Tag: Christianity

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The Radical (and Ancient) Third Way of Christianity.

The Church once again finds herself in a philosophical landscape that is incompatible with Her Doctrines, the way forward, is perhaps the way ancient.

Jonathan David Faulkner

Last week I posted the following on the Rev. Jonathan David Faulkner Facebook Page: Upon investigation of all the evidence it would seem that Christianity is incompatible with both Marxism which denies the radical unity of Christ by dividing groups into class and western, capitalistic radical individualism which denies the radical unity of Christ by asserting the idolatry of the individual. Neither consider biblical teachings of the New Humanity (Eph 2:11-22, Galatians 3:28-29) And adherence to either deny the teachings of Jesus as they are applied in the Gospels, book of Acts and the Epistles. It would seem the only favorable source for Christianity in responding to the present crisis is only the Word of God. Read in such a way that we the human let the text stand over us as an authority, rather than read our fallen human ideas back into the text. Once again Christians should find themselves in the middle, a radical third way to the options put before us by the World. A way that brings life, rather than destruction, which is all the ways of the world, marred by their total depravity, can bring.

I wrote earlier this year that Jesus was neither a Socialist (as portrayed by many on the left) or any other of our modern philosophies which we read back into the ancient world. Philip Schaff is correct that: “Christianity, awakening in a certain historical reality, did not seek to destroy the culture, but infuse it with its transformative power, to make it the best version of itself.” What this means is that while Christianity interacts with the philosophies of whatever culture it finds itself in, its goal is ultimately to transform that culture and its philosophies into what God intended them to be. It should remove the sinful aspects of the culture in favor of its own recreative power, but it does not destroy. Christianity also comes with its own philosophies and moral teachings that are greater than anything man made because they are not man made, they are God’s own teachings and philosophies. One of two things has happened philosophically that have led to distortions of Christian Teaching over the millennia, either Christians have borrowed the world’s philosophies and tried to syncretize them, such as is the case with Gnosticism and Christianity, a Syncretism still very much alive today in Evangelicalism. Or secular philosophies have taken certain teachings or Jesus and of Christianity and syncretized them to their own philosophy. Whether it was intentional or not, is beside the point, most western philosophy, including the moral philosophies of Atheism has been heavily influenced by Christianity. As I have quoted before: “Western Culture swims in the soup Christianity created.” So while there are aspects of both Marxism and Individualistic Capitalism that reflect Christian teachings, neither are compatible and when put with Christianity are distortions of Biblical truth, not reflections of it.

For example, it is true that the Early Christians believed in a form of redistribution based on their concern for others within the strong group, family dynamic and the broader community they were a part of. However, Historians note that this was voluntary and meant to be done out of the Joy that came knowing Jesus Christ as Lord. In the OT the redistribution was even encoded into the law, but in the NT Christians are encouraged to give out of the joy of Christ and concern for their neighbor and they did, generously. The finances of the Church should still, today, reflect the values of God and go towards care for the poor and needy, as they did in the ancient Church. (The pastor should also be paid for their services, but that is a different matter). The younger generation will give to Churches where money is being used for these purposes. Individualistic Capitalism rightly glorifies the dignity of an individual’s work, as Paul does in 1st Thessalonians. Those who can work, should work and work for the glory of God. The early church had a well-developed “Theology of Work” that was accompanied by a “Workplace Theology” which prompted them to be well known for their moral and upstanding business practices. However, when a convert could no longer work in their field, as was the case with many theater actors who were converted, the Church would provide for them until they were ready to pursue a new profession. Both ideas made their way into separate modern philosophies, whether the creators of the separate ideas knew their origins to be biblical or not.

It is unfortunate, as I said, these are either distortions of Christianity or borrow from Christianity. But both stand in opposition to the actual teachings of Jesus and the life put before the Body to live as one Body. They both ignore the reality of the new humanity that is formed in Christ, one that is radically different from either philosophy. Marxism is dependent on splitting people between classes and pitting them against one another. According to Marx history is the repetition of the Proletariat rising and overthrowing the Bourgeoisie ruling class. The wealth of the ruling class is then redistributed to all. This is commonly called Socialism but is also known in its more sinister form as “Communism.” When this has happened, for instance during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the role of oppressor merely changed hands, the previously oppressed rise to become the oppressor. This is portrayed extremely well in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.” It is true that redistribution can be done and is done in a way where this is not the case, such as many democracies in Europe which are hybrids between Capitalism and Socialism (commonly called Democratic Socialism) but these countries are not truly Marxist or truly capitalistic, rather try to take the best of the two and mix them. The Body of Christ is a strong group, such as what Marxism tries to create, but it is one group, not divided into many. More on that in a second.

Individualistic Capitalism, while it does rightly elevate the value of individual work, also places the primacy of the individual and the individuals work to the point of idolatry. That is, the self and what the self accomplishes takes precedence over all else and the self is divorced from the group to which the person belongs to the point of isolation. This is what we commonly call a “weak group” society and it is the exception in the world and in History, rather than the rule. The consequences of this, especially in the late stages we find ourselves in today, is that people feel increasingly disconnected and isolated. A phenomenon we are seeing explode with COVID-19, but which was already on the rise as Cell and other Digital Technology increased throughout the early 2000’s to today. Games like “The Sims” and Social Media Platforms have only served to create a false sense of community while they really lead to further isolation and depression. When someone is reduced to their job, disconnected from the groups that support them, the result is dehumanizing and the work which once brought dignity because it was just one part of the individual’s sense of self, leaves the person wondering if there is anything else to life. Work is a dignifying thing, there is no way to deny that, but a person’s profession is only one part of them. Christianity encourages work as part of the peaceful and quiet life, but Paul is never reduced to a “mere tentmaker.” Instead he is identified by his associations with his strong group or groups, A Jew, part of the Sanhedrin, then An Apostle, A Christian, A Roman Citizen. He is always identified as part of his group before he talked about what he did.

