Questioning a Missionary’s Ministry

As a pastor of 28 years I know that I am going to be held accountable by God for what happens in the church I was called to pastor.  It is unsettling to think that God may not be happy with what I did and where I lead the church I served.  But are we really as petty as it appears?  Do we really think that God is going to be angry with us for giving few dollars to a missionary who supposedly didn’t, by our personal way of thinking, win enough souls last week?  Do we honestly think that we are going to hang our head in shame when God tells us that some of our mission’s money went toward buying a pair of pants for a missionary’s eight year old daughter so she can sled down the hill without her skirt flying up?  Really?

I probably should explain why the ranting questions.

I am, and always have been, an independent fundamental Baptist.  (If it helps you, you can add King James there for clarity if you need.)  My father was a IFB church planter and I grew up soul winning every week, was a bus captain as a teenager, and never saw my mother wear a pair of “trousers” until she was basically on her death bed in the hospital some twelve years after my father had passed away.

I say these things not to shame anyone or brag but to make it clear that I know a little about ministry standards and feel they are important enough to define even in the church that I currently pastor.  Our church believes in soul winning, conservative music, tithing required for leaders to serve, dress standards for those serving in the church, and we even preach against divorce from our pulpit.  But I am a little confused as to where some preachers seem to draw the line of accountability regarding mission’s giving.

Let me explain further…

Recently I was speaking to two separate missionaries who were facing the same task - missionary questionnaires.  One was being asked questions that totaled over a dozen pages and seemingly covered everything from doctrine to habits.  The second was asked about his personal witnessing habits and exact total of souls won by him in recent days.  Now mind you, neither one of these men were bitter or angry and neither was refusing to do their diligence to honor the request.  They were, of course, being told that they MUST answer the questions for support to continue.

Now from the pastor’s point of view there is a need for stewardship.  I get that as you should have seen in the first paragraph of this post.  I also understand that mission’s dollars are becoming increasing scarce in some places and thus the need to be extra vigilant about their usage is absolutely necessary.  The phrase “most for your money” clearly comes to mind here.

I also would never want to stand before God, as a pastor, and have Him say that I allowed a doctrinally unsound missionary to remain on the field preaching heresy or leading people astray.  We are clearly warned again and again about wolves getting into the sheep.  Also no man should continue to receive missionary finances when they have no desire for the lost to be saved.

But from the missionary’s point of view I also see a few things too and that’s the reason for the article.  So, pastors, please be kind and think about what I am writing.  It is for the missionary’s benefit and for the pastor’s long term well being.

First, pastor, before you send a missionary any questionnaire ask yourself this question - what if my ministry was judged the way I am judging this missionary?  Now mind you, I am NOT talking about doctrine as that should be clearly established.  But what about the issues you want the missionary to address?

Personal standards:

As an example, my daughter has a college friend who was raised on the foreign missions field.  The friend’s missionary father was sent a questionnaire by a church which asked “What kind of clothes does your wife wear to bed?”  Now it may have seemed reasonable to the person who sent it, as dress and modesty are crucial in any ministry, but my question, pastor, is this a fair question for you to answer?  Would you be willing to tell another man what your wife wears to bed?  Is it any of his business?

Ministry practices?

As I mentioned earlier, one of the missionaries I spoke with this week was asked about how many souls he had personally won recently and how many hours of soul winning did he do each week?  My Bible says, someone sows, someone else waters, but God gives the increase.

Now before you react to that, let’s think about some other spiritual qualities that God also requires from His servants, such as, prayer.  In my years of ministry, I have seen many missionary questionaries and to the best of my knowledge NONE have ever asked how many hours do you spend in prayer?  But lots that have asked about souls won.

I have NEVER heard of a missionary questionnaire that asked how many tears have you shed for your field?  But many churches want to know how many tracts have you given out this week.

I cannot recall any church asking each of the missionaries they support about how much time do you spend building your marriage?  Yet, they want to know the exact number of baptisms last year.

Now, don’t get me wrong….I BELIEVE IN WINNING SOULS!  But I would assume that most pastors would be distressed if their deacons or treasurer came to them and said, “Pastor, before we write you another check, we need to have the exact number of folks you lead to Christ last week, so that we can decide if you are doing your job effectively.”

And that is exactly what pastors are doing when they ask about how many souls a missionary has “won?”  They are deciding whether they meet a judgment standard or ministry qualifications. If you question my judgment call here, then ask yourself what the reaction would be if the missionary said it had been many months since someone had been saved in their work?  Even if immediate discontinuance of support did not immediately happen, there would be great hesitance to continue.  That’s why the question was asked in the first place!

But we must remember the missionaries are NOT where we are and they are NOT us.

If you want to know whether a missionary is effectively trying to win souls or baptize enough converts, go work with him for a while and see for yourself.  His field is not your field and his ministry is not your ministry.  We cannot judge another man’s ministry based upon our own experiences.

Second, as a pastor, you know that time is precious.  You know that you should not waste it on things that are frivolous or pointless.  So it is for the missionary.  When you ask them questions, be brief in your forms or better yet, call them and talk to them man to man.

As I stated earlier of the missionary who received over twelve pages to fill out and return within one week!  What a waste of the man of God’s time!

But even better than writing or calling…send yourself!

Let me explain further…

About every year, I go to a different mission field.  Most of the time it is with a missionary we support.  This is so that I can see first hand where our money is being invested and how to pray for that missionary.

Now I know for some this is not possible or practical, but there is a larger point to be made.

