Words'nTone

We have turned biblical Christianity into a religion of pragmatism, exchanging a biblical worldview for a mere, and lower, utilitarian religion.  One case in point is our fascination with “practical application.” I find it ironic that I hear so much appeal for finding our purpose as Christians.  Over the course of thirty years, I hear almost every Sunday that there is a big plan for my life; that I have a purpose; that there is a grand picture, a bigger picture into which I fit.  Then, and almost in the same breath I’ll be asked about the details of my life.  I’ll be asked to repent of individualized and private sins.  Every text I hear from preachers seems to bear on the minute details of my life, or so it seems from the sermonizing.  How are we to grasp the larger picture when we’re forced to think about the details?  Especially the details of my life?  How can I find the purpose when I am asked to consider the particulars?  To decipher the minute, moments and details of my everyday life.  That’s what has me bogged down in the first place.

I find this ironic and very puzzling.  I understand that a “popular” preacher is practical and is skilled at showing how practical Christianity and the Bible is.  This is important to the current marketing of the church and of Christianity in modern society.  I understand this.  But its not remotely derived from a biblical model.  I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who once said, “For those who do not believe in God, joy is peripheral and suffering is fundamental; but for the believer, suffering is peripheral and joy is fundamental.” In other words, the Christian is one who maintains a worldview where joy is fundamental, and outside of that (i.e., the details), such things as suffering are peripheral.

Current demands on pastoral leadership (here I mean market demands and the demands of how success is now measured) present pressure that cause us to reverse this in our preaching and teaching: be practical, offer details, but yet demand everyone to sign on to God’s big purpose.  This is self-defeating—and no wonder us humans have a hard time with Christianity.  This works against the goal of discovering God’s big purpose.  In fact this works against much of Biblical material, even the texts of command and exhortation, for the biblical documents are filled with worldview-developing exhortations, and rarely the details and minutiae of private application.

Moreover, for the most part the inspired sacred text is given to help us gain the big picture, i.e., a biblical worldview.  When Mark expressed the essence and summary of the Gospel as preached by Jesus—and to be repeated by those who follow—it is, just that, a summary that is to help us frame our worldview.  Details will follow naturally.  Just as when an athlete (since its Winter Olympic time now) gives himself or herself to the sport (the big picture) and to the objectives and goals of that sport, other things, peripheral things (the details) become clear.  The athlete learns what can and cannot be done, what should and should not be done in order to fulfill the One Big Picture (i.e. play the sport).  I do believe that, within a discipleship relationship with a mature Christian mentor, one can find a sub-purpose (a personalized purpose) that can be lived out in light of the ONE BIG PURPOSE of God’s Kingdom that has arrived in the Person of Jesus Christ.  But we get lost in the details, our eyes are too close to the map, the colors of the painting all bleed together because we’re too close… We need to hear that from Scripture that we are called to this ONE BIG PURPOSE, which can be summed up, easily in two texts from the Gospels:

“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’ As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him” (Mark 1:14-18).

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

I believe that the preoccupation of the details—that is concentrating on the privatized aspects of our lives, sins, and the attempting to make Christianity so individualized and practical—actually works against God’s actually Kingdom-mission purpose being believed, own, and actualized in our life.

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.