Is Gross Consumerism the Key to Having a Successful Church?

WKRP's Illustration of the Absurdity of Gross Commercialism & Materialism

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When I was a kid one of the most popular television shows on TV was WKRP in Cincinnati, and the most beloved episode was one that lampooned the gross commercialism of the holidays by secular institutions  such as radio stations for publicity reasons.  In the episode they dropped  a hundred live turkeys out of helicopter to the people below. 

"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!!!" -- Arthur Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati

The TV "Drop"

Unfortunately, this turned out to be a serious miscalculation. The poor birds plunged to earth, never even having a chance. Their tragic "last flight" was relayed to WKRP listeners by reporter Les Nessman:

"It's a helicopter, and it's coming this way. It's flying something behind it, I can't quite make it out, it's a large banner and it says, uh - Happy... Thaaaaanksss... giving! ... From ... W ... K ... R... P!! No parachutes yet. Can't be skydivers... I can't tell just yet what they are, but - Oh my God, Johnny, they're turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they're plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenburg tragedy has there been anything like this!"

The idea was to create an over the top scenario, that was so ridiculous that people would react to the critique with laughter and think WOW, how society has gone over the top in it's crazy attention grabbing materialism and consumerism.

A Cringe Worthy Article 

This week, somewhere in America, there was an article written about new church plants and their attempt to establish Easter traditions.  This is an excerpt from the article, all names have been removed to protect the not-so-innocent.  

The church threw a huge Easter festival with a helicopter egg drop... 

The pastor,,,said he doesn't want to set any traditions, because he thinks he'll always want to out-do whatever he did the year before. While this year's Easter festival had 50,000 eggs dropped from the sky, next year he hopes to have 200,000 eggs and fireworks. 

"We're always going to go bigger,"..."Our tradition is to break tradition."...  

Today's services will open with a light show and a rock band playing the song "Roar" by pop star Katy Perry. It will be followed by a video and a performance by a spoken-word artist.

Maybe I'm just getting old and out of touch; that is definitely a possibility, but as I read this article there were a few things that  struck me, first, this could have been me 15 years ago.  For a critique to work we have to see ourselves in it.  This young (I'm assuming because I don't know him) leader is doing this because it draws a crowd.  It is what people want and if you want to be thought of as successful as a pastor there are a few things you need.  You need numbers, you need big buildings, and you need money, but what you want most of all, is you want numbers.  You want a lot of people listening to you as you speak.  

Drawing a crowd is no mystery.  I've done it and many I know have done it.  The best way to draw a crowd is to entertain them and their kids.  If you pour gasoline on yourself and light yourself on fire people will come to watch you burn. 

But here is my question, how in the world does appealing to people's basest consumeristic dreams form the character of Christ in them?  I know that when I did things like this I rationalized it by saying, we'll draw the crowd and then we'll teach them the exact opposite - that it's not about them, that they need to live by the upside down values of the Kingdom, we'll call them to live sacrificial, self-giving lives.  The problem is that approach does not work.  

What you get when you attract people this way is the herd of the superficial that migrate to whatever the newest thing in town is.  They come hoping that this consumeristic longing that they have for fulfillment can be met in the newest and flashiest, and when it fails to produce the result that it could never deliver. they are on to the next thing.

This is really the saddest part about all of this.  This consumerism that has saturated every layer of the church from the leadership to the smallest rugrat leaves everyone miserable.  Pastors hate being Jojo the Circus Clown.  After several years of this most of them drop out of ministry, many with nothing left of their faith in God or in people.  They do this because they realize what they were knocking out their brains to create was little more than a show.  For the average person this way of approaching church life keeps them shallow and when the inevitable hard times of life come they are totally spiritually bankrupt and have no resources to draw upon to help them move forward with God and life.

What Kind of Spirituality Do We Need?

You see the deep sustaining faith that we need doesn't come from light machines, helicopters, or Disney style entertainment.  It doesn't come through slick marketing, free coffee, or our favorite pop music that serves as an illustration to a spiritually centered entertainment.  Real sustaining spirituality takes (all my hyper-reformed brothers close your eyes for this sentence) work.  It requires effort on our part. The first place you are going to need to expend some effort is in developing a biblically centered worldview.  This will not come from the sermons on Sunday morning.  It means that you need to get in a good class that will take you through both the Old and New Testaments.  It will require that you actually read and reflect on the text and will involve discussing the themes with other people at various stages of their walk with Christ.  It will require making this type of study and reflection part of your life for the rest of your life. You have to go beyond the surface to the nitty-gritty faith sustaining meat.

It will require that you learn to pray, really pray and dialogue with God through all types of prayer. Meditation, reflection, intercession. worship and celebration, confession, spiritual inventory, thanksgiving all need to be part of the line of communication that opens up between you and the Holy Spirit.  If when I say,  "You need to learn to hear God's voice" makes you think I'm psycho or that is not possible you need to learn a lot more about prayer.  

Community, and I don't mean getting involved in a small group.  That can certainly help, but I mean choosing to do life with people.  Choosing to walk through conflict and not walk away, learning to really communicate and be a team, a fellowship, learning to extend and receive grace.  Being in a place where you are known and known by others.  Relationships based on mutual interdependence and the bond of Christ.  If you are always seeking for yourself and hop from place to place to place, you will never experience this and never really grow.  You will be like a leaky cup that no matter how much water is poured into you, you will never be full.

So What is the Way Forward?

