Don't Worship If You Hate Someone

(Glass block, with light behind it.)

I'm reading Matthew 5:22-24. I have read this many times. I've taught this to people, and preached on it. Yet these words of Jesus are hitting me like I've never seen this before. I've done this long enough to know this is God, saying, "John, I want you to listen to this. These words are for you."

Jesus is saying,

• Do not murder. If you do, it will be bad for you.
• Do not hold on to anger against a brother or sister. Don't cling to it. Don't go to bed at night with it inside you. If you do, you are murdering your brother and sister. God hates this.
• Do not demean or insult a brother or sister. Never talk about a brother and sister behind their back unless it adds value to their character. Or if you are meeting with a peacemaker for the sake of restoring relationship. Bitter slander and gossip hurt the family of God.
• Gossip and slander and demeaning language are curses upon one of Jesus' followers. Do this, and you teeter on the brink of hell.
• Don't worship on Sunday morning if you haven't taken care of relationships. You are not worshiping if you have hatred towards a brother or sister. That's hypocrisy. Drop the worship-act and reconcile with your brother or sister.
• Don't stay away from worship just because you have not done what Jesus wants. Do the right thing. When you have done this, come and worship.

Really? Here's Jesus, from The Passion Translation. You can read any translation you want. It's all the same.

“You’re familiar with the commandment that the older generation was taught, ‘Do not murder or you will be judged.’ But I’m telling you, if you hold anger in your heart toward a fellow believer, you are subject to judgment. And whoever demeans and insults a fellow believer is answerable to the congregation. And whoever calls down curses upon a fellow believer is in danger of being sent to a fiery hell. “So then, if you are presenting a gift before the altar in the temple and suddenly you remember a quarrel you have with a fellow believer, leave your gift there in front of the altar and go at once to apologize with the one who is offended. Then, after you have reconciled, come to the altar and present your gift."

Don't Read the Bible Through the Lens of Culture

(Weaverville, California)

Eugene Peterson writes, "North American religion is basically a consumer religion. Americans see God as a product that will help them to live well, or to live better." (Peterson, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, Kindle 19%)

Some pastors acquiesce to the American way. They work hard to develop a "product" that people will be attracted to and buy. Hence, they engage in public relations, image building, salesmanship, marketing techniques, and competition for buyers. (= the Consumer Church). 

The result is a "mindless cultural conformism [which]..., far from being radical and dynamic..., is a lethargic rubber stamp on worldly wisdom." (Ib.) This has led, as Chesterton saw ahead of his time, to "the degrading slavery of being a child of this age." (Quoted in Ib.)

Peterson, writing in 1992, saw that "we are immersed in probably the most immature and mindless religion, ranging from infantile to adolescent, that any culture has ever witnessed." (Ib.) That describes 2023 in America.

At Redeemer, one way we combat the religious mindlessness is to preach, on Sunday mornings, through the biblical texts. Several years ago, I and others preached through the four Gospels, verse by verse. This took us seven years. Since then we have preached through many of Paul's letters, the book of Revelation (took us a year to get through this), Hebrews (one year), and so on. Currently, we are preaching through the book of Acts. This is exhilarating, empowering, equipping, and encouraging for anyone who desires to interpret the vicissitudes of culture through the lens of The Enduring Word.

Biblical illiteracy fuels religious mindlessness and cultural conformism. The Bible is our distinctive, our text. In the Bible a follower of Jesus gets situated in the Grand Narrative.

We show our people how to speak to our culture through the biblical Narrative, rather than allow the culture to interpret and, thereby, trivialize the Narrative.

Peterson says that when Christians come from Third world countries to the American church, "what they notice mostly is the greed, the silliness, the narcissism..., the conspicuous absence of the cross, the phobic avoidance of suffering, the puzzling indifference to community and relationships of intimacy" (Ib.)

Pastors - revolt against our culture's systematic trivializing of what we are called to do.

People - do not allow our culture shape you into its mold.

***
And go back to a praying life - my book can help you with this. Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God.

Is the Goal of Life Personal Amusement?

(Valley Forge, PA)

It is indeed a strange thought that the end should be amusement, and that the busyness and suffering throughout one’s life should be for the sake of amusing oneself. 

Aristotle

And yet, that is where we are in America today. And that is where many pastors and churches are. We must keep the people "happy." We are, as NYU professor Neil Postman wrote, "amusing ourselves to death."

