Not So Personal Faith

First off, let me say that I've got a bunch more "Preacher, I've got a question" questions to get to over the summer.  However, while I'm in D.C., I wanted to share some thoughts that God's putting in my head while I'm here.

Today, I got the honor of listening to the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, speak.  He wasn't really speaking to my class, but we got to sit in and listen and ask a few questions.  His wife is a former student at the seminary here at Wesley, and he was speaking with the Board of Governors for the school.  It was mostly about national security and all that stuff.  It was very interesting, and I wondered how he sleeps at night knowing all that he knows.

One of our students in the DMin program here for military chaplains ask about him and his personal faith.  His response was terribly disappointing.  He couldn't be in a more safe environment.  There were no press there besides a photographer for the school.  It was seminary board members, seminary professors and ministers who are doctoral students.  He basically said that faith was personal and that you just don't speak about those issues. 

Who in the world taught him that?  I'm deeply troubled by this answer that I've heard time and time again.  I do believe it was taught a generation ago, but I'm just not sure what Bible those who taught it were reading.  Would the Apostle Paul say faith is 'personal?'  Would Peter say it was 'personal?'  Would Jesus say it was 'personal' and 'private?'  Moreover, would Martin Luther King, Jr. or Mother Teresa say that faith is something you don't talk about?  I wasn't looking for the man to preach a sermon.  I was looking for something at least like, "My wife attend such and such church and my faith has been a source of strength in the most difficult hours of this job." 

Friends, if you want a personal and private faith, then you do not want the faith of the Bible.  You want some kind of bland American-ized faith that is not the faith to which Jesus called His disciples, not the faith which Paul used to start the countless churches and not the faith that has changed the world many times over.  Faith in Jesus is radical.  It comes out in our actions, in the way we treat people, in the way we serve and in the way we talk.  Some of us might have jobs that require us to speak a little more political about issues of faith while on the job (and we desperately need Christians in those sectors!), but we shouldn't ever be ashamed to claim the name.  We should never be afraid to claim who we are in Christ.  The Church will never change the lives of those who desperately need our message of hope and grace if our faith is personal and private.  The World needs a Church whose faith is relational and public.

The Parent Leader

I'm up in DC as a student again, this time at Wesley Theological Seminary in there Doctor of Ministry track on Church Leadership Excellence.  It's all about leadership, and my mind is swimming a bit from the informational overload.  I've thought a lot, though, about how we underestimate the various leadership positions we hold, especially parents.

Some would say, "Oh, I'm not a leader."  If you have kids, you're a leader.  You don't get a choice.  You lead someone.  You have a follower or followers.  Lovett Weems, my professor this week, said something today that made me think about parents:  "Leadership is and is not a voice activated system."  There is something important about leaders casting vision.  They must name the dream ahead, the future reality that the organization is shooting for, whether that be a Fortune 500 company, a church, or a family.  However, leadership isn't done simply by casting a vision at a board meeting.  Leadership takes working the plan and massaging the vision.  You have to put feet on it.  You have to do what you visioned to do. 

If you want your baking company to make better cakes, the best cakes in the world, then you need to get busy testing recipes.  If you want your church to reach young people, then you better get to work developing ministry that reaches kids.  Often, leaders name things, but never do anything about them.  And the vision will eventually fail. 

I'll bet you had a dream for how you wanted your kids to turn out.  Maybe you still do.  If you are follower of Christ, what is most important to you?  Is your goal for your kids to become a deeply devoted follower of Jesus who is capable of withstanding the pressures of peers and culture to make God-honoring decisions?  Is your vision for them to independently choose lives of Christian morality and integrity?  Maybe you haven't thought it out that far, but that's probably high on the list.  It oughtta be.  So, what are we doing as leaders/parents to help that?  Are we making worship as a family a priority on Sundays?  Are we teaching them Biblical principals at home or are we solely depending on our church to do that?  Don't you think the CEO of the baking company ought to know what good cake taste like?  As parents, we have to lead our kids and work our plan to help them take the next steps we hope they will take.  When they turn 9 or 10 we'll have to re-cast a new vision for a next step and work it even harder.  Same goes for 13 and 16 and graduation.  What worked at 5 won't work at 15, but they need vision from us for a future reality, and they need us to show them and lead them how to get there.  Let us not just dream a dream for our kids or simply tell them what we want them to be like, let's give them tools, teaching, and growing opportunities to get there.

