Jesus

Worship & the Consumer

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

The Apple Newton is a forgotten, often maligned, example of Apple getting it wrong. Debuted in 1993 it was the first Personal Digital Assistant. You could write notes (it had handwriting recognition), print, email, and even send faxes from this tablet. Yet it never really caught on, in part because it was large with a short battery life. So it was more of a curiousity than a full throated tool. Thus, it was pulled from the market.

That is a common practice for businesses who want to succeed. When a product isn’t selling, it is often redesigned, improved, or simply replaced by something that does sell. In this way manufacturers respond to their audience—the consumer. The manufacturer who responds quickly with a product the consumer wants will succeed. The manufacturer who insists on selling something no one buys will go out of business.

Sadly, many churches follow this same practice. Over my 14 years of Pastoral ministry I’ve been to all manner of conferences about church growth. From worship styles, to sticky ministry, to building plans, these conferences promise to attract new families, keep old families and help the church grow. They do so by following the market. They ask what people want in a church and try to help you provide those desires. Sounds good, right? But what if the congregation isn’t the audience?

Now, when Apple or Microsoft or Amazon adapt to the consumer it is a good thing. They have identified their audience and they are tailoring business to meet that audience’s needs. But they have to rightly identify their audience. If Apple misidentifies their audience, they will build the wrong products and won’t stay in business too long. Imagine a $500 Apple Watch tailored for the unemployed. So Apple, and any business, must invest the time in identifying their audience.

So must the church. But not the way we have been. Like Apple, we do demographic studies about the key target audience for our religious goods and service. The problem is this: the church’s audience is not the consumer of religious goods and services. The Church’s audience is God. Consider Sunday morning worship. Despite the complaints of disgruntled churchgoers, the congregation is not the audience for Sunday morning worship. We play a role, but we are not the audience. The audience is God. When we misidentify our audience, when we fall for the consumer demand model, we neither worship God nor encourage one another.

We don’t worship God because we have made the service about the congregation. We are not concerned about whether the music is Christ-centered or if the Preaching honors Him. We aren’t concerned whether the prayers, the benediction, or even passing the peace will point hearts toward Christ. We become consumed with ‘did they like it?’ and ‘will they come back?’

In turn that fails to encourage the flock. As I look at the New Testament, it seems to me that our modern conceptions of worship, many of which stand or fall on personal preferences, are quite shallow. Peter and John worship after they’ve been beaten, yet we can’t worship if the song is more than a few years old. Paul worships in prison, yet we can’t worship if the sermon is too long. Steven worships as he is being murdered, yet we cannot worship if the music doesn’t ‘speak to me.’

Apparently worship is not something that music gives me. Worship is not something that only happens in ideal settings. Worship is not dependent upon my comfort. Worship is the overflow of my joy in Christ. When that joy overflows, I worship with bad music, boring preaching, and monotone prayers. But if that joy is not overflowing then even the best music, preaching, and prayers can only entertain. But when worship is built upon the demands of the religious consumer, he never learns to really worship. Moreover, as we adapt our styles to suit their demands we also reinforce the same selfish conception of worship.

Now, we should not ignore the concerns of the flock. We should carefully listen to every concern. The brother or sister who indicates something is wrong with our worship may have valuable insight. Perhaps we’ve unwittingly ruined worship by making it about the musicians, the elders, the pastors or even the setting. Maybe we’re unintentionally drawing hearts and minds onto ourselves instead of our Lord. In such cases we need to hear that feedback, repent and alter course. But when the concerns are selfish, we have a duty to teach them to really worship.

Faith is Like Landing an Airplane

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Landing an airplane is not hard. At least, it’s not hard like playing classical guitar or custom building cabinetry. It is more like a dance. Like dancing, there are two involved: you and airplane. Like dancing, there is give and take involved. Like a dance partner, the airplane wants to go where you lead. But, you need to know how to get it there.

The pinnacle of this dance is touchdown. By coordinating pitch (nose up or down) and power, the pilot works to smoothly land. As the ground gets closer, the power is pulled off and the pilot holds the nose off the ground. If he’s timed it properly, the result is a smooth landing.

