Monthly Archives: December 2005

The Final Step

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Step One – Personal Transformation
Step Two – Church Transformation
Step Three – Change The World

I have been thinking a lot about what it takes to make a difference in this postmodern world. I don’t really think of it as a step-by-step process. I do think of it as an evolving thing where I am personally devoting myself to follow Christ and, meanwhile, my church is benefitting from the gifts and the sacrifice that I and my fellow members provide. This brings us to the final step: actually changing the world. Can I really make a difference? Can God really use me? If the first two steps are increasing in my life, then, yes, God will use me to change the world.

How do we change the world? For the longest time, it was through mega evangelistic rallies, mega tract distribution efforts, and mega churches. That stuff is still around, but in many areas that are becoming more postmodern, those tools are no longer that effective. No one wants to embrace a Christianity that they discover when they pick up a tract off of the park bench. Besides, everyone is doing the mass literature distribution thing. You can find flyers for a club, magazines for Jehovah’s Witness, and coupons for a free haircut or a massage. Trying to discover the love of God through a piece of trampled paper is difficult for anyone to do.

Instead, as authentic followers of Christ and effective members of His Body, we are able to make a difference in the world, one person at a time. Sure, we have evangelistic events, we plan programs, but people come to Christ through relationships. Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ. It’s time for Christians to start speaking the words of Christ to our friends, family, coworkers, acquaintances, and classmates. There are several ways that a vibrant, authentic community of believers can influence culture.

First, the Bible tells us that the world will know we are disciples of Christ because of the love we have for each other. When was the last time a lost person was in the midst of true community? It’s not happening at some of our “fellowships” that some churches plan each month. Instead, it’s happening around the dinner table, or in a small group Bible study, or over coffee, or even at a large gathering of believers. I believe that anyone moving to a new area, when looking for a church, should find a church where they can invest their gifts and resources, where they can also be invested in through discipleship and Biblical preaching, and where they can feel comfortable bringing their friends that are seeking. A church that isn’t filled with step one-ers and step two-ers (see prior posts) is not one to which you would want to bring a lost friend. When an unbeliever is exposed to authentic community, no words need to be expressed. They will see love, peace, relationships, connections, purpose, and a life that they do not have for themselves.

I believe another powerful apologetic that is expressed through the church is (or should be) the act of kindness or service. The churches that are strong in the community are the ones who give to the community. Whether it’s shovelling snow, giving away free water, mowing the neighbor’s lawn, helping the homeless, or teaching ESL classes, the church can use the giftings of it’s members to develop an entire spectrum of community-loving initiatives.

There are thousands of approaches, but if we focus more on the motivation, God will show us the way we can be most effective in our various communities. Everyone has an idea for winning the world to Christ. Some have developed graphs and charts and plans and ideas and programs. It really just comes down to living a visible faith. Personally, we need to be interacting with the lost. There needs to be someone or several people who we are actively, and prayerfully, sharing the gospel with on a consistent basis. As a church, we must be teaching and training and equipping members to share the gospel and we should be providing opportunities to share the story of Christ to our community.

It’s amazing that winning the world for Christ seems so simple and, at the same time, so difficult. God wants us to supply to our faith goodness and knowledge and self-control and endurance and godliness and brotherly affection and love. If those are ours and are increasing we will be effective in Christ. Those outside the church will see these qualities in us and will understand that our message is not empty, but full and rich with Truth. Steps and plans may come and go, but principles remain solid. The final step is really a principle that we need to live energetic, missional, evangelistic lives on our campus, in our jobs, and with our families. What step are you on? I hope you are on all three.

Boston (42° 21′ , -71° 7′)

The Next Step

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I once coined a phrase that probably won’t ever make it in to any quote books, but it has meant a lot to me and I have used it in sermons before. The phrase is: “The next step is only a step away.” As you can see, at first glance, this doesn’t seem to be in the same universe as something CS Lewis might say, for example. Maybe it will take on a little more significance by the end of this post.

