Confession & Prayer: Why we don’t experience healing from our sins

Growing up in a Protestant tradition I’ve noticed that we don’t have much of a concept of why confession matters and to whom we are called to confess.

Growing up in a Protestant tradition I’ve noticed that we don’t have much of a concept of why confession matters and to whom we are called to confess. Most of the Protestant faith tradition today focuses primarily on the vertical relationship of an individual person with God. Our main emphasis is that if we can just get enough people into a right relationship with God, then everything else will fall into place.

Anyone who’s worked in ministry for more than a day will tell you that is hardly the case. Sure, that is the foundation necessary for transformation in someone’s life – it must start with a relationship with God. But that is just the beginning of what transformation looks like, and most of what will need to be transformed in our lives will have to do with our horizontal relationships.

Tending the Seed of the Gospel

The best analogy I can think of for the process of salvation, and specifically sanctification, is one the Bible uses: gardening or farming. We know that ultimately God is who controls the most necessary parts of the process – rain, sunshine, hot or cold weather, etc. All of that is true.

However, the other necessary part to the process involves us as humans. We must till the soil, prune the plants, potentially assist with nutrients in the soil or bees to pollinate the flowers, harvesting at the right time, etc. And this process is not an individual effort for a Christian. It involves others in our lives. John Wesley termed this as the idea of “social holiness.” He said: “There is no holiness apart from social holiness.”

What he meant, and what many others before and after him have said in different ways, is that salvation is a process that involves both God as primary actor and us as secondary actor. And when I say “us” I mean it as a plural “us” – not just you working on your salvation alone in your closet somewhere, but you working on your salvation with other believers alongside you.

So That You May Be Healed

This is where a passage in James 5 comes in that helps explain the process of healing in the life of a believer. In James 5:13-18 it says:

“Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.”

The picture we get here is of a group of believers who are pursuing healing and holiness together! Yes, this description of healing includes physical healing, but if you read closely the emphasis is ultimately on healing of the whole person. This is why confessing your sins and praying is included as a vital element to the healing process. It’s not a “spiritual formula” you use for physical results. It’s a spiritual rhythm you participate in that produces fruit.

And it is not a spiritual rhythm you can do alone! This passage implies that the full experience of the forgiveness of sins actually involves others (which should not be ground-breaking for us as Christians since Jesus’ Prayer in John also says something similar – “Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us”).

The last part of the passage reiterates the use of the analogy of gardening or farming when it comes to our spiritual growth. It shows how Elijah joins God as the secondary actor in God’s plan of caring for the world. Paul uses this story to show how we join God as his people in his work in our lives. It’s powerful, and very humbling. But it’s God’s plan.

Recovering Confession

The lost practice of confession of sin to other believers I blame partly on the Protestant desire to separate ourselves so distinctly from the practices of the Catholic Church. However, it has hurt us that we do not have healthy contexts in which to express this vital part of the healing and holiness process.

Without someone else there to hear our confession, remind us of our forgiveness, and pray for the power of the Spirit in our lives to overcome sin, Scripture implies that our growth in those areas will be stunted.

And what it says to us from a Biblical Theology perspective is that we are being terrible “stewards” of the Gospel. Meaning we are not fulfilling God’s created purposes for our lives as stewards of his garden (our lives, his people, and the world).

To start practicing confession in your life it will certainly be awkward at first. But every important area of growth in your life is awkward at first. There’s always a hurdle to get over. Whether it’s changing your diet, balancing your budget, or in this case rediscovering Scriptural Christianity, you will have to push thru what’s uncomfortable to get to what is transformative.

So now you just have to decide whether you will or not.

Is healing and holiness what you want for your life? Do you want to be spiritually whole and on track with Jesus? Do you want people around you who fully know you (even the most difficult parts of who you are) and fully love you?

Let me tell you from experience: it’s worth it. It doesn’t make it easier. You will still want to revert back to old ways even after you get into it. But in the long run, you will notice the change in your soul as you recover the rhythm God intended to heal you of your spiritual sickness: confession and prayer.

Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 7

Part 7: Spiritual formation is not attractional.

The entire model of the contemporary American church is centered upon attraction and motivational appeals. I grew up in this church culture so I know it well. The contemporary churches of today are merely adult versions of the youth groups of yesterday. My “youth group” experience simply followed me into my adult life.

And the tactics are the same: attract them and then hope you can motivate them.

How well has this “American marketing strategy” for spiritual growth worked out for us? Considering nearly 85% of teenagers leave the church after going off to college…you might say not so well (Click Here to listen to a podcast about this problem between minute markers 19:21 and 21:15).

The problem is spiritual formation is ultimately not attractional. I mean, what’s attractional about a cross?

Calling, not Comfort

And so if our strategy is attraction, at best we are playing a bait-and-switch game in order to get someone to grow spiritually. At worst we are intentionally lying to them upfront and hoping they forgive you on the back end. And most of all we start to look far more like American salesmen than we do little-Christs.

Jesus was never concerned with attracting people. He was concerned with calling people.

It’s fascinating because we can see all of the negative side effects of this sort of model at play in our churches today, but then are scared to do anything different. It’s easier to boast about numbers on the front end than deal with how many are leaving the church on the back end after they find their experience lacking.

