Thursday, June 22, 2006

The CORE Issue

Well, I am back from vacation. It was a busy vacation as I was actively involved with my brother at the church he serves, Shively Christian Church, in Louisville, Kentucky. I preached on both Sunday nights I was there at their CORE Worship. Those fascinated with Christian cultural buzzwords would call it "emergent worship" (a term I find to be, at best, pretentious ... "Oh, our worship is evolving, growing ... yes, it is positively embryonic!") Not being a buzzwordist, I like to describe it as "Sneaky Worship." Sneaky because, being aware of those without a saved relationship in attendance, you create a casual, laid-back time of praise and worship, even including some light, fun and humorous activities. Then, when you have their attention and focus open up the powerful truths of God to them, allowing his Spirit to help in convicting and changing hearts and lives. In Shively Christian's case, they will even use current "secular" music, movie clips, advertising, etc. with a positive theme that may be familiar to the listeners. In CORE they use the message of the song, clip, etc. much like a preacher would use a current event or story, they illustratively drive home truths about God's presence, power or providence in people's lives through the theme or focus of the song that leads up to the message from the Word of God.

I know that not everyone would agree with this approach. In the churches I have served I could probably anticipate and enumerate those who would even vehemently oppose this approach to worship. In fact, they would would no doubt take issue with me even calling it worship. Why? I am sure there would be a variety of reasons too long to list. I am sure that someone would point out that we are to be "in the world, but not of this world" as a reminder of our status as temporary residents of this planet and not really citizens. While I understand their concerns, I would also want to point out one other major concern: literally millions of people dying each day without Christ in their lives. People that need to be reached with the Good News of God's grace through Christ's forgiveness.

The question is: how do we reach them? First we have to realize that we cannot reach them, only his Spirit can. It is not my intent to get bogged down by semantics, but our role is clearly defined in Scripture as tools the Spirit uses to reach the lost and not the actual "reachers" ourselves. Why is this important? Simply put: we must take care when being critical of the means by which others are being used by the Spirit to reach the lost. Our criticism of tatics, methods and means will not just be a criticism of fellow believers, but more importantly, a criticism of the Holy Spirit's leading. Remember, Paul revealed, through the Spirit, that:

To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
1 Corinthians 9.20-22 (NIV)

The point he makes is that he is pliable for salvation's sake, willing to become whatever he needs to for the gospel's sake. If it meant saving someone, he'd follow in whatever the Spirit led him to do or be. This seems to create a problem, however. How do we balance that thought with another thought that Paul offered:

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2a (NIV)

Those words seem to contradict his thoughts from 1 Corinthians. One says he becomes anything to anyone the other says he refuses to conform to the same thing. While it seems to be a inconsistency, it is not if we take the whole verse in context. Paul continues in the verse to point out the results of the transformed mind for the believer:

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Romans 12:2b (NIV)

The expectation is that our minds will be transformed in such a way to recognize and endorse through spiritual testing what God's will is, how we might be used to reach others as an example. Now, stick with me ... how does this occur? Through his Spirit which was given to teach and lead us in these things. Through our transformation and submission to the Spirit, not only will he use a variety of methods, means and tactics to reach others for Christ, but he might just allow us to grow in our own faith as we do these things.

Please understand, Paul is not endorsing, nor am I for that matter, irresponsible and sinful behavior that we try to justify, claiming to be led by the Spirit. I do not use profanity when preaching so that I might be used by the Spirit to reach the profane; I do not condone the use of movie clips in worship that have sexual situations to reach the sexually immoral; I don't think singing songs that glorify despicable behavior is a good way to reach someone with poor morals and values. Why? Because the Holy Spirit (note the word Holy in the name) is unwilling to sin ... in fact, cannot be associated with sin. Lest we forget ... the Holy Spirit is God. To elaborate, Paul's thoughts do call for us to be discerning about what we use and how we use it. We need to be sure that our efforts are led by the Spirit and not out of some human agenda or ambition.

So when it is all said and done, what is my point? If I may be so bold, I think it is to point out that it is easy to stand and criticize the methods which are being used by the Spirit through others to reach the lost, but in some (maybe even many) cases, it is wrong; it's also easy to demand that opening the Bible and preaching the gospel is all that we need, but short-sighted if the Spirit is trying to reach someone through you who, for now at least, dismisses the Bible as authoritative; and it's easy to point out flaws in the efforts of others, but before you do consider when was the last time you shared your faith with someone else?

To my brother and his fellow-workers at Shively Christian Church and to all being inspired and used by the Spirit to reach the lost in creative, imaginative ways, I conclude with this thought from Theodore Roosevelt. I confess it is a "secular quote" but his thoughts are nonetheless, spiritually motivating to me and I hope to you:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.


Keep up the good work for the Lord!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

"Not by Might ... Not by Power ... But by My Spirit"

It must be awesome being in heaven ... watching God work as an artist with his medium of choice--the Holy Spirit. Can you imagine? Not content to be the God that Deists believe him to be, he is constantly at work ... encouraging, challenging, motivating, moving, protecting, sustaining, invigorating, emboldening ... so that we might benefit and grow in our faith.

