What is the Greatest Need of the Church in America Today?

I believe that the greatest need of the Church in America today is a radical commitment to living a life of passion FOR the Glory of Christ.

In essence, I believe that most church goers say that they are living a life of passion for Christ, but in reality, they are not. There are a lot of Christians who love their plasma HD TVs where they can watch their favorite sports team. There are a lot of Christians who love their new iPod phones. We want bigger houses, live our lives around our kids' sports, we have the need to see the latest movies. Just name the idol here – clothing, food, Starbucks, wealth, careers, new lawn furniture… the list can go on an on. Most of them don't have shrines, but there certainly is a lot of focus, attention and money spent on our passions.

If Jesus calls us to lose our life for the sake of the gospel, their certainly is a lot of holding on to the stuff of this earth. Where are the men and women who are willing to throw everything away for the sake of the gospel? Where are the "Pauls" who are willing to have nothing for the sake of the gospel?

John Piper said in speaking at a recent pastor's conference,

"My desire and prayer for you is that your life and your ministry have a radical flavor. A risk-taking flavor. A gutsy, counter-cultural, war-time flavor to it that makes the average prosperous Americans in your church feel uncomfortable. A strange mixture of tenderness and toughness that keeps worldly people a little off balance. A pervasive summons to something more and something hazardous and something wonderful. A saltiness and brightness, something like the life of Jesus.

When Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth," and, "You are the light of the world," in Matthew 5:13-14, I think he was referring to the preceding verses where he had described the most outrageous joy imaginable. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12). Be glad when you are persecuted and slandered."

I would submit that most churches don't offer quality Scripture focused, Christ exalting preaching, and we know that if the preacher is not preaching it, then the congregants are not living it. Does the confession of a particular church match its practice? Where is the fire that burned in the bones of Jeremiah today? Are preachers preaching all that they can? I fear that most preachers desire to be trendy more than they love to be single minded for the glory of Christ.

The famous Southern Baptist preacher, Vance Havner wrote,

"I have read of a battle where the flag got far ahead of the soldiers. An officer called back to his superior and asked, 'Shall we bring the flag back to the regiment?' 'No', came the reply, 'make the regiment catch up with the flag!'

The New Testament standard is far ahead of most of the church today. It is true that we have all kinds of people at various stages of spiritual development in our fellowships. But we must yet lower the standard to the poorest level of our membership. When Gideon's three hundred won their battle, the larger numbers who had not joined them in the conflict fell in at last and shared in the victory. We must major on our dedicated minority these days and not accommodate our program to the host who are not ready for spiritual warfare. But we can hope that in the triumph of the faithful few, many of these laggards will change their minds and join us.

- Pepper 'n Salt by Vance Havner. (Fleming H. Revell Company, 1966)

Where are the Joshua's who are confident to conquer great new lands?

Where are the Josiah's who even at the age of eight years old knew what it meant to follow God?

Where are the Esther's who are devoted to a greater cause, willing to die for it in fact?

Where are the Ruth's who are willing to trust in God for all things?

Where are the Hannah's who are consistently and persistently putting their requests before the throne of God?

Where are the David's who are willing to fight for a cause larger than their own life?

Where are the ones that are willing to give up their own life for REAL LIFE? My fear is that they are hard to find.

Thomas a Kempis wrote many years ago, "'He that follows Me shall not walk in darkness,' the Lord said. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Christ."

- Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ

There is a certain level of safety in the status quos, but the gospel doesn't allow for a "sitting on the sideline" type of mentality. This following Jesus is really a "full contact body sport." It's all or nothing. Yes Thomas, let our most earnest study dwell up the life of Christ!

Matthew 6: 28-34 says "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

2 Corinthians 4:8-10 – "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

Are you pressed in? Perplexed? Persecuted? Have you been struck down?

Paul in his letter to the church in Phillipi wrote "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Have you given up everything? Is everything a loss for you? Give up, just give it up.

Hebrews 11:24-26 "By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Hebrews 12:1-2 “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Charles Spurgeon wrote,

“While I was on the lower ground, riding in a hansom cab, I saw a light before me, and when I came near the hill, I marked that light gradually go up the hill, leaving a train of stars behind it. This line of new-born stars remained in the form of one lamp, and then another, and another. It reached from the foot of the hill to its summit. I did not see the lamplighter. I do not know his name, nor his age, nor his residence; but I saw the lights which he had kindled, and these remained when he himself had gone his way. As I rode along, I thought to myself, ‘How earnestly do I wish that my life may be spent in lighting one soul after another with the sacred flame of eternal life! I would myself be as much as possible unseen while at my work, and would vanish into eternal brilliance above when my work is done’”

Oh Father, humble our hearts. May You increase all the more. May we decrease. (John 3:30)

My thought to you is Christ calls us to live this great impassioned life for Him. We are to be burning with fervency for His glory. For His Word. We are not to live in either complacency or in some sort of recklessness – but passionately for the glory of Christ. This, I believe is the greatest need of the church in America today.

Discipleship Standards

I was reading recently a blog post from Seth Barnes from Adventures in Missions.  He in turn was highlighting Dave Hain's (Etsah Ministries) "discipleship methods."

What follows is from Seth's blog:

How To Rescue An Addict

Life as an addict is terrible - you're estranged from family and friends, and worst of all, you're estranged from yourself. You're in a prison of hopelessness and you need rescuing. The ministry of rescuing an addict is a very relationship-intensive one; it requires you walk a demanding tightrope, placing yourself at risk in order to build the trust necessary to help those who are typically paranoid, who struggle to trust. The odds are you will fail. And while I present a set of ten steps below, it is anything but a linear process.

