The Rest of the Old Old Story

I get so caught up in correcting what I see as obvious error that sometimes I forget to make clear what I’m supporting. I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ really is good news.

I attack all sorts of doctrines. Often, if not always, it is not because I think they are wrong. Most or all of the time I am simply arguing that they are too important to us.

Faith Alone

There is one important thing, and that is Jesus Christ. There is one important act, and that is faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ, and those two things–faith and obedience–are interchangeable.

I don’t have to appeal to Greek to prove that. You know it’s true in English.

Let’s assume you’ve just told me that you’ve become a Hoganite. You have become a believer in Hulk Hogan. Then you hero gets on TV and says that if you want to be a real man, you will stand outside in mid-winter, in the snow, in public, and in daylight in only your All-Star Wresting, speedo-style trunks for four hours. You, rightly thinking that this is idiotic, decide not to do it.

I would have to commend your wisdom. However, I would also add, “You’re not much of a believer in Hulk Hogan now, are you?”

I am against being “not much of a believer” in Jesus Christ.

On the other hand, if you were to go out, shiver in the cold for twenty minutes, then race inside, unable to bear it any more, then I would again commend your wisdom in giving up and coming inside. But I would comment that though you’re loony, you are apparently a real, actual, true Hoganite.

I am for, with, in support of, given to, a servant of, and a prayer for real, actual, true Christians–people who occasionally fail miserably, but who avidly, joyfully, and humbly pursue everything Jesus Christ has called them to.

The One True Church

Everything else I say is just to help those avid, joyful, humble Christians know that they don’t have to pretend other people are Christians. They can love them, witness to them, and serve them. Then they can leave work and from hospital visits and dinners with the not-much-of-a-believers and devote their meetings and fellowship and life to other avid, joyful, and humble Christians who are their only true family.

And those avid, joyful, humble, and failing Christians, together, leaning on Jesus Christ are the one, true, and only church, the pillar and support of the truth.

And God can be trusted to be their God, and Jesus can be trusted to be their King, and the Holy Spirit can be trusted to be their teacher, and the Triune God, Two proceeding from One, can and will lead them into everything they need far better than any seminary graduate or any confident interpreter of Scripture.

We are in danger of deception when we seek to follow God alone (Heb. 3:13), but when avid, joyful, and humble Christians live as family to one another, feeling free to keep their fellowship with other avid, joyful, and humble Christians, then they can know everything that matters and their zeal, joy, and humility will not only spread, but will be backed powerfully by God.

I just got back from a question and answer session with John Lennox at the Creation Conference here in Birmingham. Among the many questions he was asked, there was a question about Romans 5:12:

Therefore, just as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, so death passed to all men because all sinned.

First, as an aside, let me point out that death passes to all men because all sin, not because they’re guilty of Adam’s sin. Let’s dump that version of original sin.

With that aside, the point of the question asked to John Lennox, and the one that’s been asked to me, and the one that all young earth creationists bring up, is that if evolution is true, then there had to have been death before Adam. How can there be death before Adam if death, by sin, entered the world through the one man, Adam?

John Lennox’ answer was that Romans 5:12 is only talking about human death. There could have been animal death before Adam–and there certainly was plant death because they were given for food even in Genesis one–just not human death.

My answer is, "Why in the world are y’all asking such a question?"

According to Ephesians 2, we’re already dead in our trespasses and sins. Romans 5:12 isn’t talking about physical death. It’s talking about spiritual death.

The same is true back in Genesis. I’m not the first person to bring up the point that the punishment for eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was, "In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17). Yet Adam didn’t die for 930 years after eating of the fruit.

Yes, some Christians say that God meant that Adam would begin to die, or become susceptible to death, in the day that he ate of the tree. But at least as many say that Genesis 2:17 threatens a spiritual death, a separation from God, not a physical death, and that spiritual death did happen in the day that he ate of it.

