them not as a counselor, but by asking them to help you by explaining what the sin is and how you act when you’re in that state and then ask them to pull you aside and start asking the hard questions when you start acting that way. You must seek the help of others or your own sin will kill you, or at the very least make you utterly useless to others who need the same thing.
Mutually Assured Depravity is an infection in American Christendom. Why do pastors fall into sexual or relational sin? Why do so many people flock to churches that have absolutely no implementation of church discipline? Why do so many marriages look great until they don’t? Why do so many children leave the church as soon as they graduate from high school never to return? We have no culture of confession. Instead we have mimicked the World culture and created superheroes, rock stars, and mini-Christ’s incapable of heinous sin. It’s a lie - we’re all capable and it’s about time we admitted it to someone.
Austin has been hot lately - the 100s have been the norm for a good while now. Supposedly we’re about to have a turn for some relatively cooler weather. It’s amazing how easy it is to get excited about 92 when it’s been 102 or higher for what seems like weeks. In most parts north - 92 is always hot and never considered “relatively cool.” God has designed us it seems so that we can get acclimated (to a certain degree) and that which would be uncomfortable for most becomes, if not comfortable, a welcome respite.
Life is like this. There are Christians in other lands that believe that living the faith equates to bleeding for Christ. For us in America, this is an unfathomable lifestyle. Here in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are in bondage to our way of life and afraid someone will try to take it from us. That is neither freedom nor bravery.
That is not to say that I do not count myself as blessed to live in this great nation. I love my country. I am proud that there have been men and women who have shown great bravery to protect the freedoms that we all cherish (though I must pessimistically add that most of us have crossed over into considering our freedoms to be entitlements). We have lost our way it seems. Comforts have taken their place as the great goal of life.
What does this mean for the American Christian? How should this inform and affect our choices? Love where God has placed you. While it is impossible for you to truly fathom what others experience in a place where there is no such thing as freedom or in a place where Christians are put to death for their beliefs - it is not impossible for you to have faith that God knows what He is doing. If you call upon the name of Christ and have trusted Him as your Savior… the faith you need has already been provided by the Holy Spirit.
Love where God has placed you. If you, like me, prefer colder climes but God has placed you in the midst of 100 degree weather… trust Him to change your heart so that the burden of heat becomes a blessing. If you would prefer a safer place to raise your children and God has placed you in a crime ridden area… trust Him to provide hope in the midst of that dark place. If you would prefer a picturesque retirement community in the country but God has placed you in the midst of a loud and obnoxious city… trust Him to give you quiet in the midst of the noise.
God does not make mistakes and you have not been placed where you are in vain. Wherever you are, God has called you there for this season at this time. Even if He has called you elsewhere… until He moves you, He’s called you where you are. Love where God has placed you because the place you are in is crying out for Him whether they know it or not. Love where God has placed you because love is the vessel through which God will pour your life out to reveal His glory and bring His own back to Himself. Love where God has placed you simply because it is Him who has placed you there.
Let us pray for faith. Let us pray for courage. Let us pray that God will place within our hearts a burden for where he has placed us: home, work, or play. Let us pray for insight into the lives of the people we encounter. Let us pray for humility to love the people we’re with every day with the love of Christ. Let us pray for courage to reveal to these people the glory of the Father by showing them His son Jesus. Let us pray for our neighbors, our coworkers, and our friends that God would see fit to reveal Himself to them in a mighty way and that we, in some way, might be instrumental in that revelation. Not for our glory, but for the privilege of participating in what only He can do… save the dead and cause them to be born again into life.
I’m the worst sinner I know. It’s true - I don’t know of anybody who is a greater sinner than I. Paul called himself “the chief of sinners” - I feel the same way. I know of nobody whose heart is as dark as my own. I know of nobody whose thoughts are as bereft of anything that is holy as are my thoughts. I can’t number a single person whose eyes betray God’s commands more than mine. Only I know the innermost recesses of my heart, the depravity of my mind, or the covetousness of my eyes.
Too often, we’re tempted to call out the good things we’ve done or the bad things we haven’t done to mark ourselves in some way as measuring up to some assumed standard. We use our relative measuring rod to see if we’re as bad as that guy down the block who beats his wife. Surely not. We look at just how angry other people can get or how bad their visible sin is that we are tempted to feel more satisfied that we would never do that. Even if we recognize in our mind that we aren’t good, we still feel like we aren’t really bad.
