Warning to American churches from Colossians 2

Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind...which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh. (Col. 2:18,23)

As I was reading this the other day, I couldn't help but notice the modern application. One of the main themes of Colossians, especially in chapter 2, is a warning about false teachers: spiritual leaders who will lead you astray. There are some specific characteristics given. I'll point out a few in v.18-23. First, they deal in voluntary (put-on, false) humility and superficial/arbitrary worship (v.18, 23). They work in rituals, ordinances, and give commands not given by God (v. 20-22). They do not hold forth Christ as the Head of the church, and therefore prevent the body from being knit together with each other and with Christ (v.19). Let's break down these 3 characteristics and give examples that are commonplace in American churches.

Voluntary humility is often displayed in churches by a 'humble' leader who publicly declares that God should get all the glory, but they secretly love the attention they get and cling to over-reaching authority. Here's a few common signs of this false humility: 1) A name is not sufficient. It's socially awkward to address them without a title. 2) They have the authoritative opinion when it comes to doctrine. They may declare that Scripture is the ultimate authority, but in practice, different positions are dismissed without consideration, even if argued from a sound Biblical position. 3) They run the whole show all the time, even teaching on unfamiliar subjects when other members of the body are more qualified and experienced.

Rituals and commandments of men can also be plainly found even in conservative baptist/Bible churches. This is seen most clearly when it comes to church polity. It merely takes a cursory reading of the New Testament to see that church was intended to be very different than it is now. For example, the NT church had multiple elders, met mostly in houses, and meetings were for prayer, fellowship and teaching (not evangelistic preaching). I once asked a friend who is now in full-time church leadership why the church continues to run as it does, in clear contrast to the Biblical example. He acknowledged the difference and only said that the Biblical example was OK for the early church, but we've decided to do things differently now. In other words, “Who cares what the Bible says about how to run church when we can make up our own rules!” It's hard to imagine a more clear example of 'commandments of men'.

Lack of focus on Christ is also a major symptom of the typical church. Imagine that you take someone off the street and show them a few typical meetings at your church. After they carefully watch 10 hours worth of footage, you ask them, “who is the head of this church?” You repeat this experiment 500 times. Invariably, they all point to the guy at the front that did all the talking. This is another situation where doctrinal statements do not match practice, but actions speak louder than words. How about the rest of the body? Is each member being knit together with each other in real and practical ways? In my experience, this certainly can happen in church, but only apart from or in spite of what goes on during the meeting – very rarely does this happen during a church service. The false head takes all the focus, preventing the knitting together of the body.

Isn't it sad? The description of false teachers in Col. 2 is being played out weekly in conservative churches across America. Our churches look more like the false teachers described in Col. 2 than they do the churches described in Acts! Most of this is being done by well-meaning pastors who aren't trying to deceive. Shouldn't this tell us that the system is set up wrong?

“Well,” you say, “can it really be so bad? Sure, most of this is true about my church, but I feel really good when I'm there. I enjoy the preaching. I laugh, cry, and learn something about God. The music speaks to my heart.” In other words, you're satisfied with the superficial religion? You will have “a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body”, but what does it satisfy? Is there any tangible fruit, or merely an emotional response?

So what's the remedy? Get away from the shows and rituals and embrace the basics of Christianity – preaching the gospel to the lost and discipling Christians. Dr. Dave recently wrote a good article on this topic which can be found on his blog.

A goal worth living and dying for

Many Christians and churches today have rightly identified the plague of apathy that is presently gripping churchgoers across the nation. Any denomination, conservative or squishy, every church seems to have the same problem. It's almost impossible to get anyone excited about Christian ministry these days. In response, admonitions to action ring out from pounded pulpits in every corner of the country. Churches redouble their efforts to disciple their people (not a bad idea in general, but often done poorly) thinking that it must be a lack of discipleship. Church growth 'experts' conduct surveys and decide to add flashing lights and cool music to the old church programs. Yet, the state of things remains largely unchanged. Why? Why are people so cold? Why don't any of these proposed solutions work? What is the root problem? I suggest that there's one underlying cause that nobody is talking about.

Before I get into my main point, it's worthwhile to say that much of the coldness is due to many church member simply being unconverted. Lost people aren't going to get excited about the Lord's work, nor will they be willing to give up much of their life to be involved. This is a huge problem and one that must be addressed with urgency. People need to repent and live for Christ, and churches need to demand repentance from their members and boot those that live in sin and apathy. It is an easy fix, if only people would follow the Lord's directions. I'd like to move on though, not because this is unimportant, but because I want to focus on the more subtle problem facing real Christians.