Dave Hain was the best I've ever seen at it. He pulled a couple of hundred addicts off the streets of Philadelphia during his time there. The addicts looked at him as their pastor. Walking with him through the crack houses was always interesting. These are some of his secrets.

1.     Relationship Initiation: Establish a one-on-one relationships by sharing God's love (rather than the judgment that those on the streets are accustomed to feeling). 

2.     Relationship Development: Develop these relationships through individual and group counseling, conversation, prayer, sharing a cup of coffee or a meal, Bible study, and contacting relatives with information.  During this phase of the process, try to earn trust by performing small favors - buying  food or conveying messages to and from probation officers, police officers, lawyers, and estranged relatives and friends.

3.     Trust Deepening: One day at a time over the course of months and sometimes years of these meetings, trust, hope and a sincere desire to change their own lives begin to form.  Until this process has progressed to the point where a critical mass of trust exists, it is very difficult to take an addict any further in the process.

4.     Hope-based Counseling: At this point the counseling begins to focus on opportunities for detox, short-term rehab and then long-term Christian rehab.  Many addicts have heard, "once an addict, always an addict." They need hope. Typically addicts will make a commitment to getting off the street well in advance of the day when they finally do take action.

5.     Intermediation: When someone is ready to take action, you can serve as his or her advocate and place the necessary telephone calls to obtain a detox bed.  This often requires assisting the addict to regain some identification papers to replace those lost on the streets.  Frequently he or she will need to be placed in interim housing over a weekend while these arrangements are finalized.  Maintain relationships with top detox and rehab centers and take time to earn their trust. Work with a number of detox centers. It will take time and communication. Always do what you promise you'll do. There may be only a few who will work closely with you to allow visits and have more relaxed entry requirements.   Key in our working with anyone to get them a detox bed is that  "the doctors and nurses can begin to treat the patient."

6.     Detox & Advocacy: While in detox we speak to the caseworker to advocate a short-term resident rehab. 

7.     Short-Term Rehab: During the time in rehab, place the phone calls to obtain a phone interview for admission into a four- to twelve-month Christian program.

8.     Transition:  When the individuals you are assisting are ready to make the jump to a long-term rehabilitation center,  help them with the logistical details and costs.  Maintain strong relationships with multiple rehabs.

9.     Long-Term Care: Our primary behavioral goal during the rehab center stay is that each person face the truth of the bad decisions they made which contributed to his or her addiction.  He or she need to begin making godly decisions to avoid relapse.  The success rates of Christian rehabs as published by Teen Challenge and others are over 70%.  With this in mind, some men and women in secular rehabs where we teach Bible studies seek a Christian rehab after their secular program is finished.

10.  After Care:  After completion of a Christian rehab, we work with the men and women who enter an after care phase, which requires months of one-on-one counseling with a pastor followed by efforts to repair broken relationships and reintegration into society.

 

For more information, contact Dave Hain or read about his ministry here.

The Half-Truths of Self Help

Periodically, I read through some of the articles on Christianity Today. Recently, I found this article on self help psychologies and it's failures. "The Half-Truths of Self-Help: 4 false assertions the "gurus" promote." This well written article was by Suzanna Kamphuis.

In it, she goes against the false claims and hopes that the self-help ideology promotes. The four lies are:

1 - You should put you first.

"Self-help gurus have it backwards: I don't learn to value myself by selfishly ignoring the value of others; it's in identifying their value that I begin to learn how tall I truly stand."

2 - You should set aside any draining or burdensome relationship.

"[Christ] didn't gather around himself a band of cheerleaders. Instead, he built radical relationships with Peter, a disloyal follower, Judas, a scheming betrayer, and Thomas, a doubting downer."

3 - You can fix yourself by yourself.

"The connection of relationships facilitates the tough, disciplined work of seeing truth, learning lessons, and living them out in everyday life."

4 - You are wholly good.

"Not only am I an eternal being made in God's image, I'm also a fallen creature, broken beyond my ability to understand or repair."

Near the end of the article, Suzanne writes, "In the end, self-help can't fix me, because self-help doesn't know me. God alone searches my heart and sees my full potential for good and evil. In my search for healing, this truth gives me a new frame of reference: Jesus. He, not my authentic self, knows the way and the truth, and only he can guide me to the life I desire."

I would greatly encourage you to take the time to read it.

Shaken/Unshaken

Job 9:5-6

He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when He overturns them in His anger, who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble…

Psalm 29:8

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Isaiah 13:13

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger.

Isaiah 24:19

The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.

Haggai 2:6

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

2 Corinthians 1:7

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…

Why Answers Are Delayed...

Last night, our family was reading through a portion of Matthew to help bring focus to the second week of Advent. We talked about the angel coming to Joseph and Mary and making the proclamation of the coming Messiah.

I made the correlation that this declaration was the first word, in a sense, spoken from God for 400 years. The Old Testament closes with the promise of the "Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings" from the book of Malachi. Of course, 400 years later, the next time God speaks, He does so in human flesh.

Four hundred years is a long time to wait for a word from the Lord. I know that in this time, many of us are suffering through various trials and concerns. Let's not let despair lead us, but let us be lead by the Word made flesh. The Promise was not just for those in Bethlehem, but for us as well.

Let us put our faith in the promise of God's sovereignty.

Spurgeon wrote the following devotional:

"Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you."

--Isaiah 30:18

God often DELAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER. We have several instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day--he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord thrice that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God's grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to Himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit.

Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps thee waiting thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes thee tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to thee at last. Thy prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication.