When Intellectualism Take The Place of Exegesis

There is no doubt that Christians who take the study of the Word of God seriously, all wish to find and understand the true and intended meaning of the text they are studying. And we do know that sometimes discovering the true intended meaning of passages have great difficulties because we were not there at the time of the writing. We suffer from a span of time, a difference in culture, a lack of context, and any number of other obstacles. Add to that the ongoing debate on just how to approach scripture whether it be a literal approach or an allegorical approach. And to top all of that off we struggle with our own agenda’s and bias’s that may color our understanding in a way not intended by the author.

One of these bias’s is “intellectualism” which can be defined as “the doctrine that knowledge is wholly or chiefly derived from pure reason.” The trouble with intellectualism is that “reason” can take one in a number of directions because of bias’s we carry. And what happens is that we find confidence in our reason, not recognizing our bias’s along the way, because reason is seen as almost infallible. If reason led one to the conclusion then the conclusion “must” be correct. After all how would we understand anything if we did not use reason to get there?

The problem we run into is that, much like John Calvin, the desire for intellectualism drives us to want to dig deeper than necessary and avoid the plain meaning of the text for something much harder to get to. Intellectualists are driven by the struggle to find meaning and the use of reason to accomplish overcoming the struggle. The end result is that the struggle is often fabricated in order to have an unnecessary reason to use reason in a greater and unnecessary way. This fulfills the flesh and drives the many false doctrines that come about among intellectualists.

The literal approach is the biblical approach to scripture. And while conservative intellectualists believe they are staying true to this approach they fall short often times when they work to dig deeper than is necessary to understand scripture. I am reminded of when I used to run quite a bit and work out. After a point I became focused on obtaining the sensation in my legs, when I ran and leg lifted, more so than the actual benefits of working out such as gaining strength and better health. If after a reasonable workout I did not obtain the sensation in my legs I called the “burn” then I would take my exercise further not for health or strength but for the “burn”.

Today’s intellectuals appear to have a similar motive in the study of scripture. They are more interested in the pursuit of knowledge and the use of reason than they are the understanding of who God is. Paul said “For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.” This intellectualism or rather hyper-intellectualism which drives so much of our discourse in Evangelical circles needs to heed the words of Paul who said “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

Four Areas of Change for Churches to Pray Through

After reading some of the more popular books on postmodern evangelism and church growth, leaders of small churches may be under the false impression they must toss out everything they practice and believe in and ?nd some radical new way of doing church before they can reach the next generation. While many churches really do need to examine some of their methods and programs, they do not need to throw out everything and start over. Some well thought out adjustments in four key areas will allow small churches to reach out to the next generation effectively.

The first three areas to consider adjustments in are: helping the church regain its position as the social center of the community; helping the church regain its position as the ceremonial center of the community; and using the church’s facilities as an outreach tool. Though these three areas have been historically strong in most churches, they have begun to slip in e?ectiveness as the culture has become more secular. Church leaders need to consider any changes that might help them reverse the decline their churches may have experienced in these three areas. Over the course of my next several posts, I will give suggestions for what kind of changes church leaders can think about and considers in these three areas.

I can already see some of my more “cutting edge” friends rolling their eyes and saying, “That is all just attractional evangelism and it will not be enough.” (If that term is unfamiliar, do not worry—I will explain what it means in my next post).

I am well aware that the three areas mentioned above attractional in nature and that it those changes alone will not be enough to reach the next generation. But remember, I said there were FOUR key areas that we need to consider changes in.

To reach significant numbers of postmoderns we must also deal with the fourth area of change, which is philosophical. Those philosophical changes have a number of practical applications that must also be discussed and considered if small churches want to reach the next generation. This fourth area will require a greater degree of change for churches and will therefore entail greater struggle. Some people refer to these philosophical changes, and their practical applications, as “missional evangelism.” (If that term is not familiar to you, do not worry. I will explain it in tomorrow’s post as well).

The reason I break the four key areas into two categories and deal with them separately is because church leaders often need to work their way up to more challenging philosophical ideas. Some churches may choose not to implement the ideas from the fourth area at all. Though that may result in reaching fewer postmodern people, if the church implements at least some of the ideas of the ?rst three areas, they will be reaching some postmodern people. Reaching some is better than reaching none, and sometimes churches can endure only so much change at one time. So I would rather break up the ideas and present them one at a time and gain some traction than lob the entire load at leaders at one time and overwhelm them.

Read my next few posts with a heart that is seeking to hear from the Lord. Then prayerfully implement some of the ideas from the ?rst few posts. As the Lord leads, consider how the ideas from the second set of posts might be implemented as well. Keep in mind that the goal is to bring glory to God by sharing the Christian faith with the changing community around our churches without abandoning biblical principles in the process. It can be a ?ne line. It will take discernment, prayer, and a deep reliance on the leading of the Holy Spirit, but it can be done.

