Jesus vs Religion – Honouring God

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StainedGlassJesus2So I am halfway through Eldredge’s list of ten indicators of religious distraction from true Christ-centred Christianity.  Let’s see if I can finish the list in a single post, actually I won’t bother trying.  I’ll finish the list tomorrow.  All to do with honouring God:

6. The holiness of God is taught by making him “unknowable” or unapproachable.

“God is spoken of as a mystery so high and lifted up we cannot possibly be friends.  The talk may be very intellectual and philosophical; it may be hyperspiritual talk of the heavens; it might be existential “dark night of the soul” stuff.  Do you ever hear Jesus talk like this?  Of course there are mysteries to God, but Jesus came to make God known.”

The incarnation is about the unseen God being seen, and touched, and met, and talked to, and heard, and known.  The New Testament critiques the proto-gnostic notions of an un-incarnate Christ because that tendency was in the churches.  In modified forms it still is.  While it may get us kudos as we stand at the church door and shake hands with the impressed, let us instead offer them the only begotten God who has made the Father fully known.

7. Holiness is substituted with rule-keeping.

The church seems to propagate technical righteousness and the minding of evangelical manners.  Is this what holiness is all about?  If we can’t make the connection between holiness and the fellowship of the Trinity, but only speak of separation from sinful acts, then perhaps our view of holiness is too superficial.  If the preacher doesn’t get it, the congregation have little chance.

Tomorrow I’ll finish the list . . .

 

Jesus vs Religion – Serving God

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StainedGlassJesus2Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge offers a colourful portrait of the personality of Jesus, and warns of the deadening effects of religious mutations of Christianity.  While we may not embrace all of Eldredge’s theology, let’s not miss the accuracy of his diagnosis when it comes to the dangers of religiosity.  We all fall into such mutations of Christianity, so this week I am probing a little from the perspective of a preacher.  We’ve thought about loving and knowing God.  How about serving Him?

4. Religious activity is confused with commitment to Christ.

“To draw near to God requires a church function of some kind.  Church activities are considered more important than any other type of activity.  Those who do not engage regularly in religious gatherings are suspect.  To question the centrality of church functions immediately places the questioner outside the faithful.  Leaders get very defensive about church—but to suggest this fact is to incur something along the lines of malice.” (173-4)

The most committed to Christ must be the people who attend the most meetings.  Really?  It only takes you missing one meeting to learn one thing: people don’t know your circumstances or your motives.  Perhaps you were caught in a conversation of eternal significance, perhaps you were serving God in a private way that should not be broadcast to the church, perhaps your family needed you there.  If you ever chose to stay home and didn’t feel guilt before God (although in some churches you certainly would feel guilt before others) . . . then you know one thing.  You cannot assume and judge negatively when others miss meetings.  I know of preachers preaching pressure to attend faithfully.  If that is you, cut it out.  Preach Christ.

5. Christian service substitutes for friendship with Jesus.

“Fighting for a cause becomes the expression of devotion to Jesus. . . . Exhausted Christians working for noble causes, but they do not report a daily personal encounter with Jesus.  Over time the work itself substitutes for Jesus, and seeking him seems harder than doing more for him.  Martha, Martha.  Loving Jesus comes first; out of this will flow whatever work in the world he has for us to do.” (174)

There is a reason that many pastors and preachers suffer burnout and depression – they lose their grip on being lead worshippers and lead responders and lead delighters in God.  And they become lead activists in the church.   Busy, busy.  Exhaustion.  But loving God always comes before loving people in the presentation of the Great Commandment.  We cannot, we must not, fall for the lie that we are loving God by loving people.  Love God first.  Let him minister to you before you minister to others!

Live that, and then preach that.  It might rescue your church.