When someone is attracted to something, as soon as that attraction goes away they have no reason to stay. However, when someone feels called to something, lack of attraction doesn’t factor into their decision to stay.

Attraction may have brought crowds to Jesus. But calling is what led Jesus to the cross.

Good Growth, Bad Growth

Our over-fascination with numbers has led to all sorts of problems in our understanding of spiritual formation. Not only is the attractional model not producing long-term results, but it’s causing us to quantify spiritual growth or discipleship in odd ways: like offering sequenced classes (as if spiritual growth happens in a straight line), like not taking our time in someone’s spiritual growth but just throwing them into roles of leadership, or like assuming whatever is numerically growing must be healthy.

The reality is that things in nature that grow the fastest and get the biggest are not always healthy and fruitful. Two examples: weeds and tumors.

Yet the narrative in the American church is unmistakable: if your group is not big and does not experience fast growth at some point, you’re not healthy or fruitful.

That’s a tough standard to meet. Even Jesus after 3 years with his disciples was struggling with numeric growth…should make us wonder what the experts today would say about him…

Relationships Matter

Spiritual formation ultimately is not defined by the measurements and strategies of man. This is why Jesus wasn’t offering his disciples a business plan (as if discipleship is a multilevel marketing scheme) but rather relationships. He knew that spiritual formation only truly happens in the context of relationships forged over long periods of time.

In fact, it was Paul who pointed this out in the life of Timothy when he reminded him of how he had been spiritually formed by his grandmother and mother (2 Timothy 1:5).

It’s long past time that as Christians in America we jettisoned these Americanized understandings of spiritual growth and return to the model Jesus lived out and the early church multiplied.

As we close out Lent together and set our trajectory to the cross, death, and resurrection of Jesus, let us read a story that best exemplifies the depth of spiritual growth we see in the life of Jesus that we desperately need in our lives today:

“And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, ‘Pray that you may not enter into temptation.’ And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, ‘Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.’ Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.” (Luke 22:39-44)

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 6

Why have we sacrificed our souls for some earthly version of success?

Part 6: Gaining success, Losing my soul.

If our actions reveal:

We believe professional success is more important than spiritual success.
We spend more time in Church meetings than Gospel conversations.
We prioritize planning events over gathering for prayer.

Then the reality is:

We are gaining the world, but losing our souls.

How have we missed this? Why have we sacrificed our souls for some earthly version of success? What is it about the temptation of being popular in the American psyche that it outweighs our true need of being fully known and fully loved? (Check out the song “Known” by Tauren Wells).

Where your treasure is…

Who wouldn’t want the eternal things over the temporary things?

And yet, we find ourselves (“like a dog returning to its vomit” – Proverbs 26:11) in the same cycles of seeking after the things Jesus’s own disciples sought more than they sought Him (Mark 10:37).

We find ourselves wanting the external miracles more than we desire to see a deep transformation within ourselves and others (John 6:26-40).

We find ourselves chasing after earthy things that will only produce temporary results instead of spiritual things that can produce eternal results (2 Corinthians 4:18).

Step 1: Admit I have a problem.

In this moment it would be easy to point fingers at someone else’s life or someone else’s ministry. But it starts with me. It starts with you. It starts with us together learning to focus on our souls and the souls of others more than human measurements of success.

The church world is not any less susceptible to the worship of success over the concern for people’s souls. And we as the American church, I believe, have traded our soul to gain success.

Repent, and believe the Gospel.

So, what do we do about it? How do we gain our souls and lose success?

First, we die to our own “churchy version” of the American dream:
God being the one who prospers me in primarily my earthly life (as opposed to my eternal life). That what garners attention is big buildings and budgets. That what counts as successful are performance stages with audiences. Not to mention the book deals, the platinum worship albums, and the seeking of social media influencer status.

Second, we recover the dream of God for His people:

“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
now he will bandage our wounds.
In just a short time he will restore us,
so that we may live in his presence.
Oh, that we might know the Lord!
Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
or the coming of rains in early spring.”
“O Israel and Judah,
what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces—
to slaughter you with my words,
with judgments as inescapable as light.
I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.”
Hosea 6:1-6

We put all this effort into doing great things for God in the name of God that ultimately will burn up with the rest of this world. Remember, Jesus shifted the focus from the physical Temple to people as God’s Temple – meaning all physical things become secondary to people’s souls. And what attracts people to Jesus is not the building or experience, but the actual people living out the Gospel (Acts 2:42-47).

This Lent, let’s lay down our visions of earthly grandeur and reclaim God’s vision of eternal glory. May we be willing to “lose” success in the eyes of man in order to gain our souls – and the souls of others – in the eyes of God. Hear this critique from the words of two Christian musicians:

“Check it out,
The paparazzi flashes, and that they think that it’s you,
But they don’t know that who you are is not what you do,
True, we get it twisted when we peek at the charts,
Yo before we part from the start,
Where’s your heart?
You a pimp, hustler?
Tell me what’s your title,
America has no more stars, now we call them idols,
You sit idle while we teach prosperity,
The first thing to prosper should be inside of me.
We’re free…
Not because of .22s on the range,
But Christ came in range, we said yes now we changed,
Not the same, even though I made a fall,
Since I got that call, no more Saul, now I’m Paul.