Of course, I think that the Adam and Eve story is a creation myth that is not historical, and so it is not meant to be literally accurate in its details. I can’t get technical about "in the day," but I do think God included that story in the Scripture because it tells us something from the Spirit of God—yes, I believe Scripture is inspired. Man sinned, man died spiritually, and men today are separated from God by the death that is in their spirits through sin.

Thus, I don’t think Romans 5:12 has anything to do with death before Adam. It has to do with the rebellion of the first created man—And like all Christians, I believe that there was a first man or men into whose nostrils God breathed the breath of life, even if those men were formed from the dust of the ground over millions of years rather than in a one-day marathon of pottery by God–and all his descendants.

It’s not just Romans 5 that’s talking about spiritual death. It’s Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8. In Romans 8:12-13, we’re told that it’s those who live according to the flesh who will die, while those who put to death the deeds of the body through the Spirit will live. Is that really physical death in those two verses? Those who live spiritually will never die physically, only those who live according to the flesh?

I don’t think so, and neither do any of you.

Today, I just have some points for you to consider:

• After 300 years of church history, the Council of Nicea still found only a paragraph’s worth of doctrine important enough to encapsulate in a creed.
• The foundation of God, according to Scripture, has to do with behavior, not belief (2 Tim. 2:19).
• Jesus didn’t say, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who can accurately answer a question about the atonement” (Matt. 7:21).

First, as a total aside, you have got to read about this bat that lets any scorpion sting it in the face.

God’s creation is marvelous, isn’t it?

A Whole Thesaurus of Bad Manners

I’ve been watching a couple Rob Bell videos tonight. One in particular was an interview conducted by an obnoxious host who either didn’t care about or couldn’t tell the difference between a hard question and a petulant one.

For example, one question was concerning Japan. “Is God all-powerful but not loving, or is he loving but not powerful enough to prevent this disaster.”

Asking once was okay. This was a terrible disaster. Rob Bell gave a somewhat evasive answer; after all, it’s hard to explain why God lets the world be the way the world is.

I’m pretty sure from the rest of the interview that the interviewer thought he was being pointed rather than fatuous when he repeated the question. I thought, there’s two answers to the man’s question:

1. God is both all-powerful and loving. Disasters cause us to question this, but God is also far greater than we are, and the universe and life are really difficult for humans to understand. There are several speculations we could give for why disasters happen, but they’d just be speculations. The fact is, some things are still mysteries to humans.
2. God is both all-powerful and loving, but you’re too stupid to understand it.

That might give him a taste for the difference between being straightforward and being querulous.

Anyway, Rob Bell handled it marvelously well.

Is Rob Bell a Universalist?

The real point of the interview was to harass Rob Bell about his new book, Love Wins and to charge him with universalism.

Rob did a good job of—in so many words—saying that he’s raising questions, not necessarily giving answers. This is the impression that he left Greg Boyd, author of The Myth of a Christian Nation and several other books, with as well. Greg apparently knows Rob Bell and wrote a rebuke of all the people who critiqued Bell before they even read the book.

The host, while carefully maintaining a belligerent polemic, pointed out a couple places where Bell’s book, unlike his interview responses, gave some very clear answers, and they really did sound universalist.

What should we do about this?

Picking the Winning Horse

Let’s establish some parameters here that I think we can all agree on.

1. Jesus is not going to consult Love Wins when he conducts the final judgment.
2. The only way Love Wins could possibly affect the judgment is by getting some people to see how great our God really is, believe in Jesus, obtain his grace, and thus live a holy life.

The real question for me is not whether Rob Bell is a universalist, but whether he is getting people to see how great our God really is, believe in Jesus, obtain his grace, and thus live a holy life … with "holy" being defined by Jesus.

I can’t answer whether he’s doing that with Love Wins because I haven’t read it. I can, however, answer it in general. For example, his teaching on being covered in the dust of your rabbi is out of this world. It is so good and so inspiring that it just cannot be ignored.

