Derelict Theology

Sometimes I know how Jeremiah felt.

…is to feel normal again. Monday night Erin and I decided to go a late showing of Eragon with some youth, and by the end of the movie I was feeling totally gross. My stomach hurt, I was weak, and I was very tired. I didn’t know what was wrong, so we stopped by Walmart by the theatre and got me some Rolaids, and I slept all the way home. That night, the contents of my stomach planned an emergency evacuation about 1:30 a.m., and again at 3:00 a.m. At first, we thought it was the hot dog I’d gotten at the theatre, but when I woke up Tuesday morning feeling just as bad, I knew it was more. It was the dreaded stomach virus that has been going around all the schools lately.

Guess I got it this weekend on Winter Retreat. Anyway…I’ve spent more time in bed than awake the last few days, spent more time in the bathroom than I care to count, and I’ve eaten the grand total of two poptars, an order of popcorn chicken from sonic, a piece of sausage cassarole, and a cocktail weiner. One. And I still feel like crap….we’re supposed to leave for my parent’s house tomorrow for christmas, but I don’t know that we’ll be leaving if I don’t feel better. Ugh. I hate being sick near the holidays.

Recently, this question has been rolling over and over in my mind, because it seems that everywhere I look, I see this type of teaching when it comes to popular, mainstream Christianity. The rise of Joel Osteen to the public eye has catapulted what’s called the “prosperity” doctrine to center stage. And it’s not just Osteen who’s preaching this type of view, it’s popular pastors across the nation like T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, and it even reaches down into the local church as well. Time Magazine recently ran an article on this very thing, and it’s cover asked the same question above: Does God want me to be rich? Honestly, I’m baffled that many people who say they know their Scripture and know Jesus would still buy into this way of believing. To be clear: I have a big problem with it. I do not believe God wants us to be rich. But, I believe there are ways that God does bless us to abundance, and it can’t be measured by a bank account in most cases. Let me share some reasons that I disagree with this line of thinking.

1. Jesus said to “deny ourselves.” - If you read the Gospels, 3 out of the 4 mention a specific statement by Jesus that he made to his disciples. Matthew 16:24 says “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” Mark 8:34 puts it this way: “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’” Finally, Luke 9:23 says: “Then he said to them all: ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” Seriously, where in this is seen any room for a life that is seeking gain for itself? Where is there room for success? Where is there room for prosperity? Jesus doesn’t say “If anyone would come after me then let him have a fat wallet”, or “If anyone would come after me, let him sow his seed and believe that I will give him a car and it will be so.” Jesus instead calls us to a life not of prospering, but of death. The call to follow Jesus, to take up the cross, is a call to DIE. My problem with prosperity doctrine believers is that they are being fooled to believe that God is the Heavenly ATM and if they will just get things right as they follow Him that it will unlock the magic code and money and blessings will flow into their life like never before. And that is creating a consumer driven form of Christianity, as if we didn’t have that already.

2. The claim to “abundance.” - Another problem I have with the prosperity doctrine is that they claim that it is our right to have abundance while we are here on Earth. Televangelist Benny Hinn once said “If I have to hear about gold streets in Heaven one more time, I’m going to throw up! I say, I want them here, Lord! I want golden streets right now!” At the heart of the prosperity doctrine, this teaching is key: prosperity means that we have abundance, or the best of everything, right now. 2 Timothy 4:8 says “Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” In store. Not now. And it seems to me that the focus of our faith should not be how much we can get now, but becoming more like Jesus every day. The key verse of this doctrine is John 10:10, which says “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Honestly, can we say that Jesus was telling us there that he has come to give us life, and life that includes big houses, fat paychecks, new cars, and anything else we want? Assuming that only assumes again that Jesus’ main job was not our salvation, but to be the genie in the lamp, and make us comfortable. The full life that John 10:10 refers to is mentioned in other translations as “abundant life”. If we believe that the eternal life we receive when we come to Christ is a supernatural gift, would it not be logical to say that that life would spill over the mortal confines it’s brought into? That’s why it’s eternal…it’s abudant! It spills over the barriers of our normal life and keeps going, bringing us into the very presense of the Lord! It’s not about material things or success, it’s about a relationship with God!