Society has made it seem like the Church desperately needs to chose between these two ideologies, but in reality if we settle for either, or even some syncretism of both, we are falling far short of what Scripture actually gives us to live out and the example to which we are to aspire. Christ has come to make an entirely new humanity that transcends the old one, not to reinforce social and class divisions as Marxism does, but to eliminate them altogether. While work is still important to Christianity, the worker is not reduced to their work, rather their work is one aspect of their life, it is also how they contribute to the transcendent new humanity, through their work they are engaged in active evangelism to reach others. They also contribute to making sure the group can take care of those unable to work or who need time to figure out a new profession. The model of Biblical reconciliation given us in Christ Jesus is one that eliminates the categories of oppressed and oppressor but also values someone based on their being In Christ and made in God’s image, rather than their profession or what they contribute. Redistribution that is done comes through the Church Leaders out of Joy and Gratitude for what Christ has accomplished on their behalf. It is not meant to be forced or demanded but should be done when possible. By doing this Acts even tells us that no one among them had any need, a fulfillment of Deuteronomy 15 (Acts 4:33). Individuals are thus to be viewed as human beings made in the image of God with that Image fully activated and renewed in Christ (or potentially so). Individuals have autonomy, but also need to be recognized as part of the larger group. Christian (Little Christ) should be the first identity that all over identities are subsumed under or subordinate too. I am a Christian before I am a Pastor, I am a Christian before I am a Father, I am a Christian before I am a Police Officer. But this does not erase cultural distinctives, but meshes them, transforms them. A Christian who is Black is still Black and brings their culture, transformed in Christ because God created it, to the table which God has set before us. There is to be, in the body of Christ, Unity in Diversity. Christians are every skin color, (almost) every profession, making up the whole of God’s created humanity.

It seems obvious that both ideologies have zeroed in on two different aspects of Christian Teaching and either knowingly or unknowingly, both scheme to form the perfect humanity either through Utopia (impossible) or total autonomy (also impossible). The New Humanity however requires us to hold in tension the individual and the group. The New Humanity is meant to be a strong group made up of individuals who are caring for each other not out of obligation but out of gratitude for what Christ has done. The New Humanity is meant to be both Salt, a preserving agent in the ancient world, and light to the world. That is, the New Humanity preserves the world and seasons the world, preparing it and curing it for Christ’s return but is also to be a beacon for all the world to see on how to live. This is a radical third way that does not diminish humanity to classes or to individuals, but which draws us up into something completely different, divine Union with Christ and with one another in which all the hostilities of this world, personal and corporate, are destroyed by the death of Christ on the Cross (Ephesians 2:11-22, Galatians 3:27-29). Christianity is not mere moralism, it is something new, as John Williamson Nevin tells us when speaking of the Incarnation: “A New principle of light and life.” Man is now in relationship with God the Father through God the Son. Nothing like this has ever been since the time of the fall and nothing like this ever will be again until the end of all things and that union is once again renewed and perfect at the end of all things. To diminish Christianity, to make it less than it is, denies the work of Christ and makes a mockery of his sacrifice. It is blaspheme against God to take away from Christianity, to make it less than what God has designed it to be, a New Humanity, meant to resemble what God intended Humanity to be in the Garden.

The judgment we heap upon ourselves by embracing anything less than what the Bible teaches us will be swift and fierce. Forget what the world may do to us in calling our bluff, those who think they are Christians but have no relationship with Christ and who actually live the opposite of what He has put before them to live are calling judgment and eternal damnation down on their heads. (Matthew 7:22, 23, Romans 2:1-11 1 John 1:1-11 and so on).

Lord, Heal your Church, call your people back to you. Amen.

 

Bibliography

Hellerman, Joseph. 2009. When the Church Was a Family . Nashville : B&H Publishing .

John Williamson Nevin, Philip Schaff, Daniel Gans, William B. Evans, W. Bradford Littlejohn . 2014. The Incarnate Word: Selected Writings on Christology . Eugene : Wfpf & Stock .

Nevin, John Williamson. 2017. “The Church .” In One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, John Nevin’s Writings on Ecclesiology (1844-1849) Tome One: The Mercersburg Theology Study Series Colum Five, by John Williamson Nevin David W. Laymen, 144-159. Eugene : WFPF and Stock .

Philip Schaff, . 1964. “The Principle of Protestantism .” In The Lancaster Theology Series on the Mercersburg Theology V: VI , by J.W. Nevin, Ed Bard Thompson Philip Schaff, 48-219. Philidelphia : United Church Press.

 

12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oRev. Jonathan David Faulkner is a Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife Rachel and daughter Erin in Buffalo Center Iowa and seeks to be a part of the project of reconciliation in the local and international church. He is currently serving as the Pastor of First Congregational Church of Buffalo Center.

 

 

 

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“You Cannot Ruin Easter”

God is still God, Christ has Still Risen, You are Still not Alone. 