Well, it’s a lie, isn’t it? We are, by very nature, children of wrath according to Scripture. If we call upon the name of Christ, it is true that we are redeemed and we are given a new nature… but Scripture is obvious in the fact that our old nature never truly dies on this side of glory. We are constantly at war with it - Scripture calls this old nature “the flesh.” It’s metaphorical in that it is the part of us that is human and tied to the sin of our father Adam. Our new nature is spirit and tied to our spiritual father (those of us called by His name) Jesus.
What I must remind myself is that I am naturally inclined to do the opposite of what God would have me do. My natural inclination is to protect myself or what I hold dear. My sin nature, unchecked, would kill me. Thankfully, we have the Spirit to help us in this - He reminds us of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection; He reminds us that we are new creations and have been brought from death to life; He reminds us that we are not alone and this war is not waged in vain. God is fully involved and is presently helping us through every battle - even the ones we lose - to draw us nearer to Him and to conform us more and more into the image of His son.
I’m the worst sinner I know… but God chose me anyway. I can think of no one more vile than I… but Christ died a tortuous and grizzly death so that I could know Him. I know no person with more shame regarding the thoughts and intents of his heart… but the Spirit still presses me further and, incredibly, works through my hands to bring love, light, and healing to others.
How can I help but worship Him?
How does this happen? You go to sleep in a good mood (granted, it was late) but then wake up in a foul one. So, here I sit on a Saturday morning inexplicably grumpy. I’m tired (which I’m sure doesn’t help), my head is in a fog (which also doesn’t help), but I also just couldn’t care less about much of anything. Very Christian of me.
What’s worse - is sitting here and recognizing that you’re being a grumpy jerk to your own family and overreacting (within my mind - not always overtly) to every little thing that happens. You know you’re overreacting and, in fact, you know you’re being a jerk and a grump… but are seemingly incapable of forcing yourself to change. “Be happy! Be of good cheer!” Whatever.
How desperately we need our Lord in these situations. What a reminder of just how ridiculously selfish I am and that I must cling to my Savior in these moments - especially when I don’t really want to. God’s grace to me is that he allows me to see my sin for what it is - selfish, pigheaded, and just plain mean. These are the moments you start questioning your own salvation until God reminds you of just how much He loves you by telling you just how stupidly you’re acting in the kind and firm way that only He can.
So, here I sit, clinging to God finally - recognizing that He is my help, my salvation, my fortress, my strong tower, and, most importantly, my joy.
Last night we were fortunate to have the Avila’s over for dinner and it was a wonderful time of fellowship, laughter, and prayer. What’s been so incredible in seeing this relationship bloom has been the shared vision that Veritas Fellowship and Soli Deo Gloria have for the city of Austin. We want the same things (multi-cultural church, fully engaged in the culture by participating in the creation of great art, winsomely bringing the Gospel to bear on the city in numerous ways) - we essentially have the same DNA: Reformed, charismatic, mission-minded, and a high view of Scripture and yet God has birthed us as two separate church plants.
What we found uncanny was how our strengths complement each other and are just now beginning to pray that God shows us how we can collaborate and draw on each other’s strengths to reach the city of Austin with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I see us as two separate fellowships under a single umbrella called The Church in Austin - mirroring what we see in the New Testament as brothers would write to an entire city which historically consisted of separate fellowships.
I am so encouraged that God has brought us together with another like-minded fellowship to band together. There is one other church planter that already has this same spirit of collaboration that I’m eager to join together with as well. What a great DNA to inject into this city - fellowships that are not competing for members, but fellowships that recognize the Body of Christ as a single entity that we are all a part of - even if every fellowship has its own membership roll (which I believe is a good thing for reasons of church discipline and accountability).
It’s an exciting time to be in Austin, TX.
Yesterday’s post concerned the “Preface” (not the introduction… too many introductory sections in books these days). Today, I’m going to comment on the actual “Introduction” which is by the co-author, George Barna.