So, for the real Christians, the truly born-again, why is it generally hard to get excited about Christian ministry? I suggest that it's because most churches are operated in such a way that they replace Christ's objectives with poor substitutes. Jesus outlined his big picture for his disciples: a self-sacrificing life in service to the gospel (Mark 8:34-35). How exciting! We get to be a part of God's master plan! We get to join him in the work of saving souls! We get to form relationships more dear than family as we disciple people and teach them to follow Christ! These things are all truly grand and noble goals, worth living and dying for.

Yet, on any given Sunday, these are not the goals generally laid before the people. While churches in theory hold to the above goals, the goals in practice are much different: We want you to be a greeter. Can you serve in AWANA? Billy has a cold and needs someone to watch him. We need you to work nursery so parents can sit down and....listen...without their children. Invite your friends to outreach day! Come grill hot dogs for our outing. If you're one of the really spiritual ones, spend 6 years in seminary to learn public speaking and never preach to a single lost soul while you're there. We really need a new organ/piano/sound system, so give sacrificially! I could go on. In this system 95% of the money and human activity revolves around keeping a show or program running. Wait, what are we supposed to be doing again?

Is the picture becoming clear? If an American worked for a month to make 10 dollars, convinced he had a great job, we'd call him a fool. Yet, we have done the same thing on a much bigger scale. Christian ministry and service has been redefined in such a way that it is largely useless, self-replicating busy work. In practice, the grand goals that Christ set for the life of every individual has been replaced by a hamster wheel. When you define service, sacrifice, and taking up the cross as 'running on the hamster wheel', why should you be shocked to find that people are not excited? Yet, when Christian goals and service are properly defined (preaching the gospel to the lost and discipleship), a man will gladly sacrifice much of his life, knowing that the cause is worthy. Likewise, a woman who babysits six kids so her husband and his friend can go hand out tracts has much joy in her act of service.

I've done time on the hamster wheel before, so I know that it's endless and tiring. However, I can also tell you that real Christian service done for Jesus involves hard work and sacrifice, but it is also full of joy, contentment, and fulfillment. If you find yourself weary with service and on the verge of burning out, there's a good chance that you're running on a hamster wheel. Take a step back and re-evaluate what you're doing. Men will give you activities and tell you that you're serving Christ when you're actually just serving their program. Instead, spend some time in Scripture and in prayer, see what the Lord wants for your life (hint: I talked about it in the third paragraph). Life is short and there's a grand battle to be fought. Don't waste another second.

How to personally fulfill the great commission

        In a previous entry, I dealt with the error of people who want to treat the great commission as a passive command, or one that only applies to certain Christians. Today I'd like to focus on a similar topic, but from a different angle. As we understand the great commission to be actively followed, how should we fulfill it? Do you need to be witnessing door-to-door? Do you have a specific quota to fill each week? Are you sinning if your friend preached the gospel to 10 people, but you 'only' witness to 4 people? These are the things I now seek to help you understand: What to preach, how to preach, when to preach, and to whom you should preach. 

        What should you preach? This one's easy. In fact, every real Christian knows this, but sometimes you can get confused by all the nonsense out there. The gospel is defined in 1 Cor. 15:1-11. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day. It's that simple. That is the gospel, and your main message. Now, if you read the gospels and Acts, paying attention to how people shared the gospel with others, you'll notice that the gospel is explained often in context of the law. It's worth saying that the law is not the gospel, but is necessary to understand the importance of the gospel because it helps people to understand their sinful state before God. Therefore, I suggest that any time you preach the gospel to someone, you should start with a discussion of sin, the law, and hell. Especially with the self-righteous religious people so common in America, you need to help them to understand they are lost before they will even have a chance to repent. If you want some examples, check out the videos located at: http://wayofthemaster.com/watchwitnessing.shtml or anything by Ray Comfort. Don't worry about the specifics or copying their “script”, but pay attention to the main points that are discussed. You'll also see examples of how to be firm, direct, and compassionate with the lost.