Adapted from my book, Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church, which can be purchased at thousands of online retailers or directly from the author.

Postmodern Spirituality

I recently wrote an article called Grandpa’s Church is Struggling. The article talks about how churches are rapidly losing their young people. The article seems to be getting a lot of attention on the web. I followed that article up with one on Understanding Postmodernism, which can be a complicated philosophical worldview to grasp (even by those who hold to it). Then I connected those two articles with a third, which explained the link between Postmodernism and Age. That article helped readers understand that the reason Grandpa’s church is struggling is because most of the young adults in the community have bought into postmodernism and most churches do not understand what that is or how to communicate with those who hold to that worldview.

All of these articles have led some of my readers to conclude that postmodern people are not interested in being spiritual. However, I think it is important to point out that contrary to what many Christians think, people with a postmodern worldview often consider themselves to be quite spiritual. However, they tend to pick and choose the pieces of spirituality they like from a variety of sources. They will not accept the church’s traditional brand of spirituality without personal exploration, experiences, and relationships. Since so many traditional evangelical churches expect blanket acceptance, postmodern young people have struggled to remain involved in traditional evangelical churches in recent years. For several years I have known Li-Jin (name changed for privacy reasons), who is an exceptionally bright student at one of the ?nest colleges in New England. One of Li-Jin’s parents is a Christian; the other is a Buddhist. Li-Jin often refers to himself as a Christian Buddhist. After I had extensive conversations with Li-Jin, it was clear he had spent a considerable amount of time reading books by both Christian and Buddhist authors and melded certain aspects of each religion into his own personal belief system. Though parts of each religion clearly contradict the other and the two worldviews are incompatible as an integrated faith system, in Li-Jin’s mind, this melded religion makes sense. Li-Jin essentially created his own religion—his personal brand of spiritual truth. Not only did he get to pick the parts of each religion that he liked best, but he was also able to avoid disappointing either of his parents. This eclectic kind of spirituality, in which pieces of di?erent religions are combined into a new belief system, is becoming quite common among members of the next generation. As one can imagine, small churches will have to work harder to reach people like Li-Jin. But they can be reached! In my next post, I will explain how!

Adapted from my book, Mission Possible: Reaching the Next Generation through the Small Church, which can be purchased at thousands of online retailers or directly from the author.

Reflections with Muslim Background Believer Hazem Farraj

Mercy and Wrath: Two Aspects of Spirituality

Introduction:
Habakkuk was a little known prophet who lived about 700 years before Christ during the same period as the prophet Jeremiah, who was more well-known. He served during a period of deterioration of religious principles and personal relationship with God had reached a new low in their culture. Our modern culture has a lot of similarities to Habakkuk’s day, which is why we should study this nearly forgotten small book.

Habakkuk 3:1-3, 12-13, 16-18
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 2 LORD, I have heard the report about You; LORD, I stand in awe of Your deeds. Revive Your work in these years; make it known in these years. In Your wrath remember mercy! 3 God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. 4 His brilliance is like light; rays are flashing from His hand. This is where His power is hidden. 12 You march across the earth with indignation; You trample down the nations in wrath. 13 You come out to save Your people, to save Your anointed. You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck. 16 I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

Verse 1 – A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
• Through the painful situations he observed around him and through the exciting visions God had given him, Habakkuk remained committed to prayer.
• Far too many of us neglect our prayer time. Sometimes we neglect it because things are so bad that we do not think God can help. Sometimes we neglect it because things are so good that we do not think we need prayer. Prayer must become part of the foundation of our daily lives, in both good times and bad.
• The Hebrew word shigionoth is a musical term. Though scholars disagree on its exact meaning, it comes from a root word that means to err, to go astray, or to reel. Most scholars focus on the concept of reeling in joy and say it means this prayer should be sung or shouted out joyfully! Other scholars focus on the idea that that if we do not spend enough time in prayer, we can expect to err or go astray. Perhaps both apply and God is reminding us that if we do not pray enough we will constantly go astray but anytime we are willing to return to the Lord, we will be filled with joy once again.

