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Silly Sermon Sayings with Stevey the Squash #notveggietales

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Why do we have Sermon Sayings?  What do Sermon Sayings accomplish?  What weight should we give them?  How do we even use Sermon Sayings in our lives? And what do we test Sermon Sayings with since 1 Thessalonians 5:21 tells us to test all things and hold onto that which is good.

I’ll submit and hopefully show that Sermon Sayings are at the bottom of the list of items that should be presented to the body of Christ during the collective gathering that is designed for equipping the saints.  In other words, Sermon Sayings are mostly pointless for the Body of Christ.

I submit that the popularity of Sermon Sayings is a direct influence of the corporate world into Christ’s Church.  After all, if you’ve ever watched a Ted Talk, there’s a jumbotron with a saying, a quote, a humanistic set of words if you will.

Sermon Sayings are just that, a bunch of words that relate a message.  Is that message founded in Holy Scripture, well it needs testing.  But what if the Sermon Saying is so ambiguous the hearer can’t find a scripture for it.  Or the speaker doesn’t provide scripture for the Sermon Saying.  Well, what’s the point?  Maybe the speaker has a point other than a Biblical one?

Maybe the speaker is trying to replace scripture.

Could Sermon Sayings be a way to lead people away from Holy Scripture?  Of course it could.  After all, a Sermon Saying is not scripture, and by very design, it’s a straying away from Scripture. So what is the point of Sermon Sayings?  Why is Holy Scripture not enough?  Good question.

Well look here:  A list of 10 Star Wars quotes that might work in your sermon.    And this from church leaders dot com.  I guess this is a way to stay seeker relevant.   Here’s an example from that page.

5. “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” — Yoda

Umm, ok, sure?  But Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions have similar sayings.  So what’s the point?  Relevance? Seeker Friendly?  Leeching off the popularity of Star Wars?  Good question. The Bible deals with fear, anger, and hate.  Maybe scripture might be something the Holy Spirit could use as I don’t think Yoda was a Christian. #sarcasm

Let’s look as some more examples.

Where does the Bible talk about the greatness of us? I have no idea. The Bible actually says all have fallen short. Romans 3:23 New International Version 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

So where do we start? Do we look for Hell’s post office. Is it as slow as the USPS? Or maybe they are one in the same. I won’t even start to look for the post office in the Bible. Probably, not there.

I guess this a swipe at John the Baptist as Kris Vollotten believes he is a prophet.

Scripture says that God will supply all my needs according to his riches in glory. — Philippians 4:19 English Standard Version 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

I got nothing. No idea.

 

So why use Sermon Sayings?  Is it because Sermon Sayings are more relatable than Scripture?  Well, maybe your speaker needs more training. If the twelve Disciples from all walks of life could relate the Gospel message, then it is possible to relate Scripture to everyone.

What does Scripture say about itself.

So what do Sermon Sayings add? A better question is, who do Sermon Sayings focus on, me, you, the speaker?

It’s very popular to speak in church about how to improve ourselves. Just like Ted Talks, sermons have become positive motivational messages on how to have your best life now.

And the list of these sayings goes on and on and on. But the question remains, why use Sermon Sayings? How do they improve Scripture?  We know already that Scripture is sufficient.

 

So why use Sermon Sayings?  I can’t think of a good reason to use them that Scripture is not a better prescription for.

So here is some advice for my brothers who speak to Christ’s church on stage, on social media or other wise…

TIP:  Don’t use a Sermon Saying where scripture can used. Scripture points to Christ.Mark 16:15

“John 5:39
English Standard Version

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and wit is they that bear witness about me,”

We should do the same. One solution is to put scripture references underneath the Sermon Saying.  But then that places Scripture as a secondary source.

So do Sermon Sayings help, I don’t think so. I certainly see the appeal in a corporate setting, but  I can’t find a Biblical reason for Sermon Sayings. So why use them?

If Sermon Sayings are no inspired, why use them?  Do they distract from Holy Scripture, of course they do.  So why use them?  If a Sermon Saying is the basis for a sermon, that’s a problem.  You will have to find out why Scripture isn’t used as the basis for the sermon.  You can ask, “Why are the sermons based off a ‘quote’ or Sermon Saying?”  Why? But be prepared for almost any answer.

For what it’s worth, the greatest problem I see with Sermon Sayings are that they detract from the Bible. They are sometimes plastered on the screen as if they are an epic word from God.  When in fact, they are just a man made design of words, maybe they’re Biblical in nature, maybe not.

2 Timothy 4:1-2 says “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and our of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”

What to do.

The next time you hear or see a Sermon Saying, open your Bible and try to support it by Scripture. Ask yourself who is the hero of this Sermon Saying.   If you can’t find scriptural support and it doesn’t point us to Christ, then you have to ask yourself the question, why did that speaker use it. Good question.
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Steven Davis is a burned out preachers kid, musician, media producer, bible school dropout, metal head and learning apologist.

#apologetics #sermons #quotes #faith #christianity #blogging

Time to boot Leaders out of Christ’s Church – Mark 10:42-45

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Time to Boot Leaders out of Christ’s Church

I like to insert humor in my writing so people will calm down, here’s a cartoon from one of my favorite cartoonists.

Full disclosure.  I was going to use the ‘Take Me To Your Leader’ from the Minions, but I don’t find them very funny. Maybe if I wanted to be more relevant, I should have used them.

Now breathe a bit, one one thousand, two two thousand…  Now that everyone’s heads aren’t exploding, let’s take a minute to explore God’s word about what it means to serve in Christ’s church.

Matthew 23:1-12

23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. 3 Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and [a]comply with it all, but do not do [b]as they do; for they say things and do not do them. 4 And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger. 5 And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their [c]phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues, 7 and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called [d]Rabbi by the people. 8 But as for you, do not be called [e]Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. 9 And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. 10 And do not be called [f]leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ. 11 But the greatest of you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

We should be able to stop at the words of Jesus and move away from ‘leaders’ in Christ’s church.  But I have personally watched a pastor trump the words of Jesus with his own opinion.  So Christ’s words don’t really matter at times.