Jesus vs Religion – Knowing God

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StainedGlassJesus2Yesterday we pondered the replacement of love with false reverence.  Now for another test to know when “the religious” is at work in the church (launching from some thoughts of John Eldredge in Beautiful Outlaw):

2. Knowing about God substitutes for knowing God.

“Therefore, teaching is exalted.  Church feels like a seminar—could be intellectual, could be motivational.  Good content is what matters.  Doctrine is fiercely defended.  Members can explain to you theories of the atonement, or seven steps to success, but can’t name one intimate encounter they’ve had with Jesus.” (172)

This is a very real danger for us preachers.  Especially those of us who have had the privilege of attending formal theological training in some form.  One of two things tends to happen in Bible school, and both are problematic.  Either we have a great time of personal growth as we delight in the studies and learning environment—which results in us viewing church as an opportunity to recreate that academic environment.  Or we have our faith numbed as we grow sophisticated in our understanding of what true Christianity supposedly is—which also results in us viewing church as an opportunity to recreate that academic environment.

Church is not seminary-lite with courses running one lecture a week over several weeks.  Church is a different animal.  There should be an educational component, but it should be so much more than that.  (Part of the problem may be that Bible college and seminary should be so much more than that too, but over time the ideals of the founders of Bible Institutes and Colleges tend to dull toward secular respectability, intellectual sophistication and spiritual deadness . . . perhaps a subject for another day.)

Let’s be very careful that our own study and personal walk with Christ is genuinely intimate rather than allowing it to reduce to academic study alone.  Then let’s make sure our preaching pursues life transformation and personal introduction, rather than settling for information transfer and cultural reinforcement.

3. Power displays are confused for intimacy with Jesus.

Some churches celebrate the miraculous and delight that God is at work in their midst.  But chasing the next miracle is not the same thing as chasing Jesus.  In Eldredge’s words, “I can give someone a thousand dollars and it doesn’t make them my friend.  They can keep coming back to me for more, and it doesn’t make them my friend.” (173)

Even if we have great stories to tell of God’s coming through in our lives and experience, let us not short change our listeners by failing to invite them into the reality of relationship with God Himself.  A Christianity that offers only the benefits of Christ without the person of Christ might be no Christianity at all.

Jesus vs Religion – Loving God

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StainedGlassJesus2In his book, Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge lists ten tests to know when “the religious” is operating.  This week I am walking through them for us to ponder as preachers, and in respect to our preaching.  Please see the first post for a caveat regarding concerns with his books.

1. False reverence replaces loving Jesus.

 “In fact, loving Jesus is considered optional.  I know, it seems to hard to believe.  But it’s really quite common.  You don’t meet a lot of people, frankly, who are given over to loving Jesus.  But they live a clean life, attend church faithfully, and are considered to be ‘good Christians.’” (172)

Is it possible to be a Christian, but to have the “being in love with God” part be an optional extra – extra credit, if you like?  I am afraid this is all too common.  Jesus could not have been more clear about the greatest commandment.  I think John’s gospel also hints a little about the issue of loving God.  But we have come to the place where people define being a Christian based primarily on praying a prayer, making a commitment, and assenting to a basic creed.

I am glad he put this one first.  It is truly fundamental.  If you don’t love Jesus, something is profoundly broken.  Paul said so in 1Corinthians 16:22 if anyone does not love Christ, he is accursed.  Let’s stop accepting alternative measures of true faith to avoid the central one.

Loving Jesus is not an option for you as a preacher, and it is not an option for those who go by the label Christian.  If you don’t love Jesus, don’t preach.  If you do love Jesus, then when you preach don’t just prompt a pretense of love by adding certain terminology to the creedal commitments of the church.  We don’t need churches full of people who adopt an alteration of their “vocabularius receptus.”  We need to help our churches be full of people who are transformed from external religious practice to real love for a Christ they discover to be so captivating and a God whose love is so transformative.

Jesus vs Religion – Introduction

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StainedGlassJesus2Over the years I have generally enjoyed John Eldredge’s books.  Never completely, but always a lot.  Never completely because there tends to be some things in each one that I wish he would state differently.   Theologically I am not on the same page, and I know that he is strongly critiqued by some.  Since this blog isn’t intended to be a place of critique, I won’t go into any detail here, but will offer some interaction with this caveat in place.