3. Who Believes This? - Quite honestly: the poor. The ones who are already struggling get told by televangelists that if they will send in their prayer request with a “love gift” that God will not only answer their prayers, heal them, and make life better but that he will also return their blessing in abundance. Biblical teaching, in a way, but Biblical teaching that is twisted way out of line. Senior adult ladies sit in their homes, making barely enough to survive on Social Security, and they are asked to give astounding “love gifts” that reach into the sum of thousands of dollars. Now, this might seem like the widow’s mite for sure, but never in Scripture was the widow promised anything in return for her gift. Jesus simply told everyone, AFTER HER GIFT, that she’d given more than anyone else, for her gift had been more of a sacrifice. And it’s the poor who sacrifice more than anything with this doctrine, because they believe God is their hope for a better, more financially stable life. Saying that, it sounds awfully callous and cold, because God is our hope for a better life, but if all we depend on God for is financial stablity, then we are missing out and putting God into a box. I really don’t think that God honors a teaching that takes advantage of the poor and downtrodden while the ones claiming to have a word from the Lord get richer and richer. After all, Jesus did say in Matthew 25:45: “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” When we take from the least of our society in order to get richer, and do nothing to help them in return, we are in big trouble, and I would not want to be standing in that position.

If you study the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, and his Disciples after him, you will notice one thing: they always speak about sacrifice. To follow Christ in those days took an enormous amount of sacrifice, dedication, and pain. What, in 2000+ years has changed? Do we have a different God now? Did he suddenly decide that sacrifice really wasn’t what He looks for in a child of His? If we don’t think that sacrifice is a necessary part of the Christian life, then why do we embrace a man who sacrificed everything He had to give, his life, on a cross? Every single one of the disciples lived a life of hardship because of their dedication to Jesus. Many church members were killed or exiled because of their faith. Nero used Christians as human torches to light his gardens at night. Millions of believers the world over have paid the ultimate price because of their faith, and the number grows daily. Does this sound like prosperity to you? It is certainly not the prosperity of the “prosperity doctrine” but in a way, it is success. They stood firm, they never backed down, and because of that, they earned their reward. Not an SUV, not a multi-million dollar home, not a closet full of name brand clothes. No book deals, no TV shows. Instead, they finally entered into the hope that we all have: being in the presense of God forever.

Does God want me rich? Not in the way that is popular. Richness with God is found in the private, inward relationship, and it can’t be counted in dollars or stock. Abundance is the overflow of the love of God, the life that he’s given me. And none of that comes without denial. Daily we must rise and give ourselves to God, who will decide what we are supposed to be and do that day, not us. Psalm 115:1 says: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

If we really believe that, why seek prosperity?

Check out this video from Fox News with one of the members of Westboro Baptist Church, better known as “those wackos who picket funerals”, and marvel at how she so eloquently makes herself, and pretty much anyone who claims to be a Christian, look like a complete and total idiot.

Today I was browsing around Myspace, looking over some of the profiles that my youth have created on there, and like most times I’m on there, I got a bit discouraged at what I saw.  To any youth minister, a journey around Myspace would be discouraging, I think, because it seems widespread that those people who call themselves Christians really don’t want to live like it.  It’s much easier to talk about following Jesus than actually doing it, is the vibe that seems to be given off.  But is it really that hard?

Following Jesus to the letter would be impossible, I think, because there are some things we are still working out here in our flesh, but there are also a lot of things we can do that get us pretty close.  What it comes down to, I believe, is a disconnect between “our lives” and the life we live as a child of God.  There aren’t supposed to be two lives, just one.  “Our life” should be the life we live for God, not a compartmentalized Sunday/Wednesday block of time.  In each and every thing that we do, we should seek to honor and glorify God.  That’s where the hard part comes, though.  It’s hard to see sometimes how to honor God in all our ways, and we ask questions like: “is it ok to do this, or do that?”.  I have always thought it came down to asking ourselves if doing something would cause someone second guess Jesus because of our actions or words, then it’s not worth doing. 

People would argue that this would cut out a lot of life, and there are things we could not ever experience.  That’s very true.  But there’s a beauty to simplicity, to simply saying “no” and knowing that it’s something that would never cross your mind.  So what if you don’t experience a lot of things in life that are mostly negative anyway?  What do you gain by having those experiences, and what do you gain from not?  I say that what you gain from not having those experiences is much, much more valuable. 

