The church is full of wonderful people who are gifted kingdom-workers and the harvest is dependent on those workers. But the church is still full of people and any system will have its negative components. If you think of the church in terms of a body then negative people can be either a virus or a bacteria. Viruses often are sifted out on their own terms and not much is required other than time and rest whereas bacteria can only be treated with direct medicine to weed the bacteria out.
Such could be said about negative people. Why are they negative? Sometimes it is their personality. They are just negative because they just do not know how to be positive. They are glass half-empty people. Sometimes it is because something happened to them from a member of the church and now they wish to hold the entire church accountable. Sometimes people have agendas and their utopia-like version of what the church should be is not what it is and they become disgruntled at the work of the church. Sometimes people do not mesh with other people. There are some people who I just do not like yet I will serve them as a brother or sister in Christ.
The blood of Christ is bigger than our nuanced idiosyncrasies.
So how do you handle people who are just so negative? I have some suggestions.
Give them space. Sometimes people are just in a funk and (speaking from personal experience) they just do not want to talk to anybody. They need space to work things out themselves and perhaps humble themselves to let the Spirit of Christ dwell within.
Love them (1 John 4:20). That scripture is piercing. Before we open our mouths and reveal the character of our heart we better make sure our valves are pumping the love of God.
Serve them (1 Pet. 4:10). Find some way to serve them even when things seem most difficult. No need to lie to them but write them a note encouraging them letting them know you are genuinely praying for them.
Help restore them (Gal. 6:1). Perhaps they are negative because there is a sin which they have not worked through. This sin has continued to ruin their relationships and that includes the church. Help them work through sin. But to do that you must…
Listen to them (James 1:19). Say this aloud while you are reading….SLOW TO SPEAK…SWIFT TO HEAR. Insert two ears one mouth preacher joke here. It is serious though. Listen not only to what they are negative about but what you hear between the lines.
Rebuke them (Matt. 18:15-17; 1 Tim. 5:20). Rebuke seems like such a harsh word but the Greek word (ἐπιτιμάω) carries the idea of discouraging someone from further wrong. Sometimes you do not answer a fool according to his folly but then there are times when you must answer a fool according to his folly (Prov. 26-4-5). Do this in love though with all the above suggestions I have given. Don’t stop there though…
Forgive them (Eph. 4:32). We all need forgiveness and as much as we have received it we should hand it out as well. Freely you been forgiven freely you shall forgive.
We are supposed to live incarnationally which means our lives should, as best we can with the Spirit, embody Jesus (1 Cor. 11:1). Jesus was patient with negative people but also quick to point them out in their error. We must use our wisdom and the help of others when it comes to negative people.
You can read the first three posts here, here and here. Where do we go from here? I am sure there is all of the statistical data to discuss and missional “stratgery” that merits our attention. But if we take a step back and ask, “What works?” I am not sure that we can come up with a cookie-cutter plan that works for everyone. But that’s what we want isn’t it? We want a P90x program that can be plugged into any church context that will automatically multiply our numbers. We tell ourselves thought it’s not about numbers it is about saving souls (souls are numbers right?) yet the pressure of our budgets and the depleting numbers in our Sunday night service is evident that something must budge. So we want an evangelism P90x to plug in and get results. I think we should move in a different direction…one that is simple. Consider The Skit Guys and their hilarious video that closes with a point I want to highlight….
Investment into one person. We are not called to save the world but we can invest in one person. Eddie and Tommy both talked about how investment made on their part or on the part of someone else made the difference in salvation and changed their lives. Last night one of my former youth group kids spoke to my current youth group and he talked about a relationship he had with a girl for 2 1/2 years and how he was able to baptize her. Investment. One person. Full focus. Prayers, efforts, service, study all focused on one. So often we worry about all the things around us when sometimes God reveals the fertile soil that is right in front of us.
What if we taught students to invest their lives into people for a year committed to discipling them and helping them grow over a period of time. Then watching that person do the exact same thing. Friends, discipleship and evangelism does not have to be mutually exclusive. They can be one in the same. So that is what I have learned. It takes investment, relationships and a whole lot of God in this process.
