1/12/08
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Acts 17:10-12
If you
are older than 40 the name Benjamin Spock is more than familiar. It was Spock
that told an entire generation of parents to take it easy, don’t discipline
your children and allow them to express themselves. Discipline, he told us,
would warp a child’s fragile ego. Millions followed this guru of child
development and he remained unchallenged among child rearing professionals.
As a result of this unfortunate advice, an
entire generation of young parents started to believe that they must allow
their children to progress on their own, express themselves fully, and that
their freedom should not be curtailed.
The mentality continues today.
And young people are paying the price.
However, before his death Dr. Spock made an
amazing discovery: he was wrong. In fact, he said:
We have reared a generation of brats.
Parents aren't firm enough with their children for fear of losing their love or
incurring their resentment. This is a cruel deprivation that we professionals
have imposed on mothers and fathers. Of course, we did it with the best of
intentions. We didn't realize until it was too late how our know-it-all
attitude was undermining the self assurance of parents.
Oops.
Now mental health professionals are realizing
that young people need firm guidance and strong example in order to form solid
emotional and moral constitutions. The
role of parents is moving from mild spectator to engaged sculptor. Young people do not always know what is best
for them. In their quest for acceptance
among their peers, they will do things and adopt practices that clearly go
against the Scriptural principles they have been taught. At these times it is incumbent upon parents
to remind them of the will of God, and why it’s best to follow God’s ways.
Just as people will not rise higher than
their leadership, young people will not rise higher than their parents. Could it be that we are now entering the era
of the parent—the truly engaged parent?
Something just as momentous, in my opinion,
just happened in the evangelical community. For most of a generation
evangelicals have been romanced by the “seeker sensitive” movement spawned by
Perhaps inadvertently, with this “new wave”
of ministry came a de-emphasis on taking personal responsibility for Bible
study combined with an emphasis on felt-needs based “programs” and slick
marketing.
The size of the crowd rather than the depth
of the heart determined success. If the crowd was large then surely God was
blessing the ministry. Churches were built by demographic studies, professional
strategists, marketing research, meeting “felt needs” and sermons consistent
with these techniques. We were told that preaching was out, relevance was in.
Doctrine didn’t matter nearly as much as innovation. If it wasn’t “cutting
edge” and consumer friendly it was doomed. The mention of sin, salvation and
sanctification were taboo and replaced by Starbucks, strategy and sensitivity.
Thousands of pastors hung on every word that
emanated from the lips of the church growth experts. Satellite seminars were
packed with hungry church leaders learning the latest way to “do church.” The
promise was clear: thousands of people and millions of dollars couldn’t be
wrong. Forget what people need, give them what they want. How can you argue
with the numbers? If you dared to challenge the “experts” you were immediately
labeled as a “traditionalist,” a throwback to the 50s, a stubborn dinosaur
unwilling to change with the times.
All that changed recently.
Willow Creek has released the results of a
multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of
ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are
You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of
The report reveals that most of what they
have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of
others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but
not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
Some of the stuff that we have put
millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and
develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people
that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put
much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for.
If you simply want a crowd, the “seeker
sensitive” model produces results. If you want solid, sincere, mature followers
of Christ, it’s a bust. In a shocking confession, Hybels states:
We made a mistake. What we should have
done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should
have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take
responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught
people, how to read their bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices
much more aggressively on their own.
Incredibly, the guru of church growth now
tells us that people need to be reading their Bibles and taking responsibility
for their spiritual growth.
Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error,
so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The
foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand.
The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American
church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large
part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.
Perhaps the most shocking thing of all in
this revelation coming out of Willow Creek is in a summary statement by Greg
Hawkins:
Our dream is that we fundamentally change
the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink
all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are
informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what
God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.
Isn’t that what we were told when this whole
seeker-sensitive thing started? The church growth gurus again want to throw
away their old assumptions and “take out a clean sheet of paper” and,
presumably, come up with a new paradigm for ministry.
Should this be encouraging?
Please note that “rooted in Scripture” still
follows “rethink,” “new insights” and “informed research.” Someone, it appears,
still might not get it. Unless there is a return to simple biblical (and
relevant) principles, a new faulty scheme will replace the existing one and
another generation will follow along as the latest piper plays.
_______________________________
My friends,
the Willow Creek method of church growth has heavily influenced churches
and denominations in the last few decades.
When I was at seminary “seeker sensitive” services were the talk of
every church ministry class. The idea of
pleasing people, speaking their language, meeting their every need, and making
them feel as comfortable as possible, was the name of the game. The idea was to make church as user-friendly
as possible, and doing that meant taking the obligations, the spiritual
discipline, the personal responsibility, and the demands of the gospel out of
the church.
The Willow Creek model has heavily influenced
even our own Conference in their developing of their current mission statement
and outreach emphasis. But there is a
danger in making man and man’s needs the center of Christian
ministry. ANY METHODOLOGY WHICH
EMPHASIZES THE NEEDS AND WANTS OF PEOPLE OVER THE WILL AND PLANS OF GOD IS A
FALSE METHODOLOGY, AND IS DESTINED TO FAILURE.
Well, now after all these years, the
mega-church that started the whole thing has completed its study. And they have discovered that their people
really didn’t grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. Their “seekers” didn’t continue to seek the
Lord on their own. They conditioned
people to go to church to have all their needs met, plain and simple.
While it is important to understand and
appreciate the needs of people, and to go right to where the people are—where
we live and work—it is also important that we teach people the timeless
principles of the Word of God, and that we teach them how to continue to grow in
their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Today I recommend to you the Bereans, and
their simple and valid way of going at church growth. It’s really quite simple and very powerful,
and lasting. Now the Bereans didn’t have
a gigantic complex in which to worship.