Ten years ago, over a dozen of our members, including my then 10 year old daughter, went to Quebec for a missions trip.  While there we painted their building, put thousands of John and Romans into homes, preached through an interpreter, hung their new chandeliers in the auditorium, and painted almost their entire building.   We did what every mission’s team does! Right? Well…..

Six years ago, our church went to Scotland to work in the church plant of our missionary there.  We “stuffed” each mail box in the village with literature, preached a family conference, sang at every opportunity given us, and did some general construction work around the missionary’s work.  But sadly, we were informed that in almost 15 years in the British Isles, no other group had ever come to actually DO missions work with them.  But surely that’s an isolated event, right?

Four years ago I, with a team from our church, went to England to work with “our” missionary who had been on that field for over 25 years.  We passed out literature door to door, preached and sang in their services, as well as worked in their church’s outreach ministry for Eastern Europe.  But once again, we found that in the 25 years they were there, many groups had visited them but NONE had actually done any work for the ministry there.  These groups used them as a hotel and called it a missions trip.

And again last year, we traveled to Brazil and the same story was true.  We painted, preached, decorated for and cooked the meal for the mission’s church Sweetheart Dinner.  But once again, in over 17 years in Brazil, only one other group had come with the intent to actually do mission’s work!

How can we judge a missionary by a questionnaire?  How can we simply expect them to know our heart and we know their heart if we never connect on their field and in their work?  Yet how many churches do not receive the written answers they looked for and another missionary has support dropped?

Finally let me say that the best way to help a missionary is to encourage them, not critique them.  The number one reason missionaries leave the field is because of interpersonal relationship problems, IE marriage issues, cultural differences with the nationals, or difficulties with other missionaries.  Wouldn’t it be better to salvage the needy and support the faithful missionaries already on the field instead of having to replace them?

Also if you feel you must send a missionary questionnaire, do it through the sending/home church of the missionary and allow that church and pastor to be involved in the process.

I have been the home pastor of several missionaries down through the years and have only once or twice been contacted by supporting pastors with questions about the work those missionaries are doing.  And to me that is the saddest part of this article.  For a group that claims to be so local church IFB churches and pastors rarely use the “chain of command” when it comes to our mission’s support.  Instead we put the burden on the missionary.  Why not do the biblical thing and talk to his pastor first?

Just a couple simple thoughts from a simple minded preacher.

Are We in Laodecia?

Some may not agree that the seven churches of Revelation are church ages and that is fine, since the Bible does not directly say that. But they are actual churches and church types and last church type is Laodecia - the lukewarm church. However, the word Laodecia means "my rights come first." If that doesn't describe the day in which we here in America, I don't know what does? Here are just a couple of examples for the past few weeks:

1. Two teen girls (15&16) were arrested because they beat a 62 year old man who asked them to not sit on his lawn. Theses two videoed and the man was clearly not being mean or angry in his request, which is inconsequential as it was his yard!

2. A male high school student beat his principal at school for asking him to turn his earbuds down because it was so loud everyone around him was being distracted. The teen's excuse was that his mother had just died and he had a right to do whatever he wanted because of that.

3. Two separate pictures are floating around the internet that have been posted by police to show the effects of heroin. Both pictures are of parents sitting passed out from heroin usage in their vehicle along the side of the road with young children in the back seat. One of the parents said, "Well at least I pulled over. That should count for something."

4. A man in Indiana killed his live in girlfriend when she refused to marry him. The neighbor said it best when she said, "I guess he couldn't take rejection?"
5. Here are six reasons given in a recent article to teens why they and adults should go ahead and do whatever they want: you only live once, you'll make new friends, its's your party so invite who you want, no one cares as much as you think, you are the boss of you, and (worst of all in my opinion, they said) you'll be a better person for having done what you want.

6. Finally, a Christian "world" example - Christians leave their church when something doesn't go their way. They mainly leave not because of bad doctrine or true matters of conviction, such as worldly music or dress, but, because the preacher said something that offended them or because another church member was treated differently than they were. In short, they leave because they did not get their way. I have been in ministry now over 28 years and in that time only one family came to me and said they were leaving over doctrine - they believed in double inspiration and I refused to teach that. We had a person leave our church some months back and just recently they wrote back to tell me over 20 things that were "wrong" with our church, including celebrating the holiday of Christmas and being tax exempt. They stated several times that our doctrine was overall fine, just our practices they felt were ungodly, though they could not provide one verse to show the early churches path on the things they mentioned. We did not do what they wanted and away they went....Laodecian - "my rights come first."

Are we in the Laodecian age? I don't know, but it sure seems as if we are often making Laodecian decisions!

An Attempt at a Biblical View of Depression

Recently a precious member of our church and I had a written discussion (texts and emails) about the issue of depression.  After reading several websites and praying about this issue, I decided to share the heart of our discussion about the subject in the hopes of helping others.  I say this because depression is often a difficult subject for Christians to discuss as many leaders are not sure how to approach the subject without demeaning the character of God or taking away a Christian’s responsibility. 

Here is the heart of our last exchange:

There are many examples of Bible characters who struggled with a depression that was real, so to say that depression is not real or that it is always sin is not true.  Depression IS real but also CAN be a sin when we allow it to control those parts of our lives where God said, in His Word, that He should be in absolute control.   In other words, depression is sin only when we do not allow God to control our lives in the way He says we can allow His control over.  (By the way, there are areas which we can have no control over, such as other’s actions, but we can surrender our reactions to these kind of situations.)

