It Takes Time

Getting together in large gatherings to celebrate something special is a wonderful human experience. Developing strong friendships that are open and strengthen each other is life giving. Of these two time commitments, which one needs the most time?

Christmas is a wonderful time of family celebrations. The joy and expectation of getting together with extended family and friends has great meaning for many people. The routines of life are set aside in order to focus on this special time. However if Christmas was celebrated every week something would be lost.

I was talking to a friend of mine who is a pastor. He was saying that Sunday services, which he believes are celebrations, are becoming hum drum. His answer is that more time, money and creativity need to be put into these celebrations to make them more vibrant. Maybe the answer is very simple. It’s just a matter of too much of a good thing. We should put more time, energy and creativity into corporate celebrations but why not just less of them. Has anyone considered that maybe God gets bored with our weekly celebrations?

Friendships, on the other hand take a lot of personal investment. They take a lot of time. No third party planning makes friendships work. A pastor can't do this for you. Both have to be willing to give time, energy and heart to make them valuable. A different friend was telling me that it was normal for good friends to grow apart because of commitments to different Sunday services.

Somehow something got skewed along the way in our priorities for time. It takes a lot of time and personal investment to build great friendships, whereas if we give too much time to celebrations they become hum drum and boring. Somehow the general pattern of church life has reversed these time commitments.

It is a rare thing to see someone giving up their time for a celebration service to see a friend who is going through a time of depression or helping someone in need. The parable of the Good Samaritan comes to mind as I write these things.

On a personal note, as I have been questioning the value of Sunday services and church practices, it's been a roller coaster ride filled with dark times of depression mixed with exhilarating times of joy in the One who never fit inside the box of religion. As I rail out at times, only a few who said they were my friends have stuck with me on this journey. Those who think I am in a "backslidden state" because of not attending a church service have never once given up a service to be with me. The general rule is that we can only be loved when we are loveable or have something to offer. As I point my finger I am well aware of my own hypocrisy for doing the same things.

What is Christianity about if it is not about loving God by loving our friends? 1John 4:20 (NIV) 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. 21 And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

A common greeting in a church service after you’ve been away for awhile is, “we missed you.” Sadly, the person saying this line doesn’t realize how damning that expression is. I know many committed Christians whose only means of building friendships comes through the banter that we fit in before and after a service.

What if we became committed to building friendships and once in awhile had a time of corporate celebration? Is it possible that the friendships would go from being just casual greetings to mutual building up of one another? Is it possible that we would regain the wonder of celebration and corporate worship instead of just another weekly meeting?

What’s in the way of changing our time commitments regarding spiritual development?

1. MONEY. It would be difficult for pastors to justify their salaries and building programs without a weekly gathering.
(50% of church budgets are dedicated to celebratory gatherings. Another 40% goes to programs that exist because of the Sunday services.)

2. We like it the way it is.

3. God said we need a weekly corporate gathering.

I could be just speaking to the wind in all of this. After all, Jesus did say that the world would know that we are His disciples by going to church once a week.

The Best Place to Hear a Sermon

If we did it Jesus’ way there wouldn’t be a “best” place. There might not even be a sermon in the way that we have come to understand them today.

In the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) Jesus is in a setting that is open and fun.

The religious elite were upset that He was eating with “sinners”. Thankfully their critical attack of his "methodology" allowed Him to contrast having fun with “sinners” with their religious hardness of heart.

Here are a few points to consider in one of the greatest “sermons” of all times.

1. Jesus was in a place of common ground with ordinary people. Likely a gathering with a meal associated with it. Jesus didn’t have to leave the setting to illustrate what he was saying.

2. He used no scripture to begin or end his sermon. What He said could easily be supported by scripture but He didn’t feel the need to quote it.

3. He contrasted God’s love for all with the exclusivity of the religious system of the day.

4. His “sermon” took less than 3 minutes.

And Now, Here’s the Rest of the Story

The power that a pastor wields from a pulpit is a huge responsibility. He or she will often give the impression that what they are teaching is the whole counsel of God. The truth and nothing but the truth is the impression given. The reality is that what they are saying is that they are giving their interpretation or their group’s interpretation. Rarely are they like Paul Harvey, “and now here’s the rest of the story,” allowing people to hear all sides of the discussion and then making up their own minds.

This is an example of one such teaching.

Tithing on one’s income is taught within some religious circles as a moral obligation with a curse associated with it if one doesn’t tithe. It’s usually stated in positive terms that you will be blessed it you do. New believers are especially susceptible to this coercive manipulation as they want to do what is right before God.

