Faith Enough to Fail

March 6th, 2007 1 comment »

I was talking today with a wonderful young couple just starting out on the journey of faith and marriage. They are seeking to find God’s place for them in life as His disciples. As our conversation meandered around the details and detours of life, I was reminded of an important lesson learned this past year.

Genuine faith knows that God will never fail, but I might. The risk in following God is not that He will ever let me down, but that He may ask me to let go. If I loose my house because I can’t pay the mortgage, am I a failure or has God simply asked me to put my faith in Him? If my church fails to launch, is it because I am a failure, or because God simply asked me to let it go?

What? Is that possible? Doesn’t the Bible guarantee that if we have faith we can do anything? Isn’t that a guarantee from God that we will never fail if we have faith and the only reason we will fail is because our faith is weak? Doesn’t God guarantee three square meals a day and a safe place to lie down at night? That is what I used to think too, but read your Bible.

I wonder if Paul, the Apostle, questioned his faith every time he was stoned or shipwrecked. When Joseph sat in prison for over a decade did he question God and say, “why have you allowed me to fail?” Every one of Jesus’ original disciples, except Peter, died for their faith. Was Peter the only one with real faith? What of those faithful Christ-followers in Africa who die each day from starvation? Is their faith impotent and unable to guarantee them success? Isn’t that just what people said to Jesus as He hung dying on the cross, “you miserable failure, you can’t even save yourself!”? In the worlds eyes, these people may be failures, but through the eyes of the Kingdom, they were amazing success stories.

From a worldly perspective, let me ask you this, “is your faith strong enough to withstand a failure?” Are you willing to walk in obedience even if it means you will not “succeed”? Are you only willing to follow, if God first shows you the outcome and guarantees you a certain result?

I meet far too many people who are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the perfect time, the perfect plan and the perfect promise of success before they will get out and follow after Jesus. Just like the rich young ruler, so many people are crying out, “I will follow you Jesus… but not at the cost of financial ruin… not at the cost of failure!”

I was inspired to talk with this couple today because I am confident they get it and they have faith enough to fail. And I am confident they will not forget that God does not measure success by how many goals we meet, but by how many time we meet Him along the way.

This article was published in May. 9, 2007 issue of our local paper, The Gazette.

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Posted in Discipleship, Spiritual Formation

Evangelically Sexy & The Ethos of Pragmatism

March 4th, 2007 1 comment »

Recently I sat down with a group of pastors and we were discussing the topic of tithing. One pastor brought up the idea of using a special giving card that offered a “Money Back Guarantee.” I wrote about this same concept back in October 2006. Here is a short summary of the idea:

Have your church’s leadership approve a money back guarantee for first-time tithers. When John Maxwell was pastoring, he would do this once a year. Following the month-long stewardship preaching series, they ask regular givers to turn in a card saying they will tithe the next year. They ask non-tithers and new people to sign a card saying they will begin to tithe. The church offers a full money back guarantee to anyone who tithes for 90 days and then regrets this decision.

But in my most recent conversation, something new hit me. I asked the group of pastors who were in favor of using this giving card a very simple question, “what is your biblical and theological basis for using the “Money Back Guarantee” card? One pastor simply replied, “I don’t have a biblical foundation for one, and while this may not even represent good theology; it works!”

The reality is that the words of this one pastor are not isolated. There are a lot of “successful” churches who have embraced pragmatism over obedience. I have noticed a trend among “Evangelical” churches over the past years. The Evangelical church seems consumed with the methods, practices, theology and ethos of the world. Part of what has become Evangelically Sexy is the reliance upon results as the bellwether of God’s hand of blessing. In short, pragmatism has become the new ethos that seems to govern so many of our churches. John MacArthur has made this same observation in his article “What’s Inside the Trojan Horse?”:

What is pragmatism? Basically it is the philosophy that results determine meaning, truth, and value–what will work becomes a more important question than what is true. As Christians, we are called to trust what the Lord says, preach that message to others, and leave the results to Him. But many have set that aside. Seeking relevancy and success, they have welcomed the pragmatic approach and have received the proverbial Trojan horse.

There are a lot of people out there promoting what is Evangelically Sexy and putting pragmatism above obedience. God’s ways are not our ways. God often asks us to do things that will not “work” in eyes of our world, but they are still God’s ways! Examine your own actions and make sure you are not letting this Trojan Horse into your faith practice.

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Posted in Bibliology, Culture, Epistemology, Religion

Lesson From an Ass

March 4th, 2007 No comments »

Why is it that we feel prideful when God uses us to speak His word or do His work? Did you ever notice how some pastors and teachers get so self-consumed when their message is well received that they actually take credit for it? We think, “Look how effective I am; .look at all those people who got saved because they heard my sermon.” “I am such a good teacher; look how many people were impacted by my message.”

Any unwary Christians can easily forget the lesson taught in the book of Numbers; “if God can use Balaam’s ass, he can certainly use me!”

So the next time you are tempted to take personal pride in a well crafted sermon because of its positive results in people’s lives, think back on that lowly talking ass. Let pride be replaced by honor that God actually chose you to deliver His message instead of an ass. Never forget, God can replace you at any time, so don’t let “success” go to your head.

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Posted in Anthropology, Ecclesiology, Hamartology, Leadership, Spiritual Formation

Marilyn Manson is Doing God’s Work!

March 1st, 2007 2 comments »

There are a lot of really big churches in the United States and around the world. I overheard a pastor the other day talking about one church that numbers over 26,000 people. And do you know what his assessment was? “Look how many members they have. That church must be doing something right!” But I wonder, is the size of ones congregation proof-positive that this church is doing something right?

The Puritans, along with today’s prosperity Gospel folks, taught that financial prosperity was some kind of Divine proof that a man was living right before God. If you were poor, then it was a sure sign that God had judged you unfit. I guess that makes Bill Gates one of the most holy men on earth because he sure does have a lot of money. And poor Mother Theresa, she must have been a very wicked woman.

Just like my pastor friend mentioned above, Charles Finney taught that a big crowd was proof positive that he was doing everything in accordance with God’s will. I guess that means that Marilyn Manson must be doing God’s work because he sure can draw a big crowd. And I guess all those churches that have under 100 people must be doing something wrong in God’s eyes, after all, look how small they are.

Yep, I think a lot of people are of the opinion that a big crowd proves you are doing something right in God’s eyes. Maybe that explains why so many folks want to model everything they do after the patrons of the mega-churches; after all, “they must be doing something right.” Right?

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Posted in Ecclesiology, Emerging Church, Epistemology, Humor