“For Sinners Only” Really?
A cliche (def: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought) that absolutely drives me nuts is the phrase, “This church is for sinners only.” People think they are being clever playing off the words of Jesus in Luke 5:32, “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
But the position, “this church is for sinners only” is really just obnoxious!
It is first obnoxious because it oftentimes comes across as a statement of feigned humility; what is referred to in the twitter-sphere as a #humblebrag, “I know I’m a sinner and you don’t, therefore, I’m better than you.” Or it seems to me in my opinion that folk that make this statement are somehow inferring that because they recognize they are sinners they are somehow more loving. But let me say this, a position that excludes anyone from the house of God whether broken sinner or broken perceived saint is not loving at all!
It’s also obnoxious because it is a gross misinterpretation of Jesus’ statement! First of all Jesus’ statement is not a statement of exclusion of any specific group to being a part of His body. He isn’t saying I will only associate with people who know they are sinners, Jesus is saying, “I am calling sinners to repentance.” His statement is about repentance not who can be part of the church club. Second, when this phrase is posted on church signs or dropped in a sermon because it gets an easy (cheap) amen it is being done in a way of pitting one group against another, Jesus was seeking through His statement to help the Pharisees see that they were actually in the same boat of need as the tax collector and his friends they were condemning. These Pharisees knew the scriptures, they knew Psalm 14:3 & Psalm 53:3, “There is none righteous, no not one.” I see no evidence of Levi-Matthew and his pals high-fiving and saying, “awesome we’re sinners and those legalists aren’t welcome! Woo hoo, this is our church, not yours!”
The third reason this phrase is obnoxious is that it actually places the people who are saying it in the exact same position they are condemning. A person saying, “this church is for sinners only” is, in essence, condemning those who think they are perfect and thus because of their perfectionistic state end up being judgmental. The statement though in and of itself reeks of judgment. Which leads to the final point.
Finally, this phrase is obnoxious because it places folk in a position of judgment that Jesus clearly tells us we are incapable of performing. In Matthew chapter 13 Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. In this parable, Jesus makes it clear that it is at the end of time that Jesus decides who are the wheat and who are the tares. Who are the sinners and who are the saints. Who are the redeemed and who have rejected redemption. If we spend a lot of time trying to root out folk now (even the legalists) we might just end up forcing out someone that Jesus considered “wheat.” Why because we aren’t very good judges of character, “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7c)
In conclusion, I don’t want a church that is for “sinners only” and by this, I mean only those that recognize they are sinners. I want a church with people who know they are sinners because they need Jesus. I want a church with people that think they are perfect, because they need Jesus too, and finally I want a church of people who are indifferent, who don’t really care one way or the other, because guess what they need Jesus too.
You can keep your “church for sinners only,” I want to reach everyone!
How Committed is Your Church to the Disney Princesses?
If you think of animated Disney films probably some of the first images that come to your mind would be princesses: Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty (sorry I don’t know her actual name), Ariel, etc.. Disney’s entire history is shrouded with princesses, yet in 2010 Disney recognized princesses were not the success stories they once were and Disney exec of animation informed the world that Disney was putting a moratorium on any new princesses…”at least until someone has a fresh take on it…” and Disney stuck to this until of course the smash hit this past year of a movie entitled “Frozen” (not an endorsement I just know a lot of people are singing the song and it has made a lot of money). But can you imagine the courage it must have taken to announce, to make the decision that “the past was nice, but we have to change if we are really going to move forward successfully”? “So either bring us a fresh idea on a princess or no new princess movies at all.” Wow! The announcement was so large there were articles written about it in the LA Times, Forbes Magazine, babycenter.com, and more.
Why would Disney do such a thing? Because they recognized you can’t grow into the future if you are overly committed to the Disney Princesses of the past.
How committed is your church or your school to the Disney princesses of the past?
In his book, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” Thom Rainer reports on the analysis of churches that have died and the 12 factors they discovered that lead to these deaths.
The very first trait which Rainer said was, “the most pervasive and common thread of our autopsies” was, they were in love with a Disney princess of the past and hoped she would revive again to bring the church back to greatness. Well not a literal Disney princess and Thom Rainer doesn’t use those exact words, but his meaning is the same. Rainer uses these words, “the dying churches lived for a long time with the past as hero.”
These churches talked about how many people used to attend their church. They talked about how great their church used to be. And when people would try and change things these churches would resist, insisting that they could still get back to where they were with things just as they are. They were unwilling to change because they were once great and surely they could stay the same and become great again. They were in love with the Disney princesses and wanted to keep making them hoping they would eventually take them back to their former greatness.
Y’all let us be very honest the majority of Seventh-day Adventist Churches and schools (elementary & secondary) are dying or plateaued in North America. Is it because we are more committed to the Disney princesses of the past than looking toward new ideas, methods, structures, & solutions? When someone comments on our decline do we become defensive? Bringing up the past? Making excuses?