I think for a season our churches will have to become much smaller.  I think we will have to realize that in many cases our growth has been false growth.  I think we will have to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of disciple making that does not happen in a factory, one size fits all setting.  We will have to stop whoring ourselves out to the culture using gimmicks and the grossly secular to inspire growth.  It might mean that many pastors have to go back to being tent-makers or live simpler life-styles.  We will have to produce out of our churches leaders with the character of Christ that reach two to three people that they are discipling every couple of years and teaching to do the same.  This is not church growth, quick fix, kind of stuff, but the longer I've been in ministry the more I believe it's the real deal and the only way forward.

I'm praying that God will allow us at The Vineyard Chattanooga to structure our church in such a way that it can become a living embodiment of these values and serve as a model for the way forward.    

A Reflection on the Cross: The Confession of a former Pastor to the Hipsters

Vineyard/Urban YoungLife Leading Lock-in @ our School

When I first became a senior pastor I used an illustration with my congregation that I had picked up from John Wimber the the founder of the Vineyard movement.  The illustration was that I was a nickle in God’s pocket and he could spend me however he might choose.  At that time it didn’t take a lot of faith to make that statement.  I was pastoring one of the fastest growing churches in the city of Chattanooga.  We were reaching young Christian college kids from the Christian universities around us that were looking for a cool band, an ireverant approach, and free bagels and cream cheese; all of which we had in abundance.  

At the time we had a monopoly.  We were the only blue jeans and rock and roll church in the midst of what Barna describes as the most Bible loving city in the United States.  We had been able to land a deal with a Seventh Day Adventist Church that had just built the most contemporary worship center in the city so we embodied young religious folks naughtiest dream of a church.  We opened our doors and they came in by the hundreds.  Its a heady thing to preach to hundreds of people every week.  Its a heady thing to have people want to be close to you because they think you're a success.  Its a heady thing to be sought after to speak at different conferences or to be thought of as somebody.  All that to say, I was happy to be a nickle in God’s pocket because I absolutely loved the way I was being spent.  There was no cost to being God’s nickel at that point in my life.

But is that they type of pastor that the american culture needs? Do we need pastors that indulge the entertainment centered, celebrity obsessed, coddled beyond belief, consumeristic, materialistic population of the United States?  I might have been the type of pastor America wants but I wasn't the type of pastor my community needs.

God in his mercy rarely gives us what we want but always provides us with what we need.  

The first century Jews wanted their Messiah.  They wanted a King like David to ascend to the throne of Israel.  They wanted him to crush all the foreign governments that had used them and their resources over the years.  They wanted Rome and Rome’s Caesar to become their Messiah’s foot stool.  They wanted Jerusalem to be the city that all the nations of the world looked to as the world power.  They wanted the judgement of God to fall on all the unrighteous Gentiles and the status of the faithful Israelites to be elevated so that they were the envy of all other peoples of the world.  That was the Messiah Israel wanted not the one they needed.

Six years ago God began to lead me on a journey.  Our church had grown to the place where we felt like it was time to leave the Adventist Church where we had grown so significantly.  We wrestled with the option of whether to go the route of building a campus on the growing edge of suburban Chattanooga or to walk a road less traveled that seemed more in line with our mission to reach the least, the last, the lost, and the lonely.  

I had been invited to listen to a speaker that had come to Chattanooga by the name of Stanley Tam a Christian business man who had deeded his business over to God in the 1950’s.  During that time Tam capped his salary and diverted all the business’s profits into funding different Christian ministries around the world.  Over the next 60 years the business he gave to God has given over 100 million dollars to missions all over the world.  At that meeting I felt like the Lord was speaking directly to me through Tam.  I felt like he was asking me to give him back his church.  I felt like he was asking me to try the risky thing.  I said O.K.

Our church decided to not build at that time but to instead purchase a portable church system and move into one of the poor performing schools in our community.  It gave us the ability to direct the majority of our facilities budget into our mission by helping a school rebuild it’s library (Today the school has the type of library a well funded suburban school would have). The amount of effort required to set up and take down the church every week meant that we needed to mobilize most all of our people into ministry, undoing the 80-20 principle that most churches operate under. I was excited.  I thought people would see how our church was making a radical move to fulfill it’s mission and it would lead to even further growth.

I could not have been more wrong.

Jesus mission was a costly one.  At first when the people heard Jesus was proclaiming that the Kingdom of God was breaking into the world through him they were excited.  They saw him doing signs and wonders that had not been a part of Israel’s experience since the time of the prophets. They saw him attacking the power structures that had compromised with Rome.  They followed him by the thousands.  

But the more they listened to him the more they came to realize his vision of what it meant to be the Messiah and their vision of the Messiah’s vocation were very different things.  He said that being part of God’s people was no longer based on participation in worship and sacrifice at the temple but was mediated through our response to him as king, that God’s word through Torah was superseded by his word, that no longer was being a child of God based on whether you were part of the people who had been chosen to inhabit the land of Israel but simply based upon your response to him as king. They began to realize the battle he came to fight was not against Rome but a far different and older enemy who held the power of death.  He was not the Messiah they wanted but he was the Messiah they needed.

His way of defeating this enemy required two things.  It required that as a man he walk in perfect obedience to God; by faith trusting the path God had him on even if it meant his death.  Jesus trusted that God could make a way even out the other side of death and that his obedience would be vindicated.  This faithfulness was the call of the old covenant, and humanity and Israel had not been able to fulfill its requirements, not until Jesus.  For the Old Covenant to be ended and a new one inaugurated required the death of the covenant originator.  For an everlasting covenant to end it required the death of the everlasting one (God himself).  So Jesus as fully God went to the cross and died putting to death the Old Covenant and through his resurrection inaugurating a new one.  He was not the Messiah they wanted, but he was the one they needed.

