The Most Important Question

This week one of my patients died.  I met him on Monday.  When I first meet a patient, that first visit is usually 30-40 minutes.  I spent nearly three hours with this patient.  Within the first five minutes, he said to me, “Let me ask you a question, and I hope it doesn’t offend you.”  The question was simple.

“Are you are born-again believer, having trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?”

I enthusiastically said yes.  We spent the next several hours discussing faith in Christ, world affairs, and politics before ending our visit (we mostly talked about faith).  This patient was totally at peace with his eternal future.  He wanted others to be at peace with theirs (the oxygen delivery guy was asked the same question).  Before I left, I prayed with him, and we both looked forward to our next visit.  I didn’t think it would be so soon.

He took a turn for the worse Monday night.  I visited him Tuesday afternoon.  He was in great pain, but was able to look me in the eye and joke, “Sorry I’m not such good company today.”  I assured him it was OK, and once again prayed with him, asking God to bring him peace of mind and body.  I left to allow his family to spend time with him.  An hour later, I returned.  Not as a chaplain, but as a bereavement coordinator.  He had passed, peacefully.

During my first visit, the patient pulled out one of the gospel tracts that he carried with him at all times.  For years, he had passed out these tracts and asked people that most important question.  I don’t know how much success he had.  Some of us may consider his method old-school or ineffective.  Maybe it was.  But here’s what I know.

He did something.

He asked the most important question.  He asked it while he still had time, all the way up to his dying day.

What are we doing?

Add This to Your Netflix Queue: Cemetery Junction

Well, you can’t do it yet (I tried… it isn’t listed yet).  The trailer, however, is brilliant.  You’ll either love it or hate it.  I love it.  Very funny.  Here it is:

“…contend for the faith…” PART 4

This post is way too long.  I’ve worked on it for four days.  I’m not satisfied with it and it’s probably not as clear as I’d like.  In any case, I hope we can find a better way of dealing with the issue of what is essential to our faith than the trail we have blazed thus far.

Last week, I started this series of posts on the issue of essentials and nonessentials.  This is an issue that I’ve been wrestling with recently.  All my life as a Christian, the essential/nonessential debate was easy for me.  I had my line drawn in the sand–and you had to agree with me in order to “have fellowship” with me.  Here’s the thing:  everyone’s line in the sand is different.  Many of us have our line in a similar place, but there’s usually an issue or two that we may disagree on (even if ever so slightly).

The responses to the posts were exactly what I expected:  lists of doctrines.

Lines in the sand (heck, the second post asked for them).

As I’ve mulled this over and prayed about it, here’s my observation about our lines in the sand:  By firing off a list of what we’re for, we let people know who we’re against. By doing so, we entrench ourselves against others, and our list of essentials is a “no man’s land” of sorts–don’t bother coming across until you agree with me on every single issue.  I’m not saying at all that we ditch our differences with others as if they’re unimportant (some wish to do this, which I also think is an unwise approach).  What I am trying to say is this:  is there a better way of looking at this issue?

We’ve limited the essentials/nonessentials issue to a list of doctrines that must be mentally ascribed to in order to be part of the club.  When people don’t agree 100% with our list, its easier to write them off and not consider them part of the family than it is to the difficult work of unifying under the authority of Scripture (by the way, Restoration Movement guys… isn’t that what the early leaders in our movement attempted to do?).

What also makes this issue difficult is that the early church didn’t wrestle with some of the issues we do.  The mode and meaning of baptism in the NT wasn’t an issue.  The charismatic issues were moot.  If you asked Paul about the Calvinism/Arminianism debate, he would have looked at you like you were nuts.  Here, however, is a list (off the top of my head) of the things the early church did wrestle with (by book of the Bible):

1. Matthew – John: The person and work of Jesus–His virgin birth, incarnation, teaching, miracles, death, resurrection, humanity/divinity.
2. Acts: What is needed for a person to be a part of the kingdom of God (see Acts 15)
3. Romans: the message of the gospel and its practical implications
4. 1-2 Corinthians: life transformational issues, the resurrection
5. Galatians: grace vs. law, practical life transformation issues
6. Ephesians: unity and make-up of the church, practical life transformation issues
7. Philippians: the person and work of Jesus, practical life transformation issues
8. Colossians: the person and work of Jesus, practical life transformation issues
9. 1-2 Thessalonians: eschatology, practical life transformation issues
10. 1-2 Timothy, Titus: sound doctrine, life
11. Philemon: life transformation issues
12. Hebrews: the person and work of Jesus
13. James: life transformation issues
14. 1-2 Peter: the gospel, Jesus, false doctrine, etc.
15. 1-3 John: the person and work of Jesus
16. Jude: contending for the faith
17. Revelation: the ultimate victory of Jesus and His church.

