My Thoughts on "User-Friendly" Church Part 1
It is no secret that church leaders have at their disposal several proven and successful business models that they may implement to produce visible and tangible ministry results. Many if not most of these models stem from the premise that the Bible is not too clear on how “people ought to conduct themselves in God's household” (1 Timothy 3:15) as it pertains to outreach methodology. That we must market the church is a given, but where do we draw the line? I am not against church marketing per se. If that were true I would not have my church listed in the phonebook. I would not have created an official website or utilized any of the free social networking sites to promote the church, but are there certain marketing practices that fall outside the biblical parameters and principles? In principle I believe all church leaders would agree that there indeed are, but it is in identifying what exactly those parameters are where it gets difficult. It is understandable to see why many church leaders operate in an “anything goes” mode. All for the sake of “reaching” people of course.I certainly do not claim to have a complete handle on all of this, but here are some of my observations and convictions so that my readers (mainly personal friends and members of Church of Grace) may get my pastoral thoughts on these matters. I have come to fully appreciate the sincere and creative efforts of my Christian brothers and sisters in reaching a lost and perishing world. I have been a part of and witnessed unconventional ministry practices and I had no doubt that in many occasions we got it right. Unfortunately, there are many occasions in which we simply got it wrong. I have long since repented and withdrew from that particular philosophy.
You see, seeker sensitive churches who strive so ardently to be cool, hip and relevant in the name of outreach too often produce spiritually shallow results. This is something that even they admit as demonstrated through the Reveal survey. Cool, hip and relevant Granger Community Church is a sad example of this.
Seeker sensitive churches can definitely draw a crowd, but the same crowd proves to be characterized by laziness and an unwillingness to grow and mature in Christ even years after having been allegedly “reached” and “connected” to the church. Quite frankly their lives lack in evidence that would demonstrate that genuine conversion to Christ has taken place. They seemed to have bought into the church as another social network they’ve added to their self-centered lives, but they have not fully embraced the Lord of the church. I agree whole heartidly with Dr. James White who says, "What you win them with is what you win them to", but maybe more on that later.
Gandhi is credited with saying and describing the sentiments of many when he allegedly said, "I like your Christ, but not your Christians.” I may be a little off on the quote, but that is the gist of it. I found different variations, but at the heart they all meant the same thing. Gandhi meant that in his experience there was a discrepancy between the Savior and the saved. He said, “I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I don’t think that to be the case with the seeker sensitive movement. Unbelievers today are more apt to say to seeker sensitive ministries, “I like you Christians, but not your Christ.” That is because seeker sensitive Christians have managed to be so nice, loving, acceptable, affirming, nonjudgmental and tolerant that the reality of Biblical truth (the whole counsel of God) has been missed. By the way, I mean these terms in a worldly way and not at all biblically. I find too often that Christians embrace a concept of “love” that is defined more by the world than by the Bible. Naturally this is not the case with everyone, but here is an example of what I mean by suggesting that Gandhi’s sentiment is now reversed.
For example, I found these comments among unbelievers in their perception of Jesus. One person thought it was “…scary that jesus liked the idea of turning people against one another its like he wanted a huge religious war or something.” Expressing similar thoughts another person expressed, “Christ came with a sword, wanted the whole world set on fire, and is going to be wading through pools of blood. I don't like him because I've actually read the Bible. He said all kinds of weird, nonsensical ****-- or so say the people who wrote the New Testament.”
Yes, it does seem that these people have actually opened their Bibles and in doing so they came across passages like Matthew 10 and Revelation 19.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Jesus, Matthew 10:34-39
John the revelator penned a vision of Jesus in the end times. He writes,
11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. Revelation 19:11-15
The blood on Jesus’ robe is not his own, but that of his enemies when he comes to “strike down the nations.” This imagery reminds of another place in which God describes himself in this way.
1Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 3“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. 4For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. 5I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.” Isaiah 63:1-6 NKJV
So why were the Lord’s garments like one who treads the winepress? Because in his anger he trampled his enemies like grapes. This passage is not at all difficult to interpret because it is interpreted for us. The Lord says, “Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes” (verse 3).
The unbelievers I mentioned earlier who read their Bibles and saw an unattractive Jesus prove my point. If these same unregenerate people (I don’t mean this in a derogatory sense, but only in a biblically descriptive way) who have a problem with Jesus had visited a seeker sensitive church before they had ever opened a Bible and all they heard were talks on how to improve the quality of their lives then I suppose they would have had no problem. The music at the beginning of the service would have had the same concert atmosphere that they are all too familiar with. I suppose they would also have had no problem in hearing the motivational speaker (the pastor) talk about how to have a better marriage, how to spice things up in the bedroom, or how to get along with annoying people. It’s all good, until they actually open their Bibles and hear passages in context. Just imagine if motivational speakers kept 1 Timothy 4:13. I guess then they would be called preachers. Their hearers would soon realize that there is more to the Bible than just nice quotes and anecdotes. This doesn’t happen however because Christian motivational speakers want to be sensitive and so they never get that far. I don’t think the Apostle Paul had in mind the reading of only one sentence (one sentence = one verse) a week from his pastoral epistles. This is apparent in instructing Pastor Timothy to actually devote himself to “the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13). In another place (1 Thess. 5:27) he wrote, “I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter [that’s the whole book by the way] read to all the brothers.”
