We do not deliberate, for we have decided. To be for ever holding the truth of God, as though it might yet turn out to be a lie, were to lose all the comfort of it. –Charles Spurgeon
Shortly after reading that quote from Spurgeon I read this sad news of Hillsong Church:
At a press conference for the Hillsong Conference in New York City today, Michael Paulson of The New York Times asked Houston to clarify their church’s position on same sex marriage. But Houston would not offer a definitive answer, instead saying that it was “an ongoing conversation” among church leaders and they were “on the journey with it.”
Immediately after I tweeted this:
I still can’t understand why we need an “ongoing conversation” on things that the Lord has clearly spoken on.
Hillsong has since clarified, but my larger point stands. There are some things which do not need an “ongoing conversation”. Or to put a little more meat on that: because God has already spoken there are ways in which we now converse about these issues.
The Importance of Keeping Our Presuppositions
I will readily admit that as a believer in Christ, I have certain presuppositions. One of these is that I believe God has clearly spoken to us in His Word. Secondly, that where God has spoken he is the absolute authority. No questions asked. As a Christian He is the Lord of my life. That means if His Word contradicts me then I must change—not His Word.
What is happening, though, is that many believers are having “conversations” while abandoning these presuppositions. And to those with darkened minds, one cannot have these presuppositions and still be considered a rational human being. Therefore, the Christian “conversation” almost always ends in apostasy. Because once God is removed from the center and I, the interpreter (or the interpretive community), becomes sovereign—God has already been booted off his throne.
If you are a believer there are certain presuppositions that you cannot surrender and still converse like a Christian.
I understand the struggle to which Brian Houston was referring; we want to remain relevant and we want to be able to have conversations with those who oppose the gospel. I get that. But I think the words of Os Guinness are helpful:
By our universal pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching commitment to faithfulness, we have become not only unfaithful but irrelevant; by our determined efforts to redefine ourselves in ways that are more compelling to the modern world than are faithful to Christ, we have lost not only our identity but our authority and our relevance. Our crying need is to be faithful as well as relevant. (Prophetic Untimeleness, 15)
God has spoken. Therefore, every other conversation must be subservient to His conversation.
Amen Mike!
This scripture came to mind as I was reading the post.
“Masters, grant to your slaves justice and fairness, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven. Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
Oh for the church to remain salty!
The truth be told: We have been so caught up in the idea that emotion, that feeling, is the key to scripture, that we are entirely overlooked the aspect of the intellect. Yes, the intellectual element is predominant in this respect: God has chosen to reach the heart, the spiritual nature of man, through the mind. Just consider our meaning for repentance in comparison with the past. Today, we define it is a mere turning around, but the Greek has it that repentance is a change of mind, metanous, a change of mind based upon reflection, upon thinking a matter through, of thinking upon the issue as God thinks upon it and then making the change. There is more to the matter than I am discussing here, but the point is that we are suffering from a want of intellectual understanding of the Word of God which be its very term indicates the realm it addresses.
Dr. JW
You never cease to impress and amaze me. The emphasis on emotion at the expense of the intellect has caused considerable damage to Kingdom work. To be rudely blunt the whole prosperity gospel, name it and claim it game could be stifled with a greater emphasis on the intellect. The emphasis on the mind or intellect does not negate the joy and excitement of the Christian life as the emotion advocates asserts. The intellect leads to a greater understand of what Christ has done for us, and the result is excitement and joy. The emotion advocates lead to a watered down gospel if not down right heresy.
The huge issue I see in all these “conversations” is we allow the culture to define the questions and the narrative. This is a result of sliding between two extremes- syncretism and sub-culture. In my opinion, as followers of Jesus we need to avoid both and pursue a counter-cultural existence. Meaning, we aren’t going to apologize for who we are and what we believe, but we are also not going to let the differences between our biblical convictions and the spirit of the age keep us from being amidst the people Jesus sent us to seek.
The problem Hillsong and other churches face is they have let their pursuit of a platform override their desire for biblical fidelity. Funny that Tim Keller pastors in the same area, has a massive church of his own, and yet does not court this kind of “celebrity” attention. Yet, Redeemer has had and continues to have massive cultural and spiritual impact.
Good words Mike.
While I was glad they offered a clarification that seems to affirm what the Bible teaches, I agree with Mike that Hillsong’s posture is cause for concern. This whole notion of being on a journey and having conversations brings to mind C.S. Lewis’ words:
“You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that a window should be transparent, because the street or the garden beyond is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.”