Now through Jesus suffering and death and through his resurrection a way to the Father has been made by the Son.  To all those who choose to follow Jesus as King the blessings of his Kingdom come raining down.  Those blessings include forgiveness of sins, life everlasting, inclusion into the people of God through the church, and the ability to live by the rule of the King in the present. Jesus wasn't they type of Messiah Israel and the world wanted but he was the type of Messiah they needed.

But to gain this victory for us it meant that Jesus had to live a life that looked like defeat.  As a man he had to fully identify with the human condition; this condition often involves suffering.  In the end all but a few friends had walked away from Jesus.  Though he was a king he was mocked as a common criminal.  Though he loved he was despised.  Though he was the deathless one he tasted death. Though he was the sinless one he became sin.  He died publicly humiliated almost utterly alone.  Yet he trusted God through it all and was obedient to the will of the Father.  Jesus wasn't the type of Messiah Israel and the world wanted but he was the type of Messiah they needed.

As we think about the cross of Jesus and what it means, I think we also might get a picture that challenges our perception of what Christian leadership looks like.  Maybe just maybe Christian leadership looks different?  Maybe Jesus gives us a different picture of what the Christian life looks like? Maybe just maybe if we want to be a nickle in God’s pocket to be spent how he chooses, he might spend us in a way that looks different from the world’s picture of success; he might choose to spend us in a way that is hard but, in a mysterious Kingdom of God sort of way, increases the value of the nickel he’s spending into something priceless and beautiful ?

We left the 44,000 square foot, 2 million dollar state of the art worship center and moved into a low performing high school, and week one we mobilized 80 percent of our people to serve.  Within 6 months we only had 40 percent of those people left.  Each week they dropped like flies.  Within five years we had turned over the entire church except for a very few, very faithful people.  Friends that I thought would be with me forever left and did not leave well.  People have questioned my leadership ability (I have questioned my leadership ability!), I have been told that I’m a horrible speaker, that I’m lazy, that I've squandered a great opportunity, that I’m out of touch, that I’m a loser.  Last year the enemy came after my family.  My name has been trashed, we are constantly under financial pressure, The stress has been almost unbearable at times and I probably came as close to a nervous breakdown as I’ll ever come last summer. In my darkest moments I wonder if I really did hear from God or was I just over spiritualizing.

But I've noticed something.

I've noticed people are watching.  People whose pain and suffering far outstrip the minor inconveniences I've faced over the last several years.  They’re watching to see if I’ll last.  Will I remain faithful.  They are watching to see if life can come from death, if glory can come through humiliation, if joy can be found on the other side of suffering. They are watching to see if obedience and faithfulness will be vindicated.  

To be honest I’m watching too.

But I've come to suspect something.  As I look at the cross of Jesus and the wisdom of God, I’m starting to see a bigger picture emerge.  Maybe what my community and country needs is not more pastors who are celebrities, maybe they don’t need more pastors that model the picture of western success, maybe they don’t need more pastor’s who use the authority given to them to build their own Kingdom. Maybe we don't need more pastors who could have been world class CEO’s and can build mega-institutions.  Maybe just maybe the world needs more pastors whose lives look like Jesus.  Maybe they need to see faithful obedience walked out even when the cost is unbelievably high.  Maybe they need to see faith and hope where all signs point to hopelessness.  Maybe the pastors we need aren’t the pastors we want.  Maybe their lives look more like the cross than the crown.

I look to the cross of Jesus this Holy Week and I feel hope.  Because the Messiah I need is the Messiah I got, and somehow he is transforming the painful broken things in my life into beautiful, wonderful examples of his victory and grace.  I’m happy to be a nickle in your pocket, Jesus.  Thank you, Lord.  Thank-you for the cross.

Happy Easter.

Pastor Jeff      

  

Is Genesis Unique?

I remember sitting in my history classes both in high school and college and hearing my professors talk about the ancient creation myths of other cultures and they would talk about how similar they are to the Genesis account; that some had their deity creating the world in 7 days or in others that the ancient god seems to create the world ex-nihilo (out of nothing).  I’ve seen many young men and women lose or struggle in their faith when they discover this information.  So I thought it would be fun to actually look at some of the ancient creation myths and then put them right up next to Genesis and see how similar they really are.  You see, I think looking at Genesis in light of both ancient and contemporary creation myths can be quite faith affirming.  I think the contrast is so stark between Genesis and the other creation myths that when they are put side to side the truth is pretty evident.  I might be wrong, but let’s at least put it out there and see the differences.

Egyptian Creation Stories

Now there are about a dozen ancient Egyptian creation myths, most of these myths are designed to assert the divine nature of whatever ruler is on the throne at the time, but let’s just look at a few; two of which many scholars feel influenced the Genesis account. 

The Heliopolis Cosmology[1]

This one is fun.  This view has a community of nine gods of which Atum is the creator God.  He creates the other gods to help him with creation by masturbating them out; hey he’s the only god, what’s he to do.  The actual text goes into pretty graphic detail.  From this emission comes the other gods who deify the rest of the created order (air, land, sea, ext). 

