Numbers????????

Have you ever noticed how we tend to be when our small group, Sunday School class, the youth group we work with, the discussion group we lead, is full as opposed to when there are only a few in attendance? We're on top of the world when everyone involved with our Bible study is there but the weeks that it's empty we can be despondent. How do we feel when a person at Bible study/small group/church service/youth group looks around and says "Where is everybody?" (by the way this is almost always exclaimed by a person who comes once a month)

What is happening in those moments? What is happening when life couldn't be better because the place is packed and life couldn't be worse when the place is empty? I think we'd like to believe that we're disappointed because we really care for people and we want to see them grow. That probably is part of the issue. We want to see greater maturity in our people. But because we are Americans we have a keen interest in tangible, quantifiable, results. The only way to quantify the results of a small group is numbers. We hang on the numbers. The numbers reign supreme in our minds. When most people think back to the glory days of their local church, small group, Sunday School class, they think back to days when the ministry was the largest. Remember back then? It was awesome. I might ask the question; Was it really awesome? Not necessarily. The work that God does is spiritual. It's internal. The internal work that God does can be seen on the outside but sometimes what we see on the outside appears to be spiritual and is not. The work that God does is not always manifested in numbers. In other words, the glory days may or may not have been that glorious.

When we ride high because our group was packed or sink low because our group was empty we've made numbers an idol. In those moments we've made Christ very small and the response of man very big. We're looking more to man for our satisfaction than to God. In addition, the person who used to oversee a large group but now is angry because their group is small must believe that it was their skills, ability, or worse yet, their personality, that made it big. Wow, how big is our pride? Even the Apostle Paul, one of the most gifted men to ever live did not believe he had the ability to grow people or group sizes. He said that when it came to the church he "planted, Apollos watered, BUT GOD GAVE THE GROWTH. (1 Cor 3:6)" It was God that did the real work.

Our calling is not to make everything bigger. The American economy is supposed to continue to grow numerically not the size of your church, small group, youth group etc. If numeric growth does come our way, we need to thank God and refuse to look to ourselves. And if numbers fall, may our eyes go more to Christ as we rely more on Him and His Word, not our long term plans or abilities. Smart and ambitious people know how to create numbers but only the Holy Spirit creates real numbers. He creates real followers. He creates real disciples.

Below is a question and answer with Dr. Mark Dever. He addresses the issue of numbers in the church. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_NqWzwDo6o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_NqWzwDo6o

Half Day of Prayer

One of the assignments for a class that I am taking is to spend a half day in prayer. I will be spending 4 hours in prayer on Friday. I'm in the process of ordering those 4 hours. One part of my time in prayer will be devoted to making requests to God. If you have any things that you'd like me to be in prayer about situation, for you personally, or for someone that you know (specific or general) feel free to email me your requests. Hoping that God uses this time for His purposes. Also, depending on how many responses I get, I may not be able to follow up with each of your requests but know that you've been prayed for if you email me.

Mark Evans
mark@calvarybfc.org

Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Part 3

Points 2 and 3 why Rob Bell and Harold Camping are really two sides of the same coin.

2. They both lack real accountability. Harold Camping is the head of a Christian radio organization that encourages people to leave their local church. Camping himself left his local church in the late 80's. This seems preposterous to many because Christians, of every stripe, have always believed that when individuals have come to understand the forgiveness of Christ join the local church and believe it to be the Body of Christ. They believe it to be the physical and spiritual representation of Christ on earth. They've believed that one cannot be close to Christ without being close to His gathered people, His table, and His baptism. They've believed that distance from the church is always representative of distance from Jesus.

To some, the comparison between Harold Camping and Rob Bell seems preposterous when it comes to their relationship to the local church. Camping calls people to leave the church but Rob Bell is encouraging people to come to his church. Camping believes that churches are under the control of Satan but Rob Bell still believes that the Body of Christ is within the church. But Rob Bell eschews accountability also. Rob Bell's congregation is not affiliated with any particular denomination. His ordination does not seem to be with any particular group of churches. No one, in his church, has called for him to be disciplined because of his blatant false teaching. Even though many respected church leaders have from around the country questioned his teaching he has refused to recant. Both Camping and Bell are emboldened by the masses that follow them rather than the clear teaching of the Bible.

When individuals get outside of the authority that the local church and denominations of churches provide, they are susceptible to every wind of false doctrine. There is authority and accountability in church structures that every Christian needs. This is God's plan.