Verse 2 – LORD, I have heard the report about You; LORD, I stand in awe of Your deeds. Revive Your work in these years; make it known in these years. In Your wrath remember mercy!
• Though Habakkuk had witnessed great pain in the world around Him, he had also heard of amazing things that God had done.
• When we go through difficult times, we tend to focus on our pain and forget that God is still doing many amazing things around us.
• Despite all the pain around him, when Habakkuk thought about all that God had done, he stood in awe and amazement. Habakkuk asked God to do the same things again and spirituality revive his messed up society.
• The Hebrew word for revive is chayah. It literally means to keep alive, to recover, to repair or to restore. Habakkuk was asking God to restore or repair the spirituality that his people once had. It is important to point out that it is impossible to restore or repair something that does not exist. Therefore, this prayer would only work because the people had been in relationship with the Lord in the past. That relationship needed to be renewed.
• Think about how this relates to our own situation. Before a person, a church, or a culture can be re-vived, they must first be vived! We must first be born again and come alive spirituality. If that has not happened to us yet, God is not obligated to answer our prayers. Once we are born again through faith in Christ, then when we go through a challenging time or wander from our faith, we can return to the Lord and be revived immediately through prayer. If we fail to return, then at some point we must face the discipline of God, since God disciplines those He loves (Hebrews 12:6, Proverbs 3:12). Most of us prefer to think about all the great things God has done FOR us, not all the things God could do TO us if we continue to live in ways that displease Him. Though we do not need to dwell on it every day, sometimes it is good to consider the wrath of God. The wrath of God would be too terrible to even think about if it were not also for the mercy of God. Mercy is not getting the punishment that we rightly deserve. We have all received mercy, and for that we should be ever thankful. But we must not take God’s mercy for granted.

Verses 3-4 – … His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. His brilliance is like light; rays are flashing from His hand.
• Having a healthy understanding of the nature of God is important for a balanced spirituality. When we first think of God we should think about his splendor and the beauty of His creation. That should cause us to want to praise Him. We should think about how God is light and how He is shining that light everywhere. Do not miss the subtle hint in this verse about why that light is so powerful, it flashes from His hands. It was the hands of Christ that were pierced for us and they are proof of God’s deep love for us.

Verse 12 – You march across the earth with indignation; You trample down the nations in wrath.
• However, a healthy view of God is not just all sunshine and love, for God also knows how to dispense judgment when it is deserved. His mercy keeps most of His judgment at bay, for which we should be grateful. But we must not take His mercy for granted. There are times when His wrath falls.
•For those who are Christians, the best way to avoid God’s wrath is to keep a “short list” with God. We should confess our sins daily so that we can go to bed with a clean conscience each day. This will keep us from getting into situations in which God must display His wrath toward us. If we fail to have that daily time of confession, then at the very least we should confess our sins to the Lord before we take communion. Taking communion when we are not in right relationship with God is extremely dangerous.
• For those who are not yet Christians, the ONLY way to avoid the wrath of God is to become a Christian. Observing all the religious rituals without having first been born again is of no spiritual value. It will only produce emptiness and spiritual disillusionment.

Verse 13 – You come out to save Your people, to save Your anointed. You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck.
• Though God can display His wrath for any particular sin, we see it most often when God moves to save His people from an oppressor. Many scholars believe this is specifically referring to the Jewish people. Other scholars say it also includes Christian believers. I think it applies to both.
• Those of us who are parents understand that what happens inside of us when someone messes with our kids! The most mild mannered person who is full of compassion can come out swinging when their kids are in danger. God is the ultimate parent; do not mess with His kids! He will CRUSH those who do!

Verse 16 – I heard, and I trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.
• Habakkuk understood the wrath of God. Even while he called on God to show compassion to His own people, he trembled at the thought of wrath of God falling on God’s enemies. Habakkuk knew that the wrath of God would fall on those who deserved it, but he also realized it would come in God’s way and in God’s time.
• One of the hardest parts of the Christian faith is waiting for God to do what needs to be done. Many of us want to help God out when it comes to judgment and punishment. But that is not our job. We must wait for the day of distress to come.

Verses 17-18 – Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
• Habakkuk understood that it would get worse before it got better, but he was determined to see it through all the way to the end because in the end he knew God would win! God had to let evil run its course before His wrath fell. Why? Because God is compassionate even to evil people and gives them a chance to change. But when the Hitler’s of the world refuse to change, then God’s wrath falls and they are destroyed. We do not want to be in that category.
• When God’s judgment falls, sometimes even good people feel the impact. Maybe God sends a storm to destroy the crops. Good people’s crops are destroyed along with the evil man’s crops. Those who believe in the Lord know to remain faithful during such times because in the end, the Lord triumphs over all the evil in this world. For that, we should rejoice! But we should be sure we are on the winning team so we do not experience the wrath of God.

Conclusion:
• Prayer should be an important part of our lives in both good times and bad.
• If we want our lives to be blessed, we must make sure we have been born again so that God can revive (renew) us again and again.
• A healthy view of God begins with understanding He is love and light, but also includes a realization that He will punish those who deserve it (and that includes us!).
• Those who mess with God’s kids, do so at their own peril.
•In the end, God ALWAYS wins!

Understanding Postmodernism

Though the term postmodernism was ?rst used in the 1870s, it was not widely used until the late twentieth century and early twenty-?rst century. People who hold to postmodernism do not like to be classi?ed, and therefore it is unlikely they will use the term to refer to themselves. But since there are now so many postmodernists in our culture, we should all have a working understanding of their worldview.

