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In a recent conversation I was struck by a statement that has been made to me many times in the last 30 plus years of ministry. The statement is, “I have grown so much because of that experience”. So I ask the question, is experience the way to maximize spiritual wisdom, maturity and growth.

There is little argument that the “experience” of growing up in a Christian home, attending Church, going to summer camp, having Godly teachers etc. are wonderful growing experiences. But that is not what struck me. What I have heard over and over is just the opposite of that list. I have heard that experiencing the harsh reality of sinful choices and the consequences that result from it are the “experiences that have resulted in the greatest growth”. The real question is, do I have to experience sin and its awful results to enjoy maximum spiritual growth or is there a better way. Is the person who has walked the road of the prodigal son more mature and wiser then the one who didn’t experience those kinds of things?

Who is stronger, the person who succumbs to temptation and learns from it or the person who faithfully resists it and never learns that way? I find the answer in the life of Jesus–He was tempted in all points as we are but without sin–and he is in every sense of the word stronger and wiser than anyone of us who has succumbed many times.

It is a misnomer to think that a person who has experienced life’s harsh realities has in some way a deeper and more mature faith and wisdom. The opposite is what Scripture teaches. The person who obeys God and faithfully walks away from temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13) is the stronger by far. They learned by obedience, not by experience. I suppose some of us just have to learn things the “hard way” but that is not the best way and the final results are always compromised. There is no virtue or blessing in having experienced the harshness of sin’s penalties; rather, there is great virtue and blessing in obeying God and honoring Him with every choice. I Corinthians 10:6-11 tells us that the stories of the Old Testament are there for our example and instruction–we do not have to experience what they did to learn what God wants us to learn; to mature and grow in wisdom–what we have to do is obey and God will grow us far more.

Recently I was struck by something that “opened my eyes” and I now understand what may be amiss. There is an important difference between “clever” and “wise”; “moral” and “biblical”; “lucky” and “discerning”. The Church is filling up with such human anomalies and we are happy to have them and sometimes we even put them in leadership.

These fine folks have a superficial/surface understanding of God’s Word and they are worldly-wise but they truly lack wisdom and biblical insight, they have little or no theological foundation for their actions they are simply clever and moral and want God to feel good about them. They are folks that grandfather referred to as good people who are, “right for the wrong reason”. When he talked to me about this he warned me to resist following them and to do my own work. The only person that I should honor with loyalty must be someone who is right for the right reasons. Those folks can be hard to find but they are important to have and to know. I asked grandfather about an economist that I was reading and he said, “he is generally right but for the wrong reason”; read Von Mises or Hazlitt and you will read someone who is right for the right reasons. They are not easy reading but perhaps that is part of the problem.

That principle is applicable for serving in the local Church as well but what do you do with folks who are clever, moral and lucky? They really don’t know their Bible and when they share from it it is isogetic and moralistic. The important difference is sound deep Biblical theology! The longer I serve in the local church the more convinced I am that what people really need is deep theological preaching and teaching. That is not what people want to hear (2 Timothy 4:2-5) and for decades the mass church culture has drunk at the trough of Biblical milk (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).

The difference between people who are clever and wise is solid Biblical Theology; the difference between people who are moral and biblical is Old & New Testament Theology; the difference between lucky and discerning people is clear Systematic Theology. Their concerted and continual effort to grasp theology will reveal their true identity, their growing wisdom, biblical actions and depth of discernment. The best Church leaders are men who are mastering theology so that they can exercise wisdom, act Biblically and discern the issues that confront the Body of Christ. Soli deo gloria!

From time to time I have the pleasure of answering awesome questions and one that came up recently is what do you do to sustain long term spiritual growth? What a great question.

I prefaced my answer with two thoughts; first from Philippians 4:6-8, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things”. All sin is first a thought and if I can do a better job controlling my thought life I can do a better job of resisting sinful patterns that stunt spiritual growth. Second, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 reminds us that isolation is the devil’s playground and most sinful patterns grow in isolation therefore I must choose to live and grow in spiritual community.