Preached this sermon yesterday at Main Street and it was well received.
God’s Kaleidoscope
(Romans 1:16; 1 Cor. 15:9-10)
“I think every church should be a church irreligious people love to attend. Why? Because the church is the local expression of the presence of Jesus. We are his body. And since people who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, people who are nothing like Jesus should like us as well.”[1] I just read that quote on Friday and it is amazing how well this fit into the sermon idea that I wanted to talk about with you this morning. A few weeks ago I shared a blog post chronicling my usage of marijuana in middle and high school and I received many warm comments but most of them had to do with me having courage to share that information. In that blog post I wrote:
I am not sure why I am telling all of you this now as many of you are finding this out for the first time. I guess because I have seen a few of my own youth struggle and have heard of so many others that I feel it is probably time to share my story.[2]
Some of you in this audience knew of my past and some of you did not. Perhaps some of you are thinking to yourself, “What is this guy talking about?” The blog post simply told part of my story where I struggled with drugs and alcohol in my middle and high-school days. The struggle could have been worse but it did not have to happen. I tell you all of this to ask this question:
Why did people say that I had courage to admit that I used drugs?
Why does that take courage?
I read the New Testament and people who were responsible for the death of Jesus, the Savior came to Peter asking for repentance and desiring baptism. Smoking weed is nothing compared to killing the savior.
It takes courage to admit things like my broken past not because there is a loss of people in the church who have similar pasts but there are people in this church and every other church who are either afraid of what people might think (i.e, “they will judge me”) or, even worse, they do not want to address those demons of the past. It also takes courage to admit that those types of things because most of time many people in this auditorium spend 45 minutes to an hour pretending to be someone who they are not. This is why so many people who are unchurched do not want to attend a church because they feel like they have to have everything in order before they can be a part of the church. That’s not the way the New Testament church operated.
What I am going to do this morning is going to take some courage on your part. I am going to ask a bunch of questions and all I ask of you to do is to be honest and raise your hands.[3] If you are visiting with us feel free not to participate but if you are a member of this church I ask all of you to participate. I ask you to trust me in what I am about to do and understand that I am making a point with all of this. Finally, this goes without saying, those who raise their hands are free from judgment on your part. There is only one judge and you are not he. This should make good lunch discussions…
So here we go…
We’ll start easy…
How many of you come from a Christian home where you church was talked about all the time and you absolutely loved going to services, participating in VBS, youth the whole nine yards? How many of that was you raise your hand?
How many of you did not grow up in a Christian home as Christ was never talked about or if he was it was only around Christmas time? How many of that was you raise your hand?
How many of you grew up attending church but then hated going to church because mom and dad forced it on you so you left when you got old enough and then played a little, visited other churches but eventually came back? How many of that was you raise your hand?
How many of you came from some other denomination before you landed here at Main Street?
How many of you became a believer after your 20th birthday? 30th? 40th? 50th? Any higher?
How many of you, your parents are still happily married?
How many of you are from homes where your parents were divorced either early on or at some point since you left the house?
How many of you, your parents are married, but not necessarily happily?
How many of you have experienced divorce?
How many of you have a master’s level education or above?
How many of you did not graduate high school but have a GED or some sort of equivalent?
Any democrats in here?
How many of you were born in the north above the Mason-Dixon line?
How many of you were born in another country?
Again this is a safe environment where you will not be judged….
How many of you have a past in addiction whether it is alcohol, drugs or pornography?
Last one, how many of you have experienced some sort of abuse (physical, sexual or mental) in your background.
Let’s take a deep breath. There is this lie from the handiwork of Satan himself that says God only saves certain people. As if God loves republicans more than he does democrats. As if God loves people who have been to church their whole lives versus those who just made it. Here is the gist of this sermon, the big point…
“God, by his grace and mercy, wants all to be saved and the gospel is for everybody.”
