the reluctant leader

Seven Deadly Sins of the Pulpit

I was digging through an old notebook this morning, looking for notes on Ephesians 1 for my sermon this weekend at Bethel Franklin. I did not find what I was looking for, but I did find piles of vintage Steve Murrell sermons. This blog is a summary of a sermon I preached at Victory-Manila in November, 2004. Not sure where the original idea come from, but I think it was inspired by a conversation with Rice Broocks.

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It is increasingly common today to hear parts of the gospel proclaimed. The same was happening in the early church. In Acts 20:26,27 Paul says to the Ephesian church elders, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you.  For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the WHOLE WILL OF GOD. (Acts 20:26, 27)

Unlike many modern preachers, Paul refused to edit out the difficult parts of the message. He insisted on preaching the whole gospel.

In 604, Pope Gregory wrote about the "Seven Deadly Sins" which included pride, gluttony, envy, lust, anger, greed, and laziness. In the spirit of the Pope's top seven, here's my list of "Seven Deadly Sins of the Pulpit." 

1. PREACHING CHRIST WITHOUT THE CROSS. No cost Christianity. Paul determined to know and preach nothing except Christ and Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Today it seems we preach everything but Christ and the cross, causing many to live as enemies of the cross (Philippians 3:18).

2. PREACHING SALVATION WITHOUT SANCTIFICATION. No change Christianity. So many claim Christ today with no evidence or change in their lives, and the pulpit is at least partially to blame.

3. PREACHING DECISIONS WITHOUT DISCIPLESHIP. No commitment Christianity. I know we are getting crowds and decisions, but are we making disciples?

4. PREACHING LOVE WITHOUT LORDSHIP. No compliance Christianity. Jesus is Lord, and because He is Lord, he heals, delivers, provides, and saves.  

5. PREACHING PROSPERITY WITHOUT PURPOSE. No cause Christianity. God blesses us so that we can be a blessing.

6. PREACHING BLESSING WITHOUT BIRTHRIGHT. No covenant Christianity. Esau threw away his birthright and still expected a blessing. It does not work that way. If we want the blessing, we must accept the covenantal responsibilities that go with the birthright. 

7. PREACHING REVIVAL WITHOUT REFORMATION. No transformation Christianity. We are called to be salt and light, to impact individuals and cultures, families and nations. The gospel is supposed to be transformational.

I have certainly been guilty of all of above at different times in my life as a preacher. As I have matured, hopefully, I'm being more and more faithful to preaching the WHOLE WILL OF GOD. How about you?    

 

Faith is a Journey

While preparing for my Easter sermon, I read John 20 over and over and over. Finally, I decided not to try to convince my audience to believe in the resurrection of Christ, but to talk about the journey of faith. For some the faith journey is quick. Others take it slowly. Most are somewhere between fast and slow.

John 20 pictures three different individual paces in the faith journey: John, Mary Magdalene, and Thomas.

John - Immediate faith, with little understanding. Mary was first at the empty tomb, then John, then Peter. (John 20:1-9) All three saw the same scene. Mary believed the wrong thing. Peter was still processing. John "saw and believed" immediately. No questions. No doubts. Just faith. Immediate faith. Most faith journeys are not like John's. Most take a bit more time.

Mary Magdalene - second look faith, after a personal encounter with Jesus. Mary saw the same thing John saw. Yet she did not immediately believe Jesus was resurrected. She believed someone took his body. That seemed more logical. Then she saw the resurrected Jesus and thought he was the gardener. She asked the "gardener" if he knew where they had taken the body. Jesus called her name, "Mary" and she  recognized Him. Sometimes Jesus is right in front of us and we don't recognize Him. But when He calls our name, we realize He is alive and near. 

Thomas - eventual faith, after carefully examining the evidence. It was a week later before Thomas believed. Everyone else was on board, but he needed more evidence. He needed to see and touch. He had seen miracles for three years, but he needed more evidence before he would accept the resurrection. Finally when Jesus walked though a wall and showed Thomas his nail-scared hands, Thomas believed. Maybe that is what it takes for some, to see the evidence of his suffering on our behalf, then we believe.

It does not matter if you are like John and believe immediately with little evidence, or like Thomas needing more evidence, as long as you believe in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It is not the pace of our faith that matters, it is the object of our faith.

Discipleship is about helping people no matter where they are on the faith journey.