Because life's goal has become amusement, "happiness" studies abound. In "Happiness: Beyond the Data," U of Notre Dame philosopher Gary Gutting writes:

"Happiness studies are booming in the social sciences, and governments are moving toward quantitative measures of a nation’s overall happiness, meant to supplement traditional measures of wealth and productivity."

Gutting agrees that the pursuit of happiness does not lead to happiness. When the purpose of life becomes the bucket-list pursuit of pleasure, unhappiness and disquietude results. How so?

"The danger — particularly for a society as rich as ours — is making pleasure the central focus in the pursuit of a happy life. This is done explicitly in some versions of utilitarian ethics, which regard happiness as simply the maximal accumulation of pleasurable experiences. But pleasures themselves often induce a desire for their repetition and intensification, and without moderation from a reflective mind, they can marginalize the work that lies at the core of true happiness.
A pathology of pleasures is often signaled by an obsession with not “missing out” on particularly attractive pleasures and strong disappointment when a highly anticipated experience does not meet expectations. (Examples from the world of food and wine are widely available.) In my view, the best strategy to avoid “hedonic corruption” of happiness is to welcome wholeheartedly the pleasures that come our way but not to make the explicit pursuit of pleasure a dominating part of our life project. The same, of course, applies to the money that is so often the price of pleasure."

Life, real life, is not gained in the pursuit of pleasure.

Note for church leaders and pastors: Many of your people are happiness-seekers rather than Jesus-followers. Do not make it your objective to keep your people happy. It will lead to never-ending incompleteness, and burnout.  

The Great American Search for Happiness leads to unhappiness. That's what philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote years ago. Hoffer said: “The search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness.”

"This obsessive, driven, relentless pursuit is a characteristically American struggle — the exhausting daily application of the Declaration of Independence. But at the same time this elusive MacGuffin is creating a nation of nervous wrecks. Despite being the richest nation on earth, the United States is, according to the World Health Organization, by a wide margin, also the most anxious, with nearly a third of Americans likely to suffer from an anxiety problem in their lifetime. America’s precocious levels of anxiety are not just happening in spite of the great national happiness rat race, but also perhaps, because of it."
- Ruth Whippman, "America the Anxious" (nytimes, September 22, 2012)

Whippman continues:

"The American approach to happiness can spur a debilitating anxiety. The initial sense of promise and hope is seductive, but it soon gives way to a nagging slow-burn feeling of inadequacy. Am I happy? Happy enough? As happy as everyone else? Could I be doing more about it? Even basic contentment feels like failure when pitched against capital-H Happiness. The goal is so elusive and hard to define, it’s impossible to pinpoint when it’s even been achieved — a recipe for neurosis."

This makes sense to me. Our age, writes Elaine Showalter in The Chronicle of Higher Education, is an age of anxiety.

In  How Everyone Became Depressed: The Rise and Fall of the Nervous Breakdown, medical historian Edward Shorter says that "It has not escaped many observers that today we are drenched in anxiety." Psychiatrist Jeffrey Kahn states that "commonplace anxiety and depressive disorders" affect at least 20% of Americans. That's 60 million people. In our pursuit of happiness we have become depressingly unhappy. (See Kahn, Angst: Origins of Anxiety and Depression) Woo-hoo, right?

Academics are particularly unhappy and depressed, argues University of Texas professor Ann Cvetkovich, in Depression: A Public Feeling. She writes:

Academe "breeds particular forms of panic and anxiety leading to what gets called depression—the fear that you have nothing to say, or that you can't say what you want to say, or that you have something to say but it's not important enough or smart enough."

Instead of happiness, opt for blessedness. The Jesus-idea of "happiness" is the promise of "blessedness." 

·                Blessedness is independent of material or social conditions. 

·                Blessedness is not to be pursued for its own sake, since to do so would cause it to suffer the same infelicitous fate as meets all whose life goal is "happiness." 

·                Blessedness is an indirect byproduct of the pursuit of God and the love of others, for their own sake and not for what you can get. One gives one's life away for God and others and thereby gains life. 

This is, precisely, anti-American in its non-consumerism. The result is a blessed life.

Romans 8:18 - A Personal Note

 

                                                   (With my grandson Levi at the zoo.)

The first verse I remember memorizing as a new Christian was Romans 8:18. 

 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing 

with the glory that will be revealed in us. 

