Things I Think…
1. For 22 years now, whenever we have written an article exposing the sins of popular Christian leaders, someone in the comments section of the article has reviled us for doing so.
There has always been and continues to be, an ignorant, obstinate, and idolatrous rejection of biblical standards for leadership. I have pointed out the passages hundreds of times that address these standards, but they are rejected in favor of cheap grace and the desire to restore the fallen idol to its place of prominence. This is not only unbiblical, but heretical…
2. Not only are there standards for those who would lead in churches, there are standards for Christians…period. Which set of characteristics describe the Christians you know?
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
(Galatians 5:19–24 ESV)
3. Paul and the early church were not primarily focused on changing the world around them, which was as evil as the world around us. They were concerned with the transformation of those who claimed Christ…because it was in witnessing that transformation that the world would be drawn to Christ…and without it…it wouldn’t be. If you wonder why the church has more people going out the back door than coming in through the front…you need look no farther than these facts…that is what this verse actually means…
““You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”(Matthew 5:13 ESV)
4. Why don’t the current prominent leaders of the church teach and preach these things?
“If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.” (1 Timothy 6:3–5 ESV)
Jesus has left many of the churches because they replaced Him with the idol of success with pragmatism being the fruit of that spirit… and the money rolls in. If I were to pick a political side and promote it endlessly here I’d be able to write this from a much warmer place. I may risk going to a truly hot place if I did so.
Preachers have learned the lessons of mass media…if they can punch your emotional buttons and keep you angry, they keep you engaged…and you’ll pay to be pricked…
5. The greater sin in my opinion is that people are being discipled to be remain without transformation or worse yet, to be transformed into the image of the world they believe they oppose. So are the future leaders of the church who will be skilled in manipulation instead of modeling the fruit of the Spirit…
6. There is nothing sinful about being concerned with the state of the world around us…if that concern produces godly sorrow and a broken heart for those trapped in its ways. I can share in that…but once we label anyone who disagrees with us as an enemy to be defeated rather than a sinner to be saved…we’ve missed the mark of our calling…
7. Inevitably, when we lose the standards for Christian behavior and ethics, we will adopt the ways of the world and justify doing so because we think the cause is noble…and the Spirit departs…
8. Every week at the Lord’s table I confess that I have not yet arrived at a place where I meet the standards and ask for the gift of repentance and transformation…and sometimes I think we should take down the pulpit and and get a bigger table…Jesus has yet to refuse an invitation to supper…
9. Nothing has brought more depression into my life…not the fires, not the pandemic, not the ill health…nothing has brought on the darkness like knowing that defending the faith once delivered and the people that believe in it has put me outside the camp…
10. “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”” (Luke 18:8 ESV)
thanks for the coherent, noble thoughts. It is perplexing that simple basic expectations of leadership can be so elusive–when they are clearly printed in scripture. Not rocket science. Those you speak of in #1 suffer from inertia–they are bodies at rest & will remain at rest unless acted upon. They avoid change & discomfort. Taking a stand for the Church, biblical standards, and righteousness is too intimidating for these folks. Attacking a faceless soul on the internet who dares push them to act is simple defensiveness. And arrogance. It is a sad state of affairs–as is much of the other nonsense that passes for modern day christian expression.
regarding #9–outside the camp is exactly the definition of the scapegoat. You’re a welcome member of the congregation of the prophets…
Thank you, fil.
I confess that I am exhausted by it all…and find fewer and fewer folks willing to camp with me…
I am with you on this, Michael. What you’ve written is what I would call Biblical common sense. It is simple, and as such, an indictment against anyone who would embrace “another gospel”. I’m so saddened that so many of my long-time Christian friends so easily abandon the standards of Christian behavior in order to fully cheer on their political candidate or their absurd conspiracy theories.
DavidM,
It’s a sad time in Christian history…the world is discipling the church and we’re more lost than we know.
Thank you for always being here…
Michael
Heading into the last part of the 20th century we watched the church become hopelessly fractured as people began to go to their various corners on social issues. Currently the church is not merely fractured, it is broken. It no longer knows its mission and purpose. This is true, not only with regard to so-called evangelicals, but it is true within the main stream as well. The movement that has attached itself to politics is no longer anything that resembles Christianity. It is a heresy, and a damned heresy at that. Yes, a remnant remains, but they are scattered, and will soon become the subject of abuse by those who think they have won on the secular battlefield. What was once the witness of the church is being abandoned, and placed in the hands of the ignorant and violent…
Duane,
I agree…the question I wrestle with is how to respond.
Hopefully, it will be easier to love our enemies when they used to be friends…
I so appreciate your words, although they are heartbreaking.
Jenn,
Thank you…and welcome.
Precious Michael:
Have you ever considered that you may be just getting use to living in a more important camp?
Perhaps not as highly visible as former camps you’ve passed through. Desiring to respond to all that concerns you with love & wisdom is a wonderful place to pitch your tent. Just sayin’….
Anne,
I do prefer the company here… 🙂
I’m late to the party again…
It’s such an enigma…
I can admit you’re right on so many fronts.
However, let me says this that doesn’t necessarily contradict you as it runs along a parallel line where both are true.
The best Christian character I see is in some of the people in my local church. So much so that I can only look to the universal church for Christian character, I don’t see as pure a version of it anywhere else.
But putrid character in the church always will be disgusting.