Hello! If you have been keeping track of this blog, I now have a personal website where I will be blogging from now on. The new website is:
www.jeremybuzzard.com
Come on over!!
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
The Anti-Prosperity Bandwagon
Are you on the bandwagon?
If you are familiar with the modern Christian church at all, you have probably heard the term "prosperity gospel" or something similar. There is a debate in Christianity about whether the prosperity message preached by many pastors and teachers is truly biblical. But more than that, the prosperity message has gotten a bad wrap for its tendency to be taught as THE reason we are enticed to come to faith. I have listened to a few of the preachers who would likely be placed in the "prosperity gospel" category, but I can't say that I've heard much bad teaching. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right stuff, but it seems to me that the prosperity message is unhealthily rejected by many because they've heard a respected preacher or teacher criticize those who teach it. But this is just my perspective. When I hear messages that emphasize God's promises of prosperity, I generally find them biblical, relevant, and challenging. My opinion is this: if you haven't been diligent to study it for yourself, get off the anti-prosperity bandwagon and study to clarify the points that you find questionable. Then disagree with what you will.
The Prosperity Gospel
Generally speaking, my current understanding of the "prosperity gospel" is that if we will come to God with our needs, he will meet them and then bless us with plenty more. He will give us financial wealth, material blessings, miracles, and great faith to overcome all the hardships of life. So because we are promised spiritual and material blessing, we should then easily believe what God said. The problem with this is that while the prosperity spoken of is generally biblical, God is not trying to bribe anyone. He doesn't need to promise you anything to manipulate your carnal nature toward loving him. All He needs to do is love you first, which He has ultimately shown you through Christ. Your response then is to love Him in return. (1 John 4:19) The prosperity that comes from an obedient relationship with God is the natural result of that obedience. It is not your weekly "allowance" because you did your chores, but rather God's hand of blessing and protection when you have made Him Lord over your life and obeyed His commandments. The church often leaves Satan and his kingdom out of this equation as well. Obedience to God's commandments is to say "yes" to His way of doing things and "no" to Satan's way. You cannot serve two masters. God will allow you to be ruled by whichever one you choose. Enough about that. A few further points about biblical prosperity:
1) Biblical prosperity is not only spiritual, but relational and material.
Deuteronomy 28 lays out blessings and curses that God set before the nation of Israel through Moses. In them, material blessing is clearly stated. There is nothing inherently wrong with material blessing. The point is that you will be provided for. Even in Christ's ministry, he was not without. He may not have had material abundance, but He also did not have lack. I get tired of people saying that because Jesus was "poor," that we should be too. We are called to be LIKE Christ, not to be Christ himself. We are not called to the same exact ministry as Christ, so if you are called to own a ranch with cattle and sheep (Duet 28), and you have plenty of them and are "wealthy," that does not make you unlike Christ. Again the problem comes when we think of or teach the blessing as a primary motivation to come to God.
2) Biblical prosperity has further purpose than your own pleasure.
Psalm 1:3 (KJV) says: "3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The "blessed" man in Psalm 1 is blessed because of his obedience to and love for God's law. Note here that he is like a tree which yields FRUIT. That fruit has purpose - it will provide for someone else. The prosperity of what this man does is there to aid him in blessing others. If God's people are not prospering, how is it that they can bear good fruit for others who are in need?
3) Biblical prosperity is tied to obedience to God's Word.
As in both the scripture passages mentioned above, the bible is very clear that obedience is the pathway to blessing. If we are serving other gods, and being disobedient to God's law, He is not going to prosper us because we aren't allowing His rule, but the devil's. In fact, allowing the devil to rule through disobedience and sin will gain us his blessing, which the bible calls a curse (Deut 28).
4) Suffering with Christ does not mean you need a disease to participate.
