Spectator Sport or Biblical Mandate?

by Curt Lovelace
May 31, 2003

published in The Chalcedon Report

It has begun. One major political party hasn’t yet gotten over the results of the last presidential election and the next campaign has already begun. The Democrats have begun the debates among themselves to determine who will head their ticket. The Republicans already know who their standard bearer will be. For those of us whose hearts beat a little faster when the political heat is on it’s a wonderful, giddy, time. For others, some Christians among them, this is a time to avoid the TV and newspapers, spurn radio talk shows and pray for it all to be over. It’s for this second group that I write these words. I’d like to change your mind about the political process. I’d even like to stir a little political passion.

God’s people have not always shunned political action. Moses, for instance, was a political appointee. In his role as second in command of the vast Egyptian empire he had no problem acting on behalf of his co-religionists while at the same time being faithful to the needs of the nation and Pharaoh.

Religious leaders in public office are no new phenomenon. At the beginning of the 20th century Dr. Abraham Kuyper, a leader of the Reformed Church in Holland and founder of the Free University of Amsterdam, became Prime Minister. As a minister of the Gospel, a newspaper editor, a writer, and a politician, Kuyper served his country well. He experienced no remorse over his role as a Christian in the political sphere.

In the United States, such names as Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson, both ordained ministers, have appeared on presidential primary ballots, one for each of the two major political parties. In 2003, Al Sharpton is in the vying to be the poster boy for the religious left. Many ministers have served as Congressmen and/or Senators. Reverend Governors are far from rare.

So why is it that Americans — including Christians — find it so shocking when Christians express patriotism, run for office, back political candidates, or try to impose their own political agenda on the American political landscape? One wonders, at times, whether by virtue of being “born again” one is supposed to be disenfranchised.

Perhaps a quick look at what conservative Christians tend to believe about the political process is in order.

Simply put, Christians believe that they have a responsibility to work for moral order within their own societies. They believe that the Bible teaches that they should be involved, educated citizens. They also believe that they are mandated to make society a better, more equitable, place in which to live, raise a family and pass on their own set of beliefs.

Christians who understand their Biblical mandate will be involved, somehow, in the running of the towns, the cities and the states. They may be in elective or appointed offices at the federal level. They might be lawyers or judges, seeking to protect the interests of the alien and fatherless. They may also serve as volunteers in civic and charitable organizations, schools, literacy programs, disaster relief boards, or a myriad of other possibilities.

If Christians of a conservative bent were to restrict their activities to the generally-accepted non-profits, they’d hardly merit a notice. But, of course, they do have an agenda. While Christians do not agree on all the specifics, they are increasingly involved in somewhat unpopular causes. The more conservative of them want to influence the public discourse on such subjects as abortion, same-sex marriage, condom distribution in schools, the teaching of creationism, and gambling. Many are just learning how to carry on the debate and how to be heard. They are learning, however. Maybe that’s what bothers some folks.

America should not be surprised that presidential hopefuls like Alan Keyes, Gary Bauer, and George W. Bush bring their Christian values into the public arena with them. They believe it’s their duty. They don’t necessarily want to legislate their own brand of religion, but they all believe that a society without solid moorings in the Judeo-Christian ethical system is a lost society.

A few years back, a candidate for statewide office in Washington wrote that “having ‘done our own thing’ for decades, we are now suffering the gaping devastation of crime, broken homes, abused and aborted children, sexual immorality, drug and alcohol problems, corrupt government, reckless taxing and spending, warped welfare programs and deficient education.” She advocates a return to a Biblical value system. If her analysis of society’s condition is anywhere near accurate, can we afford to ignore her message?

The United States, with all its well-publicized faults, has the best, most equitable political system yet invented by mankind. While election cycles in many countries are characterized by shootings, coercion, intimidation and all-out terror campaigns, little of that happens here. Most of the time, especially at local levels, it’s still possible for average folk to get elected or appointed to important positions.

My purpose here is not to load guilt on people. Not everyone can respond in the same manner. Nor can everyone respond at all seasons of life. Raising godly children, for instance, is at least as important as being a godly mayor. I just want us all to recognize that Christians must take a pivotal role in the maintenance of a wholly civil order in society.

We’ve already seen what the alternative is.

copyright © 2005 The Chalcedon Foundation • www.chalcedon.edu • All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

A Practice in Remembering God’s Goodness

by Curt Lovelace

published in The Chalcedon Report
posted with permission

When Israel crossed the Jordan River led by the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, not one Jewish foot got wet (Joshua 3:17). Safely reaching the other side, Joshua, following the LORD’s command, had a monument set up. Twelve stones, one for each tribe, were set up as a memorial to God’s protection of His people Israel (Joshua 4:1-7). Memorials are important. Remembering the goodness of God or courage of patriots reminds us that we didn’t get where we are by ourselves that we have God to thank and others to remember gratefully.

In the United States, we recently observed Memorial Day. Besides being a gateway to summer activities, Memorial Day is a day marked by parades and speeches. Flags and flowers are placed on the graves of many servicemen. It was first observed on May 30, 1868, for the purpose of decorating the graves of the Civil War Dead. Now, it remembers all of those who died in the wars our nation has fought. It’s good to remember such things.

Many nations have similar holidays, when the national heroes are remembered. If the Soviet Empire was good at anything, it was the erection of statues and monuments. Heroic statues dominated parks and corners in the most far-flung corners of the Soviet Union and its various puppet states.

This is not necessarily the case all over the world. In fact, the Tradewinds, a West Indian musical group, laments the lack of heroic remembrances of the past in a song titled, “Where Are Your Heroes, Caribbean?” Heroes are good things.

When my wife and I travel to Budapest, Hungary, one of the sights I like to visit is the Szoborpark, “The Statue Park,” a small resting place for monuments of the Soviet era. The statues, torn down and removed from their former places of prominence, serve now as stark reminders of a dark past in a nation struggling to overcome the results of domination, not only of the Soviets, but of numerous occupations by foreign conquerors. A large statue of Vladimir Illyich Lenin towers over the entrance to the park, just as Lenin loomed large over the lives of so many in the extensive empire of the Soviet Union.

One might argue that statues of Soviet heroes constitute religious art, or even iconography. That by keeping these relics, the nation is merely keeping alive the memory of their Soviet masters. I, for one, think that the Hungarians have done a brave and wonderful thing by keeping these statues as a reminder of a dark and vicious time in their history.

