Positive Acts - Praying With the Right Priorities

What do your prayers consist of?

Far too often my prayers amount to little more than a quick "Thank you" to God and then a laundry list of requests to make my day go more smoothly. While there is nothing wrong with bringing our personal petitions to God, it is problematic if this is far and away our main focus. When we look at the early church, we see a different set of priorities. In particular, when the church is gathered in Acts chapter 4, we read of them praying for something that we often lack: boldness.

In the beginning of Acts 4 Peter and John are taken before the religious leaders in Jerusalem. The goons in charge command the apostles to stop preaching Christ or else. Peter and John in essence reply that they are going to continue proclaiming Jesus no matter what the leaders say. After additional threats, Peter and John are released; they return to meet with the church body.

Then we come upon Acts 4:23-31 (please click on the link, read the passage, and then come back here).

We learn a great deal from both what the believers do pray for and what they do not. Please note that they do not, at least in these verses, ask for protection from persecution. Frankly, if I found myself in this situation most of my thoughts would dwell on how to avoid pain and suffering. Not so these Christ-followers in Acts 4. They had their priorities straight. Self-preservation was not the priority. Something else mattered more to them.

What did they pray for? In 4:29 we read the following, "And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus." They request two specific things. The first is for continued boldness in gospel proclamation. The second is that God would perform signs and wonders.

Wow.

I have to confess that I basically never pray for these things. That's got to change. I suppose one of the reasons we see so few people come to Christ in this country is that we fail to pray for the boldness we need. Additionally, many of us evangelicals act as if God is no longer in the miracle business.

Moving forward I plan to begin praying like the early believers. I desperately need boldness to proclaim Christ. My job has me right in the middle of a bunch of people who need Christ. I have the opportunity, but need boldness. It would also be wonderful if God would perform signs and wonders. Maybe He hasn't because I haven't asked. I intend to start.

Will you join me in praying for both boldness and miracles?

Positive Acts - Some Sweet Fellowship

I try not to get jealous. Really, I do.

I try not to get jealous when I read Acts 2:42-47. However, the picture that Luke paints of the sweet fellowship in the early church is almost irresistible. Quite frankly, it is exactly what I want but cannot seem to find.

The early church had its problems (see here for example). Despite those difficulties, the believers managed to spend a great deal of time together as a large family. We see this:

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:42-47, ESV).

What a beautiful portrait of what church life can be!

When I read this passage several things jump out at me:

1. The church gathered simply. They got together, learned from and with the apostles, ate meals, and prayed.
2. The church met frequently.
3. The church experienced signs and wonders.
4. The church gladly shared all they had with each other.
5. The church was viewed positively by those around them.
6. The church grew significantly.

When I take all this in one more thing strikes me: there is nothing in scripture to suggest that this same thing cannot happen today. The only difference is that we do not have the apostles with us. However, this does not matter because we have the Holy Spirit to empower us and the scriptures to instruct us. Each and every aspect of this fabulous passage in Acts 2 is a possibility today. We can experience this!

Instead of moping around feeling jealous of the early church, I am more determined than ever to do two things. First, I'm going to pray that God will use me to edify other believers whenever and wherever. Second, I'll be praying more earnestly than ever that God will bless me to be part of a fellowship something like what we see in Acts 2. I encourage you to do the same.

Meme Sunday

September Will Now Be Deemed "Every Christian Who Is Not A Pastor Appreciation Month"

Clergy elevation is a massive, ubiquitous, and damaging problem within the church as a whole. For some reason that I do not comprehend, pastors are generally thought of as extremely hard working folks who have very difficult jobs and receive little praise or recognition (nothing could be farther from the truth). In part because of this line of thinking, someone came up with the idea of "Pastor Appreciation Month."

Each October many institutional churches, at least in the USA, go out of their way to tell and show their pastors how much they love them. Now, nothing is inherently wrong with this; however, it often acts to further draw the distinction between clergy and laity and also elevates the clergy even farther than they already are.

Everyone else within the church is just as important as pastors. I Corinthians chapter twelve makes it abundantly clear that every single person within the church is critical to the healthy functioning of the church. Therefore, let's do something to recognize all believers. Therefore, the month of September will now be a time to encourage, elevate, and champion everybody except pastors within the church. This will be deemed "Every Christian Who Is Not A Pastor Appreciation Month." Feel free to tell your friends.

