Recently I re-read C. S. Lewis' famous book Mere Christianity. Written nearly half a century ago, this publication continues to obtain a wide reading. In this classic work, Lewis presents the central features of mere (pure, undiluted) Christianity. Once such feature, or attribute, is faith. Lewis devotes two chapters to this subject. He begins by pointing to the faulty assumption he once held that "the human mind is completely ruled by reason" and "will automatically go on regarding [something] as true, until some real reason for reconsidering it comes up" (p. 139). But such is not the case at all. Human emotions and imagination also wield a powerful influence on us. Hence faith can be understood as "the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted, in spite of your changing moods" (p. 140).
Beyond this aspect of Christian belief, there is a second and higher sense in which faith is to be understood and recognized, and that is in the face of temptation. Says Lewis, "No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good" (p. 142). Our failures show the necessity of faith toward God, for our track record shows that we can never make it to heaven on the basis of our own righteous performance.
These two aspects of faith represent the spiritual ground on which my greatest battles are fought. Though I mentally affirm the doctrines of grace, emotionally and in many other ways I deny them. For instance, if I do well in my Christian walk, I can easily become complacent, self-sufficient, and even self-congratulating. But if I do poorly, I slink before God's presence in prayer, imagining how repulsed he must be at the sight of me. This is not biblical, gospel-centered thinking; hence it must be struck down and destroyed by scriptural truth.
For this reason, I am attempting in my daily prayers and scriptural meditations to follow the maxim of Robert Murray M'Cheyne: "For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ." This is the fight of faith. Rather than being self-conscious in my Christian walk, I am called to be Savior-conscious. As I rejoice in the God of my salvation, I am reminded that I need not spend my life trying to earn God's approval; I live knowing that I already have his approval in Christ.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The President's Perversion of the Christian Faith
Today President Obama finally stated what most of us already suspected: his support for same-sex marriage. This stance directly opposes the clear teaching of Scripture. After the Lord God made the woman from the man and brought her to the man, Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man" (Genesis 2:23). Then Scripture declares unequivocally, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh" (v. 24). The Lord Jesus, during the days of his earthly ministry, reiterated the divine blueprint for marriage, saying,
"Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."- Matthew 19:4-6
Likewise, what God has kept separate, let not man join together, i.e. man and man.
That the president's stance on marriage diametrically opposes the clear teaching of Scripture is bad enough, but he took matters a tragic step further by citing his and his wife Michelle's Christian faith as reasons for personally supporting same-sex marriage! In an interview with ABC News, President Obama said,
I'd hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient. And I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people the word 'marriage' was something that invoked very powerful traditions, religious beliefs, and so forth.
In the end the values that I care most deeply about and she cares most deeply about is how we treat other people. We are both practicing Christians and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it's also the Golden Rule--treat others the way you would want to be treated. And I think that's what we try to impart to our kids and that's what motivates me as president, and I figure the most consistent I can be in being true to those precepts, the better I'll be as a dad and a husband and hopefully the better I'll be as president.
The big tip-off to the president's horrendously fallacious perspective is what he professes to be at the "root" of what he and his wife think about: "not only Christ sacrificing Himself ... but also the Golden Rule." Contrast the words of the president, "not only Christ sacrificing Himself," with the words of Paul, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). "Not only Christ sacrificing Himself" versus "nothing ... except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
The Christ of our president and the Christ of Paul are two different Christs. Paul worshiped and obeyed the Christ of Scripture; the president worships and obeys the Christ of secular humanism. The president sees the Golden Rule as something that must be considered in addition to Christ and his sacrifice, whereas Jesus himself saw all of Scripture--including the Golden Rule--as inextricably linked to his divine person and mission. In John 5:39-41, Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men" -- including our "Christian" president.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Three Gifts to Offer Youth Pastors
While doing some research in preparation for a pastors' conference I'm preaching at next week, I came across some interesting articles and statistics on youth ministry. Of course this is fresh in my mind in light of the fact that just last week had a promising candidate for the Pastor of Student Ministries position in our church. Furthermore, I myself was a youth pastor for three years, and four out of my five children are teenagers! (This was the case last year and will be once again come November.)
Based on statistics, the testimonies of colleagues in youth ministry, and even my own experience, I would like to suggest three gifts that church congregations can extend to their youth pastors:
1. Faith
According to Scripture, one of love's chief qualities is that it "believes all things" (1 Cor. 13:7). This does not mean that love is gullible, but that it gives the benefit of the doubt. Love extends the gift of trust to others.
This doesn't mean that we put our confidence in man, rather we are being confident in what God does in and through people. Thus Paul the apostle could write to the believers in Corinth, "I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you" (2 Cor. 7:16). Skepticism and cynicism towards a man can kill his ministry in a given context. Remember that in Nazareth, Jesus "did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:58).
Jesus enabled those who were entrusted to His care to rise to their full potential because He was utterly confident what the Spirit of God could and would accomplish through them (see John 14:12). Wolf J. Rinke, author of 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High Performance Organizations, writes, "If you mistrust your employees, you'll be right 3 percent of the time. If you trust people until they give you a reason not to, you'll be right 97 percent of the time."
It is true that by trusting people, you'll get burned now and then. One well-known and highly respected pastor recalls that one of his most painful moments in forty years of pastoral ministry was when three of his associates unexpectedly turned on him. This mutiny, which occurred on a day that came to be known as "Black Monday," was one of the most shocking disappointments in this man's ministry. He testified that he never saw it coming because he is so naturally trusting towards people and assumes the best about them. Does this mean that he should have taken a different approach and been less trusting? Not for a moment, for this same pastor says that the most rewarding aspect of his ministry has been the wonderful, long-standing relationships that have developed over the last four decades.