I don’t wanna gain the whole world, and lose my soul”

“Lose My Soul” by tobyMac (feat. Kirk Franklin, Mandisa)

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 5

Part 5: The Numbers Game

We’ve seen a conversation in politics recently around whether the popular vote should matter more than the electoral vote. That debate reveals an ever present desire in our society to focus our attention on high-populated areas as if they are “more significant” than less-populated areas.

I think the farmers who provide significantly for our country have a valuable opinion about this topic…

I don’t think it’s unrelated that some of Jesus’ most important explanations of the spread of the Gospel and how the kingdom of God shows up on earth are agricultural. Here are a couple:

Matthew 13:3-9 – “He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.”

John 15:1-8 – “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”

Farms & Gardens Matter

It’s fascinating that over the last generation many kids in the suburbs and urban areas are having to be taught where their food comes from. Since the advent of modern supermarkets and grocery stores, many people in high populated areas have become more and more disconnected from nature and the way things were created by God to work.

So now, classes take field trips to farms and there has been a whole push for community gardens and gardening at schools. Why? Because we recognized that we cannot get everything we need as humans from the commercialized life. In fact, the commercialized life is really only viable as long as an agricultural life flourishes…

The question then becomes: Is the same true of the spiritual realities for the American Church? Is the commercialized model of church lacking something that agricultural models of churches still understand?

The Church Superstore

Let’s be honest about a perception in the modern American Church: We have started to believe that what happens in the highly populated areas is more valuable than what happens in the less populated areas.

Why is it that the voices, models, leadership styles, etc. that come out of churches in those areas garner greater attention?

Why do the pastors of those churches end up on conference stages at a higher rate?

Why do we glorify the numbers of those churches (when percentage wise they may not necessarily be reaching people at a higher rate but many times just have more numbers to count)?

But here’s a question in response to this trend:

What do we still have to learn from a Messiah who remained relatively obscure for 30 years and spent 3 years with a small number of committed disciples before He even accomplished His own purposes?

Small Town Jesus

Honestly this focus on numbers doesn’t surprise anyone, probably not even Jesus. I mean, he was born in Bethlehem and not Jerusalem… (Micah 5:2 – “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”)

The problem isn’t inherently with large churches. It’s in value-based assumptions concerning small churches. Many great movements of God in America have started in smaller contexts (See You At The Pole). In fact, the Methodist Movement (during the Second Great Awakening), which transformed our country during the 1800’s, found much of its most rapid growth thru circuit riders who went into pioneer communities.

Maybe there’s a reason for that. Maybe we should be asking the leaders of small churches what ministry should look like and looking to the smaller contexts for answers about the Christian life. Maybe we’ve overlooked some of the most important lessons of what the Messiah is doing in the small villages because we are too busy looking for Him in Jerusalem…

So as we reflect on Lent and the events coming up as we get closer to Easter, let’s remember that most of Jesus’ own disciples deserted Him as He accomplished His mission – and certainly the crowds did.

Our desire to gather crowds, and our glorification of the models which do, must end at the cross. Our focus must be on the mission of multiplying disciples. And that sort of a movement usually starts with smaller groups of believers. There is no “trickle down” effect for spiritual awakening – actually, it’s usually the opposite as you track historic moves of God.

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 4

We typically stake our faith in God on His ability to move quickly. We don’t typically look for how He moves over longer periods of time.

Part 4: Missionaries to America

I once heard someone tell a story about a Messianic Jewish Rabbi and a Christian Pastor. The Rabbi asked the Pastor: “Do you believe in a fast God or a slow God?” The Pastor didn’t understand the question. The Rabbi went on to explain that for the Messianic Jewish people, God was always at work but just usually over a long period of time (references: Egyptian slaves for 400 years before being rescued, in exile for just as long before the Messiah came, etc.). The Pastor then responded: “Well, then I guess I do believe in a fast God.”

I think most Christians in America would echo that pastor’s sentiment.

We typically stake our faith in God on His ability to move quickly. We don’t typically look for how He moves over longer periods of time. And I would argue this has far more to do with our being Americans than it does being Christians.

We look more American than Christian when we act as if God only moves fast (and typically on our timetable).

America is not a Christian Nation

So why does this matter? Because it shapes everything about how we think about and plan to reach the “unreached people groups” in our very own country.

Why do we support foreign missionaries in long-term strategies to reach “unreached people groups” but not our own country’s missionaries? It is interesting that both our standards and expectations are so vastly different for people we call “foreign missionaries” and people we call “church planters.”

In one breath we tell someone sensing a call to new work: “Go reach the unreached!” And if they are a foreign missionary we give them all kinds of grace to learn those unreached people in their context, build relationships over time, and ultimately make disciples in such a way that it produces a local expression of the Church. But if you are a church planter in America, while you will be affirmed in your goal, you will not find as much affirmation in using the same process as your counterparts going into foreign mission fields.

Instead, the expectations will be very American: we want results that are fast, big, and quickly scalable. This is fascinating considering the work to reach unreached people is not any different no matter where you go in the world. But for some reason in America we somehow think reaching people should be inherently easier and quicker than anywhere else in the world. Do you find this mindset as fascinating as I do?