Positive Acts - Wham!

Acts chapter 2 is amazing. I don't pretend to understand all of it, but I love it. It's difficult for me to comprehend "divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them," but I know it means that the Holy Spirit showed up. He came powerfully and forcefully. Wham! And when the Spirit arrived, Christ's followers changed. They transformed from fearful folks cowering in the shadows to bold witnesses for our Lord. Peter is a wonderful example. From denying Jesus to proclaiming him, Peter changed radically.

These changes in Christ's followers are all due to the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christians did not do this on their own. Rather, God kept his promise to send his Spirit. And send he did. The world has never been the same since.

Immediately after that first Gospel proclamation at Pentecost the crowd was stunned and convicted. We see the power of the Spirit in their response. Luke writes in 2:37-41:

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Three thousand!

The truly exciting part of this for us today is that this same Holy Spirit resides within us. We have access to this same power. I wonder sometimes if I have any clue just how powerfully the Spirit would like to live through me. Most days, I generally stumble along just trying to get basic tasks done. I think I need to begin praying for the Spirit to wake me up spiritually to see what he wants to do with me. Maybe you need to do the same.

The encouraging thing is that the Holy Spirit of Acts 2 is the same Spirit today. We have not been left on our own. We simply need to joyfully follow his leading.

Meme Sunday

Positive Acts - A Promise with Orders

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8).

Well this is certainly a familiar verse. We've all read and heard it hundreds, possibly thousands, of times. And while familiarity doesn't breed contempt when it comes to scripture, it can dull our ears. Do you see the amazing promise in the above verse?

The Holy Spirit had not yet come upon those with Christ at his ascension, but the implication is that the Spirit will soon. We see this happen in stunning fashion at Pentecost. And when this occurs, they certainly "receive power." What sort of power is Jesus talking about? It is the power to unashamedly, boldly, and effectively proclaim the gospel. This happens immediately in Peter's case. He goes from denying Christ three times out of fear to preaching Christ crucified even when the religious leaders tell him not to.

This promise has a purpose. One of the primary reasons the Holy Spirit came was to empower Christians to be witnesses for Christ all over the earth. The Spirit is not limited to certain places, as if some locales or situations are too difficult for him. Instead, the Spirit's presence with all believers ensures that we have all we need to be effective witnesses for Christ wherever we go.

In just one little verse Jesus provides his people with both a promise and orders. The promise is of a person - the Spirit - who will make their evangelism efforts successful. The orders are to be faithful witnesses wherever and whenever.

This should give us great hope. The Holy Spirit is as alive and active today as he was then. Also, we have much easier means to get our witness to the ends of the earth. It is the church's responsibility to see that happen. Let's work together to make it so.

Looking Forward to Reading This Book!

This just arrived. I can't wait to read it! Dave Black said he was enjoying it; that's good enough for me.

Positive Acts

The book of Acts is a goldmine for the church. Throughout the book we see the church functioning in various ways and places. Much of this is positive in nature; some not so much. Although Acts is a narrative in genre, the models left for us provide us with bountiful information to instruct us in how to live today (we cannot ignore it just because it is narrative). Whether or not Acts is prescriptive or merely descriptive in nature is a matter for another time. My purpose in these upcoming posts is to look at positive aspects of church life we see in this book. You will quickly find (no surprise here) that I believe the majority of Acts is prescriptive.

I'm doing this in part because I love the book of Acts. I'm also doing it because I want to be able to focus on the positive for a while. Interspersed among the posts in this series will be posts of other types, some of which will no doubt be more negative. So be it.

Today's church institution has picked and chosen from Acts to support its traditions that stem mostly from man's ideas. I have no interest in this. Rather, I simply desire to read about what Luke shows us through his journey with the early stages of the church. God has given us this grand narrative to inform how we interact both with each other and with the world.

The church as a whole would do well to examine Acts more extensively and alter its practices to come in line with the positives we see there. I'll begin this look in Acts chapter 1. Does it contain anything positive? It certainly does.

Meme Sunday

First World Problem:

I Really Do Try To Be Positive, But...