Even if universalism turns out not to be true, “Covered in the Dust of Your Rabbi” will get us one step closer to everyone being saved!

That’s my opinion, anyway.

Further, I’m pretty sure that the hard-headed, hell-defending, purposely ignorant and sometimes petulant, fatuous, querulous, and belligerent purveyors of the “believe in this version of the atonement and you’ll be saved even if you’re evil” gospel … I’m pretty sure those folks are turning more people away from God than toward him.

Sorry, but mostly they’re making people who are twice as much disciples of hell as they are.

So, if this is a horse race, and the goal is to bring people to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9), then I’m betting on Rob Bell over the fatuous folk.

My Final Judgment on Rob Bell

I don’t really have time to judge Rob Bell, and I highly suspect Jesus wouldn’t pay much attention to my judgment, anyway, except to see how harsh it is so he knows how harshly to judge me.

But I need to have time to judge a couple things so I can determine where to learn from Rob Bell … and where not to. (Kind of like the time I’ve spent learning where to follow and mostly not follow the ignorant—on purpose—and querulant mainstream folks I mentioned above.)

Jesus occasionally accumulated masses of followers. Almost exactly as occasionally, he offended most of them so that they quit following him.

We have to be careful to speak the truth and keep people on the spot. People, in general, are liars and hypocrites. (Yeah, you and me, too, unless you’re making war on that part of you.) The lying and hypocrisy are not always real extensive, but where we don’t have people around us telling us the truth about us (and smiling and loving us at the same time) … well, most of the time we end up hiding some really important problems.

I’ll bet you think I mean internet pornography, drinking, or gambling or something like that.

I don’t. Those are important, too, but you already know about those. No, I mean coldness toward your wife, self-interest, ambition, and worshiping money and comfort by the way you live. I mean no real effort at overcoming the areas where you don’t get along with people, and I mean disinterest in finding out what God wants you to change today.

What does that have to do with Rob Bell?

Chances are, nothing. I happen to be a Christian teacher myself, and I use some of the same methods when I teach, so I’m prone to envying his incredible skill at getting a point across and keeping an audience’s attention. But I have enough of an audience myself to have to warn myself that having an audience doesn’t matter. The truth matters.

My goal has to be to speak the truth, not worry about audience size or audience approval. The real Truth is a being, and he can create his own audience, large or small. When he was on earth it was both, sometimes changing from one to the other quite rapidly. More than once his audience suddenly prepared to kill him!

Rob’s a charmer. Good for him. I’m not ready to follow him in that.

But getting people to be covered in the dust of the Ultimate Rabbi? Now that’s an awesome goal, and Rob Bell will talk you into it.

A friend of mine likes to say, “Salvation is not a plan, it’s a man.”

Our faith is not to be in something Jesus has done, but in Jesus himself, the Savior of the world.

But what does it mean to have faith in Jesus Christ?

Faith and Obedience

Jesus once said:

Whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will compare him to a wise man who built his house upon a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it didn’t fall because it was built upon a rock. (Matt. 7:24-25)

Apparently, Jesus—the one in whom we are to have faith—thinks that having faith in him is listening to and obeying what he has to say.

Corroborating Jesus

Now I know we shouldn’t have to corroborate the words of Jesus. He is, after all, the Lord and Creator of everything and everyone.

But since Christians today seem to prefer other voices than that of the great Shepherd of the Sheep himself—Jesus doesn’t always seem to grasp or agree with our ideas about faith alone—let me point out that the writer of Hebrews entirely concurs with Jesus.