Postmodernism is the idea that individuals have both the intelligence and the right to decide for themselves what truth is. In the past, truth was a clearly de?ned fact that was generally accepted by each generation. Postmodern individuals see the de?nition of truth as less clear. As postmodern people search for truth, they base their conclusions on their own research, individual experiences, and personal relationships instead of on the truth accepted by their parents, government, or church. This does not mean postmodernists do not believe in truth; it just means they de?ne truth for themselves.

Postmodern people are quite comfortable with the concept that di?erent people will come to di?erent conclusions about the same subject and all of them have discovered the truth, even if such truths contradict each other. For most postmodern people, the concept of absolute truth does not exist. It has been replaced with a more personalized sense of truth that may vary from person to person.

It can be di?cult to describe how postmodern people think because they do not like to be categorized. However, careful observation of their behaviors, combined with listening to what young people say and write, o?er a glimpse of postmodernists’ common characteristics. Dr. Earl Creps is the director of the doctor of ministry program at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Spring?eld, Missouri. He writes extensively on postmodernism. He has discovered:

The average person in?uenced by postmodernism may never have heard a lecture or read a book about it. Nonetheless, the traits that embody the philosophy are all around us: the centrality of community, the primacy of experience, the subjectivity of truth, the complexity of human perception, the fragility of progress, the unreality of absolutes, the enormity of the spiritual [and] the plurality of worldviews.

Other writers have compiled similar lists of postmodern traits that frequently appear in the next generation. If business, government and religious leaders wish to e?ectively engage postmodern people, they will have to deal with these common traits.

Postmodern people can be any age, but typically, the younger people are, the more likely they are to have a postmodern worldview. Dr. Jan W. van Deth, a political science professor at the University of Mannheim, and Elinor Scarbrough, a senior lecturer in government at the University of Essex and co-director of the Essex Summer School in Data Analysis and Collection, have studied postmodernism extensively. They have presented a number of papers and edited a book on the subject. Based on their studies, they conclude that “postmodern orientations are most common among young people and the well-educated.”

There is no set age at which individuals suddenly decide to become postmodern. Instead, postmodern tendencies are more like a graph in which the younger a person is, the more postmodern his or her worldview is likely to be. This connection between age and postmodernism comes from a past when people had access to a limited amount of information, so it was harder for them to question truth. Because of this, older generations often believed what they were told because they did not have access to information that would lead them to think otherwise. With the advent of technology, younger generations have become used to collecting information from a wide variety of sources, as have more-educated people. Even though much of the information collected may be inaccurate, it still makes younger generations question the validity of what others have told them. Instead, they want to discover truth for themselves. This desire to discover one’s own truth is the essence of postmodernism.
If business, government and religious leaders want to reach the next generation, they are going to have to discover ways to help young people discover truth for themselves. Young people are not going to just accept a government official, business leader, or priest’s word on any particular issue. Young people want to delve deep into their own study of whatever subject is being discussed. Though this may frighten some leaders, many leaders enjoy the discussions that arise from such deep study. For those leaders able to embrace questions, the next generation will be a exciting addition at the cultural table.

Holding On To The Vision

This is a sermon written by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett and preached at Resurrection Baptist Church (Montpelier, VT) on April 15, 2012 and at Faith Community Church (Barre, VT) on April 22, 2012. It is part two of a three part series on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.

Introduction:
Habakkuk was a little known prophet who lived about 700 years before Christ. He would have served as a prophet about the same time as the prophet Jeremiah, who was more well-known. This was a time in which the nation of Israel was in midst of being destroyed, mostly due to their unwillingness to serve the Lord wholeheartedly. It was a period of general deterioration of religious principles and conviction. Personal relationship with God had reached a new low in their culture. Our modern culture has a lot of similarities to Habakkuk’s day, which is why we should study this small book that hardly anyone reads.

Scripture Text: Habakkuk 2:1-4, 14-16, 18-20
1 I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what He will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint. 2 The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it. 3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late. 4 Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith. 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD’s glory, as the waters cover the sea. 18 What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all. 20 But the LORD is in His holy temple; let everyone on earth be silent in His presence. (HCSB)

Explanation of Each Verse:

