THAT’S WHAT YOU THINK!

I’ve heard many, many comments and criticisms among pastors who accuse other pastors of “watering down the Gospel” or teaching life lessons rather than teaching the Word. Some insist that other denominations or less traditional churches are “leading sheep astray”  because they aren’t teaching “right doctrine” or “the truth”. How would they know that, I wonder?

They are all using the same Bible.

It’s true that some pastors use the Bible to make their point without sufficient regard for how their point really holds up in view of the whole Word of God. But they are using the Bible nonetheless.  So how will the average seeker, or Christian, who is trying to discern if they are in a “good church”, know if they are living under healthy and wise teaching?

One church we visited had a pastor who marched back and forth across the stage with a Bible open in his hands. He walked slightly bent and carried the Bible with his arms outstretched before him as he crossed the stage from side to side. It literally created the impression that man was chasing after the Word of God. Clever.

Except his teaching was far from sound. He had cobbled together two separate fragments of scripture that didn’t actually share a common context, in order to support his message. In short, the scriptures did not mean what he purported they did.

His thesis was okay and his message was benign, but he had deliberately misused the scriptures to make his case. He had used only the first half of a sentence at the beginning of scripture because it fit his proposition, but the second half of the sentence that followed in the text revealed the scripture was talking about something else entirely.  A good teacher would never do that. One would have to have read their Bible enough to have noticed that particular red flag. I wondered how many in the room had. The auditorium was filled with more than 500 people. Most of them seemed to be listening.

At least once every five minutes the pastor would ask if he could get an “Amen!” His audience cheerfully complied. I grew frustrated. He knew how to use his body and his vocal inflections to capture the attention of his audience, but is it possible he didn’t know how to use the Bible? Doubtful. I imagine that he knew full well that he had misused the passages when he was preparing his message.

To my knowledge, this pastor hadn’t “watered down the Gospel” or even adulterated Christian doctrine. But any pastor who would use the Bible the way he did is not a leader I would encourage anyone to follow.

“You can teach Biblically or you can teach textually. Biblically is when I start in this particular text – and everything I say is true; it’s true somewhere in the Bible, but it’s not what this text is about. This text has not driven my sermon, I’ve driven my sermon. And when I’ve driven my sermon you’re getting me instead of getting what the Spirit Himself inspired. I think the driving goal in preaching is to let the Bible be the Bible. Let the Bible tell me how to interpret the Bible, how to preach the Bible how to apply the Bible, and how to illustrate the Bible… and I feel wholly inadequate to do that. That’s just the truth. If the Spirit of God doesn’t lead me in that, then I am not adequate to do that. If He gives gifts, they are sufficient, they are not my gifts, they are His gifts. But I think to come to a text and say, this is what this text is about; this is what the text says about what it’s about and this is how this text says it. How can I preach in a way that reflects that? How can I help our people see that so they are actually understanding this text? I think a lot of times when you have a sermon that really grips your heart the reason is, (if you thought of the text as this river), it’s right in the heart of the river and you are being carried along by the flow of the river and you’re getting the power the Spirit inspired this text to have.  That meaning is being communicated right now. There is Spiritual power in that. When your teaching is not in the flow of the Spirit, it’s kind of like you drifted off and you’re on the bank of a creek.  You’re still a little bit wet but your feet are kind of just sitting in the water because the stuff you’re saying is somewhere in the Bible but it’s not in the full force of this text. There’s a major difference in those two approaches.”

“The irony is that a lot of the time, our hesitancy to preach textually is we think it’s going to be boring or it’s not going to be relevant or I’m not going to be very original if I do that, or I’m not going to be creative enough …but what I find is that when you die to that stuff God resurrects that stuff… I find that if you come to a text, and you let the text tell you what to say, it makes you original because you’re going to say things you never would have said! You’re going to have thoughts you never would have had because He’s revealing them to you.  He is teaching you and there is a wealth of relevance.”

 If we really believe that God has given us His Word to reveal Himself to us, to tell us what to think about how He’s acted in history and to tell us what that means for us and what He’s doing in us now, and how we should be living as He lives in us, there is nothing more relevant than that. To say don’t teach textually because people need to know how to manage their money, how to raise their kids and how to have a good marriage and all those things…I say you can’t know those things apart from knowing who God is. When you know who God is, and when you’re meeting Him in His Word and He is revealing Himself to you, HE defines how you manage your money, how you raise your kids, and how you improve your marriage… It’s not that you do practical application OR theology. It’s that you either do practical application in the context of theology or you just do practical application because you have poor theology. It’s always poor if it’s separated from who God is…” Pastor Andy Hale, First Baptist Church, Mt. Juliet, TN

We have to look deeper than the surface. We cannot go by the sign in front or even the cross on the steeple. Not even the presence of the Bible in the hands of a pastor is enough. People have been preaching bad doctrine for as long as there has been scripture. The only safeguard is to avail ourselves of learning for ourselves what is in the Bible and praying to God for the wisdom to understand it. That doesn’t mean we won’t ever need help discerning or learning from a good teacher, but it will prime you for recognizing bad teaching when you hear it.

I may not enjoy dry, boring pastors, but I’d sit through a hundred hours of boring before I would give five minutes to a pastor who plays fast and loose with scripture to make his or her point.

“Test everything. Hold on to what is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Where Have All the Boomers Gone?

Ironically, the parents of the Millennials are the other largest group leaving the Church; although not for the same reasons. Most of them are just feeling like there isn’t any real point to going any more. The over-fifty crowd has heard it all a hundred times over.

