Low Expectations Beget Low Results

When we expect little, we get little. When we aim low, we hit low. When we ask for little, we receive little.

For example, I hear a lot of people lament the fact that Christians, in the United States, are so weak in their faith. They are uncommitted, ungiving, etc.

How do so many leaders and churches respond to this problem? Answer: We lower the expectations and standards!? This does not remedy the problem, but propagates the problem.

I believe that a lowering of the standards is what caused this mess to begin with! We watered down what it meant to be Christian so that "more" people would "enter the fold." What we actually did was make Christianity a title rather than a way of life. Our faith failed to be transformational, because we settled for less than full transformation. Christianity ceased to be a separation from the world and to the things of God and became nothing more than a form of fire insurance and ease of conscious.

We have slowly transitioned to expect less and less. Thus, people of our churches are less involved, attend worship less frequently, give unfaithfully, and some do little to work in the harvest. This becomes evident in at least one way by the fact we barely expect to see people once a week in our churches anymore. Worship of the Creator has been so disregarded that we have bought in to the average Christian attending church 2 out of 5 Sundays (or whatever the stat is now).

This article is not about Sunday night worship services, though I still have a Sunday night worship service. The problem you will hear from clergy and laity is that we have a crisis of commitment, devotion to God and His Great Commission, etc. We have expected and asked less of people and in turn they have given less. As we expect less in the process of discipleship, we will receive less. 

I believe that we have lost people to the church, not because we have asked too much but because we have asked too little. Shallow expectations do not produce deep Christians. Lowering expectations never increases spiritual maturity.  

So what to do about this? Raise expectations! How? Well...

1) Preachers: Be specific about what it means to be a Christian. Address clear issues of sin and evil, but also issues of worldliness. We can do better about giving our people practical tools to recognize the influences of our culture can bankrupt our faith. That actions, lifestyles, and entertainments have the potential to lead us away from the will and work of God. Be more specific and less philosophical.

2) Raise the standards! Raise standards from the top down. Pastors must live to high standards before they can expect others to live by high standards. Be specific about what standards the leadership of your church have. Do your Sunday School teachers have to come to worship to be teachers? Do your board members have to tithe to be in that position of leadership? Do those working with minors have to have a background check and training for sexual abuse prevention? Low expectations beget low results.

3) Raise the commitment level! Challenge others to commit. To deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. That's the simple call of the Gospel anyway. Everyone should be part of a discipleship group of some kind. Everyone should regularly be worshiping Christ with their brothers and sisters. Everyone needs to be serving the Lord through their local church in some capacity. These issues are not optional, they are essential! The question is not whether people are committed, but what they are committed to. 

4) Highlight the right things. If someone is born-again and has a clear life change, then have them testify publicly. If someone is not modeling a Christian life then do not allow them to be on the platform during service. If someone professes Christ as Lord but lives like they are in love with the world you are promoting the wrong things by allowing them to retain leadership and/or publicly lead in worship services or places of spiritual authority. What people see exhibited in the leadership of the church is what people will tend to model in their own lives.

What might you add to the list?

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Is the Wesleyan Church Going to Become Pentecostal?

The Wesleyan Church recently had their General Conference with the theme: "Unleashed." It took place on May 23-25, 2022 and represented a potentially significant identity shift. The last decade or so, the Wesleyan Church has undergone some major shifts in polity and practice (moving to one General Superintendent instead of three, dropping their requirement to abstain from alcohol from their membership requirements, and narrowly preserving the requirement to abstain from alcohol for their clergy and church board members, etc). 

As in every General Conference there were a number of "Memorials" that were proposed. A "memorial" is an amendment or proposed change to some part of the book that details their beliefs, polity, and practice called "The Discipline of the Wesleyan Church". It is much like the Church of the Nazarene's "Manual". Some of the memorials were simply seeking to streamline the denominational infrastructure and polity as the church moves to a regional (versus district) model and some memorials were restating or rearticulating various stances. Many were benign, but Memorial 52 proposed a fundamental change to a long held historic and biblical position by every denomination birthed or shaped by the Holiness Movement of the 1800's.