Depression is real and there are many Bible characters who struggled with various types of depression: 

David - Psalm 38:4; 42:11

Elijah - 1 Kings 19:4

Jonah - Jonah 4:3

Job - Job 3:11, 26

Moses - Exodus 32:32

Jeremiah - Jeremiah 20:14, 18

I hope you believe, as I do, that God has given wonderful promises about helping us in all the types of depression and we should be convinced that God does not want any Christian living perpetually in a defeated state.  We are going to always struggle with our emotions and depression can be one of the hardest emotions we face in our lifetime.  But we can know that God wants to help us defeat permanently some sources of depression and then have the strength to “bear up” under all the other kinds of depression.  Here are some of those promises:

Psalm 34:18

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, 16-18

Galatians 2:20

Isaiah 40:31

I believe, that the key to those Bible truths helping us with those moments of “deep” depression is to determine first what is causing the depression and then find the Bible truths that help us know a course of care for that source of depression.  Some of the causes in the Bible for depression can include:

Physical imbalances - Matthew 26:41 (Getting help medically when needed)

Guilty conscience - 1 John 1:9 (Getting our own hearts right with God)

Stress - Matthew 11:28-30 (Learning to rely on God instead of mankind)

Abuse - Philippians 3 (Going forward instead of living solely in the past hurts)

Unthankful heart - Colossians 3:15 (Giving thanks even in hard times)

These are just a few of the examples the Bible gives of what can cause depression and they may or may not work together in a single life.  Some people may have one source problem and some may have more than one.  But depression is a real issue and God wants to help us.

Is Homosexuality More Severe Than Other Sins?

My wife and I were recently asked by someone we love dearly about whether homosexuality is categorized as a more grievous sin than other sins?  They said they had heard that is was a more serious category but wanted clear biblical verses to the question.  My answer to them and others is below.  This is a important question in our current day because so many Christians will use the answer to either isolate from reaching out to homosexuals or ignore the sin as being nothing different than any other.

First, its important to know that God says homosexuality is sin.  It is interesting to note that it is one of the few sins that God actually explains WHY it is wrong and how a person “falls” into it.  Not that He needs to justify or explain why any sin as wrong since He is holy and as God He does not owe us an explanation.  In Romans 1:18-32, Paul by inspiration of God gives the progression of a person into homosexual behavior.  It begins in verses 18 to 23 with the rejection of accepting God’s goodness  and plan.  It then moves in verses 24 to 25 with the rejection that their bodies were created for the glory of God and good works. (Ephesians 2:10 & Colossians 1:15-17)  Finally in verses 26 to 27, God allows their rejection to take them a very dark place - homosexual behavior.  This does not mean God made them homosexual, but it means they digressed into that lifestyle by rejecting the goodness of God’s act of creation of gender.  It is clear that God says homosexuality is not an alternative lifestyle but a sin.  God calls it vile affections (Romans 1:26), reprobate (Romans 1:28), and abomination (Leviticus 20:13).

Second, nowhere does the Bible say that homosexual is a unique category of sin.  It is true that homosexuality is called abomination, but there are over 50 “abomination sins” in the Bible.  These sins include cheating at business (Deuteronomy 25:13-16) and a proud heart (Proverbs 6:16-17), not just homosexuality.  This does not mean that homosexuality isn’t a serious sin, but it does mean that it is not a unique category of sin.  To be completely honest, I do not believe there are categories of sin anyway.  Some sins are described as abomination and wickedness, but that is a descriptive term not a category.  All sin is sin and are described by various terms throughout the Bible.

Third, there are really only two types of sins - the forgiven and unforgiven.  According to God’s Word all sins can be forgiven except one (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 12:31).  If we are going to be concerned about the categorization of sin, shouldn’t that be the sin we are concerned over? Whether they are forgiven or not?  God desires to forgive all sins (Acts 17:30 with 1 John 1:9).  This means that any category of sin that mankind may develop is useless in the light of eternity.

Last, and more personal opinion about homosexuality - not everyone is going to be sexual in their lifetime and the Bible teaches this fact.  Unfortunately sexual things are often pushed upon our young people, both by the world and by some Christian folks.   The world system pushes sex as doing what feels good regardless of the Bible’s commands and then the world uses sexual things to promote everything and anything.  Some in the Christian “world” unfortunately teach that if you do not have sexual desires for members of the opposite sex then you must be perverted and thus a homosexual in the making.  But the Bible clearly teaches that there are people who are born without the usual sexual desire.  Jesus Himself taught in Matthew 19:10-12 that there are eunuchs born eunuchs.  When you study the word “eunuch” it is clear that they are those who have no sexual desire/ability.  Unfortunately many well meaning Christians make these “eunuchs” feel rejected and may even unknowingly be encouraging them into sin by feeling since they do not desire the opposite sex then they must be homosexual.

God created our genders (Genesis 1:27 & 5:2) and those genders were for procreation (Genesis 1:28) which homosexual behavior cannot fulfill.  Thus the severity of homosexuality (like all sin) is about the rejection of God’s plan and not due to a God given category of sin.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Throughout Jesus earthly ministry the religious leaders were constantly seeking to attack Him, His teaching, and His method of ministry.  These religious people were filled with jealousy but also attacked Jesus out of ignorance as Paul attested to in 1 Timothy 1:13.  Jesus would often correct these hypocrites’ doctrine as they had made their personal observations on the same level as the doctrine of God Himself (Mark 7:7).  But some of the greatest admonition from Jesus is over what He called their “leaven.”  But what is that leaven?

In Matthew 15 and 16 this confrontation comes to a climax as Jesus directly confronts them over this issue.

