Are we changing the Bible to fit our culture or are we changing our culture to fit the Bible
By Frank Powell
By Frank Powell
I was in an engineering class the
first time I watched the tragic explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Even
though I wasn’t alive when it happened, I caught a glimpse of the horror
thousands must have felt as the events unfolded.
And, the first question everyone
wanted to know was, “What happened?”
After months of investigation, here’s what the Rogers
Commission (the group commissioned to investigate the explosion) discovered: an
o-ring seal in the right solid rocket booster failed at take-off. I won’t bore
you with the details, but an o-ring is a small device relative to the size of a
space shuttle. Very small.
It wasn’t something huge, like a
puncture in the rocket booster or a hole in the cabin, that caused this
disaster. It was a small, seemingly insignificant, o-ring failure.
I think there’s a lesson here for
the church. What if the big sins, you know the ones you try hardest to avoid,
aren’t the greatest threat to your joy and the church’s mission?
Maybe it’s the sins lying
underneath, the ones considered normal or acceptable, the ones going
undetected, that are affecting the church the most. I want to address 9 of
these sins.
1.) FEAR
The phrases “do not fear” and “do
not be afraid” appear 365 times in the Bible. Ironic? I think not. And here’s
what I think the church misses about fear. Let me pose this as a question.
What is the opposite of fear? Courage?
Bravery? William Wallace?
Wrong. Wrong. And right, but you’re
ruining my point.
The opposite of fear is…LOVE. Add
to this the reality that God is love. So, according to the Transitive property
of mathematics, the opposite of fear is…God.
If you’re a child of God, the
one sin that shouldn’t plague you is…fear.
Yet, Christians are the most fearful people on earth. Even
our salvation is rooted in fear. Does it bother anyone that the primary method
of bringing people to Jesus has been to scare them away from hell?
That’s fear language, the
antithesis of God. Look at what John says.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out
fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been
perfected in love.1 John 4:18
The church is scared to make
decisions out of fear. Christians are hesitant to step into dangerous
situations out of fear. The catalyst for our obedience is fear. Where’s the
love?
Several weeks ago, I decided to remove the words “fear,
scared, and terrified” from my vocabulary. Maybe you should do the same. It
could change how you see the world. And God.
2.) APATHY
Apathy’s best friends are passivity
and entitlement. Together, they’re a vicious threesome.
There’s nothing mediocre or normal
about God. His power is beyond comprehension. His beauty is beyond description.
His love is beyond measure. The same God who created the universe and formed
stars desires a relationship with you.
Yet, the attitude is often, “Okay,
God loves me. That’s great. What’s for lunch?” No. You don’t get it, bro. God
loves you. And you’re content with, “That’s great.”
What?!
Our apathetic approach to God
explains a lot about why people in America aren’t lining up to become
Christians.
I mean, think about it. How many
Christians have you met that left you thinking, “Wow, I want to be like them?”
But this should be the norm, right? Am I way off here? Shouldn’t you be so
transformed by God that people want to ask about your life, even if they hate
God?
In Scripture, when men and women truly experience God,
everything changes. Everything. So, that begs the question, “Have you
experienced God?”
3.) GLUTTONY
In my younger days, I would
literally eat myself sick. I mean, if I ordered food, I ate all of it. Period.
Naturally, this presented a problem when I ate buffets.
Looking back, I see that my
attitude was gluttonous. And the gluttony wasn’t that I ate myself sick. It was
that I used a gift God gave me on myself…in excess.
Gluttony is primarily about the
heart. It’s a craving for excess. Gluttony says, “Those voids God is
supposed to fill…don’t worry about that. I will fill them.” Gluttony happens
when you lose your awe of God. You see, as long as your eyes are fixed on
Jesus, your heart’s desire is for him.
Is the world not desperate for this
message? As we gorge our stomachs with food and flood our houses with trinkets,
our discontent only increases.
Where are the Jesus followers who will fix their eyes
completely on him, throwing away anything that treads the line between want and
need? Where are the Christians who will feast in excess on God?
4.) WORRY
Worrying gives you something to do,
but it doesn’t get you anywhere.
The great philosopher Van Wilder once said, “Worrying is
like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you
anywhere.” That’s right. But Van Wilder isn’t the only one who talked about
worry. Jesus said you shouldn’t worry about anything (Matt. 6:25-34). But Jesus
wasn’t serious was he? I mean, really Jesus? Anything?
He was serious. You see, worrying
is symptomatic of a larger issue…lack of faith. And for followers of
Jesus whose primary mission is to show the glory and nature of God to the
world, worrying is a problem.
Recently, I asked a good friend why
worry plagues the church, and he said something profound, “My greatest concern
is that we don’t want to need God. We’re Americans.
We’re independent.”
That’s hard-hitting stuff right
there.
Americans will do anything to maintain the illusion of
control and responsibility, so no wonder worry plagues us. Worry is the
by-product of bearing a weight only God can bear.
Do you see the irony here? The more
independence you desire, the more worry you will experience. So, why not give
everything to God and let his peace reign over your life?