We look more American than we do Christian when we think God’s kingdom functions like customer acquisition in the business world.

Putting our Money where our Mission is…

We see this most easily in how and where we spend our money internally as existing local churches and how we distribute our financial support as sending organizations.

We can easily justify large expenses on the kids areas of church buildings that get used once a week (I mean I’m talking 10’s and 100’s of thousands of dollars), but can’t justify spending that money (or even a small percentage of it) on models of the church that would interact with those families daily? It’s odd to me that just because a ministry doesn’t fit the brick and mortar model the church has sanctified since the Roman Empire it somehow doesn’t justify as a significant venture worthy of financial backing.

Shouldn’t we be saddened that the models which follow most closely the call for us to be incarnate in our world are seemingly the least supported financially? Why can we more easily justify spending $100,000 on a sound system for our building but not $10,000 on a ministry that doesn’t look like the “big box” model of church? Why can we justify spending 10’s of thousands of dollars on foreign mission-cations that we will never get back but not that same money on microloans for people trying to make it in our communities (because we’re afraid they may not pay the loan back)?

I had a friend recently lament how much easier it is for many American churches to successfully launch building programs (where they will construct a facility and try to convince people to use it) than it is for them to financially support building the kingdom of God in the midst of their community.

We look more American than Christian when we will fund raise and invest significant amounts of money into buildings and technology but not in supporting missionaries to the very people groups we claim to want to reach in our own country.

You are a Missionary

We are called to be missionaries to our own unreached people right here in America (or at least to support people who feel called to be). So why don’t we act like that? Unfortunately, the answer is because we look far more like Americans than we do Christians.

Maybe during Lent God can remind us that His work in our country is no different than His work around the world. It takes time. It takes intentionality. And it takes prioritizing the mission and letting God take care of the results:

“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:6

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 3

The more comfortable and insulated a pastor becomes, the more comfort seeking and insulated the congregation will be.

Part 3: The Church Bubble

In America, we mostly believe that Christianity is about our comfort. You may ask: How do I know?

Because we’ve made salvation, in various subtle ways, more about “getting into Heaven one day” than about dying to yourself to follow Jesus.

Because we’ve made being the church about a once-a-week large group “experience” and not about serving and sacrificing for others.

Because we’ve made the Christian life about what Jesus can do for me and not our obedience to what Jesus taught us to do in faith.

Because we’ve created a bunker mentality where we are afraid to expose our kids to the world instead of modeling for them how to live as missionaries in it.

Follow the leader

Whether we want to admit it or not, this mentality starts with leadership. The more comfortable and insulated a pastor becomes, the more comfort seeking and insulated the congregation will be.

Here’s a question that ultimately gets to the heart of the issue for me [for those who are pastors especially]: Are you in intentional relationships with those who would never come to your church? Or any church for that matter.

This is a question of utmost importance because it gets to the heart of what it means to be Christian – or “little Christs.” If we are only in relationships that are reciprocally beneficial to us, then we aren’t being like Christ (Romans 5:10; 1 Peter 2:24-25).

It is interesting how Jesus spent his time on earth. Have you ever thought about it really? Especially when you compare it to the routines, schedules, and expectations we have, and even set, for most modern American pastors and church people.

Jesus was consistent in 3 things: (1) His own personal time with God, (2) His highly-relational time with those closest to Him, and (3) His time among the people of His day. You know what He literally never seemed to spend time doing? Preparing for large gatherings of followers [read: “church people”].

Bubble People

This last thought is particularly interesting to me considering how the entire “life of the church” today, in your typical church, is centered solely upon gatherings of “church people” (usually in a “church building”).

When did such a shift happen? And why are American Christians seemingly so obsessed with large gatherings of people in buildings that they own? (You could argue it started with the commandeering of Christianity by the Romans – but that’s another post for another day…)

“The Church Bubble” is a real thing. And a real problem.

Pastors find themselves in it.

Church people find themselves perpetuating it.

And ultimately it works against the spread of God’s Kingdom on earth because it funnels everything not thru the model of Jesus, but thru the model of western (Americanized) organizational structures – which are widely based on human governments or businesses.

I believe the reason the priorities of the leaders of a church community are so important is that they ultimately determine the direction that community will take in fulfilling the Great Commission.

If the leaders are: (1) following Jesus’ priorities of spending time on their own relationship with God, (2) creating highly-relational contexts with those closest to them, and (3) then living in intentional relationships with those in the community who do not themselves know Jesus (yet) – I think we could reasonably expect the entire church community is more likely to follow that lead.

Why? Because they are seeing it consistently modeled and taught.

This Lent, and moving forward, may we seek to change these behaviors so that we might actually reach the most “unchurched” & “dechurched” generation in the history of America so far.

I will close with this corporate confession:
Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 2

Part 2: Christian Celebrity

This past decade the death of cultural Christianity accelerated rapidly.

Statistically, the church is in decline, and most of that is evidence of the death of a version of Christianity where people merely attended for social reasons.
*see Barna’s statistics on Christianity.