Let that marinate on your heart rate now. Let that sit in your stubborn chambers where the “ideal Christian” image sits. God saves the person who cusses like a sailor and get’s drunk all night long and God saves the person whose worst words are “silly goose” and who feels guilty drinking a Pepsi. You know what I mean? God saves all of us and we should be courageously unashamed of that fact.
Some of you are walking around saying, “I never tried drugs and I never have touched alcohol and I have gone to church services my whole life and feel like my testimony to God is insignificant.” Hogwash! Praise God that he saw it fit to save you from that situation and now uses your story to teach all families that God-fearing people can raise another generation of God-fearing people. Some of you are walking around saying, “If church people only knew of all the things I have done they would not want me into their church.” First off, it’s not their church it’s Jesus Christ’s church. Secondly, if they really knew about all the things you have done and if they had an ounce of authenticity in them after hearing about the things you have done they would not say, “How horrible you are,” they would say, “How great is our God!”
Don’t you think it’s time church that we become a little more authentic and a little more genuine? I am not saying we have to unload every personal detail every time we come to services but I can honestly say that many of you I know but few of you I know on a deep, personal level. The apostle Paul was very upfront about who he was and how God saved him from the wretched person that he was. There are a ton of verses I could share (especially in Acts where he recounts his conversion story a couple of times) but I felt like this one sums it all up…
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (1 Cor. 15:9-10)
In context Paul is talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and how Jesus appeared to him who was the least of the apostles. He calls himself one who was “untimely born.” Paul is forever having to defend his apostleship to people who think he is a nobody. Imagine the criticism he got:
“This guy is not one of us, he was a persecutor of the church. How dare he think he can tell us how to run this church?”
“He was not an apostle as he barely even saw the Lord Jesus.”
Yet, Paul understood that and in the wake of his past he came to the conclusion that the suffering, the persecution and the pain he causes to the church he could do nothing about right now. He said, “by the grace of God I am what I am.”
I think churches are starving for people like Paul who just puts all of his cards on the table and lets whatever falls to fall. He does not say what he did gives people license to do bad things but he allows other people to see how God can save people from horrible circumstances.
CONCLUSION
So there is this myth that there is this certain type of person God saves. It does not exist. He saved a rich tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus and he saved the woman caught in adultery, in the very act. How rough would that one be if a woman caught in adultery interrupted our services begging to be saved at the very instant? We would probably escort her out so we would not disrupt the order of worship. God saves all kinds of people. If we want this church to grow we need to be more authentic. We need to be the church that does not seek other church-going people but we need to be the church that seeks the people nobody wants… the unchurched. There are plenty of churches in this county who brag about their numbers when all they are doing is swelling from other churches. We need to be that church where unchurched people look at and say, “I want to be a part of that.”
How do we do that? We started today… honesty, integrity and openness. I titled this sermon God’s Kaleidoscope. One definition for kaleidoscope on Dictionary.com was, “any complex pattern of frequently changing shapes and colors.” Sounds a little bit about what church is supposed to be. As the leaves change in the fall I am reminded about how different people from church are. We come from every background imaginable and the one common theme is that we are all trying to give God his glory and reach others to do the same. We all are spared by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ so that we do not live lives in the “used to be” or “what could be” but we live in the already.
So we have all been a bit honest. This should help us reach others. This should help us start. We do not have to have this mask put on. “Fake it until you make it” is a cliché for people who don’t know what they are talking about. Let’s stop faking. Let’s stop living in our empty cisterns of despair. Let’s live in the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. I am not scared any more are you? Let’s do this church! My name is Robbie Mackenzie. I used to do drugs, I used to drink heavily, I was not a virgin when I got married, I treated God like a genie in a bottle and God saved me from all of that. HIS GRACE REACHES EVEN ME….
[1] Andy Stanley, Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend (Kindle Locations 57-59). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
[3] The idea from this came from Matt Chandler’s masterful sermon entitled, “City on a Hill – Part 1: A New People” preached at The Village Church in Flower Mound, TX on September 2nd, 2012. http://www.thevillagechurch.net/sermon/a-new-people/. Some of the questions are directly from his sermon.