Yes, this is a generalized list (and I may have overgeneralized some things), but there are some things that stick out to me that have everything to do with this essentials/nonessentials issue and how we can view this in a better way that isn’t so us-vs.-them (by the way–those who disagree with us are not the enemy… Satan is).

So, here’s my new way of looking at the essentials/nonessentials issue.  Here are the things we must contend for:

1. Jesus is essential. Jesus’ divinity/humanity, his incarnation, his miracles, his death and resurrection–all of these are absolutely essential to the Christian faith.  Several of the NT writers, mainly John, Paul, and the author of Hebrews, spilled a lot of ink on this most crucial of issues.  Without the biblical, historical Jesus (which are one and the same), Christianity is worthless.
2. The church/kingdom is essential. God could have chosen any method he wanted to get the message of the gospel to the world.  He chose a community of imperfect, forgiven people that Jesus died for.  What a risk!  We screw things up all the time.  Yet, it has worked.  There have been many mistakes and shameful sins along the way, but it has worked.  Many say they can be Christians without the church.  That’s like saying a finger can function apart from the body.  It may be a finger, but because it isn’t plugged into the body, it has no life and no purpose.  The books of the New Testament are all written to churches.  The church is essential because Christ died for her and she is to be His hands and feet in the world.  He has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve Him.
3. Sound doctrine is essential. I like Dr. Jack Cottrell’s assessment of this issue (click here for a really good .pdf file on his thoughts).  He writes that while perfect doctrine may not be a reality, it is something to strive for.  When we draw our lines in the sand so definitively, what we’re saying is that we’ve got it figured out.  Those that don’t agree with us on certain issues don’t have it figured out.  What would happen if we stopped doing the easy thing of writing others off and, instead, started talking with those we differ with?  I don’t mean debate.  I mean sit down over coffee, many times, and talking about the issues while developing a friendship?  Don’t forget, we’re all in process.  There are things that I’ve changed my mind on over the years.  There are people that are changing their minds on things (Francis Chan dropped a huge bombshell at the Exponential Conference this year about his beliefs on how someone becomes a Christian–it was amazing to hear him say that just by reading the Bible, he’s come to the conclusion that people need to repent and be baptized to become a Christian).    Drawing lines in the sand closes doors.  Realizing we’re all in process and are striving toward sound doctrine can open doors.  We may find that some are willing to sit down and talk.  We may find others aren’t so open minded.  Fine, as long as we’re not the ones closing the doors.  Let the Bible–God’s entire revelation to us–be our line in the sand, not our lists.
4. Life transformation is essential. Almost every book in the New Testament speaks about the practical implications of living out the gospel.  Yet, when in a conversation about essentials/nonessentials did you hear anyone say anything about holy living?  Never.  The writer of Hebrews makes is clear that without holiness, no one will see the Lord.  Holy living, repentance, and life transformation (sanctification) are absolutely essential.  Paul told Timothy to watch both his life and his doctrine closely, and by doing so he would save himself and others.
5. Humility is essential. As one old-school guy once said, “Sometimes people aren’t rejecting the meat we’re serving.  They’re rejecting the platter we’re serving it on.”  When I was a hard-core, debate at the drop of a hat (and I carried my own hat) guy, I had my list and would defend it to the death.  My pride did damage to relationships.  I’m not saying we tolerate absolutely everything.  That’s not humility.  Humility is being able to admit that we are not perfect, that we are in process as we’re figuring out how to live out the gospel with our church, and that we are willing to listen.  We may end up having to part ways after listening and discussing, but at least we didn’t slam the door shut.  Remember, God gives grace to the humble… and humiliates the proud.  We can still stick to our guns without shooting others in the process.
6. Grace is essential. It’s much easier to label those who don’t agree with us as liberal than it is to have grace.  We need to have the attitude of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 30 (look what happened):