It begins in Matthew 15 when the scribes and Pharisees accuse Jesus’ disciples of not ceremoniously washing their hands before they ate.  Jesus does not respond by attacking the washing of the hands, as that was a proper thing to do, but He did address their heart being far from God even if they sounded good in their words. (Matthew 15:1-8)  Jesus then gathers the people to Himself and publicly addresses the heart of the issue of the hypocrites - motivation.

You see, the religious leaders believed that if they did the right things the motivation was unimportant because they were doing “the right thing.”  But Jesus makes it clear that doing the right things for the right reasons was the crucial to being right with God.  He tells the people that the sins of our lives come from the condition of our heart (Matthew 15:18-19).

Then in Matthew 16:1, the Pharisees and Sadducees approach Jesus looking for a “sign from heaven.”  This was obviously their attempt to get Jesus to prove to their satisfaction that He was from God.  Jesus makes it clear, Matthew 16:1-4, that their desire for signs is because they refuse to accept the sign of Jonah, which was a message of faith alone.  Jesus then warns his disciples of the “leaven” in Matthew 16:6-11.  His illustration of the feeding of the five thousand and the four thousand was proof that the outward cannot motivate the inward but the other way around.

This truth has unfortunately caused many to throw away their holy righteous living as they believe that Jesus has accepted their heart’s motivation instead of the outward living.   They say things like “God knows my heart.”  It is true that God knows our heart, and according to Jeremiah 17:9 the heart is wicked and cannot be trusted in itself.  

So what are we to do?

First, ask the Lord to give us a clean heart - Psalm 51:10.  God is the only One who can make our hearts clean before Him.  Proverbs 20:9 tells us that we cannot make our hearts clean.

Second, accept that God is holy and we must seek to live holy lives - 1 Peter 1:16.  Sin has no place in our lives, and, our salvation should change our desire from sinfulness to sanctification toward God’s holiness. (James 4:8)

Third, never justify your sin because you think your motivation is right with God, because the sin shows you are NOT right in your motivation. (Romans 6:1-4)

My entire life has been lived in a group of Christianity known as independent fundamental Baptists (IFB).  This group has often been called Pharisees due to their strict stance on certain moral issues and a perceived belief that the outward makes a Christian right on the inside.  I cannot answer for every IFB out there and I am sure there are those who are Pharisaical in their stance.  But though every Christian may not have the right stance about the heart’s motivation there are those who do have their hearts right with God.  So don’t judge every IFB as a Pharisee.  Those that choose to live their lives with standards and convictions may be doing so out of a desire for holiness and thus have a right motivation. 

Beware of the leaven, even in your own heart!

Praying Instead of Posting

In the book of Acts chapter 23, the Apostle Paul had an encounter with the leadership of the nation of Israel;

“And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.” - Acts 23:1-5

My heart is heavy for America today for so many reasons, but one of the greatest is the condition of Christians and churches here.  We have stopped influencing our nation’s conscience and behavior and so I want to ask a few questions that are relevant for the situation:

1. When did it become acceptable for Christians to call the leaders of our nation names and continually ridicule the God allowed authority?
2. Why do we expect the unsaved Americans to behave like Christians when the Christians cannot seem to behave like Christians?
3. When did it become more important to be accepted by our peers than our God?
4. Why do we assume that because leaders are doing wicked things all that needs to happen to “straighten out” the nation is for the people of the nation to simply be shown this and they will reject the leaders?  Thus Christians again and again point out every glaring failure of our leaders with a “clear justifiable” conscience using every term and name they can.

Recently I was reading the posts of other Christians via various blogs and found post after post of these so declared authorities of governmental wickedness.  Now, mind you, I agree we are living in wicked days and have many leaders doing wicked things.  But when did we as individuals gain the biblical right to publicly attack our leaders?

In Acts 23, the Apostle Paul unknowingly calls the high priest a “whited wall” and then apologizes for the term by acknowledging: “Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.”

In other places there is a clear God given line of how to respond to the governmental authority allowed by God:

"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities." 2 Peter 2:9-10

"Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation." Romans 13:1-2

The state of our nation is dire but so is the current state of our Christianity!  Let’s do as the scripture mandates for us:

“I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Timothy 2:1-2, KJV).

The next time you are tempted to post or repost an attack piece about the governmental official you reject pray that God changes their heart and yours!

How do Christians deal with a nation that is falling apart morally?

One of the most difficult things for American Christians is the moral slide taking place in our nation.  For so many generations we have had religious freedom in the US and now it appears that some of that freedom is eroding away.  We used to be able to speak out against sin in an area without fear of reprisal but that is clearly changing before our eyes.  So what are we going to do?

Many will relocate themselves into another state that seems to be more friendly toward their faith and still others will isolate themselves from everything and everyone in the hopes of delaying the world's influence on them and their children.  But are these even biblical options?  Paul lived in an ungodly world and yet he remained faithful to his Lord.

Many years ago I was taught a valuable lesson about applying scripture to my life.  The lesson was to find a godly person in the Word of God whose life situation is similar to mine and then do what the godly person does.  As an example, I have been asked a few times “Preacher, my spouse had left me for another person and now wants to come back.  What do I do?”  My response is, "Do what Hosea did when Gomer left him…take them back."  Or another example is how do we answer a person trying to trap us in our words?  Do what Jesus did and show them scripture.  You can never go wrong by mirroring what a godly person does in scripture.

