The Success Myth Visited

One of the most ubiquitous myths circulating through the Christian community is the success doctrine.  Many of the most popular Christian speakers are perpetuating it and we are quickly approaching a point of no return regarding it.  What seems so credible, that God wants every Christian rich or successful or free of life-long encumbrances is in fact not just a shaky proposition, it is antithetical to the normal Christian experience. 

What makes this doctrine most disturbing however is that it promotes what scripture seems to scream “avoid!”  If it is true that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, then why would so many believers make such a concerted effort to make a go of being that rich man?  Is it possible that success is not a goal at all for us; that it is in fact our most dreaded outcome?  Consider the arguably three most successful men in scripture: Solomon, David and Noah.  All three of them fell apart at the end.  Noah, who literally had the entire world to rule as his own is known at the pinnacle of his success as a drunk who despised his indolent son.  Is that what we want?  Solomon became at best a polytheist and at worst a debauched agnostic once he attained his world-wide renown as the most brilliant man in the world and wealthiest of his time.  Could that be our goal?  David, the greatest of all Israel’s kings and mighty conqueror of nations at his zenith could not control his lust long enough to prevent the ruin of not just one but two families.  Is that the success we seek?

Is the success gospel a gospel at all if it pushes us away from godliness and true dependence on God?  The successful people mentioned in the New Testament are either despised for their arrogance and pride or revered for what they gave away.  Zacchaeus, Barnabas and the women who supported Jesus’ ministry were all wealthy but are honored for their release of their riches rather than for their attainment of them.  The Rich Young ruler was not lauded for his success; he was pitied for his unwillingness to be rid of what he had.  King Herod was despised for priding himself in the acclaim he won and in fact suffered miserably in the end because of it.  Success is not an end and often not even a means within the economy of heaven.  If God keeps us from it, we are blessed; if He gives it to us, we are only as good as our willingness to part with it for Christ’s sake.  Nothing ruins as terribly as wealth; nothing purifies as completely as poverty.  Above all though is the love of God and the hunger after righteousness for then you will be filled.  Even wine has its limits.  Once you are drunk, where do you go from there?  It is the same with success.

Elite?

Recently quarterback Eli Manning of the New York Giants declared himself an “elite” quarterback in the NFL.  Whether you agree with his self-assessment or not or even care, it brought me to this question.  What makes an elite Christian?    How do you know if you are one or not?   Would it be worth the effort to be one if you thought you could?  Does performance matter in the Kingdom of God? 

We know for example that the Disciples cared about such things for how else can you explain the jostling for position when James and John’s mother asked Jesus if her sons could sit on Jesus’ right and left when he came into the Kingdom.  Jesus did not completely distance Himself from such an effort when He told them that whoever would be first in the Kingdom must first be last.  Rewards are certainly said to be handed out at the end based on performance.    We are told to go after treasures in heaven which cannot be corrupted by moth or rust.

So what makes an “elite” Christian?  The most obvious answers would include:  skillful and determined gospel sharing, sacrificial generosity, fervency in prayer, warm and neighborly disposition, faithful and loyal service to the church and a hunger for deep extensive and Bible study.  Or course, nothing on this list should be denigrated but it is not the formula the Lord offers for elite Christianity.  Micah 6: 8 gives three benchmarks for radical loyalty to God.   Here goes…  Act justly.  Love mercy.  Walk humbly with your God. 

If we take just the middle directive,” love mercy”, we are entering elite territory.   What is real mercy except mercy toward those who disrespect you…mercy toward those who treat you badly…mercy toward those who are incompetent, lazy or slow-witted?  Who hasn’t lashed out at her husband for poor decision-making, bitterly castigated (at least in the dark recesses of the mind) a co-worker for making one’s job more difficult, taken umbrage at a driver who recklessly endangers everyone on the road, been disgusted with a store manager who stupidly won’t consider a logical request.  Mercy is not for the timid.  Mercy, when full-blown is marked by allowances for bad behavior, the decided disregard of a callous snub, the generous and almost happy granting of pardon to those who hurt us terribly.  Merciful people see the best in others even in the worst of circumstances, forgive before being asked and assume that if given the same circumstances and background one would act even more barbarically than the terrible person making one’s life miserable. 

