Working through the Sermon on the Mount on Sunday mornings, a few weeks ago I preached from Matthew 5.13-16, the Salt & Light passage. What I explained to our congregation is that, after instrucitng us about what our attitude ought to be as citizens of the Kingdom, Jesus goes on to reveal the Influence he expects his people to have on the communites where we live, and on the world around us.
In this video Tim Keller offers his thoughts about being Salt & Light.
The following is a spoof on the substance of much of contemporary Evangelicalism. It is taken from a past edition of Modern Reformation, probably Jan/Feb 1997, but I am not sure of the original publication date.
I know I may be stepping into a hornets nest here, but I post it because I find it funny – sad, but funny:
I believe in God who once was Almighty, but sovereignly chose not to be sovereign; and in Jesus, my personaLordandSavior, Who loves me and has a wonderful plan for my life, Who came into my heart when I asked him to, and is now seated at the right ventricle of my belief in him, Who walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way, and tells me I am his own, Who shall come again with secrecy to rapture us outta’ here, Whose kingdom shall last exactly one thousand years; And in the Holy Ghost, who did some weird stuff at Pentecost, but doesn’t do much more anymore except speak to the hearts of individual believers.
And I believe in this local, independent, and powerless church, insofar as it is in line with my personal interpretation of the Bible and does stuff I like; in one Believer’s baptism for the public proof of my decision for Christ; and in giving my personal testimony for soul winning.
And I look for the identity of the Antichrist, and know that the Last Days are upon us.
– Ay-men
I’ve never quite understood the attraction. His words melt like cotton candy. Yet he has amassed the largest church and largest television audience in the United States. Sure, he may be a nice guy, but what is the allure of Joel Osteen?
Like him or loathe him, Osteen’s influence is pervasive. I am frequently asked my opinion of him by members of my own church – usually old ladies, who I assume think he would be a fine son or grandson.
Mike Horton has written a piece I find informative: Joel Osteen and the Story of Glory.
Check it out.
It seems like it has been a long, long time since I sat down to write a new post. In reality it has only been a week that has gone by since I last posted. But it has been a few weeks since I have been able to take the time to sit down and write with any real enjoyment.
Since I last posted regularly our church has added an assistant pastor, I have been elected (appointed?) president of the Athletic Booster Club at Sullivan Central High School, Miss California has lost the Miss USA pageant but become the spokesperson for the new religious right, and militant pro-lifers have been thrown in jail for protesting the president in South Bend, Indiana.
There is a lot that would have been great blog fodder.
I want to just take a moment to comment on the Miss California and Pro Life protests. In both situations it has been asserted that there is a sense of religious persecution against Christians occuring. But I am not so sure that things are as clear as some would like to make them out to be.
Miss California, Carrie Prejean, as almost everyone in the Western world knows, was a finalist for the Miss USA crown. She was put in, what was in one sense, a difficult position. She was asked her opinion about gay marriage by an agenda driven celebrity, with no apparent talents, Perez Hilton. In her hesitating and somewhat aplogetic response Miss Prejean affirmed her support of, not just traditional but, God’s standard and governing of marriage. The backlash and media coverage that resulted was more than a little ridiculous. Hilton went on the warpath, ignorantly and offensively attacking Miss Prejean for disagreeing with him. As has been said by many before me, apparently open-mindedness only opens to the Left.
That event provided some interesting cultural insights.
First, I am amazed that Pro Gay seems to have become a mark of righteousness. It is not enough for some that people be open and non-hostile to those choosing homosexual lifestyles. In our current culture any scruples about homosexuality is deemed not only ignorant but actually seems to be considered evil. Pro Gay is not only accepted as enlightened but as a mark of the righteous. This is peculiar in one sense because the position they espouse (no pun intended) is a minority view even in California. What is even more peculiar is that there is no apparent standard that makes their position “righteous” other than the fact that supporters say so. What guage are these people using to determine what is righteousness and what is sin? Romans 1 is being acted out right before our eyes: “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…” (Romans 1.25)
Second, because of her position on this issue, and because of the noteriety that surrounded it, there was an apparent attempt to destroy Miss Prejean. They dug up dirt to discredit her. They did not have to dig deep. Pictures taken for a modeling portfolio were more revealing than the average conservative Christian girl has posed for. That was enough to get the hounds howling about her hypocrissy, and some pageant officials questionining her qualification to continue as the reigning Miss California.
I have little doubt that the motive behind releasing those photos was malicious and political. But I also thought the response given by Miss Prejean and her handlers was a bit weak and pretentious. To merely explain them as the trademark of her profession is not to uphold the standard of modesty her faith calls for. And to claim that this was happening to her only because she was a Christian is just lame.
I am not offering a judgement on Miss Prejean for the photos. For one thing, I don’t know when she posed for them nor when she became a Christian. But I do think that she assumed a role that has become all-too-common among Evanglicals in our culture: victim. She assumed this role when it was asserted that she was being treated unfairly just because she was a Christian. We seem to cry “foul” far too often when things don’t go our way, even if there are other factors other than our faith.
And this, I believe, is also pertinent to those lamenting the arrests of Pro Life protesters at Notre Dame.
In Miss Prejeans case, while there does appear to have been politically driven motive to destroy her credibility, the ammunition against her came from her own decsions and behavior. Other contestants in recent years have faced scrutiney, and even the loss of their titles, for similar actions, without regard for their faith or faithlessness. While harsh, the standards were comparable.
In the case of the protesters at the Notre Dame commencement, the same princile seems to apply. While I passionately share their position against abortion, and have been both disappointed and outraged by the policies implemeted by Barrack Obama on that front, these people were not arrested because they have trusted Jesus as their only hope and salvation. The protesters were arrested because they crossed a line of civil behavior. While their cause is noble, you don’t threaten the President of the United States and expect to have no consequence. That they are Christians is incidental. They were not arrested for being Christians, nor for being Pro Life. They were arrested because they chose to cross a line; because they chose to violate a “just” law in order to protest an injustice. And as the old theme song from the ’70’s TV show Barretta says: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.”
