Loving People... Loving Truth!

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. Such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. For your obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Romans 16:17-20

Paul’s words to the Romans emphasize the necessity of doctrinal faithfulness.  It’s crucial. And so is unity. Some people emphasize one, and some the other. The Church today seems to be made of two kinds of people: those who promote purity and those who believe unity must be at the forefront.  Unity naturally emphasizes the preciousness of personal relationships, but tend to neglect an emphasis on truth. The purity advocates naturally emphasize the preciousness of truth and tend to neglect the nurturing value of personal relationships.

In fact, you could probably categorize people, churches, denominations, institutions and movements in the Church today (or even in society in general) along these lines: There are those who emphasize doctrinal purity, and there are those that emphasize relational unity.

As this year ends and the hope of 2017 looms, I hope you are feeling uncomfortable with that pat description. The right reaction might be something like this… “Do we have to choose? Can’t it be both? Can’t you love truth and love people?” In fact, it would be an even more biblical perspective if you found yourself thinking, “I don’t even think you can love people if you don’t love truth. How can you do what is ultimately good for people if you don’t have any strong convictions about what is ultimately good?”

And yet there is no escaping the reality that people and churches and denominations and schools and even whole periods in history have forced one way or the other. I think the period of history we live in is not an easy time to be a lover of truth. The most common criticism, if you stand for an important truth and imply by that stand that others should believe it, is that you are arrogant, which is the opposite of being loving (1 Corinthians 13:4), and therefore you are undermining relationships.

For many Christians today the only path to peaceful relationships in a pluralistic world is the path of no explicit truth be given any consideration by anyone. If no one claims that what he believes deserves consideration from anyone else, then we can live together in peace. Right? So peaceful pluralism and diminished truth claims go hand in hand.

Wrong. It doesn’t work like that. When there is no truth that deserves consideration, the only arbiter in our competing viewpoints is power. Where truth doesn’t define what’s right, might will always make the decision.  When the universal claim of truth disappears, what you get is not peaceful pluralism or loving relationships; what you get is social unrest and eventually brutality and the emergence of all forms of bigotries.

I want all people to see what the Bible says [what God is saying to humanity] …its absolute truths and uncompromising requirements for unity among believers as the foundation for living on this planet.  Its not one or the other, or one over the other… purity verses truth… its both combined, blended into the doctrines of God’s truth that bind people together in unity of belief. the importance of being a purity boy for the sake of being a unity boy. It pictures a way of thinking and living that most of our fellow Americans would consider offensive, unloving, fundamentalistic, and out of date. 

As this hard year of 2016 ends with all of its bitter divisiveness, my hope is that everyone who calls themselves a “Christian” will be freed from any blindness or bondage to this truth-diminishing period of time in which we live.  Don’t forget… Christ is coming back and all of this whatever you think of it, is passing away!

And I pray that, because of this liberty we have in Christ, you would know what it is to love your adversaries and that you would have fresh power from the gospel to magnify Christ in showing that love in the 365 days to come.

I don’t expect these words to settle well with everyone who reads them.  I understand you may not agree with my viewpoint.  That said, what you will read is grounded in Biblical truth and a correct understanding of often misunderstood and misapplied passages regarding the compensation of preachers.  

If a pastor is in the ministry only for money then he is in the ministry for the wrong reason and may not actually be called by God at all.  Bear in mind, no one can ever be completely sure whether any preacher is truly called… as personal choice in what one decides to do with one’s life is a powerful force in any professional pursuit, including ministry.  

God never calls someone into the ministry so that they can make a living or to make a good living. The two lowest paid salaries in the U.S. are for teachers and preachers, so if they entered the ministry for money, they are most certainly on the wrong path. 

Besides, Scripture is clear, preachers/pastors/elders are not to pursue riches, because one of the qualifications of being a pastor is that they be “free from the love of money” (1 Timothy 3:3). Not only would this disqualify such a person, this might become a snare from which they might not be able to escape because “the love of money is at the root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Listen to Paul’s warning about the love of money in one of his epistles for church leaders in 1 Timothy 6:4-10:

“They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

Preachers who enter the ministry for money or pursue a bigger, better paying church are not content with what they already have. They have confused “godliness [as] a means to financial gain,” and “fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.”  By pursuing riches, the minister-preacher-evangelist begins to rationalize that more money is “good” (lust of the flesh) seeing ministry as a career… “why shouldn’t I have more of what others get from their professions… money?”  Such a mindset will cause a man to withhold the life-saving truths of the gospel unless he is paid to preach.  

