Preaching & Postmodernism Part 1

There are many happenings within our culture that falls under the banner of postmodernism and it’s something I think is important for us to talk about within the Body of Christ because the radical relativism in our culture is a direct challenge to the Christian Gospel.

Albert Mohler Jr in giving a definition of postmodernism suggests, “We might best describe postmodernism as a mood (rather than a movement or a methodology) that sets itself apart from the certainties of the modern age.” (He is not Silent pg116)

Postmodernism argues that truth is socially constructed, plural and innacessible to universal reason. But Christianity says that truth is established by God, known to us through God’s self-revelation in Scripture, it’s eternal, fixed and universal.

There are 5 key elements to why postmodernism is what it is, that we need to be aware of:

1. Death of the Metanarrative – The Gospel is the ultimate metanarrative (Universal truth). Since postmodernists believe truth is socially constructed then absolute truth must be resisted at all costs. Christianity has at the core the metanarrative of redemption. The Biblical account includes creation, the fall of mankind, the redemption of sinners through the substitutionary work of Christ and finally the promise of eternal destiny with God forever in glory as well as the eternal punishment of the unsaved.
2. Demise of the Text – If the great metanarratives are dead then the great texts behind these metanarratives must be dead as well, including the bible. Because the Bible represents a threat to the rise of the feminist, liberation, homosexual and other like-interest groups then the the bible’s truths must be deconstructed to fit their ideology. Albert Mohler says, “The Bible too is subjected to radical interpretation, often with little or no regard for the plain meaning of the text or the clear intention of the human author. Texts that are not pleasing to the postmodern mind are rejected as oppressive, patriarchal, heterosexist, homophobic, or deformed by some other political or ideological bias. The authority of the text is denied in the name of liberation, and the most fanciful and ridiculous interpretations are celebrated as “affirming” and thus “authentic”.
3. Dominion of Therapy – Categories such as ‘sin’ are rejected as oppressive and harmful to self-esteem so preachers don’t talk about sin in such a way that will convict people to acknowledge their sin. More and more preachers are hoping their therapeutic approach to ministry will enable people to feel so good about themselves that they will want to sign up to wholeness without passing through the twin towers of repentance and redemption.
4. Decline of Authority – Doctrines, traditions, creeds, and confessions – all these are to be rejected and charged with limiting self-expression and representing oppressive authority. Preachers are tolerated so long as we don’t inject divine authority and claims of absolute truth into our sermons. Preachers have to be more like Dr Phil then the Apostle Paul.
5. Displacement of Morality – In postmodernism everything is permitted and alternative lifestyles are celebrated. There is a reversal of morals which sees homosexuality as liberation and homophobia a ‘sin’.

How is the Gospel Preacher to respond to the challenges of postmodernism? Check out tomorrows blog on the role of Bible preaching in a postmodern environment.

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Is a Pastor a Theologian?

Todays pastors are often pulled in many directions simultaneously. The theological role of the pastor is often lost amidst the pressing concerns of ministry life that has been turned into something other than what God originally intended as revealed in the New Testament.

Todays pastor, it seems, is very focused on management more than theology and this emphasis across the church leaves the pastor feeling more like an administrator dealing with matters of “organizational theory” than someone who understands the truths of God’s Word and helps people apply them in everyday life.

The rising influence of “Therapy” in our culture has caused many people to believe that the pastoral office is a helping profession and theology is often seen as being more of a problem than a solution to the practical issues people face in their lives.

The fact is anytime a pastor counsels someone, visits the sick and prays for them, builds a leadership team or preaches a sermon, they are engaging in the theological process because everything a pastor does has its source in theology.

Biblically, every pastor is called to be a theologian. Sadly, many pastors perceive theologians to be only those who lecture in bible colleges and seminaries but some of the greatest theologians the world has ever seen were pastors of local churches – Augustine, Calvin and Luther amongst others.

I meet with many pastors who see theology as an obstacle to the real business of their pragmatic church growth focus. The idea that the pastoral office is non-theological is inconceivable in light of the New Testament.

There are 3 distinct orders of doctrine fundamental to the Christian faith that need to be concentrated upon by the pastor:

1. 1st-order doctrines: The absolutes that define the core beliefs of the Christian faith – Such as the deity and humanity of Jesus Christ; the doctrine of the Trinity; substitutionary atonement and justification by faith, to name a few.
2. 2nd-order doctrines: These are convictions that are essential to church life and necessary for the ordering of the local church, but in themselves, do not define the gospel. That is, you may detect error in a doctrine at this level and still acknowledge that the person in error remains a believing Christian. Examples include mode of baptism, gender roles in ministry, etc.
3. 3rd-order doctrines: These are opinions that may be ground for good theological discussion and debate, but do not threaten the fellowship of a local congregation or denomination. Examples include the timing of the return of Christ, modes of worship, etc.