Memorial 52 transitions the Wesleyan church from a Holiness denomination to a Charismatic denomination. The basic difference between a Charismatic church and a Holiness church has to do ultimately with how the gift of tongues is defined. Part of the committee that developed this Memorial shares an explanation about it in a video found on YouTube. They explain their process and reasoning behind the memorial. The proposed memorial was accepted by the Wesleyan delegates of the General Conference by a vote of 264 to 70 (over 80%). Here is what the memorial stated:

"To promote love, the common good, and orderliness in Christ’s church with reference to the use of the spiritual gift of tongues. The Wesleyan Church believes in the gifts of the miraculous use of tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Speaking, praying or singing in tongues, whether done privately or publicly, is the divinely enabled ability some believers experience to communicate to God words of thanksgiving, praise, and adoration in a language not previously learned. While The Wesleyan Church recognizes that the gift of tongues is given to some believers, there is no single gift that is given to all as evidence of the Spirit’s infilling. The greatest expression of this work is a heart purified by the Holy Spirit and an empowered life of love and service to God and people. If speaking in tongues occurs publicly in a church gathering, Scripture requires one person to speak at a time and an interpretation to be provided so all in attendance, especially unbelievers, may understand and be edified. Pastors and leaders are to exercise discretion in light of these instructions to ensure our gatherings bear the fruit of unity and order in a manner helpful and intelligible to those hearing the Gospel."

A little history: The holiness movement birthed the Pentecostal movement in 1906 during a revival service at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, California. The most significant difference between the Holiness movement and the new Pentecostal movement was the definition of the spiritual gift of speaking in tongues. Throughout church history, at least until 1906, the gift of tongues was understood as overcoming the language barrier. In 1906, the Pentecostal movement, created a linguistical barrier that was without precedent. The definition of the gift of tongues adopted by the Pentecostals had never been articulated in the history of the universal church.

The Pentecostal movement eventually evolved into both the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements. I will not seek to define them in this article as there may a bit of debate on how they would be distinguished from one another, but their definition of the gift of tongues is the same. And this definition is very different from the holiness definition. I do not have time to delve into the issue in this article but can refer you to this article referencing the problem the early Pentecostals had in their new "gift" that required them to redefine the gift of tongues.

The fledgling Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene, founded officially in 1908, dropped the word "Pentecostal" from their name in 1919 at their General Assembly so as to not identify with the "Pentecostal movement." That movement, they would claim, was creating confusion and division among the holiness movement. After the rise of the Pentecostal movement, the Holiness movement quickly responded by strongly opposing this new definition of the gift of tongues for those reasons. The Holiness Movement quickly began to publish a number of books and articles rejecting the new definition of "speaking in tongues." Books like "The Bible Versus the Tongues Theory" or "Spiritual Gifts- Healing and Tongues" (by W. T. Purkiser) or "Speaking in Tongues: A Biblical Analysis" (by Donald Metz) and many, many more.

Memorial 52 serves as an about face for the Wesleyan denomination. It would serve as a total abandonment of their long held current stance for the exact opposite perspective. 

The original statement on tongues in Section 265:10 of the Wesleyan Discipline states:

“To preserve the fellowship and witness of the Church with reference to the use of languages. The Wesleyan Church believes in the miraculous use of languages and the interpretation of languages in its biblical and historical setting. But it is contrary to the Word of God to teach that speaking in an unknown tongue or the gift of tongues is the evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit or of that entire sanctification which the baptism accomplishes; therefore, only a language readily understood by the congregation is to be used in public worship. The Wesleyan Church believes that the use of an ecstatic prayer language has no clear scriptural sanction, or any pattern of established historical usage in the Church; therefore, the use of such a prayer language shall not be promoted among us.”

