Follow Up

"Christians must not come to church expecting the preacher to chew up their food for them. Growing and mission-focused believers are self-feeders. God has given us his word to correct, rebuke, train and reprove us- to train us for righteousness. The Word of God is given as a means of spiritual maturity and it must lead to transformation." (emphasis in original)

-Ed Stetzer, President of LifeWay Research

At some point the growing and transforming Christ follower must take responsibility for their own development.

Get It Yourself!

The statement "I need deeper teaching!" and its kissing cousin "I am not greeting fed at church" strike fear and worry in the hearts of most Pastors.

When we hear these kinds of statements pastors feel inadequate and begin to doubt their calling and abilities (OK, so maybe its just me).  We rack our brains trying to think of how we have failed the communities that have entrusted us to speak to them on God's behalf.  We examine our study methods to see if we have grown lazy, our theology to see if we have grown soft and our purpose to see if gone off track.  We do all the work thinking, "OK, how can I step it up, so people get what they need?"

These are good thoughts, however, I think possibility misdirected.  If your 2 month or year baby indicated he was hunger you would feed him, right? If your toddler wanted a snack, you would give her one, right? What if your 20 something son asked you to get him a drink or lunch?  What would your reaction be? Mine would be, "get it yourself."  Whats the difference?  At 2 we don't have any expectation little ones are going to be able to take care of themselves. Although at 22, we have to trust he is perfectly capable of HELPING HIMSELF TO WHAT HE NEEDS!  As a parent, my job is not to baby my kids there entire lives. Doing everything for then will only stunt their growth and arrest their development.

Why don't we set the same kind of expectation for people in the church?

If people need the meat of the word, if they desire deeper more substantial teaching, if they are worried they might be scripturally malnourished, if they think are ready for more mature and sound teaching, yet they are waiting and dependent on the Pastor to spoon feed it to them, they are not as mature as they think.

In most societies a major sign of maturity and independence is self sufficiency.  When you can take care of yourself, provide for your own needs and solve your own problems, you are an adult and mature.

Questions about depth and needs for more "meat" should not scare pastors. It should be encouragement to  them as a sign of growth in people.  The need for growth is good. The desire is more is healthy.  However, Pastor should not always seek to solve the issue by looking inward, but by challenging people to grow up and feed themselves.  Because at some point, if we don't do this we will only create a community of spiritual infants who cannot help themselves.

Hebrews 5:11-14  By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong.

Which are you?

Why do Christians value human life?

The single most direct answer to this question is that life has value because God created humanity in his image.

 "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." Genesis 1:26-27 

But, this is the easy question.  The harder question is, "What are the implication of being created in the image of God?"

1. People are different- Human beings occupy a distinctive and unique place in the created order. We are not just the smartest animals or the highest life form to have evolved as of yet and we not gods. We are the only things in the entire universe to be created in the image of God. It does not matter what that "image" actually is because what ever it is it sets humanity part. John Calvin said the end of our regeneration is " that we may be made like God, and that his glory may shine forth in us; and, on the other hand, what is the image of God…the rectitude and integrity of the whole soul, so that man reflects, like a mirror, the wisdom, righteousness, and goodness of God.” Even after the fall and eviction of Adam and Eve we still act as this kind of mirror.

2. Humans have intrinsic value- This ideas runs counter to our performance based culture that asks, "What can you do for me?" When your consumption becomes more than your contribution to the greater good or the collective you have over stayed your welcome and are no longer beneficial to the larger generating community. But if dignity and worth are not based in what you do or can produce and in the image of God implanted in each of us, our value is not commodity. Likewise, when our importance is not place in identifying characteristics or qualities (young or old, rich or poor, intelligent or simple, complete or missing part, male or female, black, yellow, white or brown, gay, straight married single), but on our personhood and humanity, we seek to move from extrinsic properties to an intrinsic ontology.

3. It provides us with a frame for interacting with each other- To devalue the imago dei in another person is to disparage the God whose image they carry. We are not to cheat, lie to, abuse or disrespect other people because they too carry the image of God in them.  An extreme cause of this can be found in Genesis 9:6. I think the imago dei also provides us with the basis for Jesus new ethic found in the Sermon on the Mount:
   
   

• If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
• And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well.
• If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
• Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
• “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

         Valuing human life then is a social ethic.

4. We are loved by God- The bible is replete with examples of God’s love for us. The most obvious is the coming of Christ, his death and resurrection.

• John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
• Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
• Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
• John 12:46 “I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness.
• Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 

What God in Christ did for us in the mist of our rejection and rebellion against him proves he loves us and sees us as valuable.  What a waste it would have been for Christ to die for something God thought was worthless.  If we are highly valued before the eyes of God, why would he go through so much trouble and pain to save us? This in turns models for us the value and worthy of all people, no matter if they are like you or not.

Jesus = God

Take 15 minutes and read the book of Titus in the New Testament and you will find a not so subtle belief held by Paul.  Among the qualifications for elders, among the thoughts of what should be taught to different groups of people and among admonishment to be subject to leaders and do what is good, Paul repeats one point to Titus three different times. Once in each chapter.


Titus 1:3 and which now at his appointed season he has brought to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
Titus 1:4 To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Titus 2:10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.
Titus 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,


Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
Titus 3:6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Now is Paul confused about who the "savior"  is and who God is, or is he trying to make a point?  God the father is just as much the savior of humanity as the Jesus is. And Jesus is just as much God, as the Father is.
Jesus = God

Preaching Guidelines from Paul

1 Corinthians 1:17 ...preach the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 

Preach.
Gospel (good news, the message of the cross).
Not with cleverness/wisdom.
So the cross.
Would not be made powerless.

• Don't teach or preach to impress other people.
• Keep it simple (to teach, to listen to and to apply)
• The preacher does not have anything to prove to anyone.
• Allow the message of Christ to do the work.
• This does not mean the preacher can be boring, lazy, lame, incorrect, sloppy or inaccurate.
• The preacher should don't steal what rightfully belongs to God (glory, praise and noteriaity).
• Preaching/teaching is not about the preacher. It is about the power and effectiveness of the cross.
• We preach the gospel and nothing else.