I mention this because recently an acquaintance was sharing his first experience landing a C-17 (in the Simulator). Himself a high-time pilot, he was shocked when the instructor said, “Add power just before touchdown.” From his first days in light planes to his fini flight in a Phantom, he’d never heard this advice. Incredulous he challenged the instructor, “You mean pull all remaining power off?”

“No,” came the perturbed response, “I mean add a little power.”

So they commenced practicing an instrument approach into Tinker AFB. Despite believing this instructor was wrong, my friend followed his direction. After all, crashing a simulator isn’t that big of a deal. Much to his surprise, however, the instructor was absolutely right. Adding that last bit of power made for a smooth landing. “Would you ever has guessed?” he asked me with a disbelieving look upon his face.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t have guessed. Adding power before touchdown is usually a sign we’ve made a mistake somewhere on the approach. Usually the pilot allowed his descent rate get too high and the power is an attempt to save a bad landing. But, on further reflection, it doesn’t surprise me. Instead, this illustrates one of the key principles in following Christ: faith.

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” Matthew 3:13-17 (ESV).

When Jesus arrived before John, John refused to baptize Him. John’s was a baptism of repentance. Jesus had no sin from which He needed to repent. Therefore Jesus did not need to be baptized. But Jesus insisted. As Jesus insists, John has a choice. He could trust himself, conclude Jesus does not need his baptism, and tell him to go home. Or, John can trust Jesus’ word and baptize him. Just like my friend could trust himself or he could trust the instructor.

The lesson from John is simple: real faith trusts Jesus more than self. So when there is conflict between what I want to do and what Jesus says to do, faith chooses Jesus. More often than not, having followed Jesus instead of self, I discover that Jesus was right all the time.

What do ya’ know?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

When I read this:

Or even a happy one. Not long ago, an enterprising professor at the Harvard Business School named Mike Norton persuaded a big investment bank to let him survey the bank’s rich clients. (The poor people in the survey were millionaires.) In a forthcoming paper, Norton and his colleagues track the effects of getting money on the happiness of people who already have a lot of it: A rich person getting even richer experiences zero gain in happiness. That’s not all that surprising; it’s what Norton asked next that led to an interesting insight. He asked these rich people how happy they were at any given moment. Then he asked them how much money they would need to be even happier. “All of them said they needed two to three times more than they had to feel happier,” says Norton.

I thought:

“One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” Luke 12:15 (ESV).

What do ya know? Jesus was right all along.

Really, NPR?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

This article really got me going, simply because it is so obviously one-sided, from the get go.  Here it is:

Published: April 16, 2012

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

What would Jesus do with the U.S. economy?

That’s a matter of fierce debate among Christians — with conservatives promoting a small-government Jesus and liberals seeing Jesus as an advocate for the poor.

So, right off the bat, the author presents a false dichotomy:  small-government or advocate for the poor.  In the author’s mind, apparently it is not possible for a Christian to advocate for both small-government advocate and the poor.  I strongly disagree.

The issue isn’t small-government vs. the poor.  It’s small government vs. large government.  As a fairly conservative Christian, I love my neighbor as myself.  That means I want what is best for my neighbor.  Aside from the gospel, what is best for my poor neighbor?  To help them get out of poverty.

That’s the real issue.  I don’t see any evidence that a welfare state can lift the poor out of poverty.  Like are War on Drugs, the War on Poverty is a failure.  We’ve been fighting poverty for over 40 years, and yet the poor are still among us.  So, I believe advocating for small government is advocating for the poor.

After the House passed its budget last month, liberal religious leaders said the Republican plan, which lowered taxes and cut services to the poor, was an affront to the Gospel — and particularly Jesus’ command to care for the poor.

Let’s keep in mind that Jesus also said, “You will always have the poor among you,” “You cannot serve God and money,” and “only with great difficulty with a rich man enter heaven.”  Certainly wealth wasn’t his concern for the poor.  Further, His Apostle’s chastised the rich & poor, alike. “If a man will not work, then he shall not eat,” 2 Thessalonians 3:10.

Also, Jesus commands about caring for the poor were commands for His followers, i.e., Christians.  They were not commands for establishing a government (remember, Jesus is a KING.  He already runs a government).