After a strong debate on the floor of the 2022 General Conference, Memorial 52 passed. Since it is a constitutional matter it required a two-thirds vote and it also requires a two-third aggregate vote of the district conferences who must approve it before it will be referred to the Philippines General Conference and the Caribbean General Conference. This Memorial impacts the international charter of the Wesleyan Church and thus must be approved on a number of different levels beyond the General Conference held on May 2022 in Missouri. 

Will the Wesleyan Church leave the Holiness movement for the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement? Or has this General Conference "unleashed" a change that will be rejected by the districts and other international parts of the church?

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Cursing, Profanity, and the Tongue

Cursing, Profanity, and the Tongue

A few thoughts on cursing, profanity, and the use of the tongue.

Profanity is the linguistical crutch of the inarticulate. But beyond the lack of credible, reasonable vocabulary, what's the big deal about a little profanity? 

What does the Bible say about cursing and profanity? Turns out that the words you use are a major subject in the Bible.

Jesus said "I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:36-37) Your words do matter! Jesus later claims that the words you speak are more defiling than what you put in your mouth. Matthew 15:10-11 "And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: [11] it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person."

Paul writes to the church in Colossae: "But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth." (Colossians 3:8) And to the church at Ephesus he writes: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29) Profane and obscene words are the opposite of grace and actually tear down rather than build up. They have no place in the vocabulary of a Christian.

The usage of words that are profane and inappropriate coming from the lips of a Christian create an oxymoron. The cursing and the claims of holiness are not compatible. James 3:10 says "From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so." 

Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Jesus spoke extensively about the correlation between the content of one's heart and the words that they speak. Your words are important and give an indication to those listening about what matters most to you... what on your heart. Luke 6:45 "The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." (See also Matthew 12:33-37 and Matthew 15:10-20.)

Psalm 10 describes the wicked in verse 7 by saying: "His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue are mischief and iniquity." Then later in the Psalm, the contrast between the righteous and the wicked is described in verses 31 and 32: "The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. [32] The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked, what is perverse."

So what's the alternative? How should Christians speak? Paul writes in Colossians 4:6 "Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Grace and love are the context by which we share the Truth of the Gospel with the world around us. 

While I haven't addressed it in this particular article, there is much this would imply about words and conversation that are gossip, slander, and always tearing down people or things or ministries or politicians around us. This grace eliminates falsehood from our lips. It is not loving or gracious to communicate things that are false to others. 

To change our lips to be tools of the Holy Spirit we will have to allow Him to wash our mouths and cleanse our vocabulary. Our cooperation in that divine work will include an intentional exclusion of those words in our daily lives. To begin to eliminate music that includes such messaging and words is a holy habit; pleasing to the Lord. Turn the television off. Curtail the constant inundating impact of a steady stream of profanities into your home and mind. 

I doubt anyone has ever left a movie theater thinking: "I wish there had been more profanity in that movie." No one ever complains that a song needed more coarse language to increase the enjoyment. And no one ever gains respect for another because they use foul vocabulary. 

May God send a hot coal to purge our lips of the unclean things that have previously come from them.

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A Better Way than the Middle Way

 Find the link below of an article I wrote for Remnant magazine from the Holiness Partnership.

"A Better Way than the Middle Way"

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Is Tithing Still a Thing for Today?

 Yes, tithing is still something that Christians should do today. 

What follows is a short response to a few common objections that I have heard from people. I will attempt to give some scriptural references to clarify and respond to those ideas that reject tithing for Christians today. Following the objections, I will seek to answer some common questions people have about tithing.

Objection #1: The "tithe" is part of the Old Testament Law and the New Testament does away with the Law. 

Response: Certainly the tithe, which means 10%, is part of the Law. Leviticus 27:30:34 includes the tithe as part of the law. However, the tithe also predates the Law given to Moses in the Old Testament. The first tithe is actually found in Genesis 14:19-20 and shares Abraham tithing to the King-Priest Melchizedek. Jacob offers a tithe in Genesis 28:20-22 that also predates the law. The tithe is an issue for God's people before the Law, under the Law, and after Jesus is a fulfilment of the Old Covenant. God's people tithe as an act of worship from the heart.