Jonathan David Faulkner

Well, it is safe to say that my second Easter as a Pastor is not exactly how I pictured it would be. As I take a break from studying for Sunday’s Sermon “Resurrection Reality” to write a short Holy Week Piece that has, until today, eluded me. I was reminded this morning, by our conference minister Rev. Ron Hamilton of a truth that I have proclaimed but had not really thought about. As we do things a little differently this Easter, some online, some doing small drive-up services coupled with a pre-recorded online service for our members who cannot go out or who do not feel safe going out, or of course, it North Iowa weather decides to rain on our parade. Our conference minister entitled his email: “The Best Easter ever.” Of course, one wonders how this could be the case without us shouting to one another in joy “He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed.” However, Ron has a point here, one cannot ruin Easter, the Spirit of the Day cannot be dulled even by government ordinances, we will not have our usual traditions and meals together, but we will have the full day to reflect on what happened 2,000 years ago to make this day what it is.

The Resurrection of Christ

This morning I have been reading and studying the Greek of this week’s text, John 20:1-18, as usual I get to meditate on the text all week, by the time we get to Sunday I have been marinated and cooked by it, searched by it thoroughly and been interrogated by it and still will have not gained the fullness or completeness of the text itself. On top of trying to work through other Holy Week texts, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday all those events, the Triumphal Entry of Palm Sunday kicked off not look forward to their culmination in the resurrection. Jesus would cleanse the temple, curse a fig tree, teach in the temple one final time, be betrayed by Judas who would then be present at the Passover meal where Jesus washes the Disciples feet, including his, and institute the Eucharist, again with Judas present. He would pray in the Garden, be betrayed by a kiss, arrested, falsely accused, by denied by one of his closest followers and be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. He would die on that cross, have His side pierced and be buried in a tomb with a stone sealed with the governors sealed. Yet, even the legal seal of Pilate would prove to be futile, there was no way that on that first Easter the Lord, YHWH incarnate, would be held within the tomb or be hindered by death. The ultimate humility would become the greatest victory, as Jesus said many times, the last would be first. In the words of Ron Hamilton…”You cannot ruin Easter.”

Yes, we go through the emotions of the season, we experience the high of Palm Sunday, the somberness of the Last Supper, the fear, grief and pain mixed with a strange Joy of Good Friday. We feel the anticipation of Holy Saturday and the Great Easter Vigil. Friday comes, but we know Sunday is coming, we know what the Disciples did not, and which they did not understand as they were living it. That Sunday is coming and with it, Resurrection.

Yes, resurrection is coming, the resurrection of Christ has already come, but our resurrection, not metaphorical, but literal, is coming. We are taught this in scripture, we are shown it through John’s revelation. You cannot ruin Easter and you cannot ruin God’s plan. Yes, resurrection is hard to believe in, that is true, it seems impossible to us. But that is not different than it was 2000 years ago when nobody could even conceive of resurrection except for the Pharisees who believed in the resurrection of the last days. Even so, they understood as it as a purely eschatological event, resurrection was going to happen in the end times, not right before their eyes, in the very place they lived. Yet they could not deny it, notice in Acts they do not even try. Yes, they try to destroy the movement, but they do not try to deny the resurrection, that comes much later.

Friends, it is true that Easter looks very different this year, we are in a time which we could not have imagined or foreseen. However, God did, and He is still sovereign over it. He has foreseen and planned for all those who believe in Him who lose their life during this time. That answer is Resurrection, both of Christ and in the last days those who have believed.

So stay home or stay in your cars (if you are attending a drive-in service) remember that God is not distant but is near. He loves you and cares for you, you are not alone. No matter what happens, Christ has Risen, you cannot change that historical fact. Easter cannot be ruined, the truth is still true.

 

12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oJonathan David Faulkner is a Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife Rachel and daughter Erin in Buffalo Center Iowa and seeks to be a part of the project of reconciliation in the local and international church. He is currently serving as the Pastor of First Congregational Church of Buffalo Center.

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Coronavirus and The Death of Individualism

When this is over, and it will eventually be, perhaps we will have been reminded that what really matters is each other.

Jonathan David Faulkner

As a student of 19th Century Church History at Mercersburg I have little patience for Princeton, as a human being a struggle with Twitter because of how negative it has become. Yet, yesterday both of these combined to surprise me. This time in the form of a Tweet from Princeton Professor Kate Bowler about how the Coronavirus marks the end of individualism

I could write an entire article on how entertaining it is for someone who has studied the “Common sense” theology that Princeton was born into to hear someone from Princeton claiming the end of Individualism, but that is not the point of this article. What is the point is to explore what that means for society going forward.

Lifeway Research, Barna and Pew have all marked an increase in anxiety and its contributors in both Millenials and Gen Z compared to the other two living generations (Baby Boomers and Gen X) who make up much of the population. That means that isolation, depression and loneliness are all on the rise among people 15-35 and as a result we are suffering more anxiety because we have a much weaker social network to fall back upon. Instead we have one that, for all its claims to be social, is increasingly proving to be fake and in fact, toxic, to our mental heath (Social Media). Social Media creates the illusion of togetherness and interconnectedness but does not fulfil either human need. Jean M. Twenge has warned us about the effect Social Media is having both on us and our kids as the pressure to present a perfectly curated world based on your personal preferences overwhelms them.