Jesus said: “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” (Matthew 5.11)
I think we create serious confusion and distortion when we complain that we are persecuted for our faith, when in reality we are experiencing consequences of our behavior. In each of these cases it may reasonably be argued that the consequences were unjust as compared to the actions and the motives. But we must be clear that none of these people were singled out simply for their faithfulness to the Gospel. If we are unwilling, or unable, to make that distinction then we distort the Gospel, and create confusion about what the essence of the Gospel really is.
My third cultural insight is simply that as Christians we are way too quick to make celebreties. While Miss Prejean may be a very nice and godly young lady, she is hardly prepared to be the national spokesperson for the sake of the Kingdom of God. She is a 22 year old model/beauty queen. While that certaily does not disqualify her, it harldy qualifies her to be elevated as a Christian leader. She’s not the first, nor will she be the last. We do the same for athletes and actors. Consequently, not only do we as an Evangelical sub-culture present a mere cotton-candy face of our faith to the culture at large, we do a disservice to spirituality those we prop up – and soon discard.
I’m afraid that as Evangelicals we are all to often so much like the world that we decry, it is no wonder that they rest of the world cannot tell the difference Jesus makes.
This had to be one of the more irritating telemarketing calls I can recall.
Some guy cold-called me at my church office yesterday and wanted me to give him a blow-by-blow of our Outreach strategy. He had a service to sell that would “enhance” our attractiveness to the community. To listen to him it sounded like a can’t miss thing. One problem with that ‘can’t miss program’… I had used similar services in past churches, and my present church had used it prior to my arrival. All previous tries were whiffs. We attracted ZERO. And we blessed no one – except, maybe, the sellers of the service.
But the “selling” of the church is not the only thing that gauled me.
One thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the pretense of selling this service, not for the money but for the benefit of the Church. What c-#-@-p!; err, what a joke. Who did he think he’s kidding? (Or, is he kidding himself?) I have no objection to people being in business to make money. There is nothing wrong with that. Even in the church supply business there is nothing wrong with profit. Scripture speaks against dishonest gain, not against legitimate gains. So this guy had no reason to hide the fact that he is in business. Just own up to it. To deny it leads me to mistrust him even more.
A second thing, and what probably bugged me most, was that he had the audacity to demand that I explain to him about our Outreach program. He really insisted. Ordinarily I am happy to share our vision. But this was a cold-call telemarketer. I don’t have time for that. Trying to get off the phone, I simply expressed: “We’re doing fine.” Yet, he kept pushing, even asking sarcasitcally: “Doesn’t your church want new people to come?” Since when did I, or our church, become accountable to this guy?
Finally, in retrospect, I am also a little disappointed. I finally gave the guy a brief synopsis of our Outreach strategy. Our plan is simply: “To Bless the community where God has sovereignly placed us.” Though we are happy our church has grown significantly in both members and attendance over the past two years, that’s not what we want to be about. It is not about us. It is about God’s glory & grace. It is about loving our neighbors. We are intentionally becoming more Incarnational than Attractional. In other words we are measuring our health more-and-more by the way we go out into the community to serve those around us than by the number of people we put on our rolls. Therefore we are engaging in things like Prayerwalking, Servant Evangelism, and equipping and unleashing our members to serve in a number of ways throughout the Mountain Empire. We are learning to express the love of Christ in practical ways to our neighbors. Eventually we hope to be able to express the love of Christ in significant ways…
But marketing, while it may have a place for the church, will never of itself help us meet those objectives. Marketing by it’s very nature is about selling of self. Marketing is about “US”.
What was disappointing is that this guy didn’t comprehend what I was telling him. Not at all. His paradigm only allowed him to digest the work of the church in one way – mere numbers attending our church.
What is more disappointing is that I suspect this guy reflects the majority understanding of mission permeating American Evangelicalism: “It’s All About Us.” And with that perspective – even when we sincerely think we are doing God a favor when our churches grow – our influence has steadily diminished throughout our society.
We have ignored the covenant mandate made with Abram in Genesis 12, that the Lord’s plan is to bless all Peoples through us; we have neglected Christ’s madate to love our neighbors (Mark 12); and have have forgotten the example of the early church (Acts 2). How else can we explain this narcissistic myopia in Evangleicalism?
Let me finish with this: I’m not opposed to church growth. I agree that healthy churches do grow; and that ‘non-growth’ is nothing to take pride in. But I have learned that not all growth is healthy; and that sometimes a period of stagnation or even decline may in reality be an opportunity for a chrysalis period. Again, I have the privilege to pastor a church that is showing growth. But either way, when our focus is primarily on ourselves it is not where it needs to be: first, on God; and second, significantly on blessing our neighbors. (Mark 12.28-31)
When we learn to effectively place the emphasis in the proper order, God is glorified, our neighbors are blessed, and we are all better off.
Christianity Today has published an interesting interview with Tim Keller of Redeemer Church in New York City titled, Tim Keller Reasons With America. If you have enjoyed Keller’s writing or teaching you may appreciate the insight behind his philosophy and ministry. Or, if you are one who may be a little curious about this guy who is so frequently cited and quoted in Evangelical cirlces, this interview might be a good introduction.
On another front, from Justin Taylor, at Between Two Worlds, I have learned that Keller has a new book due out in October. The new book, The Prodigal God, will describe and define Christianity in light of the parable of the Prodigal Son. Having heard Keller teach on this topic, it should be radically profound. I am looking forward to the read.
GRACE & PEACE 