Verse 1 – I will stand at my guard post and station myself on the lookout tower. I will watch to see what He will say to me and what I should reply about my complaint.
• Habakkuk poured out his heart to God over the complex problems he saw around him and then he waited for God to respond. Habakkuk did not have a casual attitude toward waiting on the Lord, he was serious. The verse uses a military illustration to demonstrate the clarity of focus that Habakkuk had while he waited on God. He was like a guard on duty watching earnestly to see what would happen. Even in the midst of all the struggles he saw around him, he had faith that God was going to do something, even though he did not know what that something would be.
• We can learn a lot from Habakkuk’s attitude. When we cry out to God and he does not respond as quickly as we want, or in the way we want, we must resist the temptation to give up on our faith and stop trusting. We must remain diligent in believing that God will respond, in the right way and right time. We must continue to wait on the Lord. Waiting on God is not idle time to do nothing. Waiting on God involves spending time in His Word and in prayer seeking answers from Him. It also involves being with God’s people so we can get godly advice from them.
• A key component to waiting on the Lord is to be watchful. We must have faith that something will happen and then be watching for it so that we do not miss it. Only the Lord knows how many times we missed something big that He wanted to do.

Verse 2 – The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.
• When the Lord responded to Habakkuk, He told him to write down what was said so everyone could read it. It was common practice in those days to place public notices at key crossroads or at the gates of a city so everyone could read them. These notices were written with large letters so a person rushing by could still read it. Though God often remains silent longer than we would like Him to, when He does respond, He usually does it in ways that everyone can see. Remember when God told Noah to build an ark to save his family from a worldwide flood? But God waited 120 years to send the rain. But when it came, no one missed it! Remember when Joshua and the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for a week, but when the walls finally fell down, it got everyone’s attention. Remember how when Jesus walked the earth, He performed miracles that astounded the crowds and no could deny were from God.
• God may work behind the scenes for weeks, months, or even years, but when He is ready to display His work, it will be very hard to miss! In fact, the only people who will miss God’s activities are those who have become so wrapped up in the world that they are no longer paying attention to God.

Verse 3 – For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late.
• Though God wanted everyone to know what He was going to do, God also made it clear that it would not happen until the time was right. Despite Habakkuk’s deep burden, God still made him wait until the timing was right.
• Sometimes God puts a burden for something in our hearts, and we know clearly that it is from Him, but the timing is not yet right and we have to wait. As time passes, it is tempting to let the vision begin to fade, or even forget about it completely. We must not let that happen. If it is really a vision from God, then it will certainly come to pass. We must cling to the clear visions that God has put on our hearts and believe that when the time is right, they will happen.

Verse 4 – Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.
• Verse four can be hard to understand unless we remember what God said in chapter one. In Habakkuk chapter 1 God explained how He was going to use the Chaldeans, an evil and treacherous people, as a tool for furthering His Kingdom work. Habakkuk struggled with this idea because the Chaldeans were such a terrible group of people. It was hard to understand how God could use them to accomplish part of God’s overall plan. We must remember that God can and does use all things to accomplish His ultimate purposes.
• The Chaldeans arrogantly thought they were the ones running the show, when really it had been God’s plan all along. Even now there are many groups around the world that do terrible evil. They think they are in charge of their little sphere of influence. But they are only pawns in a much larger plan that God is working out for His ultimate good purpose.
• Like the Chaldeans, we often think we are in charge and the fulfillment of our God given dreams depend solely on us. But God is the one who is in charge and He will decide when, where and how His vision for our lives will be fulfilled. We must learn to live by faith, trusting that God knows what He is doing. Living by faith means holding true to the visions God has put in our hearts even when it seems like God has forgotten us or like the bad guys are winning. This can be a real challenge, but the rewards for living by faith are so rich that they cannot really be described, they can only be experienced.

Verse 14 – For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
• Just as we cannot miss the ocean when we drive by, those with eyes to see and ears to hear cannot miss what God is doing. Though the wicked may think they are in charge, anyone who is filled with the Spirit and living by faith knows better. Everywhere those who live by faith look, they see evidence of the Lord’s power and might. Someone said, “Those who leave everything in God’s hands, will see God’s hands in everything.” This takes great faith, but it also relieves a great deal of stress.

Verse 18 – What use is a carved idol after its craftsman carves it? It is only a cast image, a teacher of lies. For the one who crafts its shape trusts in it and makes idols that cannot speak.
• The people around the Jews loved to make up their own gods. They would spend great amounts of money to have someone carve a fancy statue out of wood or sculpt one out of stone. At first, the person who makes an idol knows it is fake, after all, he is the one who made it. But then he gets impressed with his own abilities to make such a pretty piece of art and in time he forgets it is just a chunk of wood or stone. He begins to trust in it, even though it has no power to help him and cannot give answers to any problems in life.
• We may not carve physical idols, but we do carve out ideas and attitudes that we know do not come from the Lord. At first we struggle inwardly because we know the idea is not from the Lord, but in time we become comfortable with it. We replace God’s ideas with our own and begin to trust in our own wisdom. Though this is tempting, there is no lasting power to be found in our own ideas.