Mark-10:42-45

The Request of James and John

35 And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” 39 And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”41 And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. 42 And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,[d] 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave[e] of all.45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Source:  BibleGateway. 

And while I want to explore what Jesus means specifically in terms of lording of others, let’s take a look at what it means to be a leader in contemporary society.

What is a Leader?

What are some aspects of a Leader.

  1. Leaders have employees.
  2. Leaders control the narrative, even individual speech.
  3. Leaders direct their followers in the way of the Leaders’ vision.
  4. Leaders can lead according to how they want, they are only bound to what is important to the leadership power structure.
  5. Leaders are concerned for the bottom line.  Whatever that may be, it could be anything.
  6. Leaders are not bound to Scripture. There is no reason for them to be since the leadership model is not prescribed in Scripture.

A ‘leader’ can be anything, do anything, and get away with anything including calling themselves a ‘vision caster.’ A title that is 100 corporate and found in secular business.

One of the common mechanisms in modern evangelicalism is something called “Vision Casting” a title of “Vision Casting Leaders” Well, neither are biblical. If you’re in one of these churches, ask your Vision Casting Leader to justify his title in the Bible. It’s not possible.

So let’s look at what the Bible prescribes as a leader in Christ’s church…

Here is one scripture (CLICK HERE), here’s another (CLICK HERE) and another is here (CLICK HERE)… If you weren’t able to click on any links is because there are none.  When the bible talks about how we serve in Christ’s church, they are as follows.

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds[a] and teachers,[b] 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,[c] to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

These gifts are for the building up the body, not controlling it. The gifts are actionable and chained to Christ’s loving instruction for his church. Ephesians 4:11-16

Biblical Qualifications for Overseers and Deacons

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.

2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect.
5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. 1 Timothy 3:1-7

Back to the secular definition of a leader. Well, it can be anything, it can be a position of authority for good, it can be a position of authority for bad. Leaders can perform how ever they way. In corporate America, for the sake of argument, leaders can be fired by their leader, stake holders, quit and go find another leadership position somewhere else. Again, leaders can be anything.

The pushback, and the reason some use the word leader in Christ’s church is because it connects to our consumer American culture and that a term like pastor is an old term. At least this is the argument of why Andy Stanley of North Point Church says churches need to move away from the term shepherd. People can’t connect with the term shepherd. Silly. Given that Andy Stanley has diminished the status of the Word of God in his own teaching, let’s avoid him as well as this false teaching as well.

There have always been ‘religious’ people that want to create terms, laws, and practices that are contrary to God’s written word. They do it for greed, personal gain. This was why Jesus rebuked the pharisees, they added to God’s law for their own personal gain, for control of God’s people.

What if a ‘leader’ sins against Christ’s church, maybe a group of ‘leaders.’ What then? Does the supreme leader do then? Who knows, after all, leaders can be anything. Is there a board of accountability? What are the qualifications of a leader in Christ’s church. Maybe they are qualified, maybe not. How do we know? Who knows. After all, a ‘leader’ can be anything. Has any ‘leader’ sinned in your church?  Would anyone tell you?  Good question.

Why unhitch a local church from the commands of God in Christ’s church? That speculation can go on for ever. But sadly we do have examples. Take for example Mark Driscoll and his abusive behavior at Mars Hill church.  Numerous articles in recent history highlighting his others abuse in Christ’s church should be a retina blinding warning to Christians that when ‘leaders’ rule in Christ’s church, abuse increases as a real possibility.

Regarding abuse in Christ’s Church.

Christ’s local church should be the safest place on this planet. So why is it not?

Why does abuse in church happen?    At the root of abuse of most types is control.  One or more people controlling another or group of others. Take for example; A leadership group that has authority over another group in Christ’s church.

  • Leaders don’t care what their subordinates think.  Why would they, the leaders have the best ideas.
  • Leaders lead, everyone else follows.
  • Leaders Rule with or without accountability

It is very easy for a leadership team to abuse their authority since they are the leaders after all.  When faith or authority from the masses is placed into a group of leaders and that group abuses their authority against those subordinate to them, then what?  Is there a recourse?   Sadly, for many churches mega or wanna-be-mega, the only recourse is to leave since the response from those in leadership is; -well this may not be the right church for you.-   “Right church?”  I thought Christ’s church was the right church for everyone?  Right? (redundancy on purpose)

Even the secular world gets it.  This from Psychology Today

“The perhaps best known unsuccessful leadership styles are the authoritarian (or “autocratic”) and the laissez-faire leadership styles. Whereas a person with an authoritarian leadership style will tend to lead by assuming control over all decisions while not soliciting input from or taking the advice of others in the organization”  It seems that much of Christ’s church, especially in Evangelicalism, is operating on a 80’s Wall Street model.  Top down.

If a church leader sins against the flock, how do you know? What happens?

Well if the Catholic Church (no link needed), Hillsong/AOG and as of late the SBC is any indication, covering up that sin seems to be a common practice within Christ’s church.  If only a few people in a local church, the board, leadership group know about the abuse, it can be covered up without any accountability outside those small governing groups.  Disaster to the flock.

So why the title leader?

Ego? (probably)  Relevance? (misguided)

Let’s revisit the common push back from those who use the term ‘leader’ in Christ’s church, “We use the term leader because it is a term people relate to.”  Umm, ok.  Well yes, we do relate to it.  But we also relate to the term Banana.  Why not call those in who serve in Christ’s church ‘Bananas?’  Well, it would be confusing for sure.  Can you imagine, “Hi, my name is Banana John Smith and I’m going to speak to you on the book of John 2:1-11” We all relate to the term banana, but let’s not use that as a label for servants in Christ’s church.  Why not call them, what they do?  This is how the bible prescribes gifts in Christ’s church. Hi I’m John Smith, your servant in Christ’s church and today I’ll be teaching.  I’m a teacher. So the relevance defense is just silly. The term leader is on purpose.  Again, why?  Ego? Control?  Both?

