Thinking Out Loud

Disclaimer: The following thoughts are offered to stimulate further thought. If you have anything to add (positive or negative) please leave a comment.

Many of the ideas people have about what God must be like come from Greek philosophy rather than from divine revelation. The idea that God cannot change in any way comes from a philosophical assumption about perfection.

The reasoning goes like this:

• Change involves getting better or getting worse.
  
• If God gets better, then he was not perfect before.
  
• If God gets worse, then he is no longer perfect.
  
• But God is eternally perfect.
  
• Therefore, God cannot change in any way.
  
  

But this is not the God of the Bible. This "god" is simply a philosophical construct that cannot have anything resembling a relationship. Such a god certainly cannot be acted upon or be affected by the actions of any other being. But he could not even "act" except in the sense that his being emanates eternally into some form of "action."

This "perfect" god could not plan out the creation of a universe. Even hypothetical actions in his mind must be perfect without any false starts. The whole "plan" must exist perfectly formed "all at once." What is more, that plan must have existed in his mind from all eternity. A god who devises a "plan" to create a universe is superior to a god who cannot do so or who hasn't yet gotten around to doing so.

Neither can this god enact his perfect plan. To do so would make him superior to a god who can't or hasn't. The "actions" of a "perfect" god would not be actions at all. They would be products that automatically and eternally result from his perfect eternal nature.

Yet the God of the Bible expresses

• regret (1 Samuel 15:35—The Lord was grieved that he had made Saul king over Israel.),
  
• frustration (Exodus 4:14—Then the Lord's anger burned against Moses.),
  
• disappointment (Jeremiah 3:7—I thought that after she [Israel] had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.),
  
• outrage (Ezekiel 5:13—Then my anger will cease and my wrath against them will subside.),
  
• delight (Deuteronomy 3:9, 10—The Lord will again delight in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands.), and
  
• joy (Zephaniah 3:17— The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.).
  
  

It is because of the philosophical view of God that he is assumed to be "outside" time. If he is "perfect" (according to the Greek view) then he cannot change in any way. To participate in time is to change.

If we imagine some hypothetical being who never changed in any way, it would be exactly the same at every point in time. If it is exactly the same today as it was three years ago, how can it be said to have participated in time in any meaningful way? Without some change in knowledge, feeling, attitude, intention, experience or some other property, there can be no involvement in time. Such a being could not have a relationship with a time-bound being anymore than a statue could have a relationship with a human being.

We say that God is "outside" time. But in order to interact with humans, God must participate in time in some way. Certainly the Incarnation was an instance of God "entering" time.

If Jesus is fully God and fully human, it seems unavoidable that God (in the Second Person of the Trinity) must be different in some way than he was before the Incarnation, before the coming together of the divine and human in the person of Jesus Christ.

That God is not bound by time seems beyond dispute. Time appears to be a property of creation. When God created the universe, he created time. But not being bound by time is not the same thing as "timeless."

When we try to conceptualize timelessness or eternity, we tend to image some sort of a steady state—an unchanging condition. In such a situation, nothing interesting happens. (No wonder that many people think heaven will be boring.)

But if that is the nature of God, creation could never have taken place. The only option would be for some kind of pantheistic world that eternally emanates from the divine being.

Timelessness does not allow for "before" or "after." But if God created the universe, there had to be a "before." There had to be a "time" before God had the idea to create the universe. After he had the idea, he "developed" his plan or strategy. He chose from among all the possible worlds he could have created to fashion this particular one. Did all this just pop into God's mind fully formed? If so, in what sense can it be said that he planned it or designed it?

(It seems that a distorted view of God's "sovereignty" logically results in a God who is also ruled by his own kind of determinism.)

If God is going to have any sort of a relationship with human beings, he must be able to interact with time. The Incarnation of Jesus is evidence that he has done just that.

The timeless god of Greek philosophy cannot do that.

But what about the biblical assertion that God does not change?

Let's look at a few of them:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
James 1:17

This statement follows an argument about the nature of temptation. James says that no one should accuse God of causing temptation. The reason is that God is good and that only good comes from him, because his goodness does not wax or wane.

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19

These words are from the oracle of Balaam, who was hired by a king to pronounce a curse on the Israelites. What he is saying is that because God has already blessed them it is impossible to curse them. Once God has made a promise, he does not go back on it. Essentially Balaam is saying that God is a "man" of his word.

He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.
1 Samuel 15:29

These are the words of Samuel to King Saul, who has just been informed that God is revoking his appointment as king of Israel. In other words, Samuel is telling Saul that the revocation is absolute and that there is no appeal.

I the Lord do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
Malachi 3:6

God is telling the Israelites that they have been faithless. And because of their faithlessness they should have expected to have been destroyed. The only reason that they haven't been is because Yahweh has remained faithful to his covenant even though the Israelites have failed to keep their part of the agreement.

Paul takes up the same theme:

Here is a trustworthy saying:
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:11-13

God does not disown himself—change his basic nature. It is not possible for him to break faith.