The latest one I have read is Beautiful Outlaw.  This is a book about Jesus subtitled, Experiencing the Playful, Disruptive, Extravagant Personality of Jesus.

Eldredge’s portrait of Jesus will most certainly help the reader to enjoy Jesus, perhaps for the first time.  I am saddened by the thought that some of us claim to have known Jesus for years, but hesitate if we are asked if we like him.  We can determine whether we like a person within minutes of meeting them, but apparently we can know Jesus for years and not instinctively know whether we like him?

The majority of the book is given to personality traits of Jesus and is written positively.  But nearer the end of the book Eldredge sets his sights on religion as the great blanket that deadens our delight in our Lord.  He states:

By the way, this is the bottom line test of anything claiming to be of Jesus: Does it bring life?  If it doesn’t, drop it like a rattlesnake.  And you will find that the religious never, ever brings life.  Ever.  That is its greatest exposure. (209)

He points out that Christianity and Christian culture are by no means the same thing.  We need to hear this.  He points to the development of personal preferences that are then defined as the only right way to do church and to know Jesus.  He points out that a lot of Christian culture can get pretty weird, including a language and affected pronunciation that goes with it.  But “loving the culture of the church is not anywhere close to the same thing as loving Jesus.” (170)  We can’t forget that the Pharisees loved their religious culture, but hated Jesus.

This isn’t just a quaint quirkiness in churchianity.  Eldredge  suggests that religiousness is a ploy of the enemy.  In his words, “a wing nut talking about Jesus does far more damage than fifty atheists.” (171)  So true.  I’ve met a few.

He goes on to list the bad breath effect of those who claim some intimate connection to Jesus, but whose lives are so unappealing: “’Gifted Preachers’ who are mean to their children.  ‘Anointed Prophets’ who cannot sustain ordinary friendship.  ‘Servants of the Lord’ who need to be the center of attention.” (171)

Since people loved to be with Jesus, but are often repelled by the culture we’ve created around his name, I think it is worth prayerfully probing this subject over the next few days.

I’d like to take Eldredge’s ten tests of religiosity and walk through them for the rest of this week.  How are we doing, as preachers?  That is, as those often so visible to both believers and visitors.  And what is our preaching doing?  Are we pushing people toward Christian culture, or inviting them to know and enjoy a compelling Christ?

Ground-Zero Preaching (Easter in the Pulpit) 3

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ChildShockedCrucifixion images tend to be sanitized.  The reality was so much more shocking than we tend to realise.  The frequency of reference, combined with serene artistic representations, has led many believers to have a altogether unrealistic mental image of the crucifixion.

If you are preaching in the next couple of days, before the celebration of Sunday, how should you handle the passion of our Lord?  It is tempting for some to try to be as graphic as they can.  The motivation may be good, but the net result can be lacking.  Turning peoples’ stomachs is not the goal of Easter preaching.  By all means be as biblical and historically accurate as you can be, but always keeping in mind that your listeners are a mixed bunch.

Some of them may fill their minds with horrific images from movie and video games.  But there will be others present who find the slightest hint of blood  brings about faintness and nausea.  The goal is to preach Christ and Him crucified, not to preach so that all people recall is the horror of crucifixion itself.  So beware of excessive medical detail, or overwhelming graphic description, or repulsive projected images.

It is important to remember that people will be drawn by the work of the Spirit, not by the effectiveness of our storytelling and vivid description.

We need to find the right balance this Easter.  Tell it well and help people to know the historicity and reality of Calvary.  But be careful to rely fully on the Spirit to stir the heart, as opposed to simply stirring the stomach by excessive and unhelpful shock and awe tactics.

Ground-Zero Preaching (Easter in the Pulpit) 2

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NailsFour gospels do not automatically mean four accounts of everything.  In fact, most of the ministry of Jesus is told in less than four gospels (except for the feeding of the 5000).  But once you get into passion week, then you have four gospels giving their all to get the story across.  This is both a goldmine and a potential distraction for preachers.

After all, we can piece together so many details of that first Easter.  At the same time, we can easily lose the theological emphasis of whichever gospel we are wanting to preach.

