What if I Want to Make Something Old Something New?

That, I think is the challenge of strait up Bible believing Christian faith. The world has reached the other side of the bell curve. They have seen it all and heard it all. The most un-evangelized cultures in the world almost all have some opinion of Christianity. Even so called Bible believing Christians no longer believe Christianity is worth standing for, let alone dying for. The challenge is not to remake Christianity to be popular in this generation but to find ways to make this generation take a new look at the old faith.

How do we do that? Here are some of ideas:

Get real

The point of the faith is not to blend in our beat around some spiritual bush so that we do not offend the lost around us. I believe they see this as hypocritical and disingenuous. Sure, they may loudly protest about certain aspects of our faith. They may hate those doctrines and vent that hatred toward us. But avoiding these doctrines in order to be friendly with them only looks like fakery to them.

Be fervent

Fervency does not have to be militancy. Fervency is the same thing as sincerity. Fervency is passion.

The modern generation views itself as passionate. We may argue that view and we probably disagree with what they are passionate about and how they express their passion, but the way to engage passion is with passion.

Be faithful

In almost every endeavor of life consistency is the key to successfulness. I heard a man say the other day, “Do the right thing until the right thing becomes the normal thing.” To bend that slightly we might say, “Say the true thing until the true thing becomes the accepted thing.”

Be different, not judgmental

I recognize that the mere fact that Christians behave differently is often considered to be behaving judgmentally. I get that. I can’t change that. But we should not be truly judgmental.

Christians ought to be different. I do not believe we have been different enough for a very long time. But we have been, I think, judgmental. Here is the difference; judgmentalism expects, maybe even requires others conform to our standards. A genuine Christian perspective (at least a Baptist perspective) believes that all persons have a responsibility to act according to the dictates of their own conscience. We have no right to force our conscience on another. Sure, we ought to engage others with our ideas but if they choose to disagree that is their right.

Christianity remade is not Christianity at all. To conform Christianity to the modern culture serves no good purpose. We want to engage the modern culture in such a way that they take a fresh look at the solid truths of the age old message of Christ.

Help me come up with ideas...

Marvin McKenzie

In the fields

If Only He Could Write It Now

Luke 16:23 KJV
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments ....

I recently read a man's last post to his blog chronicling his fight with cancer and the face of death. He had written the blog with instructions to his family to post it as his last, after he had died. And my heart broke for his wife and children who followed his wishes even after he was gone. I can only imagine the pain they must experience with this loss. Having tried to help many many families through their suffering in this time of loss, I know that each family, and most members of the family, must grieve and process their loss in their own way. I long for this family to find peace and hope in the face of loss.

The blogger wrote positively about his death. But he did not write biblically. In fact, that was the point of the blog. It was his final statement of rejection of Bible truth. He said he had simply ceased, like a frog or some other lower life form, when his last breath was taken, he was not merely gone from his body, he was gone completely. He assured his readers that he felt neither joy or pain, eternal bliss or judgment. Speaking, as he imagined he was, from the grave, he asserted that he had no thought, no consciousness, no afterlife.

Here is the trouble; he had no experienced death when he wrote with such assurance about what happens after death. He did not know what was beyond the grave, if anything was beyond the grave.

Only one man has ever gone to the grave and returned to tell us certainly what lies beyond the grave. Jesus Christ did die, was buried and three days and night later, rose again. And Jesus Christ affirms that there is life after death for both those who believe and those who do not.

Oh, how my heart is burdened for those who have lost loved ones to the grave. But there is no assurance in wishful thinking. Only established fact can comfort us at the graveside. And the established fact is that Jesus died, was buried and rose again, and those who place saving faith in Him are promised eternal heaven. Those who do not, are condemned already.

JUST TWELVE MEN

Matthew 26:20   

Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

Just twelve men

And by anyone's reckoning they were ordinary men at that.

• Uneducated
• Unimpressive
• Without financial, familial or personal clout

They are just twelve men that sat with Jesus that night.

• There were others that had believed
• There were others whom Jesus loved

But these twelve men were destined, not only to lay but to be the very foundation of that thing which Jesus loved and gave himself; the local church..

Just twelve men

Diverse one from another

We do not know much about their backgrounds; nothing about most of them but:

• Four were fishermen
• One was a tax collector, maybe we could think if him as an accountant
• One was from a Greek influence
• One was an instinctive skeptic

They hadn't always agreed.

But in this night there was unity among them.

Their focus, purpose, passion was Jesus Christ and the truth He brought to them.

Just twelve men

But they change the world still today.

Of course one of the twelve was a devil.

All but one died violently; only one died miserably.

All twelve died eventually but only this one died at his own hands.

Just eleven men

But together, with hearts fixed upon Christ, they changed the world.

Will you change the world for Christ?

We Must Not Persuade the Will

I have recently been taking an introduction to philosophy class offered online by MIT[1]. The first unit of the class looks at the arguments for and against the existence of God, and addresses what is known as Pascal's Wager. Pascal reasoned that it was in the best interest of men to believe in God because if you believe and God is real, you go to eternal heaven, but if you don't believe and God is real you go to hell. If God is real you have everything to gain and nothing to lose in believing and nothing to gain and everything to lose by not believing. If God is not real, you have lost nothing for believing. 