B.C. Forbes said, "Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious." It's better for you, and it's better for those you trust. By extending the gift of trust to your youth pastor, you give him wings to fly and to reach his full God-given potential in Christ.
2. Flexibility
By this I mean openness to change. It's been said that the last words uttered by a dying church were, "We've never done it that way before." God's truth is timeless and never changes, but the methods by which we communicate that truth and incorporate it into youth ministry require flexibility, if we are to be effective. Creativity is not necessarily an indication of carnality!
Please don't misunderstand me. When it comes to communicating God's truth, preaching must remain primary. For "since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb--preaching, of all things!--to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation" (1 Cor. 1:21 MSG). Still, the mechanics of ministry can also include certain styles of music, text messaging, facebook, powerpoint and the like. Eddie Rentz writes that some of the most effective youth ministries "have not stopped praying or discipling teens--if anything, they are more committed to those elements. However, they are creatively using whatever tools they have to preach the Word to more teenagers." If we are courageous and supportive of such efforts, rather than critical and censorious, we will reap a harvest of souls.
3. Finances
Churches that are growing and reaching the next generation for Christ are committed to making significant investments in their student and family ministries. While it is important to pay our pastors well, financial stewardship goes well beyond that to include adequate funding for discipleship, community evangelism, and cross-cultural missions. We can't expect youth pastors to "take the world for Christ," then tie his hands with lack of funding. If we really want to reach the next generation, we have to put our money where our mouth is. The investments we make will pay eternal dividends. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously" (2 Cor. 9:6 NIV).
Both as a pastor and as a parent, I want our church to have a thriving ministry to students and their families. Offering these three gifts of faith, flexibility, and finances is a great place to start.
Based on statistics, the testimonies of colleagues in youth ministry, and even my own experience, I would like to suggest three gifts that church congregations can extend to their youth pastors:
1. Faith
According to Scripture, one of love's chief qualities is that it "believes all things" (1 Cor. 13:7). This does not mean that love is gullible, but that it gives the benefit of the doubt. Love extends the gift of trust to others.
This doesn't mean that we put our confidence in man, rather we are being confident in what God does in and through people. Thus Paul the apostle could write to the believers in Corinth, "I rejoice, because I have perfect confidence in you" (2 Cor. 7:16). Skepticism and cynicism towards a man can kill his ministry in a given context. Remember that in Nazareth, Jesus "did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief" (Matt. 13:58).
Jesus enabled those who were entrusted to His care to rise to their full potential because He was utterly confident what the Spirit of God could and would accomplish through them (see John 14:12). Wolf J. Rinke, author of 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High Performance Organizations, writes, "If you mistrust your employees, you'll be right 3 percent of the time. If you trust people until they give you a reason not to, you'll be right 97 percent of the time."
It is true that by trusting people, you'll get burned now and then. One well-known and highly respected pastor recalls that one of his most painful moments in forty years of pastoral ministry was when three of his associates unexpectedly turned on him. This mutiny, which occurred on a day that came to be known as "Black Monday," was one of the most shocking disappointments in this man's ministry. He testified that he never saw it coming because he is so naturally trusting towards people and assumes the best about them. Does this mean that he should have taken a different approach and been less trusting? Not for a moment, for this same pastor says that the most rewarding aspect of his ministry has been the wonderful, long-standing relationships that have developed over the last four decades.
B.C. Forbes said, "Better to be occasionally cheated than perpetually suspicious." It's better for you, and it's better for those you trust. By extending the gift of trust to your youth pastor, you give him wings to fly and to reach his full God-given potential in Christ.
2. Flexibility
By this I mean openness to change. It's been said that the last words uttered by a dying church were, "We've never done it that way before." God's truth is timeless and never changes, but the methods by which we communicate that truth and incorporate it into youth ministry require flexibility, if we are to be effective. Creativity is not necessarily an indication of carnality!
Please don't misunderstand me. When it comes to communicating God's truth, preaching must remain primary. For "since the world in all its fancy wisdom never had a clue when it came to knowing God, God in his wisdom took delight in using what the world considered dumb--preaching, of all things!--to bring those who trust him into the way of salvation" (1 Cor. 1:21 MSG). Still, the mechanics of ministry can also include certain styles of music, text messaging, facebook, powerpoint and the like. Eddie Rentz writes that some of the most effective youth ministries "have not stopped praying or discipling teens--if anything, they are more committed to those elements. However, they are creatively using whatever tools they have to preach the Word to more teenagers." If we are courageous and supportive of such efforts, rather than critical and censorious, we will reap a harvest of souls.
3. Finances
Churches that are growing and reaching the next generation for Christ are committed to making significant investments in their student and family ministries. While it is important to pay our pastors well, financial stewardship goes well beyond that to include adequate funding for discipleship, community evangelism, and cross-cultural missions. We can't expect youth pastors to "take the world for Christ," then tie his hands with lack of funding. If we really want to reach the next generation, we have to put our money where our mouth is. The investments we make will pay eternal dividends. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously" (2 Cor. 9:6 NIV).
Both as a pastor and as a parent, I want our church to have a thriving ministry to students and their families. Offering these three gifts of faith, flexibility, and finances is a great place to start.
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