He has become the author of eternal salvation to them that obey him. (Heb. 5:9)

To whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest except to those that did not obey (Gr. apeitheo: to refuse to be persuaded or comply)? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (Gr. apistia: unbelief). (Heb. 3:18-19)

And Paul warns us about people who would trick us into not believing that faith has nothing to do with obedience to Christ:

For you know this: No sexually immoral or unclean person, nor a greedy man—who is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Don’t let anyone deceive you with empty sayings, for it’s because of these things that the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. So don’t be their companions in crime. (Eph. 5:5-6)

In fact, so does the apostle John:

Little children, don’t let anyone deceive you. The one that does righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous. (1 Jn. 3:7)

Jesus Speaks on Obedience Again

Jesus makes his concern about obedience even more clear a few verses before his comment about who is building his house on a solid foundation:

Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father in heaven. (Matt. 7:21)

So Jesus is concerned about obedience. To Jesus, faith is obedience.

But what does he want us to obey?

The Three Most Important Chapters in the Bible

Both passages from Matthew (above) are part of the Sermon on the Mount. Chapters five, six, and seven of the Gospel of Matthew are about the most concise description of how God wants you to live that you could ever hope for.

You could spend the rest of your life living out those three chapters and learning what they mean by obedience to them.

And according to Jesus, you’d be wise if you did.

I wrote an email tonight that I just have to put on this blog. There are things I really like saying, and this is one of them.

I wrote the email in response to the following question:

What are the implications concerning Old Earth vs. New Earth? What is all the arguing really about?

To me? One thing. Is our faith based on a real God who gives us a real Spirit, and are we following a being, Jesus Christ the Son of God, who really is the Truth?

If we are, then we can pursue truth. We can look at scientific evidence honestly, knowing that our God is Creator no matter what we find in the scientific evidence.

Or, is our faith based upon stories we read in a book? Sure, I agree the Bible is inspired. But I don’t believe in Jesus because of the Bible. I believe the Bible because I believe in Jesus.

Jesus is God. The Bible has some of the things–not even a very large portion of the things–God has said. I don’t believe God wants us to have faith in a book. It’s not even a book, anyway. It’s letters, poetry, and a few short books–many writings. We didn’t collect them into one until much later.

Jesus didn’t leave us a book. He left us apostles, and he left us a church that the apostles’ writings say is the pillar and support of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15).

When the church was being deceived, what did the apostles tell them to do? Paul told them to talk to each other, speaking the truth to one another … in love (Eph. 4:13-16). John told them that together (he used a plural “you” consistently) they would be taught by “the anointing” (1 Jn. 2:26-27).

The Roman Catholic Church wants us to believe that they are the church Paul speaks of that is the pillar and support of the truth. That’s false. The church that the Scriptures know about is the local church. You, your husband, and those who will follow Christ with you. The apostles say that together you, the church in your town, can seek God and be led by him into truth as you follow the anointing and speak the truth in love to one another.

Those whose faith is in the book, rather than in God, end up having to defend the book. We who place our faith in God find that God can defend himself! Rather than defending him, we depend on him to defend us!

I believe it is for this reason that Jesus, the Word of God, didn’t give us a book to be the Word of God. Yes, the Bible is the Word of God, but it’s only a small portion of the Word of God. Surely we don’t believe God’s words are limited to a thousand pages in all of history! Surely we don’t believe he’s been sitting around silent for 2,000 years! I believe he likes us, and he likes to talk to us and guide us.

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye” (Ps. 32:8).

“As many as are led by the Spirit, these are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14).

(Caveat: I’m not talking about me being led by the Spirit. I’m talking about us, the local church, being led by the Spirit. Here, locally, we follow God together, and I let my brothers and sisters speak to me from the Scriptures and from their own revelation to keep me from being deceived. We test the Spirits by the Scriptures. God won’t say something different–at least not significantly different, though there may be some minor cultural things–to us than he did to the apostles.)

Ok, one more thing. We have to look at the flip side of this. What did Jesus think of those who put all their trust in “the Book”:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you will find life, but these are they which testify of me! Yet you refuse to come to me so that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40).

Beware of modern Pharisees, who tell you that if the Scriptures turn out to be allegorical in some places, or to have scientific errors in another, then you can’t believe the Gospel. That’s ludicrous!