Individualism, especially the radical American brand that was handed down to us and expanded upon from the time of the Enlightenment says that the individual is prime, and nothing should interfere with the individuals personal autonomy. That translates to an attitude that “no one is going to tell me what to do and as long as it feels good to me, I am going to do it.” If you are on Twitter today you know that this very attitude is being blamed for why the virus is spreading at the alarming rate that it is in the United States. We all saw the videos of college kids partying in Florida and then saw the new report that most of those kids have tested positive for the virus. The idea that “I am young and invincible” is one that has affected every youth, but individualism says: “I am going to do what feels good, consequences be damned.” Individualism fuels our other impulses, consumerism, stuff will make the individual feel secure, identitarianism, personal identity is the path to harmony and perfect happiness, hedonism, I want to do what makes me happiest and most fulfilled. These all look to the self as the greatest authority, again, the individual is prime.

Yet we have seen recently a rise in strong group think the extremes of the right and the left. Tribalism is our word for it, and though incompatible with individualism, it makes the same claim as individualism, the self of group is primary, and no one can tell the tribe what to think or to think differently. I remember sitting in a meeting with one of my professors for a “Readings and Research” course on Jonathan Edwards and Charles Chauncy’s debate over revivalism. Revivalism being a key contributor to the spread of individualism in America. I remember telling her that individualism is breaking down, but that tribalism is as well, leading to some kind of primalism that is purely emotionally driven which corresponds with the breakdown in language and increased isolation caused by Social Media. This observation came after an article in The Guardian about the use of Emoji’s in communication and the idea that we had reverted back to Hieroglyphs on tablets with glowing screens. The relationship between individualism and tribalism is thus that they both reject dependence on the other, in the case of individualism, prizing personal autonomy and in the case of tribalism, prizing group autonomy. It is the same idea, applied to two extremes.

Both individualism and Tribalism are dangerous to the public health and well-being of a society because they both reject anything other than what they have accepted as personal truth. This operative principle of relativism means that doing anything that does not see to the wellbeing of the central idea or person is evil is extremely destructive both to society and to the individual in general or persons involved. Believe it or not, this is how cults operate, loyalty to the leader or central idea is absolute and if one diverges from that then they are punished by the group. Think Westboro Baptist or Jonestown, they often seem like great places to be, but if you step out of line you become public enemy number one. Yet we have embraced both mediums unquestionably and are going to long pay the price for our obstinance.

If you do not believe me, look at this week’s debate over the stimulus package. Everyone is trying to get a piece of pie for their constituency, their tribe, and the result is ultimately an abandonment of the American People. Meanwhile Lobbyists want what is best for them, a juicy bonus from their employers, and so they bend the ear of their allies on the hill. That is not how a representative republic is meant to work and we are learning that the tribal mantra “America First” does not actually mean “Americans First.” We should be ashamed of ourselves. Individualism and Tribalism, two extremes, predicated on the same utilitarian principle. Do what is best for me and forget everyone else. Who cares if someone dies, they are not part of me or my group, I have nothing to do with them and they have nothing to do with me? How perfectly Stalinite of us saying “one death is a tragedy but a million is a statistic.”

Yet, as a Christian I know that this is not how the world is meant to be ordered. As a Historian I know this ordering of the world is abnormal when compared to the strong group societies that are still much of the world today. As a Pastor who believes what the Bible says is true (I should not teach it otherwise) I have a responsibility to teach my congregation that Jesus gave His life so that we could live a life that was radically different from the world around us. For the Christian, self-seeking is unprofitable and unuseful (Titus 3:1-11) and leads to fights and quarrels and schism. Self-seeking leaves us self-condemned while living the Christian Life that we can only live because God made it possible through Jesus Christ, should make us work for the benefit of one another. That includes those who think differently than we do, those who the world would naturally label our “enemies.” The Christian Life is meant to be lived for the benefit of our neighbors, not for the benefit of ourselves. We have received out reward and it is well beyond what we could ever gain on this Earth (i.e Eternal Life).

In times of crisis then, we should not look to ourselves, but looking to the good of one another and to the world that does not know Christ. I work just as hard for the benefit and shalom of my neighbor who is unsaved as I do for the saved neighbor. I do this not because I am obligated too, but because I am grateful for that Christ as done for me what I could not do myself. This does not mean there is not an inward quality to Christianity, we are commanded to work out our salvation, but that is also done in the context of our relationship with God and with others. The Churchman John Williamson Nevin, in his writing on the Two-Party System in the days leading up to the Civil War says this: “This does not mean there is not room for individual opinion, but that individual opinion must be brought into the group and be examined by all to see if it aligns with the word of God and the teachings of the Church.” Christians believe in an absolute truth, but we should be gracious in how we live and apply that truth because God has been gracious to us. We confess essential doctrines, but we also confess personal conscious and 1 Corinthians 10 tells us that there are some things that are left up to the personal conscious of the individual, but that considerations of conscious should take into account the conscious of another. If such and such an activity will be harmful to my neighbor, I will abstain from that activity in their company.

Both individualism and tribalism advance the individual conscious over the good of the people around us. Both make the individual conscious a self-contained god that declares its independence from every other god around it and is superior to everyone else’s god. Thus, no one is superior and no one’s individual truth is absolute. I am also under no obligation to do anything for my neighbor because my neighbor is my enemy. I have excused myself from doing anything for anyone, the self is my god and people better not play in my canned goods or challenge the high place I have built for myself. This has to be an exhausting way to live, but our culture has adopted it as normal, even voted it into office at the state and national levels.