Some want to combine the words into a new term Servant Leadership.  Well that’s an oxymoron.  Can one person serve, be the least in Christ’s verbiage, and be the greatest at the same time?  Silly.

This article and it’s critique of the term leaders and why the mechanism or role of ‘leader’ is wrong for Christ’s church, could go on for days.  There are so many stories of ‘leaders’ falling spectacularly in Christ’s church:

Brian Houston
Most of Hillsong
Jim Bakker
Douglas Goodman
Tony Alamo
Bob Coy
Dave Reynolds
Mike Hintz
Robert Tilton
Mark Driscoll
and so on.

The point of this list is to draw attention to how far off the modern church has gone off course. So much is invested into following ‘leaders’ that we as Christ’s church had created idols for ourselves. And God, true to his word humbles the proud. So why taunt God with continuing with the ‘leader’ model.  Because we won’t learn, we don’t read and/or follow God’s word.  We are proud ourselves and want someone to be proud of. We want to boast about our leaders, our local church.  Proverbs 16:18 in full effect.

The solution? We should instead return to the Biblical model of serving and not ruling. Is this a matter of semantics, the answer is no.

The term, phraseology, or roll of leader is too easily detached from God’s word and open for abuse.  We have leaders at work, we have leaders in kids scout teams, we have leaders in the military, we have leaders in sports. But leaders can be anything and act anyway that they can get away with.  I once had a leader who couldn’t lead a pack of rats in a cheese factory.  We are absolutely used to the term leader and know that we should follow a leader, right? Not because of any intrinsic value of that leader in Christ’s church, but solely because said leader or leaders were voted on or placed in front of us as someone we are told to follow. They lead we follow? And without qualifying according to God’s word.

Everyone, including this writer is subject to God’s Word which includes God’s biblical discipline, God’s structure for his church.   If someone, like Mark Driscoll thinks they are beyond the Bible and have the authority to abuse others in Christ’s church, those people should be booted right out the door. They are no longer qualified to oversee anyone in Christ’s church. There has to come a time when we get tired of seeing these ‘leaders’ abuse people in Christ’s church and say ‘enough is enough.’  The leader paradigm is dead.

So it’s time. It’s time to boot leaders out of Christ’s church.    Christ’s church has no room for leaders only servants.  Christ’s church doesn’t need Lords of Leaders lording over others. If your pastor still uses the term, ask him why when Jesus doesn’t support it.

If people want to lead, Apple is hiring.

#apologetics #churchreform #leadership #churchleaders #churchleadership #christianity #reformation

Steven Davis is a burned out preacher’s kid, unpeeling evangelical, media producer, musician, and practicing apologist.

Emotion doesn’t validate corporate worship.

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Emotional responses can not be used to validate worship in a corporate church setting. Look no further than secular concerts where people cry, clap, scream, dance, raise their hands. If so, then secular concerts would be just as much worship as those in the corporate church setting. Emotion is just that, emotion. #rawworship #rawchurch
One song that always makes the hair on my neck stand up is Come What May off the Moulin Rouge soundtrack, when I first heard it, it brought me to tears. It’s a beautiful song. Does it have any thing to to with worshiping God, nope.

Summer at the Movies Church Teaching: A Biblical Defense: Why Rambo IV is more Christian than Starwars (Parental Warning)

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The True Gospel

If you’ve never heard the Gospel of Jesus, it is this.  God sent his son Jesus to earth to be the substitute for our condemnation.  We were condemned because we rebelled against God and chose our own way.  But Jesus paid for our sin by dying on a cross and if we believe in him, we will have eternal life. John 3:16.  So if you have never followed Jesus, I pray you will and know that God loves you, and so do many faithful believers in Christ.  If you need prayer or would like to chat, feel free to leave a message.

 

A Biblical Defense on why Rambo IV is more Christian than Starwars

I’m a huge fan of the Rambo series. Ok, maybe Rambo 1, IV, and V.  But in all transparency I haven’t watched V since I’m worried about how they might finish the series.   And besides, I already own the box set of 1,2,3 and IV and I’m quite annoyed that he made a 5th movie.  I mean really?  How am I supposed to make that look nice on my shelf.  Ugg. But at least the Rambo franchise ended.  We all have closure. Starwars? My word!  It’s like a black hole story line, designed in modern times just to make money. – Just like Iron Man, that should have stopped with 1, do not do 2 and 3.  Ugg #Disney –

But I love the idea of Rambo, he for better or worse exposes how those who are in certain situations in life, such as being in Vietnam were/are treated.  He is the hero, there’s a bad guy/guys, and when conflict arrises, he always has to talk himself into acting.

As for Starwars, I’ll put it this way.  If there was ever a series that should have stopped with its first trilogy, that would be Starwars.   And especially since Disney has the rights to Starwars, none of the new movies have eclipsed the first three, or is that 4,5,6.  You see, that’s another issue, the numbering of the movies. So I guess my favorite movies are 4,5,6.  Ok, the old ones. They should have stopped there. But as we see with Ghostbuster 2016, let it goooo, let it goooooooo.

So why is Rambo IV more Christian than Starwars?

I won’t ruing Rambo IV for you, but the main reason is the story line surrounds a group of Christian missionaries who go to Thailand to minister to those in the villages there.  But they are kidnapped.  And Rambo has to decide what to do. Should he rescue them, leave it alone?

Starwars, well Christians are not mentioned. There are no Christian missionaries.  And don’t get me started on the ‘Force’, that’s just a mystical, well, force that is shared among those special few who choose good over evil akin to Bill Johnson’s mysticism.  But, no, there are no Christian missionaries.  Drum roll…….

Final Score:  Rambo IV – 1  Starwars – 0

RAMBO WINS!

Well, enough of my nonsense.  And that’s what it is.  Not only is my Rambo/Starwars analogy kinda lame, it’s not scriptural either.  Unfortunately many evangelical progressive churches have decided to use this type of bait and switch approach to attracting people into the doors.  Below I will scripture will explain why this is a practice that has no place in Christ’s church.  And while scripture should be enough, sadly it won’t be for many.