Mercy stubbornly, doggedly, tenaciously sees more in others than they may see in themselves.   It is the assent to the great generosity of Christ Himself to endow every creature in our path with the bedrock substance of God amply distributed throughout his or her entire being.    No one can look at another person with the full realization that that person is made in the image of God and utterly reject that one and still hope to have any semblance of God’s love coursing through the veins.  It is mercy that refuses to give the best of oneself to the worst of another and not count it joy to be included in God’s circle of friends.

The Atheist Question

There is a crucial question that must be asked, even by those who do not consider themselves great thinkers.  It is more pertinent than any other philisophical debate...perhaps even the mother of all discussion points.  Fundamental to every activity and priority we make much of is this one question.  Before we can even debate who God is, what He is like and whether or not He exists, we have another, more basic question.  Which is eternal, God or matter/energy?  The further we descend into the tiniest parts, the closer we come to this one question.  Everything flows from something.  Regardless of how big or small it may be, the parts are from something always.  There is not an instance of somethingness emerging from nothingness...there is always a building block of some sort.  The point is, something must have always existed...whether it be God or matter/energy.  Existance does not spring from nonexistance.  So there you have it.  Either God created matter or matter formed God and one must have always been...or else neither could be.  The pagan Greeks started with matter, the polytheistic Egyptians did too, Buddhism waffles on the question.  Christianity says God is the start of all and He alone is eternal.  If God is the eternal, then everything of life revolves around Him and His life.  If matter is eternal, then nothing matters for all that is has the spin of randomness to it that cannot be stopped.  Love, hate, creativity and friendship are just concotions of a chemical soup that has no purpose.  But if God is eternal, then love and hate and right and wrong and care and concern all mean something and have purpose.  You ask the question.  Not which came first but rather which has always been.  Matter/Energy or God.  One must start with a capital letter!

Prayer Failures

How do you assess the value of a ministry?  Is there an instrument calibrating success, a plus minus chart that can accurately determine the worth of a Christian effort?  How do we know if we should keep doing some work or give up on it?  Is there a way of knowing we should persevere in an effort or "cut bait".  Rarely am I as often facing the moment of decision of giving up or not on it with prayer as any other Christian activity I attempt.  I have read every book I can find on prayer, attempted nearly every prayer strategy I have come accross, groaned through prayer, agonized through prayer, wept through prayer and fought tenaciously to concentrate while praying but have developed into nothing more than a rank amateur at it.  Prayer may not be my biggest failure in ministry but it certainly is my most frustrated endeavor.  In many ways, the more I pray, the worse I get.  And yet I haven't quit and don't believe I should.  I have never really understood why God does not periodically wrap me in a cloud of ecstasy as I pray, doesn't impress me with some jaw dropping revelation, doesn't mark my prayers every once in a while with miraculous "Godsends".  I must lead the most boring humdrum prayer life extant and yet I keep going at it.  I am not quite sure why I expect so much more in prayer than I get.  I have certainly heard the testimonies and read the accounts of wondrously enraptured praying but I also recognize that I will never hit a baseball in a major league game, run a marathon, stand on the moon or sing solos in packed stadiums and most likely will never be caught up into the seventh heaven as I pray.  I may be exhibiting a complete lack of faith here but my experience has shown me this mostly.  My praying is not very good...not ever.   I pray, not so that I will get but so that my Savior will get...get my time, get my devoted effort, get my best try, get me.  I can make little of my gains in prayer but I have done it...and done it again...and done it again.  That I believe counts for something!  If counting even matters when speaking of the one who has thrown up so many stars in the heavens we have no way of know how many are actually out there.  To just think that the one who placed the proton at the center of the atom insists I pray despite my meager, inadequate strivings is enough to push me after it again and let the "results" be what they are without my standard of determining what it may be.