I was 21 years old. I had recently flunked out of college, and was trying to make a new beginning in community college, and in life. I had hurt some relationships with my drug and alcohol use, which also caused damage to my spirit. I was lacking direction in life, except that I now was fully committed to following Jesus. My internal suffering was about self-inflicted scars from my previous careless lifestyle. Yet now, my sinful stains were wiped clean. 

I now think of these sufferings as minimal compared to what others go through. And yet, to me, two things were happening. I lamented over a wasted three years of life (post-high school). I had found new life in Jesus and was excited about this.

And I read this verse. It stood out to me. It has never left me, and comes to mind often. It gives me a perspective that I lacked before coming to Jesus. I have a future that is infused with the glory of God and overwhelms my sufferings!

STAY

 

STAY...

Stay Focused

(Linda, with out grandson Levi - June 2020)

Linda and I have been at Redeemer in Monroe for thirty-one years. What a blessing our church family is to us!

When we interviewed for this position we shared our priorities with Redeemer’s leaders. They still are:

1.    God first.

2.    Our marriage second.

3.    Our children third.

4.    The church fourth.

This is our focus. The pandemic and cultural chaos has not changed this. In fact, it intensifies our focus.

We will not lose sight of God, our marriage, and our family, for the sake of the ministry God has given us.

If we lose sight of God, we will then be like a branch detached from the trunk of the tree. Such a branch, said Jesus, is worthless. This has always made sense to me. Why would I listen to a preacher if they don’t habitually meet with God to pray, and meditate on Scripture?

Why should anyone listen to me if I do not invest in my marriage?

What spiritual integrity would I have if I neglect my children?

Time with God.

Time with Linda.

Our sons are older, but we still love connecting with them.

Time being with, and meeting with, our church family.

Stay Connected

When a furious storm assaults the land, like a tornado, or a hurricane, one thing people do not want to see is the loss of power. I remember this happening to us a few times. In the aftermath of one storm, we lost power for several days. That experience occurred when cell phones were nonexistent.

The power loss meant loss of phone connection with friends and loved ones, danger of losing refrigerated food, using flashlights and occasional candles in the dark, concern over the basement's sump pump not working, and waiting...   for the power to return.

When a storm hits, do all you can to stay connected to your power source. This principle holds today, as we are experiencing an ungodly trinity of storms - pandemic, economic panic, and pandemonium in the streets of some of our cities.

In these physical and cultural storms, stay connected to Jesus. Reinforce your attachment to Him.

It's in life's storms that we discover how branch-like we are. 

Be branches, connected to Jesus, the true Vine. In John 15 Jesus instructs His disciples with these words.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. 

If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; 

apart from me you can do nothing. 

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch 

that is thrown away and withers; 

such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, 

ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, 

showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Note that Jesus does not add this qualification: WARNING: IN THE STORMS OF LIFE THIS WON'T WORK.

Today is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. This has not changed. Rejoicing attaches me to Jesus.

I begin the day with opening the Book. For months now I've been starting with the book of Proverbs. As I read the Word, it attaches me to Jesus.

I am praying this morning. This is my habit. Praying is talking with God about what He and I are doing together. Today. Praying is intimate conversation with God. In praying, I strengthen the connection with Him.

God is a strong tower. He still stands. God is an anchor. The anchor still holds. God is a tree that shall never be uprooted. 

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, 

stand firm. 

Let nothing move you. 

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 

because you know that your labor in the Lord 

is not in vain.

- 1 Corinthians 15:58

Stay Joyful

Be joyful.

But, in these turbulent times? How is it possible to be joyful with everything we see on the news?

Because part of the "fruit," the produce, of the Holy Spirit in us is joy. Jesus-followers are joy-bearers. Galatians 5:22-23 says:

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 

The Message translation reads this way.

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. 

Jesus has told me that, if I live connected to Him, I will "bear much fruit." This includes joy.

But, again, what about during the tough times? Is it possible to produce joy when things around me are falling apart?

I believe so. Look at Paul's letter to the Philippians. Where is Paul writing from? The answer is: jail. Paul is imprisoned. Yet even this situation does not rob him of joy. That must have been frustrating to his captors!

Paul opens the letter this way. 

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.

Imagine Paul, praying with joy. Might he have a smile on his face? Could he have laughed out loud? Even though in jail?

James 1:2-4 gives us this remarkable counsel.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

Here is this word "joy," from Greekbible.com.

