Monthly Archives: April 2012

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The tension of spiritual gifts

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The local church functions as a church only when its members are exercising their spiritual gifts. And below is a passage to remind us ALL gifts are vital for the health, mission, and multiplication of more churches.

1Cor. 12:14   For the body does not consist of one member but of many.  15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.  17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?  20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
We need constant reminders that the public positions like teaching and preaching are not to be viewed as more important than more behind the scenes gifts like encouragement, mercy, hospitality, discernment, etc….But I’m realizing that even when gifts are believed to be equally important, there is still an issue. Knowing that alone doesn’t help people get along. For instance, we can recognize the need for the diversity of gifts, but getting along within that diversity of gifts can become quite labor intensive. Someone gifted in teaching may not get along as well with someone gifted in evangelism; both can recognize the importance of the other, but they still don’t live harmoniously.
We know that the Spirit doesn’t give ALL gifts to each individual person. You wouldn’t need community if that were the case. Instead he chooses to gift particular people with particular gifts. So not everyone is gifted at everything. Nothing new there. But what I’m beginning to think is that what makes someone gifted at one thing, makes them not so gifted at another, and in turn makes them more annoying to another. 
The person gifted in evangelism may not be as gifted in discipleship. He/she may be great at meeting, and making new contacts, have a boldness in sharing his/her faith, and see great fruit in his/her evangelism (new disciples are made). However that boldness might make them less tactful within the body of Christ or less patient with others to grow in their faith. The adventure of sharing the gospel, could make the laborious work of teaching or teaching prep seem like busy work. When you put these two people together on a team, what makes them so uniquely gifted, can be the very thing that causes friction between them. One is more bent toward reaching those outside the church and the other toward building up the body (although all believers are called to play some role in both). 
The person administratively gifted paired up with someone who is more creative and merciful, can obviously bring some tension. The creative merciful person might get his/her feelings hurt simply because he/she is more empathetic. What makes him/her merciful, is the very thing that might make him/her not good as a leader/administrator And what makes him/her creative, is what will drive the administrative person nuts. 
 
This is obviously true with personalities, but I’m beginning to think its also true with spiritual gifts.
The solution is to recognize not just that we are different and need each other, but that the very gift that makes us effective in one area, makes us ineffective in another. The very thing that makes us good in one area can (it doesn’t always) then make relationships with those of differing gifts quite difficult.
But then we really do have to celebrate the gifts of others and recognize that if they were the way we wanted them to be, they wouldn’t have the same gifting and personality and wouldn’t bring to the body of Christ what we need them to bring (via the Spirit of course). And we need their gifts, even when their gifts will can bring tension.  We have to celebrate all the gifts, recognizing that differing gifts will bring both blessing and tension.

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Reflections on Tortured for Christ

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I just finished reading the book Tortured for Christ by Voice of the Martyrs founder Richard Wurmbrand. You can get it for free here. Like the title suggests, this book is not a feel good book. In fact, I’m not sure I felt good one minute while reading it. However, I’m glad that I read it, and there are a few reasons why I would commend it to you.

How to do it through Christ vs How I did it through Christ.

I’ve read books called Crazy Love and Radical. They are designed to challenge and convict the American Dream mentality that has crept into American Christianity. I think both writers have a voice that we need to hear-though in the end both fell short in my opinion of providing the necessary gospel motivation. Sometimes the best way to inspire folks (or at least it works best for me) is not to say, “Here’s why you should do _____,” but to see someone live out “Here’s why the gospel of Jesus motivated ME or OTHERS to do _______.” That’s the book in a nutshell. This joker lived through two different multi-year prison sentences under the communists, enduring constant torture and yet still loving his enemies. Instead of someone telling me this is how to do x, I could see how Jesus did it through His people. There are great books on reconciliation, but the most powerful book I’ve read on the subject is As We Forgive, which shows how the most bitter of enemies HAVE BEEN reconciled. The same thing goes with Tortured for Christ. It’s good to read books on how the gospel can help me follow Jesus as well as how the gospel tangibly empowers folks to follow Jesus despite awful tortures. Both have a place on our book shelves. But I have to admit that being more pragmatic myself I really like to see examples. These books help me apply my theology (Head), and be motivated (Heart) to my actual life (Hands). Jesus can really empower people to persevere through such torture. He does it all the time.

What would I do?

I felt something while reading this book. I don’t even know how to describe it. Perhaps a mix of fear, anger, heaviness, sadness, conviction for my complacency….But part of me had to ask the honest question, what would I do if threatened with torture, and the reality of leaving behind a wife and kids that often wouldn’t be taken care of (it was illegal to help them)? I’ve had kidney stones and I can imagine doing anything that would stop such pain. How would I hold up? How would you? None of us can with pride say what we would do in such a situation. But we can say with hope that God will never leave us nor forsake us, nor will he allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (I Cor 10:13). He will give us the power on that day to do what we need to do to follow Him regardless of how much of a wuss we are. We can say, “Well its me, I can’t imagine enduring that…” But God has had martyrs in every century since the gospel burst onto the scene. I would imagine that folks might have had similar fears. With books like this one, we know that there are many who have been empowered to endure torture and death. Young and old. We can see them. It’s not just theoretical, but historical. I need that.

Complacency

We are complacent in the West. We need to repent. Our problems are minor compared to what our brothers and sisters face every day in certain areas. We don’t need to feel guilty for where we were born or live because God has determined the places where we were born or live so that we would hear the gospel (Acts 17). However, when our suburban Christianity begins to look not much more different that our suburban non-believing neighbors, we ought to think that something is wrong. We do need to repent over the energy we spend trying to make ourselves more comfortable (demanding bigger houses, better spouses, etc..) and fix our hope on Jesus. Instead of demanding the comforts of heaven NOW, we can be spending our energy praying and longing for God’s will in heaven be done on Earth. Ironically, we’ll find more comfort and joy that way.