Graduation

Jenny,

I have thought a lot about your question regarding the value of a graduation and although I know it is long past being relevant, I have my view of it.  Certainly a few  pretend (mostly school administrators) that a graduation is a ceremony of a class, it really is a celebration of an every one person graduation.  No one comes to see a graduating class; everyone is there because of one person…or two one persons…or even three.  We come because we are thrilled to have one person in our life…one person who is in a crowd of a bunch of other one persons.   You do not graduate so much as make my life better.  Sure you get a diploma because you passed a bunch of classes and maybe you are better than nearly everyone else at studying  but the real truth is that each graduate is to someone watching, the best person crossing the stage.  A graduation ceremony is a snapshot of love; a still of how it is to be excessively glad you have a brilliant ray of light streaking across your horizon.  No one comes to watch a graduation, we all come to see a graduate and we cheer, not because you passed a silly little geometry exam; we cheer because you have made our life better and that is a real reason to scream and blow air horns and take pictures and sit on metal benches with the sun bearing down on us.  A graduation ceremony certainly is an artifact of days when kids grew up illiterate because they were too poor, too isolated, too busy.  We still remember that it is a glorious thing to learn and have dreams and try at building a life.  We also remember that it is most wonderful to stand and be seen,  be loved and wanted.  That is why we came to your graduation Jenny.  That is why we watch you with interest.  You are someone worth loving and being proud to know.  Keep graduating and you never become a better person…the first spark of life God put in you made you as good as you will ever need to be…at least for those of us who want to watch you graduate!

Where are the honest atheists?

Just some random thoughts on atheism--

If atheism is true, then how did life spontaneously generate?  There is absolutely no evidence that this ever happens.  There is though plenty of evidence that life spontaneously degenerates...

Can it be proven God does not exist?  If so, then forget about it all...but if not, why live as if it is impossible?

If we are just random molecules bouncing around without purpose or meaning...then why do atheists take themselves and others so seriously?  Random is as random does...

If atheists really knew what they were talking about, wouldn't they have figured out in a sensible and logical way, why, without any God behind them, the Apostles died willingly for a resurrection they all witnessed (or didn't)?

How many rocks have atheists found bridging the gap between life and lifelessness?  Where are they?

Where did love originate in a godless universe...or hate for that matter?

How does an atheist deal with the near universal acceptance of a god as an evolutionary process? 

If atheists were all so smart, wouldn't they be better people?  And this is not a slam...it is just a real observation from actual experience...

"Saintified"

Philippians 1: 1 Continued

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: NIV

One of the most frequently used terms for the born again believer found in scripture is the term “saint”.  Forty-five times the term “saint” is found in the NT compared to 27 times the term “believers” is used and three times we find the term “Christian”.  The Greek word translated saint is a very picturesque name for Christ’s children.  It means separated out ones, sacred ones, ones devoted to God.  It does not carry with it the commonly held view that it describes super Christians who have either been martyred or lived lives far above the common crowd of believers.  Hagios, translated saint describes the reorientation that occurs in the one who has been born again.  The saint has been called out by God; she belongs to God and is God’s own possession, set apart for God’s plans and purposes.  There are two qualities of the saint as found in the definition of the term.  First, it reminds us that the saint is one who has been separated out from the unbelieving world. She is boundaried:  walled off by her commitment to Christ and God’s call upon her life.  As Peter puts it, she is a stranger or refugee in a world not her home.  The saint cannot fit in, not comfortably for the Holy Spirit of God dwells in her and is permanently conforming her values and interests to that of God’s.  She will not remain comfortable with the sinful, unbelieving actions of the world nor with sinful unbelieving actions of herself.  To borrow a phrase from common vernacular, she will not be able to live with herself if her lifestyle is not conforming to the changes God has brought to her heart.