There are six things that I find vital to long term spiritual growth. They are interrelated but each is an important piece in my long term growth.

First, get used to memorizing. I began with Romans 6 and then moved on to Romans 8:1-14. Having a partner is awesome. Pray for God to put that person in your life. What I memorize will deeply affect how I think.

Second, put together a prayer list and carry it in your Bible. Mine has the following categories: Organizations, Missionaries, Lost family and friends, Family and ministry friends and Men. I do not pray over the whole list every day; it is just too long, but I do pray over part of it every day. I also consistently ask God for a prayer burden and he always answers that prayer for me; sometimes awaking me at night to pray for people.

Third, I read through the Bible every year. I have read through it twice in a year and one day I hope to read it through in 90 days. This is crucial if we are to stand up against the onslaught of ideas and notions that permeate our world today. These first three are vital and cannot be replaced by anything else if we hope to grow spiritually.

Fourth, I intend to be part of a serious prayer group for the rest of my life. I don’t always have this and when it is missing I am not doing as well. I need people who pray with me and for me in front of me.

Fifth, I want to be discipling men for the rest of my life. At the moment I have 6 different men that I am working with and it continues to challenge me to grow spiritually and mature in Christ.

Sixth, I will read quality Christian books for the rest of my life. These authors invest in my spiritual growth and they don’t even know that I am one of their students. This activity keeps my mind sharp and thinking about the best things. Every year at the end of the year I decide what topics to read for the next year and instead of carrying a list of books to buy I try and put together a list of books to read.

This is the foundation that I use to insure my long term spiritual growth. In the midst of these efforts the Holy Spirit is constantly speaking and moving and I am constantly being challenged to change and mature. Depending on my schedule and what is ruminating inside of me I add study projects to this list, but this is the foundation that I need to continue growing in Christ.

Finally, let me tell you what I am doing this year to build on my foundation. I am reading Paul’s epistles (13) through 15 times and each time I am looking for a certain theme (Law & Grace, Suffering & Sacrifice, Resurrection, etc) and listing the references. I am also involved in what I call the “Proverbs Project”. I am reading through Proverbs once a month this year and each month I am identifying a different topic and presenting that topic as part of a Bible study on Sunday evening in our church.

Secure the foundation for spiritual growth one year at a time and you will be blessed as God changes you and uses you for His glory.

Recently I was in the office preparing to head home, with a few minutes to ponder and I stacked up the books I have read over the years on the general topic of “men & masculinity”. The most recent one was by Ann Douglas, “The Feminization of American Culture”. Her critical assessment of American life, beginning with the New England church eras’ embracing of the Romantic novel and the sentimentalism of the 18th Century, provides an interesting cultural discussion leading to the present day indicators that males are more and more “Boys Adrift” as described by Leonard Sax. His book describes the complex and growing problem of boys who can’t find their way into responsible adulthood. Today men have generally turned out to be apologetic teases who know more about loitering around women then they know about Politics; men who are docile and self-effacing rather then aggressive and confident leaders in their Churches. They have learned how to “submit” so they do not have to endure another verbal tirade or be further emasculated by an infectious feminism that is systematically taking to the pulpit. We now have a generation of men who gained little or nothing from Promise Keepers and are wondering where they fit into the social milieu of Western life unless of course they join the National Guard. Even that option is scary with the launching of a study to establish the viability of “open homosexuality” in the military.

I like men who are masculine first and always and the most secure women I know love the spiritual shelter that they provide. I am coming to believe that the gender of the Church is deeply affected by the masculine qualities of her men. Yes, “her” men; for the Church is indeed the “Bride of Christ” but that bride needs Godly male leadership that knows what it means to be masculine. I fear that we stand on the brink of losing our way in that regard. I think that the “gender of the Church” as a cultural transforming agent must be Godly masculinity.

I don’t have solutions, I just have a growing sense that men in general are retreating from the most important posts of leadership and that makes the future a very harsh and uncertain place. Something must be done so that boys aspire to leadership; girls admire masculine leadership and the Church nurtures and promotes masculinity. But all that is not possible unless men find their spiritual legs, stand up as servants of God and become leaders in their homes and churches.