Blogging is a lot of fun. If it wasn't, I wouldn't do it.

Blogging about the church and how it interacts with culture is also enjoyable. Again, if it wasn't, I wouldn't bother. If you read this blog much you may not think that I like writing about church life. I say this because most of my posts (or so it seems) have a negative tone. As this post's title suggests, I really do try to be positive. However, in light of the current state of the church in this country it is difficult to focus mostly on the positive.

I suppose some of this stems from the fact that I was raised in the institution, stayed there for almost forty years, worked as a missionary, and worked as a professional pastor. I've seen most of the problems first-hand. It's not pretty. Meanwhile, much of my experience in simple church life has been theoretical. I know what the bible says about the church; however, I've only been part of simple church practices for a few years. I still have much more information to draw on about the institution than I do about simple church life.

Another reason for my struggle to be positive is that so many people in leadership within the evangelical church have no desire to make needed changes. To use a Southerism, they "just keep on keepin' on." It's the same thing week after week after week after week. The pastor preaches, the people sit dutifully, the babies cry in the nursery, the ushers take up the offering, and nothing of substance happens. Yucky.

In light of my negative bent, I want to do something proactive to change things up. Therefore, beginning soon I'm going to work through the book of Acts, looking for positive aspects of church life that we can apply to today. Starting in chapter one, I'll attempt to glean the positives from the text. I'm going to purposefully ignore the more negative texts, such as Ananias and Sapphira.

I have no idea what will come of this. Maybe I'll transform into a more positive blogger like Dave Black. Maybe not. Either way, a trip through the book of Acts is always a positive trip to take.

Straight Outta Seminary

SEBTS graduation circa 2006. Roy Sams, Alan Knox, and myself looking relieved.

Why the Institution's Top Priority is Self-Preservation

Institutional Christianity has three non-negotiable characteristics. First, the leaders are "experts" from outside the church family who are paid salaries to preach, marry, baptize, and bury. They are administrators (otherwise known as pastors). Second, scripted religious ceremonies that take place on Sundays are the high point of the church week. These we know as worship services. Third, expensive buildings are the location for large church gatherings, but these edifices sit mostly empty for the vast majority of the time. They are so ingrained in the life of the church that the buildings are often referred to as "the church."

The above three attributes - pastor(s), worship services, and expensive buildings form a sort of unholy Trinity that stifles church life. These three go largely unquestioned by the vast majority of Christians.

One of the three in particular is the primary reason that self-preservation is the top priority for the institution. That one is the building.

Institutional thinking goes like this: Doing ministry occurs primarily in the building. A church building requires significant money. The need for money requires a focus on giving by the church to the church. This leads inevitably to a focus upon self-preservation. This is part of the reason why pastors usually preach at least an annual dreaded "stewardship series" (translated as "Why you should be giving more money to the church").

Further exacerbating the focus upon self-preservation is the pastoral salaries. This can consume a massive portion of the church offerings. The pastor, who usually does most of the preaching, therefore speaks repeatedly about how "God wants you to give to the church." After all, the pastor's income depends upon it.

The constant need for money by institutional churches actually has very little to do with true ministry. Rather, it stems from local churches needing to pay their bills; and their two largest bills are the building mortgage/utilities and pastoral salaries. This necessitates self-preservation as priority numero uno.

Many churches like to say what the most important thing is to them. Some say the Great Commission, some say caring for the poor and needy, others say preaching and teaching, while others say prayer. None of these are accurate.

When it comes to the institution, the dirty little secret is that the top priority is unfailingly one of self-preservation. Everything else falls in line after that.

Approaching the Finish Line

This is me approaching the finish line of a 5K trail run I competed in this past Saturday:

Progressive Christian Fun!

Oh sarcasm, how I love you.

(HT: Sacred Sandwich)

Simple Church Bloggers and Their Murky Theology

It's an odd thing that so many simple church bloggers have murky, soupy, grayish, ill-defined theology. It's odd because most Christians who blog about simple church life do so out of biblical conviction. They read what the bible says about church life and then say, "This is the way it should be now." They, myself included, then look to the institution and say, "No thanks!"