God’s work of saving souls has nothing whatsoever to do with pursuing the so-called rewards of the American Dream. Most ministers in America aren’t making six-figure incomes, especially from small, medium sized and certainly not from distressed churches. Nonetheless, the materialistic messages of the American culture also touch the minds of men in the ministry.  Depending on their spiritual maturity, they can slide into a mindset wherein they believe they are entitled to more stuff, nicer stuff, newer stuff, better stuff. No one, even a preaching minister is immune to such a trap.  Once such desires for more things and money take root in the heart, that man develops a sense of entitlement… that the church owes him more.  Such a man is no longer fit for ministry.  He is no longer suited to be an evangelist and teacher of God’s Word.

The New Testament book of 1 Timothy was written by a veteran missionary/church planter, the Apostle Paul, to a young minister, Timothy. 

In the two letters of 1 and 2 Timothy, we gain insight into some of the major themes that God wants pastors to hear. In 1 Timothy 6:5-11, Paul issues words of caution for pastors who sense the tugging temptation toward materialism. Here are some of those lessons for pastors (and by logical application, for all Christians).

• The ministry is not a source of lucrative financial gain. To think so is to be depraved in mind and depraved of the  truth. (1 Timothy 6:5)

• Being God-focused and being content with what you have is a true measure of success. (1 Timothy 6:6)

• Accumulating stuff in this life is shortsighted, since eternal life is what we should be focused upon. (1 Timothy 6:7)

• Even if you have only food to eat and clothes to wear, regardless of quality or cost, you should be content. (1 Timothy 6:8)

• Wanting to be rich is a major temptation, which becomes a snare, producing foolish and destructive desires, and eventually destroying a person. (1 Timothy 6:9)

• By loving money, you will be subject to all kinds of evil. (1 Timothy 6:10)

• By craving money, you are in danger of losing your faith. (1 Timothy 6:10)

1 Timothy 6:10 gives us a chilling warning:  through this craving (for money) some have wandered away from the faith. From materialism to apostasy,  there is a direct connection. That’s a warning that anyone in full-time ministry must heed. 

I am not suggesting that every preaching minister who seeks money be thrown from the tallest building. That said, changes must be considered and self evaluation is essential to uncover true motives.  Money is very often an outward manifestation of pastoral burnout.  Seeking money, sometimes with power and prestige, can for a short time sooth the emotional imbalances caused by burnout.

Burnout is when a man isn’t spiritually healthy enough to function at full capacity within the diversity and pressures of organizational ministry. When a pastor is experiencing burnout, leadership will suffer. Many things can contribute to burnout.  Most common among ministers is frustration with slow growth in the church.  

Preaching ministers need to learn how to recognize the signs of burnout and address them early, before they significantly impact their leadership. Along with self-awareness, the elders of the church also need to be sensitive to the preaching minister’s life circumstances.  Constant vigilance about the spiritual health of every leader is essential to prevent anyone in leadership from being overtaken by Satan’s schemes.

The church needs to be mindful of the demands placed on the preacher, consider the needs of his family, and build a structure that invests in and protects the preacher’s emotional well being. 

One of the best things a church family can do is give their preacher significant enough downtime to recover from the demands of ministry.  Maybe a sabbatical would be warranted, to allow for reflection on the next phase of ministry, time for furthering education or spending time in a retreat environment.  That need will vary based on the level of demands placed on the church, the preacher, his wife and family.  

Preachers need to be diligent in remaining healthy physically, spiritually, mentally and relationally, and needs to seek help when any of those areas begin to slip beyond the normal stress of life.