God’s Word tells us that we need to remember the past. In fact the word “remember” is used more than 230 times in Scripture. Granted, most of those references refer to remembering the Covenant and the goodness of God. But some are historical references, which bid us to remember the dark days. For instance:

Deuteronomy 24:22 teaches, “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 25:17 advises, “Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt.”
Deuteronomy 32:7 says, “Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.”
The Apostle Paul instructs us, in Ephesians 2:12, to remember that we “were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

History has meaning, and we abandon it at our own peril. A society is well-served which is reminded of its own atrocities as well as those perpetrated upon it. A nation should properly commemorate its accomplishments as well as its flights into plain old national airheadedness. Christians, especially, should have no problem embracing the idea that history is the glorious tracing of the goodness of God — in our lives and in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, we should tear down the “high things,” those idols to which we often give our obeisance. They often take less concrete a form than statues, however. Sometimes we are our own idols, or we pay homage to such things as education, good looks, and lineage (including church lineage!). Such idols need to be taken off the altar of our hearts and replaced with service to the One, True God. There are things that we should remember, however. Our collective heritage should be remembered. Our wars, our societal strife, our outrage, and our servitude should not be erased from our memories. Just as God’s Word looks back at the history of Israel — its good days and the bad ones — we should note the days of old. They are what helped to mold us. They are lessons in godliness and godlessness.

It’s entirely appropriate that the citizens of Hungary maintain the statue park. It is good for them to remember the evil things of the past along with their wonderful cultural and historical heritage. It is also appropriate that the statue park should be located in a far corner of the city which is wind-swept and difficult to reach. Remembering is good, but it doesn’t have to be in your face.

A desire for non-conformity often drives us directly into the arms of conformity. Most readers over the age of 30 will quickly grasp my meaning. We not only see it around us, we’ve lived it. We were going to be different. We wore bell-bottoms and beads. We were bearded and pony-tailed. We became so “different” that we were barely distinguishable from all the others in the horde of radical youth of our day — all of whom looked exactly like us. Today those radicals may have spiked hair — in a variety of not-natural colors. They may wear dog collars and leather. They are very radical in their sameness.

Is all this conformity good for us? In order to answer that question, we need to define our terms. What, exactly, is conformity?

According to Webster’s Dictionary, conformity is a “state or quality of being in agreement.” We conform when we accept the “norm.” We conform when we allow the group, whether it be a small group of friends, or a club, or a society, to dictate how we live, dress, or talk; what music we listen to, what TV or movies we watch.

God’s Word views conformity in a different manner. In Scripture, conformity is only used in a negative manner. The only place we find the word (suscematizo) is in Romans 12 and in 1 Peter 1. In each case we are exhorted to “not conform.” Romans 12:2 warns us:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

In 1 Peter 1:14, the warning reads: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
The first instance counsels us against being sucked into the cultural madness of the world around us. The second advises us that we are better off not returning to our pagan ways — the ones we adhered to before the saving grace of Jesus was applied to our lives.

Yet conform we do! Especially those of us in comfortable circumstances (by that I mean just about everyone in America). We have made conformity a lifestyle. We want to be like everybody else — even when we’re supposedly trying to be different. In the church, we want our music to be like everyone else’s. We want “Christian rock” and “Christian heavy metal” instead of the old hymns of the faith. We change our worship services and our language so we’ll fit in with everyone else. We need to be inclusive. Certainly we don’t want to talk about “the blood.” We accept perversion of all kinds and try to make them sacraments in the church.

If God wanted His people to live just like everybody else, He might have just as well have left things alone. Why would He bother to send Jesus to us to live among us; then die for us? Conformity with the society around us is not the way God wants Christians to live. He expressed this very explicitly in Leviticus, where we read:

Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations. (Lev. 20:22-24)

We live in a land filled with pagans. We’re the pilgrims here. We are set apart, consecrated, chosen. Are we different?
There is a radical alternative to conformity. There is a better way than societal sameness. Paul outlines it in Romans 12:1-2:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

God, through Paul, calls me to be a sacrifice. This is not a call to be a martyr — at least not in the physical sense. This is a call to spiritual acts of worship. How? Here’s one answer:

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise —the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:15-17).

This entire chapter of God’s Word can be viewed as a mini-manual in how to offer ourselves as spiritual sacrifices. Hebrews 13:1-5 advocates:

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have….

Besides not being conformed, and proactively seeking to be living sacrifices, Christians, according to Romans 12:2, are supposed to “Be transformed.” Note that this exhortation is passive. Accept transformation. Allow God to change you—He will not make us into automatons, but transform us with the gifts He has given us. Some people, it’s true, need greater transformations than others, but few need the radical rework the Apostle himself required. The Greek word for transformation is μεταμορποσοσ. It indicates complete change—as radical as the one described by Kafka in the book of the same title.

While justification is instantaneous, this transformation is a process. In the only other use of the word μεταμορποσοσ in the New Testament we are taught that “we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). We are being transformed. We are in the process of being transformed. We are a on a journey toward being transformed.

We shouldn’t just sit back and enjoy the ride. We need to remember the “spiritual sacrifice” part of being a non-conformer. On the other hand, God is at the controls of our transforming journey. Strap in.

One of the classic episodes of the Twilight Zone television show, which aired in March, 1962, was titled, “To Serve Man.” It’s the story of an alien race which came to earth offering peace and prosperity to all of mankind. As Mr. Chambers, the lead human figure in the episode, boards the alien spaceship to be transported to this utopian world, “Patty” alerts him that the strange book of the aliens has been decoded. It is, she tells him, a cookbook.

Perhaps it’s understandable that we should need to define what it means to serve man. We in the United States, and in many other nations around the globe, have gone through several decades of learning that they key to life is to “look out for number one.” Selfishness has become the standard by which business people, athletes—even cheerleaders—have judged themselves and others. We are so shocked when someone waves us into an intersection, that sometimes we are stunned into inaction. A kindness, or a lost article returned is worthy of the local newspapers—maybe even the evening television news. It ought not to be so—especially in the church.

Where do we lay the blame for this erosion of manners, this lack of a service mentality? The church should reasonably shoulder some of the responsibility. If the whole counsel of God were being taught from the pulpits of our land, Biblical principles about serving one another would be part of the regular teaching. Instead we get drama, we get anti-war rhetoric, we get lots of quotes from modern critics of society. What we need is God’s Word. This lack of service, this deficiency in care for one another, is a result and a symptom of the gulf between our society and Biblical understanding and faith.