What is a disciple?

"But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you." Philippians 2:17


Are you ready to be poured out? Discipleship has been on my heart a lot lately. I'm concerned that American churches are full of people satisfied with shallow faith and few moving moments a year in worship. There is so much more to faith. God calls us to radical abandonment. God calls us to not jsut be converts to Christ, but to be disciples of Christ. I recently read this quote a friend posted on Facebook from British Evangelist Mike Pilavachi: "Christians have bumper stickers and catch phrases, believers have creeds and promises, disciples have scars and stories."  That hit me square in the forehead.

Christianity is not an anecdote. Faith in Jesus is not about easy answers and catch phrases. It is messy and sloppy. It is sometimes painful. It is a process. And it is beautiful. The Apostle Paul equated it to being empty of all that is 'us'...being poured out. I want to be poured out because I want to be emptied of me and filled with Jesus. I'm not there yet, but doggone it, I'm working on it. Can you imagine what would happen in our communities if we decided to be poured out, to be dissciples, to open ourselves to the scars, so that we might have story to share? Would you dare pray that prayer? Would you dare ask God to empty you of yourself? It's a dangerous prayer. But it's the only way to live, friend.

A Simple but Life-Changing Prayer

"Help my lack of faith." Mark 9:24


I would encourage you to read Mark 9:14-24. My devotion today took me to that passage, which I haven't read in a while. It's a story I was familiar with, but those words of a dad whose child is stricken by a terrible infirmity jumped off the page at me. That is the simplest and maybe most important prayer: Help my lack of faith. The call of God to believers is to be people that live by faith. The Apostle Paul described it as being led by the Spirit and not by the flesh. Honestly, though, we often lack faith. Instead, we behave in ways that make sense, when faith often requires behavior that seems upside-down. Just think about it. Here's a sample of the Biblical principles that the Bible says are true that make no sense in the world.

• The last shall be first...but Ricky Bobby says that if you ain't first you're last, right?
• When we are empty, we are filled...but the world says to get as full as we can with as much stuff as we can.
• When we are weak, He is strong in us...but business leadership principles tell us to never let 'em see you sweat.
• It's better to give than receive...really? Unless it's tech gadgets. It's always better to receive those, right?
• Through Christ's death, we find life...but I thought death was final.

This is why we lack faith. Faith is counter intuitive. It doesn't make sense. Yet, I know that God is sometimes screaming at me, "Trust me!!!" Just trust me. What would it look like for you to consider living by faith, and not the principles of this world, in your family, at work, in the community, on the interstate, with your dreams and hopes, and in your finances? The point of it all is for us to learn that God's ways are best and that He has a plan for us that's better than we imagined. Let us be people that pray that prayer every time we struggle between decisions of faith and what the world says 'makes sense.' Lord, help me with my lack of faith.

"Preacher...pornography, dinosaurs, and the trinity...discuss."

Today, I thought I'd tackle a few interesting quesitons I got through our "Preacher, I've got a question" series.  And they run all over the place:

• There does seem to be somewhat of a preoccupation in the Baptist/Methodist branch of Protestantism with porn/sex over other sins like, greed, for instance.  Hugh Heffner, Larry Flint, and MTV get lots of attention while Bernie Madoff, Enron, and Wall Street seem to get a free ride. 
• Carter, Why do you always talk about pornography.