I had a discussion with a youth minister friend of mine about some struggles I was having in which I felt like I was on an island. Let me explain. My youth group and college students love to sing. Many members in the church love to sing. They get together and they sing and sing and sing. Many of the members seem to be “lost in worship” and the desire is to sing more and more and more. I had a discussion with a lady one time that I think illustrates what I struggle with:
Lady: ”Let’s keep singing and singing, this is wonderful.”
Me: “Why don’t we sit down and read Scripture for a while.”
Lady: “Where’s the fun in that?”
So I talked with the youth minister about my struggles with this and he made a profound statement. He said, “I think what’s going on is our generation at church is over-devotionalized.”
Profound…
I struggle with this because singing is an act of worship that brings me closer to God yet I think the church, youth ministries, college ministries (insert Passion Conference comment here) and other ministries places too much stock in the worship event. We have become over-devotionalized and under-discipled. I asked the church last night, “What is the most important mandate for a follower of Christ?” (From Robert Lupton’s book, Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life). 3 or 4 people answered and every one else was dead silent.
I ask questions in bible class about what God demands from them and how to begin a relationship with him and I get blank stares. We know how to close our eyes to “How Great is Our God” and sit in a circle holding a candle professing our faith yet when it comes to leading others to Christ and talking to people about our relationship with him we struggle. Why? We have placed too much stock in the event (i.e, the “moment”) rather than the process.
I am all for singing and for devotionals but there is something wrong with our focus when we have singing days, singing nights, singing this and singing that and we do not have a yearning for our brother down the street. With all things balance must be normative but I feel like the New Testament agrees with my thought process as you can only find a handful of Scriptures about corporate worship yet you find scores addressing discipleship. Think about how much money is spent on the worship auditorium, worship media, worship ministers, worship training, worship bulletins, etc.
I think I can back it up…
We are over-devotionalized (event/program based) and under-discipled (process).
This post is from a dear friend Rob Hatchett. Rob is a graduate of Freed-Hardeman University and is currently President of Crye-Leike Franchises, Inc. He is married to the former Rachel Parker and they live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He and Rachel worship at Clear Creek Church of Christ in Hixson, Tennessee where he is their song leader. I believe you will grow from this lesson as it will draw you closer to understanding what intimacy in worship is like…or what it should be like.
Intimacy in Worship
I Samuel 16:7 – Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.
I believe 1 Samuel 16:7 can be applied correctly to many areas in our spiritual lives. I’m afraid one area where I haven’t let this verse apply is in worship to God. I’ve spent countless hours of my life critiquing how other people choose to worship God. I observed some people as being too emotional in my opinion. I observed others as being too unemotional in my opinion. But the fact is – while I’m busy looking at the person’s outward appearance, God is busy looking at their heart.
So I begin this blog by repenting for at times appointing myself the hall monitor of worship services. Whether you attend a church where your song service consists of the greatest hits from 1840-1940, or you attend a church where it resembles a high school pep rally – if God can see a heart of worship then it doesn’t matter what people like I used to be have to say.
I personally get a little nervous when I read about the Pharisees because I see so many verses about them that at times could apply to me. Take this verse for example from Mark 7:
6″This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
7in vain do they worship me,.
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
My worship transformation from Pharisee to Intimacy started with my prayer closet. I had read about Daniel praying 3 times a day in his closet but I had never really done a lot of that private stuff by myself. I was much better at my public relationship with God (sounds like a Pharisee doesn’t it?).
One day I decided it was time to get in better physical shape. My plan was to run 3 miles each morning and then I thought I would try spending 20 minutes in prayer. This sounded like an insurmountable task! Not the running though. That was the easy part. I didn’t know if I could actually spend 20 minutes communicating with God. I really didn’t know what to say. My personal prayers usually consisted of me telling God the things that I needed him to do for me that day and that usually took less than a minute or two.