 

Key Reasons to avoid mixing movies with God’s holy Scripture

And yes, that is a cable attached to the beam and they are about to lift iron man up.

There are so many examples of this blasphemy across evangelicalism and the NAR movements , but I’ll leave those off this blog post as I don’t want to reward them with social media clicks. The above example is the logical end to any twisting or adding of scripture through movies. Anyone who thinks IronMan is Biblical propitiation for Christ is incorrect has lost their way in Christ.

I’ve been accused of writing my own opinion, so this blog post will be heavy with scripture.   Here we go.

1. It’s Blasphemy

“To blaspheme God’s name is to speak with contempt about God or to be defiantly irreverent. Blasphemy is verbal or written reproach of God’s name, character, work, or attributes.” To mix human philosophy with God’s nature and character is blasphemy. God doesn’t need any explanation from a godless source.  He doesn’t need to be partnered with anything or anyone. He is Holy.  We are not.  We don’t need to look through the lens of a movie to see God.   He gave us his Holy Scripture and His Holy Spirit for that.

“3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound[a] teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” – 2 Timothy 4:3-4

“But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them–bringing swift destruction on themselves.” – 2 Peter 2 1

If you’re still reading, let’s look at more reasons that this practice of movie messaging is not biblical.

2. Confuses the Gospel

If we go back to the original sin by Adam and Eve, what was the method used by Satan to deceive Eve?  He used confusion by asking Eve, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Did God really say, yes, Satan got Eve to question what God said.  Given what we know about our nature, how sinful our passions are, how we are born in sin, hostile to our Creator, why would we then confuse people on purpose and increase the risk of their/our own confusion about what God says? Good question.

God does not give us liberty to mix the Gospel with anything.  Imagine God in Heaven, He gave His son for all of humanity, and wrote this Salvation story that is found in the sixty six books of the Bible, and yet, He’s like, “I hope my clay can improve on what I’ve done.” Silly and pompous. Galatians 1:6

A non believer comes to a movie church, having never heard the Gospel prior to walking through the doors.  And instead of hearing the straight Gospel, they hear a mix of pagan philosophy, are ‘entertained’ and somewhere in there they here about Jesus.  Congratulations, you now have exposed this lost soul to confusion.  Do we care so little about the souls of the lost that we risk confusing the Gospel?  Why can’t we just preach Christ and him crucified? Another good question.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

If Scripture is what is needed to make man complete, why confuse it?

See also — 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)” Also Deuteronomy 4:2, Revelation 22:18-19 Colossians 2:8

3. The Gospel is not Enough.

It can’t be can it?  There must be something in the thought process of a ‘pastor’ who feels they have to include entertainment into the mission of the church.  My opinion is that this is the influence of the corporate church movement. After all, if a church has installed a corporate structure for growth, then it would be natural for it to have marketing strategies from the business world to achieve that growth.  Happy people give money right?  If a large or wanna-be-large church doesn’t meet its attendance and budget, then the revenue will take a hit. 2 Peter 2

Every book of the New Testament warns against false teaching except for Philemon.  So why do those who practice the movie-gospel method do what they do?  Do they want to confuse the gospel? Do they want false teaching in Christ’s church? But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Gospel is enough, the Gospel needs nothing. When ‘movie-pastors’ elevate human philosophy, giving it the same attention and status as Scripture, that’s a different gospel. The Gospel doesn’t need Steven Spielberg to interpret it.  This is just entertainment. It’s syncretism.

” I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then to the Greek”. – Romans 1:6

OUTLOUD THINKING: Have those ‘movie pastors’ lost their faith. Maybe they never had any. Maybe they’re in the church for selfish gain. There are many false teachers that are working in the Christian church for the wrong reasons.  Have some lost their faith in a God who created the universe to achieve His goals with or without our help, yes. Why would they feel the Gospel is not enough? If they don’t provide this movie method to the flock, will the flock get disappointed?  Maybe be it’s crowd appeasement.

Man bad – God Good

The solution to addressing movies and comparing it to Scripture is to talk about how glorious God and his Scripture is and that anything man can write or make is evil if it doesn’t align with God and his Word.  That’s a statement, that’s enough.  But it isn’t enough is it? That’s not as entertaining as having your picture taken with Darth Vader on Sunday morning. Think about the likes a ‘movie-pastor’ gets on Facebook.  Yeah buddy.  And that explains why the movie method is used, it’s about vain deceit.

4. And fourthly, it is a sin to those around the world dying for their faith.

We give to missions, we talk about how bad other Christians are persecuted for their faith.  We lament publicly and disfigure our faces as we sit in our stadium seating, popcorn in hand to watch a movie at church?  Odd huh.  It’s like that Sesame street game, -one thing is not like the other-. Imagine a Christian church in China that has to meet underground out fear of being put in prison, watching the ‘pastor’ of a church taking selfies with Chewbacca? One thing is not like the other.

Those who add to the Gospel have lost their faith in God and/or misunderstand what their true mission is.  It’s not their job to grow the church.  It’s God’s.  It is God who draws people to Him.  We are to proclaim the Gospel and only the Gospel.  But those in the corporate seeker friendly mega churches have different goals, success for them is counted in numbers. Some even do head counts of ‘decisions’ and use those numbers as success. They want instant results, the ability to say, “Look, our strategy worked!”  We have ‘X’ amount of new people.  Well congratulations, you have them coming for something other than the true Gospel.  What ever you won them with, you’ll need to keep them with that and more.  If you won them with entertaining dopamine trips, you’ll have to raise the bar next time.  or they’ll go find another place that can out entertain you.

The Gospel needs nothing.  It doesn’t need me or you to change it or add to it. Matthew 28

After all, when you add to the Gospel, people are free to accept, reject and even hate your message. And they’d be right, because it’s your false gospel, you’re gospel is false. You can not go to Scripture to defend your message.  Hating your mixed gospel has no eternal consequences for them, but it will for you.  And the next guy or gal who tries to reach that person with the unadulterated Gospel will have to contend with the false seed you planted.

