Got Fruit ?

A journalist I am not!  I lack the ability to digest the latest “story” and then quickly organize my own thoughts in time for it to be “hot”.  That’s Ok though, because one of the pros with web based content is that it is persistent.  Enough on that however…

I’ve been listening in and reading comments regarding the  Manhattan Declaration for the past week or so; the equivalence of grabbing TV sound-bites I guess you could say? Yesterday, I listened to the perspective held by Apologetics.com, a resource that I’m usually in agreeance with.  Yesterday was not however one of those usual moments.  On the principle of Christian integrity, specifically to the message of the gospel, I have to disagree with Apologetics.com’s position here.  I realize that it probably gets old hearing that same old song about “the gospel”, and I may even come off as being dogmatic and narrow minded, so be it.  Fell free to disagree and to weigh in with reasons why you may think that I’m off-base.

The MD addresses 3 specific concerns: Life, Marriage & Religious Liberty.  It is a gathering/declaration of Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians as individuals on those 3 principles.

We, as Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians, have gathered, beginning in New York on September 28, 2009, to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities. We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image. We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

It’s not my intention to critique and dissect the entire MD.  This post is merely me expressing views and concerns as to why I think the MD is flawed and thus a bad idea for one professing to be a Christian to sign.  To be clear, by “sign”, I mean to put your personal stamp of approval on; which in my opinion is not a separate act from being a Christian.  Then again, my argument is that there’s nothing in the life of a Christian that does not carry spiritual implications. As I see it, and it is hopefully through biblical lenses…  what’s at stake is Christian integrity, specifically to the gospel of Christ.  The reasoning for this view is that for all of the MD’s poetic flair for words; the MD is in essence another spin on “gather round the camp fire and sing Kumbaya”.

Problem #1 is the opening sentence.  The sections of text in bold are meant to highlight a backtracking of ideas and premises.  I don’t mean to insinuate that this structure was a deliberate, I do have to “ask” myself though.. Who is “we”, what exactly, is being said here?  The statement continues with “which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities.” Does anyone else see a problem here?  The MD is saying “we” or “us” two times to establish a unity (of something) and then erases the entire statement with “not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities.”

OK, well if “it” really is a case of “speaking to and from our communities”, here’s a question…  “What then, is the need to rally around the declaration (as individuals)?”  I pose these thought and questions for the reader:

• Couldn’t these individuals continue to declare these principles individually to their communities?
• What “power”, authority and authenticity does this declaration manifest?
• Does signing the declaration somehow make “the message” (sarcasm) louder and easier to understand?

Warning, now shifting into Uber-sarcasm mode.  Follow up those questions with this… “Where in the Bible does Jesus Christ, His disciples or Paul the Apostle put their stamp of approval ie; shook hands in agreement in a like manner”.  Picture if you will the first segment of the Manhattan Declaration reading…

We, as Saduccees, Pharisees, and a small band of dudes and dudettes following this Carpenter guy around, have gathered, beginning in Temple on this day of 31 A.D., to make the following declaration, which we sign as individuals, not on behalf of our organizations, but speaking to and from our communities.

Problem #2  and 2.5, located sentence 2 is another one of those pesky “we” statements, followed by what?  A Social gospel?

We act together in obedience to the one true God, the triune God of holiness and love, who has laid total claim on our lives and by that claim calls us with believers in all ages and all nations to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image.

Am I off on identifying that latter section as such?  I appreciate the sentiment in that last section however, I believe a question that needs to be asked is.. “Is that what Christianity(emphasis) is about; hath God really said “to seek and defend the good of all who bear his image.”?  Consider the following passages…

James 1:19-27
19My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. 21Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

26If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Here’s where I see Problem #3.

We call upon all people of goodwill, believers and non-believers alike, to consider carefully and reflect critically on the issues we here address as we, with St. Paul, commend this appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

“We” to these ears is starting to sound alot  like “Yeah, God’s got some good ideas going on, but “we” want to stress the issues that “we” think are pressing.”   “We think that if we appeal to the moral goodness and kindness within all people, we can make some headway in society; that’s all we’re sayin’”.  Hmm… “appeal to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God!?!?”, I wonder since even believers sin, how one is expected to appeal to the conscience of a non-believer in the sight of God?

Problem #4 from the same section of text from the MD concerns conscience and “critical” reflection. Conscience??  What conscience might that be? Are we talking about the same conscience that can deny God’s existence?

Romans 1:28-31
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

As for critical reflection, I see problem even defining what the outcome of that might be since it’s a group of “individuals” that are also appealing to non-believers.  I think it’s a big leap of faith here by the MD to assume that believers and non-believers alike are going to agree on any or all of the 3 points.  Then again, as a Christian, does one really think that coming together to agree on any of these principles has implication of salvation?   How for example does the believer and non-believer dialog, on these matters.  Will the non-believer readily accept the believer’s Biblical worldview on marriage?  Maybe the believer “backs off” on the marriage issue?  More food for thought.

1st Corinthians 2:6-16
6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:
   "No eye has seen,
      no ear has heard,
   no mind has conceived
   what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment:
16"For who has known the mind of the Lord
      that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

James 4:4
4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
   "God opposes the proud
      but gives grace to the humble."

