Sure It Does A Body Good, But First You Have To Taste And See

In We’re Not Like That Church Down The Street, Richard points out that most churches believe that they are less watered-down than all the rest of the churches.

As a matter of fact, in a particular consulting season, I asked about ten churches in a row if they considered themselves “deeper” than the other churches in their community. Ten out of ten, despite being from different denominations and of different sizes, all claimed to be “deep”. Go figure! Maybe those are just the churches that hire marketing consultants . Maybe it’s that we all value depth and feel as though we’ve nailed it. Either way, we might just be missing it if we feel we have a unique claim on truth—or assume that others fall so short.

Recently Ryan addressed this issue as well in Neglecting The Weightier Matters.

I think it rather comical/ignorant that so many Christan’s  in the first category think that the Emerging church is taking over and that liberal/humanistic and social theology is on the rise. Yet, if they visited  any churches at all in America or just in the south, they would not hear anything about change at all towards being emergent or social, they would hear the same old thing they’ve heard for years, with a little bit of church growth techniques thrown in every once in a while.

With all the discussion about Calvinism and Total Depravity going on lately, I realize that the church seems to be divided into a few different camps.

1. Focus on Church Growth (Evangelism)
2. Focus on Spiritual Health (Edification)
3. Focus on Temporal Needs (Missions)

There is value in all three of these, but there must be a balance involved as well. More than balance, we need to remember Christ’s primary mission.

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” — Luke 19:10

Salvation is the principle work of the Bible. The entire Bible is a love of story of God’s heart to redeem miserable, fallen humanity.  Too often we get bogged down in service, and forget to learn.

But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away.” — Luke 10:40-42

How many times do churches read that and then try to pass along the guilt trip to those who aren’t serving, because if they helped out a little bit, the busybodies wouldn’t be so bogged down.

But they miss the whole point.

The busybodies don’t need less to do, they need to do less.

So it’s better to sit at the feet of Jesus than it is to serve?
At times, it is better. But we must also remember that if all we do is sit around, we will lose our ability to do much else. “Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

We know that love is not merely an emotion, but it is a state of mind. It is action.

Love sufers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. — 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

So it’s important to evangelize. It’s important to grow spiritually. It’s important to serve help the poor. But all of our service to God and man must be done with love at the core.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have no love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. — 1 Corinthians 13:1

Paul is saying that if we exhibit great external signs for all the world to see and yet do not have God-given love, we are simply making noise.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:2

Paul is saying that no matter how much we edify and strengthen other believers, if it is done for anything other than purely selfless motivations, there is no benefit to us.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. — 1 Corinthians 13:3

Again, if we devote our lives to meeting the physical needs of the poor and needy in this world, and yet are not doing it out of a loving heart, we miss the whole point.

Preaching…

Ryan has a couple of posts that highlight a certain preaching methodology. (Part 1 | Part 2)

It has brought about some really interesting comments. Whatever the case, it has definitely started me thinking.  So is drive by preaching really a demonstration of love?

Looking for love
Just a quick search of the New King James shows me that a few books in the Bible don’t mention the word love. It’s kind of an interesting list, actually.

• Numbers
• Ruth
• 2 Kings
• 1 Chronicles
• Ezra
• Esther
• Lamentations
• Joel
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Haggai
• Malachi
• Acts

The first mention of Love in the Bible is in Genesis 22:2. The last mention is in Revelation 12:11. In light of the conversation, I find it interesting that the word can’t be found in the writings of so many of the prophets (Jonah, Habakkuk, and Malachi most noticeably), or the book of Acts.

In all of the preaching in the book of Acts, with all of the conversions in Nineveh, we don’t read anywhere of anyone telling sinners that “God loves you and have a wonderful plan for your life.”

In fact, the entirety of Jonah’s message was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). We read nothing of Jonah building relationships with the sinners in Nineveh. We read nothing of him setting up greed counseling centers. All we see is that one sentence. The result?

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his thronw and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Powerful stuff. How did it come about?
We can pretty much understand from scripture that Jonah was not praying for Nineveh’s conversion. In fact, he was giddy about their impending annihilation! We read in Jonah 4:1, “But [Nineveh's conversion] displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.”

So how did Nineveh’s conversion happen?
We understand that nobody comes to Christ by their own will. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). We also understand that nobody comes to Christ apart from their own will. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

There are a combination of factors in play here in the macrocosmic conversion of Nineveh, just as there are a combination of factors in play in the microcosmic conversion of a single soul.

1. Prayer
   I believe the first step to a person’s conversion is genuine heartfelt prayer to God for that person’s soul (cf. John 14:14, James 5:15, 2 Peter 3:9).
2. Preach
3. Hear
4. Believe
   

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart“, (that is, the word of faith which we preach); that is you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,”Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.“

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How Beautiful are the feet of those who peace the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Romans 10:8-15

The final three steps in the process are all summarized in Romans 10:8-15.

We are all parts of an ongoing chain. We may be the one who prays. We may be the one who preaches — the first time. We may be the person who preaches the gospel and experiences their conversion.

I think that the preacher in the video is being motivated by love. I don’t think that is the way I would approach it, but as Jason is clear to point out in his comments, the gentleman’s stated motivation is clearly loving, and nothing he says is particularly offensive.

It may be one of those situations where the people are complaining so loudly because his words hit close to home. On the other hand, it may also be a situation where they have heard the same thing so many times that their ears are unresponsive. I think this is where the hypocrisy issue comes out clearest. We will never know this side of heaven.

Forever

In my World Literature class, our teacher gave us the assignment to write a poem based on the Romantic style of poetry. The poem was to be read aloud in class. This was the result of that assignment.

Forever.

The crowds surround Him
Hurling striking insults to His face
“Father,” He cries
“Hold not their sins against them!”
Their torment does not go unnoticed
And His pleas are not ignored
For all who come to His throne of grace
By His blood
Their sins are purged.
Forever.

As the blood seeps from His forehead
The perfect Lamb of God
Demonstrates His eternal love
Upon the cross of Calvary
He breathes His last
Having lived a sinless life
He bore the boundless weight of my transgressions
That by His love
I will live with Him.