This very characteristic of God often causes him to "change his mind":

When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
Jonah 3:10

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.
Hosea 11:8-9

Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.
Psalms 106:40-45

Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Exodus 32:14

Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.
Joel 2:13

So the Lord relented. "This will not happen," the Lord said.
Amos 7:3

So the Lord relented. "This will not happen either," the Sovereign Lord said.
Amos 7:6

Did not Hezekiah fear the Lord and seek his favor? And did not the Lord relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them?
Jeremiah 26:19

(emphasis added)

Interestingly enough, one of the passages that proponents of theological determinism like to use teaches just the opposite:

Then the word of the Lord came to me:
"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the Lord. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
Jeremiah 18:5-10

(emphasis added)

The Lord is announcing that he retains the flexibility to respond to the choices that people make. This seems to be anything but the impassive, imperturbable, immutable "God" suggested by Greek philosophy and deterministic theology.

• This is a God who has a real relationship with his people.
  
• This is a God who reacts and responds to the choices of his creatures.
  
• This is a God who is able to participate in time.
  
  

Make no mistake about it, Yahweh is perfect.

The point is that "perfect" doesn't mean what Greek philosophy has always thought it means.

The Lord is complete and lacking in nothing. But he is not the detached watchmaker of deism or the stoic deity of Plato.

He is the Eternal One who is perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Missional Patience

How many church growth experts does it take to change a light bulb?

If you were an awesomely bold leader you wouldn't install a wimpy light bulb when you could install a high-tech, mega-lumen illumination device. All you need is a demographic study, a marketing strategy and a long-term business plan. And why change only dead bulbs? After a few months, all bulbs lose some of their light-producing ability.

According to some, every church should be a mega-church, if only the pastor worked hard enough and the congregation used the right evangelism program. But this assumes that the Church operates just like a business. It relegates God to a marginal role as a silent partner.

But the kingdom of God cannot be grown in vitro in a lab.

The kingdom of God has more in common with a farm than a factory.

Clark Cowden writes at Allelon:

If you are a church leader or a ministry leader, how long will the seeds you are planting in your people remain underground before God brings them to the surface? Ten years? More? Less? If you are seeking to plant and spread missional seeds in a denominational system, how long will they remain underground before their fruits begin to surface? Ten years? More? Less? If you are seeking to be missional in the community in which you live, how long will your efforts remain underground before you begin to see results? Ten years? More? Less?

I believe the missional conversation can have a positive effect on the western church, but it is not a quick fix. It will not produce an overnight success. You can't order it at a fast food drive-through or cook it quickly in your microwave. And because so much of the growth takes place underground, we can't even see it happening. We have to operate by faith. We have to keep planting, fertilizing, cultivating, and watering, trusting in the Lord to produce the growth.

Our job is to plant the seeds of the kingdom and to be patient in doing the work of the kingdom.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Put the Credit Card Away

I've noticed with some concern how parents feel enormous pressure to spend money they don't have on their children at Christmas.

Brant Hansen provides a gentle word of advice for those parents.

It's time that the Church made a stand against this materialistic, consumeristic tradition. Let's quit spending so much money on our children (and ourselves.) Let's quit buying expensive toys for the kids in our Adopt a Family programs. Let's refuse to buy anyone a gift card.

I'm not against gifts.

Gifts are great. But the boxes we wrap at Christmas aren't real gifts.

Among other things,

• Real gifts are especially suited for the recipient.
  
• Real gifts are not made in expectation of a return gift.
  
• Real gifts are unexpected, surprising in some way.
  

Give your family, your friends and yourself permission to get off the Christmas gift escalator.

Good grief, how did we get to the place where a Lexus is a reasonable Christmas gift?

Whether you are "that guy" or not, you don't need to buy your wife a diamond.

American retailers are not going to come by your house in February and help you make your credit card payment.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Third Sunday of Advent

Whoops!

This was supposed to be posted at Wiki-Sermon.

Here are the readings for December 16, 2007:

Isaiah 35:1–10

James 5:7–10

Matthew 11:2–11

Pastor Rod

On a Lighter Note

Here are a couple of things to bring some joy to your day (HT: BHT).

First a video of a men's a cappella group from Indiana University:

And here's a story about the first ever Emerging Amish congregation.

Enjoy.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

God Kills Worshippers

This is the message of Peter Pike at Triablogue.

And he intends this to be a comforting thought.

According to Peter, God did this for a good reason known only to himself. Every specific thing that happens has been orchestrated by God before the creation of the world. All the seemingly free choices that people make have been predetermined by God. Everything happens exactly as God wants it to. God could have designed human history without people being shot at the New Life Church in Colorado, without planes flying into the World Trade Centers, and without millions of people being exterminated by the Nazis.

Peter writes, "I simply do not understand how anyone who is not Reformed could deal with this situation without falling into despair."

Let me explain.

God is sovereign. But he doesn't exercise exhaustive control over the tiniest of details. It is a rather impotent God who can only accomplish his purpose by rigging the system. He is on the level of a chess player who can win only by scripting the moves of his opponent.

Jesus Christ defeated sin, Satan and death, and God's ultimate victory is secure. I find it absurd that God would imitate his enemy in order to produce some good result.

The God of the Bible does not suffer from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. He does not create problems so that he can solve them and make himself look good.

God did not cause sin so that he could send his own Son to die a brutal death on a cross to satisfy his own wrath for something that he himself decreed must happen.

Peter writes, "Without the sure knowledge of the overall sovereignty of God, how can one rest in the promise of Romans 8 that all things will work for the good of those who love Christ and are called according to His purposes?"