I struggle to comment on this introduction by Barna because, once again, I believe him to be sincere and, in no way do I wish to belittle him or his intentions. It is obvious through their comments that both Barna and Viola are intending to “wake up” the church from what they perceive to be a great hindrance to the furtherance of the Gospel and the life of the Christian. I may not agree with where they end up, but their sincerity and desire to bring people into closer relationship with Christ is not what I question - it’s the conclusions that I question.
Sometimes, when we have a personal experience that draws us nearer to our Lord we want to tell everyone about what we’ve experienced and then eagerly explain to them how we got where we were. Sometimes this experience is echoed by many and we undergo a paradigm shift. We begin to seek whether or not we have happened onto something that is revolutionary or unique. There are rarely experiences or means of approaching God that are wholly unique… most everything is shared by someone.
I do not say this to accuse the authors of this directly, nor would I be so crass as to say that men with their experience are blind to this possibility in themselves, but the introduction by Barna begins with language that leaves no room for disagreement until the very end (and then somewhat weakly). While there is no doubt that there are many Christians who have, indeed, experienced a deepening of their faith as they abandon the traditional church for the organic church; the entire introduction (except for the closing paragraphs) is written matter-of-factly as if the fact that the wrongness of the practices of the contemporary church are a foregone conclusion (prior to the citation of any evidence).
You could say I’m being harsh and, after all, Barna obviously believes in the thesis strongly so, of course his language would tend towards treating the thesis as fact. Perhaps so, but I don’t really get the impression that he thinks anyone can disagree due to the “preponderance of evidence” (yet to be cited). Right now (not having read everything), I get the impression that they found something they thought was true and went looking for evidence to prove it.
The primary opinion I take to task in this introduction is the following paragraph:
The recent story of the Christian church in America is a great example of this [forgetting to remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it]. The major changes in spiritual practice over the past half century have been largely window dressings. Pick a trend - mega-churches, seeker churches, satellite campuses, vacation Bible school, children’s church, affinity group ministries (e.g., ministries for singles, women, men, young marrieds), contemporary worship music, big-screen projection systems, EFT giving, cell groups, downloadable sermons, sermon outlines in bulletins, Alpha groups. All of the above have simply been attempts to rely on marketing strategies to perform the same activities in different ways or places, or with particular segments of the aggregate population. Whatever difficulties were present in the larger institutional setting that spawned these efforts are invariably present in the smaller or divergent efforts as well.
(p. xxvii)
Now, that’s a mouthful. It’s also wrong. See any room for disagreement? Nope - it’s a statement of fact. What’s convenient is that there’s no way to prove this because it’s subjective. All of the above is “window dressing?” All of the above is simply “marketing strategy?” This paragraph is a gross over-generalization. While it is true that some churches do use the above list as a marketing strategy… many do not. Some of the items in the list above are cultural or mere tools and should not be lumped into this list. Here are a few criticisms I have about his “list”:
I think you get my point. Now, I share some of his concerns (I think) - I have concerns about affinity groups, seeker churches, children’s churches, and absentee tithing. But I won’t call them “window dressings” or mere marketing techniques.
A Christian brother and I recently had a friendly disagreement regarding the interpretation of 1 Cor 14:26 and whether this passage in context is descriptive (describing something that is allowable) or prescriptive (declaring something that should be normative). In this friendly disagreement, he urged me to read Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna.
At first, I confess, that I had no intentions of reading this book as the reviews I’d read from some people I respected had little good to say about it. But then, something stirred within my heart and I felt compelled to purchase and begin reading this volume. Why? Because I disagree with the premise of this book so strongly that I want to just quote other reviewers and stand ignorantly by and not “waste my time” reading something I think can’t possibly be right. I’m sure you see the sin in this. If I were indifferent, that would be something completely, well, different. But I’m not.
So, my disclaimer as I begin to read this book is that I approach it as a person who didn’t want to read it and am pretty much convinced I won’t like it. That said, I have purposed in my heart to try and read this with as much of an open mind as I can muster considering my original bias. I am not a scholar and this will most certainly not be a scholarly review; however, this is appropriate as Frank Viola makes clear that he and Barna wrote this for non-scholars with footnotes for those who wish to investigate further. So… here I go with commentary on the introduction.