Truth is, it wasn’t easy when I started. I decided to start mixing in some scripture reading and worship music with my prayer time. That almost made it like God was talking to me and then I was talking back to Him. I started feeling a connection with God that I really hadn’t felt before. Strange how that works! When you spend quality time with someone you start feeling a lot closer to them. Plus – my prayers stopped being completely about what I needed God to do for me. I started looking for people each day that I could pray for and I actually started asking people if they needed me to pray for anything in their life. Even more, I started asking God to show me ways I could bring Him glory in my life.
In all my years of Christian high school, Christian college, and regular church attendance, this was the most intimate I had ever been with God.
This intimacy in prayer then changed my worship in song. I was the regular “song leader” at our church but I realized that my focus was simply trying to help people sing well. If I was going to lead, I wanted to be a “worship leader”. However, as I was losing my selfishness in my prayers, I could feel God tugging on me that I needed to lose my selfishness in worship as well. This meant I needed to stop leading and simply learn to worship with my heart in song.
Like my prayers, this was pretty tough at first. I decided one day to close my eyes in worship as I was singing. I know everyone is different but closing my eyes really helped my focus on God. I couldn’t see anyone else and though my eyes were closed, I could see myself sitting at the throne of God. Songs that I had sung all my life took on a new meaning as I was now singing them before the throne of God. As I lifted my hands in worship, it was now because I was reaching out to God and not because it was a standard act of worship.
My father-in-law described his worship in a way that really impacted me. He called it his “love fest” with God. That’s the best definition of worship I had ever heard. Worship has nothing to do with showing up to church to sing. Worship is about having an intimate connection with God and expressing our love, adoration, and praise in whatever way the Spirit leads you. I just wished it hadn’t taken me 28 years to figure this out.
So here’s the question for us now. How do we teach/train our younger generations to have an intimacy with God through worship? The main way they learn is by observing other Christians – not just in corporate worship settings but also in day-to-day life. Are these younger Christians observing a “love fest” with God through song, prayer, and mediation from us?
Hopefully, if done right, this lesson will be delivered around (or on) Christmas day and will be good for discussion. Please feel free to go over what has been taught and learned in the previous four weeks and discuss any revelations that have occurred amongst the students during this focused time.
ILLUSTRATION: What we are going to emphasize today is the biggest component of Advent: Waiting. What I want you to do is to introduce the class that we are going to talk about the implications of advent. Then what I want you to do next is wait. Don’t say anything, don’t do anything but just sit there. You can do it for one minute or three minutes. Inevitably teenagers are going to give you weird looks because they can’t stand 15 seconds of silence let alone a full-blown minute.
ASK…
WAS IT HARD FOR YOU TO WAIT? WHY OR WHY NOT?
WHAT IS IT ABOUT US THAT DRIVES US INSANE WHEN IT COMES TO WAITING?
SAY…
[You can use your own personal story that emphasizes our impatience] I can’t stand to wait! If a web page on my iPhone does not come up in less than four seconds I become angry. If I don’t get my Wendy’s Baconator in less than three minutes then I get irate. I mean how long does it take to throw half a pig on half a cow and throw some cheese in there? Come on people!!! We all struggle with waiting because of the digitized, fast-food mindset of Western Culture where we have to experience things right now.
This lesson is to allow us to focus on being ready for Jesus to come with patience but also with anticipation. This lesson is short, but simple. Here is the bare outline.
BODY
Two things…
Waiting means we must be ready!
“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matt. 24:44).
“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak” (Luke 12:38).
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (1 Thess. 5:4-11).
ASK…
IN WHAT WAYS DO WE NEED TO BE READY FOR THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD?
SAY…
When Jesus came John the Baptist prepared the way for the people compelling them to repent for the “kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 1:1-8). In like manner we are compelled to be ready no matter what the cost may be and that means we are to “bring-in” the kingdom of God by being disciples and making disciples. You hear of people talking about “Christmas cheer” and what they mean is giving gifts and such but the Christmas cheer is that we need to be ready for the coming of the Lord.