We can believe the Gospel because of its power! Jesus sent the apostles out to be witnesses of the resurrection, so that people would gather together and come to him. He is able to teach his people. Yes, he used the apostles to do some of that teaching, but do you notice in Acts how quickly Paul was willing to leave towns in which he had preached? In Acts 14, we read about him returning to some of those towns, in which he’d spent sometimes only three weeks or so, and appointing elders.

Who trained those elders? I would argue that it was the Spirit of God in the church.

The Scriptures are profitable for instruction in righteousness. They are profitable for correction, reproof, and rebuke. You will notice that all those things concern behavior a lot more than they concern theology. That’s because the point of the Scriptures is to thoroughly equip us for good works, not to make theologians out of us (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

In Titus 2:1, Paul tells Titus to teach “sound doctrine.” Look at the rest of the chapter some time and see what Paul considered to be sound doctrine.

Doesn’t sound much like a modern statement of faith, does it?

Christians desperately need to return to being practical, holy people. On the last day, Jesus doesn’t have a quiz about theology–not even about the atonement. He tells us about whether we fed him when he was hungry, clothed him when he was naked, or visited him when he was sick or in prison.

You want a real shocker? Look in the Book of Acts and find one place where an apostle told a lost person that Jesus died for their sins.

You’ll find where they told the lost that Jesus died. They had to. They were witnesses of the resurrection. You can’t witness of a resurrection if you don’t mention a death.

You’ll find where they said that Jesus forgives sins, but you will never find them tying the two together.

That’s not because it’s false. It is very true and very important that Jesus died for our sins. It’s all over the letters … to the church.

The lost, however, don’t need to know that to be saved.

We’re so confused into thinking that Jesus saves us because of what we know! That’s so unscriptural! He saves us because we want to repent of our sin–in fact, of our whole pointless lives–and follow him! He saves all his followers, which is what having faith in a person means.

We have to talk about “real” faith because we think faith means having faith in some facts about Jesus. If we realized that faith is in a (divine) person, Jesus Christ, and not in some things that he did, then we wouldn’t have to talk about “real” faith. Everyone already knows that you can’t claim to have faith in a person and ignore what he says.

Again, don’t miss what’s in Acts. The apostles never told the lost that Jesus died for their sins. They explained the atonement later, to the church, so that the church could understand the incredible thing that Jesus did for us and praise him and love him more than ever.

We don’t have the fragile faith that Ken Ham preaches. We have a vigorous real faith that comes from having the Spirit of God living in us, which we received through faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious, knowable, real, and living Son of God!

Evolution can’t shake that faith. If evolution is true, then our great God and his great Son did it. If it isn’t, then maybe Genesis 1 is absolutely literal.

Either way, we’re busy learning the proper lessons we should learn from Genesis 1. We want to be a full moon, reflecting as much of the light of the Son as possible in the darkness of the night, until Jesus returns and daylight reigns again. We believe and know that whether Genesis 1 is a literal description or an allegorical one full of spiritual lessons, either way it was our mighty God who created the universe, strewing between a sextillion and an octillion stars across 14.7 billion light years of space.

Wow.

That, to me, is what the argument is about. I am not arguing that evolution is true, even though I’m arguing that evolution is true. I’m arguing that we have to be honest, and I’m arguing that we have to be united, holy, obedient believers in Jesus Christ, not divided, pharisaical defenders of our own particular interpretations of the small portion of God’s words that have been written down.

I hope I haven’t over-spoken nor offended you too much.

I really love our God, and I believe he’s way stronger than our ideas. He can take care of us even while we enjoy searching out the truth. Those who seek find. He doesn’t give snakes to children who ask for eggs. Let us not be “ye of little faith,” but let us address him as Father and trust him as children.

This is an additional thought on that heretical false gospel displayed in the godtube video in my last post.