“32 You must not make my holy name impure so that I will be treated as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord—the one who makes you holy” Leviticus 22:32  See also: Colossians 2:8

When you mix the Gospel and other messaging, you have no recourse if someone says they don’t believe in your God. You then can’t say, well my God this, or my God that.  You have to re-present your mixed God and not the true God. See the conundrum?

Jesus command: Teach them all I have commanded.  This doesn’t include movie philosophy. It doesn’t include anything outside of Scripture.  If movie pastors are looking for stories, try the parables by Jesus. We know that Jesus spoke in parables at times to even hide the secrets of Heaven from the listener.  We are not Jesus, we can not equate to His parables. Use what he has provided.

Judgement day, Jesus will separate the sheep and the goats.  Who are we to toy with that moment where people will go to Heaven or Hell.  The answer is, we aren’t the ones. We were given one job, one message.   Our fear and love for God should keep us from changing it. But sadly, it has not. People have and always felt like the Gospel is not enough.  They will add this, subtract that.  As a preacher’s kid, I watched as pastors latch onto this church growth trend, or that trend, this philosophy and anything that they feel is needed to achieve their goals.  Will those ‘movie pastors’ change and stop mixing the messaging? I imagine until a new trend comes this will continue.   And being raised in evangelicalism, there is truth in the statement that denominations/churches are very poor in self-examination.  But that’s another blog post all together.

The Wrap

Coming out of evangelicalism to a more orthodox Christianity, my short journey in apologetics has given me one very quick lesson.  Evangelicals when confronted with the possibility of error, can be very vicious. It is predicted that many will defend the movie gospel practice.  Many may talk about how great these movies are, the great lessons they teach.  And that’s to be expected when movie-pastors elevate movies to the same level as scripture in front of the flock, and there-by yoking the words of our God with the words of pagans. Words of warning from our Christ Jesus…Matthew 16:5-12

5When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6“Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

7They discussed this among themselves and concluded, “It is because we did not bring any bread.”

8Aware of their conversation, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you debating among yourselves about having no bread? 9Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?11How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

12Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Sadly, the newer generations are leaving the church.  With church attendance dropping in America, the writing is on the wall. The seeker friendly methods like mixing the Gospel with movies, are not working. it is failing.  Sure, you can entertain people,  but Disney has a 64 Billion dollar budget, churches should return to the Gospel and leave the world outside.  A Gospel that is perfect, sufficient for God to give His only Son and does not need the worlds crutch.  If these ‘movie pastors’ will repent and go back to the Gospel, then there is hope.  Come out and be separate.  Be salt and light.

Steven Davis is a musician, metal artist, media producer, reforming evangelical, bible school dropout, and preachers kid.

 

#apologetics #saltandlight #starwars #rambo #rambomovie #summerathemovies #disney

Another tragedy of canned music in church is no room for writing fresh music

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Let’s talk about food first.  To be honest, my soon coming analogy fails a bit because I love canned corn and fresh corn.  So if I was to write a blog article about how bad canned corn is compared to fresh, well, I’d be lying.  Call it weird, but I’m fine with a can of corn.  However, it does not compare with the fresh corn on the cob, with butter, lots of butter.   So that’s my transparent portion of this post.

Analogy

Growing up playing worship music in church was fun.  I come from a very musical family, all of us could play or sing. I started out playing southern gospel and hymns,  4/4, 3/4 and 6/8 at Christmas time.  (many Christmas hymns are 6/8) Fast forward to present day, church music has changed drastically.  Many churches have discarded, or tried to discard hymns for more rock style K-Love Radio music. There are even ‘churches’ now that play secular music as well.

There are many articles written on the transformation of music in church, so this post will not be one of those historical explanations.  What I will opine though is, that among many tragedies of canned music such as Bethel, Elevation, and Hillsong is that it destroys music development in Christ’s church. There is little to no musical discipleship.

The case is simple.  Bethel, Elevation, and Hillsong, or BEH music and the type are mega church styles of music with very simple, almost elementary and repetitive chord progressions.   And it can only be hypothesized as to the reason thousands of local congregations use them.  Maybe people like the music, it tickles their ears, taps into the dopamine, it makes a church service fun, it resembles secular culture and so on.  Maybe local churches are lazy and they don’t feel like putting forth any effort beyond what can be bought and thrown on a screen.  But what I think is really going on is many local church congregations think that BEH and the like are a pathway to grow into a mega-church.  It could be a combination of all three. But BEH music and the like is very popular, but does little to benefit the local church.

In his article in Patheos, Jonathan Aigner describes 7 Reasons Hymns are Better than Contemporary Worship.  I want to pick on his first in his list.

1. We Should Honor Our History of Faith.

“To cut the church off from their sacred lineage can only create a narcissistic and self-referential church that doesn’t really care who it is. Worshiping in a contemporary vacuum is literally suffocating the church in a self-interested, masturbatory pursuit.”

It’s no secret that Narcissism is strong in modern church worship today.  It’s the ‘look at me’ worship. ‘Look how cool I look in this hat’ worship.  After all, it’s cool, I’m cool, you’re cool, let’s be cool together on stage! Out with the old, and in with the new.  Churches progress right?  Sure, but should they?  Does God change?  Many church controllers have adopted a worldly approach to music with all the lights, smoke, dance teams, and so on.  There is a lot of effort put into making people in local church happy. As a friend of mine described it, some churches count heads and not hearts.

Josh Shands puts it this way: “When comparing more modern songs used in worship to their forerunner counterparts, you’ll find hymns tend to land more in a category of depth theologically while still holding the marriage of music and text well.  This isn’t to say there aren’t outliers in each style, however.  Respectfully, the motive behind congregational songs typically written today seems as if their primary importance is to cater to the singer(s) when, instead, that should be secondary or tertiary.  To be more specific, most of these songs are treated as a performance to bolster the musician’s abilities while simultaneously aiming their attention at the congregation’s amusement.  This, in turn, shifts the purpose away from a genuine worship of the Lord.  What replaces this worship a vain one of sorts.  Yes, it is worship, but the question has to be asked “who is being worshipped?”  Songs will lend themselves to expansive keys and large vocal ranges.  In essence, it becomes a concert.  It’s not that a concert is inherently sinful, but that it does not belong in the Sunday morning service.  This is a gathering of people who should be able to participate.  If they can’t sing because of a song’s complexity or what have you, then they won’t.  At best, those singing aren’t singing for the purpose of worshipping the Lord, but instead how the music effects them. 