The second quality of the saint is that she has been separated unto the Lord.  It is no accident that the Saints are called “saints in Christ Jesus”.  The word translated saint comes from the same root word as the term translated holy.  The Sabbath is called “holy” because it is not ours it belongs to God.  The tithe is called holy-10% of each person’s income is not his own, it belongs to God.  The temple of the Old Testament was called holy because it was a structure built to honor God alone.  The city of Jerusalem was called holy because it was to be a city on a hill whose people were the Lord’s.  The ground where Moses stood as he heard the voice of God was declared holy by God because it was His place of intervention with man.  The saint is one who is holy because he belongs to Christ.  He is a saint not because his righteousness gives him special status but he is a saint because he is the possession of God.  That the saint is in Christ defines him.  As a bird is in the air, we are in Christ.  As a fish is in the sea, we are in Christ.  As the stars are in the sky, we are in Christ.  For the saint, Christ is her place of existence, her source of life.  She cannot be separated from Christ and continue on in any way.  It is at best disastrous, at worst deadly for the saint not to abide in Christ.  Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If a man abides in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.”

And The Time Is...

How much worth can you assign to ten minutes of prayer?  What is the cost/profit margin for five minutes of prayer?  Is there a down side to two minutes of prayer?   What if you were to pray for a minute?  Could you see a risk in praying a minute?  At what point do you cross into the debit side of the ledger when you begin praying?  At the dinner table, thirty seconds of praying becomes an eternity and cause for under the breath cursing.  Forty-five seconds may be a stretch as you lie in bed moments before falling asleep.  Fifty seconds of praying could make you an extremist for church gatherings.   Are a nod and a wink at God enough to make good on your commitment to follow Him?

 Every one of us has a pain threshold at which we have prayed too long and with too much passion.  Few of us would consider ourselves “Prayer warriors” and yet few Christians think they aren’t doing a pretty good job following Jesus.  Most of the Psalms are prayers that were set to music.  In them we find the most profound human misery and heights of theocentric joy.   What if we took a week and prayed a Psalm each morning and evening, using them as a starting point for adding our own concerns?  Would it hurt too much to stay in the arms of Jesus a bit longer this one week?  Could we bear to give God an additional minute each day and stretch out our joy and peace?  Do we have time for a miracle this week?

Questions

A pauper once asked a blind man what he wanted most and he answered, "I want to be poor.  What do you want most?"  The pauper replied, "I want to see."  Which of the two came closest to the Kingdom?  If the blind man could see, would he be as happy as the pauper who lost his eyes?  Who hears better, the deaf or the lonely?  What makes the wicked sinner a better man than the bitter saint?  Can you walk with the righteous if you are on the wrong path?  Are the days ahead more like what what we leave behind or what is at this moment?

A woman sat beside a well waiting for a drink while another milked her cow and filled her cup.  Who made the right choice?  Two farmers sowed seed but only one harvested.  Who lived the better life?  A dollar falls at your feet.  Should you take it?  Is it better to build sand castles or fortresses?  Can you see if you don't know what you are trying to find?

If the pull of the Spirit tugs at your heart, would you know it?  If lion lies down with the lamb, who would you lie beside?  Is grace the end of the matter for you or would you wait for something more?

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."

