Authority and Distraction

Just some thoughts I journaled as I wrapped up my study of Hebrews 1:5-14... Hebrews 1:5-14 can be summed up by saying that it refers to and exposes the writer’s belief that Jesus is a superior being on an equal plane with God. He says that Jesus, while being temporarily lower than the angels (Hebrews 2:7, 9; we haven’t gotten there, but be patient!), has risen to a status that is now far superior to them. In a day and age when religion is so watered down with feel-good philosophy and New Age heresy as related to angels and human wisdom such, how do we define authority? Even Christians (myself included) look to popular authors, speakers, and conferences for wisdom and inspiration. I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with that, but books, sermons, and conference lineups are all rooted in flawed man rather than in the Word of God. Even in a sermon, a pastor is giving me HIS interpretation of Scripture. How many pastors in the last five years have fallen in one type of disgrace or another? So the question is, “Why would I give them more authority in my life than the Bible?” In the time of the early church, angels were given very high regard. They had reached what appears to be near mythical proportions and were so highly acclaimed that even the worship of angels began to surface as a new heresy. Angels have been popularized in movies and television shows like “Touched By An Angel”. I know people who collect angel figurines. I have talked with people who talked non-stop about their guardian angel (I’m not disparaging the idea of guardian angels. Some people approach angels with a worshipful attitude, though.) George Guthrie notes that angels are clearly both popular and big business in Western societies. The question is, how should the church respond to this cultural trend? Keeping in mind that the author of Hebrews uses his first audience’s respect for angels to speak to their need for a higher opinion of the Son… In Hebrews, it’s possible that some of the people for whom this sermon was intended had been having a problem with Spiritual authority and the writer may have been using an inflated view of angels for his jumping off point for a discussion of where they should be placing their trust and focus. Angel worship isn’t the problem that it once was, however Christians do end up worshiping at the altar of personality way too much. How do we avoid venerating people while respecting them? For example, I am a big fan of Matt Chandler, who is the pastor of the Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. He would probably tell me to go look somewhere else for an example of Godly living, because that’s the kind of guy he is. Anyway, I listen to his messages, subscribe to his podcast, and I even watch how he preaches for pointers on style. I really respect the guy and if there is a person I follow in contemporary church culture, it’s Chandler (Francis Chan is another one, but he isn’t as active as Chandler, but I digress…). The question is this: “How do I glean from a man and avoid venerating his word as Gospel? How do I respect him, but avoid putting him on a pedestal that would cause his voice to supersede the word of God?” How do I let him be AN authority without allowing him to become ULTIMATE authority? The secret is that, first of all, it isn’t a secret, and secondly, it isn’t that hard. 1 John 1:1-3 (NASB95) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. Here’s the problem: many of the people in whom we see the world placing trust and whom we allow to have spiritual authority are NOT Christians. I’m not calling any specific individual out here. I am, however, addressing how it happens. I have been asking teenagers for years now how they know if I am telling them the truth. The answer always seems to go back to that one passage when Paul was in Berea and they searched the Scriptures to be sure that what he was saying was true. What is it that we’re looking for, though? Yes, we want to be sure that the doctrines are accurate, but how many of those doctrines fall completely apart without the centricity of Christ in our lives? Can I NOT murder and still not be a believer? Can I NOT steal and still not be a believer? If a guy preaches on not murdering and not stealing, does that make him a solid teacher if that’s what we find in the Bible? My question would be, “Did he mention the name of Jesus at ALL anywhere in his message?” I think hype can distract us. Sometimes I feel like guys go out and get into ministry and they can’t WAIT to write and publish their first book. It’s almost like today’s clergy is trying to make a name for itself instead of making a name of Jesus. Is the person whom I am following (i.e. Matt Chandler) trying to make a bigger name for Jesus than for himself? Is he confessing that Jesus is God and not himself or herself as God? I think that’s how we test the spirits. It’s not some sort of vague spiritual entity that we are consulting with. We don’t go get a Ouija board and start asking it questions to get guidance on whom to follow and whom not to follow. We test the spirit of the man or woman in question. Does the life match Scripture? More specifically, does that life match what the Bible says about Jesus? It’s a challenging question. It’s a question that causes a bit of fear and trembling in my own life and ministry. As Katy and I enter a season of searching out our first pastorate, I hope that this reality continues to humble us and keep us real.

Three "ism's": You DO need air to survive!