The Motivation to Serve

What motivates us to do anything? Sometimes we simply have to: the law requires it, my paycheck rests on it, my grades are dependent on my actions. Sometimes it’s a matter of expediency. Many of us have been motivated by the words, “You can’t have dessert until you clean your plate.” God’s Word says that for the Christian community, there’s a more important motive than all of these: love. Paul states this principle simply, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love” (Gal 5:13).

Of course, in the church, we have committees to do the serving. We hire pastoral staffs to do the important (read: difficult) serving. It’s not our fault if they don’t do the job. Our hands are clean. But are they? The fact of the matter is that all who are called to be Christians are called to be servants. Peter teaches us that, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Who within the Christian community is responsible for works of service? “Each one.” Every one: the clergy, the youth, the women, the men. Everybody who is a Christian is expected to use gifts—to serve one another.

The Object of our Service

The next logical question is: who is it that this legion of servants is supposed to serve? One Another. Paul, in Galatians, is preaching to the church. He primarily means the church. But the scope of his teaching also includes our relationship to the community in which we live, our neighbors, our village, our town, our city, our nation. It begins, though, with the church. We who are members of the community of faith are to serve one another, bear one another’s burdens, pray for and with one another. We are to help one another move, make suppers for one another, take charge of one another’s children on occasion, make telephone calls to one another, love one another.

After telling us to offer our gifts to one another in service, Peter offers an explanation with a benediction. “If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen” (1 Pet. 4:11). No halfway measures are acceptable in Christian service. The power source must be God—not our own strength. The reason is not that we may receive community awards and other accolades. The reasons Christians offer their bodies as spiritual sacrifices is so that God may be praised.

No Brag, Just Fact

Even the church is sometimes a place of a sort of “holy bragging.” We sometimes find very creative ways to tell others, “I give more,” “I serve on more committees,” “my family founded this church.” The Apostle Paul would not accept such talk. He wrote to the church in Corinth, “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (1 Cor. 4:7).

We can’t even give love; we can’t give service; we can’t share our gifts unless they are first given to us. So if we are only passing on what God has given to us—what is there for us to brag about? Faithful service does, indeed, glorify God. When we do things in the Name of God—He is glorified. It may seem trite at times, but the old saw attributed by some to Francis of Assissi is a correct understanding of Christian responsibility for service. It states, “preach the Gospel everyday. When necessary use words.”

Serve Christ By Serving Others

If a life doesn’t have some purpose, it simply goes around in circles. It’s incomplete. The ultimate purpose for Christians is to be obedient to Christ—to serve Him. Sometimes this is done by what may seem to others simply religious acts. Church attendance, scripture reading, prayer, are all acts of service. This is why we call what we do on Sundays “worship services.”
Sometimes we serve Christ by serving others, beginning with the household of faith. Simple acts are important! Look at the list Jesus gave us in Matthew 25:31-40. What did He tell us are significant acts of service? A drink of water, a visit to the sick or imprisoned, a gift of clothing. We could add: a phone call, visit, a casserole, hand me down clothing. These are acts of service. Sometimes it takes a little bigger act of service. Giving blood; going to NY and digging in the rubble; paying someone’s rent; buying a transmission for someone’s car. Whatever it takes—with a smile. We can’t all give the same thing. But we can all give something.

Paul exhorted us, his Christian family, to serve. He wrote, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” It’s not the size of the gift or the greatness of the act of service that most impresses people—or God. It’s the act of giving. Sometimes the smallest act of kindness can be the most significant. It pleases God when we share either our time or our treasure. And people notice. Maybe they’ll praise God because of my obedience.
God’s Word is not a cookbook. It does, however, teach us how “To Serve Man.” It also teaches us why.

The music industry can be a rough and tumble environment. It’s no place for the timid. Competition is strenuous, music can be stolen, contracts are voided for no apparent reason. And that’s just what takes place in the genteel confines of the music industry offices. Living on the road can be even tougher—especially for the blues musician. Booze and drugs are staples for performers, roadies and hangers-on. Womanizing is a competitive sport.

Sam McClain can tell you from first-hand experience. He has experienced the ups and downs of life. He’s taken part in all the rituals and rigors of the nomadic life. He’s lived on a park bench. He’s contemplated taking his own life. McClain has not only survived, but he has become a well-loved figure, not only as a musician, but as a man. McClain is on a mission. He has survived as a result of his abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and he is sharing his faith with all who will listen—and many who might not hear the Word in a more conventional manner. One music reviewer described McClain this way: “Mighty Sam McClain is a blues artist. He’s also a servant of God, a keeper/promoter of faith, and a survivor.”

Roots

Growing up in rural Louisiana, there was one thing Sam McClain knew for sure—he didn’t want to pick cotton. He says, “I used to stand on the side of the road and watch the Greyhound buses and smell the fumes. Those fumes were freedom to me.”

Sam McClain didn’t pick cotton. In fact, today the Mighty Sam McClain is a blues singer of some note, an entrepreneur, and the owner of his own record label. But McClain is no overnight success. His road has been long and rough. His life has included plenty of pain and disappointment and heartbreak. He knows the blues, because he has lived the blues.

There are many things that distinguish Mighty Sam McClain from other blues singers. His voice is distinctive. His lyrics are haunting. His band, including the horn section, is exceptional. But what separates Mighty, as he is known to his friends, from the rest of the field is that he knows who the truly Mighty One is. A follower of Jesus Christ since 1973, Mighty says it’s his mission to talk about Jesus in his music “without preaching at people.

The Blues

Much of blues music is about pain, alienation, separation and leaving town. McClain says that he’s “been leaving and arriving all my life.” At 13 he left home to escape the abuse of his stepfather. “All I ever really wanted was for him to love me,” he says of his abuser. Love was not what his stepfather had to offer, however. Instead he fed Sam a constant diet of discouragement, telling him often that he would never amount to anything. If he hadn’t left, McClain says, he might have killed his stepfather. “It would have been an easy thing to do,” he explains. Everybody hunted and had guns. An accident would have been easy to explain. God had other plans for young Sam McClain.

Ending up in Pensacola, Florida, a few years later, McClain started playing in local clubs. It was here that the name Mighty Sam McClain was attached to him. According to McClain, it was all an accident. Using the name “Good Rocking Sam,” McClain was gaining some local notoriety. When one of the local clubs had some flyers printed up, however, they mistakenly dubbed McClain “Mighty Sam.” It stuck.