3. They both have a twisted view of church history. There is a story that church history tells. Church history is not authoritative (as some would believe) but it is informative. Biblical conclusions that are not supported throughout the various stages of church history need to be questioned strongly. I'm fairly convinced that Harold Camping does not see church history as important at all and knows very about it but Rob Bell is aware of the history of the church but he does an interesting thing with it. Bell has substantiated his views on the testimony of individuals from church history rather than the testimony of the Churches of Church history. With this approach, one could make history say almost anything. All one would need to do is to string together a list of questionable characters or heretics from church history and say "there has been within the Christian tradition a number of people who have said give it enough time, God will win everybody over. (Rob Bell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-qgmJ7nzA)" Bell even goes so far as to misuse letters written by Martin Luther in order to say that Luther himself questioned whether or not people could turn to God after death. Luther never taught this.

Church history is not the final authority but it tells a story. Church history unanimously tells a story of a Triune Creator God, a sacrificed and resurrected Son, an indwelling Spirit, a set apart worshiping people, a table of remembrance, a baptism in water, a real heavenly state and a real hell. Christians of every group have believed these things, and more, because they are so clear in the Bible.

Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Part 2

Here's one reason why people like Harold Camping and Rob Bell are two sides of the same coin. Two more reasons coming next week.....

1. They both believe that the meaning of the Scripture is not within the words themselves. Harold Camping is a civil engineer and approaches the Bible as such. He's looking for the math of the Scriptures. He trying to crack the Bible code through the use of mathematics. In his mind, if you do the equations right then you get ALL of the right answers. He approaches the Bible as a modernist. A modernist says 'I can understand truth by applying my mind properly.' Camping believes that the meaning of the Scripture is underneath the words. If you know all he knows, then you'll really know. On the other side of the coin, Rob Bell approaches the Bible as a mystic. He's wants to revel in the mystery of the Scripture. He approaches the Bible as a post-modernist. A post-modernist says 'because of the diversity of our world, truth is not cross cultural but is intensely personal and individually understood by what I experience.' To Rob Bell the meaning of the Scripture is not mainly contained in the words of Scripture but is mystically understood. To Bell, the meaning of the Scripture is above the Scripture. 'Don't get caught up with the detail of the words', he might say, 'get caught up in the grand mystery of it all'.

Jesus says, that to his disciples "has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God but for others they are in parables so that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not hear. (Luke 8:10)" The idea that Rob Bell promotes that Christianity is a continual reveling in unanswered questions is not compatible with the Bible. This way of thinking cannot be substantiated by the Old or New Testament. Jesus says in Luke 8 that his disciples come to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God but that unbelievers are blind and deaf to this meaning. The Bible repeatedly says that true faith is a growing realization of who God is and how He works, with growing certainty (Deut 29:29, Isaiah 43:10, John 17:3, Rom 8:16, Heb 11:1). At the same time, the idea that all of the things that we ever wanted to know are answered in the Bible is not accurate. This is where Harold Camping has gone astray. Harold Camping is in trouble because God repeatedly gives warnings against mapping out a detailed timeline in order to ascertain the day of Christ's return (Matt 24:36, Mark 13:32). The meaning of the Bible is neither below or above the text. The meaning of the Bible is within the words themselves. The meaning of the Bible is right in the text. It is the Words that are true and powerful( Jn 17, Rom 10). It is the Words that impart life (Gen 1, Ez 37). It is the words that reveal Jesus Christ (Lk 24:27). The meaning of the Scripture is plain and these words will be saving and transformative when God applies them by His Holy Spirit (2 Thess 2:13-14).

Harold Camping and Rob Bell: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Few people have made more noise in Christianity in 2011 then Harold Camping and Rob Bell. Harold Camping is an 89 year old radio Bible preacher. It's sometimes hard to believe that Camping has any audience at all. He speaks with a ridiculous monotone. He wears suits that look like he purchased them from the Salvation Army in 1975. His radio stations and websites are completely outdated. Over the years he has taught that the church is under the control of Satan so Christians should abandon their local church. He has taught that torment in hell is not eternal and the occupants of hell will eventually be annihilated. He taught the end of the world was to come in 1994. He later predicted the beginning of judgment on May 21, 2011. He has since said that the judgment has begun but it is a "spiritual" judgment. The end of the world is still coming on October 21, 2011.
You might think that Harold Camping couldn't be more different than Rob Bell. Unlike Camping, Rob Bell is 40 years old and probably thinks that Harold Camping is a kook. Rob Bell created a stir in 2011 by writing a book that questioned what Christians have traditionally believed about hell. Camping says that the judgment of God is a terrible thing while Rob Bell insists that the judgment that God brings will not be painful but rather a wooing process similar to how a romantic boy gets a girl to like him. Rob Bell is seemingly hip and accessible to young people. He dresses cool and wears those cool square glasses and tells great stories. He's an entertaining communicator. He's got an entrepreneurial flare to his ministry. Rob Bell is no annihilationist. He believes that hell is virtually empty and if it does exist it is not a physical place. Rob Bell openly questions Christian beliefs like the atonement, election, and sovereign work of God that Harold Camping clings to. But despite these glaring differences, Harold Camping and Rob Bell are two sides of the same coin. In other words, they look different but they have similar value. Here are three values that Rob Bell and Harold Camping share. The conclusion comes next week....

