Personal vs. Private

I hear a lot these days about a personal relationship with Jesus. And I want to affirm the sentiment, in as much as, it refers to each person needing to come to a God led moment of commitment to following Jesus- whether you call it justification, being saved, moment of decision, or when I was saved by God- every person must ultimately, individually make a decision to follow Jesus. You cannot be born into it by family connection. Baptized into it by church affiliation. Or be accepted into it by association either through joining a church or participating in religious activities. As Jesus told Nicodemus- "...no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." John 3:3.

In this, I think we can all agree there is a personal relationship with Jesus. But in our day and time, personal has come to be private. As in, it's between me and God. Stay out of it and I'll leave you alone. In no way, is that what Jesus intended or the church practiced. But in our churched, religified society we have made this the norm. There is no room for accountability or question. We have gone off and remade Jesus in our image instead of being made to look like Him. And that's on both sides of the debate. Some condone things that are condemned in scripture- greed, gluttony, selfishness, lustful actions. And come condemn things that scripture says are acceptable- unity in the Body of believers, church discipline, disagreements over secondary and tertiary issues like tobacco, alcohol, and birth control.

There is a two fold disaster that occurs when a personal faith becomes private and we are seeing the effects of both in the church in American today. First, a private faith is not shared. We are seeing fewer and fewer people beginning to follow Jesus in America today. While the Gospel is exploding in other nations, it is imploding in the most churched country in the world. And part of that is because of our commitment to private faith. Why share something that is between us and God and is just for our personal benefit? We will see this change when we realize that just as Jesus offered Himself for the world, so He calls us to offer ourselves as "living sacrifices" (Romans 12:1) giving our lives both literally and figuratively to make the Gospel known- (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Second, our "private" faith means anyone who calls us to account for our sins or struggles is "judging us" and should butt out. This is a huge problem in the church and one we cannot ignore anymore. We are told very bluntly in 1 Corinthians 5 that we are not to be judgmental of people who are not followers of Christ. In fact, we should expect them to act like people who do not know Jesus, because they do not! But we are to judge, call to account, and challenge in loving fashion those who claim to know Jesus. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you."" When someone thinks their faith is "private" this is impossible to do. But are called to be a body- all united together0 and what hurts the arm is the business of the shoulder and the feet as well, because it affects them as well.

I pray that we can move on from private faith. Be accountable to one another. Listen to those who ask yo0u questions. Learn from those you disagree with. Be teachable and humble and remember your faith affects far more than just you.

The Messiness of Relationship...Why Some People Like Rules

¹For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,

"Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
⁶in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
⁷Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"

⁸When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), ⁹then he added, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.- Hebrews 10- ESV

From the time we are teenagers, relationships are a very scary thing. I still remember making the phone call for my first date, and getting shot down. It's that innate fear of rejection of not being chosen, or affirmed, or good enough that powers so many of us to rule based religion, instead of relationship. And it's pretty much everywhere you go in the Christian church today. We sell books and curriculum about it. We fill conferences with it. And we preach it at church because it's easy and measurable. The problem is it's wrong.

Now before you quit reading in disgust, I do believe a person who follows Jesus looks different, acts different, works different, and is completely, wholly, and utterly changed. (2 Corinthians 5:17- new creation) The problem is we want to decide what the changes are, how fast they should happen, and most of all determine which ones are the most important. So we quantify, analyze, methodize, and harmonize a relationship with Jesus into a religion of rules and policies- all lifted straight from the Bible of course- to land at the brass ring- "holiness."

The problem is the Bible has a lot to say about our pathetic attempts at holiness. It calls them rags- filthy rags as a matter of fact- and the level of filth is pretty nasty- I'll leave it to your imagination. So why all of the focus on creating holiness? Because we are scared of a relationship with God.

See a relationship is messy. There is a level of loss of control. We do not always know quite how we are doing in a relationship. There can be surprises. And there is a level of fear that is associated with a relationship. Most of us have messed one up by doing something stupid in the past. And I'm convinced, that many of us, think we're going to screw this one up as well. That somehow or another we will have to demonstrate to God how good we have been and how He has to take us back. But that's not the story Jesus tells.