 

Believing in God is Not Enough

Last Sunday I started a sermon series on the Apostles' Creed. This ancient baptismal confession begins with I BELIEVE IN GOD...

Most people in the world today believe in God. But, do they believe in the God of the Bible, or a god of their own making?

Following are some statements by people who BELIEVE IN GOD.

"I believe in one God. I don’t believe in religion. I don’t believe in Christians or Muslims. I think it’s all the same God, and I don’t believe in Hell. But as far as God, of course I believe in God." -Jay-Z

"I believe that there are many paths to God, or many paths to the light. I certainly don’t believe there is only one way." -Oprah

“Sometimes I believe in God, sometimes I don’t. I think it’s 50-50 maybe. But ever since I’ve had cancer, I’ve been thinking about it more. And I find myself believing a bit more.” -Steve Jobs

“I believe in Jesus, I believe in God, I’m very spiritual, I pray. At the same time there isn’t one religion that doesn’t hate or speak against or be prejudiced against another racial group or religious group or sexual group. I guess you could say I’m a very religious woman who is confused about religion.” -Lady Gaga

Jay-Z, Oprah, Steve Jobs, and Lady Gaga all BELIEVE IN GOD. But is belief in God enough? I don't think so. And neither did James who wrote, You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that---and shudder. (James 2:19)

The demons James writes about not only believed in God, they believed in the true God, and they believed the truth about God. Yet, despite their belief, they were still demons.

Likewise, many today who BELIEVE IN GOD still live like demons. Belief, even right belief, is not enough. Believing in God simply qualifies a person to be a demon.

Belief or faith is one side of a two sided coin. The other side of the coin is repentance. Faith is turning to God. Repentance is turning from sin. We can't do one without the other. And that's why mere belief in God is not enough.

So, the question is not simply do you believe in God, but have you turned from sin and turned to God?

 

 

Creativity and Relevance Are Way Overrated

A few days ago I tweeted the following: Creativity and relevance are way overrated. If you want a healthy church you might want to try consistency and reliability.

That one got multiple re-tweets, upping my weekly re-tweet average from one to two. For those unfamiliar with the twitterverse, a re-tweet means the author of said tweet is both profound and important. A re-tweet brings much honor to the family name.

Back to the point. I am tired of watching sincerely dedicated pastors and church planters focus on things that ultimately don't matter and on things that don't transform lives, all in the name of being creative and relevant.

Creativity is fine and good, but it does not break the power of sin. Relevance appears to be hip and cool, but it does not restore broken relationships or heal broken bodies.

I have done church for a long time. Sometimes I have been creative. Often I have not. But I have always tried my best to be consistent: to do what I say I will do, to stay faithful to the basics of the Faith.

Over the years, I'm sure there have been times when I looked relevant, and times when I did not. But I think my church is healthy today because relevant or not, I have been reliable (ie: authentic, genuine, trustworthy, dependable).

I know this is not an either/or situation. It is possible to be creative and relevant, and consistent and reliable at the same time. But too many pastors and preachers tend to go all OCD about creativity and seemingly forget that the power is in the gospel.

Question: I know you are creative and relevant, but are you consistently preaching the gospel?

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because IT IS THE POWER OF GOD for the salvation of everyone who believes... (Romans 1:16)

Three Controversial But Important Topics We Must Address

Pastors and ministers have countless topics to address and an unending stream questions to answer, but none are as important in 2012 as these:

1. The Exclusivity of Christ - Are all religions equal? Are there many paths to God? Or is Jesus the only way to God as stated in John 14:6? ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.")

2. The Authority of Scripture - Is the Bible trustworthy, or flawed? Is the Bible authoritative, or merely suggestive?

3. The Sanctity of Marriage - Does marriage still matter? Is marriage exclusively between one man and one woman? Is it ok to redefine marriage to fit in with contemporary cultural values?

These questions will not go away. If we don't address them, someone else will.

My Job as a Preacher Just Got Simpler

While reading a familiar scripture this morning, I think my job as a teacher/preacher just got clearer and simpler.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!"" -Isaiah 52:7

1. The job of the preacher is to "PROCLAIM salvation" not to debate, argue, appease, apologize, placate or politic. Simply proclaim the truth.

2. The job of the preacher is to "bring good NEWS" not to bring good advice. News is something that already happened, not something that might happen in the future. Salvation is the same as news, past event not future speculation.

