For some time now I have had a growing feeling of revulsion at the marketing of resources for the gospel enterprise of taking the message of Jesus to a lost world.
This feeling was added to by the thoughts of fellow southern Californian preacher, TIm Spivey, in his blog on September 3, 2009.
It appears to me that every seminar I go to and most Christian websites I go are trying to get me to buy something. There is a balance in all this. I know it costs money to get resources to the point where they are readily available to me if I want them. I also understand that Christian authors have a right to live off the proceeds of their ministry just as Paul had a right to receive financial support while preaching (1 Cor. 9:1-14).
However it appears to me that the balance has tipped over into over-commercialization. It appears that the bean counters and investment entrepreneurs have entered into this Christian ministry area and have discovered you can turn a tidy profit.
We have a situation now where there is a huge and hugely successful business in selling two of the primary components of our enterprise as God's people. Worship music, and Gospel teaching.
I know I am judging people's motives here but I also know that when it comes to the Gospel we need to be very careful to not appear as mercenary. We have enough trouble with the negative image of churches as "only after my money".
I was so moved by Rick Warren, an extremely successful Christian author, when he would not accept all the proceeds (millions of dollars) of the sales of his books etc.(90% of all the profits from The Purpose Driven Life goes to our Acts of Mercy foundation) and chose to live on the same middle class income he had always lived on. More details on this. He was preaching, writing, teaching because of a fire within him, not to make a buck and he didn't want to be perceived any other way.
It is the slick publishing houses and other engine rooms of getting product to market that are driving this. The man of God who pens a book is not the problem. It is the one who lives for the profit of the book, rather than the prophet of the Book. Terrible puns but they make the point.
So, the next time I go to a seminar, I don't want to be accosted by marketeers trying to sell me something like those guys around the islands at the mall. No, I don't want a free sample of moisturizer. And I suppose that is what is really bothering me and I acknowledge it may just be paranoid, over sensitive me. I am starting to feel like the target of a pitch man for some product.
I have worked enough sales in my life (to support my preaching habit) to recognize when someone is trying to pitch me or close a sale to me. I also know that I would feel a little helpless without my library that came through the same channels I am know criticizing.
So, I am conflicted, and that's par for the course for me. I just want to go to a Christian seminar without it feeling like a sales showcase. Preach to me. Rebuke me. Love me. Encourage me. Just stop trying to turn a buck in your ministry to me.
What Do You Live For?
There is this great old Dudley Moore movie called Arthur. Arthur was a rich 30 something drunk who was taken care of by his butler, Hobson, played by Sir John Gielgud. When asked to run a bath for Arthur, Hobson responds sarcastically, “It’s what I live for.”
Ever since then, it has been a running joke between Julie and I when either of us ask the other to do something menial. Would you like to take out the trash? It’s what I live for. Usually said with a snear.
But, seriously, what do we live for? What is it that moves us? What do our energies focus on? This is the central question that Jesus asks us. What are we living for?
Most of the time we don’t even have to think about it. Life just demands that we live for so many things. Our children. Our jobs. Our houses. Our sports. Our bodies. Our wives or husbands. Our friends. Our music.
We acknowledge that these are good things but they don’t seem to fully fill that part in us that needs filling. You know that part? You work and play and do the right thing and still there feels like there is something missing.
The wealthy and the famous seem to have it all and yet they medicate themselves to death (literally), or drink themselves into oblivion. The middle class family with a mortgage and 2.5 children seem happy but when you scratch the surface you find this black hole of dissatisfaction or despair.
Jesus says that this feeling comes from each of us not living up to God’s purpose for us. Read Matthew 6. Yes, the whole chapter. What else are you doing? He says that you don’t find your fulfillment in the good things in life. He says that you find it in living for Him.
Notice carefully the following words of Jesus. “… If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” (Matthew 16:24,25).
We are designed to serve God. We are His children. We are His creation. He knows what the best life for us is. He says clearly that if you want to find life you have to lose it in submission to Him.
What are you living for? God says that it should be Him. When you start living for God, the things that you used to think were good get even better. Why? Because that is the way God designed it.
Church even gets better. When each of us is serving God rather than our own interests then church changes from and a religion into a family. Churches are full of Christians who are just proud, self-interested egotists. Yes, they are. Why else are there so many disputes? Read James 4:1-10 if you don’t believe me.
What are you living for? If it’s not God you have missed the point of being a Christian. If it’s not God you don’t stand much chance as a Christian. Rededicate yourself today to your Father. Choose to live for him and not yourself. Repeat with Paul, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). That is God’s plan for every single one of us.
Appendix Speaks
For as long as I can remember my appendix has been maligned as useless. It was said we may have used it once but now it was useless. Somehow this was used as a proof that our bodies had evolved from another species. Here is a fascinating article from Newsweek that reveals the use for this ugly little organ.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/211981
In the final analysis its apparent uselessness is due to our improving diet and health. That makes a lot more sense than believing a distant ancestor was a very smart ape.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/211981
In the final analysis its apparent uselessness is due to our improving diet and health. That makes a lot more sense than believing a distant ancestor was a very smart ape.
Fire
The fires in the Los Angeles area are really getting out of hand. So glad that the wind is not too bad. Julie works in La Canada which was threatened but seems to be OK now.
Great Free Software
I came across a great company that has great software, all with free version for both Mac and Windows. It's called NCH Software. Terrible name but great software. Check it out at http://www.nchsoftware.com/software/thanks.html?software=Scribe&version=4.30
God is Always Working
Why does it surprise us when it becomes so evident that God is working? God spoke to me today a few times through the lives of people at church.