The Coronavirus and COVID-19 challenge this mentality. I know last week I posted a piece about the need for more helpers, but that was because I wanted to see more of the few positive things I was seeing (I need to adjust my algorithm because my wife was seeing nothing but positive stories while all my headlines were about hoarding and toilet paper). I have seen how many of us have laid down our self-contained gods and self-worship to reach out to the other. We are self-quarantining because we understand how easy it is to transmit this virus and how deadly it is for older and vulnerable groups. We are adjusting store hours so that elderly men and women can go to the store without fear. People are baking bread so that their elderly neighbors who cannot get to the store can have bread. Yes, there are people hoarding, but there are a growing number of people who seem to be breaking from our usual American individualist way of life for the sake of helping others. They seem to be realizing that the benefit of helping one another far outweighs the benefit of helping themselves alone. In the words of Mr. Spock, “the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the one or the few.” I can only hope that this trend continues, and individualism does die a quick death. This may be optimistic; we may go back to business as usual in June or July when this thing finally ends. But I can dream right?

Think about it this way:

 

Jonathan D12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oavid Faulkner is a Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife Rachel and daughter Erin in Buffalo Center Iowa and seeks to be a part of the project of reconciliation in the local and international church. He is currently serving as the Pastor of First Congregational Church of Buffalo Center.

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The Problem with Christian Celebrity

Athletes and Hollywood Christians are strategically placed for the Gospel, but we cannot and should not act as if they’re testimony means we are free to do whatever we want.

Jonathan David Faulkner

 

Let me say this up front, I hate the idea of Christian Celebrity and I hate the culture we have created around celebrity Christian’s. Believe it or not though it is not the idolatry that it often ends up in, though I am no fan of that, nor is it the pedestal just below idolization that gets me, though again I am no fan of that either. It is the fact that those are the people often referred to when Christians talk about those who live out their faith even though they have no frame of reference other than one comment made to the media. Someone does not have to demonstrate with their lives they are a Christian, all they have to do is say something, even if that thing is tan gently orthodox and biblical and Christians flock to them like moths to a lamp. Mention the name of Jesus and your guaranteed to have 1000 new twitter followers overnight, even if your exegesis and application are extremely questionable.

You all know what I am talking about, you were all alive when Tim Tebow (congrats on your recent marriage by the way Tim), was playing for the Denver Broncos. I can remember people praising him for painting John 3:16 on his face before the game and for what became known universally as “tebowing” praying after he scored a TD. I can remember college girls fawning over him because he was such a good and godly man who did not smoke drink or chew or go with girls who did. He was held up as the archetype for what a Christian should be and in fact, he was, if your archetype of Christianity is the classic conservative “nice Christian boy” who epitomizes purity culture and who never upsets people.

Now, before you accuse me of being disrespectful, let me say that I have a great deal of respect for those who live out their faith in the public square. It is extremely difficult to stand up for your faith in our modern context and Tebow has paid a price for it. I also have a great deal of respect for Tim Tebow as a person, his special prom nights for children with disabilities is a truly gospel-oriented mission that gives dignity to kids who do not get to experience that dignity within the public-school system. I do have a problem with the culture he represents, but no problem with him personally. The problem is with the celebrity status and idolization that occurred because Tim Tebow stood up for His faith in the public square. Tim’s life is attractive for the Gospel, the Christian Celebrity that rose around him, hindered it. I felt the same way about Kurt Cousins recent comments after losing to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round of the Playoffs, something my own Packers did the very next week. I appreciate the words that he said, “win or lose, God is on the throne” what disturbs me are the people who raised the concert of praises and allowed the cycle of idolization continue. Again, Cousin’s life may attractive (I do not know enough about him to say) for the Gospel, but that kind of idolization hinders it.

We do the same thing to Politicians, all someone has to do is signal solidarity with Christianity and boom, Christians will flock to unquestioning support for them. Even if upon further examination we find that person is not a believer, or at least not living like one, but only used the manicure to secure a section of the voting base. This is the playing card that we have been watching play out before us in the political arena for the last 30 years, coming to fruition in the worst possible way with the 2016 election. We become uncritical followers of men seeking political power we risk allowing ourselves to be led astray from the Gospel principles found in the Word of God and the moral high ground we have always vigorously defended. I have beat a dead horse with this one, but I will say it again, we cannot insist on certain moral characteristics and then turn around and vote for someone who does not fit those characteristics. Regardless of what may be promised or what we may gain, better to lose the whole world then to forfeit our souls eh? Unfortunately, it looks as though we have chosen to forefeet our souls.

But that is the problem I see, we are not just forfeiting our souls, we are forfeiting our souls in the case of politics, but we are all too often forfeiting our witnesses by outsourcing them to the Christian Celebrity. We seem to think that the person who professes faith on TV or after the football game is going to be what stems the tide of secularism and reinvigorates the witness of Christ around the world. The problem is secular people and younger Christians do one of two things with the athlete/politicians/Hollywood type professes their faith. They either scoff at it because their experience with Christians they interact with daily do not live out what they claim to believe or they applaud it once and move on, getting back to the business of living out their robust faith. They either do not see it as sincere, or they ignore it all together. No one is reached, in fact, it seems that the opposite is happening, people tune it out because the Christians they know are no different than they are.

