On the Repeated, Simple Instructions Given to Peter by the Messiah

First, part of me feels as if I should apologize for this post; I recently seem to be beating this subject, the errant attitudes of the seeker-sensitive church, to death. Also, perhaps it would appear that I go in search for quotes like the one that will soon follow so that I may rant against them, but I honestly do not. They seem, at times, to fall in my lap.

That being said, and as mentioned in an earlier post, I have no desire to place myself in the position of being a ‘watch-blogger,’ but when I do stumble across something I honestly believe to be egregiously wrong, I react; I operate under a certain compulsion. The following quote - from the blog of the pastor of a small seeker-sensitive church near where I live - honestly makes me angry; it evokes fury within me. Let me say, too, that at the beginning of my quest to find a church home, I visited this church from which the forthcoming quote originates. It is a stereotypical seeker-sensitive church. In fact, it is a 1/24th scale version of the large mega-church that I left for reasons mentioned in an earlier post. The church operates under the best of intentions. Following is the quote from the pastor’s blog:

• “The mission is not to feed - but to train. There’s a difference. Too many spiritual couch potatoes have been sitting around churches complaining they’re hungry. Folks it’s a pretty sad day when the pastor has to part the mustache to bottle feed Christians that have been going to church most of their life!”

Where does this idea come from? Why does it seem to be gaining such momentum? Is there a memo being passed around at all these ubiquitous church growth leadership conferences? How can a pastor, the one charged to feed and nourish, hold his flock in such utter contempt? Even more interesting and disturbing is the fact that much of the flock sit and nod their heads in agreement. Is there no longer any discernment in the church?

Too, true couch potatoes, spiritual or otherwise, have no problem feeding themselves. They perhaps feed themselves on junk food, more often than not. I speak from personal experience. One part of the role of pastor is to provide food that strengthens, food that nourishes, among other things, the ability of a Christ-follower to discern truth from error.

One last, perhaps peripheral, word, then the rant mode is turned off. The quest for creativity in ‘doing church’ has become an idol worshiped at the alter of the ’seeker-sensitive/church growth movement. I could hold forth on this issue, ad nausea, for hours, but not today.

Some thoughts on environmentalism

I am green. In fact, I am so green, the following post has been recycled, with some modification, about three times since I originally posted it on my now fallow Stumbleupon blog. I have thought a bit about the “new atheism” that has been gaining traction for some time as evidenced the works of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, et al, on the the best seller lists. Below are some brief thoughts on secularism and its claims on environmental stewardship. More broadly, there is the question that seeks an answer as to what foundation can a secularist build a substantial moral framework. I would assert, in reference to the aforementioned question, that materialists essentially piggyback onto the ‘moral bandwidth’ of the Judeo-Christian world-view.

Where exactly does humankind reside in the natural hierarchy? If, as the materialist would assert, we are merely a hairless ape with no more importance or than an amoeba in the greater scheme of things, how can our impact on nature, on the environment, for better or worse, be given an ethical value when that of other natural phenomena is not? Is a volcano evil when it spews ‘toxic‘ gases into the atmosphere? Does the beaver wrongly exploit the environment when it fells trees and builds dams? I have cats for pets and have observed them stalking, catching, and then toying with chipmunks that they found in the backyard. Are they cruel or are they acting in accordance with their nature? How is the drilling for oil in the ANWR wrong? How can an oil spill be `wrong‘? How can the deforestation of a rain forest be condemned? All the aforementioned are natural results of a natural action by a natural entity.

What can truly be defined as ‘unnatural‘? How can a materialist, for all intents and purposes, deify nature and then place humanity outside of nature? The point is this: Unless nature is the effect of a transcendental cause and humanity occupies a position of ascendancy over nature, one cannot coherently and rationally make moral judgments concerning humanity’s stewardship and impact on nature. Indeed, how can one derive any moral imperatives from a naturalist framework? The foundation is so plastic, so pliable, that any act can be justified within the confines of natural selection.

Think on this: Zoology Professor Pianka of the University of Texas seems to endorse the elimination of ninety percent of the human population, perhaps by Ebola, in order to preserve sustainability. He has received accolades for his ideas.