They met in homes mostly. In
living rooms, in living rooms, in dens, in kitchens. And the Bereans didn’t have tens of thousands
of attendees, but they had their family, their neighbors, their work
associates, and their friends there with them.
And the Lord added daily to their number.
Now, Brother Paul met with all kinds of
groups and churches and individuals. But
something struck him about the Bereans.
Turn with me to the book of Acts, chapter 17.
Paul had just escaped from Thessalonica
because the Jews there had stirred up the crowds against him. So he ends up in a synagogue in
Then
the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to
Now, let’s take this passage apart little by
little, and see what we can learn. First
of all, the Scripture says that the Berean believers were more “fair-minded”
than the believers in Thessalonica. The
King James says they were more “noble.”
In the original Greek it literally means “honorable, generous,
candid.” These kinds of characteristics
were usually expected to be found in
those people of the aristocracy; nobility.
The word connotes a loyal openness to Scriptural truth. Paul, and the writer Luke, found the Berean
Christians to be free of the prejudices of the believers in Thessalonica. They listened openly and intently to the
message presented.
And there are three reasons given for the Bereans’
fair-mindedness and nobility:
1.
They received the Word of God with all readiness (Greek:
“cheerful willingness”)
Now, to receive the Word of God with
readiness means we come at the Scriptures with open hearts and open minds. We are prompt and on-time with our
appointment with God. This is the flavor
of the rich Greek word that is used here.
We open up ourselves for God’s exploration of our thoughts, habits,
behavior, plans, etc. It means we are ready for personal discovery and the
conviction of the Holy Spirit. When we
approach the Bible like this, we are prepared for amazing growth and
transformation, which ALWAYS happens as a result of true Bible reading.
2.
They searched the Scriptures daily
For the Bereans, Bible exploration was not a
once-a-week glance. It was a daily
experience; a daily exercise. Jesus
wants to meet with us every day, and teach us, as He taught His disciples. Jesus still meets with His disciples every
day. It’s an ongoing training in
righteousness. We are His disciples. Just as we need daily food and water, we also
need daily spiritual food and nourishment.
If you don’t know where to start, start at the beginning, in Genesis,
and slowly work your way through the Bible.
You will learn more in one year than you have learned in your entire
lifetime.
3.
They searched the Scriptures to find out if what Paul was saying was valid
The Bereans didn’t accept every little thing
they heard and saw. They checked it out
in the Bible to see if it agreed with God’s inspired Word. This is so very important. We are always being bombarded with notions
and teachings and opinions. We can’t
just file away these things in our brain.
We need to know what is truth and what is not. Sometimes we know right away, because it’s
easy to see that Scripture is being violated.
But other times it’s not. We
can’t take what we hear for granted. If
God’s opinion is more important than anyone’s else’s opinion, including our
own, then we are truly a disciple. And
we will discard, erase, delete, reject any thought, teaching, doctrine,
practice, activity that does not agree with God’s voice in Scripture.
The word “search” here literally means “to
examine, to investigate, to sift.” It is
not quick glance at Scripture. It
implies a process, a comparing, a time of reflection. This is what the Lord is calling us to in
this modern, fast-food world of ours.
He’s calling us to a deeper experience with Himself. He says, “Come, now, let us reason
together.” He welcomes our questions and
concerns; our perplexities, our turmoil, our pain. He invites us to immerse ourselves in
spiritual words of life.
Our Father wants us to reach beyond the
service to the same-old, same-old. Let
me explain. You see, unless we have a
daily, ongoing experience with God which includes prayer, praise, reading,
studying—we won’t become enduring disciples.
We won’t mature if all we have is a passive receiving of what we listen
to or watch on a screen. We haven’t
really entered in with Him.
This is the tough lesson that we learn from
the Willow Creek debaucle. Entertainment
is not the answer. Passive spectatorship
is not the answer. Modern technology is
not the answer. Emotional exhibitions or
exciting delivery only go so far. WE
NEED A PERSONAL DISCIPLESHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST!
WE NEED TO SIT AT HIS FEET AND TAKE IN ALL THAT HE HAS FOR US THIS DAY! EVERY DAY!
We all know that a few tears can have a
dramatic influence on voting habits.
People are swayed this way and that way.
Very few actually examine closely the issues for themselves, and ask
themselves the question, “IS THIS WHAT THE LORD JESUS BELIEVES SHOULD BE? IS THIS REALLY WHAT MY FATHER IN HEAVEN WOULD
HAVE ME BELIEVE?
The Lord is calling us away from modern
opinion. He’s calling us away from human
philosophy. He’s calling us away from
popularity, away from fitting in, away from compromise and complacency. The Lord is calling His people into a
head-over-heels experience with Himself; an experience that blows our minds, and
captivates our spirits; an experience of knowing and appreciating His will for
our lives.
We may hale from different locales. We may call our home
But the Lord this
morning wants us to be
BEREAN in our hearts!
It’s time to take personal responsibility for
our spiritual growth and advancement.
It’s time to give God the time He deserves, and the attention of which
He is worthy. It’s time, my friend, to
break away from the clutch of a pressurized world. It’s time to truly experience Sabbath rest
and spiritual rejuvenation! It’s time to
allow the glory of the Sabbath hours flow naturally into the rest of the week.
It’s time to make necessary adjustments in
routine, schedule and habit. It’s time to
sit at Jesus’ feet and be His disciples.
It’s time.