Now to the odd part. A significant number of bloggers who espouse simple church principles at the same time call into question numerous points of theology that the church as a whole is in general agreement upon (or at least used to be). It's weird. Many of the same simple church people who point to the bible for church life then ignore the plain teachings of the bible when it comes to theology, salvation, cultural issues, etc. It is a strange situation indeed.

My biggest concern is the simple church bloggers who call into question Jesus Christ's atoning work on the cross. It appears to embarrass them just as it does the liberal "Christians." This is extremely problematic because the atonement is at the heart of salvation. Simply put, if there is no atonement there is no salvation - period. Jesus certainly did more for his people than just die on the cross in their place, but he did die in their place. It was a substitutionary, penal atonement. Those who call this into question are left with an empty theology of salvation.

Speaking of salvation, a good number of simple church bloggers don't hold to a literal existence of Hell. Now, I'll say that I myself am not sure of Hell's specifics. However, I'm certain that it is an eternal place of torment; whether or not that is physical or emotional in nature I do not know. I do know that it is a spiritual Hell that will last forever. Some in simple church prefer annihilationism; this apparently squares with their understanding of a loving God. Apparently they conveniently ignore the holiness of God in coming to this conclusion.

Delving deeper into the issue of salvation, I've found that most simple church bloggers detest the doctrine of predestination. That's unfortunate since the bible tells us that some are, in fact, predestined. Some bloggers go far beyond rejecting predestination and instead hold to a near universalism. Yuck. As for the process of sanctification, I've read bloggers who basically say that since God saves and loves, it's O.K. to go right on sinning. Yet again, it requires a great deal of ignoring the bible to make a claim like this. God expects increasing holiness post-salvation.

What other issues are there? Well, some simple church bloggers have completely accepted homosexuality; others seem dazed and confused about the whole thing. Many just want everybody to get along. As for women's roles, it appears that the vast majority favor an egalitarian approach to church life (that complementarian thing is just too old-fashioned apparently). Regarding spiritual gifts, nearly anything is acceptable.

What is going on here? I see three major factors at play. First, these simple church bloggers are not being fair or consistent in how they interpret scripture. While they demand a literal understanding of the text when it comes to the N.T. model for church life, when it comes to these other issues they think of the bible as a sort of play thing. Second, these bloggers are clearly questioning both the infallibility and authority of the bible (at least when it is convenient). Third, and possibly the largest factor, these bloggers are bowing to secular cultural norms in a variety of areas.

I admit that at times I'm not consistent while interpreting scripture. Everybody makes mistakes. However, we ought to all try to understand the bible in as consistent a manner as possible. Either it is infallible or it isn't. Either it is authoritative or it is not. As we do this, we must keep factors such as historical context and genre in mind. We should also take a long look at the church's understanding of the issue throughout its history.

The simple church bloggers I'm referring to in this post need to start being honest. They cannot pick-and-choose how they are going to approach the bible. If the New Testament in particular shows us how the church should function, then it also shows us what we need to know about these other issues. To all you murky blogging types, you cannot cling to some scripture and ignore the rest. Either take the whole bible or leave it all.

Linking: "Shut Up, Bigot!: The Intolerance of Tolerance"

Ben Crenshaw discusses both the old and the new tolerance in his fantastic piece entitled Shut Up Bigot: The Intolerance of Tolerance.  The money quote:

We must challenge postmodern thought at a fundamental level and reintroduce the old vision of tolerance into society. This will be most effective if we practice the old tolerance, visibly and powerfully demonstrating that it is possible to hold to objective truths and dissenting views while being respectful and loving toward those with whom we disagree. Such interpersonal virtues are rarely seen in a culture where social media exchanges and comment threads overflow with vitriol. Only by consistently and unfailingly teaching and practicing the old tolerance—and defending its epistemological foundations—will there be any chance of overturning the new tolerance.

Take a few minutes to read the essay. It's worth it.

Meme Sunday Special Edition

Under normal circumstances I'll be using my own created memes on Sundays. However, this comic is simply too good to pass up. I posted it a few years ago, and it received numerous views. What a relief to finally know the truth about Paul's painful condition!

Straight Outta Context

(Thanks to Christian Memes.)

Linking: "We're All Sadists Now"

In his essay We're All Sadists Now Carl Trueman makes the case that the Marquis DeSade is the most influential thinker of our time. Now that is a frightening thought.