Fame was not swift. Nor was it necessarily kind. McClain kicked around—and got kicked about—for many years on what’s called the “chitlin circuit.” He was befriended by several notable musicians and taken advantage of by more than a few of them. He went through a couple of marriages and plenty of alcohol. Even after attaining some notice as a musician, he spent part of his life living on a park bench.

In 1973, Sam McClain’s life changed forever. On a storm-filled drive to Monroe, Louisiana, to visit his parents, he was confronted with Jesus Christ. The way Sam tells the story, Jesus “didn’t have to raise His voice. He didn’t have to roar. All He said to me was, ‘I love you. Don’t do it no more.’ I knew then how much I hurt Him; how much I hurt His people.” He had to face up to a lot of things in his past, says McClain. The first thing he did was to go and reconcile with his stepfather. In 1975, a new Christian, McClain moved to Nashville. He said it was time to get serious about the business end of music. He bought books about business and he sat down to write some songs. He says of that time, “I wrote more than 200 songs. About five of them were worth letting somebody see.” It wasn’t until about 1993, McClain says, that he began to feel that he could write songs.

Faith For All of Life

The blues can be thought of as the poor man’s existentialism. This very American form of music, which grew out of the spirituals of the slave experience, is all about coping with life. Life is hard; nobody loves you when you’re down; my woman is cheating on me; I just got laid off, again: these are the themes of the blues. The bluesman sings about coping with life—with no direction, no meaning—and no salvation.

The Bible, in some places, sings the blues too. In Psalm 73, for instance, we read Asaph’s blues. A priest of the temple, Asaph was obviously a lonely, depressed, and hurt man. He felt cheated and left behind. Everybody else—even the charlatans and fakes—was getting ahead while Asaph languished. It’s a common theme. Full of envy, self pity and a distorted view of his situation, Asaph was crying out. Asaph had the blues because he was green with envy.

But Asaph was not without hope. As we read verses 23 to 28 we see that Asaph came to his senses. He recognized that God’s love and His goodness last forever. Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus!

That is the message that Mighty Sam McClain brings to his music. Just like the rest of us he still feels pain and hurt. A few years back, while he still struggled with alcohol, he lost his driver’s license. He was embarrassed. He was inconvenienced. But McClain took this as an opportunity. He explains that “Between Jesus and that man in the black robe, I got moved. I had to give that [alcohol] up.” He hasn’t touched a drop since.

McClain still sings some of the old, classic blues songs. Most of the music he writes, though,is rooted in victory and hope. He is not a man without direction. Mighty Sam sings in one of his songs, “I’m a singer, I’m a man with a song, and I’ve got a message for you.” The message McClain explains, is, “Life is real—deal with it. But there is hope, there is victory in Jesus.” McClain says that he doesn’t consider himself a songwriter. “I’m a servant,” he says. “I just follow the directions. It’s amazing how God has allowed me to figure out how to serve Him and make a living.”

Being on the road can be a hard life. Being on the road as a Christian among hard drinking, hard living people can be even tougher. “There’s a lot of dope, a lot of alcohol,” McClain says. Sometimes there’s some verbal abuse, too, for someone who doesn’t conform. People get uncomfortable and they strike out at those seeking to follow Christ. “It’s spiritual warfare, being on the road,” the mighty man says.

The Mighty Message

Many songwriters write out of their own experience. Mighty Sam McClain is no exception. In “Hanging on the Cross,” one of his most poignant pieces, he deals with pain and a crisis of faith. “I didn’t want to participate in that song,” McClain explains. He had been hurt by some family members trying to take advantage of him. “I got stung again,” he says. “Then the song came. I surrendered to it. I didn’t want to tell nobody.” Like Asaph, McClain knows where to turn for answers. Even in his pain, he concludes the song praying, “Lord, lift me up.” This is the blues with resolution.

Mighty Sam’s message is getting out. In fact, many people who have never heard his name, may have heard his music—and his message. Anyone who has ever watched the television series Ally McBeal may recognize the tune New Man in Town. That’s Mighty Sam McClain. He says he was “blown away” when David Kelley of the Fox network called to discuss using the song. He was so nervous while the negotiations were going on that he was afraid to answer his phone.

“It’s funny,” McClain says, about what the network people will buy. “They don’t even know that song’s about Jesus,” he says. The new man in town is Jesus Christ. He’s the Mighty, Mighty Man. “There’s a man coming around—and he’s trying to free your soul,” the song proclaims. That’s the new man in town. That’s Jesus. This is the kind of tune that people hum and sing along to. This is uplifting music. That’s Mighty Sam McClain’s message.

Moving On

Things are looking up for Mighty Sam McClain these days. He’s married to a wonderful woman and living on a small horse farm in New Hampshire. That, of course, is the subject of some of his songs.

At a blues festival in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, just a few years ago, McClain had a dream come true. Headliner and music legend Bobby Blue Bland called him up on stage to sing with him. McClain later said that this was one of the highlights of his life. “I’ve been seeing that in my mind since I was 13,” he exclaimed.

McClain recently cut a new CD. This time, however, he did it at his own studio, on his own label, Mighty Music. One More Bridge to Cross was released in February, 2003. This is his music, his way, according to McClain. When we asked McClain whether starting his own label had anything to do with the treatment he received in the industry because of his faith, his response was, “Yes, yes, yes, yes.”

People respond to McClain’s music. His concert schedule is very busy. Things are definitely looking up for Mighty Sam McClain. But McClain has not forgotten where he’s been. Even more importantly, he also hasn’t forgotten where he’s going. He knows pain, but he also knows victory. Mighty Sam McClain is a bluesman with the answer.

Home School and Family from a Biblical Worldview

We were well received and graciously cared for by the sweet saints in Hungary and Romania. One of the most encouraging aspects of our visit was the obvious impact of Reformed teaching on the lives of the seminary graduates. First, they often brought up points, even in casual conversations, that showed a deep understanding of the truths of Scripture. Second, and of equal importance, was the evidence of a strong bond in Christian brotherhood that permeates the group. These men’s hearts have obviously been quickened and joined together by the gospel of our Lord.

As we brought them information about homeschooling, it was clear that they had a fledgling concept of its basic tenets. Although there was not a sense of overwhelming acceptance or endorsement, everyone listened closely and many became engaged in the topic. I believe the strength of our presentations was in the Scriptural base for every component as they were most interested in “grappling” with God’s Word. However, there are still significant gaps in their understanding and practice.