At the end of the day, singing praises to God via thanksgiving, confession to Him of our sins, asking for our needs to be met, or dedicating ourselves to Him in song is still a prayer but with music.  Strip all the bells and whistles from the majority of today’s recently written options and what’s left is likely poor theological truths that are shallow and fall short; at best, it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.  To quote St. Augustine, “when I find the singing itself more moving than the truth which it conveys, I confess that this is a grievous sin, and at those times I would prefer not to hear the singer.”  What he was getting at is that sound can be beautiful, but that experience shouldn’t be the goal.  The truth which the song conveys, the lyrics, are what should be driving the song.  The reason why is because of Who it is directed to.  The Lord wants worship and is clear throughout His word that He alone should get it. 

Again, songs with lackluster lyrics and emotive melodies can be found in both camps.  The likely reason why hymns come across as timeless though is because of that foundation of truth in the words sang.  Those words sang are crucial and need depth, but also need to be approachable by the average singer too as mentioned earlier.  Today’s options of song in the church eerily resemble the problems that led to what we know as the Reformation.  People then weren’t able to participate as much as God’s Word compelled them to.  Christians weren’t given access to the Scriptures except through the one speaking it from the pulpit.  It’s as if plenty songs that are written today are implying “this range and run of notes is for the musician and not you; sit back.”  When looking at hymns, they will usually follow the same template.  The song will have three or more stanzas and include a chorus or refrain.  The melody, for the most part, doesn’t change and there is no bridge.  The focus of the average hymn is to worship the Lord, but with biblical truths.  In some ways, the songs are designed to be addressing the Lord and leave the singer (the congregant) with lyrics they can retain; ones that teach them something about the Lord and the relationship He has with them.  A simple test that can be made between hymns and modern songs is to remove the band likely accompanying them.  If the people can still sing the song without them, then half the battle has been won.

The last caveat to give about the songs, regarding outliers, is the depth of the lyrics.  Depth does not necessarily mean lengthiness; take the Doxology for example.  “Holy, holy, holy” are the words used.  Because God’s Word is life-giving, that’s the standard.  If you utilize theological truths found in the Bible, then they can be simple.  God’s word is capable of piercing the soul of the singer even with the shortest of sentences.  A song can say that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” and leave an impact on God’s people when they walk away from the corporate gathering.  It’s the songs that are vague in their lyrics, such as the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ examples, that fall apart.  It should be clear who is being addressed in the songs.  Not that believers can’t address one another or creation or even unbelievers, but that the glory in these songs be given to God.  At the end of it all, people need to be able to participate in the singing, but the One they’re singing to has to be the focus.  To touch back on the concert analogy, God is the star of the event and He’s also the audience.  God’s people are merely the participating actors.  In this lens, both types can lend themselves to that end; those choosing the songs to be sung just need to do their due diligence into what lyrics are being sung, if the people can sing it, and more importantly if it is all for the Glory of the Lord.” 

So back to the corn. Here is my simple analogy.

  1. Fresh corn costs more than canned. You betcha.  And it takes more time, and churches just don’t put the effort into their music, it’s just easier to import it from a source that is attractive.
  2. Fresh corn you can trace the origin, canned, who knows.
  3. Fresh corn you can fix different ways, canned, it’s more limited. Let’s just play the music like Bethel! (I’m not Gordon Ramsey so don’t argue this point with me.)

Three is enough.

BEH music and the like-canned music, comes in one way.  And the effort put into this music is minimal, besides, why play it any different than the mega churches? ‘Let’s just do it how they do it.’  And why do we do it like they do it? It’s easy?  It entertains?

Fresh music, well that is s different story.  There is a movement in Gospel music to start writing again.  But much of it gets over shadowed by BEH music which is pushed on many popular ‘Christian’ radio stations.  Many want what’s popular, what’s hot.  Add that to the narcissistic “ME” generation who are in large part choosing the music selection in today’s church, and what’s popular is what gets played. Butts in the seats, more butts in the seats.

“Listen to me. Learn from me. I was not the best because I killed quickly. I was the best because the crowd loved me. Win the crowd and you will win your freedom.”

Here is the tragedy.

All across Christ’s church there are people with talent for writing music.  I have friends who have written wonderful Christ centered music.  It was music that fit our band, so we had a passion about it.   Every word, every note, crescendo was special. These songs are timeless to us.

That can of corn, well, it’s a can. It’s pretty much the same every time you buy it. And the canned music from BEH and the like is just that, the same chord progressions, same flow and so on.  And if someone is sitting in church inspired to write music from their heart, what would happen?  They would have to go somewhere else to express that gift.  Why?  Because it’s not canned, it’s not popular.

Another point Jonathan Aigner makes is that hymns aren’t popular or marketable. And in today’s flashy dopamine filled social media worship, I’d agree.  But Christ wasn’t flashy or marketable, He was humble and served. But that’s another post.

Many music programs in the modern church are performance driven and not avenues for discipleship.  Do churches invest time, money and talent into developing musicians in their church?  I don’t see it. So canned it is. And  BEH music is at best, elementary in musical structure and clunky in lyricism and largely devoid of sound scripture.

The popular satirical website Babylongbee.com has a worship song generator.  You can plug in words and come up with a song.

But is that writing to God a Biblical love song?  Of course not.  So to wrap up the analogy, why would anyone in church, especially our youth, want to put in the effort to write songs to God if there isn’t an avenue to express it?  If all a local church is wanting is the same canned corn every Sunday.  If there is no development and discipleship of musicians, then we are really just performers, we are lazy and aren’t giving God our best sacrificial gift.

. Consider the difference in this video.

In other words, if all Christ’s church demands is what is musically popular, despite the questionable theological or edification value, then that’s what we are offering to God is the same can.  And that’s a tragedy of generational and cosmic proportions.

