Category Archives: Christianity

Knowledge Without Power

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A tragic misunderstanding exists.

This blurred vision drives people to regard Christianity as merely one more avenue toward high, idealistic morality to be shelved beside those of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Confucius, Buddha, Tao, and others. The name “Jesus” is simply added to the list of “History’s Great Teachers,” typically receiving a middle-of-the-pack position, surrounded by peers of superior and inferior status.

When Christianity is reduced to a moral path or ethical code, it becomes no more than a variant theme of “Goodness, Beauty, and Truth” to which many through the ages have aspired. Here is where the misunderstanding becomes glaring.

To hold Jesus primarily as a “goodness guru” will drive one to encourage, “Look to the example of Jesus.” But any sharp thinker quickly recognizes that there may be nothing in the world so discouraging as the example of Jesus. The immensity of his moral stature and the absoluteness of his perfection are despair-inducing. The very best of us stand hopelessly condemned before we set out. To speak of “imitating Christ” is the zany zenith of nonsense. I cannot satisfy my own standards. I am incapable of meeting my own demands, and I regularly disappoint others’. Imitate Christ?! This is the language of the lunatic.

Much of this is unsurprising: The extent of failure, both others’ and our own; the departures of some from Christian churches, and the perceived moral collapse in cultures around the globe. What else is expected when the ethical instruction of non-Christian sources or of neutered-Christian teaching builds squarely upon the strength and power that no human being possesses. The architect of such a blueprint can expect lawsuits.

Thank God the distortion is not the deal.

Christianity is no mere code of ethics. If this is the version of faith which you have perceived or received, I apologize for the pitiful counterfeit you have held, with either affection or affliction. Just as a forged fifty will net you nothing beyond disappointment or detention, a crap-copy of Christianity delivers disillusionment or worse.  Mark it down: When Christ gets counterfeited, people get cheated.

Numerous educators and influencers will turn to Christianity as a source for inspired instruction. They may come with guards up against anticipated narrow-mindedness, with minds inquiring, “Christians, what are your dearly held beliefs about life-factors like money, power, sex, and pride?”

The answer is that what I believe about money, power, sex, pride, or any host of other factors is of little consequence. My adding to the pile of perceived knowledge is not nearly so needed as the arrival of power sufficient to deliver men and women from the mastery and control of such things as these.

“It is not knowledge we need; it is power. And this is where your moral ethical systems break down and fail completely. They have no power to offer, none at all.”

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? Join the conversation below.

What is your faith experience?
Do standards have center stage?
Has power been perceived?

A WORD: To any who read this post with disappointment, with realization that such power has never been perceived, let me plant a seed of hope in your heart.  It DOES exist.  The drudgery of duty is what killed the soul of the older brother (Luke 15).  This is not the destiny of those who are “in Christ”.  Seek your Father with your heart; He is eager to share His joy with you.

[These thoughts have been heavily reliant upon a piece, “On Romans 10:3”, written by David Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1961. The title and closing quote are his. My offering is the internal interaction with his text, twisted into this post of assertive agreements and revived re-phrasings of his original sentiments.]

Christ is Risen!

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Jesus Wants to Heal You… Sort Of

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I’ve been immersed in the gospel of Mark for months now. Recently, something from chapter five struck me with unusual weight.

Here’s the story from Mark 5:21-34:

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And he went with him.

And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

One sharp thrust here:

There is something we want, and there is something Jesus wants. And they are not typically the same.

Allow me to decode. Continue reading →

Hearing and Obeying

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My friend Kevin leads a church plant in North Central Regina; it’s called the Gentle Road Church of Christ.  A video about this effort can be viewed HERE.

Recently, Kevin wrote up some reflections inspired by the work and writings of Lesslie Newbigin, a most interesting missionary, who lived from 1908-1998.  With permission, I’m posting Kevin’s write-up here.

If you are involved in any form of church leadership in the Western hemisphere OR you feel the struggle of living out your Christian faith in Western society, these words will likely carry substantial weight.

WARNING: OBJECTIONAL CONTENT.  This material will change your life.
 

Have you ever heard someone leading the closing prayer, pray that “we would apply what we learned today”?   Or the preacher urge us to “apply this to our lives”?

 
This language indicates a disturbing flaw in our approach to our faith.  In The Open Secret: An Introduction to the Theology of Mission, veteran missionary Lesslie Newbigin contrasts our Western world approach with other worldviews.  In the Western world, we talk about ideas and walk around them as though they are objects in a museum.  They are ideas that “free float”, concepts that we discuss, observe and analyze.  The “application of them to our lives” is a secondary step, and from the language of the preacher and the closing pray-er, they are optional.  We choose whether we will do them or not, and if we do them, how thoroughly and wholeheartedly we will do them.  
 
In Henri Nouwen’s book Spiritual Direction, he describes how his students at a prestigious university in the US enrolled in his classes to hear about his time among the poor in South America.  He had spent a couple of years living and serving among the disenfranchised in Latin America.  But his US students were mostly spectators of his journey, curious to learn about the journey, not interested in making the same journey themselves.  
 
We have the same thing in our churches.  We have Bible classes about confessing our sins to one another, humbling ourselves before God, sharing our faith with the lost, giving sacrificially, and praying.  But we don’t actually confess our sins to one another (for the most part).  We talk about it, but we don’t actually do it.  And far be it for the preacher/teacher to expect that everyone will do it.  Imagine the Bible class where the teacher reads James 5, and then says, “OK, now we are going to practice this.  We are supposed to confess our sins to one another.  What is the best way for us to do this today?”
 