The Memphis Cosmology

In this version Ptah becomes the creator of the nine, and Atum is Ptah’s all powerful word (his lips and mouth) and the first thing they create is Ptah’s hands and penis so he can masturbate out the other gods who arise out of his semen.  Sorry, I know this is not G-rated.  In this version Ptah, thinks, speaks, and then he creates.  This is where we get the “incredible” similarity that our professors and teaches have spoken about.  Yet these creation myths only deal with the creation of the planet and do not deal with the creation of humanity or the animals.

The Hermopolis Cosmology

In this version you have four gods and their wives who form the elemental chaos (they are actually the chaotic elements themselves) who call creation into existence.

In all these cosmologies there is no thought to the creation of humanity.  The Egyptians do have a story of how humanity was created on a potting wheel by one of their lesser gods and a goddess breathed the breath of life into them.

Mesopotamia’s Creation Story

Mesopotamia is the culture out of which the city of Babylon and the Babylonian empire emerged.  This is the area near where Abraham of the Old Testament was born.  Their story begins with two water gods, one named Apsu who is male and god over the “sweet” water and Tiamat who is female and goddess over the salt water.  They give birth to all sorts of sea monsters and nasty creatures and out of this chaos Tiamat tries to take control.  Her descendants unite to overthrow her. They choose Marduk, the god of Babylon to lead them.  Marduk meets Tiamat and her accomplice Kingu in battle and kills them both.

He splits Tiamat in two and half of her becomes the heavens and the other half becomes the earth.  In the heavens he constructs a dwelling place for himself and the other gods and the gods realize they need servants and so out of the blood of Kingu they create humanity and then they make the animals and plants and such.

Indian Creation Myths

India, the birth place of Hinduism literally has a ton of creation myths.  Here are two just to give you a feel for their flavor.  

One early story has Purusha, a primal man, who is sacrificed to the gods (nothing like a little human sacrifice; not like the other cultures were squeamish about that, either) as the act of creation.  The sky comes from his head, the earth from his feet, the sun from his eye, the moon from his brain.  The four Hindu casts also come from his body and the animals and humanity are created from the fat that drips from his body during the sacrifice.  Now there is a beautiful and peaceful picture for you.

Another creation story involves the Hindu god, Brahma.  First out of nothing but thought he creates the waters, by that I mean Brahma is nothing but a thought.  In the water he deposits his seed that then grows into a golden egg.  He himself is then born in the egg and when the egg splits you get the heavens and the earth.

Greek Creation Myth

 

At least this one will sound a little bit more familiar because we have all had to read Greek mythology in school, or we’ve seen Wrath of the Titans or read Percy Jackson. 

 

“The story begins, like so many others, with a gaping emptiness, Chaos. Within this there emerges Gaea, the earth.

Gaea gives birth to a son, Uranus, who is the sky. The world now exists, earth and heaven, and together Gaea and Uranus provide it with a population, their children. First Gaea produces the Titans, heroic figures of both sexes, but her next offspring are less satisfactory; the Cyclops, with only one eye in the middle of their foreheads, are followed by unmistakable monsters with a profusion of heads and arms. Uranus, appalled by his offspring, shuts them all up in the depths of the earth.

Gaea's maternal instincts are offended. She persuades the youngest Titan, Cronus, to attack his father. He surprises him in his sleep and with a sharp sickle cuts off his genitals, which he throws into the sea.

Cronus frees his brothers and sisters from their dungeon, and together they continue to populate the world. But an inability to get on with their offspring characterizes the males of this clan. Cronus, who has six children with his sister Rhea, eats each of them as soon as it is born.

Once again maternal instincts intervene. To save her youngest child, Rhea wraps a stone in swaddling clothes. Cronus swallows the bundle and Rhea sends the baby to foster parents. He is Zeus. As an adult he overwhelms his father, defeats all the other Titans in a great war, and then settles upon Mount Olympus to preside over a world which has at last achieved a certain calm.

During this, imperceptibly, mankind has arrived on earth - it is not clear how. But men are certainly there, because a free-thinking Titan, Prometheus, smuggles them the valuable gift of fire. These first men are not considered direct ancestors by most Greeks, and there are several versions of how the present race of humans originated.” History of the World.net

The Contemporary Creation Myth

 

Wait, how can I call a scientific explanation of how the universe was formed a myth?  It’s actually very simple, the farther we go back in scientific cosmology (the closer we get to the beginning) the more guess work it becomes.  Look the scientists don’t know where matter got its origin and they are making a scientific guess; preachers call that a leap of faith.   What science says about the origin of the universe is a faith statement.  It’s their best guess.

 

The contemporary version of creation says once there was nothing.  Then there was something.  This something was super dense and volatile and exploded, and out of the pieces of this explosion the entire universe was formed. 

 

Now by a miracle of randomness one of these random remnants of the explosion formed a solar system where a planet cooled at the perfect distance from a star to form liquid water and out of this liquid water microbial life appeared.  Then over billions of years of wonderful accidents humanity emerged.  We are a lovely accident and there is no greater meaning to us and our existence than an accident.  I actually think I made it sound more positive than many scientists do.

 

What Do All of These Stories Have in Common?

 

First in all the stories that involve deities, these gods seem to be created in the image of man instead of vice versa.  We see pettiness, war, vengeance, violence, and murder in their character; these gods are very much like humanity. 

 

Creation is dark, whether we are the ejaculation of some ancient god, the rotting corpse of a murdered god, a human sacrifice, or an accident, the world envisioned is a random and dark place.  It is not good.  It is not created with intentionality.