If God exercises exhaustive control, then everything happens just the way he wants it to. It doesn't matter whether we believe that it happens that way. It doesn't matter whether we "acknowledge his sovereignty." It doesn't matter what we write on blogs. If Peter were right, then he wouldn't be trying to convince us that he is right.

This system has God saying, "Everything that happens has been orchestrated by me and will result in good for those who are fortunate enough to be among the called."

Instead, I hear Paul saying, "No matter what happens, God is resourceful enough to make it result in good for those who love him and trust in him."

Peter writes, "But if things can happen that God did not want, at some level, to have happen, how can we trust anything He has promised? How is He able to bring about His plan if events like this can thwart His purposes?"

Ah, here is where the logic fails. Just because some things happen "that God did not want" doesn't mean that they "can thwart His purposes."

Back to our chess player. Does a grand master need the novice to make any specific move in order to win the game?

Imagine the master saying, "Ah, I didn't expect that. Well, then I guess I'll move here."

Interestingly enough, the Bible is filled with God making several similar statements.

Yet the master wins the game. And God accomplishes his purposes.

Peter makes his biggest logical leap with this: "We [Calvinist] pray because we do believe in a sovereign God who can do as He pleases in His world. And we pray because we know that He will make all things work out for the good of His people, just as He has promised."

Let's get this straight. According to the Calvinists:

• God has predetermined the tiniest detail of human history. The movement of every molecule has been charted out in advance.
  
• There is nothing anyone can do to change a single one of these details.
  
• These people pray to this martinet of a God because he is going to do what he would have done anyway.
  

Not only is this illogical, it is contrary to the clear teaching of Scripture.

Let me say plainly, God did not cause the deaths of those churchgoers in Colorado. God did not decree the massacre of millions of human beings for some greater good.

God will accomplish his purpose.

• But our choices are real.
  
• We can influence the shape of the future.
  
• Our actions do make a difference.
  

Don't be mislead by these caricatures of God that depict him as a selfish tyrant.

Don't be paralyzed by the evil actions of individuals thinking that they were predetermined by God for some hidden purpose.

Fight against evil in every form it takes. And you'll never have to worry about working against God or his purposes. Fight knowing that the final outcome is certain.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be."

Evangelism Is Evil

Well, not evil. But there is something messed up about what is usually referred to as evangelism. Too often it feels like selling Amway.

The early Church did not have an evangelism program. It seems unlikely that early Christians were trained how to "share their faith." Yet "the Lord added to their number" regularly.

Most modern evangelism emphases tend to use guilt to motivate believers to memorize a presentation of "the gospel" and to confront friends, family and even strangers with a call to decision. The primary value is pragmatism. If it works (produces "converts"), then we use it. Marketing techniques are used to sell the gospel.

But why would we need to sell good news?

• If the news is truly good, won't people want to hear it?
  
• If the news is truly good, why would anyone need to be bullied to proclaim it?
  
• If the news is truly good, why does it feel like we are putting one over on our friends and family?
  

It seems obvious that most Christians don't really believe that the gospel is good news.

Of course, they think it is a "good deal."

They exchange most of the things that people think of as fun for a ticket to paradise when they die.

They go to church, try to be honest and give God some of their money, not because they really want to. They do it to get the big payoff.

And this is what most Christians are selling when they "do evangelism."

One of our problems is that we haven't found the gospel to be good news. And this needs to be addressed. But for now, I would like to focus on a different problem, the way we "do evangelism."

David Fitch has suggested that we give up on evangelism and focus on witness instead.

Here is a chart showing the distinction he makes between these two concepts.

Evangelism	Witness
Done by Individuals	Done by a Community
Hard work	Natural
Coercive	Patient
Strategic	Responsive
Argument	Ministry
Presented as a Message	Presented as a Community

He says, "Evangelism can be done without witness. Witness cannot be done without evangelism."

Yes we must proclaim the good news, but the most important part of that proclamation can only be done by a community that is living the gospel and embodying God's grace. And in this community the gospel must be experienced as truly good news.

Does this make sense? Do you find his concept of witness helpful?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Missional Business

For some time now, I've been intrigued by the idea of participating in a "missional business." This is a for-profit enterprise that incorporates one or more of the following characteristics:

• Providing opportunity to connect with people for kingdom purposes
  
• Using a portion of the profits to support missional projects
  
• Providing employment for individuals who may be otherwise unemployable
  
• Training employees for jobs in the larger market
  
• Providing financial support for the owners to do mission work or other ministry (in addition to the ministry done directly through the business)
  
• Bringing economic stability to impoverished areas
  
• Providing a product or service to improve people's lives (in the name of Christ)
  

I'm sure that there are several other things innovative entrepreneurs are doing in the context of a for-profit business model.

Here are some examples:

• Coffee Ambassadors
  
• Remote Link
  
• Just Food
  
• Freeset
  
• The Well
  

I have discovered an opportunity that many of you might wish to take advantage of to create your own missional business. By downloading this free report you can find out how you could use your skill and knowledge to make a difference in a for-profit setting. I have enrolled in this program myself. The guys who run it are focused on helping their subscribers make money, but their business model depends on providing real value to the end users. It doesn't require much imagination to adapt this excellent training for setting up your own missional business.

In addition, stay home parents or people in bivocational ministry could use this missional business as a means of financial support while also doing good.

If you sign up for the training (after reading the free report) using a link from my site, I will get a referral fee. But this is not multi-level marketing. It has nothing to do with multi-level marketing. Read the report and it will all make sense. There is no obligation. Even if you decide not to sign up for the training (on how to set up your online teaching program) you can use the information to do it yourself.