3. The job of the preacher is to remind God's people that "GOD REIGNS." In difficult times people need to know that God controls the affairs of man. All of them. All the time. We also need to know He is in charge during the good times, lest we take credit for our own success.

7 Truths About the Gospel

After decades of being ignored and/or distorted, the gospel seems to be making a come-back in the Western Church, and that is a good trend. Pulpits that used to feature anemic man-centered self-help sermons are again aflame with powerful Christ-honoring gospel-centered preaching. This new generation of church planters, pastors and preachers are not ashamed of the gospel. Like Paul, they preach it over and over and over. They never get tired of it. Neither did Paul. He mentioned the word "gospel" six times in the first chapter of Romans, revealing seven truths about the gospel we are supposed to preach:

1. Paul was set apart for the gospel. (Rom 1:1) Paul was not primarily called to social justice, political reform or Christian education. While those are important, the gospel is central and essential. All the good that has been accomplished through our church in terms of social justice and helping the poor has been rooted in and empowered by the preaching of the gospel.

2. The gospel was promised beforehand by the prophets. (Rom 1:2) Paul did not create the gospel. His message was not new. He faithfully preached what the prophets of old had promised - a seamless continuity of God's message.  

3. Paul served God by preaching the gospel. (Rom 1:9) In some circles it is popular to question the validity of preaching the gospel unless it is rooted in relationship and preceded by improving social conditions. To Paul, preaching the gospel was serving God.

4. Paul was eager to preach the gospel. (Rom 1:15) Eager, enthusiastic, motivated, dedicated, committed. To the wise and the foolish, to the Greeks and non-Greeks, to those in Judea and in Rome. The gospel was central to Paul's calling and to his lifestyle. It was also the central cause of his persecution, but let's not dwell on that for now. 

5. Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. (Rom 1:16) Paul was ashamed of sin, but not the gospel. Today many Christians seem ashamed of the gospel, but comfortable with sin.

6. The gospel is the power of God for salvation. (Rom 1:16) Salvation requires the power of God, not the effort of man. Self-righteous good deeds are powerless. Life-changing power is only found in the gospel.

7. The gospel is about the righteousness of God. (Rom 1:17) God's righteousness is not earned or deserved. It is revealed, in the gospel.

Note to pastors and all believers who are making disciples in small groups: Be like Paul and PREACH THE GOSPEL, OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

 

Church Growth: Are You Playing the Numbers Game?

A couple of decades ago when I was a fledgling church-planter, I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I didn't let that stop me. In those days church growth was all the rage. I read church growth books and took a pilgrimage to Korea in an attempt to learn how to grow a church. I think my primary motive was love for the lost, probably mixed with a bit of self-absorbed insecurity and youthful ignorance.

Early on I had this idea that as long as there was one lost person in my city, then my church was not big enough. I still think that way, and I hope I never get over my obsessive compassion for the lost.

While church growth books and seminars seem to now be out of style in most Western circles, I remain convinced that un-churched, de-churched and anti-church people still matter to God, and they should matter to us. I am convinced that we are supposed to do our best to engage our communities with the gospel. If we do a decent job of engaging, our churches will grow. And, that is a good thing, whether our growth is organic, organized or orchestrated.

Anyone concerned with growth will eventually have to deal with numbers. The trick is to figure out which numbers really matter and which numbers don't.

Many church leaders make the mistake of thinking that the two numbers that matter the most are the offering amount and Sunday attendance. Those two numbers often deceive us and never tell the whole story.

Yesterday I received a year end report from my Manila office that contained a lot of numbers about our church (Victory). Some of those numbers were vital, others were simply interesting. Here are 3 of the most important numbers on that report and why they matter to us: 91, 5009, 4183.

91 WORSHIP SERVICES in 16 Metro Manila venues with 58 preaching pastors. Victory is a multi-site multi-service multi-generational church that meets all over Metro Manila. Because leadership development is important to us, we do not use digital sermons, only live preachers. So, for us to grow from 80 services in 14 locations to 91 services in 16 locations, we had to identify, instruct and empower new preachers, kids pastors, worship leaders, head ushers and other leaders. Because we increased the number of venues and worship services, our attendance increased 31.4% from 2010 to 2011. We have averaged about 30% annual growth for 10 consecutive years. But, the most important number is not how many show up, but how many we raise up to places of leadership. That's why discipleship numbers are so important...