Celebrity among Christians seems to have become an excuse for not living out the gospel at home before all men. We think because they have testified to Christ we do not have to. It is a convenient way of outsourcing our own responsibility to communicate the Gospel in word and life. We seem to think that so long as (Insert name here) is working out his or her salvation with fear and trembling we are excused from it. Or that the Great Commission is for missionaries and pastors and we just go to church and fellowship and that’s the extent of our Christian Life. The Great Commission becomes “The Great Omission” to use Thom Rainer’s term even if your part of the 48% of Christians who know what the Great Commission is (Lifeway 2019). “Go into all the world and Make Disciples of all nations” apparently does not mean our own, or it does so long as we do not have to do it. “Put off the old self…and put on the new self” (Col 3:6-10) is all well and good and long as we do not have to do it. As long (so and so) is being a light to the world, do I really have to be?

I am being a bit snarky here, but if you look at all the data that has come out over the last 50 years as the Church as declined, this is the picture it paints. Now, there are some areas of the country where this is impossible, I think of our New England Brothers and Sisters who, in most places, have realized that living in a Post-Christian society requires Christians to largely abandon their whimsical, pie in the sky Christianity defined by Consumerism and attractionalism and return to a biblically oriented Christian Faith. I am inspired by the Church Planting movement in my own denomination that has been reaching communities with the Gospel by not being afraid to those whom the traditional Church in America has abandoned by making it a sin for a person of faith to even enter those places. Given the changes in our culture we can no longer afford to sit back and hide in our holy huddles thinking that will bring people back to us. Young people are not returning to church when they get older, even those who have a deep faith in Jesus, they remain in exile and disconnected. We can no longer make assumptions that allow us the convenience of ease and allow us to debate peripheral issues. We can either live out the Gospel or we can die, those are the only two options before us as persecution increases and we continue to be forced out of the public square. We do not have the luxury of outsourcing our witness to another, to celebrities. You want to see young people to return to churches? Take your own faith seriously.

I am serious, this is what I cannot stand about Christian Celebrity Culture, we seem to think that it has excused us from living out our own faith in our own portion of the public square. We think that if we do not sin and go to church, we are fine. The result is a lot of people who have relationships with the church, but no discernable relationship with eh Church. We have a lot of people that can proof-text their personal opinions (see last week’s piece) but have no biblical literacy or knowledge of the Bible beyond those defenses of their philosophical viewpoints. We also have a lot of people to look for the pastor to simply affirm their preconceived notions and if the pastor challenges those notions even in the slightest they get angry and make threats and bully people into agreeing with them.

The problem with all of this is God didn’t leave his Church here so that we could outsource our witness and gather around us people who would confirm our biases. Though we are promised in scripture that will happen. He left His church here to be a family and one that went out and witnessed to the world by showing the benefits and blessings of having a relationship with God. A Church then that does not love God, love people (inside and outside its walls) and make Disciples should not expect God’s blessings to follow them. In fact, they should expect the opposite since they have set themselves in opposition to God by their obstinate refusal to live out His commands. The culture pressures on the Church are moving us back in this direction in some parts of the country, but there are some places where resistance to any change back towards historic biblical orthodoxy and orthopraxy, not the canned conservative Americanized version that Billy Graham called: “An inch deep and a mile wide.”

If we want to see the church grow, especially in the alienated small towns throughout the Midwest and South, then the church needs to step up and be the third place of society it was in the first and second century. We do not have the luxury of debates in the public square over philosophies and ideologies that are loosely biblical, if that. And we certainly do not have the luxury at pointing to the latest Celebrity who put his faith into words and expressed it on public television as though their witness excuses us from our own. The secular world is reading our scriptures and calling us out on how poorly we live them out day to day. This is a difficult reality to accept, but Jesus was serious when He gave His commands and applied them all His people. Not just the Apostles, but to everyone who believed in Him.

Pastors, this starts with us, we need to stand up against these kinds of behaviors and take whatever it costs us knowing that we answer to Christ for how we handled His word and taught His people. We need to be willing to not just preach the Gospel but live out the Gospel and demonstrate the blessings of a relationship with Christ to our congregation. We can do this, even if it costs us calls and comfort because we are promised that God will take care of us and we can lean on those promises no matter what. We can also know that God is pleased when we do what He has commanded us to do even when it means people will be furious with us. We need to hold our congregations accountable to the full word of God, everything in their, not just their preferred theological construct. We also need to be willing to answer question, maintaining an open door for people come to ask us when we preach about those passages that challenge our preconceived notions. Not everyone will take you up on that, you will still have people angry with you, but both you and they have to stand before God and give account for how you lived out the Word of God. Be bold, stand firm and remember the one who has your back is greater than this world.

And the next time someone points out the Christian words or witness of a celebrity ask them how they are living out their faith in their community first, reaching people for the Gospel through loving God, loving people and making Disciples. Ask them how they are living out the Great Commission and how that celebrity’s faith may inspire them to live out more boldly the new life in Christ. IF we continue to be afraid to encourage our congregations to live out the Gospel, we will continue this trajectory we are on, and its not good.

To the lay person, please recognize that Jesus words do not just apply to your pastor or the Christian celebrity, but also to you. That you are going to be held accountable for what you did with what you did with the Word of God and how you treated one another, and those God has placed as under shepherds to lead you. Outsourcing your witness will lead to your destruction, not salvation, and if you do not believe me, read the book of Matthew. It would also be prudent for you to start questioning whom you are following instead of swearing undying loyalty to someone who contradicts the bible you claim as the source of your reasoning. Start reading the bible, the whole bible, and do what you can to learn about the bible and the world it was written into. Does that change how we apply it in the modern context? Well, it just might, but that is okay.