 

Humanity, if it’s even discussed, is usually created to be a slave or a pawn of the gods.  At best, it’s an accident.  At worst, we are playthings.

 

The Genesis Account

 

Now into these stories there is one that is distinctly different.  What it envisions is so radically different that it remains relevant today.  Where the other ancient cosmologies are laughable in a modern context the Hebrew cosmology still paints a picture that challenges our modern creation myth.

 

In the Genesis account we read that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  Creation is not an accident, it was created.  It was created ex-nihilo, out of the all powerful word of God.

 

Everything that was created was made with great intentionality and all that was made was good.  The earth is not some dark place, but it is a good place, made by a good God who created a world that he could enjoy and that humanity could enjoy along with him. 

 

We learn that humanity is the pinnacle of this creation.  Humanity is not an accident, it was not created to be enslaved or to be a plaything, but rather humanity was created to bare the very image of God himself.  In ancient cultures kings would place statues of themselves throughout their kingdom.  These image bearing monuments were to remind everyone who ruled.  Humanity bears God’s image.  We were created to remind all creation of God’s goodness, love, stewardship, and benevolent rule of the earth.

 

So many say that the Bible holds a negative view of women; maybe we are reading two different books?  In Genesis both men and women bear the image of God equally.  In Genesis both are called to exercise his dominion over the earth equally.   Think about how radically different this view of women is to all other ancient cultures! 

 

Only in Genesis is man commanded to take a break and rest.  In Genesis we read about the importance of family and marriage as God establishes the covenant of marriage in the very beginning. 

 

Just a personal note here, can you see how Genesis 1 is beyond science?  Can you see that what it speaks to is much bigger than did God create the world in a literal seven days?  To focus on that is to miss the forest for the trees.  The Genesis account is not about the order of creation other than creation was done orderly and intentionally.  It’s about a good God that created all there is with His all powerful word; it’s about a God that created a good world not a dark sinister world.  It’s about a good God who created humanity to bear his image and share his rule.  It’s about a good God who tells us that both men and women equally bear His image and are to be accorded respect and honor.  It’s about a good God who gives us rest and family and community.

 

This story is different than all other stories of creation, both ancient and contemporary.  Are there some creation myths that have seven days, sure.  Do some of the gods create ex-nihilo? Yes.  But there is really no similarity in the stories they tell and the creation account from Genesis.  Genesis is still relevant today and paints a picture of a world very different than any other.   For me, this story is much more than a story, it is the truth, and how beautiful the truth is.

The 5 Strategic Behaviors of Successful Students

Spiritual Insights from a College Orientation
(Adapted by me to reflect the behaviors of those who thrive in the Church)

In the last 12 months I have been to two college orientations for freshman.  Last year my oldest son Zachary graduated from high school and is now a Recording Industry major at Middle Tennessee State and my oldest daughter Rachel graduated this year and will be leaving for the University of Tennessee to major in Marketing in just a few short weeks. 

Now I think the people who give the “How to be Successful in College” talk must all get together and share notes because their points were just about the same... Or maybe that’s not the case; maybe they independently came up with these points because they are universal principals that they have observed over the years.  These principals have led students to be successful in college; now that got me thinking.

You see I think the principals they have observed in successful college students are universal principals that help us get the most out of any group, job, or dare I say church we might want to be a part of.  So I want to share the principals these college deans shared with us and challenge you to apply them to your life; specifically with the church you attend and just see what happens.   Let’s think of it as a grand experiment. 

Go to class

^{HEB 10:25} We mustn’t do what some people have got into the habit of doing, neglecting to meet together. Instead, we must encourage one another, and all the more as you can see the great day coming closer.

This should be a no brainer right.  If you want to succeed in school half the battle is simply showing up. 

You go to class. 

I think it is amazing to the dean’s how few students understand this simple principal; if a student will simply go to class their chances of being successful in college skyrockets. 

Now I know this might seem crazy and it might offend some of your sensibilities, but the same is true in our lives as Christians.  You will grow in your Christian faith if you will begin by simply showing up to worship consistently.  I have been on the pastoral staff of several different churches since 1989 I can say with some degree of authority that the people who attend church on a very consistent basis, I mean rarely if ever miss, on average, are those who exhibit the highest qualities of Christian maturity and character.

You know this is true even for me at my level of leadership.  The Vineyard hosts different events where we as pastors gather together for worship, prayer, training, and encouragement.  I rarely miss any of those events.  Because of my participation at that level I have developed some of my best friendships with peers, I’ve found mentors.  I feel connected to The Vineyard as a movement.  I’ve experienced God powerfully in those settings.  Those events have blessed my kids.  Now having overseen Church planting in our region for 5 years, and being on that team for 9 years, I know that the pastors who do not attend these events consistently are at risk to not only drop out of the Vineyard as a movement, but for their churches to fail as well.  The reason is that they feel all alone out there, like know one cares or notices, and they feel disconnected to the leadership and vision of the movement.  Honestly, this is their own fault in large part because they are not seizing the opportunity for relationship and encouragement that is consistently in front of them.

The exact same principal is true for you with Sunday Worship  

The Bible teaches us that

^{HEB 10:25} We mustn’t do what some people have got into the habit of doing, neglecting to meet together. Instead, we must encourage one another, and all the more as you can see the great day coming closer.

When we come together to worship corporately there is encouragement.  We are taught from the Bible which helps us refocus our minds on what is central and important.  We lift praise up to God corporately declaring his worth, and when we do that shoulder to shoulder as a group of people who are living for God together then it is encouraging.