χαρά,n  \{khar-ah'}
1) joy, gladness  1a) the joy received from you  1b) the cause or occasion of joy  1b1) of persons who are one's joy 

It's an emotion! The appropriate response is: Rejoice!

Paul's letter to the Philippians is saturated with joy. Sixteen times, in just four chapters, Paul uses words like 'rejoice' or 'joy' to describe what our state of mind or general attitude should be as Christians. 

He writes this joy-soaked letter in the midst of his own difficult circumstances. He was under house arrest in Rome, chained to a different Roman soldier every few hours. He had just spent three years in prison in Caesarea. By the time he wrote to the Philippians, he had been in Roman custody for several years. Yet, rather than allow his circumstances to drive him to despair, he experienced deep gladness and invited the Philippians to share in this. 

Paul ends his letter with some more joy. In 4:1 we read:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, dear friends!

Is this naive, unrealistic, and out-of-touch? Not at all. The joy of the Lord provides a lens, through which I see all of life, including some harsh realities. 

I know this personally. At seventy-one years old (really??!!), I have experienced suffering and loss. As a pastor, I am communicating, nearly every day, with persons who are broken in some way. Today has been no exception! But, through it all, I resolve to not allow the enemy to prowl in my vineyard and the kill the joy the Spirit is growing in me. 

Is this oil of gladness like the emotion I feel when I look at our first grandchild, Levi? I think so. 

During this season of life, the enemy is not robbing me of the joy that is mine, regardless of the circumstances. 

Join me as we fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Stay Calm

(Green Lake, Wisconsin)

I have done a lot of flying, around America, and overseas to other countries. I don't fear flying. I don't even mind some turbulence. But I will admit that, in extended times of turbulence, the sound of the pilot's calm voice is reassuring to me that we are going to get through this.

When turbulent times come, leaders need to be calm. This goes all the way from government leaders down to doctors, down to police officers and firemen, down to teachers and caregivers and, yes, parents, too. When the child's heart is troubled, the calm spirit of the parent ministers to them.

A calm heart not only diminishes fear. It is needed for accurate discernment. Some decisions are hard enough to discern when you're not in panic mode. Panic makes it harder to see clearly. In general, never make important decisions when your heart is agitated.

Jesus consistently calms the agitated heart. We see this in the story of the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 

36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 

37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 

38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, 

“Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down 

and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? 

Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Mark 4

Surely God is not in a panic about what's now happening in the world. From a place of calm, Jesus says to his disciples,

Do not let your hearts be agitated.

You believe in God.

Believe also in me. 

John 14:1

Panic is not part of the fruit of the Spirit. Peace is. (Gal. 5:22-23) And, this peace is otherworldly, from heaven, given to you, and me, now. (See HERE.)

The calmness that is the heart of God guards our hearts and minds from turbulence. (See HERE.)

Stay in that place.

Stay calm.

Stay in Place

(I took this photo of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.)

From 1981 - 1992 Linda and I were campus pastors at Michigan State University. The campus is sprawling and beautiful. It hosts many botanical gardens. We loved riding bikes and walking on the miles of paths.

I remember something that caught our attention as we were on campus. We were walking up an incline. Ahead of us, on top of the hill, a young man was standing, with his back to us. His eyes were fixed on something on the other side of the hill. As we got to the top we saw, below in the valley, two German shepherds. They were sitting, their bodies frozen like statues, their eyes locking with the eyes of their master. 

Then, the master said, "Come!" The two German shepherds raced up the hill and sat at their master's feet.

I have never forgotten this scene of the obedient dogs and their trainer. Nothing was going to move the dogs, except the master's command.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 the apostle Paul writes of the defeat of death and the victory inherent in the resurrection.

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 

“Where, O death, is your victory?

    Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory 

through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Since we already have the victory, Paul instructs us to be immovable. 

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, 

stand firm. 

Let nothing move you. 

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, 

because you know that your labor in the Lord 

is not in vain.

Stay in place.

Lock your eyes on the eyes of Jesus.

Stay anchored. (See HERE.)

Stay planted. (See HERE.)

Let nothing move you, except the voice of your Master.

Stay Content

(Fisher Theater, Detroit)

I am promised peace and contentment that surpasses human intelligence and transcends life's circumstances. There is a place of calm, of rest, available and accessible to me. 

The biblical "fruit of the Spirit" is noncircumstantial (Galatians 5:22-23). Otherwise, my attitudes would go up and down with the news. 