Here’s a quote from a pastor who teaches tithing,
“I have tithed most of my life…and when I don’t tithe…I get into financial trouble…and when I do…I prosper!...I don’t teach tithing as a law…I teach it as a principle lived out by faith that God will bless my 10%and multiply it like Fish and loaves…
I have dared anyone in my church or ministry to try it for 6 months and if they don’t truly feel it is right or that God hasn’t blessed them…I’ll give their money back…in 20 years no one has ever took me up on it…but, many have thanked me that it changed their lives.”

I’ve never heard of anyone giving a money back guarantee before but the idea that you will be blessed if you tithe is often taught. I know, I was one of the teachers of this questionable practice. I even remember when I was on staff at a church when the tithe police questioned me about my own personal tithing. If we're gonna preach it we better practice it. How could I lose? It went right back into my salary anyway and I got a charitable receipt to boot.

New Christians are sometimes referred to as “baby” Christians. This is not meant in a derogatory way. It is only meant to express that they don’t yet know how to discern what is true in a teaching. I have never heard a preacher of tithing say, “wait for a year while you get the necessary background so that you can properly understand the principle of tithing for yourself.”

This is one of the most beloved verses for preachers of tithing. It is often printed on tithing envelopes.

Mala 3:10 (NIV) Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

The interpretation given is that the storehouse is the church that you belong to. The money is to be given with not a lot of thought about how it is to be used. Your offering is to God, don't ask how those who take your money, spend it. The fact that it is used to pay the preacher’s livelihood is not usually highlighted as one of the main uses.

Would it be wrong to question the motive behind reaching out to the “lost” when eventually the expectation of getting paid by the one's they reach is part of “the plan”?

Another way to interpret Malachi is to understand it as God’s means of caring for the poor. The storehouse was literally a grainery that was used to store the tithe(grain), so that the poor will have a place to get food in order to survive. It was kind of like the original welfare plan.

Today, only a very small percentage of monies collected (usually less than 10 percent) in churches that preach tithing actually goes to the poor. Most of the monies collected go to things like buildings and salaries.

The principle of Malachi is that tithing was God’s mechanism of ensuring that the nation of Israel would be strong because it was making sure that the poor and oppressed would be cared for.

In a horribly twisted inversion of that principle, tithing is now used by the strong (pastors) to get the weak to financially support them and their system.

And that’s the rest of the story.

High Places

In the times of the ancient Hebrews there were many religious groups that established shrines and holy places on mountains. These “high places” had cultic qualities about them, in that if one sacrificed or prayed at these sites there was believed to be a better chance of getting prayers answered. The Israelites were drawn into these pagan practices and were often rebuked for trusting in these “high places”. Levi 26:30 (NIV) I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you.

Even when reforms happened within Israel and there was a turning back to the things of God, these high places were not dismantled. Paradoxical comments like these are a plenty during those times. 1Kin 15:14 (NIV) Although he did not remove the high places, Asa's heart was fully committed to the LORD all his life.

Holding onto rites and places that have no power in themselves seems to be a common religious theme throughout the ages. To this day people struggle with understanding that just because God worked through a particular methodology or person, doesn’t mean that means should be given any special significance.

Many evangelical churches have a practice called altar calls. What is now considered common practice in many of those churches was invented by Charles Finney in the 19^th century. There is almost a cultic idea that walking the aisle to the altar of a church is somehow God’s means of bringing salvation to an individual. The very idea that we even consider the front of the room in which people gather as an altar is at best questionable. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross did not institute a new round of altars being built. It’s astonishing that this idea is so commonly accepted that no one even considers that it looks more like the Old Testament’s view of “high places.”

Billy Graham is perhaps the single, most noteworthy proponent of this methodology and his organization says that only 3-5% that come forward actually love Jesus a year later. These are the code words for saying that they are found in church a year later. The idea that that is better than what anyone else is doing justifies its continued usage. Friends helping friends is not necessary in the "walk the aisle" mentality. Few who sign the cards ever discover the wonder of God's love as the ones who brought them don't know much more themselves. Besides its the pastor's job to disciple them anyway.

Some people even give the front of a church a special value or power. They often wait to go to the front of the church for prayer because that is where the “real” power is to be found. I was one of those people and when I think about it now, I see how easy it is to turn a common thing into a “high place.”

Another modern day version of a high place is the “weakly sermon” which is preached from a holy place, a church building, at an even holier part of the building, the pulpit. This preaching from the pulpit has the cultic idea that God’s word has greater power when it is referred to from this special setting. It is especially powerful when it is preached by a special, holy man, the pastor. Common folk need not apply.

If one listened to 10 teachings in a week via the internet, books or friends, there would still be an expectation from many Christians that you should still hear THEE sermon that is spoken from the holy place by the holy man at the holy time.

It’s rather bazaar that in a day when we have access to the best of preaching in the world that this relic from the past still carries so much significance in people’s lives. Actually studying God’s word is practiced by few but going to a “high place” to hear something that may be completely irrelevant or incomprehensible to the listener is of high value to way too many Christians.