Our boldness should increase

In Philippians chapter 1, Paul recognizes that his prison time is currently making his fellow Christians bolder than ever. God used the persecution of one to make another bold. I hope that I become more bold, not fearing the “Gosh, you’re weird or intolerant” remark. In the end, if I continue to drink deeply of the gospel and rest in God’s assurance and protection over me, I’ll get bolder. But because the bible says persecution does indeed have an emboldening effect, I hope that as we read about and pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in the faith we grow bolder by the day.

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Ryan Leaf, good guy/bad guy and getting duped

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I heard an inspiring interview about 5 months ago with Ryan Leaf and Jim Rome. If you don’t know  Ryan Leaf, he was the former number 2 draft pick (right behind Peyton Manning) for the San Diego Chargers. His career spiraled out of hand as soon as it started and he became addicted to pain killers. It became so bad that he was getting them from his players while a quarterback coach for some small college. 
Once regarded by many as simply a jerk, he seemed very repentant, broken, and well, likeable in the interview. I would have enjoyed meeting the guy. And then now, he’s been arrested twice in 4 days for burglary, theft, criminal possession of drugs.
That led to a dichotomizing discussion on the Jim Rome show today: was Ryan Leaf duping us all along, or had he simply succumbed to his addiction and fallen off the wagon?
Here are some of my “takes” from Jim Rome’s and his callers “takes.”
1.) Need for another category: Good guy with addiction or Bad Guy?
Those were the only two categories offered. Some called in and said he’s simply a bad buy, and lied to “us”when interviewed. He was only trying to sell books. By breaking into homes, we know for sure that he’s a bad guy. We all have demons, and don’t give in to them. That was one sentiment.
The other “take” was that he wasn’t a bad guy, but simply had an addiction, as though an addiction is something external and draws its victims in like a magnet. He was a good guy when interviewed, and legitimately meant what he said when he talked of turning over a new Leaf (actually he didn’t say that-but he could have….) and trying to be a better person. He still is a good guy, but just has a problem.
So which one was it? Everyone had to classify him as either good or bad. 

Instead of the good and bad distinction where we judge (as though we are better) or blame the addiction and not the person, here is a more robust anthropology.

  • All men/women are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Even sin does not erase that image (Gen 6; James 3)
  •  Sin does tarnish the image of God in man/women so we don’t reflect that image as clearly any longer.
  • Because we are made in God’s image, we will do and say things that are right and culturally good. Not all folks are drug addicts, murderers, thieves; many are in fact the opposite. They are nice, welcoming, will bake you cookies and help old ladies cross the street. We’re not as bad as we could be.
  • Regardless, deeds not done in faith are always considered sin (Romans 14). And that sin is like menstrual garments (Romans 3) and the natural state of man is that we are God’s enemies and  enslaved (Ephesians 2). Ryan Leaf is not a good guy in this sense; though neither are you and I. No one makes the cut. 
  • If you wanted to really categorize people into camps, it’s more biblically accurate to put them into three camps: Those who seek righteousness and standing before God and others by the good things they do (Leaf is bad and I’m good; or Leaf isn’t bad, he just has an addiction, so we’re both good), OR the bad things they do (Leaf in his drug habit robbing people to get a fix) OR those who rest in Christ’s righteousness by faith.
Without this third category, people either judge sinners or excuse sin. Without resting in a righteousness that comes from God, our natural instinct is to seek some form of it (Romans 10:3) and then judge/excuse others according to our own righteousness. The gospel is the difference maker.
2.) The need for a Judge.
While I think the question is illegitimate in some ways with some of its presuppositions, it does reveal to all of us a legitimate need: we need a good judge. It really doesn’t matter to me if Ryan Leaf duped me with the interview. He could easily have relapsed after having been drug-free the way that our fellow Christian Josh Hamilton has. Or has he been duping us all along and simply selling books? Was he legitimately broken before, or just faking it? What about now? Ultimately we’ll never know. Most people don’t care. But this kind of thing is important because many people do bad things, and sometimes bad things to us (and vice versa of course). Are they truly sorry and repentant? We can make an educated guess, but we don’t render their judgment. God does, and He’s a good judge. We can say this or that behavior is wrong. Yet we cannot know the heart with 100% certainty and often times shouldn’t attempt to arrive there. The discussion was in some way irrelevant, but clearly revealed a deep need illegitimately met.

3.) It’s OK to be duped

Paul argues in his first letter to the Corinthians for Christians to not take other Christians to court (I Cor 6). He tells them it’s better to just be wronged if they can’t settle it themselves. I would assume its probably better to just be duped than to adopt The Who’s attitude, “We won’t get fooled again.” I’m sure there are truly legitimate struggling drug addict believers in local churches. They may struggle till the day they die. Others may appear to struggle by faith, but truly just want their fix and use the church as a “cover.” But Jesus reminds his followers not to pull up the weeds with the wheat because by doing so, they would actually hurt struggling believers. I think its OK to be duped. We welcome drug addicts in the local churches, and we may get duped into thinking they really love Jesus (or that Jesus really loves them). We don’t excuse the sin or judge the sinner. Some may be believers. Some may not be. But we can’t assume every addict is the same. The gospel that saves them is no more miraculous than the gospel that saves anybody. And God’s grace is sufficient even when lives don’t change as much as would hope to see. No one is saved by his/her good deeds but by the good deeds of Jesus.