Note that in the video, the Christian is the worst of all the people there. What will a non-Christian conclude from watching that video? He can conclude only one thing, which is that Jesus has to ignore sin because he doesn’t have the power to deliver us from sin.

We are so careful to avoid a holier-than-thou attitude or saying that we are better than non-Christians.

Did Christ make you better? Did he change your life? Did he make you more righteous in your behavior?

If he didn’t, then you’ve never met him because that’s what he does.

If he did, then Christians are holier than non-Christians, and we are better than non-Christians. They need to know that! We’re not trying to prove we’re wonderful; we’re trying to let non-Christians have some idea that Jesus actually has the power to help them!!!

That godtube video is embarrassing to me and insulting to Jesus.

I wish y’all would go over there and leave them some sensible comments. I’m writing this several days before it goes up on my blog, but as of today I’m unable to leave a comment there. Some technical glitch on my computer or their site.

Will the judgment be like many modern Christians describe it?

Or will it be like Jesus describes it?

I ask you, could there be a greater difference between the two descriptions?

In one, kindness and compassion don’t matter at all. In the other, they’re the only things that matter.

Heresy?

When we come up a with a doctrine that produces that much difference with Jesus, should we not consider it heresy?

Is it possible that our modern teachings about the atonement and salvation are false gospels? (Actually, it’s not possible; we’ve just seen that it’s certain.)

Or would we rather go on thinking that Jesus didn’t know what he was talking about?

I got another email today (or maybe yesterday) from someone that wants me to be Catholic. In this case, he wanted to defend the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation by explaining what they "really" think about it.

It’s no wonder that Protestants are so oriented towards beliefs and theology rather than obedience and practical spirituality. We inherited our attitudes from our Roman ancestry!

For me, not being a Catholic is not about anything that can be written in a book.

It’s about experience.

I’ve tried Catholicism. It doesn’t work.

The "Fruit" of Experience

Roman Catholicism doesn’t look anything like early Christianity.

Does it have some of the same doctrines? Sure. Does it have beliefs that are more similar to apostolic Christianity than Protestantism? That depends on the importance you assign to individual doctrines.

Does Roman Catholicism have some of the same behavior as early Christianity.

No. Not in the least. There’s not even a resemblance.

I’ve read all the writings of the 2nd century church. I’ve ready them all twice, in fact. Most of them I’ve read more than that, and I’ve been researching in them for a couple decades.

Other people have done that and joined the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Apparently they were looking for something different than I was.

Long ago, I was captivated by Acts 2:42-47. I read Gene Edwards description of early church life in his book Revolution: The Story of the Early Church.

Excited Christians … Together … Brave … Bold …

Not too concerned about anything but knowing Jesus.

That’s what I saw in the early church fathers.

What did they believe about the Eucharist? I noticed that in passing, and I made up my mind long ago to agree with them on all such subjects.

But that’s an extremely minor part of the whole picture.

Back to the point of this section now that I’ve spent too much time defending my point … but at least it’s less than what I usually do.

Jesus said that you should always make fruit and tree match. Good fruit comes from good trees. Bad fruit comes from bad trees. Don’t excuse trees that give bad fruit, and don’t condemn trees producing good fruit.

Roman Catholicism produces fruit. Early Christianity produces fruit.

The fruit’s not similar.

It’s like comparing apples and oranges … literally.

You’ll have to excuse me, but I’m busy finding apostolic Christianity. I want its fruit. I want Acts 2:42-47.

Oh, that’s right. I have it.

So, I think I’ll pass on reading books about trees that produce some other fruit. Excuse them all you want. Point out the wonderful texture of their bark, and deceitfully depict the history of those trees.

Just don’t do it on my time.

Comparing Apples to Apples

Ok, let’s pick on the Protestants, too. Let’s throw something in for shock value.

Well, no. Let’s throw it in for truth value, and we’ll just enjoy the shock as a side benefit.