The unseen cornerstone in the Christians life is Christ. We love him, even though we don’t see Him. This is one very significant brand of security and boldness. It is one brand that has many enemies, yet no thief can remove it from us without our permission. And even then, it is never really gone because it is He who holds us and assures that “no one shall snatch them from his hand.”
But the bible is yet another matter. It is not unseen. It is a book open for scrutiny. Of necessity, it must be diluted, debunked, demeaned, probed and prodded, for too many of its assertions are invasive to the sinful man as well as the do-gooder. Thomas Jefferson had the right idea with sharp scissors as the weapon of choice against incongruent pages that are deemed untrue or unnecessary. Great and knowledgeable minds continue to edit the pages of the bible upon demand as they see fit to their pleasure. The not so great and not so bright do the same thing.
What we are discovering once again is that such editing privileges never cease to reveal our true colors. Neither do they change or even threaten the Word of God for what it is.
Just like the unseen Christ is the cornerstone, the bible, as we have it, provides a grounding and affirmation to our faith. No unbeliever, “outsider” can understand this. So when they poo-poo the scriptures to suit their political, moral and Godless adventures, we understand. Hey, we actually gain some good insight–not new insight, but good to know stuff. We must never forget that the Gospel, preaching and the cross are foolishness to them. This makes me love them even more because I know what that feels like intimately.
Where we speak today makes our heart ache in yet a different chamber.
“Cornerstone people” who now have their millions complete with groupies, grins, flashy tour gear–stage props and custom in-ear monitors have decided that courting these people (outsiders-unbelievers) will help assure that their money continues to flow. (they’ve created quite a money drinking machine here)
When the world and it’s media smell money, they follow it. They are rarely encouraged to see this kind of money in the church because even they know that something is askew. Remember the entrapments awaiting Jesus? Well, Jesus had ammunition–His life–the Spirit and the Word. He had no money and refused the popularity, seeing it for what it was. Today’s media will make the Pharisees look like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
What do people, even believers, do when they have more money than is rational and relational to their personal faith in Christ? I don’t get too critical here because I am actually not encouraged by what and who I might become–how I might begin to believe and not believe.
Follow the money…
This is one reason why I left my ELCA church when I could and found a Baptist church that I agreed with ecclesiologically. My wife and I left the Lutheran church she grew up in when the ELCA decided to spend five years talking about homosexuality. You don’t need five years to find out what you already know unless a) you want to try to find a way to handle the political fallout and/or b) you want to find a way to explain why the Bible doesn’t mean what it clearly says. Neither reason is a good one. I could see the writing on the wall then and we left.
The church of the living God does not need to be “culturally relevant” … it needs to be real! To preach the truth in love has been our challenge since the first century … we should never dilute truth to suit the moral/spiritual decline of the day … it no longer becomes revealed truth if we do. The Word (properly connected with the Spirit of Truth) ends this particular conversation – to continue this dialogue is to do so without Him. I realize that sounds fundamental and harsh, but loving the sinner without embracing the sin is our charge. Redefining sin is not.
Certainly a disturbing response from Hillsong’s leader. But you will find a more alarming piece posted over at Associated Baptist Press “FBC Decatur, Ga., Elects Openly Gay Deacon.” Once a Southern Baptist congregation, FBC-Decatur is now affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Leadership there consider their church “a ‘big tent’ congregation”, with several gay members. Men move tent pegs … God doesn’t. We need to be careful what lines we cross as we move the pegs and expand the tent. Os Guinness said it best “By our universal pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance.” To Hillsong leadership and the CBF I say “If you don’t stand, you will fall.’
I just read Pastor Houston’s clarification of the press report. Two lines jumped off the page “I believe the writings of Paul are clear on this subject … I explained that this struggle for relevance was vexing as we did not want to become ostracized by a world that needs Christ.”
This certainly articulates the squeeze the organized church is in today … our mixed message has landed us in this predicament. If we continue to organize ourselves around diluted truth, we are in a heap of trouble. Which is the more important consideration: fear that we will be ostracized by the world or pleasing to God? If we are pleasing to God, we “will” be ostracized by lost folks … the world hates us … that comes with the territory! Jesus said “If they’ve hated me, they will hate you.” We will never deliver others out of the world if we are part of it in message and method (in it, but not of it).