We are told in scripture (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 1) that we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. That does not mean that ANY suffering is equivalent to the suffering of Christ. Christians err when they attribute disease to the suffering that we are called to in the New Testament. Christ did not have disease and God does not need to take life from you through disease so that you can serve him better. In fact, it is His desire to bless you with good health (Deut 28 again, also Isaiah 1). The reason I mention this point is because I've heard folks include this type of suffering into the anti-prosperity idea, but I do not believe that we need to be poor, weak, and frail in order to accomplish any of God's work on this planet.
5) "Prosperity" is not a bad word, nor does mentioning the concept mean that you agree with the "prosperity gospel."
Hopefully, it is clear that I am against the "prosperity gospel," but I am not against the message that God desires to bless and prosper His people. I do believe that scripture is clear in that God absolutely desires good things for you, including material blessing, but that is only a piece of the whole. Again, the blessing of God is tied to our obedience to His Word. Not only that, but James says we do not have what we ask for because we do not ask with the right motives, but with selfish gain in mind. So we must take the message of prosperity within the whole context of the scriptures, while not limiting God to a formula.
We should not, in our rejection of an unbalanced message from some, relinquish ourselves to the other extreme of the unbalanced message and so remain unbalanced ourselves. Do not simply and blindly reject everything you hear pertaining to God's blessing because some may have perverted the message overall. Finally, don't assume that just because someone talks, teaches, or preaches about "prosperity" that they are preaching the prosperity gospel. Listen and study for yourself, then judge.
Til next time...
If you are familiar with the modern Christian church at all, you have probably heard the term "prosperity gospel" or something similar. There is a debate in Christianity about whether the prosperity message preached by many pastors and teachers is truly biblical. But more than that, the prosperity message has gotten a bad wrap for its tendency to be taught as THE reason we are enticed to come to faith. I have listened to a few of the preachers who would likely be placed in the "prosperity gospel" category, but I can't say that I've heard much bad teaching. Maybe I'm just not hearing the right stuff, but it seems to me that the prosperity message is unhealthily rejected by many because they've heard a respected preacher or teacher criticize those who teach it. But this is just my perspective. When I hear messages that emphasize God's promises of prosperity, I generally find them biblical, relevant, and challenging. My opinion is this: if you haven't been diligent to study it for yourself, get off the anti-prosperity bandwagon and study to clarify the points that you find questionable. Then disagree with what you will.
The Prosperity Gospel
Generally speaking, my current understanding of the "prosperity gospel" is that if we will come to God with our needs, he will meet them and then bless us with plenty more. He will give us financial wealth, material blessings, miracles, and great faith to overcome all the hardships of life. So because we are promised spiritual and material blessing, we should then easily believe what God said. The problem with this is that while the prosperity spoken of is generally biblical, God is not trying to bribe anyone. He doesn't need to promise you anything to manipulate your carnal nature toward loving him. All He needs to do is love you first, which He has ultimately shown you through Christ. Your response then is to love Him in return. (1 John 4:19) The prosperity that comes from an obedient relationship with God is the natural result of that obedience. It is not your weekly "allowance" because you did your chores, but rather God's hand of blessing and protection when you have made Him Lord over your life and obeyed His commandments. The church often leaves Satan and his kingdom out of this equation as well. Obedience to God's commandments is to say "yes" to His way of doing things and "no" to Satan's way. You cannot serve two masters. God will allow you to be ruled by whichever one you choose. Enough about that. A few further points about biblical prosperity:
1) Biblical prosperity is not only spiritual, but relational and material.
Deuteronomy 28 lays out blessings and curses that God set before the nation of Israel through Moses. In them, material blessing is clearly stated. There is nothing inherently wrong with material blessing. The point is that you will be provided for. Even in Christ's ministry, he was not without. He may not have had material abundance, but He also did not have lack. I get tired of people saying that because Jesus was "poor," that we should be too. We are called to be LIKE Christ, not to be Christ himself. We are not called to the same exact ministry as Christ, so if you are called to own a ranch with cattle and sheep (Duet 28), and you have plenty of them and are "wealthy," that does not make you unlike Christ. Again the problem comes when we think of or teach the blessing as a primary motivation to come to God.