5009 DISCIPLESHIP GROUPS (called "Victory Groups") meeting weekly in Metro Manila. That number is probably the most important number we track. It is the foundation of every other number that matters. 5009 represents a 41.8% increase in 12 months. That's a good number and that's good news! We also saw a 29.2% increase (from 1,827 to 2,360) in Training for Victory participation, which is a foundational part of our discipleship training track.

4183 BAPTISMS in 2011. Another important number. Most of our baptisms are conducted at Victory Weekend which had a 71.3% 2010 to 2011 increase from 3149 to 5393 participants.

Are you playing the numbers game? I hope you are, as long as you are tracking the right numbers.

Depending on what kind of church you want to be, some numbers will be more important than others. For us, numbers reflecting evangelism, discipleship and leadership development are the most important numbers we track. The unavoidable and eventual result of evangelism, discipleship and leadership numbers increasing will be more people showing up at our worship services and more money in the offerings.

SUMMARY: Stop obsessing over nickles and noses and start making disciples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can I Get A Witness?

Can't get the idea of being a witness off my mind today. Here's why:

- At church yesterday (Bethel Franklin) the band played one of those "Can-I-Get-A-Witness-Shout-Amen" gospel songs.

- This morning I opened my Purple Book to page 113 and answered questions based on Acts 1:8 that asked, "What is a witness? What does it mean to be Christ's witness? Where were Christ's followers to be witnesses?"

- Then I clicked the sports page and read about Tim Tebow's latest football exploits and how his teammates admit he is a 24/7 witness.

A witness is someone who tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

1. THE TRUTH. A long time ago a powerful, but misguided political leader asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38) Good question. Jesus pre-answered that question in John 14, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Do you talk about the Truth, not just the facts, but the Person? 

2. THE WHOLE TRUTH. It is common for pastors and church people to edit unpopular truth out of their sermons and conversations, but a true witness will un-apologetically tell the WHOLE truth, and...

3. NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. Nothing added. No matter how popular and relevant the ad-on might be. Even if Oprah's latest guru of the month endorses it. A witness tells nothing but the truth.

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be MY WITNESSES in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." --Jesus in Acts 1:8

Can HE get a witness - one who will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?

 

 

Sometimes You Have to Break the (religious) Rules

While driving to the office this morning, both local sports radio talk shows were talking about Tim Tebow's technical problems. (Note to non-American readers: Tim Tebow is an American football player. American football is a game where the ball is thrown and caught with the hands, and should not be confused with international football where the ball is kicked with the foot.) It didn't matter that Tebow's team won the game. The talking heads only talked about the problem: Tebow's passing accuracy.

When it comes to problems, everyone has an expert opinion. Just listen to talk radio, water cooler conversations and presidential debates. Yea, we love to talk about the problem. The topic doesn't matter - politics, poverty, parenting or passing fundamentals - experts about the problem abound. But unfortunately most have little to say about the solution.

One of the most hopeless problems in New Testamant times was leprosy. It had no cure and therefore left its victims in a hopeless situation. Jewish religious and cultural tradition taught those with leprosy (and other infectious skin diseases) to SHOUT THE PROBLEM. 

“Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp. (Leviticus 13:45,46)

Lepers were required to "live outside the camp" in isolation from the rest of society. And, if they ever happened to get near another human, they were supposed to shout their problem: "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!"

Most church people have that "shout the problem" thing down pat. We're good at identifying and shouting about our problems. The same way lepers of old shouted "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!" we love to talk about our problems: "Bad marriage! Bad marriage! Lousy job! Lousy job! Rebellious kids! Rebellious kids! Boring sermon! Boring Sermon!"

Jesus encountered lepers several times. They all had hopeless cases. There was no cure for their problem. They were rejected and lonely, left to beg. And when they had human encounters, they were supposed to shout their problem, "UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!" 

But twice Jesus encountered lepers who broke the rules. They did the exact opposite of what their religious tradition expected of them. Rather than shouting the problem, they shouted the ANSWER!

"Lord, if you are willing, YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN." -LUKE 5:12

"Jesus, Master, have pity on us." -Luke 17:13

These two shouted the answer, and these are the ones Jesus healed. What about you, do you shout your problem or do you shout God's answer?

 

NOTE: This blog is a summary/preview of my Thanksgiving sermon that will be preached this weekend at Bethel Franklin as part of our "Living by Faith" series.