Character Matters

We (I) spend alot of time debating and thinking through different philosophies of ministry, techniques of how to do things, and models of organizing the Church.

These things aren't as important as doctrine, or theology. . . . but as a leader in the church we do need to search the bible to flesh out how we're going to "do church" and where the bible is silent, make wise decisions based on our doctrine, history, and gifts that he's given us.

As I was thinking through some of these things this week, it hit me again. . . that the models, methods, and philosophy don't matter as much as the character of the leaders who are implementing those things. Great philosophy, in the wrong hands, is not a win.

You can be the most successful mega-church, seeker, evangelistic pastor there ever was. . . but if you have a deep-seated need to be liked by folks, or to be accepted in what you say. . . .that will sabotage your ministry at some level. Even small "personality quirks" that seem like elementary issues (such as needing to be liked) can get in the way of ministering to glorify God (because in that sense. . . you're ministering for your own glory or "need" at some level).

On the other side of that philosophical coin. . if there is a hard-line conservative pastor who is ruthless in his commitment to the truth, preaching sound doctrine, honoring the history of the church in everything you do. . . . and yet, you have an inner need to "be right" about everything and win every argument, never being proven wrong. . . that will sabotage the effectiveness of your ministry. Again, you're fighting to be right and to "fill a hole" at a heart-level. . instead of feeding Christ's sheep.

Some try to solve these problems with rules and reg's. to "hem in" the pastor's personal quirks and help keep him "in bounds" in all that he does. Others try to solve these problems by protecting the pastor with handlers (kind of like a politician), yes men, and publicity monitors who don't let their pastor come under attack for anything he does or has said.

There's nothing inherently wrong with either of those solutions. . . (we should protect pastors with rules, and personal help). But, it doesn't help at the deepest level.

Colossians 2:20-24 (English Standard Version)

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 "Do 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.

Those are pretty strong words; "no value". Bottom line, rules and accountability won't ultimately help if our motivations and hearts aren't changed by the gospel, . . .and continually changed through God's Word and repentance.

This weekend was a weekend for churches to put their best foot forward, theologically, and practically, as many non-Christians were in church and it is the key weekend on the Christian calendar (we like to call it Super Bowl Sunday around here :) ) . But, all of the great methods, services, and successes in the world can't fix a sinful heart, and can't hide character flaws.

Now, none of us has "arrived" on these things. (I've sabotaged myself today a few times already. . . things coming out of my mouth crippling my effectiveness as a minister) But, simply an awareness of our folly and reluctance due to our own sin and wounded-ness is a good place to start. Then comes the oh-so-difficult ability to rejoice in others' success and find our ultimate salvation at the Cross. . . not in anything we've "pulled off" or "accomplished".

Thanks be to God for the Cross, so that we can come and lay down our desires to succeed, be right, and be liked. Thanks to the Holy Spirit, who can change us. . since there are no perfect pastors and there is no one who is ministering in the absence of any wounded-ness.

God is at work, and for us to effectively serve Him, we need to ask Him to deal with the subtle inclinations of our hearts, and yes, our character. It matters.

Hope Does Not Disappoint

It's not popular to hold on to ultimate hope. We're either encouraged to just "hang on" because life sucks (to which there is some truth) or to smile and have faith because Jesus will give us everything we want (to which there is no truth. . . he'll give us much more than that. . one day).

I've been thinking through this dichotomy lately. We're not in the midst of easy days in the Casa De Britton. There are plenty of reasons for discouragement. Many of my friends are currently in crisis (others don't see that they should be in crisis and be broken over what's happening in their lives), and the days seem to pass quickly, sometimes without feeling like much has been accomplished. Life, it seems, is happening to us sometimes, more often than we're initiating things we want to happen.

That's where the empty tomb comes in.

We're often disappointed because God did not come through for us like we wanted Him to. Perhaps we can't have something we want. . . perhaps things are changing and we don't like it.