For all the progress that “Feminism” has brought us it has also brought a drought of Godly masculine leadership and that drought is no more apparent than in the local church. Leon Poddles comments, “The Church must develop a right understanding of the meanings of masculinity and femininity, an understanding that is consistent with human realities and with the data of Scripture.” (The Church Impotent, 208) Feminism and creeping homosexual issues will only provide the reason for men to remain at a distance from the Church where they are needed in spiritual leadership. Leanne Payne states, “There is that in woman which very much needs man to act in the role of headship–just as he needs to ask her to share the headship. . . . If there is no man to assume headship, then there is something very wrong with the men in the community. There is a crisis in masculinity.” (Crisis in Masculinity, 120)

After 18 years of discipling men I find that a thorough study of Godly men in the Word of God exposes some of the central character of a masculine, spiritual leader. Abraham calls men to walk by faith which is the starting point for all spiritual leadership and the foundation of true masculinity. Joseph challenges men to profit from suffering in such a way that forgiveness becomes a part of our modus operandi. Moses’ story calls all men to understand the authority structures that God has established and how to function within authority. The history of Joshua and Israel’s conquering of Canaan challenges all men to carefully control the influences of culture and walk a path that always honors God. Samuel raises the issues of obedience and accountability that are vital to all spiritual leadership. King David’s relationship to God reminds us that our relationship to our sin and how we deal with it is vital to becoming a man after God’s own heart. Daniel defines courage as he stands alone in the pagan court of world rulers; while Elijah’s story explores what it means to live by the power of God and the role of prayer in a spiritual leader’s life. Nehemiah brings us back to the topic of leadership and challenges me to be available to serve in a special way when the need arises. Finally, the first missionary, Paul, states by his words and life what every man should be passionate about: knowing Christ and sharing Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:6-13 reminds us that these stories are for our benefit and prepare us to deal with the temptations that inevitably come as men lead in their homes and churches.

There are deep challenges before us but many of them could be averted if men accepted the call to spiritual leadership. Everything rises and falls on Godly masculine male spiritual leadership. Please pray with me for this miracle in the hearts of men. It will bless the future of the home and be the culturally transforming influence of the local Church.

Over the last number of years I have read a few books on worship and have participated in a discussion group where a book on worship has been the subject of our meeting. For a number of years I have planned worship services and have received feedback from a spectrum of people on those services as well as worship in other churches and settings. At 57 I have spent half my life sitting in the pew and the other half putting worship together for the Church I serve.

When the Protestant Reformation started to settle down they wrestled the focus of worship away from the Roman Mass, moving the altar to a less prominent spot and in its place put a pulpit where the Word of God was preached and the Gospel was proclaimed. The centrality of the pulpit from which the word of God is declared defines Protestantism and has been for its 20th Century cousin, evangelicalism, at the center of worship.

For the last 40 years that has been subtly changing, or my sense is that it is being redirected through music away from the Word of God to the need for an experience. We come to worship looking for an encounter with God that sends us on a way with a feeling. Paul told Timothy, “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate to themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Robert Webber, in his last book, Ancient-Future Worship comments, “Pastors and church leaders influenced by subjective experientialism are too quick to choose verses out of the context of God’s great drama and turn those verses into inspirational, motivational or therapeutic talks” (131). Allen P. Ross states, “For worship to be spiritual, the Spirit of God must be at work in the worshippers; for worship to be life changing, worshippers have to be controlled by the Holy Spirit” (Recalling the Hope of Glory, 420).