With that said I have been reading my Bible looking for a clear example to follow and finally I have found what I believe to be the exact example I needed.  Jeremiah 15 tells of how the prophet was lead by God in though the nation around him was falling apart spiritually.  Here are the lessons we can learn:

1. Accept that judgement will always come to rebellious hearts. In verses 2-5 God shows Jeremiah that He is will bring judgment upon Israel for their sin.  God cannot keep holding back His wrath from America forever.  His holiness requires judgment to fall at some point.  So know that this nation will see the hand of God at some point.  You can count on it!  No nation or person is going to rebel and get away with it.  We serve an omniscient holy God.
2. Believers will feel discouraged and even like a failure when they see their nation falling apart.  We try to preach the message and still the nation slides into the abyss of immorality, taking many Christians with them as well.  Unfortunately so many Christians see this slide and become defeated by the failure of others.  In verses 10, 15-18 Jeremiah reminds God of his suffering even though he sought to be faithful.  We must know that the moral slide of the nation is because of their decisions not ours.  Too many Christians get discouraged because they are doing what the Bible commands and still the nation drifts further and further away from God.  Why?  Because the people’s hearts are hardened and desire the sin they are living in.
3. Every Christian must stay prepared themselves for the day when America morally completely falls apart as there will still be people who will seek to turn to God from their sin and will be looking for someone to give them answers.  Jeremiah was told by God that there was a remnant and that the the enemy would one day look to these faithful few to entreat for them.  In a practical way let me illustrate this -  have you ever had a family member or friend who was antagonistic toward your faith, but then they had a tragedy and they asked for your prayers?  That's what God was telling Jeremiah in chapter 15.  Be prepared for to help those who fall apart.  But what are Christians going to do, if/when America falls apart and the people around them come looking for answers and they cannot give them answers beaus they have succumbed to the sin or discouragement?
4. Finally we must accept that living for God is always going to be unpopular.  Christians will always be in the minority.  God told Jeremiah in verse 20 that he (Jeremiah) would be like a “fenced brasen wall” which the people “will fight against.”  Yet God told Jeremiah, and by default us I would say, to “take forth the precious from the vile.”  In other words, see God’s hand as good even in the midst of the moral decline.  We can be faithful in spite of the condition of our nation.

We do not have to fall apart with our nation.  We can still stand for what’s right because we do it for our God and not just our nation.  I love our nation, but I need to love my God more!

When People Leave Churches Over Personal Reasons and Not Doctrine

Over the years here at Valley we have seen many folks come and go. Many have come because they appreciated the strong stand we take about sin in our world and our strong stance about the Word of God, but too often they then leave when they find an area in which they personally dislike. Most of the time this discomfort is not doctrine but a personal opinion over our church's unique Baptist views or over the leadership's right to set the tone in certain areas. My question is when does a person have a right to leave a church over a personal issue?

In the early days of Christianity, you know the days in the book of Acts, there were not multiple churches to choose from in a community. Ephesus did not have First Baptist, Victory Baptist, Community Baptist, Cornerstone Baptist, and Grace Baptist, it just had one church - the "baptistic" church at Ephesus. These early believers did not leave their church every time they did not get their way to go to another because there was no other church to go to. They worked through their differences and they and the church grew because of it.
But today, because we have churches of every stripe around us, we have a mentality that says, "I want my way or I'm going another way." We too often expect church to adapt to us and not the other way around. 

Folks don't, as a general rule, leave fundamental churches because of doctrinal error being taught but because their feelings were hurt. They leave because communion is not the way they want, because the songs are too slow, because the songs are too fast, because the songs are on a screen instead of a book, because they can't sing in the choir without being a member, because the preacher pointed out the error in a popular book everyone is reading, because the church won't speak against a certain issue, because the church speaks too much about a certain issue, because the preacher tells too many jokes, because the preacher is too serious, and so on. They leave because they have not found what THEY WANTED in their church.

But is that a reason to leave a church?

Just as a quick personal thought before proceeding - what if God acted the same way with us? What if He saw in us something He did not like and decided to walk away? What if when we did less than He expected He gave up on us and decided to work with someone else? But of course, He wouldn't do that since He knows we are human and are going to fail, yet many refuse to give the church the same consideration.

We must recognize that churches are made of fallible people just like us and thus it can never be what every single person "desires" it to be. We must also recognize that it is easier for us as individuals to adapt to the church as whole than for the whole church to adapt to every person...and to be honest this concept it more biblical as well. In 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, Paul said he adapted to meet the needs of those who he was trying to reach. He did not expect them to adapt to him, but was willing to adapt to them.

And maybe therein is the problem with people leaving the church over personal issues. Those who are leaving were never trying to minister to the other folks in the church but were expecting all the others in the church to minister to them. Maybe they assumed that their needs were the only needs everyone in the church should be concerned about, while the needs of the rest of the church go unmet. Maybe they thought that the church was intentionally ignoring them because the church did not care, instead of realizing there are other people whom they could have been ministering to instead.

You see the problem is that too often we judge a church not by what we are doing for the other people of the church but by what we expect them to do for us. Here are a couple of examples some churches face regularly:

1. If the church as a whole wants to hold closed communion (members only) and attendees are offended and leave because they felt isolated as non members, then the problem 
maybe the offended and not the church. Why not just join the church instead of leaving? 

2. If the church as a whole requires background checks for workers and some would rather leave than let their "personal business" become known, then maybe the problem is not with the church trying to do right but the easily offended who left. Why not accept that background checks are for the safety of the church as a whole?  

3. If the church asks faithfulness, tithing, and holy living of its workers then instead of leaving maybe we should adapt our thinking to what the needs and requirements of the church are. Why not simply submit to being holy and faithful as the Bible commands?