Arrogance and Humility

Well, everyone's blogging about how Christians should respond to the killing of Osama Bin Laden. Maybe I'll write about it next week but I think it may have been done to death (insert joke here).

Below is a great clip by an educator/pastor named Doug Wilson. Wilson has openly criticized Rob Bell and comments on how American Christianity has inverted the definitions of arrogance and humility. I hope you enjoy it.

http://desposyni.blogspot.com/2011/04/doug-wilson-on-arrogance-and-humility.html

Who are you to judge? Part 2

Here are 4 principles for proper judgment from the Bible.
"Judge not lest ye be judged" is not the complete story on judgment. In Matthew 7:1 Jesus said "Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment that you pronounce you will be judged." For most people, even Christians, these are the only verses in the Bible that they are aware of that speak directly towards judgment. In these verses Jesus is not forbidding all judgment but rather forbidding Christians from hypocritical judgment. He goes on to say in the following verses, "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."(7:5) He warns believers against our tendency to harshly judge the sin in others that we're deeply entrenched in.

The Bible doesn't forbid Christian people from identifying and opposing unjust actions in a proper manner. "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him."(Prov 14:31) God's idea of justice has nothing to do with self-righteousness but is rather concerned with His name being honored by believers acting with integrity and uprightness. It has to do with the believer knowing what is right and learning to do what is right. This not only applies to the oppressed but it applies to fidelity to the message of Christ. Paul says in Galatians 2 that when he heard that the Apostle Peter was drawing back from the Gentiles in favor of fellowship with the Jews, Paul identifies this as "a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you". In response to Peter, Paul "opposed him to his face because he stood condemned." The Apostle Paul was not only willing "to remember the poor" and was eager to do it but believed that fidelity to the Gospel was the driving force of his desire to see justice take place. He felt so strongly about upholding the True Gospel that he was willing to go directly to Peter and confront him on his compromised lifestyle.

The Bible warns Christians against pride and feelings of superiority when they deal with the sin of unbelievers. The Bible says do not judge those outside the church. Clearly, the Bible warns believers not to apply God's expectation for holiness to unbelievers. "But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler- not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? .... God judges those outside (the church)." (1 Cor 5:11-13) We tend to want to exercise these verses differently. We tend to want to give believers a free pass when it comes to judgment and think ourselves superior to the world. Paul, says it must be the opposite. We can oppose sinful ideas and sinful people for the sake of the oppressed but we must guard against pride and superiority when doing it. I know the outcome of an unbelieving life but the ultimate judgment of the unbeliever will be levied by Christ (Acts 10:42) not by me.

It is good and right for believers to speak directly to each other about actions and attitudes that are sinful. This is good judgment. In Matthew 18 Jesus gives the believer a prescription for how to approach other believers who have sinned. In summary, it has to do with going to people personally with a desire to see them return to obedience in Christ. If going to them personally does not bring about repentance then Jesus calls the believer to bring along another believer and then to eventually involve the entire church body. 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 say "Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?.... Purge the evil person from among you." If you don't believe in the church disciplining it's members you'll need to go back and examine the message of Jesus and Paul. The Scriptures are painfully clear on this point. We, as believers, have a responsibility to confront one another in love because the reputation of Christ is at stake in the life of the Church and in the life of the individual believer. This is the proper judgment amongst believers. Many believe that actions like these are the absence of love but Jesus assures us that actions like these represent love. Jesus makes it clear that the actions of the church body, either to restore an individual or to put them out of the church, is the church attempting to agree with what heaven already knows about the individual. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (if you think you have a better explanation of that verse, I'd genuinely like to hear it) It's caring about the soul of the individual.