While some are concerned by these trends, I think it’s a healthy thing for genuine Christianity to reemerge and for people to no longer put on a show or merely have “a form of godliness but denying its power” (Timothy 3:5). American Christianity for too long has suffered from being commandeered by the culture for its purposes. Though some forms of cultural Christianity are holding on for now (like in the political arena), they likely will soon die too as people no longer see Christianity as a viable way to gain public approval.

My hope for the next decade is this: The death of Christian celebrity.

We reap what we sow

The Christian celebrity culture has been an infection in the American Church. It is antithetical to Paul’s critique of the church in Corinthians: “When one of you says, ‘I am a follower of Paul,’ and another says, ‘I follow Apollos,’ aren’t you acting just like people of the world?” (1 Corinthians 3:4). It has molded and shaped pastors, churches, and denominations to be attention seekers, fame grabbers, and ultimately has resulted in the “cover-up culture” we are now reaping the results of [eg., Mark Discoll, Bill Hybels, the cover up of abuse in Southern Baptist churches, etc.].

Lest you think it’s only a “big church” problem – small churches fall prey to treating their leaders as celebrities too. In fact, the first “fall from grace” I had first-hand experience with was as a part of a church of less than 100 who treated the pastor like he was untouchable.

Ultimately the Christian celebrity culture is antithetical to the Gospel.

Seeking the biggest stage.

Publishing a New York Times bestseller.

Having your new worship song trend on iTunes.

Being an influencer on social media.

Garnering the largest financial support.

Being in a context where no one questions you and you are surrounded by “Yes Men.”

These are the things that Hollywood, Washington, D.C., and Silicon Valley value. Not Jesus. And such a reality being normalized in the Church is detrimental to the work of the Gospel in the life of the person celebritized (yes, I may have just made up a word) and ultimately in the life of the people buying into their celebrity status as well.

The Bible is clear that the fruit of Christian celebrity is: immaturity, the appearance of godliness, dead religion, self-righteousness, and self-promotion (also called “conceit” [ESV]; vainglory [KJV], “empty conceit” [NASB], “vanity” [NET]). The very things Jesus hated most about the leaders of His people when he walked the earth.

Self-inflicted wounds

The harshest part of the reality of Christian celebrity culture is this: We created it.

You and me.

The people of the church.

We are buying what they’re selling us and thus perpetuating a reality that is ultimately harmful.

We are promoting Christian celebrities, willingly placing ourselves under their teaching, and giving our support to the very things Christ warned His people against.

Instead, we should be focused on the downward trajectory of humility Christ displayed for us and we are called to imitate [Philippians 2:1-11]. Willing to die to our own selfish ambition and take on the holy ambition of Jesus laying our lives down that He might lift us up.

So, this Lent, may we hear the words of Jesus afresh as we pray for the death of Christian celebrity culture both in our hearts and in the American Church:

Matthew 23 (Message version)

Now Jesus turned to address his disciples, along with the crowd that had gathered with them. “The religion scholars and Pharisees are competent teachers in God’s Law. You won’t go wrong in following their teachings on Moses. But be careful about following them. They talk a good line, but they don’t live it. They don’t take it into their hearts and live it out in their behavior. It’s all spit-and-polish veneer.
“Instead of giving you God’s Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn’t think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called ‘Doctor’ and ‘Reverend.’
“Don’t let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don’t set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. No one else should carry the title of ‘Father’; you have only one Father, and he’s in heaven. And don’t let people maneuver you into taking charge of them. There is only one Life-Leader for you and them—Christ.
“Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you’ll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you’re content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.
“I’ve had it with you! You’re hopeless, you religion scholars, you Pharisees! Frauds! Your lives are roadblocks to God’s kingdom. You refuse to enter, and won’t let anyone else in either. You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You go halfway around the world to make a convert, but once you get him you make him into a replica of yourselves, double-damned…
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You burnish the surface of your cups and bowls so they sparkle in the sun, while the insides are maggoty with your greed and gluttony. Stupid Pharisee! Scour the insides, and then the gleaming surface will mean something.
“You’re hopeless, you religion scholars and Pharisees! Frauds! You’re like manicured grave plots, grass clipped and the flowers bright, but six feet down it’s all rotting bones and worm-eaten flesh. People look at you and think you’re saints, but beneath the skin you’re total frauds…”

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Do We Look More American than Christian? Part 1

Part 1: How we’ve become more like Jonah than Jesus.

Christian, say these words with me, directed to yourself:

Repent, and believe the Gospel.

These are a part of the historic words of the Ash Wednesday liturgy. And yet most people don’t hear them anymore (since most of our churches have jettisoned the traditions for a shinier, modern version of Christianity where they pretend they have no liturgy when, in fact, they do – they just have bad liturgy they’ve never thought through – see Simon Chan’s book Spiritual Theology).

And even if a churchgoer does hear those words once a year, they typically do not take them to heart. I truly believe God desires to do things in our generation that He has not done in generations in America. However, it will require us to humbly respond to this invitation:

Repent, and believe the Gospel.

Jesus or Jonah

If we were to assess our lives as Christians today, and the modern American church; and then contrast our lives and our churches to the life of Jonah and the ministry of Jesus, I think we would find ourselves looking far more like Jonah than Jesus. [If you don’t know the story of Jonah, it’s a quick read – go read it. And then, Click Here to go watch this Bible Project video.]