¹⁵ They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the LORD. ¹⁶ Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests sprinkled the blood handed to them by the Levites. ¹⁷ Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the LORD. ¹⁸ Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, pardon everyone ¹⁹ who sets his heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of his fathers—even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.” ²⁰ And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

Many who ate the passover didn’t do it correctly according to what God had revealed.  Yet, because one king humbled his heart before God and was willing to pray for them, God listened and healed the people who had set their hearts on seeking God.  That must be our attitude towards those who differ from us on certain issues.  There are those who love Jesus just as much as we do, but they differ with us on certain issues.  Instead of writing them off and labeling them, we need to pray for both them and ourselves–that we would set our heart on seeking God, and that he would forgive and restore us when we (and those who disagree with us) are not correct.

Yes, there will be people we won’t be able to associate with.  But let’s not be a people who are known for what and who we’re against.  Let us be kingdom-minded people, known for what we are for–reclaiming people and places for the kingdom of God as we do the hard work of reconciling people to Him while also working to reconcile ourselves to each other.

Whew.  That’s enough.  Let’s hear your comments–what do you agree and disagree with, why, and how can we approach this issue better?

What Happens in G-Vegas…

Each Monday, I’m going to post a brief summary of what we’ve done the previous week in relation to expanding the kingdom of God in Greenville.  So here’s what happened the week of July 5:

1. We got to hang out with a couple who just moved for Chicago.  He took the youth ministry position at St. James UMC, located close to East Carolina Univerity with about 900 in attendance on Sunday mornings.  They found us through Laura’s blog, found out we were house church people, and wanted to know more.  It was a great time.  We talked about house churches, the difference between house churches and church that do small groups well (the answer:  follow the money…), and even delved into what’s going on with the Emergent “church.”  They’re a great couple with the cutest little boy (who couldn’t get enough of Madalyn’s toy bus).
2. We got to hang out with some folks from our slowly developing simple church.  They’re ready to start the next phase, which is awesome.  More details to come as they develop…
3. Made some headway with getting into some churches in connection with my work as a hospice chaplain.  Very cool.
4. Speaking of my job, I had some tough visits this week.  People I’ve really become attached to that are starting to decline.  Very tough…
5. Read “Chasing Daylight” (not the Erwin McManus book of the same title).  It’s a memoir of a high-power CEO who was diagnosed with an extremely aggressive brain cancer, and how he lived out the final three months of his life.  Tragic.  Heart-breaking.  Inspiring.  Moving me to action.  A further review to come soon.  A definite must-read.
6. Been doing a lot of thinking about how our simple church is developing.  You always want things to move faster than they are, but I’ve learned that waiting on God’s timing is better than forcing things.
7. I started a blog series about the essentials/nonessentials of our faith.  Got some interesting responses so far, and those who’ve commented have been waiting on me to weigh in.  You only have to wait until tomorrow…
8. Set up a mentoring schedule with a dude that’s going to be part of our simple church.  He’s headed to college in the fall (actually, my alma mater).  I’m encouraging him to go ahead and start working in the city he’ll be in as I mentor him and he comes back here on the weekends.
9. Talked to my old college buddy Neal Alligood (who’s near Atlanta doing a two year internship with Christ’s Church at Cobb).  He saw my post about Bible College and church, and wants to do something about it.  What he has in mind is absolutely spectacular.  More details to come as they emerge.  Ha ha ha…
10. Went to Harmony Church, which meets in a bar near downtown Greenville.  Their lead guy, Derek, is a really friendly guy and brings it (its been awhile since I’ve heard that much scripture in a message), and has the stones to bring it from anywhere–they’re in a series on Lamentations right now, and he’s applying it to Greenville.  Some really good stuff.  Harmony’s impact is outdoing it’s small size.  They’re involved with serve.greenville, an organization focused on renewing the city.  They’re serving Greenville in small ways, including a billiard’s tournament later this month.  Trust me, no other churches in Greenville are doing what Harmony is doing.  I look forward to talking more with Derek.
11. Also got back in contact with the lead guy at Discovery Church.  We’re going to sit down and chat soon.

This week, pray for:

1. I’ll start mentoring Evan (see #8).  Pray that this will be a fruitful time of friendship building and equipping so that the kingdom can expand both here in Greenville and in Elizabeth City, NC.
2. The “evolution” of our budding church.  Summer’s a crazy time, and schedules can be tough.  Pray that carving out time for each other will become second nature.
3. Talking with some guys who seem to be really kingdom-minded.  Hoping to find common ground and start a dialogue from there.