It is good to check all the gospels for accuracy.  You don’t want to preach from John and make an error according to Matthew or Mark.  The passion narratives do harmonize, but it is not always immediately easy to see how.  So be sure to check and be fresh on the historical harmonization, but . . .

Preach the passage, not the historical harmonization.  I am preaching from John this year.  I want to make sure that the listeners hear what John intended to communicate.  The gospels are not a transcribed video script, they are carefully crafted presentations of the history artistically woven to achieve something specific in the hearer.  Our task as preachers is not just to tell the history, but to trust that the Gospel writer knew what he was doing (since the capital “A” Author was fully at work in each of the Gospels), and to preach accordingly.

It is a privilege to have the Bible in our language and to be able to preach one of the accounts.  Even if you rotate through the Gospels each Easter, it will be four years until you come back to this year’s Gospel.  Be sure folks get to hear it this time around!

 

Ground-Zero Preaching (Easter in the Pulpit)

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Hammer

Easter is not like Christmas.  The latter tends to go unmentioned for most of the year, then people come out with expectations of hearing familiar content and carols.  Easter is the real ground zero of the Christian faith.  We tend to, or should, return to it week after week.  So what do we do when Easter comes around?

Some might try to get clever at Easter . . . excessive creativity, abundant gory description, shocking video clips, etc.

Remember that regular church attendees need to hear the basic Easter story.  Jesus left his disciples with a frequent reminder, an acted out parable that would help them remember Him: His body given, His blood shed.  So don’t think we have to get clever at Easter.  Those who know and love the Lord profoundly appreciate a carefully planned biblical presentation of the passion.  They will appreciate a Matthew shaped message, or one in the Mark mold, or Luke’s take, or John’s.  They probably won’t even notice a harmonized presentation from multiple gospels.  They appreciate Paul’s reflections, or those in Hebrews, or even a glimpse of the Lamb looking as though it had been slain from Revelation.  Pick a passage and preach it clearly.  No need to be clever.  Believers need to hear the ground zero Easter story.

Remember that visitors need to hear the basic Easter story too. Perhaps it is visitor season as families share holidays together.  They may be interested, or they may be being polite.  Whatever their motivation, what they need is clear and sim

ple.  They don’t need obfuscated “modern art” preaching or a creatively nuanced oblique side-reference to the gospel.  Pick a passage and preach it clearly.  Everyone needs to hear the Easter story.

I am not advocating being boring or predictable.  I am not critiquing creativity.  Let’s certainly seek to be as effective as we can be in our communication of Easter.  And let’s remember that effective can often mean simply preaching the basics: take people to ground zero and help them know the significance of what happened there.

Book Review: Pontius Pilate by Paul Maier

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PilateI am just re-reading a book I devoured a couple of years ago.  It is historical fiction, but don’t let that put you off.  This historically annotated piece of work is a brilliant read.  It presents a biographical insight into the life and career of Pontius Pilate–his background in Rome, his prefecture in Judea, his confrontations with the Jewish authorities, his history shaping encounter with Jesus of Nazareth.

I suppose this review is a little late for this year, but if you ever preach around Easter, then you must read this book.  It was originally published in the 1960’s, but the timeless content means it could have been written last week.  Paul Maier is a pre-eminent historian of the first century and this makes his reconstruction of character and event particularly insightful.

Why did Pontius Pilate feel so trapped?  He was two strikes down with the Jewish populous when Jesus was presented to him.  This man was clearly innocent, but Pilate could not afford another disaster.  He could not face another report to the Emperor about his failure to manage the pesky Jewish religious affairs.  His ring declared him a friend of Caesar, with all the rights that went with that.  But the Sanhedrin turned the Jesus trial into an ultimatum for Pilate.  Was he really a friend of Caesar, or were these Jewish leaders more concerned with peace in Judea than he was?

Even if it is too late for this Easter, Christianity is an Easter faith and so I would strongly encourage you to get a copy of Pontius Pilate.  Don’t read it to your children, but grab a drink, get comfortable and step back into the first century.  Any preacher will benefit from doing so.