A pastor must be known for what he teaches, as well as what he knows, affirms and believes. A pastor must not only preach the great doctrines of the Bible but out of his own confession of faith. People are listening to God speak through an individual and their personal revelation of God through Scripture.

Ultimately, the pastor who is no theologian, in my opinion is no pastor. Our theology (way of thinking and talking about God) permeates everything about our pastoral call.

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Theology – Not a dirty word!

When I studied at Tabor College I looked with apprehension at my subject list when my eyes glanced at “Intro to Theology.” I perceived the subject to be dry, boring and unnecessary. How wrong I was!

It turned out to be one of the most important subjects in my degree because our theology forms the foundation for everything we do in response to God and life. Theology comes from 2 Greek words (theos=God and logos=word) and our theology is the way we think and talk about God. Everyone has a theology and makes theological statements all the time. The question is do we have a good theology or a bad one.

In Acts 17:1-9 Paul ministers in the synagogue in the city of Thessalonica and 4 words describe his ministry – Paul Reasoned; Explained; Proved and Proclaimed Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is true and pure theology and Paul centered his ministry on Christ and him crucified.

In v6 Paul is described as a man who turned the world upside down and yet he doesn’t do anything more extraordinary than share his theology about Christ with the Jews and Gentile proselytes of the city.

I believe “Our Theology can transform the world or it can reinforce to the world a wrong perception of who God is.”

Theology is important because the Great Commission doesn’t just include going and evangelizing but it also includes ‘teaching people to observe all that Christ has commanded us’. Theology is important because it helps us overcome wrong thinking, it helps us discern between truth and error, it helps us grow spiritually, it helps us work out what are peripheral doctrines and what are the essential doctrines and it helps us to embrace the process of transformation as a journey, not an event.

Our theology is shaped by 4 sources which include: Scripture, Reason, Tradition and Experience. We need to make sure that Scripture interprets our experience rather than the feelings we attach to our experiences to form our view of God. Each of us have different experiences and we can easily project our feelings as God and interpret Scripture liberally, based on how we feel.

There is an assault on theology and God’s Word in our culture and we need to develop our theology in prayer, worship and humility, seeking the counsel of others and remembering that our theology can transform our lives and the world around us or it can reinforce a wrong perception of God.

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Source of Confidence!

A lack of confidence can have a massive impact upon your relationships, work performance and focus in life. I have struggled with a lack of confidence in different seasons of my life and I have talked with many people who doubt themselves and struggle with a lack of confidence.

Many heroes of the faith struggled with a lack of confidence in their capacity to answer the call of God on their lives. One of those heroes was Moses. When God asked Moses to deliver His people from Egypt, Moses baulked at the call and tried to get someone else to do it, explaining that he wasn’t an articulate speaker or great leader. God’s response to Moses was to encourage him that He would be with Moses.

God’s words to Moses aren’t very fancy but they are all that is needed for us to restore healthy confidence in ourselves and more importantly in God. When God is with you, you are a majority no matter what opposition you face. The one constant word God has spoken to me is exactly this, “Corey, I am with you.” I can’t tell you what that does for my confidence when I hear those words and feel God’s presence with me.

The next time you feel inadequate, remind yourself that your inadequacy isn’t the issue but God’s sufficiency is. You are inadequate but that’s why Jesus came and saved us from our sin and now you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Phil 4:13). The point is who is with you not what you can or can’t do. If God be for you, who dare be against you? Find your source of confidence in Christ and not in your circumstance or ability.

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New Book Completed – Supernatural!

I have just finished writing my 2nd book, “Supernatural”!

This has been a 12 month project that took a lot longer than I thought. It has 13 chapters in it, 150 pages in length and over 30,000 words.

“Supernatural” is my theological reflection on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. It includes my theology on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the role of faith in moving in the Spirit, the role of the Spirit in our lives and the Spirit at work in corporate worship among other things.

It is a book that begins with the bible and reflects theologically on testimonies of the supernatural and my own experiences of the supernatural. It’s a book that gives you biblical principles to understanding the supernatural and how to move in the power of the Spirit.