“…contend for the faith…” PART 3

This series was going to end today, but I got a comment from my blogging buddy Koffijah last night that I need to repost.  There’s wisdom in these words.  Some of you may not agree with them; some of you may.  Next week, I’ll wrap up the series on where I’m at on this issue (I’ve kept my thoughts to myself on purpose):  Here are Koffijah’s thoughts–and feel free to comment on them:

I’m not trying to be some kind of a Campbellite, but constructing a list of what is essential to the Christian faith… is essentially the same thing as making a Creed. Now, I know your goal isn’t to create something besides scripture to measure people by, but if by the slogan, “in essentials, unity” we mean we would require people to agree to these set of doctrines, then in essence it is the same thing. And you know what–I would probably agree with everything you come up with.

But here’s the thing… If we believe the Bible is the Word of God, let it be the Word of God. We don’t need to simplify it, summarize it or extract the “essential” things out of it in any kind of dogmatic way. I like the slogan (and I know you’ve heard this one a million times, too), “Where the Bible speaks, we speak; where the Bible is silent, we’re silent.”

I like this approach because it is not a systematic theological approach, but a faith in the Word of God approach. If we make our theology into a system then we are assuming we know enough to make it all fit together. However, I believe that the purpose of God’s revelation is not for us to understand how God and everything in this world works and fits together, but for us to know who God is and enough to get us home to him.

“…contend for the faith…” PART 2

The title of this series comes from the opening verses of the New Testament book of Jude.  My tribe, the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ have, in the past (and still in certain segments), really liked to contend.  Sometimes we’ve liked to contend about things that really aren’t worth contending about (musical instruments in church buildings, anyone?).

Part of the deal about this whole essentials vs. nonessentials issue is drawing the line in the sand.  What issues are, as the old schoolers say, tests of fellowship?  What issues are deal breakers–if we don’t agree on them, then we cannot and will not hang out and work together?  There are some issues that are universal for all times and places.  The person and work of Jesus, for example, is the ultimate deal breaker (just read 1 John, and you’ll definitely see this to be true).  That’s why we don’t fellowship with the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses–they have distorted the person and work of Jesus.  There have been, however, issues that we’ve drawn a line in the sand that, looking back, we really shouldn’t have.  Like I mentioned earlier, in the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, music has been a deal breaker.  Music caused an actual split in our movement back in 1906 (that was the officially recognized date–the schizm occured much earlier).  Straight up–that was retarded.  It short circuited the fastest growning Christian movement in the history of our country.

So the question up for discussion today is this:  what issues are deal breakers for you?  What issues do you draw a line in the sand over?

Let’s get it started–and don’t just give a list.  Tell why these issues are deal breakers for you.

“…contend for the faith…” PART 1b

I ran out of time yesterday.  Checkbook balancing comes before posting.  In the meantime, scroll down to yesterday’s post and keep the discussion going on what is essential and what isn’t.  Some interesting stuff so far.

“…contend for the faith once delivered…” PART 1

Last week , in a post entitled “Blood in the Water“, I wrote I would start a series on essentials and nonessentials.  That post alone drew some obvious interest.  The wait is now over.  Here we go…

“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, love.”  If I’ve heard this saying once, I’ve heard it a million times.  Preachers, teachers, and professors in my “tribe” (the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ) spent many sermons, lectures, and lessons on this saying.  What I’ve found interesting is that it isn’t even in the Bible.  But the sentiment is.  On those things that are essential to the faith, we must be  unified.  In those things that are not essential to the faith, we have freedom to decide.  In all things, essential and nonessential, we’re to love each other.

It’s a really cool statement.  I appreciate it.  I try to live it out.  But I’ve always struggled with something:  what things are essential, and what things aren’t?  There are a few things we can all agree on (hopefully):  the person and work of Jesus, the concept of the trinity (even though that term isn’t in the Bible), the reality of sin, etc.  Here’s the thing:  beyond these and a few other issues, we don’t agree on what is essential and what isn’t.