I am told that the heart-conditions of being at peace, being kind, being joyful, and so on, are independent of my life circumstances. Otherwise love, peace, patience, kindness, and so on, rise or fall depending on what I am facing. The real thing, if it exists at all, must be something unattached to the vicissitudes of life.

True contentment, as well, is noncircumstantial. We see this in Paul, who wrote:

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:11-13)

Whatever the circumstances. I want to learn that secret! While not yet my full possession, it is my desire. To have it is to be free. Out of such freedom, I am able to love and live. 

How is true contentment attained? Contentment is a function of connectedness. Contentment increases as I am attached, branchlike, to Jesus, who is Vinelike. 

Any other answer to human flourishing is foolish. This is important to understand, in the midst of our materialist, entertainment, consumer culture. Thomas Merton writes: 

"If we are fools enough to remain at the mercy of people who want to sell us happiness, it will be impossible for us ever to be content with anything. How would they profit if we became content? We would no longer need their new product. The last thing the salesman wants is for the buyer to become content. You are no use in our affluent society unless you are always about to grasp what you never have." (Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, 84)

Our culture mitigates against contentment. It thrives on perpetual discontentedment. Imagine how unhelpful this is in a pandemic.

True contentment requires an a-cultural stance that is circumstance-free. From this transcendent point of view, our hearts have risen above life's conditions. We begin to see earth, through the lens of heaven.

Stay content.

stay...  

Now Reading...

 

                                         (With students at Faith Bible Seminary, Flushing NYC)

In anticipation of teaching in the Chinese seminary in July, I am now reading Faithful Disobedience: Writings on Church and State from a Chinese House Church Movement. (Thank you D.W. for this recommendation.) Arguably, this is the book to read on nonregistered (underground) churches in China.

"For Wang Yi, the conflict between his church and the state ought to be understood primarily, and perhaps only, as a spiritual conflict within a real, eschatological dimension. For Wang Yi, the conflict between Early Rain and the CCP is a conflict between the city of God and the city of man regarding who has authority over humanity and creation."

Yi, Wang. Faithful Disobedience (p. 2). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition. 

Postmodern Metatwaddle

 

                                                                      (Monroe County)

"Is there a school of thought so empty, so vacuous, so pretentious, so wantonly obscurantist, 

so stupefyingly boring that even a full-frontal attack on it cannot be read without an exasperated yawn? 

Yes. It is called postmodernism."

- Richard Dawkins (blurb on Cynical Theories)

The atheist Richard Dawkins is no theological friend of mine. When he published The God Delusion I made over forty blog posts on it. God Delusion was a banquet of bad philosophical reasoning. 

Yet, Dawkins and I do join forces over the absurdities of postmodern philosophy. See Dawkins's article "Postmodernism Disrobed." (Nature, Vol. 394, 9 July 1998) Here Dawkins reviews physicists' Alan Sokol and Jean Bricmont's book Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science. 

(The ethos of progressive Christianity, sadly, exudes postmodernism. See my book Deconstructing Progressive Christianity.)

Now Reading...

 

                                                  (Sunset, Monroe, MI, June 7, 2023)

Near the end of July Linda and I will fly to New York City. I'll be speaking and teaching at Faith Bible Church of Flushing, and Faith Bible Seminary. My seminary class is "Marriage, Parenting, and Sexuality: A Pastoral Perspective." (See the course description below.) We are looking forward to seeing many of our dear friends at Faith Bible Church, to include John and Rosie Hao, Greg Woo, and Daniel Wang.

Linda will do some co-teaching with me. As we prepare, we are both reading Holy Sexuality and the Gospel: Sex, Desire, and Relationships Shaped by God's Grand Story, by Christopher Yuan. It's a beautiful, helpful book.

Here's the course description.