The story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 is often told as a story of justification (the moment of salvation) but there is a problem with that telling- the prodigal is already a son. He is in the family. He just leaves. He seemingly messes up the relationship. He does the unthinkable and goes off on his own leaving his Father behind. But it's when he comes back, that we see how relationship with God is going to work. He is welcomed, celebrated, restored.

See, when we have a relationship with Jesus things get messy. We make mistakes, but we do not stay in them. God calls us back and out of them to Him- where we belong. That's the reason why rules based religion- and NP (see previous post)- are so dangerous. It's not just that reducing following Jesus to a check list is bad- it's also that you can keep the rules and never be in the family- and fit right in. In fact, the only way to find these poor misguided people is to question there special rules in light of scripture and watch their reaction or to watch how they treat people who do not follow their rules. That's what Jesus did to the Pharisees and He revealed their hearts- they loved their rules not God.

Now I know some of you are asking, "So does that mean I can do anything I want?" I would say, that's the wrong question. If you are a follower of Jesus, the question you ask is "Can the thing I am doing please God? Is this permissible for me? Does this violate Scripture?" The freedom of a relationship is not a freedom to do harm, but to do good. To nurture and build the relationship- not to do everything you can to tear it apart. Let me leave you with this passage from Paul on the liberty we have in our relationship with Jesus from Galatians 5:

¹³You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

¹⁶So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ¹⁷For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under

¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

The New Pharisee-ism

"Instead of giving you God's Law as food and drink by which you can banquet on God, they package it in bundles of rules, loading you down like pack animals. They seem to take pleasure in watching you stagger under these loads, and wouldn't think of lifting a finger to help. Their lives are perpetual fashion shows, embroidered prayer shawls one day and flowery prayers the next. They love to sit at the head table at church dinners, basking in the most prominent positions, preening in the radiance of public flattery, receiving honorary degrees, and getting called 'Doctor' and 'Reverend.' "Don't let people do that to you, put you on a pedestal like that. You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates. Don't set people up as experts over your life, letting them tell you what to do. Save that authority for God; let him tell you what to do. (The Message- Matthew 23:4-8a)

I'm using the Message to start this off for two reasons. First, so that my friend Mike Kerr will get off my back about a comment I made about the Message 3 years ago (I used it. I'm not all that smart. You happy now bro!) Second, because Peterson captures the essence of the passage so well, that I think it fits today's subject matter.

For those of you who grew up not going to church, or who still don't go, the Pharisees are the ultra-religious, judgmental, fundamentalist, pains in the can who are (they think anyhow) instrumental in getting Jesus crucified. (For the record, His death was not an accident, it was the plan since Genesis 3. It was God's response graceful to our sin. No one person or select group of people are responsible for the death of Jesus. So anti-Semites head to another blog, please.) Back on track, they are probably like the caricatures of Christians, that most of you do not like.

I'm talking about a New Pharisee-ism today, not because I think it's new, in fact the term was coined long before my time, but because of some issues I have read about recently that remind me that this problem is alive and well.

This New Pharisee-ism (NP from now on) is the practice of adding new laws, rules, and standards to Scripture. In short, it questions the sufficiency of Scripture to be our guide as wel follow Jesus. Amazingly, the people most guilty of this NP are most often people who extol their beliefs in the sufficiency of Scripture. Sound crazy? Read on...

Example #1:
Christian school to teen: Skip prom
The Associated Press

FINDLAY, Ohio - A student at a fundamentalist Baptist school that forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing will be suspended if he takes his girlfriend to her public high school prom, his principal said.

Example #2:

True Lips Wait? Sexual Abstinence, Romantic Longing, and Monogamous Lips

www.almohler.com

"In a culture where casual sex is the norm, some Tennesseans have taken the purity pledge to a whole new level, through a practice that some teens refer to as the 'Virgin Lips Movement.'"

There is no explicit biblical ban on premarital kissing, but any honest person knows that there are kisses that can only be considered sexual, naturally leading to the sex act itself. These young Christians are not afraid of their bodies, they are afraid of sinning against God and losing something precious to themselves as well.