        How should you preach? Compassionately, zealously, with love. Pray much, know that as long as you're preaching the gospel, the Lord is working alongside you (Matt. 28:20). Don't minimize or dodge unpopular issues. Be firm on preaching sin. Most people have one or two “big” sins that define them. If you find out what they are, camp there, insist that they repent of those specific sins. Expect most people to hate you. They hated Christ, and you aren't going to be better at preaching the gospel than Him (John 15:18-20) . Don't forget that lost people are not the enemy. When they yell or react negatively, don't get angry at them, but pity them. They are lost souls that haven't been set free. They are lost and they will act like it. If a homeowner was angry at a firefighter for getting his house wet, the firefighter wouldn't stop trying to put the fire out. Don't wimp out when it gets tough. There is an enemy, you know. There are presumably plenty of demons and assuredly few people faithfully preaching the gospel. If you start, you can bet on the enemy trying to shut you down and discourage you.

        That covers motivations and attitude, but how about method? We have some examples in Scripture. Jesus preaches publicly to crowds at times. Other times, he approaches individuals with the intent of preaching the gospel to them. No particular method is commanded, and we see many different ones practiced in the Bible. One can only conclude that there's much freedom on how to evangelize. Tracts, open air preaching, 1-to-1 conversations, door-to-door, letter writing, chat rooms, movies/TV, etc. All of these and more can be valid ways to preach the gospel. Take some time to think about your preferences, special opportunities in your area, etc. and decide how you can spread the gospel. While none of these methods are wrong, some are better than others. For example, I think that in our culture it's very difficult to effectively communicate using open air preaching. Very few will stop and listen long enough to hear the gospel. Still, if you are inclined to preach open air, and are able to make it work, go for it! The only real requirement is that you actually have to be preaching the gospel. Doing charity work or having a good testimony is great, but nobody counts that as gospel preaching unless they're trying to justify their coldness. Unless you're somehow communicating to someone that they are a sinner, Christ died for their sins, and they need to repent, then you're not preaching the gospel.

        When should you preach? Only in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2). Or in other words, any chance you get. I strongly encourage everyone to seriously think about how you can make more effort to share the gospel with others. At the very least, get some good tracts (tracts that cover everything we talked about under the 'what' section and do not have a sinner's prayer on them) and give them out at the store and at restaurants. It may not seem like much, but it really makes a difference! Now, let's be clear, there's no quota or anything that says you have to witness to 100 people each month or you're a bad Christian. With that said, if you are feeling fine, but skip out on evangelism to watch TV or something, make no mistake, you're sinning (James 4:17). You should try to witness as best as you can while balancing other areas of life. Yes, there's an imminent need for people to preach the gospel, and yes there are souls at stake. Still, you will be useless to the Lord if you burn out or damage your family through negligence. For more info, a friend of mine wrote a really good article on finding balance that you can find on his website. I'll give another short, but important bit of advice: make sure you have strong Christian fellowship! This is fun and exciting work, but also draining. Find other Christians that are sharing the gospel. Swap stories with them, pray for each other, plan activities together if possible. If you can't find someone like that in your church, find a new one! If you can't find someone like that at all, then contact me!

        To whom should you preach? Sinners. You pretty much can't go wrong here. There are a few exceptions that I'll note. First, there's the whole “don't cast pearls before swine” thing. This isn't an excuse to not share the gospel, but guidance on when to walk away. The key is the second part of the verse, “lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matt. 7:6). In other words, if you're talking to someone and they tell you to stop, or start threatening violence (vocally or body language), just walk away and find someone else to talk to. Or, a more likely scenario, if someone gets argumentative and stops listening, it's fine to just walk off. Sometimes you may just have to use your best judgment on this one. The point is, you'll never run out of sinners to preach to. It's silly to waste your time on someone who's angry and not listening.

        Second, generally avoid preaching at work. You're not being paid to talk, but to do your job. Besides, there's a real possibility of getting in trouble these days if you open your mouth. Don't lie or deny it, but there's nothing wrong with using a little wisdom and discretion. I've met people who rarely/never preach the gospel in their free time, but they get in trouble at work because they won't shut their mouth. That's just stupid. If there's a particular opportunity that you see with a co-worker, I recommend inviting them out to lunch and using that time to witness.

        That covers almost everything! Preaching the gospel is actually quite simple, we only make it hard with all the silly ideas that people have these days. Find a sinner, tell them about the savior. Do it as often as you can. That's the main thing: do something. I've seen so many churches go through evangelism training programs, revivals, etc. but only two weeks later, you can't find anyone in the church who is making any effort to personally preach the gospel to others. Read the gospels and Acts to see how Jesus and the apostles lived and preached. Follow their example and you can't go wrong.