While I Mused the Fire Burned- "Sacred Cows Make Good Hamburger" #2

     Recently I talked about a number of biblical values that the western Church has contextualized to the point of syncretism that has forced us further and further away from biblical patterns of behavior.  In the first blog I said that "we have sacrificed transformation for culturally-determined "sacred cow" practices. I gave three Sacred Cows which need to be turned into hamburger ( see "Sacred Cows Make Good Hamburger" #1).  Here are three more.

     4.  Proliferation of church property dedicated to no one but those already Christian. 

American evangelicals are preoccupied with church buildings and massive building projects. Most of our edifices serve only us while failing to focus on serving others, particularly the have nots of the world. What are we doing to serve the needs of the larger community, especially those who are hurting and in need?  The Christian habit is to build to meet Christian needs. Perhaps this is the most significant evidence of an earthly culture at work conforming the church to the world. In much of the unreached world, church buildings are neither possible or affordable and yet the church is growing at a rapid rate in such areas. Today's believers must conceive of a church system that exists and thrives in the absence of buildings. 

     5.  Education as sufficient preparation for ministry without character development and 

           competence in disciple-making. 

Medicine is one of the few professions where mentoring or discipleship is a common and indispensable practice. Following medical school, a doctor goes through an internship, residency and specialized training, so why is it normal and necessary to train and mentor doctors so meticulously yet something as important  as communicating the gospel is treated so cavalierly?  Seminary education is vital, but learning the art of disciple making and learning to live truth is supreme. We should demand that disciples make disciples as a part of their vocational preparation. We must expect that one who is ministering must live out truth through a holy lifestyle. 

     6.  Understanding the "gospel" as primarily an issue of salvation. 

In a recent book, Scot McKnight says, "evangelism today is obsessed with getting someone to make a decision; the apostles , however, were obsessed with making disciples. Evangelism that focuses on decisions short circuits the design of the gospel..."  When people become Jesus followers their entire lives change. In spiritual terms, they see Jesus and do what they have been meant to do before the foundations of time; they fall on their knees and confess, "My Lord and my God."  What happens next in their lives is discipleship. No one can call himself a follower of Jesus and not be changed into His likeness. Matthew 28 tells us to go and make disciples of all ethne, not disciples of a culturally conformed North American church. Far from simply making decisions we must fulfill God's eternal purpose by being a disciple and making disciples. 

     Sacred Cows make good hamburger. We will never be free from the problems that cultural Christianity breeds unless we deal with these problems at their root. In an alien culture such as post modern America, it is easy to be squeezed into the world's mold, but we must rather follow the admonition of the apostle as he urged, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2).

While I Mused The Fire Burned - "Sacred Cows Make Good Hamburger" #1

     Just today I was talking to the executive pastor of a large evangelical church which by all accounts has had unusual growth and success over the last few years.  They have a godly pastor and a great staff, but my friend told me that changes must come.  He said "we have all the whistles and bells," but our people are shallow and do not live what they profess on Sunday.  They have all the "right stuff" without getting the right results.  The "whistles and bells" don't seem to be creating godly disciples.

     Sadly, this story can be told across the broad spectrum of the Christian church.  The most significant problems for the Church originate in our becoming lost in earthly cultures.  The net effect is that we attribute our cultures' values and beliefs to God and, in essence, reinvent God in our own image.  We have sacrificed transformation for culturally-determined "sacred cow" practices. Let me give you several Sacred Cows which need to be ground into hamburger:

     1.  Worship services ad nauseum. Most of us have failed to understand "worship" as something we do to honor our relationship with God and that requires us to bring something to the presence of God as an act of worship.  Sadly, worship has become an event that is viewed as entertainment or an event from which we should get something.  God is secondary if He is a factor at all.

     2.  Preaching without teaching/training.  Our Sunday experience is a one-way communications process where the people who come are passive listeners.  If it is really teaching there must active participation from both sides.  In many, if not most churches, the message simply fades away at the close of the service seldom to be thought of again.  Where is the training that really affects change?  Start living on Monday what you sing about on Sunday!

     3.  Orthodoxy without orthopraxy.  Right thinking (orthodoxy) must always be paired with orthopraxy (right behavior).  When a person comes to Christ, his or her direction is changed, but following Jesus will also bring a change of lifestyle.  Right living is as important as right doctrine.

     In part 2 of this blog I will give 3 other "sacred cows" which need to be dealt with.  Grinding up these customs which have grown up in the church is no easy process, but we will never be free of the problems which cultural Christianity breeds unless we deal with them at the root.  My friend who talked to me about the plight of his church will only continue to have significant issues unless the people's understanding of the gospel can be significantly changed and consumer christianity can be eradicated.  Sacred Cows make good hamburger.  Start grinding!

While I Mused The Fire Burned- "The Presence, The Hallowing Presence"

"The place where you stand is holy." This is what God said to Moses at the burning bush, and to Joshua on the outskirts of Jericho.
What makes a place holy? Only one thing- the presence of the Holy One. His presence makes the Temple holy. His presence makes a life holy.
The place where God encounters us to change us and command our service is sacred. Not the sand, not the bush, not the fire, but God- present, speaking, acting- made that desert spot holy ground for Moses. It wasn't the river he had crossed or the city he would conquer, but it was God who made the place where Joshua stood holy ground.
Only the presence of God makes a building a temple or a congregation a church. Holiness is achieved only by the living God as He graciously draws near to redeem and enlist human life.
We can meet together, we can sing hymns, say prayers, read Scripture and even give money, but all of this is empty ritual in a mausoleum unless God is present to own and bless us. We can write bylaws and mission statements, chant slogans, battle social evils and run victory laps, but our reforms are cosmetic and fleeting unless God is present to energize and direct us. Where holiness is concerned everything depends on the Presence. God's presence cannot be manipulated or controlled by people, not even ordained people in clerical dress. God is not a genie who appears because we rub the lamp or tap a bell or blow a whistle. He is sovereign.
His presence is not capricious. He comes where two or three are gathered in His name. Obedience assures His presence, disobedience forfeits His presence. GOD IS THE HOLY ONE. Nothing is holy except by His presence. Nothing is holy in His absence.