Worship began in the Garden and will be the central activity of eternity with God. In the Garden, before sin, it was woven into life itself and in eternity, after sin, it will again be woven into our new life with God. In both settings there will be no temple. In the garden it was not necessary and in the eternal state we will be that temple in which God is fully present (1 Corinthians 3:17). Between these two events we worship the Creator-Redeemer who redeemed us and calls us to feast on Him while in our sinful state. John Piper writes, “But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship. . . . The fuel of worship is the truth of God, the furnace of worship is the spirit of man, the heat of worship is the vital affections of reverence, contrition, trust, gratitude and joy. But there is something missing from this picture. There is furnace, fuel and heat, but no fire. The fuel of truth in the furnace of our spirit does not automatically produce the heat of worship. There must be ignition and fire. This is the Holy Spirit.” (Desiring God, 65)

Worship now is practice for worship always. If we come to worship looking for an experience we could be deceived, but if we come to worship pursuing truth we may go away with a wonderful experience. That pursuit is something I want to faithfully practice until I am in His presence and then the living Truth will be the eternal experience void of any possible deception.

Every once in a while a word(s) strike(s) me funny. A recent article containing the words “bound conscience” caught my eye and I read on. It was an article about the recent decision of the ELCA to permit homosexuals to pursue appointments as leaders & pastors in the church. What they did was not surprising but their rationale is systemic of our burgeoning western mindset.

Years ago, thinking about this topic, I wrote in my journal, ‘God has called upon me to obey Him and His Word as my personal “public relations” (John Piper) project for the Kingdom of God’. “When principles that run against my deepest convictions begin to win the day, then battle is your calling, and peace has become sin; you must, at the price of dearest peace, lay your convictions bare before friend and enemy, with all the fire of your faith” (Abraham Kuyper). “In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness to truth, and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold” (A.W. Tozer). “God wants our conscience to be certain and sure it is pleasing to Him. This cannot be done if the conscience is led by its own feelings, but only if it relies on the Word of God. The conscience unconverted leads to the idolatrous religion of conscience” (Martin Luther).

In Luke 11:14-36 there is a flow of things that all speak to the issue of faith and discernment; in the end Jesus says, “See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness” (35). Words like “bound conscience”, “tolerance”, “open-minded”, “multiculturalism” and “unity” are all good or bad after you reveal what those concepts rest on. If they rest on the notion that man is essentially good doing evil occasionally they are dangerous and need to be scrutinized constantly. On the other hand if they rest on the Biblical teaching that man is evil and occasionally does good we have a standard to mark all consciences, all levels of tolerance, all open-minded ideas, all efforts at multiculturalism and struggles for unity – The Word of God.

The gods of this age are no different than the gods of all former ages, they simply have different names (words) but what they are remains constant; the forces of Satan working to contradict and draw people away from the redeeming and freeing truth of God’s Word. Jesus said, “Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness” (Luke 11:34-35). The only pure light is Christ Jesus and I know His perfect will by the Word of God. If I intend to improve my discernment and grow my faith I must choose to make His Word my daily food. I, we must choose to drink from its living water and eat its life-giving bread lest we drink at the fountain of tolerance and find our food at the trough of personal conscience. Dear God, give us spiritual discernment in this age of conscience-worship.

I have been reflecting on my life these last 5 years and two things about my children stand out that compel this blog.

First, my children as maturing young adults, each magnify a small part of my inner identity and personal desires. The longer they live, express themselves and find their unique places in life the more clearly I see little pieces of me in them. They simply take them and run to new levels of expression. I think it is the coolest thing to observe and enjoy! I am vicariously living in their accomplishments and through their unique contributions to their world. I never expected this blessing from God!

Second, an important means to clear the way for children to become what God has designed for them is to rear them in front of open doors of opportunity. To me that means two unwavering principles: the Bible defines what we can and cannot pursue and they must be properly trained to resist negative influences and to be Godly influences where they live and work.

Another unexpected blessing has been that they are growing within the Biblical boundaries and becoming Godly influences. I could never tell how well we were doing but in gratefulness to God, I hope to continue enjoying these unexpected blessings for the rest of my life.