When any methodology is given a special place in the hearts of people, there is a real danger of associating that common method with the cultic power of a “high place.”

Test yourself and see if you have made going to Sunday services a “high place” in your life. Don't go for 3 months and don't tell anyone it will only be 3 months. Do you feel guilty if you don’t go? Do your friends make you feel guilty or do they simply abandon you or are they really, really worried about you? What does your pastor think of your not going? (Teaching Sunday School doesn't count as not going.)

The Lord does require things from us and they have nothing to do with “high places.”

Mica 6:8 (NIV) He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Persecuted for ...

Persecution is a foreign concept for North American Christians. We have our rights and we will fight for them. Sadly these days people are thinking changing the greeting, "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" is a sign of persecution. To this I say, "Step up to the challenge and say the words Merry Christmas and feel the heat of honest to God persecution." Meanwhile in other parts of the world persecution in real terms is taking place.

But who are being persecuted and for what is a huge topic. For example Hindus in Bangladesh are being severely persecuted with over 2.5 million being slaughtered in 1971 and 10 million fleeing that country over the past 50 years. Can’t say I’ve heard much about these atrocities.

In 1994, at least 500,000 maybe 1,000,000 ethnic Tutsis were murdered by extremist Hutus as an act of genocide in Rwanda. I’ve only heard about this travesty after the fact.

Suffice to say, persecution is not unique to any one people group. Without doubt there are people being persecuted today because of ethnicity, social status and religious beliefs. We tend to only notice when it affects something of personal value to us.

I recently heard of two Christian pastors in Russia who were put in prison for at least 6 months. In one case the pastor was fixing the sidewalk in front of his church building without a permit and the other was putting in a window of his church building without a permit. They and their families paid a big price and no doubt this is the Putin government’s signal of a new round of persecution against some forms of Christianity. Likely, some groups of Christians will applaud their government’s efforts to stamp out unruly sects.

A simple answer to this type of persecution, via harsh application of civil laws, is to simply stop using specified buildings. This was done in the past with the underground church surviving through even more severe forms of persecution. It’s iconic that a building is now so synonymous with Christian values that even the government uses it as a door through which to persecute Christians.

As a good, old fashioned Canadian, by mind can’t grapple with any persecution more severe than a condescending sneer from someone who thinks my faith is foolish. Others can’t handle my dissecting the institutional church model that is so well entrenched in society that they think it is straight from the writings of Paul. Could they easily give up their love affair with buildings if our government chose to act like the Putin government?

In all of this, it seems to me that persecution is likely going to be in our world for a while yet. It was one of the things that Jesus guaranteed (promised) would happen to Christians from time to time. Mattew 5:10 As for me, I don’t think I do well with any kind of persecution and I certainly don’t know of anyone in Canada who is being persecuted for righteousness sake. I guess our faith has even overcome what Jesus said would be inevitable for His followers.

The Cycle of Chruch Life

Church planting was and is seen to get the best bang for the buck in terms of increase in numbers. There are many stories of groups of 10 increasing to 20 in less than a year. Reaching 50 people within two years is considered very possible and reasonable. With that number there is usually enough money to pay the church planter’s salary.

The emphasis in these beginning stages is relationships. Programs are not initiated as everyone is well aware that they consume too much time and resources. Besides people are usually having too much fun to bother with the programs. Hardly a week goes by when there isn’t a visitor who is interested in all this love and rarely does a few weeks go by without someone giving their lives to Jesus. They are like an extended family and everyone knows everyone else’s name.

The staggering percentage of growth is considered possible only in those beginning years. Sustaining that much growth for 10 years would mean that the group would reach 12,800 members.

There is a tremendous amount of excitement in the first two years and the leadership core begins thinking that they will have a great impact in the city as they continue in this growth pattern. A house is no longer sufficient to meet the pressing demands of growth and serious discussions begin to centre around facilities and programs to get people involved.

At 150 the group is no longer feeling the joy of relationships that they had when they were less than 50. Programs demand more time and planning. Loving each other gives way to finding new ways (programs) through which to grow and disciple others. The relationship to the pastor with the early group of less than 50 is very different to the ones who are new to the process. His time and energy is naturally more spreadout and people need to learn to accept less from him. They also expect less from each other as they are all busy making sure the programs are running efficiently. They are the talk of the town and they need to make sure that they continue with the exciting testimony of growth.

Usually the originals are very loyal to the pastor and his vision. They love to tell stories of the early days. Those who came after never received as much personal attention and therefore loyalty is not as high. Eventually the late comers become dissatisfied and either leave or sit back and watch. The originals keep plugging away and become frustrated that others aren’t digging in just like them. They know they’ve lost some of their early intimacy and are being spread a little thin but the vision of growth is worth the loss.

