Things That Need Resolution – Part Four

In this final installment of my Resolution series of articles I wanted to address something which is a problem for all Christians to varying degrees. I don’t know a Christian who will be exempt from this particular problem. It’s pervasiveness defies logic since the Bible is so very clear on what we should be doing. The problem is rules.

No denomination, no believer is completely free from the works and effects of man-made rules and regulations. I’ve been studying through Colossians for the past several weeks. Last week I arrived at Colossians chapter two. This chapter, in particular, deals with man-made religion, harsh self-discipline (asceticism) and its source. Here are a few key verses from chapter two.

“8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits [1] of the world, and not according to Christ.”

“15He disarmed the rulers and authorities [2] and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. [3]“

“16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”

“20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?€”21?€œDo not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch?€?22(referring to things that all perish as they are used)?€”according to human precepts and teachings?23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

These “elemental spirits” are the source of man-made rules and regulations. The elemental spirits are references to Satanic powers at work in the world. Man-made rules and regulations are demonic by nature. Therefore believers who are held captive by rules and regulations are demonized believers. Demonized does not mean possessed, but rather it means to be influenced, whether externally or internally. And by the way, we are all being demonized externally. All believers are suffering from the works and effects of Satan and his demons in this world. We are all bombarded with messages, on a daily basis, that have their origins from Satan’s schemes. So to be demonized isn’t necessarily an unusual thing. The thing that makes demonization unusual is whether or not we are willingly submitting ourselves to its works and effects.

What makes rules and regulations demonic (besides the fact that Paul clearly attributes them to demons)? If we succumb to rules and regulations, rather than focusing on Christ, we are now focusing on behavior. Satan wants us to stop thinking about Jesus. If he can sidetrack us with thinking about behavior, then he has accomplished his goal. Rules and regulations are put forth as ways to keep us from sinning. Don’t drink. Don’t chew. Don’t date people that do. Don’t buy lottery tickets. Don’t go to Las Vegas. Don’t go out dancing. Don’t watch movies. Don’t send your kids to public school. Don’t use contraception. Don’t date people. Don’t listen to secular music. Don’t read anything except your Bible. Don’t miss church. Don’t, don’t, DON’T!!!! Where is our freedom in Christ in all of that? I’m not saying that some of these things lack value. But when used as devices to keep ourselves from sinning, Paul clearly says they have no effect.

“23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.”

When our focus shifts to making sure we are observing rules, we have ceased to worship Jesus and have exchanged it for worshiping works. It is essentially the same sin they Jews committed as they slowly began to move away from worshiping God, and moved to worshiping the Temple instead. They mourned the loss of their Temple when it was sacked by foreign enemies, all the while forgetting that their father, Abraham, had no Temple and he worshiped God without any outward observances. It is faith which expresses true worship. If you are following rules and regulations, you are willingly enslaving yourself to a demonic deception.

I’m not advocating loose living here. I’m not saying we abandon the pursuit of holiness in our walks with Christ. What I’m saying is the pursuit of holiness, the process of sanctification does not find its fulfillment in man-made rules and regulations; it finds its fulfillment in a love relationship with Jesus Christ. Stop worrying about what people think, and start worrying about what Jesus thinks. Make Jesus the supreme object of your affections and all of this rules and regulations nonsense will begin to feel foreign. To obey is not an observance of rules. If you love Jesus, obeying is an act of love, not servitude. If you love Jesus you will know that his acceptance of you has nothing to do with works. This is freedom.

Things That Need Resolution – Part Three

The third installment of this series is related to Part One in a very direct way. My brother, John, alluded to it in his comment on Part One. There is a dire need within the church to define true Christian experience. Again, there are two camps in this debate. There is one side of the debate that leans heavily on experiences to define their Christian journey. The other side leans heavily in the other direction to allow only what is expressly written in the Scriptures to define their Christian journey. If you were raised in a more liturgical church this may have a very familiar feel to the debate over regulative worship or normative worship. Regulative worship, which is typically embraced by Reformed traditions, prescribes to a view that will only allow methods specifically mentioned in Scripture to be used in worship. In other words, we worship in ONLY the ways we see individuals worship in the Bible. Normative worship, which was embraced by individuals such as Martin Luther, views worship as inclusive of any activity that glorifies God so long as it does not violate Scripture. In other words, as long as Scripture doesn’t forbid an activity it can be redeemed for use in worship. Normative worship will be more accepting of experiences, regulative worship less accepting of experiences; but I digress.

