The Mother of Irrelevance
Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize writer Elie Wiesel once said that the opposi
te of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The horrible truth of this statement was seen in a video that surfaced recently of a two-year old Chinese girl who after being hit by two cars was ignored by at least 12 people — many who clearly saw her suffer but did nothing to help.
Several years ago I heard the quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” In the sphere that is biblical Christianity our knowledge is designed to promote and produce good works or else we live in the bondage of a useless faith (James 2:18-20). Modern American culture has proclaimed the Christian faith irrelevant because they have yet to see the usefulness of it in the lives of professing Christians.
In a recent survey by George Barna the following was discovered: The Mosaic generation, those between the ages of 18 and 23, “rarely” have a biblical worldview as defined by The Barna Group. The research data found that less than one-half of one percent of Mosaics have a biblical worldview.
A biblical worldview, as defined by the Barna study, is believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. Only if someone held all the above beliefs did the research consider the person as having a biblical worldview.
George Barna, who directed the research, commented on the “troubling” generational pattern that suggests “parents are not focused on guiding their children to have a biblical worldview.” “One of the challenges for parents, though, is that you cannot give what you do not have, and most parents do not possess such a perspective on life,” he noted. The research shows that only nine percent of all American adults have a biblical worldview, which although significantly higher than that of the Mosaic generation is still a small proportion of the total population.
I don’t believe the issue is a lack of passion; I believe our passion is misguided in that most parents try to keep their children distracted with activities and don’t have an intentional strategy of discipleship. Their children see them passionate about the athletic, academic and social but very indifferent about the things of God. The vast majority will compromise their activities at church for just about any other activity at all. Church has become what you do when you have nothing else to do. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that our indifference has brought us to this culture of irrelevance.
Failures Fact
I was recently asked to serve on a panel in our community to discuss the problem and solutions in the area of “soft skills” in the work place. “Soft skills” are those skills that basically pertain to work ethic, things like punctuality, dependability, professional etiquette and so forth. The panel was made up of local and state government officials, local manufacturers, educators, law enforcement leaders, and me, a local pastor.
As is the usual with panels like this, the problem was much more identifiable than the solution. In the process of the discussion I was drawn to the observation of one of the educators who said, “We don’t allow kids to fail anymore.” I listened intently as this individual discussed the many ways in which they believed the present program of education enabled failing students by lowering standards to their abilities or efforts.
My mind started racing to the spiritual implications of this issue and how it relates to Christians, and believe me, it really does.
It is not that Christians don’t allow failure as much as we just don’t acknowledge it. We reduce our failures to the reasoning that “nobody’s perfect” or “I’m under grace.” I understand that in our earthly existence believers will not achieve sinless perfection. I am incredibly grateful for God’s grace and mercy; but in this understanding is the reality that these things exist for the equipping of godly pursuits and not the excusing of fleshly failure.
I’m not a fan of failure and I don’t think most believers wake up with a plan of failure for the day. The reality is that I will fail because I have a sin nature that at times I fail to judge and crucify daily that I allow to manipulate my emotions in order to get what I want. I don’t like to think of myself as possessing an evil nature that has sinful desires, I’m more at ease with thinking of myself as a good person who fails to act on all my good intentions; who is at ease with a few bad habits that really don’t hurt anybody else; I can hear Waylon in the background, “Just THE good ol’ boys, never meaning no harm.”
One of the reasons we don’t acknowledge our failures is because we have the wrong definition of success. Many believers still attach success to worldly achievement such as prosperity, popularity, and power which leads to the delusional thinking that to be physically and materially satisfied is to be spiritually healthy. The apostle Paul gives us great perspective in Philippians 3 on this issue of understanding true success,
Philippians 3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ… (14) I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul’s standard of success was the calling of Christ, it was his goal. Failure to Paul was anything that kept him from pursuing conformity to Christ, which kept him from being pleasing to God.
The world hates Christianity because it refuses to lower the bar and broaden the door. The world is so angry about the qualifications that it has rejected the qualifier, Jesus Christ. The world has manufactured standards of success that occupy our dreams and our time but in the end will leave those that pursue it in a state of utter failure.
Next week I’ll talk about conquering the sins that control us.
Overcoming “Absolute Opinion”
Skepticism is basically a classy word for doubt and/or disbelief and I believe that it fully embraces the American culture and the American Church. I can easily understand the American culture being an incubator for skepticism but what is so heart breaking is to watch it corrupt and crush the ministry and mission of the church. I am not writing as one who has not had to deal with my own carnal convoys of doubt and destroy missions. They are more than I want to claim and even more so they were commissioned by a heart of pride and selfishness. I would love to say that I have matured beyond such manipulations of the flesh but whoever reads this would have great grounds for doubt. Why is this issue for those whose whole life is built upon belief in Jesus Christ whom we trust for forgiveness, redemption, and future resurrection? One in whom we have not seen but believe.
One reason is that we can be inclined to trust our personal belief about Jesus and His Word but we don’t necessarily trust others belief about Jesus and His Word. For instance, older pastors sometimes struggle with younger pastors because they don’t engage in some of the issues of the previous generation.
I am 48 years old and Southern Baptist. I started serving in ministry in 1984 when the conservative resurgence was moving like Sherman through Georgia. It was an important time for Southern Baptist and I am thankful for all that was accomplished in those years; but the political residue of what was a godly cause still works to create distrust among like- minded believers that study and trust the same inerrant and infallible Bible. But, because they don’t dress like the previous generation or use their music or because they may use hair products to go for the spiked look instead of the combed back, glued down look, they are considered liberal or disrespectful and unappreciative of the work and ministry of those who fought in the “Battle for the Bible”. The younger generation may be tempted to doubt anyone wearing a suit and singing southern gospel music, thinking that they are a legalist and rigid fundamentalist that have lost all hope of relevance. For the most part both would be wrong in their assessment but because these prejudices exist, neither trust the motives and methods of the other as being birthed in a heart that seeks to glorify God and preach the gospel to a lost and dying world.
What feeds such distrust and dissention is what I call the “absolute opinion” which is the assessment of an individual or group based on the personal preference of another individual or group. In the realm of “absolute opinion” whether an individual or activity is godly is based on personal preference and not biblical principle. With “absolute opinion,” I believe my preferences are biblically based because people who look like me and think like me, agree with me that they are. I don’t even have to check scripture. After all, I have been to seminary, personally met Adrian Rogers, and I have quoted Charles Haddon Spurgeon in a number of sermons; why should I doubt my opinions as being absolute truth (Yes, this is sarcasm).
It is so much easier to discount and discredit those who would try to motivate others to the calling and command of the Great Commission if I can dismiss them as inauthentic, power hungry, and a “wanna be” leader with a savior complex. This way I don’t have to take responsibility for my personal relationship with Jesus or my disobedience in not being a personal soul winner or my unfounded and very unbiblical assessment of the motives and ministries of others.
Effective leaders serve and suffer just like Jesus, Who was constantly questioned, criticized, and demonized by those who doubted Him because they could not be Him, nor would they serve Him because their disobedience was revealed in His obedience. While they debated the meaning of scripture Jesus walked in the truth of it. When the character of Jesus was questioned, the integrity of His words was revealed in the credibility and consistency of His works. The key to overcoming the “absolute opinion” of others is to be fully devoted to Jesus, diligent and disciplined in the study of His word, and determined to be obedient to the call of God on your life and all this in a way that would bring glory to the Father, salvation to the lost, and encouragement to the saints.