Really, when it comes down to it, the root problem is that few people want to submit themselves to the needs and requirements of others. We see everything through our own eyes and not the eyes of others. We expect everyone to submit to our views and our needs and thus we leave a church, not because of doctrine, but because we have chosen to place our needs ahead of everyone else's.

Let me also just say this is passing, too often there are also those who will stay in a church, for whatever reason, but with a bitter heart because they cannot adapt to the church as a whole or the leadership's vision for that church. They will sit and stew in their own juices week after week instead of just letting go of their own personal opinions on unimportant issues and let the leadership lead and membership as a whole decide.
Just something to think about.

Do We Have the Right to Judge Another Person’s Doctrine?

In short, yes and no.  But let’s be more biblical than that.

In Luke 12, Jesus knew that his doctrine was causing a division among the people and the religious leaders of the day and yet he did not try to stop the division.  Actually he spoke to his disciples in the first twelve verses to beware the doctrine of the Pharisees because it was hypocrisy.  Jesus then speaks to the people in the latter part of the chapter about their inability to discern right and wrong.  He tells them they can judge the weather but don’t seem to be able to know sound doctrine.  This message is brought to climax when Jesus says in verse 57, “Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?”  He tells them to judge what is right.

Yes, we do have a biblical right/duty to judge sound doctrine, especially in the doctrine of those who are leading others astray.  An example in my estimation would be men like John Calvin who clearly taught much false doctrine, yet, his name is claimed by many today almost above their title of Christian.  As some examples:

John Calvin taught it was acceptable to execute those who opposed Calvinist doctrine, such as Michael Servetus, who rejected infant baptism which Calvin allowed and taught:

“But I am unwilling to pledge my word for his (Michael Servetus) safety, for if he shall come [to Geneva], I shall never permit him to depart alive, provided my authority be of any avail.” - Bonnet and Gilchrist, Letters of John Calvin: Compiled From the Original Manuscripts and Edited With Historical Notes, 2:19.

John Calvin said at the trial of Michael Servetus:

“I hope that the verdict will call for the death penalty.” - http://www.the-highway.com/servetus_Boettner.html

John Calvin taught that the Lord’s Supper was a part of salvation: 

The “Eucharist provided the “undoubted assurance of eternal life to our minds, but also secures the immortality of our flesh.” - Calvin’s “Institutes of the Christian Religion,” 4.17.32.

When I point out the error in John Calvin, I am within my biblical rights as Jesus admonished in Luke 12 as both these doctrines, as other Calvin taught, are not biblical doctrine.

However…

I cannot judge whether Calvin, because of his doctrines, was condemned to hell and that is the “NO” part of the answer to the original question.

You see, though it is biblical to say whether a person’s doctrine is sound, because, the Bible clearly outlines what is sound doctrine.  It is wrong to judge another person’s salvation because of their supposed doctrine alone.  Now mind you, it is fair to say “IF a person believes their salvation is by works, then they are not saved,” but the key to that is the  word “IF.”  Salvation is a personal decision and a personal work of God in the life of an individual heart and life.  Philippians 2:12 makes it very clear that we are to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”  Nowhere are we to allowed to judge another man’s salvation, even based upon unsound doctrine.

Can a person with certain unsound doctrines be saved?  The answer is yes, IF they have accepted in their hearts what God’s Word requires for their salvation - by grace through faith in God’s Son, Jesus, through His death, burial, and resurrection and this faith reflected in our repentance of sins.  Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:16; Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10:13.  

Was John Calvin doctrinally right? NO!  Was John Calvin saved? That is between John Calvin and God.  I have judged but not judged his doctrine..so, yes and no.

How to Know False Doctrine When You Hear It

Every group that claims to be Christian will say they believe in sound doctrine.  You will never hear a minister or Bible teacher stand up and say, “What I am about to teach is heresy and should be rejected.”   Christian authors never write that they are about to misuse the Word of God and teach you something God hates.

Yet each of these things happen in practice everyday as ministers stand in pulpits and preach heresy as do authors write false doctrine in book after book.  So what is the average layman to do?

Peter warned of this situation is 2 Peter 2 as even in his day false teachers were bringing in “privily” or secretly false doctrine.  He gave a warning to these false teachers and then two points of proof for the layman to know who is a false teacher.

First, Peter told in 2 Peter 2:4-22 that false teachers will he held accountable by God Himself as was done to the people of Noah’s day, the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrha, and even Balaam.  Peter told them God hates a false teachers as they revert His truth and mislead the people whom Jesus came to save.  So if you are a teacher of the Bible….BE VERY CAREFUL!

Second, Peter gave two basic guidelines to know whether a preacher/teacher is teaching truth or not:

1. False doctrine will always give the flesh permission to feed its lusts.  In 2 Peter 2:10 Peter warns that these “walk after the flesh” and live in the “lust of uncleanness” and that they are “self willed” which “speak evil of “dignities.”  Let me clarify dignities here as that really covers the entire issue of fleshly lusts being the motivation of false teachings.  The word dignities is the word “doxa” or glory of God.  You may have heard of the “Doxology” which is a short hymn that praises the greatness of God.  It is named after this word, doxa.  “Doxa,” dignities here, is the to be the central focus of all we do and teach.  So if someone speaks evil, or vainly attacks, that the glory of God is paramount then they are going to teach that the flesh is to be exalted and thus they are false teachers teaching false doctrine.  This is why Peter uses Sodom, Balaam, and the even the people of Noah’s day to illustrate this point.  Each of these placed their own desires ahead of the glory of God.  Beware when a teacher/preacher downplays that God’s glory is to be the central focus of all we do.
2. False doctrine will always seek to exalt the knowledge of man over the simplicity of God’s truth. In 2 Peter 2:18-22, Peter warns that because of the flesh’s weakness, great swelling words can deceive into false doctrine.  Peter makes it clear that when someone tries to make you feel small because they are “smarter” than you then they are not from God.  God throughout His Word warns that His truths are “foolish” so as to confound the “wisdom” of tis world.  This does not mean God’s truths are easy to grasp or that His Creation isn’t complex, but that His desire is to make the truth of God accessible.  Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

God’s doctrine is vast but it is clear and concise and holy not vague or fleshly as false doctrine is taught to be.