Objection #2: Jesus never supported the concept of tithing in the New Testament.

Response: Not true. Some will take the passage from Matthrew 23 in which Jesus rebukes the scribes and Pharisees as an affront to the idea of tithing. Lets look at the verse in question. Matthew 23:23“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." Jesus' point is that they have tithed, but neglected the "weightiers matters of the law: justice, and mercy and faithfulness." His rebuke is not that they tithed, but that they tithed and thought that it absolved them from things like faithfulness in other areas. Then he closes out his rebuke saying: "These you ought to have done [tithing], without neglecting the others [justice, mercy, & faithfulness]." From Jesus' words, it wasn't either/or it was both/and.

Objection #3: The New Testament says that everything belongs to God so we should give everything not just 10%. 

Response: There's no doubt that everything we have is a gift from God. Even those who may claim that they pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps must acknowledge that God gave them the strength, intelligence, and talent to earn what they have. We are really not owners, but stewards of all that we "possess." Tithing, which literally means 10%, is simply an ongoing way to acknowledge God's blessings upon us. We also recognize that God has made clear through the Bible that refusing to tithe from our income/increase is really to steal from God (Malachi 3:8-12).

And now some of the questions:

Question #1: Should I tithe on the gross or net income?

Response: There are a few nuances to this question that are important. First it is important to note that the tithe is based off of income. Gifts from others, presents at Christmas or birthdays, and other such gifts do not need to be tithed on. (Though there are some people who feel led by the Lord to tithe on gifts. This is a matter of individual conviction and liberty.) 

The other difficult thing is that some people receive income weekly in the form of a pay check. Those pay checks have various local and federal taxes already taken out. Tithe is based on an individual's total income and not income minus taxes. It is important in that case to tithe on money already removed from the paycheck.

Some people have a bit more calculations to do to determine their actual income. Farmers, small business owners, independent contractors, artists, and some other kind of occupations have to figure out the cost of "doing business." For example, a farmer who sells their cattle does not count the full price of the cow as income since they had to feed, care for, and spend a certain amount of money to raise the cow. The income that they make from the sale of the cow needs to account for the initial investment. 

The larger point is that some of the issues of gross vs net income are questions of the conscious and the Holy Spirit will give discernment to those who are earnestly seeking to give with a cheerful heart to the Lord.

Question #2: What if I cannot afford to tithe?

Response: You cannot afford not to tithe. If you are in debt, do not get out of debt by robbing God. Cut back in your expenses in the areas of entertainment, eating at restaurants, traveling, new furniture or clothes, etc. Tithe should always be the first expenditure, not the left overs from a busy financial month. 

Question #3: Am I required to tithe even if I am not a member of the church? 

Response: Yes. Your membership is irrelevant to your obedience to the Lord on the matter of tithing. 

Question #4: What if I don't like how the church is spending money?

Response: Tithing is not about determining the ways the money is spent, but trusting and worshiping the Lord through your income/finances. There are systems and polity in place in each local congregation to determine how each dollar is used for ministry. It is important for churches to be transparent about how money is spent and to be good stewards of that money, but it is inappropriate to use the Lord's tithe as a means of controlling the local church budget. If you have concerns about the budget, you need to talk to the pastor, finance committee, or leadership of the local church. If your concerns are of a moral nature (illegal activity, theft, etc), then you have a responsibility to report to local church leadership (then denominational leadership) and, if not taken seriously, find another church. 

Question #5: Can I give my tithe to other organizations (non profits) that are doing good work? If I am helping out my neighbor or a friend does that count as tithe?

Response: No. Those are offerings that every believer should be doing in addition to their tithing. Offerings that are directed to specific ministries are not the same as tithe. Tithe is always to the local church body that you are ministering through. Helping a family member, friend, or neighbor with finances is something that is done in addition to tithing, not in place of tithing. 

There may be other questions or comments you have. Please comment with those below and, as time permits, I'll edit this article to include those questions you might have and a response to them. I'll close with the the statement on "Storehouse Tithing" from the Manual of the Church of the Nazarene in paragraph 32.1.  

