4.19.2006
Activist Faith or Prefunctory Orthodoxy
Great thought in line with John 11 today – Do we have an Activists Faith or just Perfunctory Orthodoxy?
Do we know understand the one thing that our life is about, our core value, and do we proactively and radically live out of that faith? When Martha heard that Christ had come to town she ran to him. She didn’t pretend that life wasn’t hard and she was real about the fact that she didn’t have all the answers but what she did know was that Christ did. Her faith drove her life to radical action – the faith of an activist who can’t help but to have influence for their cause because it has consumed the core of their person.
This is the central issue that Theodore Frelinghausen, Gilbert Tennant, and Jonathan Edwards shared regarding the spiritual state of many parishioners within 18th century early American colonies. The central problem that each of these men saw among their congregation was that they had substituted Christian culture for Christian conversion. The term that describes this problem was Perfunctory Orthodoxy: all the appearances of orthodoxy but it was not. The heart of the issue was that the congregants had a presumptuous security. Because they faithfully participate in the culture they feel they have security in Christ. Christianity was something they did but not a relationship with Christ that transformed who they were and the expression of what it means to live the “Incarnational” life.
A great example is from a blog post I read two days ago:
http://www.xanga.com/whatsusansaid/435273363/item.html
This person is expressing their frustration with the modern church and how . . .
"it seems miles away from this vision I have of the early Christian church…exciting, grimy, honest, scary, visionary…true; a community that has more the feeling of an activist organization rather than a social club “doing life” together."
I like this but she doesn't drive to the main issue that Martha fully grasped.
The blogger continues with these thoughts . . .
"The early church. Now that I think about it…what I guess I’m saying is that that model (not necessarily the biblical one…maybe just my own construction of this “down to earth, gritty, early-church-style, radical-community Christianity” that I have in my mind) regardless if I live up to it or not, seems appealing…and not merely in a superficial way. There is a feeling of excitement that I get from just thinking about the possibilities of a community where every member is known, has a special talent and part, and has the ability and freedom to be completely honest and true…in the context of a organization that is actually “going somewhere”…not just passing the days of their so-called “great lives” (the “slogan” of my church is “Building Great Lives”) together. Going from point A to point B. Growing. Not just getting older. I want that. And for years now, I have. But yet I’ve remained (partially because of an obligation - OK…call it a job - to the worship team as the pianist) on the outskirts of a church that I don’t even really feel apart of. I mean, it would be one thing to remain on the periphery of something that I really felt called to be committed to and involved in, merely because I didn’t have to guts to dive in. But, in my situation…I’m half-assing it with a church I don’t even want to be involved with…or even feel called to. And every week I fake myself out; “Grant, if you only let yourself be truly engaged in this church, you will feel so much more rewarded and your time here will be so much more meaningful”…I think right now, more than ever, it’s clear to me that as much as those voices in my head seem to speak the truth, the real answer is this: leave."
The answer is not to leave, the answer is what Martha expressed . . .
John 11:21-27,
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
Where do you go:
1) Has Christ redeemed your life? I'm not asking if you asked Jesus into your heart. What I want to know is whether you believe that the person of Christ is real, demands our faith, and delights in personally restoring and affecting every area of our lives which begins with our hearts?
2) Do you see and savor the Glory and Immensity of God more today then you did yesterday?
3) Does that consume every aspect of your life? From the server at a restaurant who is confused about religion to the neighbor who gets pregnant and is all alone.
What we do to the least of these . . .
Do we know understand the one thing that our life is about, our core value, and do we proactively and radically live out of that faith? When Martha heard that Christ had come to town she ran to him. She didn’t pretend that life wasn’t hard and she was real about the fact that she didn’t have all the answers but what she did know was that Christ did. Her faith drove her life to radical action – the faith of an activist who can’t help but to have influence for their cause because it has consumed the core of their person.
This is the central issue that Theodore Frelinghausen, Gilbert Tennant, and Jonathan Edwards shared regarding the spiritual state of many parishioners within 18th century early American colonies. The central problem that each of these men saw among their congregation was that they had substituted Christian culture for Christian conversion. The term that describes this problem was Perfunctory Orthodoxy: all the appearances of orthodoxy but it was not. The heart of the issue was that the congregants had a presumptuous security. Because they faithfully participate in the culture they feel they have security in Christ. Christianity was something they did but not a relationship with Christ that transformed who they were and the expression of what it means to live the “Incarnational” life.
A great example is from a blog post I read two days ago:
http://www.xanga.com/whatsusansaid/435273363/item.html
This person is expressing their frustration with the modern church and how . . .
"it seems miles away from this vision I have of the early Christian church…exciting, grimy, honest, scary, visionary…true; a community that has more the feeling of an activist organization rather than a social club “doing life” together."
I like this but she doesn't drive to the main issue that Martha fully grasped.
The blogger continues with these thoughts . . .
"The early church. Now that I think about it…what I guess I’m saying is that that model (not necessarily the biblical one…maybe just my own construction of this “down to earth, gritty, early-church-style, radical-community Christianity” that I have in my mind) regardless if I live up to it or not, seems appealing…and not merely in a superficial way. There is a feeling of excitement that I get from just thinking about the possibilities of a community where every member is known, has a special talent and part, and has the ability and freedom to be completely honest and true…in the context of a organization that is actually “going somewhere”…not just passing the days of their so-called “great lives” (the “slogan” of my church is “Building Great Lives”) together. Going from point A to point B. Growing. Not just getting older. I want that. And for years now, I have. But yet I’ve remained (partially because of an obligation - OK…call it a job - to the worship team as the pianist) on the outskirts of a church that I don’t even really feel apart of. I mean, it would be one thing to remain on the periphery of something that I really felt called to be committed to and involved in, merely because I didn’t have to guts to dive in. But, in my situation…I’m half-assing it with a church I don’t even want to be involved with…or even feel called to. And every week I fake myself out; “Grant, if you only let yourself be truly engaged in this church, you will feel so much more rewarded and your time here will be so much more meaningful”…I think right now, more than ever, it’s clear to me that as much as those voices in my head seem to speak the truth, the real answer is this: leave."
The answer is not to leave, the answer is what Martha expressed . . .
John 11:21-27,
"Lord," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."
Where do you go:
1) Has Christ redeemed your life? I'm not asking if you asked Jesus into your heart. What I want to know is whether you believe that the person of Christ is real, demands our faith, and delights in personally restoring and affecting every area of our lives which begins with our hearts?
2) Do you see and savor the Glory and Immensity of God more today then you did yesterday?
3) Does that consume every aspect of your life? From the server at a restaurant who is confused about religion to the neighbor who gets pregnant and is all alone.
What we do to the least of these . . .