Based upon the introduction (pp. xvii-xxi), the thesis of this book is two-fold: 1) show that the institutionalized (Viola’s word) church in its current form and structure is almost completely based upon human tradition and not on those forms found in scripture, and 2) the truly Biblical form of Christian gathering is something that Viola calls an organic church “which are characterized by Spirit-led, open-participatory meetings and nonhierarchical leadership.” (p. xix).
Viola’s “outrageous proposal” will indeed be considered outrageous by many (including myself). That proposal is “that the church in its contemporary, institutional form has neither a biblical nor a historical right to function as it does.” Viola promises to cite much evidence to back up this claim and, to his credit, specifically says that it is up to the reader to decide if the proposal is valid or not.
The cornerstone statement, it appears, is that the first century church is the church as God intended - in its purest form. I struggle with this premise for a couple of reasons - not the least of which is the simple statement that the church for almost 2000 years now has been increasingly paganized to the point that it is no longer as God intended. This comes across as a poignantly faithless statement in my humble opinion. While I recognize that my argument has some weakness as it cannot be applied univerally to any church practice due to the fact that it would then weigh church tradition above scripture… I cannot help but doubt that the Spirit of God has allowed His church to be tainted this much for this long. I also doubt that the church that Viola and Barna are going to paint in the first century is reasonable considering the culture of the time and the fact that the church in that era could not legally exist - for the most part.
But - I eagerly look forward to reading the evidences as I have no reason to suspect Viola of being insincere in his desire to pursue a sound reading of the biblical text and present his argument with the weight of Scripture and history to vindicate his view. So, with great anticipation, I will continue to read prayerfully and thoughtfully. I do believe there will be areas concerning the institutionalized church where he and I will be in great agreement… but I pause at that because coming to the same philosophical conclusion about certain elements does not always translate to the same active outcome. In other words, just because I might agree with him on some of the failings of the current most common iterations of the typical Protestant church… how we go about responding to those failings is an area where agreement is more unlikely.
There are many schools of thought regarding children within a worship service. Is it appropriate? What are they really getting out of the service? A very good friend asked me my thoughts on this a while back. Off and on, our youngest daughter struggles during the worship time and it brought these thoughts back to me. So, fairly unedited - here is my view (just mine - not meant to be prescriptive):
Before answering, I must echo CJ Mahaney in that what I’m about to say are specific practices that God has impressed upon me for my family. I believe this is a choice given to parents where they are to be led by the Spirit within the constraints of scripture.
- 1. The corporate gathering is a communal celebration of the Savior. While there should be grace for parents who have a particular need to have their children outside of the corporate gathering, it really shouldn’t be an expectation that all children leave the gathering. I believe we teach them that they don’t belong to the church until they reach a certain age.
- 2. Family togetherness question (if one of us has to take the child outside the service - can we really say we’re worshiping as a family): we tend to have an idealized view of what family togetherness is and how a child interprets that, in my opinion. The family goes together, if a child needs to be excused from the gathering, that child is still with their parent. Also, as the child grows, they tend to be able to stay in the service longer. I believe this is a grace God gives to parents as they train their children to respect the gathering of believers as a sacred time. The child will still grow up seeing this as a family event - I don’t think that would be the case if they were ushered off to children’s church.
- 3. The primary goal of the gathering isn’t to fulfill individual needs and desires. I believe “age-appropriate” ministry tends to foster a “what’s in it for me” mentality in children. We do not know at which age our children will “get” what the pastor is saying or why we’re there. But unless they’re actually there - we won’t see it when it happens nor can we assist them if they’re “close”.
- 4. And, as a youth pastor, I discovered a disturbing trend in teenagers. Church was boring and they really did not like being there and they really did not want to hear the sermon, they primarily wanted to spend time with their friends. Some would say that teenagers would do this regardless, but my experience has not borne this out. Students who were used to being in service had a markedly different attitude towards it - it was natural for them to be there.
- 5. Should parent’s wait until a child is 4 or older? Most of what I’ve said to this point doesn’t seem to contradict the “4 or older” concept. However, my experience is that Zoë has bonded with us through being in the gathering. If we leave them in children’s church until 4, I am concerned that we’re teaching them that church is more about seeing their friends than it is about corporate worship. As I know you’re aware - 4 year olds are incredibly astute. My daughter would have viewed having to suddenly stop seeing her friends at 4 years old during the service as some sort of punishment.