In my previous post, entitled: Are You A Public Christian? Please Say No. I talked about the first step that we need to take to be influential Christians is to become devoted followers of Christ. It’s amazing that the pastor of the largest church in America never talks about the “cost of discipleship”. The large majority of so-called Christians in America live lethargic, uninspired lives. Most Christians have bought the lie that being a Christian is all about me. It’s about what I should obtain from God because I deserve it. They are seeking their “best life now,” if you will. Since Christianity has focused so much on what I should get from God, we are of no use to those on the outside. For the general public, Christians have nothing to offer them. Christianity is seen as irrelevant, archaic, and pointless. That’s why the first step has to be about changing myself. If you never live a life that impacts culture, then something needs to change. This week, both TJ and I received hate mail from two different sources. My first response was, “All right! We must be doing something right.” My goal is not to disconnect from culture and make people mad at me, but sometimes when you live Truth and proclaim Truth, it is offensive. If all I ever preached about had to do with how smiling is medically proven to bring about joy in my life and claiming my best life now like Pastor Osteen does every Sunday, then everyone would just love me so much and life would be grand. We have to be committed followers of Christ no matter how hard it is or how much society hates our narrow-mindedness.

This brings us to the next step. What follows when committed Christians begin to stand up and impact their immediate culture for the cause of Christ? The next step towards transforming the culture for Christ is to transform our churches. The first step was personal transformation, now we have to discover what it means to bring transformation in our churches. I could water down the whole counsel of the Lord and maybe have one of the largest churches in America, too. But maybe a truly transformed church won’t be a mega-church. Maybe it will never be bigger than a few hundred people because there are constantly new, like-minded churches being planted.

In transforming ourselves, it is important to live personally devoted lives to Christ and it’s just as important that as a church we dedicate ourselves to the basic things that God requires of us. In Acts 2 we find that the early church “devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.” As individuals they were devoted to authentic community. The next step is that we bring that personal dedication to our community of faith. They were individually devoted to koinonia, or fellowship, and this brought about a very powerful community of believers that was visible to the surrounding culture. When a few individuals in the church sell out to God’s will, the next step is only a step away.

Church leaders are responsible for this next step from personal to church transformation. It goes without saying that church leaders should be personally devoted to following Christ. As leaders, God has given us to the church. A church leader should help members to discover their place in the body of Christ. They should help members use their gifts and abilities. Leaders exist to serve the church. We are to equip, rebuke, exhort. We are to train the saints in the work of ministry. We are to build up the body of Christ. We are to bring unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son. We are to speak the truth in love. We are to promote the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. A church that isn’t increasing in these things will never be influential in the community around the church. When church leaders live transformed personal lives dedicated to God and are actively encouraging others to do the same, the next step towards transforming the world for Christ is only a step away.

Each individual in the church is in a different place spiritually. There are some who have grasped the first step of personal devotion for themselves. There are other Christians in the church who come to church, not for what they can supply to the body of Christ, but for what they can receive. That is understandable and welcomed, for a season. They should be moved towards maturity in their faith. Then there are those who are curious about faith and about Jesus. They are coming for answers. Again, this is encouraged with the hopes that, for them, they will take the next step towards becoming a transformed follower of Christ. As effective leaders, we need to be sensitive to where an individual is on the sliding scale of faith and help them move a little bit closer to transformation.

I like to say that, as a church, we exist to encourage people to find, build and restore relationships with God and with others. There are some who have not found God, there are others that are in the process of building their relationship with God, and finally, there are those who have fallen away for a time and need restoration in their life. The church needs to be about discipling believers towards maturity and unbelievers towards faith. A leader who only invests in other leaders is neglecting an important segment of the church. It’s vital that a church leader invests in those who will, in turn, invest in others. However, it is just as important to never forget what it’s like to lead someone to Christ, or help a new believer mature in their faith. I invest in others who will eventually be leaders because they will help support the work of the church in the community, but I invest in those who may never be leaders so that I can be in touch with what my congregation is wrestling with.

A church that is going to transform their community and their world for Christ is one that is actively instilling the first step in people’s lives. God has given leaders to the church who will equip the church towards maturity. We should be concerned with the lack of influence the church has on society, but we shouldn’t be overwhelmed by the enormity of the task that is ahead of us. There is a lot to be done before the church can be influential in today’s society. There are thousands of churches that could fall off the face of the earth and no one would ever notice that they were gone. No one would care. However, there are churches that are filled with first step Christians and are becoming second step churches. It can happen in any church and with any Christian. I mean, after all, the next step is only a step away.

Boston (42° 21′ , -71° 7′)

Are You A Public Christian? Please Say No.

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I don’t talk a lot about my political views. I am a Pastor who happens to have a lot of conservative ideas. In fact, my faith has a lot to do with what I think politically. Some church leaders are very active in the political process because they have a desire to curb the tendency towards immorality that is increasingly apparent in our government. I am mildly involved and I stand for my convictions. I vote my values, etc. I think it’s great to be politically involved as long as the message we send is about what we stand FOR more than what we stand AGAINST.