Grace does come in, but grace is not the license to do what we want, it is the gift of God that we don’t deserve.  As Christians, we make a better statement to the world when we live what we believe instead of just talking about it.

Today I leave for Centri-Kid with my children’s ministry group.  15 kids, and 3 adults are going to be at Lambuth University in Jackson, TN for a week of camp.  I love Centri-Kid but I find myself going into this year’s camp a little frustrated.  The number of kids we’re taking is the lowest number of kids we’ve ever taken to camp, along with the lowest number of chaperones.  I know for a fact that several parents have opted to send their kids to another camp this year because they don’t like the facilities at this camp we’re going to.  And, on top of that, I still haven’t been able to get my license for the new church bus, which means we have to take the old, stinky church van to camp.  I guess I’m not just frustrated but discouraged. 

 When I was called to FBC, I was called as Minister to Children AND Youth.  Sometimes I find that I’m doing a whole lot more with the youth group than I am the children’s ministry, and I hate that.  My education lies in the area of youth ministry, my main ministry passion is youth ministry, and my calling is youth ministry…and a lot of times I feel like I just give my seconds to our children’s ministry.   Thing is, I feel like I try pretty hard, and that I plan good events…it just seems like people don’t like the things I’m doing.  It does hurt when people don’t want to go to events and tell me that they are sending their kids to other churches because of it.  I know I shouldn’t take it personally but a lot of times I do because I feel like I put all of who I am into my work with the church, and honestly I don’t think that’s a bad thing.  I wish we had enough people going to our church so that the youth and children’s minister’s job could be split, and they could have a more dedicated children’s minister, because that’s what they deserve. 

I just feel like people don’t give me a lot of credit when it comes to the things we do and that it’s ok to put our ministry down or not participate, but in the end all it does it make me more discouraged.  For every time I feel like I’m doing good with the youth, we have children’s event on the other hand that only brings in about 4-6 kids.  I guess I wish that people would take me more seriously sometimes and that they would participate in more of our events with the kids, that’s all.

 But, it’s time to finish packing, according to my wife.  Leave some comments, readers, I’ll be able to check them this week!

This afternoon I came in from work and was all fired up to mow my yard.  I got some work clothes on, go the iPod ready, and when I went to our shed to get out our mower, what do I see? 

Bees.

I hate bees.  I dont’ care what kind they are, but I hate them.  I honestly don’t know why God created them.  They just bumble around, being annoying, and stinging people.  Stupid bees.  So I tried to get the mower out, but this one bee just wasn’t having that.  he was hovering in front of the opening of our shed, and when I tried to get close, he would fly at my face!  So I backed off, and then I saw something even worse than bees.

 Bees fighting each other. 

 Yep, there is a full scale bee war going on in my backyard, and I believe it is the front shed bees who are attacking the back shed bees for total supremacy of the outside of my shed. 

 *sigh* And I was going to be so productive…..

http://dontcallmeveronica.blogspot.com/2005/11/games-christians-play.html

I read this post today for the first time and I was simply blown away. It’s from late 2005, but it’s still very relevant. The writer of his blog is so right in his words. Too often today we want to worship the stuff and the success instead of realizing that we are supposed to be looked at differently than the rest of this world! We tremble, complain, and fear when persecution comes even though we were told it would. I think we’re simply too comfortable. We like where we are, nay, we enjoy it. We enjoy that we can brag to our friends that we have Christian senators, Christian tshirts, Christian music on the secular radio, Christians in the media, and a Christian president. And we don’t just brag. We hold it over the heads of everyone else as if we’re better. What if the bottom dropped out? What if our so-called “success” suddenly ended today, and we were no longer afforded these positions and places where we are making inroads?

What if the government said tomorrow that if you were a Christian you could no longer serve in a position?

What if all our tshirts were banned in the public arena?

What if a radio station said they would not play a song even remotely considered Christian? What if the labels said that if you are a Christian, they would terminate your contract or not sign you?

What if Hollywood refused to hire actors based on their faith?

What if the office of President was to be vacated if the president were to be found a Christian?