There you have it - as “in a nutshell” as you can get it. I’m not opposed to children’s classes per se, I’m just opposed to the expectation that children should not attend the “main” service with their parents. So, please, no comments jumping at me for judging parents that allow their children to attend children’s services and reread my introductory paragraph… this article is posted for those folks (like my friend) who may be trying to justify having their children worship with them, but they just aren’t sure if it’s the “right thing to do”.
I am not a person who likes to meet other people very much. I am (as I’ve stated multiple times in this blog) a rather anti-social individual. This, of course, begs the question… why on earth would God pick me to help plant a church? Surely there are more qualified people (yep). Surely, He could have found someone more gifted in outreach (most certainly). And, obviously, He could have found someone far more willing (no doubt). But here I am - chosen by God to do that for which I am not particularly skilled (and, in fact, there are some evident glaring handicaps).
Thankfully, Scripture shows us that most of the idiots God chose to do stuff were really not that skilled at what He’d chosen them to do. What He required was obedience and a willingness of heart to go wherever He led. Obviously - He does this because it means that success can only happen by leaning wholly and completely upon Him. He gets the glory… not us. (Remember - that’s what God’s really on about anyway… getting glory.)
So, needless to say, I’m heavily trusting God to take me beyond myself to invest intentionally in the lives of the people who live directly around me. God has already kicked me in the head a number of times with the Boots of the Gospel of Peace (and I needed it badly). I’ve found myself on the HOA board truly excited about what’s happening and believing we may actually begin to work together to build some sort of community here in Riverside Meadows.
What’s most amazing is that I find myself at events I would never normally attend. I find myself talking with people that I wouldn’t have normally talked with. And you know… I like these people - heck, I love these people. I want to know more of them - I want to understand their worldview and see what motivates them in life. I want desperately to see if there is some small way that I can bring light to their lives in hopes that the Holy Spirit will explode in their world so that they might see God for who He really is.
How does this happen? Put your shoulder to the plow and press in to diligently do that which God has put before you. You will royally suck and totally screw up (almost a guarantee), but He will reward your diligence and He will teach you His ways and give you His heart so that people will see the Heart of Christ beating inside of you.
As I’ve said, I’m involved in a church plant… now, I’m not the lead planter. No, no, no - I’m crazy… just not that crazy. I’m kinda like an associate planter (not a real position). In more traditional terms, I would be called a co-planter… yeah, that is as meaningless as the term I came up with.
On this post, I would like to introduce you to the three church planters I know here in Austin. I’m excited about what God is doing in this city - three incarnational/missional plants whose lead planters all live within a 5 mile radius of each other is obviously not coincidental.
Richard and I have been friends for over 12 years now (we first met in a church plant in Minnesota… long story for some other day). Richard is a man of great integrity and incredible intensity. His passion for God’s glory is a beautiful thing and (he’s gonna hate that I’m posting about him) and he’s one of those few gifted preachers who can both weep with great passion while yelling at you (usually to underscore an aspect of God’s character that is both moving and should compel us to act).
Jonathan actually lives on my street here in Southeast Austin (what a wonder that is). He has a great passion to reach the city center and to socially engage the city. The church has started meeting in the Hideout in downtown Austin (great venue) and their small groups have a mission to specifically engage the culture socially through a project (different for each group, I believe). It’s good stuff and he tackles some interesting social and cultural questions on Sundays (at least that’s been my experience). Good stuff and I’m pleased that God has chosen to make us neighbors (though we rarely see each other… we need to change that).
David is from Austin, but just moved back from another plant in Arizona. We actually met via Facebook and he invited me out to an initial housewarming get together he had at his mucho cool home here in Southeast Austin. We’ve been privileged to play some songs together and enjoy each other’s company a few times and this is a great guy. David has a vision to plant a multi-cultural church here in East Austin.
Hopefully, you see in these writings a man who is staying The Course and pursuing The Path amidst the pitfalls and selfish ways of being a son of Adam. I pray earnestly that my writing would encourage some of you by showing you that this journey - though arduous and sometimes tragic - is a journey of great satisfaction. A satisfaction greater than our greatest imaginings. The trials and refining fire of tribulation are to be recognized as a small shadow of the suffering of our Savior so that we can rejoice, as Peter and the disciples did, to be counted worthy to suffer for the sake of the Name.