Key Insights

It is currently being edited and will be available late August for around $12-14. I have identified some principles along my journey over the last 12 months in completing this project that I hope will give you insight into your own life journey:

• Don’t give up: I wanted to give up many times on this project but it’s worth persevering.
• Clarify your thinking: Before putting pen to paper, clarify what you think about the topics you are writing on.
• Break large projects into small steps: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
• Plan ahead: Nothing beats a plan that is well organised and well executed.
• Go public with your goal: I garnered support and peer pressure to finish by telling everyone about my project.
• Make it your goal to help people: I’m not interested in just fulfilling a dream, I want to make a difference.

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How to know God?

To answer this question, I am going to interact with some excerpts from the book “Total Church”.

“God is known through what is contrary. He is known in a hidden way. God’s invisible attributes are revealed in suffering and the cross – glory in shame, wisdom in folly, power in weakness, victory in defeat. God is known through the message of the cross. God’s justice is revealed in the opposite of justice – in the justification of sinners” (who don’t deserve to be justified).

“If knowledge of God could be obtained from what is visible (creation, spiritual experiences, miracles) that would lead to pride. So God determined to be known through suffering so that he would be hidden from all those who exalt themselves. Only someone who has had all the spirit taken out of him and has been broken can know God.”

Some have said that humility is the precondition for knowing God. My observation has been that only those who are humbled or crushed before God can truly know him. Those who pursue personal glory pursue wisdom, experience and miracles but often say that suffering is bad. But those who pursue the cross values suffering as that through which God is revealed. “Knowledge of God is not found through human wisdom, powers, or achievements but in the foolishness of the cross.” We come to God on his terms, dependent on God to disclose himself.

“It requires faith to recognize God in the absence of God, to recognize victory in defeat, to recognize glory in shame. God is known only be faith. And because this requires faith, it is an act of grace. We do not contribute to our salvation – it is all God’s doing. It is the same for our knowledge of God. We do not contribute to our knowledge of God – It is all God’s doing. God reveals himself in a hidden way in order to safeguard the graciousness of revelation”

We don’t know God because we are more clever or have greater insight or are more disciplined in prayer than the next person. We only know God because He has graciously revealed himself to us in the reality of the bloody cross. God is only known through what he reveals about himself and his greatest self-disclosure is the message of the cross – power in weakness, glory in shame and wisdom in folly.

How do we know God? “Not primarily through mystical insight or theological wisdom or supernatural visions or words of knowledge or the beauty of creation. We know God through the message of the cross.”

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When Life doesn’t Work!

I have been through a season recently of incredible frustration with God. I don’t know if you have ever been frustrated or even angry at God but I certainly have, on more than a few occasions. My heart has been filled with questions as I began to explore what on earth God was doing in my life and ministry. I’ve attempted to reconcile my reality with what God has promised in my life in the past and the two haven’t added up. During a season like this it’s so easy to become disillusioned with God and your life because you don’t understand what exactly is going on but you know things aren’t working like you think they should.

When you face a season like this you must be very careful to guard your heart from a root of bitterness. Bitterness will dry up your life, relationships and ministry quicker than most things. The enemy of your soul wants you to buy into the deception of bitterness and he will try to convince you that it’s justified and that God can’t be trusted. You must come to your senses and snap in line with Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.”

We all face tests along the journey of life. The test I have faced recently is to keep trusting in God’s sovereignty even though I don’t see the fruit I want to see in my life and ministry. We all know the feeling of working your but off for minimal return and you think to yourself, “is it worth it?” or “Am i doing something wrong?” It’s in these moments that you need to step back and get God’s perspective on your circumstances. You need to keep trusting in God’s plan for your life and realize that you are not going to understand everything about the way God works but he does make everything beautiful in its time (Ecc 3:11).

Keep a sweet spirit and don’t let bitterness take you out. Don’t take your frustrations out on the people but seek God and follow his leading. Keep your head down, bum up and keep on keeping on. There will come a brighter day and God will reward the faithfulness of your heart.

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Book Review: Breaking the Missional Code!

Authors: Ed Stetzer (PH.D.) and David Putnam (Ps) are pastors, missiologists, church planters and mission consultants.

BIG Idea: The big idea of this book is that the Church is God’s missionary in the world. We need to embrace this call and act as a missional church in our culture and local community.

Review: This book challenged me to get engaged in my local community as a missionary of the gospel. This book laid a thorough theological foundation for missional ministry and also gave plenty of practical tips to engage with the local community in a more effective way.

Favourite Chapter: Chapter 15 explores the step by step process to strategize and engage in missional ministry in the local community. Very practical, very helpful and very applicable.

Rating: 8/10

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Who is supposed to LEAD a Church?

This is an important question and I preach on this very issue in our Ekklesia Series (June 09). In summarising my answer the following things need to be kept in mind.

Firstly, Jesus Christ is the Senior Pastor of every Christian Church.