Now, I see many flaws in Pascal's wager. But the argument the course eventually presents is that a man cannot will to believe. The instructor says that we cannot turn believing on and off like a light switch. I find this remark intriguing on several levels:

It answers to the Bible truth that no man comes to God except that he is drawn by the Holy Spirit.

Faith is not a life choice. It is a calling of God. It is not revealed by flesh and blood but by the Heavenly Father

It also speaks to the work of the soul winner.

The word faith carries with it the idea of persuasion. A person believes in Christ because he is persuaded by another who already believes in Christ. Paul "so spake" that a great number came to believe or to be persuaded. But that persuasion must be something different than the transmission of facts and evidences; what the philosophers call epistemology. It is from the heart to the heart. Rather, the Bible teaches, it is from faith to faith. That is why the Bible is not a book of mere facts and proof. A man who looked at epistemological evidence and became persuaded would only be persuaded academically. God's target is not the head. It is the seat of faith for which He shoots, what the Bible refers to as our bowels. 

The soul winner must never allow himself to be trapped into a discussion targeted at the head. Even if he wins the persuasion he will have accomplished nothing. It's why philosophers love to analyze the argument of Pascal's wager but never really consider whether God is it not. The soul winner must learn to target his whole conversation on his faith and transfer that to the faith of another. 

Marvin McKenzie

In the field

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[1] https://www.edx.org/course/mit/24-00x/introduction-philosophy-god/888

The Main Thing

Is there anything more important than a soul? No.

• Church is not more important.
• Doctrine is not more important
• Politics is not more important
• Family is not more important

However a soul is a long term entity. By focusing on short term results, the winning of the one soul, we lose the advantage of long term conversions.

• If a soul is reached but never taught doctrine, even if he is taught to win others, eventually the process of winning souls will degenerate
• If a church is organized, but not around sound doctrine, that church and those that come out of it will eventually degenerate into something incapable of winning lost
• If a family unit isn't preserved eventually the family will be unable to maintain a functioning part of the church and souls will not be won

By the very emphasis of soul winning to the exclusion of other truths, the one thing that really matters is what is most impacted negatively.

Can the Gospel Go to the Wrong Door?

When I was in Bible College a preacher came through encouraging missions and soul winning.

One of the statements he made was, "The Gospel Cannot Go to the Wrong Door."

I want ask the question, "Can We Go To the Wrong House?" Is the phrase "The Gospel Cannot Go to the Wrong Door" a biblical concept? What about the home of someone who gets upset? What about if no one is home? What if the people at the home are from a different religion?

I. God would have all saved
1 Timothy 2:1-4 KJV
I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

2 Peter 3:9 KJV
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

II. God commissions to us is to go to all the world
Matthew 28:18-20 KJV
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

III. Salvation requires both the planting and cultivating of the seed
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 KJV
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

Matthew 13:3-9 KJV
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

God may use means we can't understand in the planting and watering

IV. Therefore to go to a home, even if that home is unresponsive can never be wrong

The Fishing Is Still Fine

At the moment of this writing it is my pleasure to host Evangelist Larry Clayton. This is perhaps the fifth or sixth year we have had he and Lois here and it is always such a pleasure.
This year Brother Clayton recounted the story of leading Jack and his wife to the Lord. Jack was a successful businessman and a recipient of the Korean Medal of Honor. But when Brother Clayton instructed he and his wife to kneel there at their couch and trust the Lord, their lives were forever changed.

Brother Clayton said he explained to Jack that he was not going to be in town much longer so he had to dump the whole load on him right then. Jack told him to go ahead and pile it on. Brother Clayton told him about

• baptism
• church membership
• faithfulness and
• service

He told him about

• prayer and
• Bible study and
• tithing

He gave him a whole discipleship program in one night.

Months later Brother Clayton spoke to Jack who said, "I've been doing just what you told me to do preacher."
A few years later he quit his successful career and went to Bible College. He and his son were students at the same time.
Jack served on Brother Clayton's revival teams for two years and went on to pastor a church on the East Coast until Alzheimer's took his mind. (Jack's wife one time confided to Brother Clayton that she was just about to divorce Jack that day the preacher came and led them to know Christ.)

And then Brother Clayton looked me in the eyes and said, "It doesn't seem like we catch that big of fish much any more."

Times have changed even in the world of fishing. Fishermen just don't catch as big of fish as they once did. In some cases the big fish they once caught no longer exist. A friend who has worked for the fish hatchery service in Oregon once told me that the species of Salmon from the Columbia River that could weigh 100-150 pounds no longer exists. It is not merely that salmon are being caught before they can reach that size but that the species of salmon that grew to such great sizes has been eliminated; fished into extinction. Tales of catching those fish are left to fewer and fewer people who are still alive to tell the stories. Mind you, it is not that there are no fish to catch today. They are just not those fish.

I went out to eat with Brother Clayton and Pastor Benjamin Park, from Korea tonight. Brother Clayton told us stories of preaching in Korea in the 60's and 70's when nine thousand factory workers would come stand in the fields and listen  to him preach. Scores of professions of faith in Christ were made and churches were planted almost daily in those days. Pastor Park mused almost under his breath, "I wish we could see those days again, but I am afraid they are over." To which Brother Clayton replied, "It is a different kind of work now, but no less important."

In other words, the fishing is still fine, even though it is a different sort of fish we catch.

Marvin McKenzie
From the field

To my readers:

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