This is not about selling overpriced t-shirts or mouse pads in an online store. This is about serious teaching and education. It is driven by providing people with something of substantial value that they are glad to pay for.

Remember, the Teaching Sells program itself is about helping people to make money using the Internet as a delivery mechanism for teaching and training. The missional business angle is my own suggestion. I am convinced that the for-profit model avoids a lot of problems inherent in the not-for-profit mindset. But even if you decided to provide the online service for free, the Teaching Sells training will save you a lot of time and money getting things set up.

I will be providing details of the particular missional business I am establishing along with information about learning theory as it applies to this context.

Seriously, this training could be an answer to prayer for many of you.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Shiny Happy People

In 1991, REM released the song, "Shiny Happy People":

Everyone around / Love them, love them
Put it in your hands / Take it, take it
There's no time to cry / Happy, happy
Put it in your heart / Where tomorrow shines
Gold and silver shine.
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing.

While the song was a parody of a Chinese propaganda poster, it could well have been a satire of North-American Christianity.

It seems that we are obsessed with celebrity, wealth, power, attractiveness and success.

Even our counter-culture movements within the faith have their own celebrities.

Michael Spencer tells the story of a co-worker who certainly would not fit most people's image of the beautiful people.

One arm barely works. One eye is non-functional. One leg is almost immobile. He's deaf in one ear. One side of his head is terribly scarred. He's a soft-spoken, gentle man, but obviously life has not been gentle with him.

Yet this man is a spiritual giant.

Standing in front of our students, saying again and again that God is good. His suffering and loss can't be measured, but his faith has grown every step of the way. In his gentle, Minnesota accent, he says over and over, "God is good. I'm so thankful."

Jesus did not hang out with the popular folks. He spent his time with the outcasts, the untouchables. And those are the very ones that he built his church on.

So today, we spend our time trying to convince others that we are Somebody.

We spend money on our vanity, while others are starving.

We pour billions of dollars into entertainment to stave off boredom, while God is calling for people to participate in the greatest drama in the universe.

And we pastors are the worst offenders.

We've neglected the call to discipleship and self-denial and replaced it with the promise of a "happy life"—mostly because that is the dream that we are chasing.

God forgive us.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Not Safe for Worship

By now everyone knows that "not safe for work" means that media contain images or language that could get you fired if opened at work. Typically, that means items that are sexually explicit or that contain profanity.

Of course, this implies a dichotomy between "work life" and "private life."

Most people have also divided their lives into completely separate "sacred" and "secular" parts.

The "sacred" part involved "spiritual" stuff, which may include going to church on Sundays or saying prayers.

The "secular" part takes in everything else.

I had an experience just the other day that reminded me just how thick most people have made the wall between their "sacred" lives and their "secular" lives.

I was talking with a 40-year-old woman and her mother about the music they wanted to play at her (the daughter's) wedding. She said, "I was thinking about using this song I really like, but when I listened to it I realized that it was not appropriate for church."

I asked what the song was.

She said that it was "Imagine" by John Lennon.

I raised my eyebrows to say, "I'd reckon not." Then I tried to explain that the problem with the song was not that it was "inappropriate for church" but that it promoted a view of reality that was a complete contradiction of Christianity.

I didn't belabor the point and obviously didn't make my point clear.

She ended the short discussion with, "I really like the song, but it's not appropriate for church."

This is the kind of nonsense we end up with when we slice reality into two distinct parts.

This is the point the Apostle Paul was making when he said, "Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

If it is not safe for worship, it is not safe—full stop.

• It's not enough that we try to practice Christian principles in our business. We must see our work life as part of our worship.
  
• It's not enough that we try to be good sports in our recreation. We must see our play as bringing honor to God.
  
• It's not enough that we try to avoid road rage. We must think of driving as an act of worship.
  

This reminds me of another shocking statement I heard this week. The president of a community organization that exists to promote good character said that she was reluctant to install a license plate holder endorsing the organization, because she was afraid that her driving might not be consistent with the ideals of "good character."

I used to be that way about identifying myself as a Christian driver.

But if we are going to be true followers of Jesus Christ, we must be serious about it when we are driving, when we are relaxing, and when we are listening to music.

There is no part of our lives disconnected from our worship.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Not Everyone Should Talk about God

In today's world everyone seems to have his or her own idea of what God is like. Everyone is suddenly an expert in theology. People say, "The God I believe in would never do that."

The problem is that most of these people have no idea what they're talking about.

It would be like me giving my opinion about the proper way to do a heart by-pass operation. At best, no one would pay attention. At worst, someone could get hurt and even die.

Chris Bounds has an excellent article summarizing some of the thought of Gregory Nazianzus.

Here's the condensed version.

• Not everyone should philosophize about God.
  
• This should be limited to those who have been prepared intellectually.
  
• It should also be limited to those who are living a holy life or pursuing it.
  
• It should be restricted to those who can handle "holy things in a holy manner."
  
• Theological discussion should be limited to situations when there is time to do it justice.
  

He also has some things to say about the appropriate audience and the appropriate topics for theological discussion.

So what do you think? If he is right, does that mean that we should shut down 98% of the theology blogs?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Pastor, It’s Not About You

Sometimes as pastors we get the idea that everything depends upon us.