Verse 19 – Woe to him who says to wood: Wake up! or to mute stone: Come alive! Can it teach? Look! It may be plated with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.
• When the idols of old did not help people, instead of abandoning them, they spoke to them even more. They tried to make them prettier by covering them in gold and silver. But none of that helped because it was just a chunk of wood or stone!
• When we realize that some of our ideas are not from God, we should abandon them and cling to the visions that God has placed in our hearts. But our pride often gets in the way and we try instead to make our own ideas look better. We work hard to convince ourselves that we are smarter than God, knowing all along we are not.

Verse 20 – But the LORD is in His holy temple; let everyone on earth be silent in His presence.
• The Lord is not in the false idols carved by men, no matter how pretty we make them look. The Lord is also not in the ideas and methods of our modern world, no matter how “rational” and “sophisticated” we make them sound. Though we tend to get focused on our own ideas and the world’s philosophies, what we need to do is focus on the Lord. We need to stop making such a big deal about ourselves and make much of Jesus instead.
• Remember, in Habakkuk’s day, the temple was a physical building where the people worshipped the Lord. In our modern times the “temple” of the Holy Spirit is our bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Even in times in which it seems like God is silent, He is present in the temple of our bodies. He has not gone anywhere. God is ready to fill us with His Spirit and empower us for His service anytime we are willing to stop, listen, and respond to Him.

Conclusion:
• When God puts a vision in our spirit, we must cling to it no matter how long it takes to fulfill.
• Despite what we observe around us, God is always at work behind the scenes in our lives.
• We must have faith to trust Him while we wait on Him to bring about the dreams He has given us.
•We must not get sidetracked by the world’s philosophies or ideas, but stay focused on the Lord while we wait for His plans to happen.

Dealing With Burn Out Among Bivocational Pastors

These ideas were developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett and are based on a seminar he leads for bivocational pastors and for lay people in churches served by bivocational pastors.

Introduction:
Though all pastors are prone to burn out, bivocational pastors typically face this threat with fewer resources from their local church or denomination. Since bivocational pastors are seldom able to attend clergy meetings, they often have not heard information on how they can to avoid burn out.

1. One way to help bivocational pastors avoid burn out is to help them overcome the “second class syndrome.”
•Many bivocational pastors feel that they are “second class” pastors.
•Though there are many reasons for this, common ones include: they lack education, they serve a small church, or they cannot take part in denominational meetings because their second job conflicts with those meetings.
•Bivocational ministry is actually NORMAL for the church – Acts 18:1-4, 1 Thess. 2:9, 2 Thess. 3:7-9
•Bivocational ministry is becoming MORE COMMON in America.
•Many younger pastors, especially church planters, are embracing bivocational ministry for missional reasons instead of economic ones.

2. A second way to help bivocational pastors avoid burn out is to help them learn the art of delegation.

•Pastors and lay leaders need to understand that shared leadership is NORMAL in the church – Acts 13:1-3, 2 Timothy 2:1-2
•God NEVER intended for the pastor to do all the ministry on his own!
•It is very unhealthy for both the pastor and the church when the pastor does it all.
•Pastors and lay leaders must be taught that there are multiple callings to ministry in a healthy church. 1 Timothy 5:17
•There are people who are called to do ministry who may not be called to be pastors.
•Some pastors do not delegate because they either think the lay people will not do ministry or that the lay people are not trained adequately to do ministry. But lay people will help if trained.
•One of the primary duties of pastors to train people in the local church for ministry. – 2 Timothy 2:1-2

3. A third way to help bivocational pastors avoid burn out is for them to have a Sabbath on a regular basis.

•God set the example of working for six days and then taking one day to rest. Genesis 2:2-3
•Bivocational pastors and the churches they serve, must understand that the pastor needs a day off each week if they want him to be around long term.
•Delegating small tasks to others will help relieve some of the pressure from a bivocational pastor.
•However, if he really wants to avoid burn out, he must also be willing to delegate some high level ministry duties to others.
•Since preaching and visitation are two of the most time consuming aspects of ministry, bivocational pastors should train others to help them with these two ministries.
•Lay people can and will help with these ministries if trained adequately.
•If lay people resist learning how to assist in these ministries, pastors should remind them that the Holy Spirit will empower them.
•Letting a lay person preach every 6-8 weeks gives a pastor a much needed break and develops the lay people’s spiritual lives.
•The same is true for visitation.