“Church Leadership”

A notion that has occurred to me and I have heard discussed addresses a curious late twentieth century and early twenty-first century problem; moral failure and career changes out of ministry. Finding an answer to this problem wanders into a harsh reality check for the Western Church. The American experience, being what it is, has been the soil of Evangelicalism and as disappointing as it may be has had significant influence on the Church. This influence is easily seen at the denominational and institutional level but is also detectable in the local church; although harder to observe.

One cultural phenomenon that continues to influence the church is the effect of results oriented business models that find their way into the church and seem to have an increasing role as churches grow larger and larger. Why the Church has trouble leading and instead follows the business world continues to trouble me. Nonetheless, we must have a look at what the business world has collectively brought us. Don’t get me wrong, I was reared by business people, primarily entrepreneurs who love the tenets of capitalism and despise the slow calculating move towards Marxist Socialism that the Western electoral milieu are clamoring and voting for. At any moment we are publically saying that just because Europe and Canada failed doesn’t mean we will. We can get it right and still enjoy unrestrained freedom and the best care in the world. If it doesn’t work we can simply start over.

We are wandering—back to the moral failure and ministry drop-out rates. When America was young and Harvard turned out theologian/pastors the most important quality for pastoring was personal holiness and Biblical uprightness. This reputation boded well in the public square with moral voice and essential influence. As America got educated and organized denominations and related educational institutions took a closer look at educational parity with the world and slowly moved towards advanced degrees for those in ministry. The need to be accepted in academia not to mention on Main Street now required two masteries; Biblical uprightness and education.

Enter the modern world of growing economies; super-power status, think tanks and CEOs. Main Street was taken over by corporate America and along with them came Business Schools, MBAs and leadership gurus. The Eastern establishment led the way; first with great men, then only curious ideas. Nonetheless, things were changing and the Church, by now located in the suburbs, finds itself losing market share. No problem, let’s add “leadership” as a topic for mastery to succeed in ministry. The results are easily detectable after perusing Seminary catalogs. Add to that the arrival of the mega-church and the CEO pastors who guide them and we have three complete life consuming masteries for the local pastor: personal holiness; graduate level education; and training and skills in vision casting, staff development and 21st Century leadership. The burden became and is too great to bear. The statistics demonstrate that we, pastors of all size churches, cannot stand under the stress of these three monstrous tasks so we at first subconsciously let the personal holiness stuff slide. The challenges of modern life in the west just make it hard to live the life that is called for by text like 1 Timothy 3:1-7 or 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Tolerance is in order and now we amuse ourselves with high-tech sermons given by pastors who occasionally use language in the pulpit that they practice on the fairways. It is what people understand, it makes for relevant messages.

Pursuing holiness and staying in the touch with what is going on in Seminary academia is consuming. Leading a morally upright life and reaching my goal of 50 books a year and maybe taking a graduate class every five years is more than enough for a second born with average leadership skills. I made a decision that I will wait this leadership stuff out, see what comes next and prompt and promote personal holiness and committing to life long learning while serving the local church.

What the Church lacks at the beginning of the 21st Century is not educated pastors or giants who lead impressive churches; what they lack is moral voice and that is rooted in a pursuit of personal holiness. My vote is to abandon all the leadership, vision casting stuff that drives corporate America, Detroit and the mega-church movement. Let’s get on our knees, ask forgiveness and begin again with the simple but challenging commitment of personal holiness and build on that an education that is rooted in Bible training that will rear a generation of pastors that can guide the Church and perhaps morally influence the Western culture away from the precipice of historical irrelevance.

When someone uses the word “Separatists” I am reminded of the original Puritans who came to the shores of Massachusetts to find a place to worship God. They left England because it was not a friendly place to worship as they saw fit. They separated so that they could worship God their way; the challenges came from both the institutional Church of England as well as the State that was wed to it. That was the 1600s.

When someone uses the word “separation” I am reminded of a story that took place in the 1800s. Thomas Jefferson had just been elected the third president of the United States and he sat down New Year’s Day (1802) to send a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. In that letter he stated two things which define an issue of separation in 2009.

He wrote, “Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.”