We have perpetuated a version of the Christian life and of church that essentially says to someone: “If you don’t fit into our version of church, then you don’t deserve the Gospel.”

I can hear the push back now… “Whoa, whoa, we are not exclusive. In fact, we are highly inclusive. Everyone is welcome at our church.” And those words reveal the very disease that has made us more like Jonah than Jesus – the expectation that those “nonbelievers” out there should come to us “believers” in here.

While we have traded cathedrals and stained glass windows for metal buildings and technology (still wasting money on earthy things we think will “please God” or “draw people”), we have continued the idea that somehow God is “in here” with us and not “out there” with you. And thus have communicated to the world around us the same thing Jonah was at least brave enough to own up to: “I don’t think you deserve the grace of God enough to bring the message of the Gospel to you – you’re going to have to ‘get your life together’ and make the decision to come to me if you want it.”

It’s not you, It’s me

And lest you are quick to point the finger at the “other person” who you determine is more guilty of this than you: When’s the last time you shared the good news of the Gospel with anyone?

I mean anyone.

Literally anyone.

Even yourself.

Christian: Repent, and believe the Gospel.

Here’s the harsh truth: we have not truly believed the full Gospel ourselves or we would not find ourselves in this situation. Myself included. Because if we really believed the full Gospel for ourselves, then it would passionately propel us to those around us displaying it with our actions and speaking it with our words.

Our family members, our coworkers, our classmates, our friends, our neighbors, and even the strangers we meet would see walking stories of the Gospel and we would be ever ready to share the hope that we now have.

We wouldn’t be the stuck-up, judgmental Christians bemoaning how “sinful” everyone else is and how our world’s going to “hell in a hand-basket.” We wouldn’t be the showy, cool Christians who try to “attract” people to Jesus with all of our trendiness. We wouldn’t be the “worried to offend someone” Christians who basically communicate that as long as you love Jesus all the sin you’re willfully embracing and not being transformed out of can be overlooked. And we wouldn’t be some combination of all of those things (which many American Christians today are).

Church: Repent, and believe the Gospel.

Re-Lent

As we start this season of Lent, it is meant as a time of dying to self that leads to (hopefully) spiritual resurrection at the end. How are you more like Jonah than Jesus? How is the church you are a part of or lead displaying a Jonah attitude more than a Jesus one? Are you willing to die to an American version of Christianity that assumes the world should come to us to hear the Gospel and instead be raised up into the original version of Christianity that involved you taking the Gospel to the world?

American Christian. American Church. Why do we look more American than Christian? And why are we more like Jonah than Jesus? May we hear afresh the words of the Ash Wednesday liturgy this year, and then act upon them appropriately:

Repent, and believe the Gospel.

*This is Part 1 of a 7-part series of posts on the American Church. Be looking for a new post each week as we participate in Lent and reflect on the things we need to let go of, or need to take hold of, as Christians in America.

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Christian Insecurity: How we undersell the full will of God for our lives.

There’s a concept in the faith tradition in which I serve called the “second half of the Gospel.” Now, I had not heard of anything like this until I started learning more about John Wesley, so I assume there are still others who have never heard this term nor understand how applicable it is to our day.

Basically what it refers to is that conversion (when you “accept Jesus as Lord and Savior”) is only half of the Gospel story, but that many times it’s what most churches spend their time focused on and so it is the only part of the Gospel someone gets. However, there is an entire second half to what the Gospel means for our lives that many never hear about – and thus are never empowered to live out.

This second half of the Gospel is the part about sanctification – which is a churchy word for becoming like Jesus. [If you’d like to watch an awesome video explaining the second half of the Gospel, just Click Here.]

If you didn’t know, the Gospel doesn’t stop at conversion; in fact, it is merely just getting started. And it is interesting, some people think that if you focus your conversations on sanctification then you will turn into a “frozen chosen” and only focus on those who are “already saved.”

However, that is a false dichotomy. The opposite is actually true:
When we focus solely (or even mostly) on conversion as the goal of the Gospel, and as the “line” we need someone to cross, then that is what their goal will be. But if we explain to them that the goal of the Gospel is actually sanctification, or being like Christ, then not only might they experience conversion but they also might actually become like Christ as well!

What I have found in my years of ministry thus far, is that if we expect the bare minimum of people, then that is what they will give us. As humans we will naturally be drawn toward the least expectation. And if all God “requires” of me is to be converted in order to “get into heaven” then that is likely all I will give him. But if his desire is for me to be like Christ on this earth, and conversion is one of those steps along the way, then I might actually set my sights on that goal.

And that’s the fullness of the Gospel our world needs today.

When we look at the news and there are people who are claiming the name of Christ (because they might have had some sort of conversion experience) and yet are known abusers, rapists, sexual perverts, etc., then we can see the desperate need for us in the church to have an honest conversation about what it actually means to believe the Gospel.

The bottom line is this: Jesus did not come to merely create converts, but to make disciples who are transformed and whom transform the world.

And those are two very different things.