—————————————————

Steven Davis is a musician, media producer, burnt out preacher’s kid, and former youth minister.

 

Mmmm, fresh.

Credits:

Josh Shands, BA ’17, Worship Arts at Missouri Baptist University. Musician who serves in liturgical planning at Mid Cities at Maplewood STL.

Carl and Wally – Wally visits Carl’s church

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Wally visits Carl’s church and has lots of questions about the experience at his mega-multi-site church.  Wally has a lot of questions of what is going on.  These are some of those conversations.

Carl and Wally are fictional characters visiting a fictional church, maybe yours.

About the Author:  Steven Davis is a musician, practicing apologist, media producer and burned out preachers kid.

#christianapologetics #apologetics #christianity #christian #bible #jesus #theology#jesuschrist #christ #apologist #faith #gospel #god #christians  #christianapologist #atheism #philosophy #standtoreason #bibleverses #truth #bibleverse #reasonablefaith #christianliving #biblestudy #apologeticsquotes #evangelism #jesusisking #intellectualfaith

John 3:16

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If you’ve never heard the Gospel of Jesus, it is this.  God sent his son Jesus to earth to be the substitute for our condemnation.  We were condemned because we rebelled against God and chose our own way.  But Jesus paid for our sin by dying on a cross and if we believe in him, we will have eternal life. John 3:16.  So if you have never followed Jesus, I pray you will and know that God loves you, and so do many faithful believers in Christ.

Dear Brothers and Sisters: Please Stop Boasting about a local Church/Pastor.

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Dear Brothers and Sisters: Please Stop Boasting about a local Church/Pastor.

***Insert cute cartoon so you’ll start breathing regularly.***

As many read this, it is already possible to see the smoke coming out of many ear canals spelling “How Dare You!” “You’re harming the church!” “You have a spirit of criticism!” and so on. Speaking of spirits, recently I had someone cast the spirit of criticism out of me on Facebook. Not sure if it took.

So before my reader’s head explodes, lets look at the Biblical reasons we as God’s Collective Church should not boast about a local church or pastor.  If you believe we have something to boast about regarding ourselves according to Scripture and separate from Christ, then feel free to leave your comments below.

Ready?  Here we goooooooo.

Reasons we should not boast about a local church/pastor.

Exhibit A

Exhibit A.

 

There have been many Biblical critiques of Hillsong over the years; here here and most recently here. There are many many more.  Needless to say, Hillsong has been a train on the way to a wreck for a long time.  Many who boasted about Hillsong, used their songs, let Hillsong take over their churches, now are abandoning the brand, why?  Because of the latest video by Discovery.  Why didn’t they abandon Hillsong over the many years of scandals and false teachings?

There will probably be years of post mortem done on Hillsong. Hillsong, being what it is, a cultural movement that doesn’t preach the true gospel of Jesus, will continue to present the ugly truth about itself. The more they peel the onion, the more tears.  Hillsong’s implosion will harm the faith of many because it is far from what a church should be and operated outside of Biblical teaching in both government and goal, to make disciples of Jesus.  Hillsong has always been more of a religious pyramid scam based on false promises God did not make- send in money for a blessing-. Those who idolize(d) Hillsong will be lost as to what to do next. Their god is fallen and rightfully so.

So that’s exhibit A.

REASON PRE-UNO: JESUS

As it is written in Phillipians 2:5-11

The Mind of Christ
(Isaiah 52:13–15)

5Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,a 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man,

He humbled Himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross. 9Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If Jesus humbled himself, and he is who we should imitate, then we really should be able to stop there as a really really good reason not to boast about anyone but Christ. But many will want to include many ‘buts.’  So we continue…

Reason UNO: Idolatry  

Really? Absolutely.

Can a local church become an idol?  Of course.  Anything that we replace God with, is our god.  It could be our sin, it could be a relationship, it could be a job, and yes, it can be a local church.   So how does a local church become an idol?

    1. Loving the local church instead of the God who gives us the local church is one way. 1 Corinthians 12:12-21  Today’s buzzword is community. And that is absolutely one of the biblical tenets of what the local church should be, it must be community welcoming all in Christ’s love. Shepherds don’t get to pick their sheep.  It’s not the case that a pastor cares for those who meet certain qualifications.  If this sounds like fiction, it is not.  See our post “Get on the Church bus, or get run over.”  Church idolatry leads to abuse.
    2. Exodus 20:3 is clear, we are to have no other god before Yahweh.

Squirrel moment: Many progressive churches have become more cults than a place that creates disciples. See the statement put out by Steven Furtick at Elevation where he says, his church is not for people after they become Christians, his church is only for non-believers. His church has become his own idol because he has strayed away from what God wants his church to be. Matthew 28:19-20

If the local church moves away from God’s biblical calling, we have made the local church our God. aka A unique vision for a local church is not Biblical and is instead a man made doctrine, an idol.  God told us what we should be doing, another mission is an idol before God.  It’s that s-i-m-p-l-e.

Personal Story: We visited a church once and asked some staff what they liked about the church. I heard how great the pastor was. I didn’t hear anything about the Gospel or how it is practiced inside the church. Did they mean well, yep.  Did I care about how great the pastor was, nope. I don’t worship pastors, I worship God.

REASON DOS: Pride

One of the main criticisms of the Christian church is it’s full of hypocrites, because we say one thing, and do another.   And to be honest, after all my years in church, we own that reputation in some way or another. Mostly because we forget who we are in Christ AND who we would be without Christ.  You see, the one and only difference between us and an unbeliever is God’s saving grace.  1 Corinthians 6:11 We have nothing to boast about in ourselves. As Carmen said in his song, we need to keep our eyes on the Creator, and not on the creation, including ourselves.

Romans 3: 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16ruin and misery lie in their wake,
17and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Trigger Question: When is the last time your pastor or church leader apologized for a church decision that had a negative impact on the sheep?  It doesn’t happen often. When is the last time we apologized to someone in the body of Christ?  It’s just a question?

