www.mybethelbaptist.com

You know the slogan, “You can do it, we can help.” It has become increasingly apparent to me recently just how much of an issue this has become for churches. In the old days, the enemy was always seen as outside the church. Conservative Christians were afraid of Evolution being crammed down their kids’ throat. They were concerned about long hair and short skirts. But those things are not too concerning to the modern Conservative Evangelical Christian. Today there is a brand new enemy. It is called by various names such as: the self-help gospel, the therapuetic gospel, the Jesus-is-your-life-coach gospel, etc ad nausea ab absurdum.

The idea is that you can change yourself to be a better you. The pastor is there alongside you to help you. He is simply your coach along the way. There is nothing to it except a change of attitude. One must simply take on the attitude of Jesus and all will be well. This is very dangerous thinking however. The danger is that it sounds like Christianity. It uses the same phrases and it uses the Bible as its basis. The church has seen this before in Modernism and even Neo-Orthodoxy ala Barth.

So what makes this new Evangelicalism so dangerous is that it removes God from the equation. It is almost like Deism where God is for you but is not really involved in the creation so much. He has given you the instructions, now you figure it out. You can call him, but the change is your doing. Of course no pastor who uses the self-help gospel would put it like that. All would say you need the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. But as always, there are trajectories with such thinking.

Examples: No one is offended by this so-called “gospel.” There is no offense of the cross. There is no stone of stumbling, rock of offense. It is simply Jesus is your buddy and he is there to help you along through life’s problems. Sound good? Sure, who wouldn’t want that? And that of course is the problem.

I am afraid however that this way of thinking is all too pervasive. It is probably taught in most churches in America each week that consider themselves conservative Evangelicals. There simply is no gospel. There is no cross. There is no need for the radical conversion from death to life. Paul could not preach this idea of Jesus being your buddy or life-coach. Instead he said things like, “we preach Christ and him crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Moreover he could say, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only (meaning no resurrection), we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Cor 15:19 ESV).

For Paul and the rest of the Bible, the historic event of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus was foundational to everything. Any foundation that is built on self-esteem, self-help, is a shaky foundation. Once the gospel is lost, all you have is self-help or do good because that is what you should do. Just stop and smell the roses. Life is too short to be in a hurry. Live your best life now, Jesus will help you. Once the cross is removed from the equation, the message ceases to be the gospel. It is something, but not biblical Christianity. May we repent of ever being guilty of offering people hope apart from the gospel.

No Comments »

Situations frequently happen in churches where unrepentant sin begins to affect the church as a whole. It only takes a little leaven to “leaven the whole lump.” But what should the church do? Immediately we might say, ” Judge not!” But is that the biblical response? Is there such a thing as a   “biblical response”? If there is, can we follow that today?

The two most well-known biblical texts that speak about the issue of unrepentant sin in the church are Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Corinthians 5. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches that if a brother or sister is in unrepentant sin and refuses to listen, finally to the church, then they are to be treated ”as a Gentile and a tax collector.” In 1 Corinthians 5, a man was involved in scandalous sin and Paul instructs the church ”to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (verse 5). Then he states in verse 11, “‘But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”

There are other passages that could be used to support the idea that the church is to be a group of believers who seek to follow the Lord. The church obviously is not sinless or without struggles with sin. But it seems that the church is to be holy (1 Peter 1:16). The biblical mandate is clear. the church is not to tolerate unrepentant sin among its members.

There have been times when a pastor has had to address the problem of unrepentant sin among one of the members. If the church does not have any form of church discipline in its constitution or bylaws, the pastor can really do nothing. The pastor can warn the individual, but the individual can simply ignore the pastor. He or she may even get the support of the church against the pastor. If the church refuses to repent and deal with the unrepentant sin then what is to be expected?

When John has his vision of the resurrected Lord Christ in the Book of Revelation, notice what the Lord said to the church at Ephesus: “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent (2:5). Jesus threatens to remove his presence from the church. And any church that ignores unrepentant sin among its members should expect nothing less than the loss of the presence of the Lord. I am afraid this is widespread in our day.