Some thoughts on the graciousness of brothers from different traditions

Church is sometimes where you find it. I am thankful for my brothers at my place of work. I have an especially high regard for my friend Jeff.  He comes from a charismatic/Pentecostal background, and while we may gracefully diverge on some peripheral doctrinal issues, I am impressed with is his heart for missions, his love and knowledge of Scripture, and for reflecting the grace of Christ in his words and actions. As I learn, I find myself leaning towards a more Reformed theology, but I continue to be, and will always be, edified by my brothers and sisters from other traditions who hold firm to the foundation.

Dying to self

I do not know the origin of the following. I did a abbreviated search and found it quoted in here and there, but I did not find who to attribute it to:

• When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely provoked, and you don’t sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

• When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.
  

• When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility - and endure it as Jesus endured - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

• When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any people, any raiment, any interruption - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

• When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good words, when you are uncomfortable with commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

• When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

• When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart - THAT IS DYING TO SELF.

I grieve and submit that I am not there, yet. I do not know what to say other than how impossible it is to possess such a nature as to do these things………..apart from the progressive working of the Spirit in His called-out ones.

• Philippians 1:6
  And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
• Ephesians 4:1-3
  I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
• Colossians 3:12
  Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
  
• Mark 8:34-35
  Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.”
• Galatians 5:24
  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
• Galatians 6:14
  But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
  

Our perfect high priest

Hebrews 4:14-16
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

This resonates so powerfully within the deep parts of me. How thankful I am that our Shepherd deals gently and patiently with the weak ones in His flock.

Excerpts from a post titled: “When People see You, does God look Good?”

Excerpts from Dr. Sam Storms blog:

• When people see how I spend money, do they conclude that God is a priceless treasure, exceedingly valuable above all worldly goods?
• Is my use of leisure time or devotion to a hobby or how I speak of my wife the sort that persuades others that my heart is content with what God is for me in Christ?
• When we respond to injustice or mistreatment, are our words and ways the sort that lead them to glorify the God-man who “did not threaten” those who abused him “but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:23)?
• When people observe my relationship with others, are they alerted to the power of Christ’s forgiveness of me that alone accounts for my forgiveness of them?

John Piper - Test Yourself: Football or Christ?

Nicked this from Provocations and Pantings, Tim Brister’s blog

• 2 Corinthians 13:5
  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

On BSoDs, an inference of synchronicity, etc…….

Hold on securely; I began writing this draft at 3:30 on the morning of January 21, 2008, and I honestly do not know where this thing is going. First, as mentioned in a previous post, I began this ‘blogging’ endeavor, much like this particular post, without a clear idea as to it’s direction, and to be quite honest, I am doing this for me as much as for the three to four people that stumble upon this blog on any given month. I find it quite beneficial for me, being somewhat inept and inarticulate in speech, to put my often nascent, unformed, thoughts to written word for it helps me to add structure and clarity to them. Also, by publishing these words, these thoughts, online, it forces upon me a certain accountability in my thinking and writing.

Speaking of these aforementioned thoughts, my XP PC at work went all BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) on me a few days ago, one of the reasons I primarily use Linux at home (that, and the fact that I am also a geek). No BSoDs with Ubuntu. My work PC informed me that it was taking a physical memory dump. This is my metaphor for this morning, for this particular post. Recently, I have too many thoughts to easily process, thoughts concerning conversations from work and elsewhere, thoughts regarding the articles and blogs I’ve read, thoughts revolving around the other sundry experiences of the last week. Many of these events and conversations honestly seem to have a uniquely unusual and eerie feel of parallelism, of synchronicity, to them as they seem to echo off one another, so I am just going to dump them in this post. In dumping them, I will generalize, condense, and summarize the aforementioned experiences and conversations while consciously avoiding specifics. Thus it begins.