Now may the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob embolden you to live out His Holy Word in word and deed with humility and gratitude for that awesome work that was done in Christ.

 

\Jonathan D12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oavid Faulkner is a Graduate of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary holding Masters in Divinity and Church History, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry. He lives with his wife Rachel and daughter Erin in Buffalo Center Iowa and seeks to be a part of the project of reconciliation in the local and international church. He is currently serving as the Pastor of First Congregational Church of Buffalo Center.

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#GospelDrivenSissyPreacher: It’s not as bad as they tell you it is.

By Jonathan David Faulkner

 

Christianity is falling apart, the Church in America is in dire straits, what are we going to do? Or is it…Well…if you listen to the doomsayers. I know, I know, we’ve said some things that lean that way, given our support of the Babylon Bee you’d wonder if we believed the media, that the state of American Christendom is so dire that we should just give up and start over.

Which, to an extent, that’s what has been happening, Christians like myself who have decided it was time to give up the idols of American Christianity and start to follow the faith as it was meant to be lived out. Not in the way that the media portrays us as something like Westboro or unintelligent Trump voters. Granted, both stereotypes are true in some cases, but not when you really start to evaluate the majority of Christians in the U.S. God is on the move, but you’re not hearing about it.

This of course is because the media’s knowledge of religion is minimal at best. As a post on the Religious Dispatch pointed out this week in an article of Trump and Hilary: “”The boys and girls on the bus are well versed in the talking points, image strategies, the horse race – all the conventions of modern presidential campaign journalism…their understand of religion is a mixture of broad bromides about the nature of religion in American life, imbed perhaps with entirely subjective notions of religion born of their own personal experience with it.” The media does not know enough about religion to even understand the life of a religious person.

And I’m not referring to revivals in West Virginia or AzuzaNow, both events our website has covered as well as many other organizations. I am talking about the average Christian that you meet in the corner deli or the coffee house. The Christian not reaching for power, but simply trying to live a life that is transformed by the Gospel. That’s the Christian you do not hear about, they are the everyday believers, leaving out and speaking the Gospel. Reaching their neighborhoods and communities with the message of grace and peace…and doing so without any recognition.

Unless you listen to Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City. While Dobson and Falwell Jr. have worked to make a power play, struggling to achieve a false view of the churches role in politics. And while people like Feuerstien have torn down the body for not subscribing to their version of Christianity. Those who would rather continue driving a stake through the heart of the already bleeding American Church instead of seeking to actually be the Church.

Yes, the church has issues, there’s a lot of negative ideologies that need to be addressed, there are problems that need to be resolved. We have to talk about those things and we have to be discerning in dealing with them and how to solve those issues. We have to continue to address those things and figure out a way to do it in such a way that stays further division among the genuine believers while separating us from those who have twisted the gospel and refuse to be transformed.

 

But, we also must be aware of what is happening within the Christian Faith. Little hint, it is not what the media is telling you.

If you don’t believe me, take a trip to New England, one of the most densely populated areas in the country and one of the oldest regions in the country. A place where the term; “Post-Christian Society” is about the only way to describe it. A place where it is genuinely unpopular to be a Christian. From Maine to New York City the term “God Bless You” will get you a death glare. Just down the road in Salem the head of the Wicka Cult worships, down in Boston there is Harvard and MIT and a number of other schools with teachers that are openly hostile towards Christianity.

Yet, come and meet the Christians, not the ones in the various Liberal churches who cling to Leftist doctrines more than they stick to the Gospel, but to the actual, Bible-Believing Christians. The ones who know how unpopular their viewpoints are among the common people and higher ups. The ones who genuinely want to build people up and spread the good news of the Gospel.

But here’s the thing, this is not just happening here in New England, this is happening all across the country. Keller actually believes this to be the norm, not the exception, and that is encouraging news. These are not Cultural Christians, or Cultural Evangelicals, they are genuine, bible-believing, Gospel living believers who genuinely love each other and who genuinely love their enemies because they understand that love comes from God and because they love Him and know His love for them they are able to live out joyfully the life that we are all called to.

So we apologize if the impression we have given you of the American Church is a bleak one. That is not entirely the case. There are a lot of good things happening in the church, especially here on the North Shore, one of which we will be highlighting in the month of July. Seeking to celebrate those things which God is doing in the church and encouraging those who might be disillusioned as we are to know that there is hope.

God is moving amongst his people, the Gospel is stronger than ever, and maybe our current predicament has a lot to do with that. God can do amazing things when His people find themselves weak and without power. That’s how this whole thing started in the first place. In the weakness and powerlessness of the Manger, with a baby and his mother and father, a baby who would one day take on the sins of the world on the cross.

At God’s Heart for Those we choose to build up and encourage the Church, hoping to be a unifying voice among the chaos. And if that makes us #GospelDrivenSissyPreachers then so be it.

 

12973040_10154269785339245_3845786340930956602_oJonathan David Faulkner is a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry

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Who are you to decide?

