Why I would rather hear Steve Brown than Mark Driscoll preach…

…or John MacArthur, or John Piper, or Katharine Jefferts Schori, or a host of other dogmatic preachers, no matter what end of the theological spectrum they come from.

I want a humble pastor, a pastor without all the answers, a pastor who points me to Jesus rather than to himself or herself. I want a pastor who trusts God to work through Word and Sacrament and does not see himself or herself as indispensable to God’s work in the world.

In short, I want a pastor who understands grace, and doesn’t take himself or herself too seriously. Like Steve Brown, who says:

“I often say at the end of my sermons, “Fifty percent of what I just taught you is wrong. I’m just not sure which fifty percent. So, you’re going to have to get your Bible and do some checking.” That drives Christians nuts because we’re all looking for someone to follow who has all the answers and is willing to lead. I’m not that person. I used to be, but I’ve repented.”

• From Three Free Sins: God’s Not Mad at You
by Steve Brown

We Don’t Advertise Our Spiritual Experiences

A Letter for the Church Today (5)
A Study of 2 Corinthians 10-13

Nothing sells like religious experience.

Currently, the number one book on the New York Times paperback nonfiction bestsellers list is Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back, the story of a child who slipped into unconsciousness during surgery and reportedly went to heaven. Upon returning, he shared remarkable stories about what he saw there, including details about deceased family members, etc., that he allegedly could never have known.

I have no comment about the book. I mention it only to make my point. Even in this supposedly secular and skeptical age in which we live, a story about spectacular, mysterious spiritual experience gets a lot of attention. And sells a lot of books.

Thus has it ever been. In Paul’s day, traveling preachers and wisdom teachers likewise shared similar stories in order to attract and impress audiences. The Apostle Paul, however, refused to use such methods.

The truth of the matter is that Paul is most reluctant to talk about his visions and revelations. Luke tells us of a number of visions that Paul received (Acts 9:12, 16:9-10, 18:9-10, 22:17-21, 23:11, 27:23-24) so Paul must have talked about some of them with his closest colleagues. This is not altogether surprising in those instances where guidance was involved, as others would have to be given the rationale for Paul’s plans, or where sharing the vision meant Paul was sharing his own deep discouragement or fear. What is remarkable, however, is that in his epistles Paul does not normally share the content of any vision or revelation….In the text before us, Paul tells us at least one reason for his silence: he believes there is nothing to be gained by such talk, i.e., no spiritual profit for the Corinthians if he exposes his most intimate and supernatural experiences to them. Such talk may puff him up, or help to establish his reputation; but what good would it do? None, as far as the apostle can see; and so in the past he has held his peace.

• from A Model of Christian Maturity: An Exposition of 2 Corinthians 10-13
by D.A. Carson

Continue reading “We Don’t Advertise Our Spiritual Experiences”

The Arithmetic of Grace

The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

• Deuteronomy 7:7-8, NASB

• • •

Peter W. Marty once wrote, “In a memorable Dennis the Menace cartoon, Dennis and his friend Joey are leaving Mrs. Wilson’s house loaded up with a plate full of cookies. Joey turns to Dennis and says, ‘I wonder what we did to deserve this.’ Dennis is quick to reply, ‘Look Joey, Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.’ So goes the arithmetic of grace.” (The World of Grace)

Dennis’ sentiment captures what I have always loved about the sentence from Deuteronomy 7 cited above, though I have not meditated on it or internalized nearly enough. If you take out all the intervening clauses in the verse and boil down what God is saying to Israel, what you have is, “I love you…because I love you.” It’s as simple, and profound, as that.

It’s not because we’re nice. He loves us because he loves us. Period. It’s who God is that makes the difference in matters of love, grace, and choice.

And who is he? A remarkably indiscriminate lover! After all, he loves you and me.

Continue reading “The Arithmetic of Grace”

Saturday Ramblings 2.11.12

Welcome to the Valentine’s Day edition of Saturday Ramblings. We want you to be our valentine. (I have no idea what that means. Just seems the thing to say.)  Sorry, we have no chocolate to share. Well, ok, we suppose we could offer you some chocolate-covered Ramblings.

Rambler Adam Palmer found this story about the torture and persecution of Christians in Muslim countries. No, this is not to get you riled up against Muslims. It is to remind us to pray for our brothers and sisters in these countries. As St. Paul Harvey would say, “It is not one world.”

The story of Andrew, the young man “discplined” by Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll, goes on and on and on. Slate has this very interesting look into the whole debacle. And Matthew Paul Turner comments on Slate.  Now it’s your turn to comment on these stories.

Not sure if Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church will discipline its members who don’t lose weight or not. And I have no idea what “pump and praise” is, nor do I want to know. (Don’t even go there, iMonks. I have an itchy trigger finger…)

You know that the Catholic liturgy changed at the beginning of the year. Apparently one priest didn’t get the memo. Now he’s in the unemployment line for saying an unauthorized prayer. (I said don’t go there, iMonks.)