We need to obey, but this is impossible apart from God's grace. The burden is on the believer to uphold the biblically correct view that God is indeed wrathful and also loving. The same Isaiah 63 passage that depicts God so violently trampling on his enemies also speaks of him as loving and good. There are certainly extremes on both sides. One hand you have the graceless fire and brimstone preacher who bangs his fist on the wooden pulpit and on the other extreme there is the Christian version of Stuart Smalley. I repudiate both of them. Both are in error. We need only look to the cross of Christ to see how the wrath and love of God meet in one single event. “He who did not spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32) means that sin could not go unpunished. That he “gave him [Jesus] up for us all” (Romans 8:32) means that he prepared his own sacrifice. He purchased the church “with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). That will be the only time you find Christ with robes stained with his own blood. My thoughts are definitely not complete here, but this post is already lengthy so I will follow up my thoughts on my next post.
Gandhi is credited with saying and describing the sentiments of many when he allegedly said, "I like your Christ, but not your Christians.” I may be a little off on the quote, but that is the gist of it. I found different variations, but at the heart they all meant the same thing. Gandhi meant that in his experience there was a discrepancy between the Savior and the saved. He said, “I like your Christ, but not your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” I don’t think that to be the case with the seeker sensitive movement. Unbelievers today are more apt to say to seeker sensitive ministries, “I like you Christians, but not your Christ.” That is because seeker sensitive Christians have managed to be so nice, loving, acceptable, affirming, nonjudgmental and tolerant that the reality of Biblical truth (the whole counsel of God) has been missed. By the way, I mean these terms in a worldly way and not at all biblically. I find too often that Christians embrace a concept of “love” that is defined more by the world than by the Bible. Naturally this is not the case with everyone, but here is an example of what I mean by suggesting that Gandhi’s sentiment is now reversed.
For example, I found these comments among unbelievers in their perception of Jesus. One person thought it was “…scary that jesus liked the idea of turning people against one another its like he wanted a huge religious war or something.” Expressing similar thoughts another person expressed, “Christ came with a sword, wanted the whole world set on fire, and is going to be wading through pools of blood. I don't like him because I've actually read the Bible. He said all kinds of weird, nonsensical ****-- or so say the people who wrote the New Testament.”
Yes, it does seem that these people have actually opened their Bibles and in doing so they came across passages like Matthew 10 and Revelation 19.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Jesus, Matthew 10:34-39
John the revelator penned a vision of Jesus in the end times. He writes,
11Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. Revelation 19:11-15
The blood on Jesus’ robe is not his own, but that of his enemies when he comes to “strike down the nations.” This imagery reminds of another place in which God describes himself in this way.
1Who is this who comes from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah, This One who is glorious in His apparel, Traveling in the greatness of His strength?— “I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.” 2Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress? 3“I have trodden the winepress alone, And from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, And trampled them in My fury; Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes. 4For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. 5I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me. 6I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, Made them drunk in My fury, And brought down their strength to the earth.” Isaiah 63:1-6 NKJV
So why were the Lord’s garments like one who treads the winepress? Because in his anger he trampled his enemies like grapes. This passage is not at all difficult to interpret because it is interpreted for us. The Lord says, “Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, And I have stained all My robes” (verse 3).
The unbelievers I mentioned earlier who read their Bibles and saw an unattractive Jesus prove my point. If these same unregenerate people (I don’t mean this in a derogatory sense, but only in a biblically descriptive way) who have a problem with Jesus had visited a seeker sensitive church before they had ever opened a Bible and all they heard were talks on how to improve the quality of their lives then I suppose they would have had no problem. The music at the beginning of the service would have had the same concert atmosphere that they are all too familiar with. I suppose they would also have had no problem in hearing the motivational speaker (the pastor) talk about how to have a better marriage, how to spice things up in the bedroom, or how to get along with annoying people. It’s all good, until they actually open their Bibles and hear passages in context. Just imagine if motivational speakers kept 1 Timothy 4:13. I guess then they would be called preachers. Their hearers would soon realize that there is more to the Bible than just nice quotes and anecdotes. This doesn’t happen however because Christian motivational speakers want to be sensitive and so they never get that far. I don’t think the Apostle Paul had in mind the reading of only one sentence (one sentence = one verse) a week from his pastoral epistles. This is apparent in instructing Pastor Timothy to actually devote himself to “the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13). In another place (1 Thess. 5:27) he wrote, “I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter [that’s the whole book by the way] read to all the brothers.”
We need to obey, but this is impossible apart from God's grace. The burden is on the believer to uphold the biblically correct view that God is indeed wrathful and also loving. The same Isaiah 63 passage that depicts God so violently trampling on his enemies also speaks of him as loving and good. There are certainly extremes on both sides. One hand you have the graceless fire and brimstone preacher who bangs his fist on the wooden pulpit and on the other extreme there is the Christian version of Stuart Smalley. I repudiate both of them. Both are in error. We need only look to the cross of Christ to see how the wrath and love of God meet in one single event. “He who did not spare his own Son” (Romans 8:32) means that sin could not go unpunished. That he “gave him [Jesus] up for us all” (Romans 8:32) means that he prepared his own sacrifice. He purchased the church “with His own blood” (Acts 20:28). That will be the only time you find Christ with robes stained with his own blood. My thoughts are definitely not complete here, but this post is already lengthy so I will follow up my thoughts on my next post.
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