2) Biblical prosperity has further purpose than your own pleasure.
Psalm 1:3 (KJV) says: "3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The "blessed" man in Psalm 1 is blessed because of his obedience to and love for God's law. Note here that he is like a tree which yields FRUIT. That fruit has purpose - it will provide for someone else. The prosperity of what this man does is there to aid him in blessing others. If God's people are not prospering, how is it that they can bear good fruit for others who are in need?
3) Biblical prosperity is tied to obedience to God's Word.
As in both the scripture passages mentioned above, the bible is very clear that obedience is the pathway to blessing. If we are serving other gods, and being disobedient to God's law, He is not going to prosper us because we aren't allowing His rule, but the devil's. In fact, allowing the devil to rule through disobedience and sin will gain us his blessing, which the bible calls a curse (Deut 28).
4) Suffering with Christ does not mean you need a disease to participate.
We are told in scripture (Romans 8, 2 Corinthians 1) that we are to share in the sufferings of Christ. That does not mean that ANY suffering is equivalent to the suffering of Christ. Christians err when they attribute disease to the suffering that we are called to in the New Testament. Christ did not have disease and God does not need to take life from you through disease so that you can serve him better. In fact, it is His desire to bless you with good health (Deut 28 again, also Isaiah 1). The reason I mention this point is because I've heard folks include this type of suffering into the anti-prosperity idea, but I do not believe that we need to be poor, weak, and frail in order to accomplish any of God's work on this planet.
5) "Prosperity" is not a bad word, nor does mentioning the concept mean that you agree with the "prosperity gospel."
Hopefully, it is clear that I am against the "prosperity gospel," but I am not against the message that God desires to bless and prosper His people. I do believe that scripture is clear in that God absolutely desires good things for you, including material blessing, but that is only a piece of the whole. Again, the blessing of God is tied to our obedience to His Word. Not only that, but James says we do not have what we ask for because we do not ask with the right motives, but with selfish gain in mind. So we must take the message of prosperity within the whole context of the scriptures, while not limiting God to a formula.
We should not, in our rejection of an unbalanced message from some, relinquish ourselves to the other extreme of the unbalanced message and so remain unbalanced ourselves. Do not simply and blindly reject everything you hear pertaining to God's blessing because some may have perverted the message overall. Finally, don't assume that just because someone talks, teaches, or preaches about "prosperity" that they are preaching the prosperity gospel. Listen and study for yourself, then judge.
Til next time...
Monday, January 16, 2012
Voices
I keep wondering what I'm going to write next. The fact is there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). It's all been said, it's all been thought. So I wonder if I have anything worthwhile to say because I figure someone's already said it. But then I look around at the world and see so many people saying so many things. There must be a reason I feel compelled to comment on it. I just trust God continually to help me discern which thoughts I should share for your betterment.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 that there are many voices in the world, yet none of them are without significance. I hope it's not terribly out of context to say then that everybody is saying something. Everybody has a "message." Do we really have any other choice? I don't believe we do. We must then choose what it is we are going to say. Choosing to remain in ignorance is only a road to destruction. But seeking the knowledge of the Lord is wisdom and health.
I am greatly challenged in this. I sometimes harbor wrong attitudes toward people in my life. I am tempted regularly with thoughts that tear others down and criticize them without considering what their struggle might be that is holding them back. And then I turn around and expect others to understand where I'm coming from. Double standard? Yes. I think so.
What do I do then? I don't do anything. I look to Christ for how I should think, and what I should say. And I recognize that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I can hope to overcome this sin. In my opinion, we in the church pride ourselves on our good behavior far more than we should without acknowledging the work of the Holy Spirit in us, changing us. Satan's way is all too easy to follow. We were trained in his ways at conception. We were taught his ways for all the years we did not know God and his Word. And we are still subject to his ways inasmuch as we do not know the truth, including the fact that he is the primary informer of the way of sinners.