The pastor’s main job is recruitment for the programs, putting out squabbles between the new and the originals and of course preaching. He has to be careful not to look like he is favoring the orginals so he begins to distant himself from them as well. The wonder of great relationships is exchanged for building the next building and ministering to the 20% of the people who doing 80% of the work. But the numbers keep increasing and therefore it’s worth the cost.

As the years go by, people come and people go, except of course for the originals. The early vision for loving others has been replaced by programs and the next phase of development is maintaining the programs which are really just rituals that people are used to. If you asked them why they are doing them the answer is because they have always done them.

Not quite true. There were those two exhilarating years that the orginals talk about where they knew nothing but deep relationships centered on Christ and no programs.

Someone eventually grows tired of not being able to develop close relationships within the inner core and leads a small break out group that is going to focus on relationships. Programs are not initiated as everyone is well aware that they consume too much time and resources. Besides people are usually having too much fun to bother with the programs. Hardly a week goes by when there isn’t a visitor who is interested in all this love and rarely does a few weeks go by without someone giving their lives to Jesus. They are like an extended family and everyone knows everyone else’s name.

There is a tremendous amount of excitement in the first two years and the leadership core begins thinking that they will have a great impact in the city as they continue in this growth pattern. A house is no longer sufficient……..

Why do you?

Why do you go to church?
To study the Bible.

Why do you study the Bible?
So that I know I should go to church.

Why do you go to church?
To study the bible.

Why do you study the bible?

Counterfeits

I remember an old story about detecting counterfeit money. The key point of the story was that if you handled real currency long enough the counterfeit becomes readily apparent just in the handling of it.

Hmm. Have you bought something lately. It seems that every store including fast food franchises have counterfeit money detectors. I guess the old idea of just handling the real doesn’t work any more.

I loved the time my wife was getting a spicy chicken sandwich at Wendy’s and her old $10 bill didn’t pass the electronic scanner’s approval. She didn’t have any other money on her and she really wanted her spicy chicken sandwich. What to do? She called the manager over and he affirmed that her money couldn’t be used in their store. So his answer was to give her the spicy chicken sandwich for free. Good PR. We messed up though in that we spent that $10 bill some where else. Rats! We could have had free spicy chicken sandwiches for ever.

Here’s my connection to church practices these days. What if you came to the Lord through a counterfeit system intimidating that it is how the body of Christ is to be lived out on earth? When the real comes along and is at variance with the old can people easily switch gears? The Pharisees as a group couldn’t do it with Jesus. They killed him for not lining up with their groupthink. But individuals like Nicodemous could eventually and with much risk, make the break. Sadly not all could make the break completely as there were many legalizers within the confines of the church in years to come. Remember Peter getting rebuked by Paul. Gal. 2:11-3:1.

Every group has ways of manipulating people into conformity. Sometimes they are through direct attack. I know of one church that would literally take away someone’s bible if it wasn’t the King James Version, you know, the one Paul wrote. They were kind enough to replace it with a good old KJV. Sometimes groups manipulate through guilt. I’m sure no one has ever experienced motivation via guilt. Some manipulate through love. Lots of cults are wise in how they use the love manipulator. Other groups manipulate through Hollywood style extravaganzas. The addictive process of wanting bigger and better has worked in Hollywood for years, why not in the church? Other groups manipulate through an individual’s sincere desire to serve and thus to be in some serving position, one must adhere to whatever the church has deemed as its cultural norms and/or doctrines. I know of one church that brags about not having membership roles but then uses Sunday attendance as a mechanism of identifying those who are in and those who are out.

No groups really want self feeders. (a new buzzword to be fondled for a while) They may find out that they don't need the group anymore or that the emperor has no clothes. A lot of time and money was invested in catching that haul of fish and now its time for a financial return on their investment. So let's let them think they can grow on their own as long as we control the growth. Major decisions in churches (no matter the size) are made by just 7 people (likely 3) or less. I guess they're the only ones with a pipeline to God.

Pastors have a vested interest in making sure that their group continues to limit people's personal growth. If people learn to self feed and thus not need him, why would they continue to pay for his services. However, pastors will abandon the self feeders if they don't fall in line with their inspired thoughts. God help the ones that leave if they do anything other than slink away silently. No more words like Paul's, "O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you," can ever be uttered again within the hallowed restrictions of pastor controlled Christendom. Good thing Paul didn't have to get permission from a pastor to say those words. Come to think of it, why didn't Paul seek out the pastor when dealing with the Galatians?

Here’s a strange thought. What if everyone that declares Jesus as Lord is a member of the body of Christ? Only systems want/need something more to ensure their identity. What if the only system is a non-system called the body of Christ. Identifying with anything else seems unnecessary to me and is perhaps (and I may get spanked for even implying this,) even anti-christ like the Pharisees were.

How do you know if the system you have chosen isn’t a counterfeit?