No one who has devoted their adult life to the gospel ministry as a preacher wants to consider the possibility they, for a season, are not fit to serve God from the pulpit.  It can be devastating.  But its not the end of ministry… it should be a wake up call to find help in counseling and honest reflection, so that with much prayer and edification, a good and gentle man who loves the Lord can once again be effective in ministry.  It’s a choice… to continue on a path of divisiveness or heal, grow and prosper in the Lord.

Preacher, Minister, Evangelist… Are YOU the problem in your church?

Do you actively think and pray about the future of your church? Are you concerned about the way the church’s resources are being invested?   Is giving down due to a decline in memberships and overall attendance? Do you worry that the situation may not change as quickly as you would like it to? I think about these questions constantly.   

For a very long time I have been concerned that the church is wasting a lot of resources and accomplishing little towards our Lord’s command of Matthew 28:19-20… to make disciples.  If your church is spending the majority of its resources, 80% or more,  on salary and benefits to maintain a preaching minister, then you are not doing all you should be doing to proclaim the gospel, period.  If your church has gone into debt to maintain the salary of a preacher who does little more than preach to the “saved” then you are wasting the precious resources God expects His church to invest in outreach and evangelism.  If the preaching minister is not leading the charge of evangelistic outreach and producing results in outward community facing efforts, people coming to Christ, then the congregation is wasting its resources.  That's what you pay him for, right?

  

The things that should concern every Christian… does your building sit empty most days of the week and is there a steady decline in baptisms and Sunday attendance for the Lord’s supper and teaching from the pulpit?   The preacher who had served my church for more than 20 years once asked me a direct question... if I thought “he” was the reason the church was not growing.  At the time, I could not see what I could not see, and responded with encouragement… “of course you are not the reason for our stagnation.”  

Encouragement aside, I was still very concerned there was little to no momentum in the church and that if something didn’t change and soon, the church would be gone.  Maybe the core problem was in fact the leadership of the church… the preacher and the elders.  But who?

Statistics tell us almost 90% of churches in America are in decline or plateaued. I’m told it takes 20 years for a declining church to finally die.

During times of stagnation, people will begin to point fingers and assign blame to one or more of the those in leadership, including the preacher.  Leaders are out front and easy targets. Keep in mind, it could be that some people have a difference of opinion in regards to how the church should be led and how the preacher should be operating. Many times these opinions are more philosophical that biblical and serve to foment the strife that surely comes when members of a congregation really don’t know what they either don’t know or refuse to accept. 

Certainly, however, leadership is a critical part in the success of any organization — including the church. Let me be clear here — I believe Jesus is the head (and the leader) of the church, but God uses men to lead people within the church.  Our job is to humbly serve and get it right more often than we get it wrong.  Leadership among God’s people and the church, is exemplified throughout Scriptures and we can hardly miss what God has said about getting it right.

I’m a firm believer, however, until you identify the problem, you have a hard time understanding why the congregation is floundering, let alone finding a solution.  In a declining church,  members are concerned about the direction of their church as they should be.  That concern always involves criticism of leaders and it comes with the job of shepherding. 

The number one issue churches face though, is the integrity of leadership, specifically the man out front… the preaching minister.  Who is he really?  Maybe he's not who you think he is.  He wants you to see him in a certain way, he wants you to believe he is who you want him to be… but who is he with all his masks removed?  Is growing the congregation, seeking and saving lost souls his priority, or is “He” his priority?  

In fact, we all have to accept the reality that if the preacher isn’t leading well, if he’s distracted and preoccupied with personal interests, harboring personal resentments towards individuals in the congregation or dissatisfaction with his own tenure at the church, maybe experiencing burnout … the congregation will likely suffer serious divisions and decline.

When a preaching minister isn’t leading the church well, there’s usually an answer as to why.   Let’s examine a few that you may want to consider if your church is experiencing decline and you can’t figure out why.  I’ll start with the preacher.

Next time:  When a preacher's apparent motive is money... what then?

The Saga of a Dying Church... Who is Responsible? - Part 2

In your church, is love a concept or a reality? Is it unconditional, as it must be, or does it have “terms and conditions” tied to what you call love.  True love is a "choice" and a commitment that we make to do good to others; it is not a "feeling."  Feelings will only confuse you, cloud your judgement and feelings always create unrealistic and unattainable expectations.

