We can’t be pursuing Jesus simply for the signs. We are in pursuit because of who he is. May we not be in the generation where Jesus says, “No more signs.”
11 The Pharisees showed up and began to argue with Jesus. To test him, they asked for a sign from heaven. 12 With an impatient sigh, Jesus said, “Why does this generation look for a sign? I assure you that no sign will be given to it.” 13 Leaving them, he got back in the boat and crossed to the other side of the lake. (Mark 8:11-13, CEB)
Scot McKnight has an interesting book review on his blog about Len Sweet’s new book.
This may be a book worth examining. What is also worth reading are the comments on that particular post.
At least from this review, there seem to be some things I would like to explore in the book.
Christians are not to be leaders, Sweet argues. They are to be followers. First followers. In other words, Christians should find where Jesus is going, discover where he is at work, and then take up their crosses and follow him there. “In posing the paradox of the ox with an easy yoke and a light burden, Jesus is inviting followers to ‘walk alongside me. Just be with me, and the doing will come naturally.’ …Leadership is a functional position of power and authority. Followership is a relational posture of love and trust.” (39-40)
We spend a tremendous amount of time and energy making sure we use the word “leader” rather than “pastor” these days. It is something worth exploring.
Today is Reformation Day. This is the anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenburg.
Lee Grady of Charisma Magazine has an interesting take on the need for a “Reformation Day” for Charismatics. Quite honestly, I didn’t know some of these issues still existed. Maybe it’s because I don’t watch TV nearly as much…
I will say he has some good points, especially here:
I am no Luther, but I’ve grown increasingly aware that the so-called “Spirit-filled” church of today struggles with many of the same things the Catholic church faced in the 1500s. We don’t have “indulgences”—we have telethons. We don’t have popes—we have super-apostles. We don’t support an untouchable priesthood—we throw our money at celebrity evangelists who own fleets of private jets.
I have long contended Charismatics and Pentecostals have our forms of indulgences. I don’t think they are just telethons, either.
One phenomenon that came and went before I knew anything was some “revival” in Lakeland, FL. By the time I heard anything about it, it was over. The controversial leader of the event was already leaving, talked about a “leave of absence” from ministry, then divorced his wife and married an intern.
As a Pentecostal, often my belief and practice gets wrapped together with Charismatics, so when junk happens (and it’s happened in my own denomination), it effects me. I know struggles. That’s not the issue.
The issue I take is how sloppy we have become as a church. We so rarely take stances on truly moral or theological issues. I will commend my denomination for being able to take stands on morality more often than not. While I have watched them sidestep some landmines because of personality, I have also watched them take great care to take a tough stand even if they were dealing with a well-known personality.
That said, I think even my own denomination is sloppy theologically on many other issues and while we can take the “high road”, so to speak, on some moral issues, we are slipping badly on other things. We’ve taken much more of a business model approach for church leadership. We’ve taken a “networking” approach for fundraising that grossly overlooks bad financial practices. We follow money far more than we used to and it’s coming back to haunt us in some ways. We are far more “results” driven than Spirit-driven.
It’s just a bit sloppy.
It’s why when I read a couple of paragraphs from a Christianity Today article online I thought not only of moral stances, but our lack of theology when the editor said this:
One critic, Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, faulted Bentley for sending the charismatic movement into a “tailspin.” He quoted an anonymous Pentecostal evangelist who said, “I’m now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the Antichrist when he shows up because they have no discernment.”
That quote is haunting. It’s not just a lack of discernment on morality. It’s a lack of discernment in theology and biblical understanding.
This is why I do this blog and why I still pastor, preach and teach. The Body of Christ is seriously lacking in discernment. One would of thought it would have improved after the late ’80s debacles with Bakker and Swaggert. It has not. It’s worse. The evangelist in this case was questionable from the get-go and people STILL flocked to see him.
I do this blog and continue to preach on spiritual formation because the Body of Christ needs to wake up.
It’s probably directly related to why someone like that evangelist could get thousands into a Florida tent and I get a handful on Sundays. Oh, well. We keep moving on!