We’ve talked about admitting that two trees with different fruit are different trees. Let’s look at admitting that two trees with the same fruit are the same trees.

Mohandes Gandhi and apostolic Christianity.

You want to find the same fruit as early Christianity? Try Gandhi.

Gandhi believed in Christ. He just called him Truth rather than Jesus.

I’m not passing on something I heard secondhand. I read some of what Gandhi wrote. He called Truth a being, and he said that if you follow Truth, you won’t need to defend yourself. Truth would defend you.

Jesus is the Truth.

No, that’s not really correct. The Truth is Jesus. He was the Truth first; Jesus later.

Gandhi knew the Truth.

No, no, no. I don’t mean he knew everything that was true. I mean he knew this Being called Truth. He acted in submission to what that Being believed. He adjusted his behavior so that he would have this Being’s support in what he did.

And he drove mighty England out of India without firing a shot.

Gandhi has influenced more people to follow Christ than you or I have even even dreamed of influencing. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Leo Tolstoy, Martin Luther King … all of them were influenced to follow Jesus wholeheartedly because of Gandhi.

There’s no telling how many others.

Who knows? Maybe Jesus liked having his name changed to Truth. That way he might not have to be associated with Christianity, which in general looks nothing like what Christ did, and so is nothing like what Christ taught. Christianity, in general, can be safely ignored.

Unless any branch of it gets political power, that is. In that case, you’ll need the Truth, like Gandhi and the early church did, to drive that tyrannical evil from its throne of power.

Of course, you’ll have to triumph by dying.

That’s how Christians do it, you know.

Am I Condemning Everyone?

Well, I hope I’m not condemning anyone, but maybe I’m coming across real harsh.

I don’t know, but we might as well look at what’s true. We like to argue about trees. Jesus commands us to look at fruit.

Gandhi did what Jesus did. Most of our churches don’t.

Not everyone, though. Friends have visited David Platt’s church in Birmingham. What they’re doing seem rather Jesus-like. I’ve seen videos of Francis Chan’s former church in southern California. What he teaches seems very Jesus’ like.

I say that about Francis Chan because he’s asking people to do very Jesus-like things, not because I know anything about whether his theology is Jesus-like. Jesus said to judge the theology by the behavior it produces, not vice versa. It’s high time we paid attention to him.

I’m sure there’s many more who are really doing what they’re doing, but they’re really hard to find. And I’ve met dozens of people who love Acts 2:42-47 like I do, but who can’t find it. And all of them tell me they know dozens of people the same way.

Hopefully, God’s moving. The "Organic Church" movement was started, I think, by Neil Cole, author of a book by the same name, and I really hope they’re living out a real Christianity. I met some people from that movement in Roseville, CA, and I have a lot of hope in that.

There’s some folks in Memphis doing it really well, too. It’s very unfortunate that they won’t really have contact with us because they don’t like something I said about works—with the church’s approval—on the Rose Creek Village web site. Nonetheless, they’re doing a really excellent job of living out a Christianity that’s noticeably similar to Jesus, the apostles, and the churches the apostles started.

May we never be satisfied with less.

Today someone tweeted a link to one of my posts, which I of course appreciate. I looked at his Twittermeme page, and I appreciate guys like that. They’re awesome, and anyone that’s zealous for proclaiming Jesus is my brother. I’m proud of and thrilled with such people.

But …

It is with fear and trepidation that I disagree with the header on his account:

In Acts 5:42, all shared the gospel. Fact: today only 2%. What’s changed?

All shared the Gospel in Acts 5:42?

I looked it up. Acts 5:42 is talking about the apostles and maybe even just a couple of the apostles. A chapter earlier, Luke writes:

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of Christ. (Acts 4:33)

Believing the Scriptures Even When We’re More Righteous Than the Scriptures

How’s that for a heading?

The Scriptures say, "How shall they preach unless they are sent?" (Rom. 10:15). But we want everyone to preach.