5.) FLATTERY
I erased this like five times, but
God kept telling me to put it back. So, I did. With hesitancy. I love you, God.
I like performing. I always have. And
while there’s nothing wrong with the spotlight, there’s a lot wrong with making
yourself the center of it.
If your identity is tied to man’s
praise, you’ll be eternally discontent.
If your identity is tied to man’s
praise, you’ll be eternally discontent. People are fickle. They’re here today
and gone tomorrow. They’re for you one day, against you the next.
They love you when you agree with
them, dislike you when you don’t.
Yet, we love human praise, at least
I do. Exhibit A: Instagram, SnapChat, and Facebook. While I love social media,
they’re also platforms that perpetuate flattery. You post pictures about your
life hoping the world will “like” it. Who cares if it’s not the real you? You
need the approval. So, even if you need 30 minutes to find that perfect selfie,
it’s worth the time.
Jesus, however, didn’t need the praise and glory of men. He
didn’t care what they thought. His only concern was doing the will of God. This
attitude is what the world is desperate to see.
It’s hard to point people to Jesus
if you need their approval.
Let’s be honest, it’s hard to point
people to Jesus if you need their approval.
And when you need the approval of
others, your life will have more ups and downs than the Goliath at Six Flags in
Atlanta.
I rode that beast. I know.
6.) COMFORT
Comfort
might be the patriarch of the “church approved” sins family. When the church
becomes comfortable, Christianity starts to die.
Christians must be extremely
intentional with their thoughts and actions to avoid
comfort. If not, you become resistant to change. You start
making secondary issues primary. You begin to see the mission as catering to
insiders rather than reaching outsiders.
And here’s the thing about the sin
of comfort. Once it shows up, it’s extremely difficult to remove. When you
challenge comfort, people don’t just get angry. They get fightin’ mad. Comfort
will even tell you to crucify an innocent man.
The church can’t be missional and
comfortable at the same time.
The church can’t be missional and
comfortable at the same time. It’s time to make a decision.
7.) CONSUMERISM
I grew up watching Sesame Street.
My favorite character?…Cookie Monster. I felt like we were the same person. And
what I mean is we both loved cookies. I would often go around the house saying,
“Gimme da cookies.”
It never worked.
Many Christians are like Cookie
Monster. Their mantra is, “Gimme more…well anything. Just give me more. More.
More. More.”
The essence of this sin is a false
understanding of God, that God is a taker. But nothing could be further from
the truth. God is a giver. He’s the Giver. And, as a man or woman created in
his image, you should be a giver.
So, what are you creating? What are
you giving back to the world? What are giving back to others?
8.) PATRIOTISM
Cue the nasty e-mails. Maybe
it’s just me, but I can’t picture Jesus waving an American flag while showing
off his “I love ‘Merica” tattoo. Jesus wasn’t against the government. In fact,
if you’re a Jesus follower, the Bible calls you to pray for your nation and for
your leaders (1 Tim. 2:1-4). But Jesus was very clear about how God’s name
would become famous throughout the world…the church. Not the government. Not a
nation. The church.
When your allegiance is torn
between your country and your God, American ideals begin to shape your faith
more than God. And you transpose American values onto God, believing God would
be an American and think like an American.
Celebrate American values. That’s
great. But, at the end of the day, your citizenship is not with America. It’s
in heaven.
9.) LYING
If gluttony is the elephant in the
room everyone sees, but no one talks about, lying is the elephant in the
room no one sees. Lying is so socially acceptable, even in Christian circles,
that it often goes undetected. We’re desensitized to it.
And here’s why this is dangerous
for Christians.
There’s a rarely-discussed passage
in Matthew 5:33-37 where Jesus confronts the Pharisees about oaths. Most
Americans only hear the word oath when a celebrity lies in court (under
oath). But Jesus isn’t talking about oaths in this passage.
He’s talking about INTEGRITY.
Here’s what Jesus is saying. You
should live with such high integrity that your word doesn’t need attachments to
make it legitimate. So, typical phrases like, “I promise,” “I swear,” and “I
put it on my mom’s grave” should never come from your mouth.
“Frank, c’mon on man. Are you interpreting that correctly?
Say you promise.”
These words are a kick in the
pants, right? If you’re like me, you say things all the time and never follow
through. You lie to make yourself sound better. You lie to stay out of trouble.
You lie to get ahead. Sometimes you lie just to lie.
Jesus says there’s no place for
that if you’re a Christian. Your word matters. If you say something, God
expects you to do it. It’s better to tell the truth and lose your job than lie
and keep it.
How serious is this? Jesus says
anything more than our word is from the evil one, Satan. That’s real.
______________
Sometimes the undetected sins are the most toxic. My hope is
you will see this as an opportunity to grow. I also realize there are some
“church approved” sins I didn’t mention. It’s your turn.
About Frank Powell
Devoted follower of Christ, college/young adult minister,
husband to @tiffanipowell,
dad to Noah and Micah, avid blogger/writer, sports fan. You can follow him on
twitter here and read more
blogs here!