- “Oh our church used to be full, if we could just get the right pastor.”
- “We used to have so many students in attendance and if we just hang-on a few more years I believe we can be back there again.”
- “The conference hasn’t given us the support that we need.”
- “If we could just keep more of our tithe.”
Many churches and schools are going to die because they were more committed to what they once were, rather than realizing who they are now and adjusting to their current reality.
I believe there are a “big three” things that Seventh-day Adventists should be committed to that came from the past because they are timeless in their ministration unto the people of God in the present:
- The Trinity: God The Father, His Son Jesus Christ, & The Holy Spirit
- The Word of God
- The writings of Ellen G. White
Everything else from the past, while being held fondly in our hearts, should be available to change.
- Church service times (11 a.m. is not sacred)
- Church structure (General Conference, Division, Union, Conference, Local Church)
- Church service format (We don’t have to start with announcements and a hymn)
- Online campuses
- Satellite campuses
- School satellite campuses
- Merging of schools…or maybe even better if feasible: following Mrs. White’s counsel and encouraging each church to have their own school thus…
- Dividing of schools
- Location of schools (see above)
- Less ordained ministers in administrative positions and more in the field
- Non-traditional evangelism receiving the majority of the evangelistic dollars
- Sabbath Schools each day of the week rather than just Sabbath morning
- The placement of Bible Workers taking precedent over placing associate or even head pastors in churches/districts
- Tithe distribution
- Every pastor must plant a church that can adequately support them or they no longer have a job (oh wait that is from the past, but I still love it!)
- Congregational expectations of a pastor
The list could go on and on. Maybe you have a few?
My appeal to the church I love:
If it’s not one of the big three then let go of all that you think made us great, honor it appreciate it, but to quote the latest Disney princess, “let it go, let it go”; because in North America 1.3% growth is not great and clinging to the Disney princesses of the past hoping greatness arrives once again does not justly serve the cause of this movement that Jesus placed on earth to usher in His Second Coming!
A Pitch-Back Baseball Training Aid, The Sabbath, & the Happiest Moment of My Day!
A story that leads to the happiest moment of my day:
After much pleading I bought Dayton a pitch back baseball training aid today. He said he wanted it because he wanted “to practice [his] baseball catching.”
It was $20, so on the condition, my exact words, “he practice EVERY SINGLE DAY” I bought it.
Well I have to say I was impressed immediately after I put it together; he & his little brother spent close to an hour playing with it.
Then after dinner outside (we live in California 😉 ), he spent another hour practicing.
It was during this second stint of practice as I was sitting at the computer working on something and watching the boys through the window that I saw Dayton suddenly stop and he came running into the house.
Dayton ran up to me baseball mitt and ball in hand–I noticed a concerned, maybe even distressed look on his face and then these words flowed out of his mouth,
“Daddy I will practice all the other days I promise; but I don’t want to practice baseball on the Sabbath.”
I smiled gently though inside I was absolutely beaming!
I said, “Dayton I think that is a good idea. Thank you for correcting & reminding me.”
He got a big ‘ole smile on his face and ran back outside to play some more.
He made a deal with his Dad, he was concerned about breaking the deal, but he was willing to do it for his convictions on the Sabbath. Even though I would have told him I didn’t mean Sabbath too, he didn’t know that. All he knew was that he told his Dad he would practice every day, but then his little 5 year old mind remembered that he had a more important Dad that asked him to “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy…” And to Dayton without anyone prompting him, practicing baseball and keeping Sabbath holy didn’t jive and so he had to break the deal with me. His face showed this concerned him, but his convictions were more important.
He didn’t ask, he said, “”Daddy I will practice all the other days I promise; but I don’t want to practice baseball on The Sabbath.”
The Ten Most Read Posts In March 2014 & A Secret Bonus List at the End
You’ll want to read through this entire post, b/c at the bottom there is a special top ten list that you won’t want to miss! But first check out the top ten most read posts for March 2014
- How I Hope Adventists Will Respond to the Kenneth Copeland/Pope Francis Video: This post not only is number one for this month, but after its second month in the top 5, it became the new number one post on Outside the Pulpit of all time!
- Why the Recent Rhetoric in the Church Makes Me Want to Shout About “SPIRITUAL FORMATION”: This blog while having another strong showing in the month of March it lost it’s hold on the number one all time post after just one month.
- Kurt Cobain: A Different Perspective Twenty Years Later : The previous two posts were written in other months, this is the first top ten written in this month.