Let me begin by saying, there are two ways that our culture sees Christians. The first, and most public way, is through CNN and MSNBC and other media sources. For years now I have been unable to articulate my loathing of how the Southern Baptist Convention conducts business. We pass resolutions to boycott such and such, and let it further be resolved that we collectively do not tolerate so and so, and be it further resolved that we show disdain for this and that, and be it further resolved that et cetera and et cetera. For conservative evangelicals like myself, even our stand against immorality is seen as judgmental and, you guessed it, intolerant.

The liberal side of Christianity can’t be respected in the eyes of the media either. With all of the churches that are now ordaining homosexual clergy, discrediting the authority of the Bible, and espousing other such dangerous liberal ideals, there is no way to see any difference between the church and everyone else. Paul saying he wanted to become all things to all people had nothing to do with rejecting the truths of God’s Word and becoming just as sinful as the rest of the world so that he might be able to bring someone to Christ. So the failure of the liberal Christians is that they collectively reveal to the world that we don’t really stand for anything, and the failure of the conservative Christians is that they collectively reveal to the world that we only stand against things.

You may disagree with that last sentence, but it’s not up for debate. I am talking about the way Christians are perceived by the general public. While Christians in other nations are being stoned and flogged, Christians in America are simply marginalized and ignored which I believe is worse. The plight of Christianity in America is that we can’t be taken seriously (thanks liberals) and we are too judgmental (thanks conservatives).

But I mentioned a second perception of Christians by today’s culture. Most Christians actually live in the real world. We hold jobs. We become government leaders, educators, doctors, mechanics, and students. This second perception is the individual, or personal, rather than the collective, or public, perception. Again, there are two camps that determine our influence on culture in this more personal way. This time, liberal or conservative theology has nothing to do with it. Instead, those who live a Christian life on purpose are contrasted with those who never talk to their co-workers, classmates, friends, and family about God. Regardless of what CNN says about Christians, there are actually some genuine followers of Christ out there who are helping people see, one at a time, that the Bible contains Truth and that God loves them. It’s time that more people in today’s culture saw authentic Christianity being displayed in front of them in their very own workplaces, classrooms, and neighborhoods.

What will happen when we get to the point in our country where there is no societal benefit to being a Christian, even in the buckle of the Bible Belt? What about when it becomes dangerous to be a Christian in America? What voice would a Christian then have in this country? Would it be through the power and might of a mammoth convention? Hardly. The only voice we would have in that day would be the personal, visible faith of an authentic follower of Christ. Is American Christianity ready for that day? Few Christians are. Maybe we should put aside our public voice, which is misquoted and misunderstood today and tomorrow may be silenced, and begin practicing the personal voice of Christianity as if that day of persecution were already here.

We need to vote for our values. We need to have a voice in Washington. We need to mobilize Christians to be politically active. Let’s do all of that and maybe delay some of the immorality that is springing up all around us, but let’s do it because it is our individual responsibility as a Christian to do so, not as if we are shaking our finger at the evils of society. Our next door neighbors need to hear that we love them and that God loves them, but all they hear about Christianity is what the media tells them (what we stand against and that we don’t stand very effectively FOR anything). We are discredited because most Christians aren’t living a life that is personally devoted to God, but are living a life that is publicly judgmental to the world. Christians have been looking down their noses at the world, albeit through God’s eyes and through Biblical worldview spectacles, but what is that to someone with a different worldview and a different philosophy of life?

To discover the first step to take, we need to know what direction to go. I believe the direction Christians must go is towards a personal, visible, authentic, transformed, and Biblically informed approach to influence. The first step, then, is not to crash the systems and the conventions and the organizations and traditions of Christianity. As much as I love to vent and to rage against the machine, my advice to anyone that wants to head in the right direction is to look inward. My personal paraphrase of Dostoevsky is, “Everyone thinks of changing the world; not everyone thinks of changing himself.” Whatever crusade the rest of Christianity finds themselves on, my personal ambition is to be a follower of Christ. If I trip up or fall in my quest to follow Christ, I want it to be over His sandals because I’m following so closely. I want to live a personal (not private) life for God’s glory. And if anyone is still reading this, I hope you will too.

Boston (42° 21′ , -71° 7′)