Not only that but we know what is going on in the church so we feel more connected to the community.  We begin to get to know people (if we will make the effort to talk to people) so we begin to develop friendships, The sermons make more sense, because most pastors preach in series and they do build on one another.   

When we fail to make weekly worship a priority in our lives, as many people have got into the habit of doing, the other people in your church are let down as well.  Your presence means something.  It means something to everyone that attends.  When you show up it encourages others. 

You know when push comes to shove worship isn’t even about us.  Worship is something we give to God.  Those of us who have truly given our lives over to Jesus can worship with any style any where.  I can worship with high liturgy, singing only hymns in a card board box and be encouraged if there are other brothers and sisters risking it all with me.  You see that is spiritual maturity.

Now do I prefer a little rock and roll, some good coffee and a donut, in a contemporary setting? Yes, I prefer it, but worship is not about me, it’s something I give to God, and I’m not going to miss an opportunity to worship Jesus with my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Being consistent in the spiritual discipline of worship transforms me.

Study

^{2 TIM 2:15} Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

Going to class is a great start but if you really want to be successful in college you have to study.  According to the college Deans a student should expect that they have to put three hours of study in outside of class for every hour they are in class if they want to do well at the college level.

Can I tell you a secret?  If you want to truly grow in your relationship with Jesus it is going to require an investment of your time.  You are going to have to spend some time grappling with the Bible.  We call this studying the Bible. 

I remember right after I decided to become a follower of Jesus I read the entire Bible cover to cover like I would a novel.  There were lots of parts I didn’t understand at all but it was the beginning of a life long journey for me that has given me more hope, peace, and security than anything I could possibly communicate.

Within this book God is revealed.  He can be found in the Bible.  You can get to know God’s heart, and you can get to know Jesus, you can gain an understanding for how God works in the world, and when you understand God’s Story and how your story is caught up in it, then the Bible provides an anchor to your life that can hold you firm during the storms of life.

I have been studying the Bible in depth for over 25 years, and I’m more convinced of it’s truth, it’s relevance, and it’s power to reveal the God who transforms our lives than ever.

Studying the Bible, getting to know it inside and out, can transform your life as well. 

Live on Campus

^{1 THES 2:8} so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.^[1]

The first thing the deans told us was that kids who lived on Campus did much \better than kids who lived off campus.  The reason for this was that the students who lived on campus were surrounded by opportunities to make friends and felt more connected and involved with the University itself. 

The Universal principal that these deans are describing is that those who connect with the community life of whatever institution or organization they are apart of are more likely to stay and be successful.  In the church I call this the principal of doing life together.  For you to truly grow in the church you have to establish relationships and connections that go beyond the Sunday Morning services.  You have to get involved relationally with people. 

The best way to begin to do life together with the people of the church is to become involved in some form of smaller community.  This can be a Sunday School Class, a small group, or a ministry team.

You see most of us don’t understand how the church truly works.  We are so used to having everything happen instantly that we are a microwave society.  We think everything should happen in the same time frame it takes us to pull up a web page.  But let me tell you a secret.  Christian character is not formed that way. 

I love to Bar-b-q so let me use a cooking analogy.  Say I got an amazing piece of brisket.  I can choose to cook it two ways.  I can stick it in the microwave and nuke it for twenty minutes.  If I do that it will come out chewy, rare, and impossible to eat.

But if instead I put that same piece of meat in the smoker.  And I cook it low and slow at about 170 degrees for 14 hours.  When that piece of meat comes out it will be fall apart tender, infused with the smoky flavor of the wood that cooked it, and like heaven on earth. 

You see an amazing thing has happened as I’ve done life with people in this church over the last 12 years.  People we’ve stood shoulder to shoulder with, people we’ve ministered with, studied the Bible with, raised our kids with, prayed with, walked through triumph and defeat with, been there through the laughter and the tears with.  My family has been shaped by their love and faith and they have been shaped by ours.  This is something that has happened slowly over time, and it is a beautiful thing. 

So many people miss the beauty and power of the church because they never commit to it long enough and intensely enough to experience its power.  Look if your hopping from church to church bailing every time relationships get tough or you get disappointed then you never will get to experience the beauty and power of the church.  If you sit on the sidelines every Sunday morning, showing up to simply listen to a sermon you are not a follower of Jesus but a fan; and a fair weather one at that.  You will never experience the beauty and the power of the church sitting in the bleacher, but if you will commit to doing life with a group of people.  Invest over the long haul.  Get to know folks and let them know you, serve the mission of Christ by serving the church then you will experience the power of the church Jesus established and leads.

Get know your Prof.

^{HEB 13:7} Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

You know the older I get and the longer I’ve been in ministry the more I lean into my mentors. 

This last week I got to spend some time with Dave and Anita Workman.  The Workman’s have been serving the Cincinnati Vineyard for 28 years; 28 years at the same church!  These folks love God and they love their city!  They are such a wealth of wisdom and knowledge; I’m blessed anytime I get to be around them.  Their faithfulness raises the bar for me.  It lets me understand what true faithfulness is. 

There are so many of these people in my life.  These are my heroes:

Godfrey & Laurie Hubert  - 30 years at the same church

Steve & Cindy Nicholson - 35 years at the same church

Thor & Bonnie  Colberg - 30 + years in ministry; 6 years left one of the largest Vineyards in the southeast to risk it all and plant again.