First, I think we need to differentiate between what is essential to the Christian faith and what is essential for someone to become a Christian.  Many in my tribe have assumed these lists are one and the same.  I no longer think they are.  Related and intertwined, yes… but not exactly the same.  There are some things essential to the Christian faith that aren’t essential for someone to become a Christian (they may not know these things at first, but as they progress in their faith, they come to know these things).

So let’s start the discussion here:

1. What is essential to the Christian faith (without these things, the Christian faith falls apart)?
2. What is essential for someone to become a follower of Jesus?

A few rules for the discussion:

1. Play nice.  Feel free to discuss, but do not make it personal.  If you can’t play nice, you’ll get one warning and then be placed in time out.  Oh yeah–this is your warning.
2. Briefly explain your thoughts–don’t just rattle off a list.

Tomorrow, I’ll post about some things I believe are essential.  Until then, have at it…

Jumbo Shrimp in Houston, TX

My online buddy “Katdish” has graciously allowed me to post about my book, “The Jumbo Shrimp Gospel“, on her blog.  Katdish is involved in a new church plant in the Houston area.  She’s addicted to Twitter (seriously, she needs an intervention), and she’s a valued contributor to discussions on many blogs (one of which is this one).  She’s even posted a link for folks to buy the book, which is way too nice of her!  Thanks, Katdish.

You can read the post here.

What Happens in G-Vegas

Each Monday, I’m going to post a brief summary of what we’ve done the previous week in relation to expanding the kingdom of God in Greenville.  So here’s what happened the week of June 28…

1. Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays.  In one week?  Crazy.  Not that their passing has anything to do with what we’re doing, but it was just… crazy!  And Steve McNair on Saturday!
2. Started the online discussion to my book, “The Jumbo Shrimp Gospel.”  Have had some pretty good thoughts so far.  Looking forward to what develops.
3. Speaking of my book, I had a message on my phone from my pops saying that someone in his church wanted to order six copies–one for himself (he read my parents’ copy) and five more to give away.  To prisoners (he’s a prison guard).  How awesome is that?!?  I also had someone else from Texas want to order ten copies to give away, with the possibility that her church may do it as a small group study.
4. Speaking of someone else from Texas, she graciously allowed me to post on her blog about my book.  In fact, you had to scroll down from my blog entry linking to her blog.  So, if by some odd reason you didn’t read that first, or you’re blind, scroll back up and go check it out.
5. I’m starting to develop some cool connections through my job as a hospice chaplain, including the head of internal medicine at ECU (he’s my new kidney doctor… and apparently I’m a fascinating case study medically).
6. Everyone interested in our new church was out of town this week.  Kind of a bummer that we didn’t get to hang out, but the cool thing is that I’m not getting paid for it, so I’m totally not stressing about creative ways to milk money out of people (did I just say that?).  Hoping to jump-start that back up this week.
7. We went to see our buddy Jordan Clark at the Tipsy Teapot, a tea shop in downtown (they call it Uptown) Greenville.  A very cool place, and definitely a place where a simple church could sprout.
8. While at the Tipsy Teapot, I got to catch up with a buddy, Thomas Hamilton.  I was actually friends with his brother in college, and now Thomas is all grown up and married.  He was in professional ministry for awhile, but got pretty beat up.  He’s still super involved in kingdom work, and I found out he’s local to us.  We had a great conversation on church, church planting, and specifically simple churches.  His mental wheels are turning for sure.
9. Spent July 4 weekend with my wife’s family.  It was a fun time.  Best of all, I got to check out my father-in-law’s new outdoor shower.  Like the ones you see at beach houses.  He built one.  It’s totally cool.  The food, hanging out with family, and fireworks were too bad, either.
10. Since we spent the weekend at the in-laws, we went to the church Laura grew up in.  I’ll leave it at that.

This week, please pray for the following:

1. Tonight, we’ve got a couple coming over to hang out to talk simple church.  They just moved to Greenville from Chicago.  He’s on staff at a local Methodist church, and is really questioning how church is done in general.  They found us through my wife Laura’s blog (I think).  Should be a good time.  I’m starting to have a lot of these conversations with guys.  Not sure why they’re coming to me, other than “Wow, they had the guts to actually do what I want to do” or “This guy’s crazy.  I need a good laugh.”
2. We need to get our weekly gathering going again.  Summer is crazy…
3. Figuring out how to interact with more people, and scoping for potential places where simple churches can sprout.