All of this talk of discipline can sound harsh and unloving. Nevertheless it is a biblical concept and one that is good for the believer as well. Paul told the Corinthians that the man was to be delivered over to Satan so that his soul might be saved. The turning over to Satan was only for the destruction of the flesh. Ultimately, Paul wanted the unrepentant member to repent and be saved. The goal is always restorative and never punitive. Of course church discipline has been abused, but the real question is, ”Is it biblical?” If it is, how should we go about it? Let us imitate Jesus in this way. He was kind and merciful to “’sinners.” But to the hypocrites he was harsh and straightforward. If the church knowingly tolerates unrepentant sin, it is no more a church of believers. James 4:17 says that the one who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, to him it is sin.

No Comments »

Something no pastor would want to hear. Most pastors probably feel that everyone should want to join their church. But then again, it is not really “their” church. It is God’s church. So if there were only one church left on earth, should you join it? Historically, at least since the Reformation, people have sought to distinguish the “marks” of a true church. It is generally agreed that there are two marks of a regular church: The right preaching of the gospel and the right administration of the sacraments (Baptism and the Lords Supper). Though some would include church discipline as a third mark, it could just as well fall under the right administration of the Lord’s Supper, the Supper being withheld from unrepentant members.

So if there were the right preaching of the gospel and the right administration of the sacraments, then yes you would be obligated to join that church. But what about a church in your area? Are you obligated to join a church? There are good reasons to join a church. Mostly because of what Jesus himself taught about the church. He said that he will build his church and the gates of hell will not stand against it (Matthew 16). It is said of Jesus that he loves the church and he gave himself for her to be a spotless bride (Ephesians 5:25). If you are sick, you cannot call the elders of the church (James 5:14). Who would have commissioned Paul and Barnabas on the missionary journey in Acts 15? How could you have deacons or elders? How would you observe the Lord’s Supper? How could you be baptized? How can we judge those inside the church (1 Corinthians 5:12)?  Paul seems to have directed the churches in Galatia to take up an offering (1 Corinthians 16:1). How could you obey your leaders and submit to them (Hebrews 13:17)?

Much more could be said, but one thing is clear: the idea of a local assembly of believers, where the Apostle’s teaching is heard, is clearly outlined in the New Testament. Many would immediately appeal to the universal church or invisible church, but that is not something that the New Testament speaks about specifically. What the New Testament does speak about is a local congregation of believers who meet regularly for things such as hearing God’s Word, prayer, giving, Lord’s Supper, baptism, evangelism, etc.

So the question remains, are you obligated to join a local church? If you answer “no” I would want to know why not. In an age of commitment phobia and churches tripping over each other, perhaps we are setting ourselves up for failure. We enjoy Walmart because it has everything we need under one roof and the prices are cheaper. Maybe we are treating the church the same way. We want everything that suits our needs under one roof. In other words we are consumer driven in our mentality. Instead of seeking to come alongside other believers in your community and build them up, we are looking for whatever will bless us by way of music, teaching, or fellowship. There is nothing wrong with that desire. However, God has given Christians different gifts to be exercised within a local church body for the edification of believers (Ephesians 4:11). And you should come alongside a group of believers in your area and seek to build them up even if that local body has many deficiencies. If the two marks are in place, then that is a great place to start.

No Comments »

The lessons that I have learned over the past few years of being a pastor have been innumerable. I could talk about the necessity for prayer, the need to trust God, the need for wisdom, etc. But I have learned more about what it means to be a good church member than through any other experience. I now realize that I have always been too hard on pastors. I would often grumble and complain against the music choice and seek to find fault with the sermon. If the pastor did not do what I expected him to do, then I would no longer respect him and simply write him off. Most of the time I felt that “if only” he would do this or not do that then everything would be fine. Or I would get offended if I was not asked to do something and someone else was asked (jealousy). Instead of taking an initiative and looking for ways to serve the church, I would complain that the pastor does not do enough to get the things done that should be done. It was the same old cliche, “someone should do something about this.” Instead of looking for ways to build up the church and the pastor, I was overly critical and overly sensitive.

By being a pastor I feel the struggle that comes with the territory. I understand how the Apostle Paul could say, “And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28 ESV). There is a burden that pastors carry around for their churches. The thoughts about the member’s well-being cannot simply be turned off at will. You have a burden for the warward members, the ones facing marriage difficulties, the ones who have lost jobs, the ones who have rebellious children, and the ones who are causing division. You are burdened by the fact that there is so much to teach and so little has been taught. There are so many traditions and unwritten rules that must be learned.