Every church is built on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ (Eph 2:20). Jesus is the head of the church and in all things Christ is to be preeminent (Eph 5:23; Col 1:17-18). Jesus is the Apostle who plants a church and builds a church and the Chief Shepherd who rules over the church (Heb 3:1; Mt 16:18; 1 Pt 5:4). Jesus is to be consulted as central to the church and not peripheral to what the church is doing (Col 3:16). Serving under Jesus authority are elders, deacons and members.

Elders are qualified Christians leading the church under Jesus authority.

Elders are not some special forces unit that is better than everyone else but they have been appointed by God to perform certain functions and carry out specific responsibilities on behalf of Christ and for the church. Elders are biblically qualified, theologically informed and spiritually mature Christians.  1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 inform us of the qualifications of an elder.

Biblically qualified elders are supposed to lead the church.

Read 1 Tim 3:1-7 for a thorough understanding of the elders qualifications and role. Some models of eldership promote the idea of a separate board of lay people leading the church but this isn’t a biblical model. The church is not to be staff led and elder protected by a separate board of people who meet once a month to hold the pastor accountable. The church is to be elder led, elder fed, elder protected, elder disciplining, elder vision setting, elder shepherding and elder example setting. 1 Peter 5:1-3 gives a detailed description of how the elders are to lead.

What about women as elders?

There are 3 basic positions on women as elders. They are egalitarian (liberal), complementarian (moderate) and hierarchical (conservative). We take a mild complementarian (moderate) view on eldership which says that all church ministries are open to qualified men and women, with the singular exception of lead elder-pastor, which is only open to qualified men. Women can be associate elders, deacons, teach, lead worship, serve communion, oversee ministries and be in full time paid ministry. Scriptural texts supporting our position are: Gen 1:27; 2:18; 3:16-17; 1 Cor 11:3, 8-9; 1 Tim 2:11-3:13; Rom 16:1-2; 1 Cor 12:11.

Eldership is not to be taken lightly and should maintain the centrality of Christ as the chief shepherd, engage a plurality of elders providing leadership for the church and the lead elder-pastor should be a male in alignment with 1 Tim 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. Keeping in mind Hebrews 13:7 & 12 as a church member.

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The Sovereignty of God!

One of the most important doctrines in the Bible and realities of being a Christian is the sovereignty of God. John 1:12-13 says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

This one verse, let alone many others, points us to the sovereignty of God in the salvation of an individual. It is not the will of man that chooses salvation for themselves and ‘lets Jesus into their heart’, it’s the sovereign call of God upon an individuals life that draws them into relationship with Christ. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.” We did not, cannot and dare not save ourselves because only in Christ is salvation found and only in God’s election of us are we able to believe in Jesus and call upon his name for salvation.

The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is supposed to humble us and remind us that it is not by our works that man should boast but salvation comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Romans 9:16 says, “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” Apart from God’s mercy on any of us we would all spend eternity separated from Christ in hell. Romans 3:10-12 says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” So many people in our world want to believe that we are inherently good but we are not. We are sinful and rebellious beings. Hence our desperate need of the one and only saviour Jesus Christ. It was our sin that pout Jesus on the cross, not our goodness.

Romans 8:29-30 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Some argue that God in his foreknowledge looked down the corridors of time and saw those who were going to choose him and thus predestined them to be saved and among his elect. This is otherwise known as the two handed position. But as we have seen in the above verses at the beginning, God doesn’t respond to us because we chose him. Salvation doesn’t depend on human will or exertion, but on God’s pure, one handed mercy. A person who is dead in sin cannot choose salvation for themselves. To quote Romans 3:10-12 again, “No one is righteous, no not one.” Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” 

It is for these scriptural reasons and many others that I am in awe of God’s sovereignty and grace in my own life. I believe the Scripture teaches:

• The total depravity of man showing us the depths of sin and depravity that accompanies sin.
• The unconditional election of those whom God has predestined to be saved.
• The limited yet unlimited atonement of Jesus work on our behalf on the cross. Jesus death is proficient for every man, woman, boy and girl but only efficient for those whom God has predestined to be saved.
• The irresistible nature of God’s grace and how God’s grace cannot be refused by those whom he has called.
• The preservation of the saints which shows us that no Christian can be lost from God’s hand once we have been saved. Jesus cannot lose one of his children. In John 17:12 Jesus says, “While I was with them, i kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

Let the sovereignty of God compel you to run towards God and worship him with thanksgiving for what he has accomplished for you on the cross through his son Jesus. Let God’s sovereignty humble you and cause you to live in awe of the one who created the universe by the words of his mouth (Heb 11:3).

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