Standing Against False Teachers but Not Naming Every False Doctrine

Numerous times over the years I have been asked about the stance I have taken over other ministries, including ministers, which may be doctrinally or philosophically against where I stand.   To explain this the following truths must be understood:

1. Not everything a “false” preacher teaches is automatically wrong just because they are wrong in certain areas.  The truth is not about the preacher but about the Word of God. This means you must be cautious about every preacher and filter them and their teaching through the truth of God’s Word every time.  But if a teacher/preacher is clearly teaching false doctrine, then everything they say should be brought under closer examination. (Acts 17:11)
2. Not everything a sound preacher says is going to be philosophically unchanging.  Even a sound preacher is human and can make mistakes in certain messages and he can even take a stand and then grow and learn he was wrong philosophically.  Don’t follow the preacher’s words above following God’s Word taught by the sound preacher. I am a different preacher today than when I came to NY 12 years ago and now emphasize things I didn’t use to emphasize.  A preacher’s major doctrines should never change but his philosophy or emphasis might, and, that doesn’t mean he is a false teacher. (1 John 4:1)
3. If a preacher (such as myself) doesn’t take a stance against a fallible teacher, this does not mean defense of that teacher or his false teachings.  A biblical stance is “realm of influence and realm of knowledge.”  This means that if the false teacher doesn’t directly influence our church, the fallacy may not be mentioned often or at all.  Why would a preacher emphasize certain false teachings unless needed?  As an example, why preach in New York against Sati (the practice of burning a wife at husband’s funeral) when that is not an issue?  A sound preacher may take a stance publicly against the “prosperity gospel” being taught by Osteen but not the easy believe-ism seemingly taught several years ago by Hyles, because the one if still active and dangerous here and the other is not in a church’s “realm of knowledge or influence.”  Is Osteen wrong? Yes! Was easy believe-ism wrong? Yes!  (1 Corinthians 5)
4. Each church should be independent of all others and thus the issues of a local church are not the duty of another church to fix.  As an example, there are many churches, including IFB, which have seemingly ignored the immoral behavior of their leadership.  The immorality is wrong, the indifference is wrong, but the issue must be dealt with in that church unless it influences “my” church.  This is not acceptance of that church’s behavior, but it is the acknowledgment of local church autonomy.  Should a preacher who ignores sexual sins, such as child abuse or adultery be dealt with?  Absolutely yes!  But its his church that must remove him and if he influences my church I must publicly take a stance. (Galatians 2:11)

If a preacher listed every false teaching and false teacher, he would get nothing else done as the world is full of them.  Sound doctrine must come from a sound biblical position and even sound preachers are human..so remember that when you are tempted to judge a pastor/teacher/preacher.

Sound Doctrine Lesson 02 Names of Jesus Part 2

Handout for Names of Christ Part 2.

Sound Doctrine Video Series Lesson 01 Names of Jesus Part 01

This is the first in a series of videos that will come with a worksheet in pdf format.  They are for personal use and duplication of the handouts is for that purpose only.  Handout for Lesson 1 - Names of JesusLesson 1 Handout (Right click and save to print)

Don't Judge God's Love by Man's Love

God’s love is too often judged by the love of man.  Our love, though real, is usually very shallow and thus if it we use our love to try to understand God’s love for us, our comparison is skewed to say the least.

To understand more fully God’s love is to look at it in biblical types of God’s love:

1. God the Father loved His Son and the Son loves the Father.  Remember that we are speaking of a Trinity and the love of each person within the Trinity for the for other persons of God.  You cannot understand this kind of love if you only see love in terms as man sees i, because this would be like a person saying, “I know how to love you because I Iove myself.”   In John we are told that the Father loves the Son both with (agape) John 3:35 and (phileo) John 5:20.  John also tells us that Jesus loved the Father in John 14:31.  Remember that Jesus’ actions were based solely upon His Father’s will and the love for the Father as well.
2. God also loves His Creation.  He lovingly made and keeps His Creation according to Genesis 1 and Matthew 6.  
3. The Bible also clearly tells us that God loves the world, even though they are sinners.  In John 3:16 does not tells us that God loves some elect hand full people, but the kurios (entire world).  God clearly has a love for those who have no love for Him as He sent His Son to die for the world before the world was even capable of loving Him. (1 John 2:2 & John 15:19)  We must also accept that because of this love for the world, He takes no pleasure in the death of sinners. (Ezekiel 33:11)
4. God clearly has a special place in His heart for His children, both the Jewish people and the born again.  When God chose Israel, He made it clear that His love was not because of their greatness, because they had no greatness (Deuteronomy 7:7).  He chose to love them even during the times they rejected His leading (1 Kings 10:9).  Now He has chosen to love the saved, not because of their actions, but because they are His children (2 Thessalonians 2:16).  Jesus loved the church enough to die for it too (Ephesians 5:25).  This is the love of unconditional terms.  God chose to love us even when we are doing anything worth loving us for.
5. Lastly, there is a place of God’s love for us based upon our obedience.  This doesn’t mean we must do things to be loved by God, but there is a specialness within the love of God for those that love Him (Jude 21 & John 15:9, 10)

The reasons that the love of God is a difficult doctrine is once again because we must  not see the love of God based upon our understanding of man’s concept love for his own kind.  Realize that God doesn’t love, but God IS love (1 John 4:8 & 16).  This means love is His character not just His actions or emotions.  Love comes from God because that is Who He is, instead of man’s concept of love which is based upon how we feel.  This will be the next section of our study here.