This has huge implications for how we understand God’s will for our lives, God’s design for redemption in the world, and what it means to be a Christian. And it’s where what I term “Christian insecurity” comes in to play.

So what do I mean by Christian Insecurity?

I mean that many Christians – including many churches and many pastors – sell God short for what He desires for people’s lives. Maybe they don’t fully deny that God wants people to “act” like Jesus. But they’re insecure about offering people the hope that they could actually “be” like Jesus.

And again, those are 2 very different things.

The Scripture portrays the Christian life as an opportunity to actually “be” like Jesus, and not simply just do good works like him:

John 14:12-14 – “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works…” (NLT)

John 16:13-14 – “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth…” (NLT)

Romans 8:2 – “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” (NLT)

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT)

Philippians 2:5-11 – “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had…” (NLT)

Why most people are insecure about this is because of their view of sin. They truly believe that they will never be anything more than a “sinner saved by grace.” And while I understand the sentiment (I truly do! The depth of the sin I have been saved from always amazes me…), it’s simply not what I read in Scripture as the definition of the Christian life.

The example of Jesus and the teachings of the New Testament portray Christians as saints who have not fully been removed from the temptations and effects of sin – but not as people defined by their sin nor required to give into the desires of their sin any longer.

Rather, because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we are given the opportunity to be like Jesus in the desert (Matthew 4:1-11) – “tempted in every way” and yet not giving in to sin: Hebrews 4:15 – “This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (NLT)

In fact, think about the description of how a Christian is empowered to overcome sin in I Corinthians 10:13 – “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (NLT)

This is the GOOD NEWS! That because of Jesus’ incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, we have the opportunity to once again have the very presence of God walking with us in this life! The very Garden of Eden is recreated in us. Think about that for a second.

And if that is true, then it means we have the chance for the first time to actually be what God originally designed us to be – the very image and likeness of God in this world!

If that doesn’t get you excited about the Gospel, I’m not sure what will.

When I discovered this truth it completely changed my perspective on the Christian life. I went from sin-management to desire-transformation. I stopped thinking of myself as a sinner who’s barely saved but as a saint who now can overcome sin. I no longer wallowed in my guilt and shame but celebrated in my freedom and victory. And I left behind Christian insecurity and began living into Christ-likeness.

While I certainly do not believe it requires someone else to become a “Wesleyan Theologian” to believe this to be true. It was thru Wesley that I learned this Biblical truth. And I do believe it is this pearl of truth that Wesleyan’s have to offer the 21st century world that has been hidden for some reason in the previous century – maybe because we whittled down the Gospel to simply the act of conversion.

The difficulty of believing this truth is then actually living it out! And this is where Wesley’s concept of “social holiness” and his structuring of the Methodist renewal movement into Classes and Bands became important. [If you would like to learn more about those I would encourage you to watch these videos & read these articles: Phil. 2:1-11; Class Meetings; Band Meetings]

So as you begin to wrap your mind around what it might mean for you to actually start to be like Jesus in this life, I encourage you to seek out others who desire the same thing. And as you live together with others who are also being like Jesus, I think you will find that the fullness of the Gospel and the full will of God for your life will begin to be worked out.

And you might just find that you are also a lot less insecure about your Christianity. Because really, Christian insecurity shouldn’t be a thing. We’ve just made it one…

Why I believe God does not celebrate Reformation Day…but does not condemn our recognition of it.

If you didn’t know, the 500th anniversary of Reformation Day is today. Of course, if you are a part of a church context whose direct lineage is not the Reformation (like me), then you have no immediate reason to know this other than simply because you keep up with the extended Christian Church family. So in thinking about this momentous event, I figured I would offer a few reflections.

First, I do not believe God is ultimately pleased with division.

There are many reasons why God would not celebrate Reformation Day in the way that many Protestants do nowadays, but mostly because I do not think God celebrates division in his people – even when it’s perceived as necessary…

The immediate push-back to this line of thought will be statements like:

“But the Protestant Reformation ‘saved’ the Church!”
“The Reformers didn’t seek to separate, but just to reform – so it’s the Catholic Church’s fault, not theirs.”
“Look at all the good that has come from the Reformation!”

However, none of these statements get at the heart of the issue. The issue I perceive is whether God would celebrate such an event like we do, or would he mourn it? Or would it be some combination of both?

As I reflect upon this all I can think is: Did the Reformation please God?

Did the fact that the Reformation happened the way it did please God? Did the state of the Church that existed at the time which “required” the Reformation please God? Did the reality of the Reformation (which ultimately has caused all-out schism) dividing the largest representation of the Christian family at the time please God??

You may say: “Yes, it did please God, because Reformation Day represents those in the Church who were championing the Gospel and the Truth.” And I would say you are correct in what many feel it represents. But it is also about a host of other realities, both about that time period and the results that have been caused today…and are those things about the state of the church then and the state of the church now pleasing to God? I think it is much more up for debate than many who religiously celebrate Reformation Day would allow.

Second, I do not think Scripture teaches us to desire division.

From the very beginning division was not a part of God’s plan for humanity. Separateness (from God and from each other) has always been a result of sin. We see this first in Genesis 3 with Adam, Eve, and the Garden; then again soon after in Genesis 6-9 with the Flood and Noah and his sons; and then again in Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel.