Read John 8 where Jesus told the church leaders that they belonged to the Devil. I don't think he was kidding in the slightest. They were absolutely convinced that they were doing the work of God, yet they did not know Him. They did not recognize Him (John 1). So just because we do "religious" and charitable things, we are not by default doing what the Father has set us here to do.
Consider which "voice" is speaking through you. Are you in touch with what the Father has placed you here to do?
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 that there are many voices in the world, yet none of them are without significance. I hope it's not terribly out of context to say then that everybody is saying something. Everybody has a "message." Do we really have any other choice? I don't believe we do. We must then choose what it is we are going to say. Choosing to remain in ignorance is only a road to destruction. But seeking the knowledge of the Lord is wisdom and health.
I am greatly challenged in this. I sometimes harbor wrong attitudes toward people in my life. I am tempted regularly with thoughts that tear others down and criticize them without considering what their struggle might be that is holding them back. And then I turn around and expect others to understand where I'm coming from. Double standard? Yes. I think so.
What do I do then? I don't do anything. I look to Christ for how I should think, and what I should say. And I recognize that it is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I can hope to overcome this sin. In my opinion, we in the church pride ourselves on our good behavior far more than we should without acknowledging the work of the Holy Spirit in us, changing us. Satan's way is all too easy to follow. We were trained in his ways at conception. We were taught his ways for all the years we did not know God and his Word. And we are still subject to his ways inasmuch as we do not know the truth, including the fact that he is the primary informer of the way of sinners.
Read John 8 where Jesus told the church leaders that they belonged to the Devil. I don't think he was kidding in the slightest. They were absolutely convinced that they were doing the work of God, yet they did not know Him. They did not recognize Him (John 1). So just because we do "religious" and charitable things, we are not by default doing what the Father has set us here to do.
Consider which "voice" is speaking through you. Are you in touch with what the Father has placed you here to do?
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thoughts Beyond the Thanks
I posted to Facebook this morning that I recognize that God has given me all good things. I am certainly blessed with abundance in many ways, yet sin still entangles many areas of my life. I am still dealing with the curse, and much which I have brought upon myself. Has it occurred to you that the need to follow God's law actually produces freedom and health in your life?
There is a great battle with evil that we each fight every day and I fear that we are encumbered by our ignorance, taken captive in our blindness. How often do we really only honor God with our lips while keeping our hearts safely tucked away for our own tending? Have the "religious fanatics" found the life lived to Christ that we so say we desire? Are we aware of how different that life might actually look from our own if we were to indulge our conscience in holy discernment over the actions and words we give life to daily?
Even as we act in worship weekly, as tradition has taught us, we strive for vast amounts of control, sometimes even squelching the Spirit's calling to open our mouth in praise or raise our hands, only inviting the working of God's presence in our meetings at specified times for minute intervals, and only if He works through the prescribed liturgy or prepared hymn or the rehearsed sermon. I wonder how we will ever truly see and experience God in our worship without a willingness to strip away all that we call "worship" and wait for HIS leading. But to many, that would seem grossly out of order, partly because it removes the element of control from a human hand. But can God not be God? Has he not sent his Spirit to give EACH one of us gifts to share? And God forbid we don't make it through our order of worship in the allotted time. All the elements of worship must surely be played out in rote fashion for us to have achieved a "service." Then we can walk away knowing that things were smooth, and the sermon was nice, the music was "worshipful" and certainly God will honor that. After all, everything was done decently and in order. Yet I fear as we polish and refine the smoothly executed worship experience, we are only walking away with stale breadcrumbs from the ritualistically mystified communion table. We are walking away with a hint of fresh baked bread coming out of the oven, but from another room and another building and another church.