It is very easy to assume, and perhaps not always incorrectly, that our sometimes varied and subjective personal experience as Christ followers is, or should be, normative for others. If, upon coming to Christ, one is immediately released from the bondage of a certain sin or addiction, one may easily and understandably have a hopeful and righteous expectation of the same for others. While Father God may, in His sovereignty, grant immediate victory over a particular sin for some, others find themselves, struggling as did Paul as evidenced in Romans: 7:21-25:

• So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

We cannot read minds. We cannot peer into the heart of another. We are not be able to ascertain the baggage being bought to the table. When we observe actions and listen to the words of others, we must bear in mind that we are all weak vessels; we all start as infants requiring milk. Sometime, the journey to maturity seems to take detours; growth may seem stunted by a lack of nourishment. However, Father God will grow His saints, His called-out ones, often in ways difficult and painful. He will watch over them and keep them and nothing shall snatch them from His hand. Our Savior will tenderly nurture a bent reed so that, in His time, it may heal and grow. In the same way, we must, in Christ’s name, reflect His grace and bear one another’s weaknesses and struggles as if they were our own.

• Isaiah 42:3
  a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.
• Isaiah 57:15
  For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
• 1 Corinthians 1:27
  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
• Romans 15:1-7
  We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
  

Speaking again of my aforementioned thoughts on recent events, a testimony of Christ’s working of grace and the experience of victory in the life of a Christian is a wonderful aroma pleasing to God and edifies the man who hears it. It can be a wonderful apologetic and a powerful tool to be used in declaring the saving grace through faith in Christ. As powerful as is the testimony of transformed lives, we must not forget that the most powerful witness to the saving grace found in Christ through faith is the infallible and inspired word of God of the Old and New Testament. It is trumped by nothing. In conclusion, perhaps the tendency, in all its potential for error, to errantly and unintentionally elevate the authority of subjective experience is born out of a lack of understanding of the necessity of foundation in sola scritura and sola gratia.

Now, for something completely different…………

With all deference to Yakov Smirnoff…and Monty Python

Troubling thoughts ………

What follows is a selection of troubling thoughts I’ve come across from ‘blogs’ of church leaders/planters, a couple of whom are becoming quite influential. As for the first quote, while I respect, encourage, and applaud those who have a heart for the Great Commission, we must not loose sight of the nature and constituency of the Church as defined by the New Testament.

Too, I would propose that the common theme running through the following statements - perhaps unintended, and even denied, by those being quoted - is one of human-centricity, of a reliance on the passion and sufficiency of human efforts in growing the Kingdom. The unintentional fall-out is, unfortunately, often an arrogance regarding methods and results.

As an aside, I must admit I am somewhat uncomfortable with this post and do not have any intention of consciously turning my blog into a ‘watchblog’ or a ‘discernment’ blog. Such posts will probably be quite rare. That being said, here are the aforementioned quotes:

• ‘If I have to chose to make a decision that will cause a non-christian to leave or a christian to leave, I will always chose in favor of the non-christian (short of sinning). If a christian leave[sic], I know they will find another church for their family. If the non-christian leaves, I don’t know that they will give church and God another chance.’

• “I’ve heard it…you have too…”Christians” saying, “I just want to be fed!” It blows my mind! This would be equal to you and I going to an all you can eat restaurant and crying because no one would bring us any food. Food is all around in this environment…but if the person is lazy and self centered, wanting to be waited on hand and foot, then they could possibly starve to death when food is merely a few feet away. ” (Emphasis mine. Why the quote around “Christians?” Also, this issue of feeding is not always that the pastor’s sheep are “lazy and self-centered.” Unfortunately, some restaurants seem to have a menu rich with dairy products and desserts, but seem to be adverse to serving meals that sustain.”)

• “What people say: “I just want some deeper teaching.” Alternate version: “I want the meat.” Alternate version #2: “I need to be fed.” What that usually means (is) Don’t preach practical stuff to me. I would actually have to do something about it.”

• “It’s important to learn from churches bigger and smaller then you. Churches that are smaller have to be even more creative, because their success depends on it ” (emphasis mine)

• “Do WHATEVER It Takes To Grow…and SHUT UP About How Much It Cost! If I hear/see one more pastor/church planter complain about how much a conference cost and/or say they can’t afford something I am going to punch them…in the throat! The Bible says in Proverbs 4:6-8 that we need to get wisdom-NO MATTER WHAT IT COSTS US!”

John 21:15-17

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Romans 9:16

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.

Mark 4:26-29

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”