There was a young couple visiting for the first time. They had recently moved to downtown LA. They visited with a church in Orange County and someone there said they should come a visit with us. They did and they said they liked it. They were young adults and one of them works at Warners Bros. I didn't know anything about them before today but God did. He was working. God was saying to me, "Just because you didn't see me working doesn't mean I am not at work. Walk by faith."
That was just one of the stories that came to life for me today. There was another that was too amazing to even tell right now. I hope I can tell it one day.
There was a young couple visiting for the first time. They had recently moved to downtown LA. They visited with a church in Orange County and someone there said they should come a visit with us. They did and they said they liked it. They were young adults and one of them works at Warners Bros. I didn't know anything about them before today but God did. He was working. God was saying to me, "Just because you didn't see me working doesn't mean I am not at work. Walk by faith."
That was just one of the stories that came to life for me today. There was another that was too amazing to even tell right now. I hope I can tell it one day.
You Got Questions? God’s Got Questions.
Something goes wrong. You lose your job. Your income drops. A close friend learns they have cancer. The things that can go wrong form a pretty long list, don’t they?
When the hard edge of life hits you, you are immediately shocked out of your peace (or complacency) and you cry out in pain. For Christians this pain is doubled. We thought God was Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. We knew the Hebrew word and everything and still its seems like God’s provision for us has dried up.
We start to question God. That’s a nice way of putting it. Sometimes we start to get angry at God, feel sorry for ourselves and question our faith in one pathetic rant after another.
I know you have questions about God. I’ve got them as well. However, in your disappointment with God’s performance, God has some questions for you. I love these questions. They bring me back to where I really am, rather than that pretend place where I thought I was (often called the “You expected God to do what?” land). God is not going to hold back with these questions. He will confront you with the truth and it may hurt. Are you ready? Brace yourselves.
“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” Job 38:3, 4. Where were you when God created the universe? That’s right. You weren’t anywhere. You weren’t even a thought in any human heart. You have come late to this party and you need to understand that one who created the party knows a whole lot more about that you do.
“Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” Job 38:5. Who did that? Who created the seas? Who gave orders to the sun and it obeyed? That’s right. God did. And what can you do? That’s right. Not much. God is not holding back. He isn’t being nasty. He is just trying to give you some perspective on your situation. You asked questions. If you can question God, certainly He can question you. And His questions haven’t finished.
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?” Job 39:1, 2. What do you really know about your environment? Maybe a little if you watch the Discovery Channel. But do you care for the doe as she goes through her pregnancy? No, you don’t. Because you can’t. God can and he does. He even knows the number of hairs on your head and you question His concern for you.
“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings towards the south?” Job 39:26. Come on, you are pretty smart. Does your intelligence (or that of all people) give rise to something as spectacular as a hawk in flight? No you can’t. God can and does it a million times a day with the millions of creatures He created.
God has one final question for you. “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”” Job 40:2. Now that you have seen who you are questioning, do you still presume to correct Him? I love the answer of one who had suffered so much pain and loss.
“I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more.”” Job 40:4, 5, NIV.
God is in control. Even, when it looks like He isn’t, know that He is. That’s what faith is. Believing in the invisible and the unbelievable.
Your suffering is not an insignificant thing to God. He loves you more than you will ever know. Don’t turn from Him just when you are about to learn the next and most important lesson in your journey with Him.
When the hard edge of life hits you, you are immediately shocked out of your peace (or complacency) and you cry out in pain. For Christians this pain is doubled. We thought God was Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. We knew the Hebrew word and everything and still its seems like God’s provision for us has dried up.
We start to question God. That’s a nice way of putting it. Sometimes we start to get angry at God, feel sorry for ourselves and question our faith in one pathetic rant after another.
I know you have questions about God. I’ve got them as well. However, in your disappointment with God’s performance, God has some questions for you. I love these questions. They bring me back to where I really am, rather than that pretend place where I thought I was (often called the “You expected God to do what?” land). God is not going to hold back with these questions. He will confront you with the truth and it may hurt. Are you ready? Brace yourselves.
“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.” Job 38:3, 4. Where were you when God created the universe? That’s right. You weren’t anywhere. You weren’t even a thought in any human heart. You have come late to this party and you need to understand that one who created the party knows a whole lot more about that you do.
“Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” Job 38:5. Who did that? Who created the seas? Who gave orders to the sun and it obeyed? That’s right. God did. And what can you do? That’s right. Not much. God is not holding back. He isn’t being nasty. He is just trying to give you some perspective on your situation. You asked questions. If you can question God, certainly He can question you. And His questions haven’t finished.
“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn? Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?” Job 39:1, 2. What do you really know about your environment? Maybe a little if you watch the Discovery Channel. But do you care for the doe as she goes through her pregnancy? No, you don’t. Because you can’t. God can and he does. He even knows the number of hairs on your head and you question His concern for you.
“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings towards the south?” Job 39:26. Come on, you are pretty smart. Does your intelligence (or that of all people) give rise to something as spectacular as a hawk in flight? No you can’t. God can and does it a million times a day with the millions of creatures He created.
God has one final question for you. “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”” Job 40:2. Now that you have seen who you are questioning, do you still presume to correct Him? I love the answer of one who had suffered so much pain and loss.
“I am unworthy--how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer--twice, but I will say no more.”” Job 40:4, 5, NIV.
God is in control. Even, when it looks like He isn’t, know that He is. That’s what faith is. Believing in the invisible and the unbelievable.
Your suffering is not an insignificant thing to God. He loves you more than you will ever know. Don’t turn from Him just when you are about to learn the next and most important lesson in your journey with Him.
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