We (and I) desperately desire more of God Himself in our corporate worship services, but we utterly fail to recognize that God is not defined within a liturgy, a prayer, a heartfelt song, a sermon series, a creed, or where we put the announcements in the service. He is absolutely above and outside of all of that. A brief "chat" with him (or is it at him?) once a week will not open us to deeper revelation, understanding, or relationship - at least not if we want more than what we have.
I want more. What do you want?
There is a great battle with evil that we each fight every day and I fear that we are encumbered by our ignorance, taken captive in our blindness. How often do we really only honor God with our lips while keeping our hearts safely tucked away for our own tending? Have the "religious fanatics" found the life lived to Christ that we so say we desire? Are we aware of how different that life might actually look from our own if we were to indulge our conscience in holy discernment over the actions and words we give life to daily?
Even as we act in worship weekly, as tradition has taught us, we strive for vast amounts of control, sometimes even squelching the Spirit's calling to open our mouth in praise or raise our hands, only inviting the working of God's presence in our meetings at specified times for minute intervals, and only if He works through the prescribed liturgy or prepared hymn or the rehearsed sermon. I wonder how we will ever truly see and experience God in our worship without a willingness to strip away all that we call "worship" and wait for HIS leading. But to many, that would seem grossly out of order, partly because it removes the element of control from a human hand. But can God not be God? Has he not sent his Spirit to give EACH one of us gifts to share? And God forbid we don't make it through our order of worship in the allotted time. All the elements of worship must surely be played out in rote fashion for us to have achieved a "service." Then we can walk away knowing that things were smooth, and the sermon was nice, the music was "worshipful" and certainly God will honor that. After all, everything was done decently and in order. Yet I fear as we polish and refine the smoothly executed worship experience, we are only walking away with stale breadcrumbs from the ritualistically mystified communion table. We are walking away with a hint of fresh baked bread coming out of the oven, but from another room and another building and another church.
We (and I) desperately desire more of God Himself in our corporate worship services, but we utterly fail to recognize that God is not defined within a liturgy, a prayer, a heartfelt song, a sermon series, a creed, or where we put the announcements in the service. He is absolutely above and outside of all of that. A brief "chat" with him (or is it at him?) once a week will not open us to deeper revelation, understanding, or relationship - at least not if we want more than what we have.
I want more. What do you want?
Friday, September 30, 2011
Reaching for Reality
Hi again. It's been a while because I've been in the busiest period of my life since my final semester of college. Of course that was only a year and a half ago, but it seems longer. At any rate, I think there's just a bunch of random thoughts that I'd like to share with you today.
I have noticed over time that when grief pops back up, it almost seems foreign because I've somewhat just ignored it over time. Don't get me wrong, I've certainly moved forward in a lot if ways, but there is an awe, if you will, over this kind of loss that doesn't seem to change. And at times, I almost feel that I need to stop and mourn for a few minutes on my own. This has certainly been the testimony of many people I know that have been through it. The impact of the event is just too deep. It changes you at the core. And while it has solidified my idea of me, it also makes me question who I really am. Am I the sum total of my experiences? Or was I already me? Am I now just reacting to life's circumstances? Even more, I ask God why I've been asked to live through this.
I recently got my first teaching job at a Christian school and it is the most wonderful blessing I've received in a long time. I have been so convicted over my own life purpose in the last year, I have no doubt that God has a hand in placing me here, but even with that deep conviction about life, I struggle to share the most genuine reasons I have for living and being with my students.
First of all, just working in a place where it's okay to talk about God and to pray and honor scripture is an incredible thing, but making that personal for so many other "little people" is quite a daunting task. I have to admit I really have no idea where to start, but I have been given a couple of ideas. I love music with a passion and I'm so glad I made the journey to get the degree I needed to teach it. That's the obvious first point of contact. Teach the subject. Secondly, I have prayer. I have been praying almost every day for some aspect of our school, and I continue to trust God to honor those prayers. There are so many families and lives that are being touched through this school, I don't think I realized how much teaching was about giving.