If love is the greatest commandment, it should be our first priority. Love hopes for and believes the best in others. It is demonstrated through our actions and our words. The Bible is clear: If you have not love, it profits you nothing (cf. 1 Corinthians 13:3). You can be well read in all sixty-six books of the Bible, preach with the best and have a Ph.D. in theology, but if you don't have love, you have nothing.

Are difficult truths neglected, watered-down, or avoided in the hope of "not offending"? Ironically, churches that are "all about love" forget the other side of the coin: judgment is never mentioned; repentance is never sought; and sin is often excused. They want to build a church rather than break a heart; be politically correct rather than biblically correct; coddle and comfort rather than stir and convict. This leaves people confused and deceived because they believe in a cross-less Christianity that bears no resemblance to Jesus' sobering call to repentance. Christianity only makes sense in light of the consequences of sin. The good news about Christ can only be appreciated with the bad news as the backdrop. There are times when the saints must be fed, and there are times when the sinners must be warned.

Church leaders, teachers and pastors must find the balance—preach the difficult truths as well as the joyful ones; preach the cross and the new life; preach hell and preach heaven; preach damnation and preach salvation; preach sin and preach grace; preach wrath and preach love; preach judgment and preach mercy; preach obedience and preach forgiveness; preach that God "is love," but don't forget that God is just. Ironically, it's the love of God that compels us to share all of His truth, including those things that are hard to hear.

Although disheartening, this trend away from God's Word (absolute truth) is not surprising. The apostle Paul warned... "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine [God's Word], but according to their own desires ... they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4). If this isn't exactly what’s happening in the church of today, then we need to wake up and see the situation as it really is. 

Churches die in many ways, and often its the membership who act in subtle rebellion against God that spur it decline.  One unkind act that comes wrapped with a godly façade, is that if something is not going the way certain members think it ought to go at church, then they intentionally withhold giving in protest. The thought behind this act is that when the church is drained of financial resources, it will be easier to change the direction of the ministry. It is couched in sayings like, “God doesn’t want me to give to support that,” or “I’ll just designate my giving to support missions.”

These ideas are neither sound thinking, reasonable and certainly never justified.  Withholding giving is an act of selfishness, and a lack of fear of the God to whom we are giving, and a desire for personal control. Certainly the church will expire without ample resources to continue its ministry. A better approach would be to give sacrificially,  to give more than you normally give in order to help the church sustain its works during hard times. With sacrificial giving the Lord is pleased, and he can pour out mercy on your church from his riches in heaven.

Maybe members who enjoy stirring things up, grumbling and pitting one group against another, just ought to grow up!  Listen to what the Bible says about your attitude... “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:9). The Lord hates grumbling (Exodus 16:7; Numbers 14:27; 1 Corinthians 1:10). By focusing on perceived wrongs rather than your personal  faithfulness to the Lord, grumbling kills any excitement, passion, and hope in the Lord and his church.

All grumbling is against the Lord, who is the head of his church. A godly course would be to avoid corrupt speech, looking for edifying words of grace (Ephesians 4:29).

Only God’s Spirit can bring the life of the gospel back into the church. Only the Holy Spirit can revive hearts to produce endurance, selflessness, sacrificial living, and gracious speech. Therefore, make prayer the strong practice of a declining church. Gather with members weekly to ask the Lord to rescue his church and use you to reach your community with the gospel for his glory.

Remember... YOU are responsible for a church in decline.  YOU are the church.  God’s people are His Church.  So, if it seems like things are not going well in your church family, then look in the mirror and take your share of personal responsibility for what is happening.  Be part of the solution and not the problem and cause of decline.

The Saga of a Dying Church... Who is Responsible?

At the core of the life of any church is its faithfulness “with one mind [to strive] side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27). When this passion for truth and obedience to the gospel is lost, the church will begin to die spiritually, even if it does not die numerically. 

Church today, is boring for most because the power of God has vanished from many congregations... there is a lack of desire to pursue Him, both in the pulpit and in the pews. Reminds one of the plight of Samson... Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. they "know not that the Spirit of the Lord has departed" (Judges 16:20).  Yes, the Lord had departed from him because he had strayed from what he knew to be right and proper.  Samson dangerously ignored the foundations of his relationship with the Lord and would pay a heavy price.