I thought these were interesting because my first response was a relatively simple one. We (I) talk about pornography a lot because no one else does.  Pornography is a huge problem in America, particularly among men.  It is leading to affairs, the objectification of women and plenty of other deviant sexual behavior.  There are men sitting in pews all across America who are addicted to pornography and no one is challenging them about it.  It is destroying marriages and lives.  It is an addiction that the Church has been afraid to talk about.  Moreover, it's even ripping apart the ministries of good men who have gotten caught up in addiction and the lies that come with it.  So, I bring it to light.  I talk about it often because it's a big problem.  Some stats say as many as 90% of men look at pornography.  Most studies show that at least 50% of men do.  Those numbers are staggering.  The Bible teaches that we are all image-bearers of Almighty God, so pornography objectifies women into objects, de-imaging them from God's image in which they were created.  This is unacceptable in the Kingdom.  Morever, pornography rips at the heart of the marriage covenant and skews mental images of sexuality.  It's just bad.  For whatever reason, I've never struggled with pornography, but I've had many friends that have, and the battle they have fought has been a difficult one.  I want to help men (or women) be free from the bondage of that sin.  As far as the finance guys, I know at Church of the Way that moving from selfishness to generosity is something we talk about a lot.  That's the goal for all of us.

• As large of an event you would think the creation and demise of dinosaurs are, why no mention of dinosaurs in the Bible?

You got me.  I do know that the Bible says that, to God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.  I think a lot happened we don't know about, maybe even from creation day to creation day.  I believe the story of Genesis 1 is that God did it, not how God did it or the details behind it.  The Bible actually talks of some great beasts of the sea and Leviathan.  Who knows what that means.  Maybe there was something around you and I haven't seen.  There's also no mention of the platypus in the Bible, but they exists.  I'm not sure the creation and demise of dinosaurs are that big of a deal to God.  WE are the ones made in His image and have been given dominion over the birds of the air, beasts of the field and fish of the sea.  God is weaving His story in history through humanity. 

•  The greatest controversy outside the protestant faith is the term “trinity” (which is not used in God’s word). Consequently, even some Christians have a hard time explaining it.  If you were to explain the Trinity to someone who feels they have to understand it, how would you do it?

Well, the best way I can understand it is this:  I am a husband, a father, and a son...but I'm still me.  In each of those roles, I have a different part to play, but I'm still me.  I think that's an easy way to understand how we can be many things but the same thing.

The other thing that has always made sense to me is the H2O.  That's right...water.  At room temperature, it's a liquid.  At 32 degrees, it's a solid.  At 212 degrees, it's a gas.  However, it's still two Hydrogen and one oxygen, just in different forms.  The same is true of God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Same stuff...different forms.

"Preacher, what makes the UMC different from other denominations?"

Surprisingly, I got a good number of questions about the United Methodist Church in our survey of the congregation asking for questions for "Preacher, I've got a question."  Here's a few with the best answers I can give:

• What are the Apocrypha books and why are they not included in our Bible at Church of the Way?

When Martin Luther led the Protestant Reformation, he translated the Bible into the vernacular for the common people.  Previously, it had only be translated into Latin.  In his translation work, he translated the Old Testament from it's originally language, Hebrew.  The Hebrew manuscripts of the OT do not have the Apocrypha books found in the Greek manuscripts, which was the basis for the Roman Catholic Latin translation.  Luther deemed the Hebrew manuscripts to be more authentic, and the apocrypha books to be later additions in Greek and not part of the original Hebrew Scriptures.  Protestant churches (which include United Methodist) do not use Bible's with the Apocrypha for this reason.  Simply, we don't consider them to be a part of Holy Scriptures; rather, they seem to be later additions.

• What is main difference between Catholicism and Methodist from a theological basis?