Tim & Karen Holt - 30+ years in ministry


Rick & Ellen Coffin – 30+ years in the ministry.  10 years ago risked it all and moved to India to give guidance and training for the Vineyards in India!

These are awesome men and women of God.  I see their faithfulness and it spurs me on to want to be better.  These mentors and leaders gives me perspective that helps me stay the course.

The Bible says:

^{HEB 13:7} Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Every church has got some awesome mentors within it.  People who you should get to know.  These folks can teach you how to be better people, better parents, have better marriages, and handle your finances more responsibly.  They can show you what it means to live with Jesus as the center of your life through life’s different seasons and stages.  You need these folks.  You are foolish if you do not cultivate these types of relationships. 

Now I’m taking something for granted here that maybe I shouldn’t.  These things only make sense if you want to follow Jesus.  Now some of you might have never decided whether you want to have Jesus as your king.  I personally made that decision when I was 18 years old when I was drunk and lost in the back of a subdivision.  When I did that I discovered forgiveness for all the sins I had committed, and thankfully all the one I would commit.  I also discovered that through Jesus God’s presence was with me.  I was no longer alone.  This God that I had always thought was so distant was close as a drunken kid’s prayer. 

Jesus has transformed my life and he can transform yours as well.  What I’ve been talking about is how he chooses to use his church to do just that in our lives.

If you want what I’ve been writing about ask God that he would help you order your life in such a way to make these things priorities.  If Jesus isn’t your King, settle that now.  Simply pray and ask Jesus to be your King, ask him to forgive your sins, ask him to begin to guide and direct your life.  It is the best decision I ever made.  I know it will be your best decision too.

Take the initiative

^{EPH 5:15} So take special care how you conduct yourselves. Don’t be unwise, but be wise. ¹⁶ Make use of any opportunity you have, because these are wicked times we live in. ¹⁷ So don’t be foolish; rather, understand what the Lord’s will is. ^[2]

Only you can take the steps to make spiritual growth begin in your life. No one else is going to make you order your life for you in such a way that what is important truly takes priority.  Stop making excuses.  Stop blaming others for your lack of spiritual depth.  You are not a victim.  Every tool you need to be successful in the Christian life is laid out like a huge buffet before you.  Grab your plate it an fill it to the full. 

The choice really is yours.

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^[1] The New International Version. 2011 (1 Th 2:8). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

^[2] Wright, T. (2004). Paul for Everyone: The Prison Letters: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (61). London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.

God Can't Be Tamed

 

"Ooh!" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he -- quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

-C.S. Lewis from The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe

A couple of weeks ago I was at a camp where all heaven literally broke lose.  God showed up in the place in such a tangible way that kids were on the ground sobbing, some were laughing, and some were shaking visibly as they encountered God and just a fraction of His love and power.  To anyone who walked into the room it looked like a bomb had gone off in the place.  My initial reaction was, Oh Crap have we just amped up a bunch of teens into an emotional frenzy, but our speaker was about as low key as they come and had simply invited God’s Spirit to come and touch the teens lives and had instructed a few of the teens to begin to pray for one another.  This is something I’ve done in my ministry tons of times, and there are usually some tears and peace and a real sense of God’s presence; this is what happens most of the time, but there are times when the Spirit shows up in a way that the only way to wrap your mind around it is to think of Pentecost in the book of Acts.  This is not the first time I had seen something like this, but when it happens it is always a little disconcerting.

As a matter of fact I remember my initial reaction to experiencing God’s love and power in a way that was beyond “normal”.  It was my freshman year of college and we liked to go to a church called Aldersgate United Methodist Church in College Station; Aldersgate was just a Vineyard in United Methodist clothing.  That Sunday morning I had come with my best friend Gary Rhom (Gary, you can chime in on this if it stuck in your memory as well) and another good friend named Harold Reeves.  The pastor preached that morning on the filling of the Spirit.  Then he invited us to stand and asked God to fill us a fresh with His Spirit.[1]  Gary, Harold, and I stood up looking around with our eyes as big as saucers.  All I can say is that it was like a physical power entered into the room, the worship band began singing in their prayer languages and this is the only time this has ever happened to me, but in my mind I knew what they were singing.  It was simple praise to Jesus.

After the service was over we almost ran out of the sanctuary to Harold’s truck.  I remember Harold looking over and saying, “What do you guys think?”  I said “I think it was God.” and they shook their heads in affirmation.  Gary asked, “Are you guys going to go back?” and without hesitation we said, “No way!”

So here’s the question, if that experience and the experience at Camp was God, and I believe it was, why would it be so disconcerting; dare I say even a little scary? 

In his book The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis draws an analogy about God’s character, that I find to be quite profound, with the story of a young girl named Jill. She's in the land of Narnia, and she's thirsty. At once she sees a magnificent stream . . . and a fearsome lion (Aslan, who represents the Lord Jesus):

"If I run away, it'll be after me in a moment," thought Jill. "And if I go on, I shall run straight into its mouth." Anyway, she couldn't have moved if she had tried, and she couldn't take her eyes off it. How long this lasted, she could not be sure; it seemed like hours. And the thirst became so bad that she almost felt she would not mind being eaten by the Lion if only she could be sure of getting a mouthful of water first. . . .

"Are you not thirsty?" said the Lion.

"I'm dying of thirst," said Jill.

"Then drink," said the Lion.

"May I, would you mind going away while I do?" said Jill.

The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.

"Will you promise not to do anything to me, if I do come?" said Jill.