William Martin has written an excellent book, The Art of Pastoring: Contemplative Reflections, to disabuse us of this notion.

If you are a pastor, or know one, you need to read this little paperback. It only has 81 pages. And some of those have considerable white space. But this book is crammed full of wisdom.

Here are a few quotations:

A wise pastor does not inspire the people with grand visions for the visions will become idols. A prudent minister will not call attention to achievement for that will separate the people into "achievers" and "non-achievers."

You are not a pastor so that you can give birth to your own dreams.

Live modestly. Keep your thinking serene and simple. Bestow grace upon yourself and others. Never try to control your congregation. In your vocation, do that which you most enjoy.

Take a long, prayerful, meditative look at your calendar. Who are you trying to impress? God? Give me a break. The congregation? Possibly. Yourself? Bingo!

When your congregation despises you, it is a great sorrow. When your congregation holds you in awe, it seems somewhat better. When your congregation praises you far and wide, it seems even better still. But when your congregation hardly notices that you exist, you have become a pastor.

If you want to bring health to your people, show that you are wounded. If you want them to do what is right, show that you have done wrong. If you want them to be filled with God, show that you are empty. If you want them to have life abundant, show them how to die.

How blessed are the countless thousands of little congregations who quietly go about the business of giving their modest gift to the world. For the souls of those pastors whose congregations are large and powerful, we pray to the Lord. Lord have mercy.

There are powerful illusions that hinder the working of the Word through a pastor:
The illusion that there is something to achieve.
The Illusion that there is something to lose.
The illusion that there is something to do.

How would you pastor if you could not speak? How would you love the parish if you were immobilized in bed? If you can answer these questions, you know the truth of your calling.

For all your belief in the grace of God, you seldom apply it to yourself.

Perhaps the greatest spiritual temptation facing a pastor is the pressure to provide "leadership."

You are not a professional religious person. You are a soul, naked before God like all other souls. Let go.

A congregation does not exist to fulfill the needs of its pastor. You are not the dreamer of your people's dreams, nor are they the characters in your life's play.

Do yourself a favor and click the link to Amazon. Buy a copy of this book and study it.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

It’s the Gospel, Stupid!

When Bill Clinton ran for President, James Carville made a sign for the campaign office to keep everyone "on message." It had three points, the second of which was

The economy, stupid.

I suspect that we need such a sign in our churches.

We spend too much time and energy trying to convince people

• that the Bible is inerrant
  
• that miracles are possible
  
• that evolution is impossible because it violates the second law of thermodynamics
  

Instead we need to be reminded that

It's the gospel, stupid!

This is the only real argument the church has.

The proper form of apologetics is the preaching of the gospel itself and the demonstration—which is not merely or primarily a matter of words—that it does provide the best foundation for a way of grasping and dealing with the mystery of our existence in this universe.
Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence, p. 94

We must keep the focus on the Good News.

And this should not be confused with systematic theology. Theology is important, but the gospel is primary.

We talk too much about

• immutability
  
• soteriology
  
• eschatology
  
• theories of the atonement
  

That is not to say that these issues are unimportant. But compared to the gospel itself, they are simply "details."

And don't fall into the trap of thinking that "the gospel" is about

• Four spiritual laws
  
• A few quotations from Paul' s Letter to the Romans
  
• Getting signed up for heaven
  

The gospel is the announcement of a new reality.

The business of the church is to tell and to embody a story, the story of God's mighty acts in creation and redemption and of God's promises concerning what will be in the end. The church affirms the truth of this story by celebrating it, interpreting it, and enacting it in the life of the contemporary world. It has no other way of affirming its truth. If it supposes that its truth can be authenticated by reference to some allegedly more reliable truth claim, such as those offered by the philosophy of religion, then it has implicitly denied the truth by which it lives.
Lesslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence, p. 76

And the only effective way to convince people of the truth of this new reality is to live it.

It is only as we are truly "indwelling" the gospel story, only as we are so deeply involved in the life of the community which is shaped by this story that it becomes our real "plausibility structure," that we are able steadily and confidently to live in this attitude of eager hope. Almost everything in the "plausibility structure" which is the habitation of our society seems to contradict this Christian hope. Everything suggests that it is absurd to believe that the true authority over all things is represented in a crucified man. No amount of brilliant argument can make it sound reasonable to the inhabitants of the reigning plausibility structure. That is why I am suggesting that the only possible hermeneutic of the gospel is a congregation which believes it.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 232

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

How NOT to Defend Your Faith

Sometimes those who attempt to defend Christianity end up doing more harm than good. Here are some suggestions about how you can avoid finding yourself in that situation.

Do not insult the intelligence of those who disagree with you.

Many Christians seem to have the attitude toward questioners, "If you weren't so ignorant, you'd see that Christianity is obviously true."

Do not say, "You just have to accept it by faith."

While faith is required, Christianity has answers to difficult questions. If you can't give a satisfactory answer, don't cover that up with an appeal to faith.

Do not try to prove Christianity by science or logic.

Christianity cannot be proven by science or logic. There is much to say in support of Christianity from the fields of science, logic and philosophy. But there are no proofs.

Do not act in any way inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus.

Much harm is done to the cause of Christ by people who win arguments while acting like jerks.

Do not automatically accept the question as sincere.