Many long-time Christians feel the Sunday morning experience has not taught them anything new in years.

They rarely hear a new insight that gives them inspiration or direction for their lives.

The pastor preaches a message on marriage, money, or morality and they silently score themselves from where they sit. If they can give themselves a passing grade they feel content with who they are and how they stack up against the rest of the congregation.

There is no call to action and no real conviction of their attitudes or behavior as long as they have a pretty good handle on their marriage and their money.

But who’s kidding whom?

They have little intimacy in their family relationships and even less with God.

They walk around with gaping wounds in their hearts that no one can see through their polished Christian facade.

They suffer from depression and addictions, and they have broken relationships with their kids, their co-workers, and their neighbors.

“We are so afraid to seek help inside the Church. We’re more likely to seek counseling outside the Church because we’re afraid of how we’ll be treated if people knew what we were struggling with…” Pastor Joshua Bondy, Greensboro Christian Church, Greensboro, NC

Twenty-five years ago, these Boomers made the decision to go to church because it felt like the right thing to do for their young children. Now that the kids are grown, they are struggling to find a meaningful reason to make the effort anymore.

The messages, Bible studies, small groups, and Sunday school materials are all written for new or young believers. After a while, it can be mind-numbing. It’s something akin to repeating the fourth grade every single year for the rest of your life.

Consequently, we are subliminally telling these long-time Christians they already know everything they need to know.

Unintended though it may be, we may be telling them that if they aren’t satisfied, then whatever it is they are craving won’t be found within the context of the contemporary church.

These devoted Christians are not abandoning their faith by any means; they are just seeking more meaningful ways of experiencing and expressing their faith.

They do not want a commitment that adds nothing to their lives. So, they hold fast to what they know…but they go.

Think for a moment about what the next decade will mean for the contemporary church.

At the current rate of loss of the Millennials and the Boomers, we’ll have a Church lacking in wisdom and experience and without a coming generation to train up as leaders. This is not a small problem.

In His love and service,

Sharon Bollum

Christian Persecution in America? Yes.

Twenty-five years ago I was far more idealistic than I am today. I suppose that’s the normal course of growing older. I was a staff pastor and had an encounter with a group that wanted to distribute political information about an upcoming election. I don’t remember what the subject of debate was but I was uncomfortable with comingling our time of worship and community with politics no matter the topic. I just didn’t think the church was the right place to talk politics.

I also thought it was sort of unnecessary for Christians to participate in politics. After all, if God is in control what’s there to worry about? Proverbs 21 says, “The heart of the king is in the hand of the Father.” To me, that meant it didn’t really matter who sat in the Oval Office. God was going to work through him so that everything would wind up exactly according to the Master Plan.

Yes. And no.

I still don’t think the church should generate political debate from the pulpit, but I now think it is a mistake to not create a forum for Christians – in community – to discuss the changing political landscape and the ramifications those changes would have on our lives as Christians in America.

Our freedoms and values are being attacked from every direction today. We are being persecuted for our beliefs and forced into the margins by those who think our views on family and morality are offensive. The far Left hates us. They see religion, especially Judaism and Christianity, as a threat and an obstacle to the utopia they want to create in America. They don’t want “one nation under God” because, in their arrogance, they believe our country would be better without God, and those who believe in Him, in it.

Let’s be clear about one thing. There are Christians on both the Right and the Left of the political divide. But we aren’t talking about mainstream Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians.

It is imperative that we remember “In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity”, but if you care about the fast eroding Judeo/Christian foundation of America it’s time to stand up and defend our rightful place in EVERY discussion that shapes this nation.

I am not suggesting that we go around beating people up with scripture. Scripture is meaningless to an unbeliever. Besides, we aren’t defending “scripture” we are defending the principles founded in them. The right to life. Family values. Prayer. Rule of Law. Love of Country. Respect for authority. Freedom of Religion and the right to NOT have our children indoctrinated with ideologies inconsistent with our beliefs in public schools. Just to name a few.

Throughout the story of mankind, we see God’s people suffer times of persecution and despair over and over again. Each time of suffering was preceded by years of apathy and disobedience. God didn’t preordain the suffering, He only allowed it. There is no reason for us to believe that God ever WANTED us to live as slaves or in exile or wandering 40 years in the desert. Don’t believe for a moment that God WANTED His son beaten then hung on a cross or His followers thrown to the lions.

God has two goals. 1. He wants His people to live in right relationship with one another and with Him. 2. He wants our lives to shine so brightly that we light the way for others to do the same.

We are meant to be Salt and Light in this crazy world.

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16

This nation was built on a Judeo/Christian foundation. Don’t let anyone tell you that isn’t true. It most certainly IS true. There were more than 50 Founding Fathers of America. Only THREE of them were not considered Christians. Even they agreed that this nation would succeed only if we would remain “a moral and religious people”.

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

John Adams

The greatest obstacle to evangelism today is the poor reputation of our Christian Community. We have to overcome that and do better! We have to shine like Jesus shined.

It isn’t enough that our neighbors know we go to church every Sunday. We should be touching their lives in meaningful ways. Serving them. Loving them. Inspiring them. Being the hand of Jesus extended to them.

Now, more than ever, it’s time to be courageous in our faith.

Our lives must generate light for others. There aren’t any awesome Christians making headlines today. No famous Christians doing the heavy lifting so the rest of us could take it easy. It’s up to us. Every single one of us.

I’m not asking you to BE the light. Just that you would live a life that reflects it well.

In His love and service,

Sharon Bollum