ASK…
IN WHAT WAYS ARE PEOPLE NOT GOING TO BE READY FOR THE COMING OF THE LORD?
SAY…
In the first century they thought that Jesus was going to come soon (you could make an argument that Paul even thought that). Paul was very upset at people who stood around “idle”. Paul said, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers and sisters, to keep away from every believer who is idle and disruptive and does not live according to the teaching you received from us” (2 Thess. 3:6). In other words we have no clue when Christ will come (see 1 Thess. 5:4 above) so we should not give up our labors of spreading good news to the world.
Waiting means we must be drunk with anticipation!
“The LORD Almighty will come with thunder and earthquake and great noise, with windstorm and tempest and flames of a devouring fire.Then the hordes of all the nations that fight against Ariel, that attack her and her fortress and besiege her, will be as it is with a dream, with a vision in the night— as when a hungry person dreams of eating, but awakens hungry still; as when a thirsty person dreams of drinking, but awakens faint and thirsty still. So will it be with the hordes of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion. Be stunned and amazed, blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not from wine, stagger, but not from beer” (Isa. 29:6-9).
SAY…
The verse in Isaiah is given to talk about a time when the Messiah will reign from Zion and the people will be drawn towards his reign. The kicker for the Christian is that Jesus now reigns (i.e. his “kingdom”) and Jesus will always reign. We need to be intoxicated with anticipation at what we can participate in and what God has called us to do. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).
ASK…
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORD “ANTICIPATION”? WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
SAY…
I remember the birth of my first son (Kaleb) and the weeks felt like years until he finally came into this world. There was excitement, fear, desire, longing, responsibility and humility all wrapped-up in a box known as anticipation. It means we become ready for something and eagerly long for it.
ASK…
IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU/ARE YOU ANTICIPATE(ING) THE LORD’S RETURN?
CONCLUSION
SAY…
To anticipate for something you must have some sort of desire to fuel that anticipation. Anticipating the Lord’s return gets me excited because of a single group of verses:
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:1-5).
This is the final moment when the Lord returns and the new heavens and new earth form and all things become completely new. It is when the curse of Adam is ultimately lifted and mankind is allowed to enter Eden again. It is where we participate in complete union with God and with his risen saints and we join in the eschaton at the table (see Isaiah 25:6-9) and feast forever. No tears, no sorrows, no pain, no suffering…peace, perfect peace.
Enjoy this video and I hope you enjoyed this series. We all can join the early Christians in a popular saying called Maranatha. It simple means, “Come, Lord” (see Rev. 22:20). So, “Come, Lord Jesus…Come!”
“Despite what most people think, the ‘church’ is more than just bricks and mortar. It’s always been, and always will be, a fellowship of people that goes far beyond the walls of any building, denomination or meeting space. It’s a community of people who have found healthy patterns of human relating and new standards for how to treat one another, serve one another, and even forgive one another that run counter to the world.” Gabe Lyons, The New Christians, p. 161.
This is the last post of this series and I have valued all of the comments tremendously. The series started not as a defense of social drinking but merely was it ok to be present at a location as a means of mission to people. Sometimes posts have a mind of their own and it just leads in a different direction. I loved it though because topics like this need to be discussed in a thoughtful, biblical and humane manner. Too often we ignore something based on our assumption that it has always been a certain way so we need to keep it that way. We should never dismiss comments or questions because we assume we are right on a subject.
The poll, to my surprise, indicated that most of you (66%) believe that it is ok for a Christian to drink in moderation. This topic will surely find no resolve in the coming words but I wanted to share some observations on our discussion. Hope you enjoy these.
A helpful study of the original words does help in our theology but we must do our homework. Don’t assume a word means something without looking it up in some of the major lexicons and dictionaries.
Image is important but image is not everything. Sometimes our perception of what a Christian should be is (ironically) the opposite of what Jesus said a person should be. I wonder if Jesus would have been disfellowshipped in some of our churches today for what he would do? Just a thought….