We really don’t know how good we have it, do we? God has allowed us these inroads, and yet we want to brag and boast about them like we’ve done it. Like we developed the strategy. Like the cultural “coolness” we’re enjoying now is a product of our own mechanations. Like all our lives are “purpose driven” and fit right in line like Tetris pieces making lines for the Lord. I worry that we are not losing our voice in this country, but that we’re cancelling it out, by our own desire to be comfortable, by our own desire to fit in, by our own desire to influence without saying a word. In fact, it almost reminds me of this passage from Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 9:23-24

23 This is what the LORD says:

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,

24 but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows me,
that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,”
declares the LORD.

This past week was busy. In fact, it was a little too busy. It seems like our church body has been visited with sickness and death a lot lately, and it’s kept our staff busy. Usually I try and attend funerals of our church members or their family as a rule of thumb, whether they have children in our ministry or not, because they are part of our church family. Last week, I think we had 3 funerals to go to, and I did not make it to the one on Wednesday, because our pastor was supposed to preach his monthly message at the local nursing home, but it would’ve given him no time to get to the funeral, which was over 2 hours away. Because of that, the duty fell to the trusty youth pastor. So I went home, got gussied up, and headed to the nursing home, which coincedentally, is right across the street.

When I walked in the door, I quickly found my way to where I was supposed to be, and just happened to run into a lady who’d been attending our church at one time with her husband, and I think they got mad, and left over something. They told me, like most people do, that “they’d be back eventually” and not to give up hope on them, because they were sick alot. Right. Anyway, the comment of the day was not made by her, but rather another woman who happened to walk by while I was standing there. Y’know how you meet people sometimes and they know you and for the life of you, you can’t remember who they are? Yeah, this was one of those times. Well anyway, she walks up and pats me on the shoulder and this conversation takes place:

Her: Well, hi there! What are you doing today?

Me: Well, I’m here to preach to these people today.

Her: *gasp* You are? I didn’t know you’d gone into the ministry….I thought you were still a youth director!

Me: *speechless*

My jaw literally hit the floor. Honestly, is that small minded, uneducated mentality still around? So I preached, and I left, and I honestly hoped I wouldn’t have to preach while that lady was standing there, thinking that she’d be waiting by the door as I was leaving to remind me of what a great “pastor” I’d make. I’ll be real honest: I don’t feel a calling toward pastoral ministry. At most, I could see myself as an associate pastor someday, if God’s call changes. But, as far as I know now, I’m in youth ministry for life. And it is ministry, despite what the rest of the world thinks. What goes on in our Wednesday night services, Sunday evening classes, and Sunday School is important, and it is growing the future of the church. Some people might think I place a little too much emphasis on youth ministry, but honestly, if you can’t see how vital is it, maybe you need to ask God to readjust your focus, and quick. To insinuate that what I do on a weekly basis is not anywhere near ministry is a ridiculous, and just downright stupid comment that did nothing but encourage the silly trend of “pastor worship” that the Southern Baptist denomination as a whole loves to engage in.

So I guess you’d say that I didn’t like that comment.

Today one of our church members came into the office for some information. Now, I know we’re all the family of God here and everything, but do you have those people in your life that when you see them your mind just shuts down and your heart starts to beat a little faster and you suddenly want to get out of the room? Yeah. Those people. Well, this person is one of them. Maybe it’s because the person is a bit too confrontational for my liking, but there is this irrational fear that I have that surrounds them. Everytime I’m around them my feelings just go into shutdown and I don’t have anything much to say or do except remove myself from the situation. Argh. Why can’t everyone just be easy to get along with?

I joined a gym last week and I’ve been going everyday and doing some cardiovascular work as well as lifting weights. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve worked out and I’m paying for it, both in my weight and in my general soreness that I have from getting back into it, but I really feel good for doing something. I think going somewhere that actually has people in it, as opposed to working out at home, keeps me focused, and on task. And that, my friends, is a good thing.

I’ve been asked to speak at a youth revival in two weeks for a church in our area. I’m slightly nervous about it, because I haven’t been given much time. Their speaker had to cancel on them, so it’s kind of last minute. But, I guess if it’s what I”m supposed to be doing, then God will provide. Speaking of provided, last night I had to sit in a three hour meeting about building new buildings here at the church. Exciting as that was….I was worn out when I got home, and headed almost directly to bed, put to sleep soundly by about 30 minutes of Nintendo DS before sleepytime. Just gotta be careful not to fall asleep with that stylus in my hand and poke out my eye……