The BAD: Historic Downward Church Trends:

So, for the past couple of decades, the effort by the Emerging Church was and now the New Apostolic Reformation Church movement is to make church attractive as possible by avoiding the true Gospel of Sin and Repentance. There’s even a term for it, “Attractional Church.”  Many in this movement discard Biblical liturgy for an ‘experience.’ Take Andy Stanley, he recently discarded the Ten Commandments.  Instead of the Gospel, which convicts us of our sin, attractional churches have invested in professional musicians, lights, smoke, dancing, massive themed sets that look more like Disney wanna-be efforts.   Some don’t resemble Christianity at all, the Gospel of Jesus makes a last minute appearance if at all.  Like most man-made efforts, this fails as well.  These churches provide plenty of dopamine trips, but lack the understanding, willingness to preach or lack faith in the one and only Gospel.  It is in error and prideful to make the local church themed around man made efforts to ‘reach the lost’ and not the saints because it is contrary to scripture. For example in these ‘churches’, euphemisms are used for Biblical principles; Sin become mistakes, Repentance becomes finding a new purpose, and serving Christ has become ‘getting plugged in.’  Those in the church growth movement have surveyed the culture and decided that preaching on sin and repentance won’t draw large crowds, so just don’t do it. The Gospel has left the building. Some how these folks know better than God, and have come up with their own gospel.  Pride.

If this sounds like idolatry and pride, you’d be correct.  Without pride, we can’t have idolatry. In Exodus 32, the children of Israel made a golden calf in part because it was what they were used to, culturally relevant and attractive. And in their pride, they thought they could actually replace Yahweh by their hands. And today, the same is the trend, to replace the Gospel with man made philosophies, methods, ‘visions’ and ideologies.  Is it, that these ‘shepherds’ are stupid as Jeremiah 10:21, or is it a sign of the times, the great apostasy?  Only God knows, but there is a big move away from the preaching of the true Gospel in many many churches. It scares people away right?

So boasting about anything other than Christ is not worshiping him, and that pride is a sin.

Every local church should routinely exam itself for sin, error, pride, wolves (even small ones), efficacy of church services as well as if the pastor’s head is getting too big. When people are beginning to worship staff instead of Christ, that’s pride with a flavor of idolatry. A pastor who presents as being perfect might be having a pride complex.  On the other hand, self-deprecation by a pastor is not Biblical either.  A pastor should decrease as Christ increases.  If he doesn’t talk about Christ, that’s difficult to achieve.

It was Pride that changed angels into devils;

it is humility that makes men as angels. – St. Augustine

REASON TRES: Competition

For the record, I don’t own this recipe book.  The book has taken it on the chin in the ratings and is too low in ratings for me to spend even $4.99 on it. And when we boast about a local church, we present a similar rating system to the community related to local churches.  We start using words like, awesome, the best, amazing, and so forth about a local church.   However, only God is awesome, He’s the best, He is amazing.  These words mean something and should be reserved for Him.

Micah 6:8 ESV
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God?

Think about it this way.  You go to ‘A’ church, your friend goes to ‘B’ church.  If you’re on social media bragging that your church is the best, what are you saying to your friend?  Words matter.

I realize in our American captialist system, one way we choose almost anything is to see what other’s have chosen.  Confession: I do that with Amazon. If 31,324 people gave something a 5 start review, I want to buy it even if I don’t need it.  After all, everyone else likes it.  But we know from scripture that the gate is small and the road is narrow, and only a few will find it. Matthew 7:14  I’m always leary of large crowds following this trend and that trend, especially in church. Hopefully the dopamine tricks are a trend, but I fear it is a long one.

We as a local body can get in a comfort groove and ignore real deficiencies in how we as humans put together a local church.  We are comfortable to boast about the things we like, after all, the pot lucks dinners make us fat and happy.  Why should we examine what we do in a local church? The saying goes there is no perfect church, and that’s true.  But we can aim for being a Biblical church.  But that will require adherence to the sacred Scripture.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Before we end this; let’s honestly, for real-real examine a local body from a Biblical perspective. Because the local church is full of humans, the same sin that is outside the church walls is the same sin inside the walls.  There are cases of bullying, sexual sins, lying, emotional and spiritual abuse, greed and so on in the local church.  We would be foolish to think different.

So why boast?

In evangelicalism we like to boast.  So IF we are to boast, what do we boast about? Consider how we may boast.

Steps to Boasting from the Apostle Paul

But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14

Words matter so consider…

    • If a local church body centers around the Gospel of Christ, then we can boast about Christ’s truth being proclaimed in that local body. If not, we have nothing to boast about and resemble a moose lodge with Christian sprinkles….Mmmm sprinkles.
    • If a local church loves more than demands of the sheep, then we can boast about Christ’s love in that local body. If not, we have nothing to boast about. We labor in vain. 1 Corinthians 13:1
    • If a local church boasts about Christ instead of the sheep, then we can say Christ is teaching  humility. If not, we have nothing to boast about and should repent of our pride.
    • If a local pastor presents the Gospel of Jesus Christ as dying for our sins and our need for daily repentance in word and action, then we can boast about God’s truth being proclaimed. But if his sermons are full of self-help are more Christianeeze and Oprah in a blender, then he needs to repent and do as he’s been told in 2 Timothy 4:2.

And finally,

    • If the local church is seeing the fruit of the Spirit through discipleship, then we can say we are following Jesus’ commands.   But if it’s all experience, dopamine trips, perfect this and perfect that without true spiritual fruit, then we are entertaining ourselves and might as well go to Dollywood instead.

This list could go on forever because we as humans have a sinful nature and we consistently fail presenting Christ in our lives and even the local church. If you think differently, then I’ll pray for you and your pride. You unlike the rest of us have arrived at perfection.

The Wrap:

So let’s practice humility in understanding that but for God’s Grace, we are damned to hell.  It is for Him we boast. God is awesome, He’s the best, He is amazing.  Let’s reserve the highest rating for HIm.

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Steven Davis is a burnt preacher’s kid, media producer, musician and reforming evangelical.