So even when division is deemed necessary (like God kicking Adam and Eve out of the Garden so that they would not eat from the Tree of Life after eating from the other tree), it does not seem to be something God is pleased with – nor should we be.

We see God’s desire for unity most prominently in Jesus’ prayer for his disciples and for us in John 17:20-21 (NLT):

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

So this places us as Christians in an interesting position, where we acknowledge that division can be necessary at times but that God does not celebrate it…and if you simply look around the Christian world today, you will see rampant division (much of which could be argued is unnecessary) which seems to simply fly in the face of Jesus’ own prayer.

Why is it a big deal whether we celebrate the Reformation or not?

Our celebration of the Reformation unfortunately is entangled in a much larger reality than just what Luther did on that day years ago. The very reality that Luther had to do what he did reveals that God’s people had become distracted by their own pursuit of knowledge rather than a relationship with God. And this would not be pleasing to God. God would have been burdened by this reality, not pleased. And so the action of Luther (while that specific action may have been pleasing to God), is still the result of a situation that God would not be celebrating.

So should we be so short-sighted as to celebrate a day in which the church had lost its way simply to acknowledge a single action of one man who was calling the church back to its first love?

Maybe. But probably not.

The issue with celebrating this day is also not about the day itself. It’s about the resulting realities of what this day has now come to create. To talk about what I’m trying to get at it might be interesting to look at the concept of the “butterfly effect”:

“In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state.” – Wikipedia

“The butterfly effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects.” – Scholarpedia

Reformation Day was a small event in and of itself. But it had large effects on the broader church culture and history of the church…

No, Luther was not trying to divide from the church. Yes, Luther was trying to help bring reform to the church. And yes, the Catholic Church is the one who decided to divide from Luther. However, understanding all that, and all the positives of the Reformation, division was still caused – a division that I still do not believe is pleasing to God just because there are justifiable reasons.

Also, this is not an issue of dividing based upon someone fully leaving the Christian faith behind, which I might be more willing to understand. Luther did not leave the faith.

What I would relate this situation to is a marriage – since Paul relates Jesus’ relationship to the church to a marriage, it seems like a good analogy to work with.

When a marriage ends in division (or divorce) because of a potentially necessary or justifiable reason, should we celebrate? Certainly we should celebrate the faithfulness of a person who may have remained faithful when infidelity is the cause. That’s not the issue. But should we celebrate the day that begins the end of that marriage? Even if it’s the unfaithful spouse who initiates it and even if it’s for a supposedly Scriptural reason (infidelity), there is still no reason to celebrate such a thing. Why? Because division is harmful no matter what the reason and is certainly not what God desires.

The same reality is true in the church. And most division in the church post-Reformation is for far less justifiable reasons than Scriptural infidelity.

Just like the butterfly effect, the effects of Reformation Day on the worldwide church have been traumatic, if we are honest. It gave way to the immediate multiplication of more divisions based upon personal readings of Scripture that led to persecution even within the Reformation camp itself!

How quickly we forget the atrocities…Anabaptists were being drowned for their belief in immersion baptism…people were being burned at the stake for their differing views on the Lord’s Supper…

Seriously. These realities were a part of the results of the Reformation (no matter whose fault they are) and we still desire to celebrate Reformation Day?

And that does not even count the ridiculous divisiveness we see in the church today that are mostly results of a reformation movement that eventually gave way to the justification of division based upon secondary issues of personal preference in interpretation of Scripture (including the explicit racial division that exists!). Is it the Reformers faults that such division has been caused? No. Is it still a reality that exists largely because of the movement they led? Yes.

So are you saying we should just refuse to acknowledge Reformation Day at all?

No I am not. Remember earlier in this post I acknowledged the differences between mourning and celebration. And this is where I would say that Reformation Day should be acknowledged, but should be done with sobriety and realism.

It should not be a celebration of achievement. It should not be a celebration of victory. And it certainly should not be a celebration of advancement.

We should appreciate the contributions of the Reformers. We should appreciate the context in which the Reformation happened and the positives that came from it (like Scripture being translated into native languages!). And we should look to the Reformation as a reminder of the importance of Scriptural Christianity.

But in all of that, we should not forget that ultimately the Reformation was about a division in God’s people that eventually would fracture His people into a multiplicity of divisions (mostly based upon personal preference or secondary issues). So as much as we would like to divorce the results from the cause, the reality is still there: the Reformation began a period in the church unlike any other – where our differences became what we were known for rather than our similarities.

And this should make us sad.

And that sadness should propel us to seek healing (in our circles of influence) for the brokenness and division that has for too long existed in the church. We should lay down denominational names, theological distinctions, and personal preferences where appropriate and find ways to serve & worship together.

And even more boldly, we should combine our congregations with other congregations, and our denominations with other denominations, in order to once again move back toward the displayed unity that the body of Christ once had – to the best degree we can. If there is going to be necessary division, those divisions should be few and far between – and they should definitely not be what we are known for.

And most importantly, we should pray the very prayer that Jesus prayed for us:

“May [we] experience such perfect unity that the world will know that [God] sent [Jesus] and that [He] loves them…” – John 17:23, NLT [my adaptations]