So maybe I'm closer to reality than I thought. Real relationships, real needs, real truth. I'm so humbled there aren't words for it! At least not that I can find right now.
Well, time for my head to hit the pillow.
Till next time.
I have noticed over time that when grief pops back up, it almost seems foreign because I've somewhat just ignored it over time. Don't get me wrong, I've certainly moved forward in a lot if ways, but there is an awe, if you will, over this kind of loss that doesn't seem to change. And at times, I almost feel that I need to stop and mourn for a few minutes on my own. This has certainly been the testimony of many people I know that have been through it. The impact of the event is just too deep. It changes you at the core. And while it has solidified my idea of me, it also makes me question who I really am. Am I the sum total of my experiences? Or was I already me? Am I now just reacting to life's circumstances? Even more, I ask God why I've been asked to live through this.
I recently got my first teaching job at a Christian school and it is the most wonderful blessing I've received in a long time. I have been so convicted over my own life purpose in the last year, I have no doubt that God has a hand in placing me here, but even with that deep conviction about life, I struggle to share the most genuine reasons I have for living and being with my students.
First of all, just working in a place where it's okay to talk about God and to pray and honor scripture is an incredible thing, but making that personal for so many other "little people" is quite a daunting task. I have to admit I really have no idea where to start, but I have been given a couple of ideas. I love music with a passion and I'm so glad I made the journey to get the degree I needed to teach it. That's the obvious first point of contact. Teach the subject. Secondly, I have prayer. I have been praying almost every day for some aspect of our school, and I continue to trust God to honor those prayers. There are so many families and lives that are being touched through this school, I don't think I realized how much teaching was about giving.
So maybe I'm closer to reality than I thought. Real relationships, real needs, real truth. I'm so humbled there aren't words for it! At least not that I can find right now.
Well, time for my head to hit the pillow.
Till next time.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Sour Signage
So I drove by a church the other day with a sign which read: "Jesus is also planning a separation of church and state" or something similar. I have no comment on the political implications of the sign, but I had to ask myself, AGAIN - WHY do churches insist on attempting to spread some message (supposedly evangelistic in nature?) through ridiculous billboard sayings? (I feel similar about "Christian" bumper-stickers.) You can scour the internet for a multitude of actual signage (although some is faked), but here's a few anyway:
"Try Jesus - If you don't like him, the devil will take you back"
"Life – your only chance. Eternity – payback time"
"What if we're right?"
"God is not bound to the facts"
Those are examples of some of the bad ones. Now maybe I'm just narrow-minded, but the idea that someone might actually be evangelized and find relationship with Christ through the silly, and sometimes utterly evil, ideas that churches put on signs is ridiculous to me. (I reserve the right to be wrong. If you got saved because God spoke to you through a church sign, I would love to know about it and I wouldn't judge you.) And don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with every sign out there. There are actually a few I've seen that made me laugh, like "God so loved the world, that he did not send a committee." But that's church humor, not an attempt to evangelize the world through your sign. It's the signs that are attempting to move a person to act based on a few theologically unsound, out-of-context, and sometimes judgmental words.
Is the goal of these signs to be clever? Are they trying to convince us of Christ's message through wit? Does somebody really think that this attracts people to churches?
Before I wrote this post, I did some searching around to see what's on the internet regarding church signs. I couldn't believe it (well, I could actually) when I found a site that has the following on the home page:
"[SITE] is a 100% FREE resource that provides an endless abundance of thought-provoking and inspiring Christian messages and is the perfect tool for anyone looking to promote God’s kingdom beyond the walls of the congregation. (My comment: what happened to "GO and make disciples?")
Every church sign saying that you see listed has been submitted by Christians just like you and me, from all corners of the globe, making this resource truly a central area to help spread the word of Jesus Christ."