In regards to social drinking one must consider his or her motives. I still can’t get away from this. Why are you drinking? Is it to feel a feeling or, like Samuel Young said in one of his comments, is it to appreciate something God made? Motives are important. It is doubtful someone would use Paul’s encouragement to Timothy to use wine for his infirmities but they may be looking to clear his or her conscience. But…
We need to be careful where we place our judgment. This issue is not limited to social drinking but many other aspects where we may be quick to judge before we consider the evidence. We will know people by their fruits (Matt. 7:16).
Be careful about building-up straw men or chasing red herrings. Arguments like, “What about all of the bad affects of alcohol?” is still side-stepping the real issue. I heard one person give all of the statistics about the negative uses (abuse) of alcohol like car accidents, marriages, etc. While I agree with that negative component of alcohol I also think they are simply chasing red herrings. I wanted to ask him, “How many people die of heart disease from not eating correctly?” (TV, music, etc.) The issue is, what does the bible say about it not society’s abuse of it.
The principle in Romans 14-15 needs careful consideration (especially Rom. 14:21) before anyone considers to take a drink. I think if we practice self-denial on behalf of others then it might be our spiritual service to God (Rom. 15:1-2).
I will conclude with something from Isaiah. In Isaiah 25 we come across a break from the woes and destruction of life for a vision of what life will be like in the last days (eschaton). In discussion of this Isaiah talks about what life will be like post-destruction. He writes:
6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. (25:6-8)
Sounds a little like Revelation 19-22…the new heavens and the new earth. Blessings.
I forget where I heard Shane Claiborne say this but he made a statement that has stuck with me for a long time:
We need more Christian bartenders…
The context for his statement was that too often Christians remove themselves from unChristian contexts like bars, dance clubs or even places where the homeless and others hang out. He alluded to Matthew 9:9-17 where Jesus ate with tax-collectors and sinners and stated that we need to meet Christians on their own terms. I like what he had to say but the full-time minister in me sees some potential issues:
Are we contributing to someone’s alcoholism by giving them a drink?
Do we simply not speak out of the dangers of alcoholism and just talk with people hoping to be a good influence on them?
What part does image play in this? What if a teenager in my youth group saw me at a bar with someone? Does this create a stumbling block?
Do we have to go to bars or could we just leave material for them to look at while they are at the bar?
1 Corinthians 15:33 states, “Bad company corrupts good morals.” Does that factor in to this equation?
There is a lot to unpack here that seems to be very ethical in nature. Like what if one of your recent converts in your church is a Budweiser Truck Driver and their family depends on his income? What is he to do? Does he quit and drive for someone else? What about his influence to his co-workers? If he leaves will their ever be a positive influence?
I went to an AA meeting as required by a graduate class of mine and in that meeting a guy told me that he would never go to a church because churches don’t care about alcoholics. They all were spiritual, offering to pray and read Scripture but when it came to being plugged-in to a local church all of them rejected. ”They don’t even know how to handle me at church!” My heart broke.
So what do you think? Is this a black and white issue or was Claiborne onto something? Feel free to post anonymously but I would love to interact with you about this.
On July 31, 2011 I celebrated my 7th full year of youth ministry at Main Street in Springfield, Tennessee. Seven quick lessons about my/our journey:
Learn to say “no” - All ministers struggle with this as we want to do so much for people in the name of God. We take on projects, speaking engagements, weddings, committees, meetings, and a host of other things while our spiritual formation, family and our personal lives turn to shamble. I read somewhere that every time you say “yes” to something you are always saying “no” to something else.
Try to look for the big picture - A lot can happen in a youth ministry in a short time but also nothing can happen for a long time. There are different seasons in youth ministry so staying focused and having an idea of what the big picture is will keep you from being distracted by a lot of the little things.