It did not take long for the letter to be published and then it went quietly away into the same place that all Presidential papers go. However, in 1879 the Supreme Court referenced the letter and used it to describe the “scope and effect of the [first] amendment.” It went away again, for 68 years but returned in the majority opinion of Justice Hugo Black in “Everson v. Board of Education”. He wrote, “a wall of separation between church and State.’ . . . That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.”

Jefferson idealized “Individualism” and provided a missive metaphor that has become a “Legal Absolute”. In 21st Century America we are sold on individualism as our personal right and “the wall that separates Church and State” as a national distinctive among the community of nations.

A couple of years ago I listened to a radio commentator interview a Muslim cleric who identified a key difference between his country’s political views and America’s. He said that we Americans celebrate “separation of Church and State” as an enduring strength; whereas he comes from a country where their strength is rooted in the “absolute union of Mosque and State”. He further stated that because of the union of Mosque and State the Muslim world would defeat the West. He believed that without their union there is no enduring reason to engage an enemy who threatens a nations’ lifestyle that is solely rooted in capitalism. He did not believe that the American public would battle the Muslim world just to sustain our Western Capitalistic ways; there has to be more. At that moment I turned off the radio and pondered his comments. I believe that his conclusion has merit.

As we separate our national conscience from traditional Christian mores we grow more and more fragmented around our individual agendas. The political result is that our new leaders are the people who promise the most to the most people yet are unable to keep any of those promises. Meanwhile they access the top rung of the good life as elected representatives. Just today two Cabinet nominees have withdrawn because they were “sloppy” living the good life.

Perhaps traditional Christian virtue would return to the political stage if we separated all levels of political leadership from money and placed every elected official in the same Social Security network that the blue collar worker lives with. End any and all contributions from PACs and any and all gifts from Lobbyists; limit all contributions to $99 per person, period. Put the entire sum of PERS into the Social Security Trust Fund and separate the “mother’s milk of politics” from the politicians who have the power to direct money. Finally, deposit all “left over” campaign funds into the public till and begin again.

We began as a country with deeply held religious beliefs and it was expected that those beliefs would inform and govern our public and political conscience. Over the past 60+ years we have systematically separated our national soul from our religious roots and the moral convictions that nurtured them. All we have left is the capitalistic machine that was born from it and it is consuming us; it may be destroying us.

We stand on the precipice of financial disaster. Could it be that we have separated ourselves from the wrong thing and cling to the one thing that should never be the goal of any person or nation?

On patriotic days I like to sing “America the Beautiful”. The words of that song say two essential things that ring true in my heart and mind. First, we live in a blessed place: “spacious skies”; “heroes proved”, “fruited plains”; “mountain majesties” and “alabaster cities that gleam”. The songbook I am looking at has Psalm 16:6 under the title, it says: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a goodly heritage”.

To be born an American is still a privilege many envy. There are plenty that still believe that America is “undimmed by human tears”, enjoys “crowned good with brotherhood” and is a choice place from which to know the “shedding of God’s grace”.

The second thing I like about it is that it is a prayer to the Creator God who intervened to bring about this “shining city on a hill” this “experiment in democracy”. Yet, recently we have taken our lumps, the Middle East effort has soured, the economy is languishing under a massive weight of debt and we have lost confidence in those who we elected to govern and those they seek for advice.

Yesterday we “began again” with the peaceful transfer of political power from one administration to that of our new President. “America the Beautiful” was on display once more. The ceremonies were breathtaking, the words were carefully crafted and the extravagant Inaugural Balls went on past my bedtime.

I am hopeful that we can straighten our course, mend some foreign relations fences and reassert the good of freedom and free enterprise. We all know that it will take time and plenty of sacrifice. Some of our past choices will end up costing us dearly and I suspect that my children will be running the show when the bill is still being collected. Be that as it may, America remains a beautiful place to live, labor and leave for heaven. Until then I remain committed to “beautifying America” as I can from my little remote place in this magnificent land.

In England they say, “God save the Queen” and for a moment this morning I prayed, “God save the President” as we begin again to live and work in “America the Beautiful”.