Some questions are simply ways to avoid the real issues. There is a good answer to why the Bible doesn't mention dinosaurs. But most people who ask that question are just trying to stump you. They will not be satisfied with any answer you might give them.

Do not pretend to be an expert.

If you are not a biologist, don't pretend to be an expert on evolution. Just because you've read a few books, you're not in a position to dismiss a whole body of professional literature that is unfriendly to Christianity. You don't have to be an expert to raise questions. But be cautious about pronouncing the other position illogical or self-refuting.

Do not try to defend too much.

Christians have gotten themselves into unnecessary quagmires by trying to defend positions that are not at the heart of the Christian faith. For example, the heart of the Christian position is that God created the universe. Don't try to defend a young earth. Even if this position were unambiguous teaching of the Bible (which it clearly is not), arguing about the age of the earth distracts from the core issue.

Similarly, don't put yourself in a position to defend all religion—or even everything done in the name of Christ.

Do not use the Bible as a club.

Those who do not accept the Bible as authoritative are not persuaded by biblical quotations. The Bible is not magical. The words of the Bible are powerful because of the truth they contain for those who acknowledge its divine origin. To use the Bible to prove the Bible is simply circular reasoning. The Bible is useful to explain the teaching of Christianity. But don't use it to prove the Christian faith.

So what do you think? Do you have some suggestions of your own?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be."

What Is Missional Church?

I see many people using the term missional in ways that have little or nothing to do with what I understand the word to mean.

For many it is little more than a synonym for hip or cool.

But I ran across this statement by Lesslie Newbigin in his Foolishness to the Greeks that seems to sum things up rather well:

The church is the bearer to all the nations of a gospel that announces the kingdom, the reign, and the sovereignty of God. It calls men and women to repent of their false loyalty to other powers, to become believers in the one true sovereignty, and so to become corporately a sign, instrument, and foretaste of that sovereignty of the one true and living God over all nature, all nations, and all human lives. It is not meant to call men and women out of the world into a safe religious enclave but to call them out in order to send them back as agents of God's kingship.

Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, p. 124

Missional primarily refers to the mission that the church has been given.

This is not a mission just to get people signed up for heaven. It is mission to proclaim the gospel and to live as agents of God's kingship in the world.

• We are not calling for people to participate in a business transaction with Jesus that will provide them with a voucher to enter heaven when they die.
  
• We are not calling for people to hire Jesus as a life coach so that they can "live their best life now."
  
• We are not calling for people to vote for Jesus as their deity of choice.
  

We are calling for people to submit to the one who is Lord of the Universe, to acknowledge his rightful place in their lives and in the world.

We are calling for them to actively participate in his kingdom as his will becomes fulfilled "on earth as it is in heaven."

Ironically, it is in giving up our "pursuit of happiness" and in submitting to his sovereignty that we find the fulfillment that seems so elusive:

Human beings find fulfillment not in the attempt to develop themselves, not in the effort to better their own condition, not in the untrammeled exercise of unlimited covetousness, but in the experience of mutual relatedness and responsibility in serving a shared goal.

Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, p. 122

Jesus said something like that

Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it (Luke 9:24).

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

How to Misunderstand Religion

The Archbishop of Canterbury has answered Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens in a lecture given at Swansea University (HT: AKMA).

Here are a few important excerpts:

In Richard Dawkins' writings there is one very interesting factor affecting the whole discussion and that is the assumption that, loosely speaking, Darwinian Theory is a theory of everything.

In order to make a Darwinian scheme work, with religion and indeed with other cultural or intellectual phenomena, you have to assume some more rather questionable things. And the most dramatic example is the hypothesis originally advanced by Dawkins, almost 'off the cuff', (but taken rather seriously by some of his followers) that there actually is a measurable, identifiable process of the transmission of cultural ideas, that's like genetics. Dawkins and others have called it 'memetics'. The meme the unit of culture is like a gene in biology. The meme carries information from person to person and generation to generation, just as a gene encodes the information that allows replication to occur.

And as far as I'm concerned, one of the most abidingly difficult and problematic aspects of Richard Dawkins' approach to religion, remains this attempt to transfer biology into culture, to suppose that there is a science of cultural transmission exactly like genetics only with different material. I find this, I have to say, philosophically crass, undeveloped at best, simply contradictory and empty at worst.

Dawkins has confused the notion of a movement in time from the simple to the complex with the idea that there is a necessary logical priority to complex regularities and properties which ensure that when that simple organism begins to develop, it develops coherently, consistently, that cause and effect will operate from the beginning. And the question is not where that primitive organism or that physical reality comes from in terms of time. The question is about where the whole notion of explanation, regularity and intelligibility comes from.

It's not a question about bad scientific explanations and good scientific explanations. Scientific explanation always looks for specific causes inside the universe. That's what science is. Theological language, religious language asks if there is a ground for the very idea of a regular world of which you can make sense. And religious language perhaps appropriately therefore at the very least reminds the scientist that in every intelligible act there is an act of faith.

People who speak religiously have at least these in common, that they recognize the dependence of their own existence and that of the entire universe.

Bad religion is driven out by good [religion], not by no religion.

We have no obvious knock-down arguments.