Contrast this approach, says Newbigin, with the assumptions of the liberation theologians in South America.  In their worldview, there is no separation between faith and action, between ideas and justice.  People who aren’t working for justice aren’t doing anything, they are just talking.  You either actively join the cause against the totalitarian regime, or you are with it.  Newbigin goes on to critique some aspects of liberation theology, but he commends this much: that in Latin America, faith is never a spectator sport.  There is never a gap between knowledge and application.  Faith means working for justice, period.  You will never hear them pray that “we would apply what we learned today.”
 
So what does this look like in real life?  My friend Oscar Contrares grew up in El Salvador, and actively participated in the resistance movement.  He tells me that when they had Bible studies, they always ended the gatherings with a call to action.  There was always something to do, some political, economic or practical way to participate.  You never left the meeting without being shoulder-tapped to help in some way.  The call to obedience was immediate, practical and communal.
 
I believe Jesus speaks to this exact point in Luke 17.  Does the servant come in from working in the field all day and expect the master to invite him to sit down with him and feast?  No.  He prepares the meal for the master and then only after he has done all of his work, he gets to sit down and eat.  Then, “Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?  So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'”  (See Luke 17:7-10)  This is the kind of spirit that Jesus’ disciples are to have – an immediate, humble and submissive heart to the commands of the master.  There is no gap between hearing and obeying.  Whatever Jesus commands, we obey “right away, all the way, in a happy way” (stolen from a parenting mantra).  
 
One of the problems in our churches is that we do things that reinforce this gap between hearing and obeying.  Everytime we have a Bible study where we don’t call or expect people to obey immediately, we reinforce this gap.  Everytime we intellectualize or walk around a Bible study topic like a rare museum artifact, we subtly reinforce that we are passive observes and that we in control of our response.  Instead we need to abandon control of our response in advance and commit to do everything our master bids, in the spirit of Luke 17.  We need to commit to obedience before we leave the building, and at the end of it all say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”
 
I believe that we need new DNA in our churches.  We need to eliminate this gap between hearing and obeying, and we need leaders who are going to lead by example, who fully embrace the spirit of humility, obedience and submission to Jesus Christ as Master of all.  And we need to raise the bar in our congregations, by providing immediate and practical ways for people to obey what they hear, and actually expect people to do it.
 
There is a saying that “what we convert people with, is what we convert them to.”  If we convert people with an approach that faith is a spectator sport, we will have spectators in our pews.  If we convert people with an approach like Luke 17, I think we might have a very different reality.
 
May the gospel come to us “not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.”  (1 Thessalonians 1:5)

How to Choke a Church

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This article, from Thom Rainer’s great blog, speaks to a serous danger he has observed in the life cycles of local congregations.

To any church experiencing significant growth, it points to a potential pitfall.

To any church wishing to experience significant growth, it raises the questions: What is driving us toward this?  And are we well rooted enough to survive if we became what we dream of?

Rainer’s article has been copied below:

When Hubris Comes to Church

For nearly the past three decades, I have been studying the life cycle of churches. I continue to be amazed at how a certain pattern plays out repeatedly in most churches. And I continue to be challenged to discern how churches can avoid the last two stages of the life cycle: irrelevance and death.

In this brief article I won’t take the time to review all the stages of the life cycle of churches.  I am working on a complete book on that topic. Instead, I will focus on one particular stage, a part of the cycle that may be the most dangerous for the health of churches. I call this stage “hubris.”

When Hubris Happens

Simple defined, hubris means pride or arrogance. It has its origins in Greek tragedy where an excess of ambition or pride ultimately causing the transgressor’s ruin.

In churches hubris is an insidious enemy. It comes at a time when members are typically feeling great about the health of the church. Indeed, it often comes when the church is on its best growth trajectory, and when the congregation is receiving accolades for its ministries and programs.

The feelings of well-being and the abundance of accolades can cause church members and leaders to get comfortable and proud. If and when that happens, the church is already on a downward trek. Decline may not manifest itself right away, but it is inevitable unless serious steps are taken toward a corporate attitude change.

Why Hubris Happens

So-called success in local church ministry often creates a sense of self-sufficiency. “Look what we’ve done,” some members may say or think. “We have truly become a great church,” others may opine. But self-sufficiency is the opposite of God-dependency. And when church members and leaders lean on their own strength and understanding, they are headed down a dangerous path.

Hubris often manifests itself in the idolatry of ministries, programs, or preferred styles of worship. Those ministries that were once a means to the end of glorifying God become ends in themselves. Inevitably the church will experience conflict when any leader attempts to change or discard those ministries, programs, or worship styles. They have been become idols. They represent in the minds of some the accomplishments of the church rather than just an instrument to glorify God.

Likewise, hubris comes to church because we enjoy the accolades of others. We believe that we are as great as others say we are. We like the recognition. We enjoy the attention. We forget the Author of all good things in our church.

How Hubris Leaves

Churches that are experiencing numerical attendance decline eventually understand that not all is well. Churches whose budgets are shrinking grasp that the elimination of ministries and personnel is the result of being an unhealthy church. But, by the time a church has such a wake-up call, it is often too late to reverse the trend. Numerical and budgetary declines are not the real problems. Numbers are not the ultimate gauge of the health of a church. But those declines are typically the result of an attitude of hubris that took place years earlier when all seemed well.

The presence of hubris in a church often leads to the stages of irrelevance and death. But such a downward spiral is not inevitable. When a church seems to be experiencing its best days of growth and community impact, its members and leaders should constantly be asking themselves questions. “Are we proud of our accomplishments?” “Have we implicitly given glory to ourselves rather than to God?” “Would we be willing to let go of anything in our church, even if it has become a sacred cow for many members?” “Do we compare our church to others with some level of pride?” “Have activities replaced prayer and time in the Word?”

Hubris is a dangerous and deadly attitude in churches. But it can be overcome.

It begins in our own hearts with repentance, and a willingness to do whatever our Lord asks for His glory.