All this to say that pastors need prayer and support. They love the church and want others to love the church with the same intensity. They are human beings that fail. And when Christians begin to see the church as Christ’s bride they can see that they are called to “adorn her” and to love her as the bride of Christ. Instead of being critical and fault-finding in everything, the member begins to see his or her role as one of building up (Ephesians 4:11). When members begin to see themselves more like servants and less like judges then the church begins to take shape as the bride of Christ.

No Comments »

Considering the fact that the wages of sin is death, what other effects does sin have on people? Right from the beginning we see the result of sin on families. Some extreme sins such as Cain killing his brother are obvious. But what about “lesser” sins? Ham was cursed by Noah because he mocked his father. But Noah had been guilty of intoxication in Genesis 9. Simply by drinking too much, there was an opportunity to sin given to Noah’s children. Ham then gave into the temptation and fell into sin.

All throughout the Bible we see that when people are self-centered and commit sin, their sin affects other people. The quarreling and fighting in James 4 was a result of people not getting what they wanted. In Philippians 4:2 Paul had to entreat Euodia and Syntyche to agree in the Lord; Most of the First Epistle to the Corinthians was to deal with self-seeking sin which was causing division; And there are many other examples.

The church today also suffers from the same disappointment. One individual’s sin affects the spouse and children. This sin causes the pastor great stress and he takes it into his house. That sin can cause division in the church as to how to best deal with it. One sin can have a thousand consequences. the children grow up and they think sin is no big deal. the children in the church see sin and rebellion in their teacher and so they think it is no big deal. All the while the one who is in sin and rebellion believes that the sin only involves themselves. That is a sad mistake. If only we were able to see the tragic consequences of our attitudes and actions as they affect those around us. Perhaps if we were able to see the “sinfulness of sin” then we would not play with it so much. If we believed that unrepentant sin kept us from heaven then we may be quicker to repent.

No Comments »

Over the past few years, I have been thinking much about the idea of church membership. As a pastor, I must admit that the idea of church membership is more important to me now that I am on “the other side of the pulpit.” And it seems that our generation has developed a “commitment phobia” that allows us to think of the church indifferently. In fact when it comes to church membership, most Christians feel free to “take it or leave it.”

            This notion of disregard for church membership is often encouraged by churches. In a recent article I read, the author stated that a person can become a Christian without even joining a church body. Could the Apostle Paul make such a statement? True, church membership is not necessary for salvation. However, why would someone not join a church?

            The reason that people do not want to join a church is because they do not like the church. Even non-believers like Jesus, but have deep resentment towards the church. They say things like, “I like Jesus but not ‘organized religion.’” Many professing Christians do not attend church, preferring to stay at home and watch services on TV. And I firmly believe that at the heart of this indifference towards the church is that the church is so often difficult to be a part of.

            In my weakest moments, I have to confess that many times I do not like the church. Like any relationship, there are moments when it is difficult to love the other party. But the thing that we must always keep in perspective is the love of Jesus for his church.

            The Apostle Paul reminded the church at Ephesus that Christ loved the church and gave himself for her, that he might sanctify her…that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (5:25 ESV). Just prior to that, the Apostle says that Christ is “the head of the body, the church.” Certainly Jesus is not indifferent to the church and he certainly loves his church. Therefore we must do the same as our Lord.

            Still there are people that would argue that they like Jesus and agree that Jesus loves his church. But they are not convinced that being part of a church is all that important. They feel that they can live out the Christian life apart from the body of Christ, the church. After all, “wherever two or three are gathered, isn’t Jesus there (Matthew 18:20)?” Jesus may or may not be present, but that is not the church.  If you find yourself thinking this way, let me just ask a few questions.

            How can you encourage and exhort one another (Hebrews 3:13)? How can you admonish one another (1 Thessalonians 5:14 and Romans 15:14)? How can you confess your faults to one another (James 5:16)? How can you not forsake the assembling together (Hebrews 10:25)? How can you obey your leaders and submit to them (Hebrews 13:17)? How can you remember your leaders and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7)? How can you avoid quarreling and contention in the church (1 Corinthians 10:32)? Let us therefore love the church just as Christ loves his church.

No Comments »