The primary issue for many seemed to be their inability to leave behind the government school model of specific ages and stages. Questions were regularly raised about when to start certain activities or introduce certain concepts. In homeschooling, we explained, it is possible/desirable to move a child along as they are able and interested. We also emphasized the idea that while institutional education is usually more about teaching, homeschooling is about learning. Thus, the focus is on the child’s development.

We pointed out that there are three areas to consider when setting goals for children: spiritual, personal and intellectual. Although people usually think of the intellect when they consider education, it is the spiritual area that drives both the personal and intellectual development. This is an important concept for Christian parents who are overseeing virtually every area of their children’s education.

In our interactions with families we noted that some are applying the majority of their efforts on the intellectual component (child asked to perform higher math was still counting on fingers) while others are afraid to venture too far into that arena (six year old with no reading skills). Some seemed engaged in “busy work” (five year old circling three cherries) with children who were clearly prepared to go forward academically. We are praying that our presentations will encourage them to rethink their own definitions of school and education, and to specifically seek the Lord as to His direction for their homeschools.

The second major area in the acquisition of the Christian homeschool model is the development of a Christian family dynamic. As we explained, choosing the homeschool option for education is really a lifestyle choice, thus, these two components go hand in hand. Both a Scriptural philosophical foundation and a Biblical pedagogical process are necessary to sustain a Christian homeschool, and this must be grounded in the Christian family. We encouraged each couple to consider these issues and to write out their conclusions. We also directed them to seek the Lord as to His goals for their family as a whole, and for each member in the spiritual, personal and intellectual areas.

We impressed on them the idea of form being the basis for freedom, not only in their homeschool but in their families as well. When there is a regular schedule and clear lines of authority children are more secure, days run more smoothly, and accomplishments are greater. The implementation of this concept seemed to put many of the attendees into a quandry. This is a concern because the lack of order, especially in a homeschool setting, will lead to chaos.

It was clear that many families were coming to grips with some of these issues for the first time. Questions were raised about how to discipline children without making them afraid all the time, when and how to move into teaching reading, what is the Christian way to celebrate Christmas and Easter in the face of cultural, unbiblical traditions. One specifically telling question was asked about what to do if the father believes there should be more order and obedience yet the mother doesn’t agree. It was evident that these parents want to grow Christian families, but in a very real sense have few ideas about how to do so. Our prayer is that the presentations
we made will encourage and empower couples to begin to think about family issues from a Biblical perspective.

Education Recommendations
1. The RHSA curriculum needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of beginning homeschoolers. The current curriculum entails programmed instruction without specific lessons to be implemented in conjunction with the scope and sequence of the Romanian school program. (Many of the women have difficulty understanding the Romanian language.) Frankly, this level of expectation with only vague assistance would be overwhelming even to an experienced homeschooler such as myself. The 68 hours of teaching with the added dynamic of adapting instruction for children of varying ages is daunting. The difficulty of the task is increased when they must be undertaken against the demands of making a home in an economically depressed setting with limited homeschool resources. Further, these women are being asked to carry this responsibility virtually single-handedly. Having the support of a simple, easy to understand and follow curriculum with goals and suggestions will provide much support for a successful outcome.

Specifically, there needs to be more detail in the kindergarten curriculum that will include specifics from the state curriculum, i.e. topics, vocabulary, expectations. This added information will be helpful not only for providing instruction, but also in building confidence and in “pacifying” the state. Assistance is particularly important in the area of Romanian language as parents feel grossly inadequate to teach this at even the most basic levels.

These changes could be undertaken with the help of Juliana, a Hungarian woman who teaches level one and has already expressed her interest and willingness by assisting one family, by attending the two day conference, and by lending her support in discussions.

2. There needs to be added support for the development of a truly Christian family dynamic. Every parent who spoke to us understood the problems of coming out of a pagan background and expressed a desire to build Biblical families. It was clear that they have a serious lack of understanding and/or experience in how to go about it.
We used obedience as the example to explain the connection between the spiritual, personal and intellectual facets of our lives. We explained that as we teach our children the Scriptural truth that obedience is an act of love, and train them to adopt it into their personal lives, they will be more able to pursue their studies for the glory of God. However, there needs to be further training in the particulars of how to develop a whole framework of authority, discipline and obedience within the family.

There are a host of other topics which also need to be addressed: wife’s submission to husband, husband’s cherishing of wife, child’s honor and respect for parents, and full participation of children into the worship service. These couples appear to be prepared to submit themselves to Scriptural principles, but often are not sure what that looks like in every day life. There needs to be more practical teaching/training in these areas.
Support and encouragement for building Christian families could be provided in a number of ways:
a. articles on family issues in the RHSA newsletter;
b. emails on parenting topics for distribution and discussion;
c. participation in the Eastern European website set up by Steve Demme;
d. visit to US by one or two couples to see homeschooling in action;
e. week-long retreat on building Biblical homeschool families; and
f. ongoing mentoring relationships with US Christian homeschoolers.

Education Legislation
Based on our informative meeting with Dr. Ionescu, I would like to make the following suggestions for pursuing legislative relief as quickly as possible for those families interested in homeschooling.
1. Begin and maintain the process of memorializing events with written documentation between integral parties.
2. Work on setting up the meeting Dr. Ionescu recommended with the full Education Committee and the Senate, as well as the press.
3. Confer with Chris Klicka concerning the pros and cons of pursuing the creation of a private school vs. formal legislation to allow homeschooling.
4. If Chris sees the benefit, work on an agreement for a “pilot project” to gain immediate relief for current homeschooling families, to include:
a. specific number of families, i.e. less than 30 or 50;
b. specific time frame, duration of discussions about homeschooling;
c. specific supervision, RHSA responsible for record keeping; and
d. specific oversight by Romanian and US educators,
parent/teacher training (already received many hours),
curriculum/program to include Romanian school standards, and
regular evaluation (samples, tests).

Conclusion
Inasmuch as Curt and I have begun what we believe is a healthy working relationship with the HHSA and RHSA families under the Westminster Biblical Mission, we would like to make ourselves available in whatever capacity our God may see fit in order to assist them in living to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl Atomic Energy Station, the Ukraine , exploded on April 26, 1986. The result was death and contamination from the tons of radioactive debris that was spewed into the air and carried aloft for hundreds of miles. This disaster, which began deep in the core of the reactor, has been called the worst nuclear accident in history.