Making God the means to some other end will always end in disappointment. We either can't see/trust His providential reasons in orchestrating things a certain way. . . or we actually get what we wanted and aren't satisfied (which is inevitable).

Both of those responses come from seeing other things as ultimate. God is not the means to another end. He is the good news, He is the goal, He is our joy, He is the fountain.

Yes, we take joy in his good gifts, . . . just not in an ultimate way.


One of the less-discussed days of Easter week is Saturday. The day of discouragement and ambivalence. Can you imagine the disciples discouragement? Can you imagine the Kurt Cobain/despondent/Van Gogh levels of "who cares?" "there's no point to life!" "why did all of this happen, what was the purpose?" among the disciples?

But, then there was Sunday. Christ arose. Circumstances for the disciples did not change. But, their joy was back.

There will also be a "Sunday" for us, when we will be raised again to Eternal Life, and fullness of Joy, if we put our faith, and ultimate desire/hope in Christ (not as a means to some other end).

That Eternal kind of life is foreshadowed now in our enjoyment of God, through Christ. Have you stopped this week to think about how awesome Christ is? How glorious the Cross is? The empty Tomb? Have you thought about how ultimate and all-encompasing "the same power that raised Christ from the dead" is? And how "that is the same power that is at work in us".

Ephesians 1:18-22 (New International Version, ©2011)

¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,

These are heart-lifting, depression-killing truths. I hope you have some time to think about them this week. There is an empty tomb. Death is conquered. The disappointments of this life will end, the struggles will end. Their power is already defeated in the cross. . we don't have to be crushed by them.

It's Saturday. . .but Sunday's comin'

Two new books

I'll spare the details of why I haven't blogged in a month. . . . But, I promise I've spoken with all 5 of my readers in that span of time.

I feel a little like I have too much to say, so for now I'll recommend some books.

1) This is a lesson I still struggle to learn (and I wish I had grasped somewhat when I was in college). Oh, how I wish I wouldn't have made so many decisions because of "The Grass is Greener Conspiracy".

2) I like it that they do book trailers now. . . kind of like a feature film. So, check out the little movie and the book looks great too. Sometimes we forget we're being tempted and ignore obvious signs that things are not what they seem to be.

47 Minutes Well Spent

Matt Chandler is a favorite of this blog, and this past weekend he absolutely nailed it in his Sermon. Home Run in the bottom of the 9th in the playoffs--nailed it. Discipline or Wrath is his title as he preaches from Habbakuk, and a few other texts. If you've ever struggled with why God is doing what He's doing, or what the role of suffering is for a Christian. . . this might be the best sermon I've ever heard.

Also, if you're having character questions about God (something that's come up a bit lately in the whole heaven/hell debate), this is also a priceless sermon for you to listen to. I couldn't recommend it more highly. Do yourself a favor and carve out 47 minutes.

Questioning Matt's credentials to speak on such a topic? He has brain cancer, so none of this is theoretical, he's living it.

An Under-Reported Consequence of Universalism

I've been in alot of discussions about Rob Bell and Heaven/Hell/Ultimate Things lately. I'm sure many of you have as well. . . .Here is an under-reported consequence of holding the universalist belief from a blog favorite, Jared Wilson. I think this is pretty compelling because it is history. But, narrative is not normative, so we need more than that. Well, in addition to history this is compelling because the bible told us this would happen.

This "bigger" Jesus ironically makes for a smaller following. ...

I Timothy 4:3-4

³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

Humility, Thy Name is Pop-a-shot. . . .and Other Observations from Chuck-e-Cheese

Today we celebrated Eden's 8th birthday party. To commemorate the occasion, we took her and 3 friends to that mecca of childhood bliss. . . . Chuck-e-cheese! (happy birthday Eden!!)