Those who cling tight to their experiences would do well to remember that all Christian experience arises from a foundation of God’s word. If the experience you took part in does not have a sufficient root in God’s Word, then the experience was not sufficiently Christian. Too many people attend conferences, attend concerts, even attend church and have experiences which are emotional and powerful, but they are not from the Holy Spirit because the have no root in the Scriptures. Many experiences tend to center around music. This is dangerous because music, by design, is intended to manipulate the emotions. This isn’t bad, it has been its purpose since the first song was ever sung. The problem is that we can easily mistake the power of music itself for the power of the Holy Spirit. The same goes for dynamic speakers. Some men and women have a gift for communicating. We must take every word they utter and compare it to the Word, lest we be manipulated by the will of man, rather than the will of God. The sad thing, is that some people might be content with the manipulation because to take captive every experience and every word spoken to us is no small task. It requires study and it definitely requires time. But it is so worth it in the end to know that you are only being manipulated by the Holy Spirit in your experiences and not other forces.

On the other side of the coin, there are those who deny experience all together. This is an equal error. The New Testament clearly teaches that experiences is what authenticates the gospel. What do I mean? When Jesus told the disciples that the world would know that they followed him by their love for each other, he was giving the world the right to judge the authenticity of our message by the experiences they witness and partake of when they are among us. If we aren’t experiencing brotherly (and sisterly) love in our fellowship with each other as believers then our experience with each other is not Christian experience. It may have the external marks of Christian experience, but at its core, it is anything but Christian. And Jesus has made it clear that this is how the world will judge us; not by large attendance or the size of our buildings or by the busyness of our ministry efforts. It is by our love for one another that they will know us. This is the experience that authenticates the gospel.

The fruit of the Spirit may be a list of character traits, but what are character traits if there are no experiences in which they are clearly displayed (or not displayed)? Because the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to list these fruits, the common experience of all believers is that our behavior is marked by these characteristics. The display of these characteristics in experiences help us to authenticate the activity of the Holy Spirit in an individual. Why would we be given these fruit from which to draw comparison if we aren’t supposed make judgments? The obvious answer is that we are to make judgments about people’s behavior based upon these characteristics. Not judgments about salvation, but rather judgments about motive and whether or not a person is truly acting under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Experience should neither be the sole guide for our spiritual walk, nor should they be completely cast aside. Experience is important in that our experiences with each other will provide a context for the world to see Jesus in action. If they can’t see him working, then the gospel is just another argument without any supporting evidence. Also, experiences provide the context for us to see the fruit of the Spirit at work in people. So it is through experience that we discern whether someone is being controlled by the Spirit or by something else. Experiences are a necessary part of the Christian journey.

Things That Need Resolution – Part Two

Next on my list of things that need resolution may not receive as much attention, as the first one, but it is currently doing plenty of damage, especially within Southern Baptist churches. A hard line is being drawn in the sand in many SBC churches against Reformed theology, otherwise known pejoratively as Calvinism (a label which I will not be using in this article). But I’m not here to pick on the SBC. My beef right now is primarily at those who would part fellowship over this matter.

Let me be clear on this up front. I adhere to a Reformed theological view of Scripture. My perspective on this is coming from someone on the receiving end of the anger towards Reformed beliefs. So I am welcoming someone to come into my life and shed some light on this matter for me.

The issue at hand is that within the Southern Baptists, within the Calvary Chapel denomination, and in my experience, generally speaking, there is a witch-hunt of sorts happening against people and ministers with Reformed beliefs. You basically have two or three lines of thought in the evangelical church today which believers and denominations fall into. There are Reformed churches, which tend to line up with the theological beliefs of the 16th century theologian, John Calvin. There are churches which line up more with a Wesleyan view of theology. Wesleyan churches branch off from the 18th century theologian John Wesley, who himself disagreed with John Calvin and adhered to the teachings of 16th century theologian Jacobus Arminius. Then there are churches which adhere to a mix of Reformed and Wesleyan theology.

Now that I’ve set up the main characters, let me describe the problem. I mentioned earlier that there is a witch-hunt of sorts happening among some evangelical churches to smoke out people and pastors with Reformed theology. Don’t believe me? Check out this blog entry: How to smoke out a Calvinist pastor in your church. Just go to Google and search the phrase “Calvary Chapel Calvinism” and take a look at what comes up. My question is “Why?”

Why does such hatred exist toward Reformed beliefs? As honestly as I can say this, I don’t know a person who believes in Reformed theology who is angry at Wesleyans or Arminians. But I know plenty of people who consider themselves Arminian or Wesleyan who get angry at Reformed theology and those who adhere to it. Please, please, please help me understand why this anger is so one-directional. Better than that, why does this anger exist at all?