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By Jonathan David Faulkner

 

But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” 1 Sam 16:7

One of the tactics used against me by the pastor who spiritually abused the church I attended in High School was to tell people that “God could not possibly be laying something on your heart if you were not sure of your salvation.” This did a lot of damage to my own family members as well as to my already damaged Psyche. Sad as it is, questioning the salvation of others is an earmark of Authoritarian Leadership. “You are not a Christian if you do X” is a common line or “God cannot use you unless” or “God cannot use you unless” and of course “You are not a Christian if you…”

So when the radical fundamentalist and the leader of the “Facebook Church Movement” Joshua Feuestien comes out and says “You cannot be a Christian and vote for Hilary Clinton” my immediate reaction is to reject the idea completely. While it is true that there are moral issues with voting for Hilary, God’s Heart does not dispute that, nor is this an endorsement of Hilary. We take issue with saying someone is not a Christian because of who they vote for. Or saying someone is not a Christian in general.

In some ways this is also a pushback against things that I myself used to stand for. I have ruined my share of Christian Walks with the legalism I used to practice with great zeal. However, as I have grown and done ministry for myself and as God has redeemed the church and His word for me and redeemed His people, as the spirit has taught me, I have grown to reject those former things. I suppose it is the natural progression of the Christian to maturity, though I am far from mature and far from worthy of being called such.

It came down to having to question myself. “If I claim to be a believer but do such and such, but condemn that act in someone else’s life, calling them non-Christian, how am I actually a Christian?” The radical revelation of our changed condition in Christ thus gave me an answer. “Who are you to say anyone who claims to be a Christian is or is not a Christian, is God not working in them just as He is working in you?”

Who am I to decide if a person is a believer or not? Yet we do, as recently as last month the Pope called Trump an unbeliever. Some Christians have even questioned the faith of those Conservative Evangelicals who have thrown their lot in with Trump, who by the way, professes to be an Evangelical.

We do, also acknowledge, that American Christianity has largely grown illiterate, Biblical Literacy is at an all-time high as anti-Intellectualism sweeps through the laity. It is hard to practice the wisdom given us in 2 Timothy 1:7 when we do not know what it says and preachers preach on Opinions instead of building up the flock to stand firm as people of God.

Still, I am not qualified to judge them as unbelievers, I can look at their fruit (Matt. 7:15-20), I can discern an action or a thought to be in line with the Gospel or error or false teaching or even Heresy. But I cannot say for certain if an individual who professes faith in Jesus Christ is a believer or not. They could simply need guidance, direction, spiritual wisdom, discernment. They may just need to be shown their error lovingly and lovingly led to repentance. That has ben the way shown to me by those who have helped to rehabilitate me as a member of the Body of Christ. Had someone come to me and told me “You are not a Christian because you are a legalist” I would have laughed at them. Which is why we refuse to say that Feuestien is not a Christian, only that his teachings depart from Christian Orthodoxy, into Gnostic Heresy.

As the verse from 1 Samuel 16:7 states: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.” God said this to Samuel while as he was looking at David’s brothers, considering their height and strength and physical appearance. But David, who was the youngest and not initially present for Samuels arrival, and certainly not a weakling himself. Was chosen to replace Saul as King of Israel. God calls David a “Man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22) despite the terrible sins of adultery and murder he committed.

Matt Chandler points out in a sermon series on James that “David would not be able to get a job at our church.” And he’s right. Were David alive today we might say “He is not a Christian, look at this horrible thing he did.” Yet David, when he was confronted by his sin repented and God kept his Covenant with David and if was from the line of David that Christ came into this world and now sits enthroned forever.

We are all being Sanctified, we are all being lovingly corrected by the Holy Spirit, learning how to live Righteously and sometimes that is a slow process. We must allow for it, we must also recognize our need for others to come alongside us and speak life into us and most importantly we need to recognize the constant and eternal presence of the Triune God and the Trinity’s role in our lives. Living in accordance with Scripture, becoming refined into the likeness of God while acknowledging and encouraging our identity as one body in Christ.

Friday morning, I released the following post of Facebook after seeing Feuerstie’s indictment against believers who vote for Hilary. I pray you will consider these words prayerfully and with a grain of salt: “It is not a sin to vote for someone in an election. And it is extremely foolish to tell someone they are not a Christian for voting for a candidate. However, we do need to look at the fruit of those who are running. Whether it be Hilary, Trump, Kasich, Cruz, Bernie or Rubio. We have to prayerfully discern through the lens of Scripture the course each Canidates platform could take us and look at the fruit of their past actions and come to a conclusion based on that, a conclusion that should be informed by the Spirit. But we also must not judge our brothers and sisters, calling them Non-Christians for voting for any particular candidate.”

We should not be divisive with our words, participating in foolish talk that causes quarreling among the saints (2 Tim. 2:23). Rather we should seek to build up, exhort and encourage one another. Wisely admonishing our brothers and sisters and joining together to worship God as one body of Christ (Col 3:10-17). Living in the spirit of “Power, Love and Self-control” (2 Tim 1:7) we have found in Christ. Praying for all people and living “Godly and upright lives before all men. For God desires that none should perish” and come to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus (1 Tim 2:1-5).

So let us stop focusing on who is a Christian and who is not. Let’s stop saying “you are a believer, and you are not a believer.” Let God judge the hearts of man and let us look at the fruits we bear and pray that we might produce the good fruit as we are commanded. Not dividing, but uniting, vessels of grace and love that bring people into the Covenant relationship with God that we daily enjoy.

 

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Jonathan David Faulkner is a student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Pastor, Musician and Writer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Christian Education & Administration with a concentration in Urban Ministry