Not so, says Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, who chairs the House Budget Committee. He told Christian Broadcasting Network last week that it was his Catholic faith that helped shape the budget plan. In his view, the Catholic principle of subsidiarity suggests the government should have little role in helping the poor.

“Through our civic organizations, through our churches, through our charities — through all of our different groups where we interact with people as a community — that’s how we advance the common good,” Ryan said.

The best thing that government can do, he said, is get out of the way.

But Stephen Schneck, a political scientist at Catholic University, says he thinks Ryan is “completely missing the boat and not understanding the real heart, the real core, of Catholic social teaching.”

Schneck says Catholicism sees everyone as part of a mystical body, serving one another. True, the New Testament does not specifically speak to the government’s role. “But charities and individuals and churches can’t do it all,” Schneck says. “When charities are already stretched to their limit, Catholic social teaching expects the state to step up and to fill that gap.”

As I am not Catholic, nor conversant on this aspect of their dogma, I will refrain from commenting.

God And Government

Peter Montgomery at People for the American Way says conservative evangelicals have been arguing for years that the Bible favors a free-market system. But since President Obama was elected, he says, they have shifted into high gear.

“They are finding biblical justification for opposition to progressive taxation, opposition to unions and collective bargaining, opposition to the minimum wage, opposition even to social welfare spending and Social Security,” he says.

Because, in their view, he says, God intends the government to have a minimal role in society. You hear echoes of that from megachurch pastor Rick Warren, who was asked about the budget recently on ABC’s This Week.

If Jesus wanted to address the shortcomings of manmade governments, or promote progressivism, why didn’t he?  He was, after all, crucified for sedition.  Yet, he wasn’t interested in trying to establish a socialist utopia.  He is establishing a monarchy, where He is the Sovereign.

“The primary purpose of government is to keep the peace, protect the citizens, provide opportunity,” Warren said. “And when we start getting into all kinds of other things, I think we invite greater control. And I’m fundamentally about freedom.”

Evangelicals cite the book of Romans, which is one of only a few places in the New Testament that refer to civil government. Then there’s the conservative resistance to taxation, which some say violates the Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.”

Richard Land at the Southern Baptist Convention says of course Jesus paid his taxes and advised followers to do the same. But, he says, “the Bible tells us that socialism and neosocialism never worked. Confiscatory tax rates never work.”

The Bible never mentions socialism, obviously, but Land says the whole of Scripture says that people are sinful and selfish and, therefore, “people aren’t going to work very hard and very productively unless they get to keep a substantial portion of that which they make for them and for their families.”

Romans 13.

Does The Bible Promote Capitalism?

For other religious conservatives, the Bible is a blueprint for robust capitalism. Recently, on his radio program WallBuilders, David Barton and a guest discussed Jesus’ parable of the vineyard owner. In it, the owner pays the worker he hires at the end of the day the same wage as he pays the one who begins work in the morning. Many theologians have long interpreted this as God’s grace being available right up to the last minute, but Barton sees the parable as a bar to collective bargaining.

“Where were unions in all this? The contract is between an employer and an employee. It’s not between a group,” Barton said. “He went out and hired individually the guys he wanted to work.”

The parable of the talents isn’t about work, it is about grace.  Yet, for it to make sense to Jesus’ audience, it had to connect with reality.  The reality?  The employer and employee enter into a contract–and the employer can use his money to pay whatever he agrees to.

Schneck says many Christians would not recognize this Gospel — and he says there are more biblical verses about feeding the hungry and taking care of the least fortunate. Schneck agrees that the Bible encourages initiative and hard work. But he says theologians through the ages have said there must be a balance.

“Pope after pope after pope argued that we’re called to be more than market creatures. We’re called, in fact, to always bear in mind the common good and our responsibilities to others,” he says.

But we can probably expect both parties to claim Jesus as their favorite economist in the months to come. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Again, I don’t know any conservative Christian (republican, libertarian or otherwise) who disagrees.  Of course Jesus commands us to care for the poor and to love our neighbor.  Of course He calls us to use our plenty to meet the needs of others.  Yet, we are to do so voluntarily.  When God told Moses to take an offering for the temple, it was a free will offering.  When Paul teaches the Corinthians about offerings, he tells them to decide for themselves what they will give, for God loves a cheerful giver.  In other words:  God wants you to give out of love, not compulsion.