This post has run longer than anticipated.  I want to close by saying that the ideas that the MD “proposes” are not “bad”.  The issue is not the ideas, but rather the fact that under the pretense that others are called to “sign” on, it leaves in my opinion ambiguity, and leaves out the gospel of Christ which is as Paul says… “Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved,…” .

A final thought from 1st Thessalonians, which speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel, and conversion within a society.

1st Thessalonians 1:4-10
4For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. 8The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, 9for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Grace and peace be with you.

From today’s Blackaby devotional titled “Not in Word but in Power”, the Blackabys remarked about the Apostle Paul’s ministry and the evidences of God’s power in his life:

Paul responded with a reminder that the test of a citizen’s authenticity was not the persuasiveness of his words, but the spiritual power of his life. Paul candidly acknowledged that some did not find him eloquent in speech (2nd Corinthians 10:1). Yet they could not question God’s power in his life. He had seen many people converted, and many churches were started through his ministry. He had been used to heal the sick and raise the dead through God’s power. Regardless of whether his words were eloquent, they carried spiritual power and authority that came from God.

In the event that some readers have come under the assumption that the Blackabys are implying that masses of converts, size of a church, and or other signs of a “healthy” ministry are explicit proofs that the power of God is active in a person’s life, I wish to offer up some additional thoughts,/advice regarding that specific section of their devotional. 

I want to begin by stating that I don’t believe that we should automatically apply these arguments and observations of how God used Paul when observing someone’s ministry and life.  I don’t believe that the Blackabys were implying this at all, however I felt obligated to follow-up with my own comments, since the statement seemed to unintentionally invite one to interpret the Blackabys thoughts as a standardized spiritual checklist.

What I’ve observed over the years by some Christians is a quickness to try to rationalize and justify a false teacher or teaching by diverting to the same evidences that the Blackabys described concerning Paul’s ministry, specifically numerous conversions and new churches started.   I suggest that in a broader Biblical view we also need to consider the words of Christ and Paul:

Matthew 24:4-5
4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

2nd Timothy 4:3-4
3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

As the Blackabys later mentioned in the devotional, “If a person talks of the power of God but gives no evidence of victory in her life, her words are empty. It is much easier to talk about the victorious Christian life than it is to live it.”

So how do we discern?  What is or are the evidences of victory (a Christ-centered life)?  In Matthew 7 Christ tells us that regardless of external appearances, whatever is the state of a man’s heart, it will be reflected by what he produces…

Matthew 7:15-20
15"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Paul, speaking more straightforward reiterates Christ’s words by laying out “the obvious” bad fruit and good fruits…

Galatians 5:19-26
19The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

The point is this… conversions, church growth and multiple ministries are not Biblical reasons to defend a favored teacher,pastor, “evangelical” message, method, or philosophy.  To “quote” Christ, Christians need to be looking at the “root” of the situation. Is it planted in Christ or in man?

John 15:1-8
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Grace and peace be with you

E. Barrett of R3 left a comment on yesterday’s post; a quote about fruitfulness, which spurred a longer than expected response (not that brevity is my trademark) so I decided to “share” additional thoughts on the first half of his comment in a post instead of burying them in a comment.

e. barrett

I have a pretty big decision looming relating to a potential job. The job itself is definitely outside of my comfort zone, but well within my “competency zone”. Part of what I am weighing is this idea of fruit - the job on some levels is scary, but is that enough of a reason to pass up on it? Or is this an issue (to mix my Bible stories) of burying my talent because I’m afraid to use it?

Sometimes I think we overlook these ideas that God expects us to do amazing things (within the context of who we are), because we live in a world that is fine with us staying in the mediocre.

Though we ought to be discerning and careful to not jump headlong into a decision based off of gut reactions, I believe that there are circumstances where God just expects us to react.  Recall Moses from the latter part of Exodus 6 and the first few verses of Exodus 7 as an example…,

The Lord gave Moses a mission of speaking to Pharaoh concerning the release of the Israelites from captivity in Egypt, however Moses looked inwardly and tossed out an objection, based on what he perceived as a shortcoming. Perhaps Moses assumed that he was to oversee the exodus single handedly? Maybe Moses was overly concerned with the details; and in haste spoke up with objection?  All of that is just speculation on my part.  Notice however that the Lord doesn’t sternly rebuke Moses for his doubts.  The Lord continues on and tells Moses that He will equip him (Moses) with a a helper in Aaron.

Exodus 6:26-30
26 It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, "Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions." 27 They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. It was the same Moses and Aaron. Aaron to Speak for Moses 28 Now when the LORD spoke to Moses in Egypt, 29 he said to him, "I am the LORD. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you." 30 But Moses said to the LORD, "Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?"

Exodus 7:1-2
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.

Regardless of what we assume to “know” concerning God’s specific plan over our lives (at the personal level, not collective level of humanity), I’m willing to bet that we too tend to view what God lays upon us with a temporal mindset, or from the vantage point of what is within our capabilities much like Moses did. 

Psalm 147:5
Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
       his understanding has no limit.

Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

And so we get back to our sin problem…, in some respects a result of Adam and Eve not trusting in the Lord. Adam nor Eve had the foresight to see beyond their respective decision’s to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil, yet God didn’t ask them to exercise such thing, simply to trust in Him (through obedience).

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
       and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
       and he will make your paths straight.

Grace and peace be with you.