4. How should pastors go about building a leadership team?

•While announcements from the pulpit or in the church bulletin may stir up some interest, pastors should personally recruit 2-3 men whom they think can be trained to assist them in ministry.
•Once the small group has been selected, pastors will need to meet with them for a minimum of six weeks (longer is better!) to train them in how to do pastoral care and preach a basic sermon.
•Classroom training alone will not be sufficient. After 2-3 weeks of learning in a classroom environment, pastors must take the students on some visits.
• At first the students will observe, but then pastors must assign the students some portion of the visit to lead and eventually must let the students lead the entire visit with the pastor being only a silent observer.
•Likewise, the students will need to preach a sample sermon or two to the other students.
•Students will then need to preach a sermon to the home church.
•Students will then need to preach a sermon at a nearby church.
•After each preaching experience, students will need feedback on how to improve their sermon.
•Pastors should look for ways to use these lay people REGULARLY for pulpit supply and visitation.
•Nothing is more discouraging than to be trained for something and then not get to use that training.

5. What resources are available to help pastors train leadership teams?

•Seminary Extension courses offered through the Southern Baptist Convention based in Nashville.
•Numerous on line resources from a variety of sources.
•The skills and experience of retired pastors.
•The book, by CrossBooks, a division of Lifeway.
•Whatever resources are used, the key is to make sure the students learn practical skills that they can actually use and not just theoretical concepts.

Conclusion:
•Burn out among all pastors, but especially bivocational ones, is a growing concern in America.
•Pastors can avoid burn out best by creating leadership teams to assist them in the ministry.
•There are many resources out there, we should use whichever ones work best in our context, but we must make sure they are practicalts will then need to preach a sermon to the home church.
•Students will then need to preach a sermon at a nearby church.
•After each preaching experience, students will need feedback on how to improve their sermon.
•Pastors should look for ways to use these lay people REGULARLY for pulpit supply and visitation.
•Nothing is more discouraging than to be trained for something and then not get to use that training.

5. What resources are available to help pastors train leadership teams?

•Seminary Extension courses offered through the Southern Baptist Convention based in Nashville.
•Numerous on line resources from a variety of sources.
•The skills and experience of retired pastors.
•The book, published by CrossBooks, a division of Lifeway.
•Whatever resources are used, the key is to make sure the students learn practical skills that they can actually use and not just theoretical concepts.

Conclusion:
•Burn out among all pastors, but especially bivocational ones, is a growing concern in America.
•Pastors can avoid burn out best by creating leadership teams to assist them in the ministry.
•There are many resources out there, we should use whichever ones work best in our context, but we must make sure they are practical.

Examples of How to Make Hospital Visits as a Deacon or Lay Minister

In a previous article I mentioned the importance of lay people serving alongside their pastors in offering pastoral care to church members by making hospital visits to members in the congregation. While this kind of teamwork is important in churches of all sizes, it is even more vital in smaller churches where the pastors may work second jobs in addition to serving their churches. In smaller churches where pastors are likely to have additional jobs, it is unlikely that those pastors will have the time to make all the hospital visits that are needed, which is why teamwork with lay people is so important.

Though I have written about this issue before, I realize that different people learn in different ways. Therefore, I thought it would be fun to give two brief scenarios of hospital visits. They are both obviously oversimplified and a real visit would probably entail more, but I am simply trying to use these scenarios to help make some points about effective hospital visits. One scenario below demonstrates how an effective visit might look. The other demonstrates now NOT to make hospital visits. Though the two scenarios below are made up, they are based on parts of actual visits I have observed over the years. Enjoy reading it and I hope they make the points in a way that is fun to learn and easy to understand.

A deacon or lay person making an effective hospital visit might have a conversation something like this.

Visitor: Hello, Brother Smith. I wanted to stop in and say hello for a minute and pray with you. Is that okay?

Patient: Yes, please do. I have been so lonely and worried while I’ve been in the hospital and I really need the prayer.

Visitor: We have been praying for you at church.

Patient: Thank you. I received the lovely flowers from the Sunday School class, which really made my day.

Visitor: Is there anything we can do at the house for you while you are in the hospital? I can send one of the teenage boys by to cut the grass and my wife can collect the mail and newspapers for you if you would like us to.

Patient: The grass was pretty high when the ambulance brought me to the hospital. If one of the boys cut the grass, it would be wonderful. My cousin is collecting the mail and papers for me, but thanks for offering.

Visitor: Would you like me to read you a scripture before I pray for you?

Patient: Yes, that would be a blessing.

Visitor: Do you have a favorite scripture you want me to read?

Patient: I always feel comforted when I hear Psalm 23; how about that one?

Visitor: Okay, and then I’ll say a prayer for you and let you rest.

Patient: Thanks so much for coming by.

A deacon or lay person making an ineffective hospital visit might have a conversation like this.

Visitor: Hello, Brother Smith. I wanted to stop in and see if you were going to make it. I heard you were real bad off.

Patient: Ah, yes, it has been a rough few days.

Visitor: From what the ladies said at church, the doctors do not give you much hope.

Patient: Well, they have said that my chances are not as good as they had hoped.

Visitor: You know my cousin Tom had the same thing and he suffered for months and months before he finally died. But he was a Christian so we knew he went to heaven, so it was okay.