Many parallels can be drawn between Chernobyl and the church today. The lack of success at transmitting the life-giving message of the gospel today can be traced to practices within the church. We don’t need negative outside influences. Death and destruction are emanating from within the church itself.

We can certainly provide spiritual-sounding reasons for the failure of the church, particularly in the West, to live up to its mandate to be salt and light to the community. We need go no further in our search for answers, however, than the thirst to belong. The church today, in many instances, is more interested in cultural conformity than in reforming the culture. Os Guinness wrote of this quest:

What is historically certain is that cultural conformity is never the end of the story for the church, any more than it was for the nation of Israel. To both, God has said: When you want to become like other nations… “you are thinking of something that can never be.” Cultural conformity, it seems, is only a stop along the line. That line either doubles back through grace to renewal and reformation or continues straight on to judgment and destruction…

For the fact is that our real enemy today is not secularism, not humanism, not Marxism, not any of the great religious rivals to the Christian gospel, not even modernization, but ourselves. We who are Western Christians are simply a special case of a universal human condition to which Pascal pointed earlier: “Jesus Christ comes to tell men that they have no enemies but themselves.” Or as it has been put more recently: “We have met the enemy and it is us.”¹

So what are the problems within the church that are so harmful? They are legion. For this brief look into our—very solvable—problems, however, I will focus on just four. These are a lack of genuine warmth, fighting the wrong battles, the seduction of Christianity, and reactionism.

It’s cold here in Maine as I write this article. Temperatures are at record-breaking lows. Yet, these frigid days are nothing in comparison to the reception some visitors receive in Christian churches. Many years ago I moved to a new town and was looking for a church home. While my family was away, I visited the two churches in town. First, I went to the Congregational church. The worship and the sermon were shallow. I tried to benevolently chalk this up to a bad day. I went down to the fellowship hall after the service for the coffee hour. Not one person spoke to me. I left and put my name in the visitors book. I never received a call.

The following week, I attended the morning worship service at the Baptist church. This proved to be a fiercely independent, fundamental, we’re-the-only-ones-who-can-possibly-be-right-about-anything church. I had signed the book on the way in. I did not stay for coffee. The pastor did call, however, and invited me to come visit him in his office. When I arrived, he spent an hour trying to convert me because he discerned that I was Reformed.

Imagine a newcomer with deep spiritual needs seeking solace in such places as these. This careless attitude does not go unnoticed by the world. Roxanna Robinson, in a review of a novel by Dorie Friend, a former president of Swarthmore College, described “the Presbyterian ethic” as the setting for the book. She wrote,

This Protestant code is, of course, as admirable as any. Based on Puritan ideals, it encompasses a strict moral regimen, a Spartan approach to misfortune and a stern commitment to charity. When the form is observed without the content, however, the result is a sad parody of the original: behavior that is cold, secretive and unloving, and that is governed not by morals and ethics, but by silence and distance.”²

Why are we like this? Basic human conservatism is one answer. There is general comfort in being an “insider.” We work hard to be in the right circle of friends, both within and without the church. We often exude the attitude, “I’m comfortable here. You’re an outsider.” Sometimes we may be so caught up in greeting our friends, or “doing ministry” that we have precious little time to reach out to newcomers who are standing there shifting from one foot to the other simply waiting to be recognized and welcomed.

Our “issues,” of course, also blind us to human need, at times. Orthodoxy is certainly important. Heresy must be fought. We spend so much time, however, paying attention to whether we are Orthodox or liberal, liturgically correct, or socially conscious enough, that real hunger and thirst for righteousness are pushed aside. Each year, at the general assemblies, synods, and conventions of various denominational groups, precious time is spent on judicial cases. Protestors line up to rail against theological stances, policy statements, even worship services. This time and energy may, in some instances, be well spent. More often that not, however, the same amount of effort expended in evangelism, hospitality, and winsome exploration of the claims of Christ would produce more fruit.

Finally, fear is a major factor in our seeming inability to reach out to people in the name of Christ. Some people simply push us to the edge of our comfort zones. While pastoring a church in a foreign country, I often went out to speak with residents in the area around the church building. Many of these folks were part of a cult. In case after case, after I invited them to come to church, I would be told that they—or a friend—had tried to attend worship services at the church. They had been turned away, however, because they weren’t wearing suits.

It’s much easier to marshal our forces against a hideous enemy than it is to “clean up our own act.” The first step is to recognize that we are the problem. Christians have an obligation to reach out to the world with the message of Christ. We cannot do this when we have a fortress mentality. We can’t hide behind the walls of the church, enjoying our latte and our yoga classes, while the world rots outside. Christ reached out to the lowliest segments of society. In most of our situations, we are simply being asked to mention the name of Jesus to our societal peers. What is holding us back?

The church will survive. The church is Christ’s bride. Our collective task, as followers of Christ, is to be obedient. For, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”³ In the next few installments, I will address fighting the wrong battles, the seduction of Christianity, and reactionism, as well as offering responses from God’s word.

Notes
1. Os Guinness, The Gravedigger File (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1983), 232.
2. Roxanna Robinson, review of Family Laundry, by Dorie Friend, New York Times Review of Books, 18 January 1987, 10.
3. 1 Peter 4:10 (NIV).

This is Part 2 of a four-part series. To read Part 1, click here.

In a denomination that no longer exists, we often ended meetings with the singing of Psalm 133.

A song of ascents. Of David.
How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.
It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion .
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

How good and pleasant, indeed. One might also add, “How rare.” Obviously the psalmist never heard of building programs. Surely his congregation didn’t have to decide on the issue of psalms versus hymns, or accompaniment as opposed to a capella. Folk music, guitars, handbells? And those are only the in-house issues. What about the “us versus them” matters, like how to deal with apostate or liberal or liberalizing denominations and congregations. What about this biggie: eschatology. No, David had it easy. No wonder he could write about brothers and unity and all that good-sounding stuff.

But such is not the situation in the church of today, especially in the West. We have all those issues—and many more. A recent contributor to an online forum on the topic “Seduced by wealth and prosperity” voiced her feelings this way:

I have seen fights over alcohol use, dancing, the nature of the elements of the Lord’s Supper, Calvinism, a fence around the preacher’s yard and many other things as the object of a fight among believers. I will fight for a few things, but I will keep the peace when the questions are peripheral issues, which do not pertain to the existence of God, the Deity of Christ, and the basics of redemption.¹

American ecclesiastical history is full of church splits and the creation of entirely new denominations over relative minutia. A chart graphing American Presbyterianism looks like a deformed octopus with many extras arms. When seeking ordination in one of these bodies, I was required to write a paper on denominational history. I titled it “Split Ps.” The history of other Protestant bodies in the U.S. is no easier to read.