Unity In The Church

Philippians1: 1

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: NIV

As Paul wrote to the church, he spoke of them collectively with the inclusive term “all”.  In fact, 8 times in the letter, Paul speaks to the church in phrases like “all of you” and “all the saints”.  No other book of Paul uses the term “all” to describe the church even half as often.  Paul is making a subtle call in this letter for unity in the Philippian church.  Every member he is saying is bound together under Christ.  Both the members who are splintering the church with their wrangling as well as the affirming and warmhearted ones are included in the greeting.  All are one in Christ and part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Ephesians 4:4, 5 makes this clear when Paul wrote that in Christ, we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  We may have differing views of election (“or the election”), opposing views of which color carpet should be in the sanctuary, different ethnic backgrounds and speak a variety of languages but we are one in Christ.  The Holy Spirit infuses each Saint with eternal life and brings all into the family of God.  Therefore, as part of one family Paul can call for two arguing Christians in the Philippian church to “agree” with each other in the Lord.  Fellow saints he says must do everything possible to help bring them together.  The question is “Why?”  I think there are several reasons for this call for unity.  First, the gospel of God’s grace is not effectively shared if division splits the church.  When the focus of attention is on who wins or who loses in church conflicts, almost no one has the time or energy to share their faith with unbelievers.  Second, division in the church eventually leaks out to the unbelieving community, bringing disrepute to the great grace of God.  Third, division in the church keeps the church from being a sanctuary of peace for wounded and broken Christians who need the love only the church possesses.  Fourth, division in the church makes closeness to God tenuous and His wisdom difficult to attain.  How can we say we love God if we hate our brother?  Jesus said that if anyone has anything against us, we are to go to the brother and try to reconcile with him before we bring our gift to the altar.  Sixth, division in the church prevents the effective blending and merging of the gifts of the Spirit.  Paul compares the church to a body.  One is the eye, another a hand.  If the hand is not associating with the eye or angered by the eye, the hand misses out on all that the eye can provide for its benefit and comfort.  Division in the church is often disastrous, both for the community surrounding the church, which desperately needs Jesus, and for the church itself, which can’t afford the loss of God’s presence or the disruption of the gifts of the Spirit.

Servanthood revisited

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:  Philippians 1: 1 NIV

Let us be specific about what it means to be slave of Christ.  It means that when He says to put your future in His hands, you cling to Him for help.  It means that when you are in class and a classmate tells you she doesn’t believe in God, you tell her how Jesus changed your life.  It means that at work, you don’t take anything from the company that doesn’t belong to you.  It means that you refuse to hold grudges against anyone.  It means that you tell the truth and do not gossip or tear down the reputation of another.  It means that you read the scriptures and pray just as Jesus does. It means that you give one tenth of your income back to God through the local church.  It means that you ask God daily, no, moment-by-moment to guide you.  It means that your life belongs to Jesus and you will not be ashamed to tell anyone that you love Him.  It has been said that the highest honor any of us can attain is to be called, not a leader in the church, not a success story on Wall Street or at Harvard, not the founder of a great movement; the greatest honor we can ever attain is to be called the slave of Jesus.  One day, as Jesus recounts for us how we have lived our lives, our hearts will pound with joy, our legs will tremble and our hands will shake if at the conclusion He says, well done my precious slave.  I told the account in a youth Bible study recently of how Abraham slave of God, was commanded to sacrifice his son of the promise on the altar.  Only when God stopped his hand from striking his son with the knife by calling out to him, did Abraham cease the downward drive of his hand.  Forever, Abraham is known as a man who walked by faith, who refused to allow his personal feelings get in the way of obedience to the God who loved him and gave His own life for him.  And I too, you too, if we walk as a true slave of Christ, can forever be known as one Who Jesus, the Savior of our life calls a man or woman with whom He is well pleased.

The Slave of Christ

Chapter 1 Continued



1: 1
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: NIV


The slave of Christ is not a mere religious follower of a great teacher. He accepts the call to die if need be to please his master. Paul put it this way, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain”. Solomon, as he reflected on a lifetime lived for material gain, prestige and serving the master of self could only mutter, "Meaningless! Meaningless!… Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV) Eventually, the life lived as anything but a slave to Christ becomes meaningless. Every accomplishment becomes a wash, all toys gathered are left behind and what remains is to face the God of the universe and give an account for your life.







Now here is the great honor hidden in the title, “the slave of Christ.” Moses, Joshua and David were all called the slaves of God. In an incredible prophecy describing the coming Messiah, in Isaiah 42: 1, the name give to Christ is “my slave”. The prophets Amos, Jeremiah, Ezra and Daniel were all called slaves of God. In 2nd Peter the apostle calls himself a slave of Jesus. James the brother of Jesus said he was a slave of Jesus. When we too become a slave of Christ, we enter into the great pavilion of heaven where every man and woman of faith was willing to live and even die serving Jesus.