"Storehouse tithing is a scriptural and practical performance of faithfully and regularly placing the tithe into that church to which the member belongs. Therefore, the financing of the church shall be based on the plan of storehouse tithing, and the local Church of the Nazarene shall be regarded by all of its people as the storehouse. All who are a part of the Church of the Nazarene are urged to contribute faithfully one-tenth of all their increase as a minimum financial obligation to the Lord and freewill offerings in addition as God has prospered them for the support of the whole church, local, district, educational, and general. The tithe, provided to the local Church of the Nazarene, shall be considered a priority over all other giving opportunities which God may lay upon the hearts of His faithful stewards, in support of the whole church."

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I Went to an Abortion Clinic

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I Went to an Abortion Clinic

I remember the first time I stood outside of an abortion clinic. 

It was a cool day and I zipped up my jacket almost to the neck. I noticed people with orange safety vests congregating around the door. (I found out later they were anything but safe.)

The "clinic" had just opened. I was standing among people with signs, tracts, and even bull horns. I had heard many warnings about such people. They were "too extreme and hurt the witness of the church" I had been told. I was there to find out first-hand how they damaged the kingdom. 

Women, mostly young but some that were middle aged, began to find their way down the sidewalk escorted by the people in the orange vests. They were of all ethnicity and socio-economic statuses. 

After the first few walked through, I was gripped with a reality I had not foreseen: there was a spiritual atmosphere of darkness. Most of the women had a level of embarrassment or shame evident by their eyes looking down and often their hands covering their faces. Other women mocked the gathered crowd with taunts about how they were going to kill their baby. 

A chill went up my spine that shook me, but it was not from the cold temperatures. It was bitter coldness of a different kind. 

I noticed an elderly lady who held a small Bible and a few pamphlets pleading with mothers going into the clinic about different options and that she would care for the baby in their womb. Her pleading was emotional and desperate. She wept after multiple women disregarded her and went into the building. A husband and wife in their 30's stood pleading with the mothers entering the place of death. Their offer was to adopt the child if the mother would spare it. Some yelled. Some wept. Some sang. Some prayed quietly (and some vocally).

Emotion overwhelmed me as I stood watching the scene unfold. The spiritual weight of those moments helped me to realize even more than ever that abortion was not a political issue; it was a moral and even more importantly a spiritual one. People with individual DNA and a future were about to be ripped apart or burned alive in what should be the very safest place anyone could ever be: their mother's womb. 

I resolved to never be silent about those who could not defend themselves. I am prolife.

"There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers."
Proverbs 6:16‭-‬19

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Is Life Constantly Hard For You?

Is life constantly hard for you? Do you consistently deal with drama? Is turmoil a constant in your life? 

Consider, not only your circumstances, but also what your mind feeds on. Your mental health and lack of righteous thinking may be due to your choice of entertainment.

Is the music you listen to negative with a theme of broken relationships, profanity, and/ or abuse? 

Do you watch pornography? Do you binge watch media for hours a day from a streaming service or app?

Do the movies/ TV that you watch include the exploitation of women (nudity/immodesty), sexual abuse, or immoral sexual relationships?

Do you play video games multiple hours every day (either on your phone or with a gaming system)? 

Does the "news" you watch include constant debating and arguments that are heated and loud? Do you enjoy watching talk shows that exploit broken situations and relationship?

Do you read books that would be considered pornography if they were visual? 

Expressing emotions, communicating, and responding to people in relationships is a learned behavior. The more time you listen, watch, or read things that tell you how to do it improperly, the more you will live them out in your own life. Thus, constant drama ensues because we feed on inappropriate ways to respond.

For example, if you regularly watch soap operas, do not be surprised when your life becomes a soap opera with gossip, lies, marital infidelity, and division. 

The people that seem to be having a good time on the beer commercials are actors and actresses. The reality is heartache and brokenness. 

It's good to consider what your mind feeds upon. It might make the difference between joy and sorrow for your whole life!

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