As our commentator above remarked, there are times when standing and fighting is the only option for a Christian. Christianity stood at a crossroads in this country when a Presbyterian General Assembly, in 1923, had the audacity to reaffirm its collective acceptance of five fundamental doctrines of the Church. These essential doctrines of orthodox Christianity were, and are, the infallibility of the Bible, the virgin birth of Jesus, His substitutionary atonement on the cross, His bodily resurrection, and His miracles.² Thus began what has become known as the “Fundamentalist-Modernist Debate.”

In response to the orthodox position taken by the General Assembly, a committee of Presbyterian ministers issued a document called the Auburn Affirmation, which stated, essentially, that the five fundamentals were mere suggestions arising out of man’s interpretation of Scripture. They were never meant to be binding or absolute. More than 1,200 ministers signed the Affirmation.

It was a time to fight. The absolute bases of the Christian faith were at stake — and were being attacked by alleged ministers of the gospel. Denominations were torn asunder. New ones came into existence, even as the old ones continued their march toward modernism. New seminaries rose from the smoke of the battle. New mission boards were created with the purpose of sending out only missionaries who knew the saving grace of redemption. Christians battled against heresy and apostasy.
But such instances are the exception. All too often, Christians will separate over matters they could have worked out. I once pastored a church on a relatively small island. When I first arrived, I was awed at the number of churches for such a small population. Soon, however, I found out that this was not a matter of spiritual vitality, but rather contentiousness. It seems that whenever church disagreements occurred, no matter how inconsequential the subject matter, the first reaction was to split and start a new congregation. The churches were even known by the names of the leaders of the founding faction. On one corner would stand “Mr. Smith’s church,” while across the street might be “Mr. Brown’s church.” Christ was neither recognized nor glorified by such a situation. Whatever happened to “They Will Know We Are Christians by Our Love”?

If the world sees us stand for the truth, that’s one thing. If it sees us quibbling over nonessential matters, our witness is compromised. In his first epistle, John wrote:

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.³

Love for our brothers and sisters needs to be a hallmark of the Christian. It’s difficult to worship with those against whom we have hard feelings. It’s not easy to labor together for the sake of the gospel, side-by-side with those against whom we have grievances. It’s easy to push visitors away from our churches by our bickering and backbiting.

Yes, there are times when honest disagreements arise within the church family. These need to be handled in love — and often in private. We have a responsibility to deal with our problems in a healthy, loving manner. We also have a responsibility to show the world how redeemed sinners can emulate their Lord.

In our next installment of “Meltdown at the Core,” we’ll take a look at the “Seduction of Christianity.”

Notes
1. Quote used with the writer’s permission.
2. Note that while the General Assembly did manage to affirm its belief in the historic doctrines of the faith, it was only by a narrow margin. Four hundred thirty-nine members voted in favor orthodoxy, while 359 voted against. A protest against the decision was lodged.
3. 1 John 4:19-20.

This is Part 3 of a four-part series. To read Part 1, click here.

The Seduction of Christianity

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.¹

We may have tasted the goodness of the LORD, but we still seek something more. Christians in the West exhibit, by their search for something to add to — or subtract from — their faith, a desire to be titillated, pleased, comforted, and patted on the head. We have been seduced by the treasures and pleasures of the world.

When I refer to the seduction of Christianity, I am not referring to the various debates regarding psychology and Christianity or philosophy versus the church. Nor am I speaking or writing about the well-known cults that obviously deny essential Christian doctrines while claiming to be orthodox Christians. The subject is not even doctrinal debates — whether women should be ordained or Free Masons elevated to church office. Rather, I am referring to the pagan influences that are infiltrating our churches and are even being sponsored by evangelical congregations.

An advertisement that appeared in the Los Angeles Times a number of years ago is indicative of the embracing of non-Christian influences by the church. Advertising an event at a Hollywood church, the text read as follows:

SHRI MATAJI NIRMALA DEVI
The most important spiritual figure in the world today. She will awaken in you the force that will change your life and change the world. The awakening explains and integrates all the great religions. It grants inner peace, health and joy. It is the last evolutionary step, promised by traditions that stretch back to the beginnings of human spiritual awareness.²

This is, perhaps, an extreme example. It’s not, however, a very long step beyond what goes on, unadvertised, in many American churches today. Satan uses more subtle ways to worm his way into our churches and subject us to “every wind of teaching” and “the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”3

“Values Clarification” is a philosophical system in which we are taught that everyone must own his values. The catch is that you first have to decide for yourself what those values are. In VC, there is no right; no wrong. The brainchild of Dr. Sydney Simon, VC seems like a wonderful idea. What could be wrong with teaching people that they are valuable and that their choices matter?

VC has been brought into schools and churches under the guise of “morals education,” multiculturalism, and anti-drug programs. Sunday school materials have been written using the models and exercises of VC. How often do we hear today, in the context of group discussions in the church, “there are no wrong answers”? As this writer can attest from his years of involvement in the VC movement, there are no morals involved. In fact, all moral foundations are stripped away, and the student is left with his subjective feelings and desires.

William “Kirk” Kilpatrick, Professor of Education at Boston College and author of the popular and persuasive book Why Johnny Can’t Tell Right from Wrong, claims that the real problem in our society today is “moral illiteracy.” The solution he advocates is called “character education,” a return to education that is founded upon a moral base and includes discipline and the regular practice of good manners.

In an interview with this writer, Kilpatrick characterized VC and similar values-debasing programs this way:

The trouble with Values Clarifications and other programs like it from the 1960s and ’70s is that they are basically relativistic approaches to morality. They suggest that morality is a subjective and relativistic concept and there is no such thing as objective right and wrong. I think that, unfortunately, multicultural education, while well intentioned, has the same effect because it’s premised on an assumption of cultural relativism which is only a hop-and-a-skip away from moral relativism. Plus, increasingly in multicultural education we’re not just talking about ethnic diversity, we’re also talking about lifestyle diversity. Therefore, gang membership and teenage pregnancy and sexual orientation are increasingly being looked upon as simply different kinds of diversities which all demand our respect. I think the net result of this is that children become more confused.⁴

Materialism and self-centeredness, while not exactly to be viewed as “movements,” pose just as great a threat to the church as Values Clarification. A crucifix is more an example of “bling-bling” in many churches today than it is of the centrality of the cross as the obedient act of the second person of the Trinity.