But for the secularist, for the systematic critic of religion, moral integrity, self-inspection, fundamental trust must either be reduced to a personal option (I do this because I choose to do this) or it must be reduced to another form of survival strategy. And some of the problems with that, I've already touched upon. The religious believer says in contrast, that moral integrity, self-inspection, honesty, openness and trust are styles of living which communicate the character of an eternal and free agency, the agency that most religions call God. Agree or disagree, is what I would want to say to our contemporary critics, but at least grasp that that is what is being claimed and talked about. Don't distract us from the real arguments by assuming that religion is an eccentric survival strategy or an irrational form of explanation.

So what do you think? Does he expose any flaws in Dawkins' argument? Do you find his argument persuasive? Does he give up too much ground by arguing from the position of religion-in-general rather than from the position of Christianity?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Wisdom from Willard

I'm listening to an audio of a seminar by Dallas Willard. Here are a few quotations:

If you want to succeed in discipleship, it has to be the most important thing in your life. And you have to understand that what you are going to get is worth so much more than what it's going to cost you that you will absolutely not let anything get in your way.

You are a disciple of Jesus if you are with him learning to be like him.

As a disciple I am learning from him how to lead my life as he would lead my life if he were I.

The meaning of the cross is the end of your life. It's no longer important for you to have your way.

If you abandon the pursuit of your [own] way then you are in a position to really begin to live.

What happens to people is that they go dead. They are not living in the drama that God intended to live in. Drama is absolutely crucial to our lives.

Idolatry always takes the form of using God for my purposes. And that can happen among professing Christians, and often does.

God intends to exalt you, but not on your terms. On his terms. And that's much better, I can assure you.

Salvation is being caught up in the life that Jesus is now living on earth.

The gospel is "trust Jesus Christ and walk into the kingdom of heaven here and now." Heaven will take care of itself, if you take care of heaven now. And you do this by trusting Jesus, not something he said or something he did.

Most of our teaching has been that you can't do the commandments of Jesus. And you can't if all you do is try. But if you also train as his disciple, there's not a single one of them that you can't do.

The only cure for lust is love. If you love people, you won't lust them.

I need more influences like Dallas Willard in my life. The church needs more serious disciples like Dallas Willard. The world needs to experience the kingdom through Christians who are like Dallas Willard.

May I be one of those people.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

How can we know the truth?

In the modern world of "facts" we have the idea that we can obtain the truth simply by following the right method persistently.

We think of "facts" as treasure to be discovered that is buried in the dirt of data about the real world. When anything interesting is found, a community of experts determines its true intrinsic value.

Beliefs, on the other hand, are like objects that have only personal, sentimental value. No one else wants the plaster casting of your child's handprints. But to you, it is precious.

This seems so obvious that it is beyond dispute.

The only problem is that it is entirely wrong.

There is no "truth" without personal risk. We cannot avoid the vulnerability of faith.

We have on the one hand the ideal, or shall I call it the illusion, of a kind of objectivity which is not possible, of a kind of knowledge of what we call the "facts" which involves no personal commitment, no risk of being wrong, something which we have merely to accept without question; and on the other hand a range of beliefs which are purely subjective, which are, as we say, "true for me," are "what I feel," but which are a matter of personal and private choice.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 23

Yet many live in the illusion that they are "playing it safe." They think of themselves as people who operate purely by reason. They refuse to put their trust in anything that cannot be "proven" true.

Christians claim to know the truth.

This is not a private truth. It is true for all people in all times and in all places.

Unfortunately, Christians have tried to "prove" this truth by using the techniques of the "hard" sciences. There are several problems with this approach.

1. It assumes the false distinction between "facts" and "beliefs." This way of thinking is so deeply ingrained that it seems impossible to question it. In fact, most people would ask, "How else could we possibly prove anything?"
   
2. It requires the eternal truth to submit to the latest fashion of intellectual consensus, a consensus that is based upon the reigning system of unproven assumptions.
   
3. It confuses the existence of absolute truth with the perfect apprehension of that absolute truth.
   
4. It creates a false choice between absolute certainty and total ambiguity.
   
5. It tries to remove the personal commitment necessary to accept any truth, a commitment that is especially necessary to know the truth of the One who is himself Truth.
   

As followers of Jesus Christ, we have been given a sacred trust.

Something radically new has been given, something which cannot be derived from rational reflection on the experiences available to all people. It is a new fact, to be received in faith as a gift of grace. And what is thus given claims to be the truth, not just a possible opinion. It is the rock which must either become the foundation of all knowing and doing, or else the stone on which one stumbles and falls to disaster. Those who, through no wit or wisdom or godliness of their own, have been entrusted with this message can in no way demonstrate its truth on the basis of some other alleged certainties: they can only live by it and announce it. It is something given, dogma, calling for the assent of faith.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 6

We cannot prove that this message is the truth. Any attempt to do so distorts the message itself.

If the congregation is to function effectively as a community of truth, its manner of speaking the truth must not be aligned to the techniques of modem propaganda, but must have the modesty, the sobriety, and the realism which are proper to a disciple of Jesus.
Lesslie Newbigin, The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, p. 229

We can "only" proclaim this truth in humility and vulnerability.

We can never claim that either our understanding or our action is absolutely right. We have no way of proving that we are right. That kind of proof belongs only to the end. As part of the community that shares in the struggle, we open ourselves continually to Scripture, always in company with our fellow disciples of this and former ages in the context of the struggle for obedience; and we constantly find in it fresh insights into the character and purpose of the one who is "rendered" for us in its pages.
Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks, p. 60

This is the mission of God: To proclaim and to live the truth of the Gospel.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Frost Explains Missional

Here are a couple of powerful videos of Michael Frost explaining what missional means and how that works out into the life of a congregation (HT: Rick Meigs). In case you don't have the time to watch these powerful videos, I have listed a few key concepts.