Are you serious? Spread the word of Jesus Christ? Inspiring Christian messages? I don't know about you, but I have yet to be "inspired" by a single church billboard. In fact, most of what I've seen makes me wary to step foot in the door. This is not bible-believing Christianity, it is not evangelism, and it is not a "Christian message." We have got to stop believing in these silly religious ideas and recognize our own laziness. This is not the gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not clever and witty as if to persuade men to believe on account of any such thing. Truth needs not be hidden behind anything. Paul says, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3)." He also says that the gospel is the power of God to us who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), but it is foolishness to them that perish. Dare we, the church, make the actual Gospel of Christ to sound foolish to men by our attempt at cleverness?
"If you think Jesus isn't real, try dying without Him and see what happens." - Church Sign
Frankly, it's absurd to me to think that these sayings have any positive effect on the passers-by who might actually need the salvation of Christ. It makes light of the gospel and makes the church look ignorant concerning the true needs of the world around them. Do not be taken in by the religious fads of our day, thinking that just because a church, or many churches, take part in them, that they're "gospel." We as the church often fail to open up our bibles and do something because God said so. We measure our evangelistic actions by the world's standards rather than measuring them by the Word of our God. We need to wake up and get real.
"Try Jesus - If you don't like him, the devil will take you back"
"Life – your only chance. Eternity – payback time"
"What if we're right?"
"God is not bound to the facts"
Those are examples of some of the bad ones. Now maybe I'm just narrow-minded, but the idea that someone might actually be evangelized and find relationship with Christ through the silly, and sometimes utterly evil, ideas that churches put on signs is ridiculous to me. (I reserve the right to be wrong. If you got saved because God spoke to you through a church sign, I would love to know about it and I wouldn't judge you.) And don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with every sign out there. There are actually a few I've seen that made me laugh, like "God so loved the world, that he did not send a committee." But that's church humor, not an attempt to evangelize the world through your sign. It's the signs that are attempting to move a person to act based on a few theologically unsound, out-of-context, and sometimes judgmental words.
Is the goal of these signs to be clever? Are they trying to convince us of Christ's message through wit? Does somebody really think that this attracts people to churches?
Before I wrote this post, I did some searching around to see what's on the internet regarding church signs. I couldn't believe it (well, I could actually) when I found a site that has the following on the home page:
"[SITE] is a 100% FREE resource that provides an endless abundance of thought-provoking and inspiring Christian messages and is the perfect tool for anyone looking to promote God’s kingdom beyond the walls of the congregation. (My comment: what happened to "GO and make disciples?")
Every church sign saying that you see listed has been submitted by Christians just like you and me, from all corners of the globe, making this resource truly a central area to help spread the word of Jesus Christ."
Are you serious? Spread the word of Jesus Christ? Inspiring Christian messages? I don't know about you, but I have yet to be "inspired" by a single church billboard. In fact, most of what I've seen makes me wary to step foot in the door. This is not bible-believing Christianity, it is not evangelism, and it is not a "Christian message." We have got to stop believing in these silly religious ideas and recognize our own laziness. This is not the gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not clever and witty as if to persuade men to believe on account of any such thing. Truth needs not be hidden behind anything. Paul says, "But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3)." He also says that the gospel is the power of God to us who are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), but it is foolishness to them that perish. Dare we, the church, make the actual Gospel of Christ to sound foolish to men by our attempt at cleverness?