Faithful congregations can avoid straying off course, in part, by reviewing the teachings of the apostles regularly, never shirking the Lord’s Supper and the essentiality of Baptism, and by studying through the doctrine of the church as a means of grounding members in the gospel. 

Such grounding starts with the man and woman in the mirror... you and me. Important to being a healthy body is that each member “look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” and seek to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Philippians 2:4; Romans 12:10). Church should be an experience in which each member is working hard to make everyone else feel like the Number 1 Person in the fellowship. 

Churches start a slow march to death when self-interest becomes the rule of the day. When you look at the ministries of your assembly and say, “There is nothing here for me,” or “I prefer the way things used to be,” you are not thinking of others; you are thinking only of yourself. A church in which many think of themselves rather than others will cease to be a church; it will become a dull party of everyone doing what is right in his own eyes (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6; 1 Corinthians 1:26). This attitude led to Israel’s downfall, and it corrupted the church of Corinth.

“Yes, but my church has high attendance and we’re growing.”  High attendance is not the gauge of success, faithfulness is.  Numerical growth means nothing of the body is spiritually sick or worse near death in a spiritual sense.  Granted, a healthy church should experience seasons of growth, but even cults generate large numbers of followers, and we know they are missing the mark by a country mile!

First thing many Christians do is look at what’s missing and decide thaty the church is doing something wrong.  They formulate a plan to leave the fellowship.  Wrong... bad idea.

Be slow to depart. Stay in the dying situation (if that’s what’s really happening) together with all of the saints and “share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). Be a change agent and think of what your presence means for those who will stay. It is quite possible that a turn-around will take several years of faithfulness—and that only after corporate repentance, great prayer for the mercy of God, church-wide deepening in the gospel, and wholesale fighting against self-interest.

Jumping ship is the easy thing to do, requiring no dependency on the Spirit of God. It’s the cowards way, not the way of one being “lead by the Spirit.” All leaving takes is a choice to abandon those with whom we have shared in the mutual love of Christ and one another. Staying takes prayer, patience, meekness, faithful service with reduced resources, and faith in what is not immediately visible—all things that are works of the Spirit, and not works of the flesh.

Let me ask you a question... Is prayer an after-thought or a priority in your church? Nights of prayer and worship are often replaced with other things or nothing at all. Many Christians are in a hurry to burn through a sermon, scurry through worship, and head to the nearest restaurant. This is a sure sign of a dying church. If churches are too busy to pray—we're too busy with self-interest. Think about it... when the faithful cease to pray, the fellowship they value begins to die. We should never allow our relationship with God to suffer because we're too busy. Spiritual life and prayer go hand-in-hand. You can't have one without the other.

Here’s an tougher question... Is sin excused and holiness minimized? In short, has the fear of the Lord vanished among the members of your church? “Oh no, that certainly doesn’t happen in my church.”  Then why is it that churches large and small all across America avoid mentioning the fear of the Lord... veer away from teaching the hard truths?  Right... such “words” make people feel uncomfortable.  You should not have to come to church and hear about sin and repentance and things that make you feel bad.   

Seriously, how uncomfortable will you be when you stand before the Lord expecting your pot o’ gold and he tells you... “get away from me you wicked slave... I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:21-23). The fear of the Lord is mentioned frequently throughout the Bible as the beginning of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. "The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him..." (Psalm 147:11).

Fear can also motivate a person to repent. Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). Jesus spoke more on the fear of hell than on the glory of heaven. That should make every claiming Christian both love Him and fear Him. We love Him because He is our Savior, and we fear Him because He is our Judge.  Where’s the wiggle room in that?

The present condition of the church at large, and maybe yours,  leads one to wonder if this lack of fearing the Lord is contributing to this horrific spiritually dead condition that is so clearly gripping what we think is so fine and good.  "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth..." (Revelation 3:15-17).

I will continue this topic next week... stay tuned.  In the hours and days ahead of you... consider praying for your church and its members.  PRAY often... PRAY till it hurts!