Don’t get too full of yourself – I have blogged about this several times but no matter how great the youth minister is there is going to be something he is not good at and that is going to be painfully obvious to you and everyone else. Learn to laugh at yourself and do it often letting others in on your laughter. Have a ton of fun. Go to Waffle House at 3am. Laugh when one of your youth group guys goes through a wall at a hotel. Laugh when a youth group girl passes gas on the bus and blames it on you as everyone writhes in agony at the smell. Laugh when a youth group guy pronounces from the pulpit the word “Yahweh” as “Yah-hee” and instead of “wiles of the devil” he says, “willies of the devil.” Learn to laugh and laugh often.
Delegate and Empower – I am horrible at this. I would rather do things on my own and wear myself out than asking someone to help. The result…it almost burned me out of ministry completely. Have a team of people who are your core leaders in the youth ministry who could lead the activities if you were gone. Speaking of being gone…
Try a slice of humility - This goes along with number three above but we need more humble servants who are John 13 ministers. In youth ministry we get stepped on (clean the bus, babysit my kids, do the impossible), we get made fun of (second class ministers), we have impossible expectations placed on us by men who have not the slightest clue about youth ministry or teenagers for that matter, we are underpaid, we are overworked, we are extremely talented (cleaning the bus, writing the bulletin, etc.) and we are criticized by 40-60 people who “know” more about youth ministry than we do. All of that happens to most youth ministers and all I can think about is this verse from Acts 5:41: “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” Some criticism needs to be addressed some people just need to be talked to in a reproved manner but sometimes we need to realize that we are simply humble agents of Christ suffering affliction to do something we love to do.
Invest in people, not programs – It’s not uncommon for me to change programs in our ministry and I am currently in the process of completely revamping the youth group. One thing that I have not changed is getting to know people, investing in their lives and letting them know how much I love them. I tell youth group kids that “I love them.” Some of them are a little creeped-out about it but some of them respond with tears as if they have never heard someone tell them those three words and mean it. I love them. I love the parents and I let them know that I am here to come alongside of them. This is important for when that youth group person is struggling with a situation at college or they have made by decisions in their life they come to me without reservation because they know, if anything else, I will at the very minimum love them.
Don’t lose your soul – Youth ministry is tough. It has been the most difficult seven years of my life. I have watched people leave the church and never come back. I have watched friends lose friends. I have watched families become broken. I have watched people who I thought would be soldiers of Christ become servants of idols. But..I have watched visitors get baptized. I have watched total reconstruction of lives based on Scripture. I have watched youth group people find jobs based on their calling and I have seen many good things done in the name of Kingdom. Friends, don’t lose your soul. Keep your eyes focused, hang in there and love as you too have been loved.
Thank you Main Street for putting up with me and teaching me about ministry. I dedicate this blog to seven sets of people in ascending order of importance:
Elders – thank you for sticking with me and for supporting me spiritually, mentally, and fiscally. You have given me raises, bonuses, a van, health coverage, freedom to make good and bad decisions but most of all your encouragment. Thank you.
Parents and Friends – I love all of you. I know I am not perfect and I know I have done things wrong from time-to-time but you have supported me. I love you all.
Joe and Linda – you are my “daily bread” when a minister does not want to go to the office you make it enjoyable. Thanks for being a great team.
Youth Group Members Past and Present – Words cannot describe how thankful I am for you. You have made the journey worth it. Thanks for taking Jesus seriously and for doing radical things. I love you all more than you know.
Kaleb, Amelia, Madelyn and Samuel – Kids you make me so proud. You are my most important youth group and I want to thank you for making daddy laugh on those tough days and for keeping me going when I didn’t want to go anymore. I love you so much and as long as I have air to breathe I will serve you with a passion unrivaled in this world.
Heather – What can I say? You are perfect in every way. Not only am I married to a hot wife but you are also so intelligent and understanding. Your care for me exceeds the proverb wife in Proverbs 31. You are a servant and the fuel to my fire. I love you.
God – You have allowed a wretched, hypocritical, inconsistent, unorganized, lazy and unlovable person like me to be called a follower of Christ. Thank you for your grace, for your daily assurance, for your providence, for your discipline, for your correction. for your providence and for your glorious return. I love you!