"If you think Jesus isn't real, try dying without Him and see what happens." - Church Sign
Frankly, it's absurd to me to think that these sayings have any positive effect on the passers-by who might actually need the salvation of Christ. It makes light of the gospel and makes the church look ignorant concerning the true needs of the world around them. Do not be taken in by the religious fads of our day, thinking that just because a church, or many churches, take part in them, that they're "gospel." We as the church often fail to open up our bibles and do something because God said so. We measure our evangelistic actions by the world's standards rather than measuring them by the Word of our God. We need to wake up and get real.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Turning the Page
I am about to begin a new chapter in my life. A year ago, I was barely treading water in a sea of depression and grief, living day to day, hour to hour, often wrestling with anger, angst, and fear of the future. It is amazing to me where I am today. I have hope and purpose. I not only believe that intellectually, but I feel it too. I feel good. I haven't felt "good" in a long time. I have been wrestling with God to get peace over my own life ever since my father died. As I turn the corner onto this new road He's sent me traveling, I have a sense of peace, a sense of readiness for the next thing in my life, and for what God will do in time. If you've been through any intense grief, you probably know what it's like to have no sense of the future, no sense of hope, the weight of deep sorrow and regret for everything bad that's happened wrapped around you all the time. It consumes your thoughts, your feelings; it drains your energy physically and emotionally.
Sometimes we question our faith. My faith generally remained sure. I believed God would be God whether I liked it or not. I was mad at Him, very very mad. But I have worked through that multiple times with Him and He still loves me. Regardless of what I felt, I didn't change my mind about what I thought. Yes, I wrestled with the questions of why and how and for what, but that didn't change how I ultimately viewed God. The reason it didn't change my view is because my view is based on His Word. I know that's becoming less and less popular in our culture, to believe the Bible, but if you actually read the thing, you'll find some incredibly striking claims about God, like the idea that THE Word (divine) became flesh (human) (John 1). Hey, you might even realize who God is and how much He loves you.
The bible says a lot about how God feels toward us. But it's also clear that He is not ruled by His feelings. Jesus said His Word will stand forever. I believe His feelings are based on His thoughts. So are yours. Post-modern society tells us that feelings determine truth. They don't. Feelings can be sin just as much as thoughts can be. Truth determines feelings. That's how God decided it would be. So much so that He said heaven and earth would pass away, but that His Word would stand forever (that's eternity!). So while us ridiculous Christians are putting our faith in something that's concrete, something that doesn't change, the rest of the world is laughing at us and calling us foolish because of it.
I say all that because I was thinking today that I have to give God credit for bringing me through the past year and a half, for restoring me to hope and goodness. It's Jesus, the living Word of God, that has been the source of the truth that has changed my feelings about life. I realize that some people, probably many, will think that's utterly ridiculous, but I won't give another explanation for it. Jesus is it. He is the only reason we exist. He is the source of all life and peace.
Till next time,
Jeremy
Sometimes we question our faith. My faith generally remained sure. I believed God would be God whether I liked it or not. I was mad at Him, very very mad. But I have worked through that multiple times with Him and He still loves me. Regardless of what I felt, I didn't change my mind about what I thought. Yes, I wrestled with the questions of why and how and for what, but that didn't change how I ultimately viewed God. The reason it didn't change my view is because my view is based on His Word. I know that's becoming less and less popular in our culture, to believe the Bible, but if you actually read the thing, you'll find some incredibly striking claims about God, like the idea that THE Word (divine) became flesh (human) (John 1). Hey, you might even realize who God is and how much He loves you.
The bible says a lot about how God feels toward us. But it's also clear that He is not ruled by His feelings. Jesus said His Word will stand forever. I believe His feelings are based on His thoughts. So are yours. Post-modern society tells us that feelings determine truth. They don't. Feelings can be sin just as much as thoughts can be. Truth determines feelings. That's how God decided it would be. So much so that He said heaven and earth would pass away, but that His Word would stand forever (that's eternity!). So while us ridiculous Christians are putting our faith in something that's concrete, something that doesn't change, the rest of the world is laughing at us and calling us foolish because of it.
I say all that because I was thinking today that I have to give God credit for bringing me through the past year and a half, for restoring me to hope and goodness. It's Jesus, the living Word of God, that has been the source of the truth that has changed my feelings about life. I realize that some people, probably many, will think that's utterly ridiculous, but I won't give another explanation for it. Jesus is it. He is the only reason we exist. He is the source of all life and peace.
Till next time,
Jeremy
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