"I make no promise," said the Lion.

Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer. "Do you eat girls?" she said.

"I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms," said the Lion. It didn't say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry. It just said it.

"I daren't come and drink," said Jill.

"Then you will die of thirst," said the Lion.

"Oh dear!" said Jill, coming another step nearer. "I suppose I must go and look for another stream then."

"There is no other stream," said the Lion. It never occurred to Jill to disbelieve the Lion & no one who had seen his stern face could do that and her mind suddenly made itself up.

It was the worst thing she had ever had to do, but she went straight to the stream, knelt down, and began scooping up water in her hand. It was the coldest, most refreshing water she had ever tasted. You didn't need to drink much of it, for it quenched your thirst at once. Before she tasted it she had been intending to make a dash away from the Lion the moment she had finished. Now, she realized that this would be on the whole the most dangerous thing of all.

So you’ve heard a little bit about my experience with God and some profound words from one of the great Christian minds of the last century, but does this ring true with scripture?  When people encounter the presence of the living God is it always quite, peaceful, and still?[2]  Let’s look at a few examples from the scripture.  This is not an exhaustive list in any fashion.

Genesis 28:16,17:  Jacob has a dream in which God speaks to him and upon awaking and realizing God just spoke to him he is afraid.

Exodus 3:6: Moses encounters God’s presence in the burning bush and he is afraid.

Exodus 19-20:19:  The presence of God descends on Mt. Sinai is a tangible way.  It scares the people so badly that they are struck trembling and beg Moses to not have God speak to them.

Exodus 34:29-39:  Moses’ face literally glowed after he had been in the presence of the Lord.  The lingering presence of the Lord upon Moses scared the Israelites so much Moses had to veil his face.

Judges 6:20-23: Gideon encounters God and is afraid.

2 Samuel 6:-11: David hears the report of what happens when one of his men touch the Ark of the Covenant and he is so afraid of God’s presence manifest in the ark he won’t let it be brought into Jerusalem.

Isaiah 6:  Isaiah sees a vision of the Lord and cries out in fear and despair.

Luke 1:30:  An Angel appears to Mary and she is afraid.

Luke 2:10: Angels appear to the Shepherds and they are afraid.

Luke 5:1-11:  After Peter’s miraculous catch of fish he falls to his knees and asks Jesus to leave him because he is afraid.

Mark 4:34-41:  Jesus rebukes the storm and the disciples are afraid.

Mark 5:1;17:  Jesus casts a legion of demons out of a man sending them into a herd of pigs[3] that then jump off a cliff.  The people of the town beg Jesus to leave because they are so afraid of him.

John 18:1-8:  When the Temple guards come to arrest Jesus.  Jesus just says who he is and the guards draw back and fall down.

Matthew 28:4-8:  Those guarding the tomb of Jesus see angels and are so afraid they shake and become like dead men.  The women see the angel and they are afraid and filled with joy at the same time; interesting combination.

Acts 2:  On Pentecost the church receives the Spirit.  The people who see this are bewildered and astonished.  The disciples are walking around in a way that those looking at them suspect they might be drunk.  Some mock them, some believe.

Revelation 1:17: John upon encountering the presence of Jesus falls at his feet as if dead.

Again this is just a highlight reel.  It is in no way exhaustive.  I tried to include something from every major section of scripture.[4]  Doesn’t it make sense that if we encounter the presence of God in a real and vital way that it would fry our circuits a bit?  We are talking about the God who spoke and all things came into existence.  Even a tiny bit of His power in a place is going to be overwhelming at best.  

Let me finish with telling a few of the stories of what happened during that “Pentecost” experience at camp. 

The first person that evening who encountered God’s power fell on the floor and began laughing uncontrollably.  It was disconcerting to anyone in the auditorium.  The next day I sat down and talked with them about what happened.  They related to me that their parents had gone through a nasty divorce and how that had made them very angry, bitter, and even filled with rage.  As our speaker invited the Spirit to come the individual just asked God to help them.  They said a wave of joy that was so powerful just rushed into them.  Something they were unable to control, but after the evening God had given them a peace about their life and that things were going to be O.K.

There was another person who was there who had accepted Jesus as their savior the first night.  The next night they fell out on the floor sobbing from the depth of their being for the better part of an hour.  This persons father had been beheaded by a drug cartel when they were young.  The family had fled the country for the safety of the U.S.  They had allowed their heart to close off to the grief that event had brought.  God ripped the scab off the infected wound and began to clean it out.  He said feel, grieve, come back to life and they did.  For the rest of the week this teenager couldn’t stop testifying to the goodness and greatness of Jesus at work in their life.

I could tell story after story.  What I want you to know is that God can’t be tamed.  His ways are not our ways.  He is more powerful than we can possibly understand and comprehend and when He decides to touch us with His power and love it is not uncommon for us to come completely undone, for us to be struck by awe, fear, or even denial. 

Have you been trying to tame a God who can’t be tamed?

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[1] All believers are filled with the Spirit when they decide to make Jesus their King, but God likes to empower our lives through the Spirit so we will be more excited about sharing about the life giving love that is available to us through Jesus.

[2] There is no doubt that God’s presence does come to us in a comforting and quiet way in scripture.  The thing I want to explore has to do with whether this is the only way God’s presence is manifest in our lives according to scripture.

[3] Jewish people weren’t to eat pork, so keeping a herd of pigs shows these people weren’t keeping the law as they should.

[4] The Law, The Histories, The Prophets, The New Testament