FAITH BIBLE SEMINARY

Flushing, New York City

July 24-27

9 AM - 3 PM EST

To register:

Sign up to observe the course: $190 Registration elective credits: $380

MARRIAGE, PARENTING AND SEX: A PASTORAL PERSPECTIVE

Christians in the Western world are under pressure to conform to the perspectives of a post-Christian worldview. In today's Western culture, liberal, progressive, postmodern, and secular views of "sex" are increasingly at odds with orthodox biblical theology. This course will focus on how to respond to issues related to "sex" in marriage, parenting, and the church. In the course we will:

• Present the orthodox, biblical position on issues of human sexuality 
• Explain the terms: 'liberal'; 'progressivist'; 'postmodern'; 'secular'
• Present liberal/progressive/secular perspectives on human sexuality 
• Equip students to understand and defend the orthodox position on human sexuality 
• Equip students and pastoral leaders how to navigate these issues, in love, and in truth 
• Equip parents on how to guide their children through the moral wilderness that is Western culture 
• Equip students with resources that lovingly and truthfully present a biblical view of human sexuality
• Share resources that can be used, in a church contret, for: Children's ministry, Youth ministry, Young Adult ministry, Adult ministry

Instructor: John Piippo, PhD 

The Differences Between American Christianity and Biblical Christianity

 

(Sea of Galilee, Israel)

(I'm re-posting this, to keep it in play.) 

***

From Joseph Mattera's "13 Contrasts Between American and Biblical Christianity." The differences are:

1. American Christianity focuses on individual destiny. The Bible focuses on corporate vision and destiny. Correct. It's the tribe, the community, and less the individual. American churchianity is individuated. Note that the apostle Paul's use of the pronoun "you" is overwhelmingly plural.
2. American Christianity focuses on individual prosperity. The Bible focuses on stewardship. "Much American preaching today focuses on "our rights in Christ" to be blessed. However, in Scripture the emphasis regarding finances has to do with being blessed by God in order to be a blessing by bringing God's covenant to the Earth (Read Deut. 8:18; 2 Cor. 9:10-11). Jesus promised material blessing only in the context of seeking first His Kingdom (Matt. 6:33)."
3.  American Christianity focuses on self-fulfillment and happiness. The Bible focuses on glorifying God and serving humanity. In contrast to the Bible "much of the focus from the American pulpit has to do with individual fulfillment and satisfaction."
4. American Christianity appeals to using faith to attain stability and comfort. The Bible encourages believers to risk life and limb to advance the Kingdom. Read Hebrews 11, THE premier biblical text on the meaning of "faith," the kind of faith that, without which, it is impossible to please God.
5. American Christianity usually focuses on individual salvation. The Bible deals with individual and systemic redemption.
6. The American apologetic focuses on human reason. The Bible's apologetic focuses on the power of God and experience. "If the foundation of your faith is human reason, then the first person that has more knowledge than you in science could talk you out of being a Christ-follower. Truly, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, not human reason (Prov. 9:10; 1 Cor. 1:17-23)." BTW - anyone who reads apologists like Bill Craig and J.P. Moreland (and even myself), and thinks our interest in rationally defending our faith is about the primacy of human reason over the God-encounter, has misunderstood us.
7. American believers have a consumerist mentality regarding a home church. The biblical emphasis is being equipped for the ministry. See here, and here. Mattera notes: "Americans shop for a church today based on what meets their personal and family needs the best. It is almost like a supermarket mentality of one-stop shopping." The Consumer Church, as Eugene Peterson has said, is an Antichrist Church.
8. American Christianity promotes a culture of entertainment. The Bible promotes the pursuit of God. See here.    
9. American Christianity depends upon services within a building. The biblical model promotes a lifestyle of worship, community and Christ following. Mattera writes: "Most of the miracles in the book of Acts and the gospels took place outside a building in the context of people's homes and in the marketplace. In Acts 2 and 4, the churches met house-to-house, not just in the temple. The man at the gate was healed before he went into the temple (Acts 3), which caused an even greater revival to take place."
10. American Christianity is about efficiency. The biblical model is about effectiveness. "Often, the American church is modeled more after the secular corporate model rather than the biblical model. The church is not an organization, but an organism that should be organized!"
11. In American Christianity the pastor is elected. In the biblical model God calls the pastor. 
12. In American Christianity the individual interprets the Bible. In the New Testament the hermeneutical community interprets the Bible.
13. American Christianity trains its leaders in Bible colleges. Biblical Christianity nurtures leaders through personal mentoring. "Biblically, leaders were not sent outside of the context of a local church to be trained for the ministry. They were nurtured personally in the context of congregational life by church leaders acting as mentors (as the Apostle Paul did with Timothy; as Aquila and Priscilla did with Apollos in Acts 19; and as Barnabas did with John Mark in Acts 15)."

This is going to be a tough one. Most people won't want the biblical model. They won't recognize it. 

Pastors - if you transition from the American Church to the Biblical Church you will lose some people, and gain some disciples.