Our righteousness is supposed to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20), but it is not supposed to exceed that of the Scriptures or of Christ! Bad things happen when we get ourselves in that position!

Paul didn’t travel and preach the Gospel until many years—more than a decade—after he was saved.

Now keep in mind Paul was a preacher by nature. He was zealous and outspoken enough to be trying to crush the Christians, even by violence, before he was saved. You can be assured that people like him will always be trying to convince everyone around them of what they think.

Others are not so. Should we all be Pauls?

Well, I’ve pointed out that Acts has only the apostles, plus some additional men like Stephen, Philip, Apollos, and even a woman, Priscilla, preaching the Gospel, but not the general populace of the church.

Nor is there a single command in the New Testament to preach the Gospel except commands directed to the apostles or to Timothy, an apostle himself.

Really.

Shut Up!

The Scriptures, in order to see the Gospel spread, tell us …

Honor yourself by shutting up! Work with your own hands, like we told you, so that you are living decently in front of outsiders! (1 Thess. 4:11)

You’ve probably never seen that translation before. It’s from the PAVAO Bible (Paul’s Annotated Version and Anointed Opinions).

Okay, I made it up, and I’m kidding around a little bit, but it’s not an illegitimate translation. It’s overboard, but I’m not misrepresenting the gist of 1 Thess. 4:11. That verse is trying to say, in context, "Quit being a busybody. Leave people alone. Quit ‘living by faith’ and get a job so that people don’t think you’re a bum."

Read it yourself. That’s the point. And if you move on to 2 Thessalonians and read the 3rd chapter, you’ll see that he had to tell them the same thing all over again.

Evangelizing the Bible Way

It has always stood out to me that when Justin Martyr, around A.D. 150, described how people had become Christians, he listed only three things:

• By the consistency they witnessed in their Christian neighbor’s lives
• By the extraordinary forbearance they witnessed in Christian travelers when they were cheated. (I guess this was common in the 2nd century.)
• By the honesty of the Christians with whom they’d transacted business.

In other words, Christians had shut up, gotten jobs, and lived honorable lives in front of outsiders, and those outsiders saw it and wanted in.

Would it be fair to say that we’re failing miserably at that today?

As a whole, we are. Christianity in America, as a whole, is embarrassing. Overall, it produces no change in people’s lives except an occasional obsession with right-wing politics. Christians are divided, and they are not distinguished by honesty or by anything else.

And, in general, they’re sure not going to be forbearing when they’re cheated at a hotel!

Individually, though, there are some Christians, and everyone who’s ever lived like that knows that people take notice.

I remember only one real Christian that I knew as a child. I never forgot her. It put an openness to the Gospel in me that never went away.

Before I lived in a Christian community where everyone is patient, forbearing, and kind, I was told several times that I was the first real Christian that a person had met. I was even told by an atheist once that meeting me across the internet and seeing my honest dealings with the Gospel shook his atheism.

I’m not bragging. Anyone who’s really devoted themselves to the Gospel, whether they’re lousy at it like me or real good at it like that lady I knew as a child, has had such experiences.

But we ruin it when we try to turn every Christian into a used-religion salesmen. Those people are no better a testimony for the Gospel than is a used-car salesman.

In Danger of Rambling On, I Conclude …

For most of us, shut up, get a job, and be a good testimony with your life until you’re sent, then preach, is good advice.

Here’s Jesus’ general command to evangelize: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

If you think that is a big enough goal for the average Christian to pursue all by itself, you don’t know the half of it! That "your" is plural! It’s not okay to shine "this little light of mine." You have to shine the great light on a hill that can’t be hidden. That means you not only have to live for Jesus, you have to find others, join yourself to them, and live for Jesus with them, exhorting one another every day so that none of you are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

If you do that, then maybe one day, God will say, "Set aside <your name here> and <your co-workers name here> for the work to which I’ve called them."

This post’s a disorganized mess, but I’m happy with that conclusion.