Continue reading “Saturday Ramblings 2.11.12”

The Church as Noah’s Ark

A Moment with Frederick Buechner
“The Church as Noah’s Ark”

NAVE
The nave is the central part of the church from the main front to the chancel. It’s the part where the laity sit and in great Gothic churches is sometimes separated from the choir and clergy by a screen. It takes its name from the Latin navis, meaning ship, one reason being that the vaulted roof looks rather like an inverted keel. A more interesting reason is that the Church itself is thought of as a ship or Noah’s Ark. It’s a resemblance worth thinking about.

In one as in the other, just about everything imaginable is aboard, the clean and the unclean both. They are all piled in together helter-skelter, the predators and the prey, the wild and the tame, the sleek and beautiful ones and the ones that are ugly as sin. There are sly young foxes and impossible old cows. There are the catty and the piggish and the peacock-proud. There are hawks and there are doves. Some are wise as owls, some silly as geese; some meek as lambs and others fire-breathing dragons. There are times when they all cackle and grunt and roar and sing together, and there are times when you could hear a pin drop. Most of them have no clear idea just where they’re supposed to be heading or how they’re supposed to get there or what they’ll find if and when they finally do, but they figure the people in charge must know and in the meanwhile sit back on their haunches and try to enjoy the ride.

It’s not all enjoyable. There’s backbiting just like everywhere else. There’s a pecking order. There’s jostling at the trough. There’s growling and grousing, bitching and whining. There are dogs in the manger and old goats and black widows. It’s a regular menagerie in there, and sometimes it smells to high Heaven like one.

But even at its worst, there’s at least one thing that makes it bearable within, and that is the storm without—the wild winds and terrible waves and in all the watery waste no help in sight.

And at its best there is, if never clear sailing, shelter from the blast, a sense of somehow heading in the right direction in spite of everything, a ship to keep afloat, and, like a beacon in the dark, the hope of finding safe harbor at last.

from Whistling in the Dark: A Doubter’s Dictionary
Frederick Buechner

iMonk Classic: Ten Questions About the Bible + one rant

Classic iMonk Post
by Michael Spencer
From February 2007

• • •

1. State briefly what you believe about the Bible.

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is set down in Scripture, or may be deduced from Scripture. In scripture, God revealed what he wanted us to know about himself, ourselves and his Son. The Bible is inspired, true and the final authority for the Christian. Most importantly, the Bible is God’s revelation of his Son, Jesus Christ, and his Gospel.

2. How is the Bible inspired?

God inspired all things that in any way affected the production of the writings that make up the Bible in order to say what he desired to say in language. That inspiration contains supernatural events, but the production of the writing itself is natural in process, and it is unique, God-breathed and God caused. Human beings wrote Scripture, but the ultimate message of the Bible is because of the authorship of the Holy Spirit. The focus of the inspiration of the Bible is Jesus Christ and the gospel. Discerning inspiration is a matter of discerning the relationship of Jesus Christ to what was written.

Continue reading “iMonk Classic: Ten Questions About the Bible + one rant”

The Coming Collapse Of Excessive Evangelicalism

I first came to know Michael Spencer following his posts on the Coming Collapse of Evangelicalism, brilliant pieces that stirred no end of controversy. (Not that Michael ever let a bit of controversy bother him.) I want to start off these thoughts of mine by quoting Michael from his post:

I’m not a Prophet or a Prophet’s Son. I can’t see the future. I’m usually wrong. I’m known for over-reacting. I have no statistics. You probably shouldn’t read this.

That goes for what I am about to write. These are my thoughts, opinions and observations. Don’t hold my feet to the fire if I’m wrong. Don’t ask me when these things might happen. And please don’t ask me for statistics. I don’t understand statistics other than they can be used to argue both sides of a debate. I am not debating with you. I am writing what is stirring in my heart. I may be totally wrong, but who knows? Even a blind pig can stumble on an acorn now and then.

We often write about the “evangelical circus” we see in America today, and some are not pleased with us equating evangelicalism with clowns and dancing bears wearing tutus. So perhaps, just for today, we’ll change the nomenclature to “excessive evangelicalism.” The excess can be in the size of the church building, the number of satellite churches, and the number of programs offered by the church to the leader’s preaching style, content of the messages, or personal lifestyle. Just because a church is large does not make it excessive, just as a small church is not necessarily free of excess. Yet I don’t think it will take you too long to spot the excessive evangelicals in your neighborhood or in the nation. Sure, I could kick around some names, but that is not what I want to focus on here.

I just don’t believe excesses like those we see today in evangelicalism can be sustained over the long haul. Thus my prediction that a collapse in churches, parachurch ministries and individuals who practice excessive evangelicalism is inevitable. And I think this is a very, very good thing, as well as a very dangerous thing.