I was reminded of this the other day. God used me when I wasn't completely ready for it. Let me explain. Many years ago when I was young, I was in a trio called, Living Hope. Just little ol' me and two beautiful women (ah, those were the days). We represented my alma mater, Florida Christian College, at churches and summer camp weeks, telling kids about the college and letting people know about the ministry of FCC.

One of the songs I sang was a duet with Lori, one of the girls. It was an obscure song called By My Spirit. Leslie Phillips & Matthew Ward were the artists that orginally did the song, but Lori and I did our best to do it justice. I hadn't thought too much about it until I came across the song at Yahoo Music the other day. Just for nostaligic fun and amusement, I sent a clip of the song to Lori (who I haven't seen in several years) and did the whole remember-when-we-sang-this routine.

Did she ever remember? I had no idea but it was apparently a very important song for Lori at that time of her life, one she turned to in times of difficulty and needing strength. Interestingly, she admitted that she was recently going through such a time and my sending that song had just been a powerful confirmation to her of God's presence and direction in her life. I was dumbfounded. The email I got from her talked of hearing the song and reading my email through tears and thanked me for the blessing I was to her. I couldn't help but smile and think, "God, what have you been up to?"

It turns out he is up to the same things he always is ... "
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 ... NIV) He takes our meagerest of offerings and makes them grandiose gestures of service and love. He takes my little silly things and blesses a friend's life that I didn't even know needed blessing.

I think it is sort of like Joseph. After being abandoned and sold into slavery by his brothers, years later--as now the second in command in all Egypt--he sees them again in a position of need from him. When he revealed who he was they were understandably frightened, thinking that revenge was on Joseph's mind. But instead Joseph comforted them, telling them that God used what had happened to save lives ... ironically, theirs included. He told them that God had a purpose even in all the difficult things he had been through and that He had even used their jealousy and selfishness to accomplish his plan. If God can use our sin so powerfully, think of how he can use our commitment and obedience even more. It is a level of wisdom and understanding that we do not have, but trust in him to know and reveal to us as we have need.

Paul said it best when quoting Isaiah: "
No one's ever seen or heard anything like this, never so much as imagined anything quite like it—What God has arranged for those who love him. But you've seen and heard it because God by his Spirit has brought it all out into the open before you." (1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ... The Message)

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Worship with My Family

Aren't vacations funny? I mean, we set aside this time to "rest and relax" and then when the time comes, we drive halfway across the country, or set up some insane schedule to get as much accomplished as possible during our free time. Add to that the fact that many of us double up on work in the weeks before and after vacation just so we can take the time off.

I'm headed down that road myself next week. I leave on Thursday to drive to Louisville, Kentucky to spend time with my brother, sister, my nieces and my nephew. My greatest concern right now is trying to get everything done before I depart so that nothing falls through the cracks while I am away. See, it isn't a desire of mine for my vacation to be a burden on others. So I fret and worry over getting all this stuff done.

Of course, I know that about 2-3 days before I start back to the bustling metropolis of Greenville, I will start to imagine all the stuff that I will need to catch up on while I was gone on vacation. Hardly seems worth it if you look at it all on the surface level.

But obviously, there is more to it than that. However long the journey, however arduous the effort, it is great to be with family. Technological advances have made it possible for me to not only speak to my beloved ones over the phone, internet, etc. but now with our video capabilities, I can see them face to face as we talk over our internet video phone hookups (well, when they remember to turn them on, that is). In the end it is just a cheap imitation of the real thing. A blown kiss over the video phone isn't even a reasonable facsimile of a kiss on the cheek from my niece. The powerful embrace of my brother when we see each other for the first time in a while cannot be replaced by a cell phone. As wonderful as technology becomes, it always fails to duplicate the feeling of euphoria in being with ones you love in person.

The visits will never be long enough (well, for me at least ... I am sure after a couple of days they'll be ready for me to hit the road) and when it is time to go, the memories won't quite be enough to sustain me until the next time. Like always, I'll have to make due with what I have ... phones, email and such.

I suppose I have become more aware of that in the past two-and-a-half years. Working over in Greenville, I am not far away from family in the DFW metroplex, but I was spoiled for many years ministering in McKinney. I may have even taken for granted the blessing of seeing sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews every Sunday. I love my church family here in Greenville, but I miss those family times in worship--having Erin come into my office after church for a piece of candy and a hug (though I am reasonably certain that I could have had the hug whether or not I had the candy ... not that I ever risked it), seeing Sean and secretly being proud for no real reason when someone said, "Your nephew is so cute, Dave" as if I had anything to do with that. Now Abby and Jack go there and I miss not seeing them like I saw Sean and Erin.

Just an observation: won't it be great when we all worship together as a family in heaven? I pray for my entire family every day that they may remain faithful to the Lord just so we can enjoy that privilege all the time in the presence of Jesus himself ... no phones, email, or video equipment will be needed!