In a world that has made monogamy an embarrassment, these young Christians want to offer their future spouse the gift of monogamous lips. In an age of instant sexual gratification, these young believers believe that true lips wait. This is what a counter-revolution looks like.

End examples...on to opinion...and hopefully the Bible...

This type of nonsense really bugs me. Here's why. In the city, state, and part of America where I pastor the Bible never seems to be enough with the religious establishment. So many religious leaders feel the need, the almost compulsion, to add to Scripture. For example, Scripture explicitly says not to be drunk. On example, Romans 13:13- "Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy." That's pretty clear. Being drunk. Not an option. Having a drink in American and being under 21- not an option. We are to obey governmental authorities. (1 Peter 2:13). But to some people, being over 21 and choosing to have a drink is sin. This is not an area of personal freedom. That my friends is NP. Adding to Scripture.

The two examples above only serve to further highlight my concern. So many of us are afraid of the freedom we have in Jesus. We run from it. So scared to make a mistake. My friends, that is not what grace is about. Far from it! Grace is freedom to fail, freedom to make a mistake, so that we no longer live in fear. 1 John 4:13-18 makes it clear that those who are "in Christ" (saved, following Jesus, Christians, whatever label you like for a Redeemed person) are on longer walking around afraid. If this is so, why are we so busy making extra rules to keep us away from sin? Even adding to the Bible- which is sufficient to guide us- because it does not go far enough.

The answer, I think, is that we are scared of what will happen in a relationship with God. We are a lot more deeply invested in a relationship than we are in a rule. That's why it is easier to follow a rule than to live in a relationship. We can blame the rule- "I can't kiss you because it will make me sin against God." Rather than have to explain our relationship- which is messy, especially if not everyone is doing it. So, "I do not drink alcohol because God has not given me that freedom" becomes "It is a sin to drink." How confusing it all becomes, especially when we have to try to explain those made up rules to new believers or those who do not know our Jesus.

So I leave you with this passage from Romans 14. Think about it.

¹As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. ² One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. ³Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵ One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. ⁶The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. ⁸For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

¹⁰Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; ¹¹for it is written,

"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God."

¹²So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Next blog will be about the Messiness of Following Jesus.

Bits of Wisdom

Pastoring is not my only job. When we planted Journey Fellowship, there was not enough financial support to make ends meet so I started working for a company run by a man who I had known casually for several years. Over the past 5 years, Dan has become a friend and a mentor to me in several areas, in addition to being my boss. We spent some time together today hashing through a bunch of stuff, not the least of which were some big questions about the place of faith in life.

Dan is a man who daily integrates his faith with his life. He is honest and a man of high integrity, not to mention a man who knows his Bible. We were talking today about essentials. What do we have to agree on to agree to work together. Dan mentioned that he felt there were many things he could overlook, but the one essential was the person and work of Jesus. Who do you believe Jesus to be and what do you believe He accomplished in His death, burial and resurrection? That's why I like Dan so much. He gets it.

That set of essentials is what we are all about at JFC. We know the most important thing is what the Bible says about Jesus, where He came from, what He did, and what that means for us as people- humanity, sinners to use a tough term. Because we choose to only separate over these closed hand matters, we have freedom to invite people from all walks of life to come and meet Jesus. And as a result, we see people meet Jesus on a regular basis. Our church is made up of people from Nazarene, Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, and completely pagan backgrounds- just to name a few. Some of us grew up in church and some of us only made it to church for the first time last month, but we are all learning to chase after one thing- Jesus.

Is that a messy way to do church? You bet. Does that mean we have conflicts and discussions over some things? Sure we do. But it also means we have a standard for settling those conflicts that is not rooted in tradition or opinion. We simply go to Scripture, and what it says we do. That means we leave a lot of debatable matters to an individuals conscience as scripture has told us to do. So we can focus on the main thing, making Jesus known and helping those who know Him to follow Him more closely. I like to think that's changing a community one person, one family, one neighborhood at a time. Last time I checked that is what we are supposed to be about. Thanks Dan for reminding me of that today.