Continue reading “The Coming Collapse Of Excessive Evangelicalism”

Discernment and Decision Making in the Call to Ministry

As I make my way through the process of ordination in my denomination, I have been asked to do some reading about vocation and calling in preparation for various meetings. The following is from a small book given to ministerial candidates called, “What Shall I Say? Discerning God’s Call to Ministry.” These paragraphs describe one key reason I am seeking a denominational ordination and why I came to see free church evangelicalism as lacking when it comes to ministerial standards.

Discernment and decision making are distinctly different yet related approaches to responding to God’s call. Decision makers define the problem, gather data, analyze options, weight pros and cons, then cut away all choices but one. While other people may be consulted, the power of choice lies basically in the hands of the decision maker. This is appropriate for many kinds of decisions, such as making a major purchase or deciding which college to attend.

It might seem as if this is also appropriate for making a decision about ordained or rostered lay ministry. Someone who is considering rostered ministry might analyze personal strengths and weaknesses, evaluate the fit with various job descriptions in the church, then decide to become a pastor or a diaconal minister, for example.

In the United States we can see this in the way that talented individuals have established their own “ministries,” often using their own names to identify their ministries, and almost always establishing their ministries apart from the churches or traditions with which they might, in some loose way, be identified. Their powerful personal sense of call seems to have little to do with the church.

Such an approach can be dangerous for the people who respond to such ministries as well as for the individuals who engage in them. Well-meaning people have been manipulated, exploited, deceived, cheated, and, in some instances, led to despair and death by charismatic individuals, religious charlatans, and self-willed individuals who have been grasped and driven by something quite other than the gospel.

Yet, in the Lutheran tradition an individual’s discernment is only a part of the process. An authentic call to ordained or rostered lay ministry involves the church as well as the individual. Hence the church initiates the call, and tests the sense of call and the needed gifts for its ordained and rostered lay ministries. It has both the right and the responsibility to do so. The very notion of self-appointed and self-proclaimed leaders contradicts what it means to be a leader in the church. It is also precisely what “heresy” means: going your own way, on your own terms, with yourself as your own authority. “Orthodoxy” means rightly, authentically, praising God and rightly, authentically, teaching the gospel. Right teaching of the gospel takes place when the church teaches the gospel in accordance with Holy Scripture and the classic creeds and confessions. It is not one person’s homemade version of God’s truth.

What Shall I Say? Discerning God’s Call to Ministry
Walter R. Bouman and Sue M. Setzter

Of course, no system is perfect when human beings are involved. Roman Catholics, for example, have been dealing with a serious clergy sex-abuse scandal that wasn’t prevented by their organized ecclesial call systems. Nevertheless, there is a system in place now in which to deal with those problems, and one would hope that the resources of Church and leadership will help bring justice and healing in a way that no “lone ranger,” autonomous local-style ministry could.

“The very notion of self-appointed and self-proclaimed leaders contradicts what it means to be a leader in the church.” That says it all to me.

Must Read: Men’s Responses to Piper at Rachel Held Evans

'Ember Cascade Rosemary Benine Summer' photo (c) 2009, Quinn Dombrowski - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/In the light of John Piper’s recent assertion that “God gave Christianity a masculine feel,” our friend Rachel Held Evans challenged men to respond by sending her posts that celebrate women and their full equality and partnership in the Church. Rachel published the results today, in “God Is Not Ashamed” – Our Brothers Speak Out”.

This is a must-read, filled with insightful remarks from men all over the world. At this writing, she had received more than 150 responses.

One of the best links was to a moving post called “Courageous Daughters,” by Justin Bowers, who reflected on a father’s dreams for his three daughters:

'Bubbles' photo (c) 2005, Stephen Dann - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/If we model the type of leadership Piper calls for in its entirety, we risk failing a generation of women God has gifted as integral members and leaders within our ministries.

When my daughters were infants I took each of them in my arms and stood in front of a congregation and dedicated them entirely to Christ.  I asked the congregation to support my family and help raise them to be disciples, Kingdom Agents, and ambassadors of Christ.  I stood before the body of Christ, the BRIDE of Christ, and in solidarity believed with them that God had plans for these girls that can only be carried out to the fullest extent in the community of believers.

…For my daughters, I don’t want the church to be a place that tells them not to dream.   I don’t want them to grow up with a limited view of God’s nature that dictates him only as Father and King.  Those are real and true.  But he is also the Provider, the Nurturer, the Sustainer who feeds the young.  He is above gender focus because he is the Creator of gender… The beauty of a mother and the character of a father are both seen as reflections of God’s nature.  But they are seen most fully in right relationship as husband and wife, loving each other and caring for their children in both masculine and feminine ways–truly reflecting the fullest nature of God with his people.