Our theology is tailor customized in order to make us feel better. Our worship services are designed to please the ears and bolster the ego. Sermons on sin, repentance, sacrifice, or service have given way to PowerPoint presentations on “Healthy Self-Esteem,” “The Abundant Life,” and “The Well-Dressed Christian.” Hymns of the faith have been replaced with overhead-projected ditties emphasizing not God’s greatness, but my happiness.

Whatever happened to that old time religion? Evidently we have forgotten the warning addressed to us by the Apostle Peter:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?⁵

There are other influences in the church today that are suspect, such as martial arts training, yoga, and other Eastern concepts. Secularism and technology can be negative when they become the center of church programs. The drive to run the church with the newest technology and the bottom-line perspective of business can cloud our vision of a creator God who cares for His flock.

Churches don’t all have to look the same. Technology is not to be eschewed. Certainly we want to run the church efficiently so that more work can be done on behalf of the LORD. What we all need, however, is less emphasis on teaching modules, programs, and modernity. We need to get back to the genuine article. Here’s what it looks like:

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.⁶

Notes
1. 1 Peter 2:1–3 (NIV).
2. A copy of this ad appeared in The Seduction of Christianity, by Dave Hunt and T. A. McMahon, p.75.
3. Ephesians 4:14 (NIV).
4. The Massachusetts News, October 2001. The interview is still available on the web at http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/other/10_Oct/kilpat.htm.
5. 1 Peter 4:12–17 (NIV).
6. Ephesians 4:11-17. (NIV)

This is Part 4 of a four-part series. To read Part 1, click here.

There was a time when the leaders of the church were referred to as “spiritual doctors.” They had the medicine. Leaders in the true Christian church today still have the medicine. Before applying medicines, however, we first need to be diagnosticians. We need to answer questions about how Christians ought to respond to a world that has little care for itself, much less for the church. How do we care for a society that is allowing itself to go straight to hell—and insisting that we come along for the ride? The church needs to address these questions.

Over the past few weeks, we have chronicled some of the ills of the modern church in the West. Lest any reader think I am of the opinion that the church is wretched and unworthy of further effort, let me quickly squelch that thought. The church will survive. Here’s a look at several of the reasons we can hold this conviction firmly.

Christianity Contains the Seeds of the Church’s Survival
In addressing the ills of the church, leaders need to be able to make changes that allow the church to serve Christ better by serving His people better. We need to do this without making compromises regarding the message. While the message is unchangeable and eternal, the way we view the church may need some alteration along the way. We need to understand that the church, as we Westerners see it, may not be the only way to be the church. Os Guinness articulated this idea well when he wrote:

What is the secret of Christianity’s capacity to survive repeated periods of cultural captivity? On the one hand, it has in God’s Word an authority that stands higher than history, a judgment that is ultimately irreducible to any generation or culture. On the other hand, it has in its notion of sin and repentance a doctrine of its own failure which can be the wellspring of its ongoing criticism and renewal.¹

God has promised that He will always keep a remnant. Elijah thought the church was a goner when he whined to God that he was the only follower left—and now the enemy was trying to kill him! God responded by telling Elijah, “I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.”² Gently, God fed and sheltered Elijah—and sent him off into retirement. The church does not depend upon Elijah’s efforts—or mine. God is in control and He has promised that He will always have a remnant. The church may change what it looks like, but it is not going away.

The key thing for Christians to remember as they ponder the possible demise of the church—and how to go about saving it, is that it’s not their church. It’s Christ’s. Paul made this abundantly clear when he wrote:

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.³

We Are Responsible to Make Efforts at Resuscitation
That having been said, however, Christians still have responsibilities for the care of the church. There is work to be done. When Jesus was taken up into heaven, the apostles evidently stood around looking up at the sky where they had last seen Him. Angels addressed them saying, “Men of Galilee…why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”⁴ This scene took place immediately after Jesus had told the disciples that they needed to be witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”⁵

We will not help to revitalize the church by staring into the sky and arguing with one another about the timing and manner of Christ’s return. No amount of analyzing, theologizing, polemicizing, or ostracizing will bring new life to the Bride of Christ. What is required is commitment to obedience. In order for commitment to be effective, it must have a focus (Christ)6 and a specific content (God’s word).⁷ The commitment must have purpose (spiritual service to God),⁸ and it must be lived out in the lives of the followers of Christ.⁹ This attitude of commitment is beautifully summarized in 1 Peter, where we read:

Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.¹⁰

This is what commitment to Christ and His cause looks like. When Christians act like this, the church will take care of itself.

We Must Learn to Educate for the Kingdom
The revival of the church will involve some rethinking of what we often call “Christian Education.” What is required is not “C. E.” in the parochial sense, the current mode that teaches us that we must have Sunday school and Vacation Bible School because everyone else does. Rather, what is necessary is Christian Education purposefully perpetrated by Christian minds. The church needs to claim the world of knowledge. We need to raise up a generation of well-educated, analytical, Christian thinkers — not just reciters of creeds. We need to bring into the church people who think. Each Christian should think in terms of claiming his profession for Christ.

Too often, when the local church discovers a bright young mind, the first thought is, “Let’s get this young person off to the right seminary.” Certainly we need bright pastors and seminary professors who profess faith in the Christ. We also need articulate Christian plumbers, electricians, journalists, and civil servants. We need to understand the problems within our society and be in the forefront of attacking those problems from a Christian worldview.

We Must Rely upon God
Christians cannot “straighten out” the church in our own power. “Our own power” is how it got to be the way it is. We need to rely upon the power of God and cling to His many promises. It is He who will maintain His remnant. It is Him to whom the glory is due—and will be due at the last day.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.¹¹

Notes
1. Os Guinness, The Gravedigger File (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1983), 237.
2. 1 Kings 19:18. (NIV)
3. Ephesians 1:17–23. (NIV)
4. Acts 1:11 (NIV)
5. Acts 1:8. (NIV)
6. See 1 Corinthians 2:2; 10:18–21.
7. See 2 Timothy 3:16, 17.
8. See Isaiah 1:10–17; Amos 5:21–24; Romans 12:1–2.
9. Read Luke 14:25–27; 1 John 3:16–18; Ephesians 4:11–12.
10. 1 Peter 4:1–11. (NIV)
11. Ephesians 3:20–21. (NIV)