With a 10-year-old, 8, 6, and 3 . . . I've celebrated quite a few birthdays at this fine establishment. Typically it's a chance to assert my dominance over all pre-teens at pop-a-shot, you know, the mini-basketball, rapid fire game. I won't brag, but many records have been broken, (and set). . many small children have gawked in wonder at my mad fake basketball skills, . . and many shoulder cramps were felt for days afterwards.

That brings me to this evening. . . I approached the pop-a-shot machine to see that the high score was 120. This is a ridiculously high score for that particular machine. I thought to myself, "someone on staff cheated or something. . that's totally fake". To confirm my suspicions, my 2nd game I scored 75. I took a break, came back, and a small lady, probably in her 40's, was playing. This woman was not taller than 5'1''. I don't exaggerate when I say, . . she was a machine. She had a two-handed, under the chin, jumper (you know. . .a girl shot). She was unbelievable. I watched as this minute MJ scored 125, setting the new record.

Ok, . . my turn. I, of course, wasn't even close to her level. . . . . which made me feel pretty bad. But, not as bad as when her 6 year-old daughter started yelling "AIM AT THE SQUARE, AIM AT THE SQUARE". Yeah, thanks. . hadn't thought of that.

Hello, humility. I'll live to fight another day.

Other Observations:

1) I salute CEC's for the expanded menu. . .but really? Beer and wine on tap? I know being in the presence of 400 little, pizza fueled kids makes you want to get all "lit up" but really? One of the taps actually was labelled "chardonnay"!!? You're going to have wine with your low-grade pizza? Nothing says "it's 5-o-clock somewhere" like wine on tap at Chuck-e-cheese's.

Desperation.

2) CEC's has gone downhill since the infamous "CEC/Showbiz" merger/buyout in the 90's. Needless to say, when I was a kid, I used to get a full animatronic band, Fats Domino on the Fender rhodes, and a huge ball pit.(Can I get a witness?) Now I get one animatronic Chuck-e Mouse with a video wall looping disney-esque pop, and a fake horse ride. It's sad really.

3) Hey Miley Cyrus, we can do better than "noddin' my head like yeah. . . movin my hips like yeah". Come on, I don't care if it is a party in the USA. . maybe we should read some poetry in the USA or something. Chip off the old block, I guess. . . . We can do better, Miley, we can do better

4) How many generations of kids will it take to figure out, "I will never, ever be able to get enough tickets to purchase anything of value from the redemption desk". How many? I'm pretty sure the 2000 ticket stuffed bear at the top had a "1998" shirt on. Hadn't been won in a while, huh? The plastic-eraser frogs will have to do for this evening.

Until next time, Chuck-e. . .

Spiritual Disintegration

I'm not sure if all 5 of you were aware of the controversy surrounding Rob Bell's soon-to-be released book, "Love Wins".

Bell sent out some sample chapters and an intro/video clip for influential folks to drum up interest in the book. Mission accomplished, Mr. Bell.

I've never seen the comment section on a blog pass the "999" mark. But, Justin Taylor's (oft-linked to on this blog) blog about the new book, as of last viewing, had 1,047 comments (the number didn't fit in the little graphic at the bottom of the post).

It seems Mr. Bell is going to take a few more steps away from orthodox Christianity with this one. He seems to be advocating a kind of soft universalism. . . where there is no hell or eternal judgment in the afterlife.

I'm not going to link to Taylor's post, because I don't want to bring anymore attention to a book that I think will be very harmful to many Christians, and non-Christians.

But, this brings up some thorny, tough issues for Christians to talk about. . .and one of the most helpful things I've ever read on hell is this one from Dr. Tim Keller. (sorry. . I know. . alot of Keller lately).

I (we) don't want to be seen as judgment-hounds who get excited about being right on the doctrine of hell. I certainly wish Mr. Bell and others of his ilk were right about this thing. But, I don't think you can get there from the Bible.

If you've struggled with the doctrine of hell, . . or even have struggled with how to put together what it would be like and how to describe it. . . read this piece. May truth come to bear on "Love Wins", and may few be deceived.