"It is not a new model, not a new approach, not a new style. Missional church thinking is a fundamental and prophetic call to the church to orient everything it is doing around the agenda of mission."

"I am anxious, my friends, that you not domesticate the idea of mission, that you not turn it into something that is palatable, which is not dangerous, which is simple and straightforward and you can just add missional language on to business as usual."

If you embrace missional thinking,

You will see God differently. "God is the sending and sent God."

You will see the church differently. "We participate in the work of Christ. We see where he is at work and step in to cooperate with him."

You will see the world differently. "All people share the image of God."

If you are serious about stepping into this missional paradigm,

You will be committed to building missional proximity with those who've not yet been set free. "Mission has to happen up close and personal." "Platforms [in church] are not where ministry happens. Ministry happens in the neighborhoods."

You will practice the presence of Jesus right under the noses of those who've not yet encountered him. "To the poor it would mean alleviating suffering." "To the rich it might actually mean bursting the bubble of consumerism." "You cannot know what it looks like to be Jesus in any context unless you are an absolutely obsessive student of the gospels."

You will embrace powerlessness. "We don't need our buildings, or our money. We don't need the accoutrements of some kinds of institutional power. We have spiritual power which transforms us from ordinary people into a movement of grace and love and power." "Imagine if we could prove to Americans that the following of Jesus is worth more to us than the stuff of religious institutionalism."

You will proclamation the person of Jesus. "You get close to people, you practice the presence of Jesus, you go empty-handed and naked just as our Lord did, [and] I defy you to not proclaim the person of Jesus."

"Being missional is not another cool strategy. Being missional is not another clever way of worshipping. Being missional is not just another thing you can add to your mission statement on the front of your church newsletter. Being missional mean moving into the neighborhood and it means looking like Jesus."

Take the time to watch the videos. Let me know what your reaction is.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Missional “in quotes”

Willingness to partake in corporate vision is the greatest compliment that a person can pay to leadership. It is holy ground and should be treated with reverence.
Michael Frost & Alan Hirsch, The Shaping of Things to Come, p. 188

Leadership within the Body of Christ is widely misunderstood. It is too often confused with the ability to get things done. But project management and leadership have little in common.

In our society, everyone wants to be a leader.

• Employees are encouraged to be "leaders" so they can move up the corporate ladder.
  
• All prospective college students are "outstanding leaders."
  
• Athletes try to be leaders on the field.
  

But leadership is not the glamorous privilege that many think.

People who want to get their own way should never seek to be leaders. True leadership is not selfish. A follower has a better chance of "getting his own way" than a leader does. And leaders who abuse their position for selfish ends are dangerous, to themselves and others.

True leadership is costly. And not in the way that most think. True leadership will often require the sacrifice of

• Personal preferences
  
• Security
  
• Popularity
  
• Self-esteem
  
• Confidence
  
• Success
  

We hear a lot of talk about servant leadership. But that doesn't go far enough. We must have sacrificial leaders in the church. People who are willing to seriously follow the example of Jesus Christ, not just pay lip service to caring for others.

Effective leadership cannot be done (well) without massive quantities of empathy. And empathy costs far more than most are willing to give. It's easier to bend others to your will. Most self-styled leaders can't even let other people voice their opinions in a conversation. Control is not leadership.

Leadership is a sacred charge and should never be abused.

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be"

Speaking for the Church

In North America we have canonized individual freedom. We have turned freedom of speech into a right to have all our opinions taken seriously. We have turned the freedom to worship God in our own way into our own private religion (or non-religion).

And this individualism has worked its way into our churches.

There has been considerable discussion of the dangers of an individualistic view of Christianity. We've turned our faith into another commodity to be exchanged in the marketplace.

But this problem isn't limited to individuals. This way of thinking has also infected our thinking about local congregations.

Each group sees itself as an autonomous voluntary association of Christians.

But Paul says, "We were all baptized by one Spirit into one body" (1 Corinthians 12:13). We usually interpret that in the context of the congregation. Paul seems to be saying something more.

Congregations should not be acting independently any more than individual Christians should be operating alone.

There is one Church with one Head.

The local congregation is not a branch of the universal Church, but it is the place where the universal Church is made visible. When the local congregation speaks and acts, its words and acts must claim to be the words and acts of the universal Church if they are to be authentic.
Lesslie Newbigin, Truth To Tell, p. 88

Yet we act as if we are independent contractors who "rent" the name Christian but run our own operations.

When we speak, we speak for the entire Church.

We are not just speaking for the group in our town who goes by our denominational label and who prefers our style of worship and shops at the same stores.

This means that we must be more careful about what we say (and what we don't say).

This means that we must be very careful about imposing rules and obligations upon the people in our congregation. We should follow the "categorical imperative" guideline. We should have no rules or obligations that we would not be willing to impose upon all Christians. No more of this, "It's our congregation (denomination), we can make whatever rules we want."

It's not our congregation (denomination). It is Christ's Church.

We don't get to operate it as a bunch of disconnected voluntary associations.

So what do you think? How does this change the way we think about ministry in the local church?

Pastor Rod

"Helping You Become the Person God Created You to Be."