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?    

 

God is Holy, Sin is Costly, Idolatry is Offensive

I read Leviticus on my recent Manila to Nashville flight and tweeted a 140 character summary. Now, a few weeks later, I'm not sitting in the Atlanta airport about to board My Delta flight to South Africa. Here's my quick summary of the twenty-seven chapters in Leviticus employing more that 140 characters.

1. GOD IS HOLY. Holiness is not something God does. It is not a list of religious rules. He is holy. It is his nature. What he does flows from who he is.

2. SIN IS COSTLY. It is impossible to exaggerate this point. The whole book of Leviticus, from start to finish, lays out the cost of covering sin: the blood of bulls, birds and lambs. If temporarily covering sin was that costly, what about the cost of forgiving sin forever?

3. IDOLATRY IS OFFENSIVE. Maybe not to our culture and our community, but idolatry is offensive to God.

4. WORSHIP IS AWESOME. Ultimately, the book of Leviticus is about worship. And the worship in Leviticus is not to be taken lightly. Worship is awesome because the God we worship is awesome. If our worship is anything but awesome, maybe we are not really worshipping the only true God.

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.

 

10 Things You Must Know to Succeed in Ministry

I landed in Manila less than 48 hours ago, and as usual I hit the ground running. Today, despite the jet lag coma, I taught six sessions at our ministry school. My students included future campus missionaries, future youth pastors and future kids ministers.

I love training and equipping next generation leaders. No matter how busy or tired I am, I always have time and energy for future leaders.

Here's what I taught in today's three afternoon sessions: TEN THINGS YOU MUST KNOW FOR LONG-TERM SUCCESS IN MINISTRY.

1. You must know that GOD LOVES YOU and accepts you because of who he is and what he did for you, not because of who you are and what you do for him. Otherwise you will live and die on the performance treadmill.

2. You must know that GOD CALLED YOU to do campus ministry. Once you know this is a calling and not just a job, then the option to quit is off the table.

3. You must know that GOD WILL PROVIDE for all your needs. No way around it; this is a trust (faith) issue, and he is trustworthy.

4. You must that know THE GOSPEL WORKS in all situations at all times, otherwise you will spin your wheels trying all kinds of gimmicks and flavors-of-the-month. Cool hairdos and designer jeans never transformed a life.

5. You must know HOW TO FORGIVE. More than any other job, ministry will provide countless opportunities to practice forgiveness.

6. You must know how and when to SAY NO. Rather than doing everything that can be done in the name of God, narrow the focus and you will accomplish more.

7. You must know how to ENGAGE your culture & community. This is the starting line for making disciples.

8. You must know how to ESTABLISH biblical foundations. This is the central core of making disciples.

9. You must know how to EQUIP believers to minister. This ensures that discipleship grows in quality as well as quantity.

10. You must know how to EMPOWER disciples to make disciples. This enables discipleship to multiply exponentially.

Another episode of Man vs Jet Lag continues tomorrow. Stay tuned. Bye.

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.

Are You Serving God the Old Way or the New Way?

There are basically two ways to serve God:

1. "The Old Way of the Written Code" (Human effort, good works, religious duty)

2. "The New Way of the Spirit" (Grace, faith, power of the Holy Spirit)

Paul, a very religious man, finally figured out he had spent his entire life serving God the old way, living by the written code. He then tried to explain his new revelation to the Romans. "We have been released from the law so that we serve in the NEW WAY OF THE SPIRIT, and not in the OLD WAY OF THE WRITTEN CODE." (Romans 7:6)

This is one of those either/or things, not a both/and thing. We can't do both. We can't live the old way and the new way at the same time. We either trust in God's grace or we trust in our works. We either trust in what God did for us or what we do for him. Either/or.

I know you are serving God, but are you doing it the old way or the new way?

 

 

 

A Judgment Day Blog

Reading Romans on my early morning Nashville to Minneapolis to Calgary flight... (I hate early morning flights!)

In chapter 2 Paul writes about what many modern preachers are afraid to talk about: JUDGMENT.

Sorry, but the J word is all over the Bible, so we can't just ignore it and hope it is edited out of the next translation. We must preach it, teach it, tweet it, blog it, prepare for it, and help others prepare for it.

Romans 2 teaches us four facts about God as Judge and about Judgment Day.

1. No Excuses Accepted.
"You, therefore, have NO EXCUSE..." (Romans 2:1)
I've heard and created lots of really good excuses to disobey and dishonor God, but none will ever be good enough.

2. No Escape Possible.
"...do you think you will ESCAPE God's judgment?" (Romans 2:3
No one in history has ever escaped God's judgment. And no one ever will. Not me. Not you.

3. No Favoritism Extended.
"God does not show FAVORITISM." (Romans 2:11)
It does not matter how popular you are, how much money you have, who you are related to, or who owes you one - none of that helps on Judgment Day.

4. No Secrets Unknown.
"...God will judge men's SECRETS (Romans 2:11)
You know that thing you did and got away with and no one else on the planet knows about? God knows.

Are you ready for J Day? Pastors, are you helping people get ready?

"Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear." (1 Peter 1:17)