Bottom line:  This article does a great job of missing the point.  As I started, the dichotomy presented is a false one.  It’s not about small government vs. the poor. It is about the best way to love the poor for the sake of Christ.

Why does Jesus require all of me?

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Previously, we looked briefly at Christ’s standard for becoming His disciple.  To be a Christian, Jesus teaches, one must renounce everything else and follow Christ.  Now, this raises a good question.  Why must I renounce everything to follow Jesus?  Why does Jesus place such a high entrance requirement upon us?  The answer is found in two of Jesus’ Parables.

In Matthew 13:44-46 Jesus describes the Kingdom of Heaven in similar, yet distinct, ways.  On the one hand, the kingdom is like a pearl of great price.  Upon finding a pearl of great value, a merchant sells all he has in order to buy the pearl!  On the other hand the Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field, for which a man joyfully sells all he has in order to buy the field and secure the treasure.

In both cases the man finds something he values more than all of his possessions.  Therefore, he willingly (and joyfully) sells all to gain that prize he found.  So it is with the kingdom.  Consider the kingdom Jesus speaks of.  It is eternal; it is perfect.  In this kingdom there is justice and righteousness, there is peace and rest.  This kingdom ushers in perfection.  This kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is life as God intends it to be!

Now, compare this kingdom to our present lives.  Our lives are short and imperfect.  We are beset by injustices, great and small.  We experience little rest and much trouble.  No matter how long we live, we don’t grow toward perfection—we decay toward the grave.  This is what we are called to give up.  We are called to leave behind this life and embrace the life of His Kingdom, learning and allowing Him to transform us, so that we might enjoy the fullness of this Kingdom forever.

Half measures are no good. We cannot stay where we are and enter His kingdom.  Either what Christ offers us is more valuable that everything we already have, or it is not.  If it is not, we are fools to accept His offer.  But, if it is then we must leave behind this life and embrace His kingdom.  Sadly, most of us pay lip service and act as if that should be good enough.  We say, “I’ll follow you Jesus,” but we never actually do.

The Barna Group – Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010

~ brandon ~ 2 Comments

The Barna Group – Six Megathemes Emerge from Barna Group Research in 2010.

Makes me wonder why this is true.  All of the studies findings seem to come back to Barna’s first point:

1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.

A theologically illiterate Church might lose mission (pt 2), not care for spiritual principles (pt 3), prioritize community action over gospel proclamation (pt 4), become more pc (pt 5) and experience little/no impact on the world around.  Whether or not my thinking is true, one still wonders, “Why?”

I believe it starts with our evangelism.  We often try to downplay various aspects of the gospel, in order to win an audience or secure a conversion.  Some down play God’s justness and Hell.  Others downplay the radical commitment that Christ demands.  When we win people to a gospel that only requires a prayer and attending church once in a while, we should not be surprised by these results.

“So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”  (Luke 14:33 ESV)

Contrary to our invitations, Jesus made a radical call upon those who would experience God’s grace–they must give up everything.  The response Christ demands is a willingness to lay down anything–and everything–in order to gain Christ.  When we have this attitude toward Christ Barna’s six findings will no longer true.

 

Reason to Rejoice in Repentance

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

“But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the LORD to put them to death.”
(1 Samuel 2:25 ESV)

Eli’s sons were wicked men.  Though Priests, they neither served God nor man–they served themselves.  Using their position for their own pleasure, they defiled sacrifices and took liberties with the women working at the temple.  Eli warned them that their sin was not against man, but against God.  He reminded them that their was no one to mediate for them before God.  But they did not listen.  Verse 25 tells us why they didn’t listen, and reminds us of why repentance is reason for joy.

In the case of Eli’s sons, it was the Lord’s will to destroy them.  They had no opportunity to repent.  As I ponder that terrible reality, I consider that God did grant me repentance.  I’m no better than they were, but by His grace (and for His glory) He chose to extend to me what he kept from them.  So I rejoice in His grace to me, His grace that granted me repentance and gave to me salvation.