The Love of God - The Most Difficult Doctrine!

Over the next few posts I will be discussing the Doctrine of God’s Love.  This is based upon a series of sermons preached at VBBC from December 2015 to January 2016 in our Wednesday evening prayer/Bible study services.

Why is the God’s love the hardest part of doctrine?  It is not because God has made it difficult but because humanity has moved so far away from the biblical definition of God’s love that truly understanding this subject requires a complete rethinking of it.

This discussion must begin with the fact that basically all that call themselves Christian believe that God is love, but we too often define love by our culture and not the Bible’s definition.  Here are some examples:

1. Some say God’s love is totally unconditional and requires God to lay aside holiness as a requirement for daily living.
2. Others would say that God is so holy that His love is simply the motivation for living holy.
3. Still others would say that all forms of love are from God and there is no limitation on it.  t is the ultimate command and thus saying anything is wrong when love is the basis is doctrinal heresy, IE saying same sex marriage is wrong when two people “love each other.” 

These groups often use verses such as (John 3:16) to show love yet fail to remember that God will judge it (Acts 10:42).  Their the emphasis is seldom on the judgment of God or His holiness just the love. Why?  Because we want a God that loves us and want to downplay the judgment or holiness of God which caused the judgment to be necessary. 

Sometimes doctrinal heresy is not even discussed in some churches.  To be honest, some might even go as far as to say that to preach against heresy IS the heresy.  As an example, I hold that that King James Version is the preserved Word of God in the English language and all other english “versions” are simply commentaries of what men think God meant.  But when I say this, I am judged as legalistic and borderline heretic by some.  Why?  Because I have called someone else’s “doctrine” wrong and that is un-Christian in some minds.  They might even say I am “unloving” and “critical.”  They would admonish me to ignore the differences and love my fellow Christians because ALL English translations are okay, its just simple language differences, and to say otherwise is “unloving.”

How different this is from Paul and even Christ Himself.  Jesus said that the scribes and Pharisees were teaching commandments of men and calling it doctrine (Matthew 15:9).  Paul stop against Peter for teaching that Gentiles couldn’t really be saved (Galatians 2:11).  Yet, I would be wrong to say that these men didn’t love people!

To say it simply, God’s love is too often romanticized and emotionalized based upon our emotions and not God’s definition.  This is clearly seen when we try to defend God’s judgment in the Old Testament or trying to explain how God “allows” bad things to happen today.  We are defending and explaining based upon human emotions not the truth that God has every right to judge as He sees fit because He is both loving and just!

How the Bible Uses the Phrase "Sound Doctrine."

There are four times in the New Testament that the phrase “sound doctrine” is used.  Let’s quickly look at them:

1. 1 Timothy 1:10 - Paul is writing to the young (1 Timothy 4:12) whom he placed in Ephesus to serve most likely as their pastor/minister (1 Timothy 1:3; 4:6) even though never expected Timothy to necessarily stay there permanently (2 Timothy 4:9,13, 21).  Timothy was clearly a young man with great passion (2 Timothy 1:4) and yet a tremendous responsibility (1 Timothy 6:20) to watch for the truth being taught.  So here in 1 Timothy 1:10 Paul shows the great contrast between what sound doctrine is and what it is not.  It is interesting that Paul does not define what IS sound doctrine but what happens in the lives of people when sound doctrine is being rejected.  So sound doctrine is clearly a safeguard against sin.
2. 2 Timothy 4:3 - Here Paul explains that there will be a time when men will desire to have teachers sharing what they want to hear because they will bear with sound doctrine.  Now, it is true, that these verses are speaking of last days, as Paul wrote in verse 1 “in the latter days” and in verse 3 “For the time will come.” But is is also true that falling away from sound doctrine has been going on ever since sound doctrine was given!  Remember the Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day rejected His sound doctrine (Matthew 26:65) as did the pagans (Acts 16:19-24) of Paul’s time as well.  Sound doctrine has always been rejected by those who desire to live their own lives in their own way (Mark 8:31; Luke 17:25; Romans 8).  Sound doctrine WILL be rejected by those who desire their own doctrine.
3. Titus 1:9 & 2:1 - Titus was a Gentile believer (Galatians 2:3) that was a precious companion to Paul (2 Corinthians 2:13) who appears to be the pastor of the church on the island of Crete (Titus 1:5).  In the book written to Titus, Paul gives two distinct commands about sound doctrine.  First in 1:9, Paul tells Titus to hold fast sound doctrine as a pastor (elder) must do.  It is clear that the first person that sound know and hold strongly to sound doctrine is the man whom God has given pastoral duty to!  This does not mean a pastor is infallible, but that he should clearly know and hold to sound doctrine.  Second in 2:1, Paul tells Titus to speak sound citrine so that those in the church can do their duty within the church body.  Obviously God has given to each person a duty to serve the Lord and sound doctrine MUST be the foundation of that duty.

Over the next several posts we will begin to share this sound doctrine.  In time, it will come in the form of a series of short videos with worksheets so that you can have both a visual and paper method of studying sound doctrine.  I pray that it will be a blessing as you seek to find your place of service within your local church.