- Genesis 1:29 Supported in Six Minutes with No Words: Several things I have observed and have been pointed out to me since I first posted this video. First, that this is about more than what we eat, but rather the cruelty to animals. We should remember they are creatures created by God. The second idea is that gluttony not necessity drives a lot of the meat consumption in this world. Third, we can’t just pick on meat, sugar, soda, etc.; the gluttony of these things is just as detrimental to us as is the massive unhealthy meat consumption.
- Jesus’ TED Talk: I liked this post. Not a lot of others read it, but I enjoyed typing it.
- A Response to Elder Stephen Bohr’s “Reflections on Deborah & Huldah: This one still gaining readers with each passing month.
- What the Church Can Learn from: “The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos & the Age of Amazon“
- Faster Pastor Episode #7: “Is Christmas Compatible with Christ?”: This third all time most read blog is still reaching the top ten from month to month.
- Help! Adventist Ed is Dying
- The Superiority of Adventist Education WOW it is back into the top ten! This post has a continuous life.
Ten Posts You Probably Never Read (Because not too many people did:) )
Disclaimer: I don’t remember most of these so if they don’t sound like me, maybe I’ve changed since writing them.
- Thou Shalt Not Deceive Oneself
- Learning About Church Planting Day 1:Not sure what happened to the other days 🙂
- The Twitter Blessings
- What Are You Worth? This is actually a video by David Asscherick that blessed my heart!
- You Don’t Do It; Why Should They?
- My Central Valley!
- Tomorrow
- Oh My…
- Perspective From My Two-and-a-Half Year Old
- I’m Not Convicted…
Kurt Cobain: A Different Perspective Twenty Years Later
This coming week, April 5th, 2014 will be the 20th anniversary of the suicide of one Mr. Kurt Cobain.
Cobain was 27 years old–
I was 16 years old.
I was crushed!
Kurt Cobain for those that don’t know was the lead singer of the Grunge band, “Nirvana.” In 1994 for me music was all about Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Doors, and Celine Dion. Yes, that is right I said Celine Dion…there is a story to that last one, but I’ll spare you of it.
Nirvana though was truly at the top of my music love list! I was an acerbic kid and the in-your-face lyrics that Kurt Cobain as the lead singer and songwriter produced resonated with my bitter life.
I had grown-up hearing the stories of the 60’s, always feeling that I had been born in the wrong era, but now I felt like this man, Kurt Cobain, was our generations Janis Joplin or Jim Morrison. And I guess he truly was since he/his music was loud, in your face, and just like that–dead.
While he didn’t die of a drug overdose like Joplin & Morrison, Cobain died of a self-inflicted gun-shot wound. The autopsy report revealed that if he hadn’t killed himself with a gun-shot blast he would have been dead from drugs shortly anyway as his body was so full of them his heart would have likely stopped that same day.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember camping out in front of the TV for days taking in every single story from, what was then truly a music channel, MTV.
You see I wasn’t just a fan of “Smells Like Teen Spirit”; in fact I resented those individuals that acted upset by Cobain’s death but really only knew that one song. NO! I was a true fan, I even had a cassette tape of “Bleach” their independently released album.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember being almost proud of Cobain. His suicide made him even more heroic to my teenage mind. I thought, “Cobain had had enough. Society had been “raping” him so long and he finally said ‘that’s it, you can’t touch me anymore.'” (this was the language I would use in reference to his song “Rape Me”).
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I remember being affirmed in my own desire to die. I thought going out like Cobain would be somehow satisfying, I was I guess you could say caught-up in the Werther effect or Suicide Contagion of Cobain’s death.
Twenty years ago when I heard the news I turned on Nirvana and got high in honor of Cobain.
Twenty years ago I gave no thought to the the 2-year-old daughter Cobain was leaving behind.
Twenty years later my perspective has changed…
My new perspective can be summed-up in three thoughts:
- Jesus’ heart hurt(s) because He loves Kurt Cobain and died for him, just like He died for the rest of us. This is a truth that should resonate in the mind of every Christian at the knowledge of each and every death in this world. We should not become callus to death, the greatest evidence of our greatest enemy, and we definitely should never glorify it! Jesus died, in part to put an end to all death.
- Kurt Cobain reached the final destination that all folk that don’t understand and accept the love of Jesus will eventually arrive at. No, maybe all won’t take their lives like Cobain did; but all, apart from Jesus, will at some point in their quiet moments, in their alone times, in their solitude feel a deep emptiness that they believe nothing but death can take away.
- While I was mourning the death of Kurt Cobain twenty-years ago, Jesus was orchestrating things so that I would choose to worship a different hero that gave of His life freely rather than ending it selfishly. That is a pretty amazing truth. If you had told that 16 year old kid that He would one day be a preacher in love with Jesus I would have had a very hard time believing you. It was at that time much easier to believe my ultimate reality would fall more along the lines of Mr. Cobain’s. I praise Jesus while I was wandering aimlessly after the world of Cobain, Jesus was wandering not so aimlessly after me.