Patient: Well, I am a Christian; I came to know the Lord ten years ago, so I guess I will be okay if I do not make it.

Visitor: Well, I hope you are a Christian. But if you have ever doubted it, now would be the time to make it right. Can I share the Romans Road with you?

Patient: Well, I guess, but I am kind of tired; maybe you can come back later.

Visitor: Don’t you want to hear the Gospel? It’s what you need most of all, especially if you are doubting your faith.

Patient: I do not doubt my faith, but I am worried about how my wife and kids will get by if I die.

Visitor: I am sure they can get welfare; the state will not let them starve.

Patient: Ah . . . . , well . . . ., I guess that’s reassuring. Thanks so much for coming by. I think I need to rest now.

Visitor: Okay, well, it was good to see you, and I will tell everyone all about your situation so they will know just how bad it is. That way they can pray better about it.

For further reflection: What made the first scenario more effective than the second one? Read through the second scenario again. How many things are wrong with that visit? What could have been done differently to make the second scenario more effective?

The above is an excerpt from the book, Developing Leadership Teams in the Bivocational Church, by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett. The book contains six easy to use lessons to teach lay people to work as a team with their pastor. Though the book is designed specifically for bivocational pastors, many fully funded pastors and many lay people are finding it equally helpful.

When the pastor is a ‘museum curator’

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — Most pastors inevitably will face three common criticisms. The most common of the three is the issue of worship style and music. Although worship wars have abated a bit over the past few years, every pastor can be assured that there will be a few people in the congregation who don’t like something about the worship services.

A second common criticism of pastors comes from congregants who feel they aren’t getting sufficient pastoral attention. Indeed, even the pastor who gives extraordinary attention to pastoral care can’t be omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. I remember well one angry critic of a church where I served as pastor. She yelled at me for more than 10 minutes on the phone because I did not visit her when she was in the hospital. When I tried calmly to explain that I didn’t know she was in the hospital, she shouted even louder, “Well, you should have!”

It is the third common criticism that I wish to address in this article. It fits within the broad category of physical facilities. Some or several church members have deep emotional ties to, for example, a certain building, a Sunday School classroom, a parlor, stained glass windows, or pews. When the pastor attempts to suggest any changes related to these items of great fondness, he might meet a wave of unexpected criticism.

I spend a lot of time conversing with pastors. Almost every month I hear from a pastor who has been wounded by critics after he attempted to make some change that affected the church’s facilities. Many pastors are caught off guard by the depth of emotions they encounter. Others lament that they feel like they are curators of a museum, protecting physical items when they should be sharing the Gospel in the community.

When I served as a pastor of four churches, I was too insensitive to these critics. I often perceived them as unreasonable people with a misplaced focus. As I have aged (and hopefully matured), I now see that there were real reasons for the hurt.

Some of the congregants saw their loved ones married in a worship center, and the thought of abandoning that space for a newer and bigger facility can be deeply painful. Others recall their grandparents sacrificing hard-earned dollars to acquire those stained-glass windows. Those windows have a much deeper meaning than just some beautiful pieces of colored glass.

The bottom line is that many of these congregants have deep attachments to these items. There is a deep and real hurt when significant change takes place that affects those things that stir deep emotions in their hearts.

So what is a pastor to do when he receives intense criticism for removing the big, bulky pulpit in favor of a more contemporary lectern? How does he respond when he is shocked by the negative feedback when he suggests that the bridal parlor could also be used for Bible study space? May I suggest a fourfold plan of action?

– Respond to the criticisms pastorally. The critics often are hurt. Even though they lash out at their pastor, he needs to respond in love and deal with the hurt they are feeling.

– Keep the congregation focused on the missional objective of the church. Local congregations are to be taking the Gospel to the community and to the world. As that mandate is repeatedly emphasized before the congregation, more and more members will grasp that they cannot focus on the “things” of the church when they have been called to a much greater purpose.

– Use great discernment to know if the change is really necessary. Are there other alternatives that could engender less pain? Conflicts and fights over physical facilities and items in the church can drain the congregation emotionally and spiritually, and cause the church to lose her focus.

– Do not take the criticisms personally. I know. It’s easier said than done when you’re the target getting the arrows. But if you can hear the hurt objectively, you can respond with a greater pastoral heart.

Many pastors express surprise that their call to ministry includes being the curator of a museum. But the critics who hurt us the most are in the same group we find ourselves: sinners saved by the grace of God. God loves them and us unconditionally. We should do likewise.
–30–
Thom S. Rainer is president of LifeWay Christian Resources. Get Baptist Press headlines and breaking news on Twitter (@BaptistPress), Facebook (Facebook.com/BaptistPress) and in your email (baptistpress.com/SubscribeBP.asp).

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