The truth is that Reformed people and everyone else do ministry the same way. We preach the Gospel and ask the Lord to bring salvation. We share our faith the same way. We pray for people with the same urgency and passion. We do so many things the same way, yet this one theological question, which has so little to do with methodology has divided us. Our church, Emmanuel, is an SBC church. Our leadership is, for the most part, Reformed. We have elders and deacons. We believe in the sovereignty of God and the doctrines of grace. But our church’s doctrinal statement doesn’t require anyone to believe in Reformed theology. The Southern Baptist Faith and Message is not Reformed. We have been vocal about our insistence that you DO NOT have to believe in reformed theology to be a member or attend our church. We have not forced anyone or twisted anyone’s arm to become Reformed in their beliefs. But people still get angry, people still leave, people still mischaracterize our church’s beliefs even though we have been so careful to explain them.

This needs to stop. We must stop letting this doctrinal issue divide us. The vicious attacks against people and pastors of Reformed beliefs must come to an end. This is a dividing wall of hatred that is really built on misinformation and an unwillingness to walk humbly before the Lord. Reformed people have their issues too; see Thabiti Anyabwile’s blog entry about this. However, the larger issue on the scene is the witch-hunts against Reformed believers and pastors.

Things That Need Resolution – Part One

Of late, my mind has been drawn to a few dilemmas, which need resolution. Mind you, when I say ?€œresolution?€? I do not necessarily mean agreement. Agreement is a luxury that isn’t always readily available as an option. Since I have limited time to compose this post, I’ll get right to the point.

The first issue which needs resolution is the persistent divide that exists between fundamental evangelicals and charismatic/Pentecostal evangelicals. I don’t have any illusions about trying to bring agreement between these two branches of evangelicalism. However, there are some harmful assumptions, which each side makes about the other, which ensure that the wedge that exists between them continues to exist.

Charismatic/Pentecostal evangelicals make the first assumption I will address. The idea that the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place as a secondary event to salvation creates a class of ?€œhaves?€? and ?€œhave-nots?€? within the church. The end-result can be that a form of spiritual elitism develops where the ones who have been baptized in the Holy Spirit have a greater understanding than those who have not. The assumption that those who have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit are some how lacking, creates a class system within the church ?€“ the ?€œSpirit-filled?€? Christians and everyone else.

I?€™m not going to address the validity of that doctrinal belief, but rather what I want to address is the fact that the sort of class system that develops is patently unbiblical. It is no wonder that there is such zealousness to have an experience within those congregations so that one can feel a part of the spiritual ?€œhaves.?€? I don?€™t make this accusation lightly since I have had people come out of those congregations and testify to their own ?€œfake?€? experiences. This sort of division breeds jealousy in the ?€œhave-nots?€? and therefore can illicit a contrived spiritual experience. In other words, they fake it. It also puts the entire fundamental evangelical wing of the church in the ?€œhave-not?€? category. This cannot be healthy.

On the other side of aisle, fundamental evangelicals, in their insistence upon the cessation of the gifts of tongues, prophecy and miracles, are forced to make a decision. There are three possible decisions.

The first decision is to believe that they are faking the gifts. True, there are those who have tried to fake miracles, who?€™ve falsely declared, ?€œThus says the Lord,?€? or who have faked the gift of tongues. But have all charismatic/Pentecostals done this? By accusing our brothers of faking the gifts, we have accused them of collectively lying.

The second decision is to believe that the tongues, miracles, and prophesying are indeed real, but demonically inspired. I haven heard, on multiple occasions, fundamental evangelical people smear charismatic/Pentecostals by saying this. It is no small charge to accuse our brothers and sisters of being demonized to the point that they are performing demonically inspired signs and miracles. To say this is to say that millions of born again Christians throughout the world are deeply and seriously, internally demonized. While I can accept that Christians can be demonized (this does not mean possessed) I cannot believe that the Lord would allow such a massive demonic deception to persist in his church for so long. We must look at the spiritual fruit. The fact is there are millions of godly men and women, who practice the ?€œPentecostal?€? gifts, that demonstrate good fruit in their lives. Fruit, which if they were demonized to such a deep degree, would surely not exist.

The third and final decision fundamental evangelicals can make is to simply dismiss the gifts as unnecessary and/or undesirable in worship. These people may accept the gifts as present in today?€™s church, but they have seen the abuses and have made a personal decision that these gifts are not worth the trouble that may come with them. The problem with this is that if you believe these gifts are present today and operating within the church, then you must also believe that God has continued their existence for a reason. To dismiss them is to dismiss God?€™s purpose for them.

What can we do? The wall that exists between charismatic/Pentecostals and fundamental evangelicals is more than a wall of doctrine. The fact is that this wall is full of a little doctrine and a lot of elitism, self-righteousness, and pride. The truth is that godly men on both sides of the aisle have come to their conclusions after carefully studying the Scriptures. Which camp is right? I don?€™t come to the end of this article with an answer. All I know is that both sides need to display some humility toward the other. I?€™m not going to reveal my hand on this. Rather, I would like to hear from you. What do you believe is the answer? I look forward to your input.