This is almost impossible to answer in a short paragraph, but here goes.  I would point to our understanding of the Sacraments:  Baptism and Communion.  United Methodists practice open communion and recognize all forms of baptism across Christian denominations.  So, our communion table is open to all Christians, no matter if they are church members or not.  All who wish to receive the grace of Christ are welcome.  We also do not re-baptize people.  We recognize God's work in baptism in our sister denominations.  Simply, we see ourselves as one part of Christ' Church.  We resonate with Ephesians 4:4-6, "4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope[a] at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."  There's one.  We ordain women, which is a major difference, because we believe there is one calling and one spirit for all of us.  We don't practice confession to a priest because there is one Lord that needs to hear our confession.  But, let me say that we share the core beliefs that truly matter with our Roman Catholic brothers and sister as well as those of other denominations.  Jesus is Lord, and He is risen.  That's what matters. 

• Being brought up in a Catholic homestead, yet last 15 years being a Methodist, I thought the way we dressed showed respect to our God. Why does that not appear to be the case in the Methodist religion?

John Wesley, the father of Methodism once said, “It is the glory of the people called Methodists that they condemn none for their opinions or modes of worship.  They think and let think, and insist upon nothing but faith working by love.”  What matters is faith working itself out in love.  What matters is the truth message of the Gospel:  God's grace for all who believe.  Some do that with robes, choirs, suits and dresses.  Some do that with blue jeans, rock bands, and flip flops.  I think God wants our hearts more than anything.

• There are estimates that there's upwards of 41,000 Christian based denominations/sub groups. Though most have the same base ideology there's many differences between even the larger of the denominations. If all these groups are supposed to be based around the same principles of the Bible, why are there so many differences?  Example. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe exactly 144,000 have been preselected to go to heaven.

It's kind of what I said above.  The main thing is the core.  Denominations are like ice cream.  They have the same basic ingredients, but they're different flavors.  At the end of the day, all ice cream is pretty good because it's ice cream, but you've got your favorites and I've got mine.  I'm a caramel swirl fan or butter pecan, but I'm not so much into mint chocolate chip.  Still, in a pinch, I could enjoy mint chocolate chip.  In denominations, the core ingredients are the same, but they offer different flavors.  Now, I'd offer that things like Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormon Church are more like frozen yogurt.  They look and taste an awful lot like ice cream, but the core ingredients are pretty different.

Hope these help and thanks for the great questions!

"Preacher, I've still got some questions about bad things happening."

Today I want to finish up with some answer to specific questions about bad things happening:

• Why does God continue to challenge us in life, when we have had so many difficult challenges and we just would like to come to peace with life?

AND

• Do bad things happen to good people because God or the Devil is teaching you a lesson?

Those questions go hand in hand, and they speak to what is often our perception about events in our lives.  We see God is challenging us or teaching us a lesson.  We see God as kind of a big bully in the sky, and we just want Him to take it easy on us.  But bad things don't happen to us because of God.  God does not will or wish for bad things to happen to us.  God wants good things for us.  Romans 8:28 says that God is working for good in our lives, not bad. 

Bad things happen because we live in a broken world.  We invited disobedience into the world, and now we're upset at its affect.  Of course, we're all to blame.  We are broken people.  The devil is out to get us, to keep us from being all God created us to be.  But God isn't out to get us.  God is out to save us.  Certainly, God tests us, but those tests usually aren't to 'teach us a lesson.'  God's tests are to test our faith so that He can give us more.  God wants good for us, though.  You can bank on that.  One more question in this same line of thought.

• If a person has "faith" in Christ, why do they still suffer from health issues?

Because He never promised it would be easy.  And he never promised prosperity and health.  The Apostle Paul talked about the "thorn in his side" that stayed with him his whole life.  Moses dealt with being 'slow of speech'.  There's simply not a guarantee that when we follow Jesus, everything will be roses.  And there's no guarantee that we'll be healthy and that he'll bring healing to every ailment we have.  I wish there was, but there's simply not.  There is the promise that He will be with us, and the great gift of faith is that when we go through things like health issues that God is with us.  We are not alone.  We can draw on a well of strength and comfort that is limitless...a well that gives patience and understanding, even in the pain of sickness.

God is healing this broken world.  The hope of those who believe is a resurrection world in which there is no sickness, no more disease, no more tears, and no more brokenness.  Come Lord Jesus.