Discipline and Committment

I recently was reading Ed Stetzer's blog (EdStetzer.com) and ran across a post on a new book by Steve Addison called "Movements that Change the World." This book is about church movements and how they have changed the world. In the book Addison identifies what he calls the top five characteristics of dynamic movements, one of which is what he calls, "commitment to a cause."

I loved Addison's description of this particular characteristic. He points out how for good or for evil, history is made by people committed to a common purpose. Nothing changes unless people care deeply and are willing take action. The prime example of this, of course is Jesus himself. Jesus had high expectations of his followers. So high, that some of them walked away.

Addison tells an anecdote about one of my heroes of the faith, John Wesley, who founded the Methodist movement. It seems that after Wesley visited Bristol, one of his "Societies" was started there. By the time Wesley returned to Bristol months later the Society had grown to 900 people. But by the time he left 143 of them had been removed for various reasons: among them wife-beating, smuggling, and drunkenness. Addison's point: Wesley led a disciplined movement; one that changed the world and quite possibly helped avoid a bloody revolution in England like the one they had in France.

Without discipline there is no church. As much as I hate to talk about discipline, and enforce it, and sometimes even tip-toe around it, there can be no church without the boundary of church discipline. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. had this to say about church discipline: "No longer concerned with maintaining purity of confession or lifestyle, the contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other." Mohler, who is President of Southern Baptist Seminary, goes on to say, "Put simply, the abandonment of church discipline is linked to American Christianity’s creeping accommodation to American culture." It seems the main concern today is not to offend. If we raise the bar of commitment, or if, heaven forbid, we ask people to actually live their lives differently from their non-believing neighbors, who knows what they will do; they may even leave! Meanwhile, much of what Jesus, Peter and Paul and others had to say was very offensive, especially to our sensitive modern ears which are more attuned to everyone's right to have their cake and eat it too.

Of note is the fact that the terms ‘disciple’ and ‘discipline’ share the same root. It is only through "discipline" that "disciples" are made. A disciple is one under the teaching, training, coaching, and authority of another. Discipline is the means by which God’s people are trained in godliness: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Tit. 2:11-12).

Bottom line, there is a great deal of unhappiness, distress, and trouble in the world because of our 'all-too-frequent' failure to control our tempers, appetites, passions and impulses. Sadly, this is often just as true inside the church as it is out in the world. Churches that neglect discipline do so to their peril. Doing so is to surrender to the spirit of this age. Discipline and commitment are never pleasant or easy, but things worth doing seldom are.

Blogging - or the lack thereof...

Wow - it has been a long time since I last blogged. Believe me, I have my reasons, and none of them are pretty nor am I proud of them. With everything going on in our lives right now (my family, my church, and so on) honestly, my main goal has been to simply put one foot in front of the other, just trying to "keep on keeping on."

A good friend loaned me a book that has helped a lot in this regard - "Believe That You Can" by Jentezen Franklin. I have to admit that after watching Franklin on television (TBN - the "purple hair people) and after hearing him speak once (at a funeral) I never thought he would "have my ear." But his words have been encouraging me like words straight from the Lord; at least in the way that he has addressed my situation.

I will be back on the blogging bandwagon shortly. Thanks for your patience.

Loved This - You Will Too

In this video megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel is the "victim."

You will love it - it's hilarious!

Book Review: Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

I just finished reading Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, a book whose self-proclaimed goal is to “equip Christian parents with the tools they need to raise children biblically in a post-Christian, anti-family society” (from the cover).

In this book Baucham argues forcefully from Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 that Christian parents have failed and continue to fail to bring their children up in the “training and instruction” of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

I agree with Baucham in general – who can argue with statements like, “Turn off the TV, and hand your kids a book” (p. 103), and “Raising godly children is not a matter of luck; it is a matter of work” (p. 105). The author is absolutely right in insisting that if Bible training and spiritual formation was done in the home as God intended we would begin to see multi-generational faithfulness and less children and youth walking away from the faith when they grow up.

Unfortunately Baucham, like many others of his ilk, insist on insulting everyone within earshot as they try to pound their point home, including parents who choose to send their children to public school, parents who allow their kids to attend church youth groups, and well-meaning and godly pastors and youth leaders who are doing their best in a very difficult environment. Statements like, “How does a father raise his son to respect young women and protect their purity only to send him off to the youth building with exposed midriffs, low-cut tops, and skin-tight jeans?" (p. 182) are low blows to pastors, churches and youth groups that I simply cannot abide with. Baucham has this angry tone through most of the book and, honestly, a “holier-than-thou” attitude where he acts as though his interpretations of Scripture are the only ones that count.

For instance he critiques others for misapplying and misinterpreting Scripture, then proceeds to do the same thing himself. For example, in arguing against public education, Baucham quotes 2 Corinthian 6 about not being yoked with unbelievers. This passage from Paul is clearly about marriage and yet Baucham has conveniently misapplied the text to blast public education.

Baucham also shoots himself in the foot in his argument that home school groups should be embraced by the local church because they are a great field for evangelism. After arguing throughout the book that parents should home school their children because home schooling is more effective at training up our children in biblical ways, the author says, “More than half of the parents who homeschool their children in this country are not Christians” (p. 209). If more than half are not Christian as Baucham claims, why on earth is homeschooling such a vast improvement over public education?

Baucham also sees fit to blast churches who hire pastors who are “unfit” according to the author. Sure, there are pastors and churches that are making huge mistakes chasing culture and the latest fads instead of searching Scripture to see what God has said, but what about the dedicated men and women who are doing their best in what is an increasingly hostile and faithless arena? Would a sentence or two lauding these tireless servants have been too difficult?

In the final analysis, I totally agree with the author that we must always do our best to promote a biblical view of marriage and family, a biblical worldview in general, and a biblical definition of “success.” There is no question that many of the problems we face today would go away if fathers took their spiritual responsibility in the home seriously. In Baucham’s words, “No amount of money, toys, or fringe benefits can replace a godly father” (p. 155). And yes, I agree with the author that motherhood is a noble occupation (Prov. 31). Would in home worship and catechism study be helpful and effective in raising up godly children? Absolutely! Is the “pull of prosperity” (p. 149) deadly to our faith? Absolutely!

But, do I think the answer to the tailspin the evangelical church is in today is to simply do away with age-segregated learning environments including youth groups, Sunday-School classes and small groups? Would that solve our problems overnight? Not hardly. The problem is much deeper than that. Like many authors, Baucham falls prey to the error of "if you are a hammer, then everything looks like a nail." Baucham pounds his “family worship is the answer” hammer to every nail he sees, whenever and wherever he sees it, and he sees it everywhere. Voddie, the enemy is not public education or youth group or Sunday school. Let’s don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater in our rush to fix things!

The church’s role is to partner with parents to help children grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord. No church that I lead will ever forfeit that role. But we are also not willing to sacrifice even one child on the altar of “we told you so” when parents default on their part of the equation. We will take each child and help him or her; we will do our best to help parents develop a biblical view of parenting and their most important task as parents, to transmit their faith to the next generation.