I ran across some thoughts in a commentary that really made me start to think deeply about three “isms” that we run across almost daily and are at odds with one another in almost every way. The three “isms” are theism, modernism, and postmodernism. Theism is the belief that there is a god or gods out there somewhere. We typically run into theism in a form that believes that a god of some kind created the universe. Theism has many flavors, but it can basically be boiled down into polytheism and monotheism. The opposite of theism would be modernism. I don’t want to oversimplify modernism as it has far reaching cultural implications, but as it relates to religion it pretty much rejects the supernatural in order to give way to science. So we have theism at odds with modernism right out of the gate. One says, “Some god exists”. The other says, “No god exists”. Both of these worldviews are very dogmatic, meaning that they both think that they are the truth. If that’s the case, then they are mutually exclusive of one another meaning that no person can hold these two truths simultaneously and not be looked at as a total moron. I can’t think up is both down and up at the same time. It’s either one or the other. To believe otherwise relegates me to the aforementioned realm of the moronic. Now let’s take a look at postmodernism. Again, I don’t want to oversimplify postmodernism, but for the purpose of a short writing here, let’s just say that postmodernism believes that everything is relative. While theism would say, “Some god exists”, and modernism says, “no god exists”, postmodernism would suggest that “your god exists and my god exists”. On top of that, the postmodern view of religion would further suggest that everyone’s god, whether they exist or not, can all coexist peacefully. Now, we know that this is just crazy. There are way too many religions out there that would argue this point literally to the death. No devout Muslim would agree with this. No serious Christian agrees with this. So what is it that postmodernism is trying to do here? Well, I am of the opinion that this postmodern outlook on religion is simply trying to help people relate to one another peacefully. So a Christian who takes on a postmodern way of thinking, believing that nothing is concrete and that all is relative, would suggest that Jesus is that Way, the Truth, and the Life, but this isn’t necessarily the truth for everyone. Those who don’t believe in Jesus, well, they’re okay. It’s fine for them to believe that Jesus isn’t God since that is what is true for that person. I would like for you to imagine someone trying to spike a postmodern volleyball over a net. Now, I would like for you to imagine a solid Christian jumping up, blocking that spike so hard that the person spiking the ball falls to the ground crying in pain, horror, and humiliation while the blocker screams, “Get that weak garbage out of here!” Christian postmodernists need to grow a spine. Why in the world anyone thinks that it is appropriate to stand halfway between theism and modernism is beyond me. Is it okay for a Christian to think this way? I would submit to you that it is not and I will explain further (if it’s not self-explanatory already) why I believe that. The postmodern Christian is caught between two worlds: the dogmatic and the pragmatic. Dogmatic people stand on what is true. Pragmatic people stand on what works. Does it “work” for Christians to just try to get along with others? Well, I suppose that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but is it okay when truth gets watered down? If Jesus is the way, truth, and life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, then is it okay to say that this truth is okay only for those who want to believe it to be true? Is it less true if someone chooses not to believe it? Here’s the problem Mr. Postmodern Christian: if a person chooses to not believe it as a dogmatic truth, Jesus is still the Way, the Truth, and the Life and nothing changes the fact (not even unbelief) that no one comes to the Father except through Jesus. I can believe all day long that oxygen isn’t necessary for survival, but I can’t make that true. If the “rule of three’s” is true, after about three minutes without oxygen, I will become very, very dead. So, if some guy claims that he can live without oxygen and puts a plastic bag over his head, am I okay to just let him suffocate since we all know that he will die? Wouldn’t I try to stop him from doing something that will result in his own asphyxiation? At least poke a hole in the bag, right? If I allow him to have his own postmodern way, he will die. His truth is going to kill him. The dogma that is the human body’s need for oxygen will win over his hard headed and hard hearted belief that he doesn’t need air to survive! Let’s say that I allow him to hold this view and act on it and he dies. What now? Am I now responsible for his death since I didn’t do anything to prevent it when I could have? I guess the courts will decide that one, but the obvious parallel here is that in the life of a Christian, some things are just true and they are DEADLY true! Those who don’t believe that Jesus is God and that trust in Him is essential for salvation are putting a plastic bag over their heads. If I just say, “Well, that’s what is true for him, so I shouldn’t step on his rights”, then I am basically saying, “I don’t believe my own truth enough to do something about it”. When does it end? When do we take a stand and just live out lives like we REALLY believe this “Jesus stuff”?

How to tell when your vision stinks

So what do we do in a culture that demands that we NOT commit to anything? I have been involved with my wife in young adult ministry in our time in service and I can tell you that none are less willing to commit to anything than today’s young adult. It seems that they just aren’t sure what they are going to be doing on any given night. They seem to be afraid of making solid plans out of fear that a “better plan” may come along. “I can’t commit to going to a small group because someone might want to hang out.” “I guess we can go to our young adult group since we don’t have anything else to do.” Of course, this doesn’t describe ALL young adults, but it certainly does seem to be a pervading attitude. Also, it doesn’t just describe young adults. It is bleeding into adult attitudes, as well. However, have you noticed that once today's young adult population DOES commit to something, they are ALL IN? Not just partially supportive, but ALL IN! How do we build into people a commitment to the word of God? Is that even my responsibility? How do we take folks who are marginal or even nominal followers and help them to develop a real hunger for deep things? I think it’s about planting a compelling vision in the hearts and minds of believers. I am a firm believer that people don’t give their time, money, or talents to other people or organizations. They give all of those things to a compelling vision. A vision compels when it’s going somewhere. It compels when we can see progress. We don’t have to be winning necessarily. The vision just can’t be a stagnant pool of non-moving garbage! Maybe most importantly, vision is compelling when it is participatory. I don’t think most people, and I am particularly speaking of young adults here, want to just give their money to an organization and watch the work happen. I think people want to give themselves away to a cause and be USED in the effort! Maybe this is where church is going wrong today. Maybe we aren’t about EQUIPPING people enough. Maybe we are just communicating, “We don’t really want YOU. We just want your MONEY so that WE can do good things for Christ. You just sit over there and clap when we sing, okay? We the, ‘professionals’, will take care of the sick and hurting.” This is exactly the attitude that stagnates a church. It stops people from NEEDING to develop faith. Stagnant people means stagnant vision. After all, if I’m the only one who is going to do ministry in my church and the average congregant never has an opportunity to share faith, why is there any need to DEVELOP faith! There is no vision for that person to MOVE in faith, so he or she just sits still in worship and wonders why he or she is even there. People become stagnant when there is no expectation to do anything with what they are taught about faith. So what do they do? They wait for something else to come along that will speak to them. If we aren’t careful, the world will plant vision in our congregation. They will begin to fall away from the vision that God set forth in Scripture and begin to chase after meaning elsewhere. Today’s young adult was not built to be stagnant. They were built to keep moving and growing. Maybe we need to stop complaining about a lack of commitment and start really re-evaluating whether or not our vision is worth following?