"SHOULDER TO SHOULDER: #12 ---- 4/5/1998
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight"
Title: #12: Seven Strangle holds On The Church (Part 3)
1. Institutionalization of the Church
2. INTELLECTUALIZATION OF SCRIPTURE.
3. CREDALIZATION OF OUR DOCTRINE.
4. Culturalization of our Approach.
5. Rationalization of the Supernatural.
6. Compartmentalization of God's Activity.
7. Minimization of Holiness and Obedience.
Dear Fellow workman:
I am writing this after an extraordinary week of meetings last week in
Norborne, MO, where the attendance at the Sunday evening service was
greater than the Sunday morning, and the weekly meetings had attendance
that was 75% to 80% of the Sunday attendance. The meeting was
characterized by enthusiastic praise, unbelievable attentiveness to the
Word of God, and many public and private decisions of varying kinds,
including salvations and church additions.
I know folks have been praying for us, because the Lord wonderfully
protected us from colds, allergies, and voice fatigue, which often plague
me when I both sing and preach. So ---- thank you, dear friends!
We also had a very good Sunday yesterday at "Coon Creek Church" in
Collins, MO, population 144, where Jo Ann and I provided music and
worship in both services, and I preached and shared our ministry in the
evening service.
PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS:
1. I am aggressively looking for an INTERNET SERVICE that provides
nationwide access via an 800 or 888 number. Living in the country as we
do, every call outside our little town, including as close as four miles
away, is long distance. That creates quite a long distance bill for us.
As you can tell at the end of each newsletter, I have an e-mail service
that is free, but I still have to dial long distance to an access number.
So, ---- if you have any suggestions, PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I am anxious
to hear.
2. Unfortunately, I can do nothing about the footer at the end (and
sometimes, I am told, in the middle) of these newsletters. This is
something many e-mail providers are doing, and we users have no voice in
the matter. It is especially a problem if the local transmission is
extremely slow, as it was last week. I apologize! If you want a "clean"
copy for your files, I'd suggest you click on "forward", clean it up
yourself, and then send it back to yourself to file or send on to others.
3. Let me recommend a book on the subject of revival. Published last
year, it was written by two well known authors, Neil Anderson and Elmer
Towns. It presents an approach from two very different ministry
perspectives on the subject of coming revival and how we need to respond
to the many different arenas of revival now going on around the world.
It's primary purpose is to invite all of us from all denominational and
structural circles to join the flow of *RIVERS OF REVIVAL*. Endorsed by
many contemporary leaders including men like Joe Aldridge, Bill Bright,
John Maxwell, Peter Wagner, D. James Kennedy, and Dick Eastman, it is a
much-needed book.
4. A couple of prayer requests:
1) We leave this Wednesday, April 8th, to spend a week in Bogota,
Colombia. Because of recent kidnappings of Americans, the State
Department is "discouraging" American travel there. As you know, Bogota
is listed as one of the ten most dangerous cities in the world.
However, we feel the Lord wants us to go, we don't want to waste $1,800
worth of plane tickets, our little grandson Christopher (and his mommy
and daddy) want us to come, and the Lord has opened opportunity for
ministry for us. So, remember us in prayer. We return late Wednesday
night, April 15th.
2) We are still in need of about $3,500 toward the $6,000 needed to
pay the travel, food, and lodging costs for the refugees we are bringing
to the Life Center in Croatia the first of June. We will spend 10 to 15
days ministering to them. In addition, we will be ministering to about
45 children from Russia, victims of the Chernobyl nuclear accident. This
will be our second time to do something like this.
It takes about $175.00 per refugee to cover all those expenses for the
entire stay. Ask God to provide the full funding for this project so
not one person will be prohibited from coming and hearing the Gospel
simply because the money did not come in. That money is needed by May
25th.
NOW, TO THE MATTER AT HAND:
Since my last newsletter, and as a result of writing it, I have become
keenly aware that what I am now covering has dangers which I want to
avoid.
1. One is to drone on and on into an unbearable series of letters that
really could end up defeating the purpose of "SHOULDER TO SHOULDER"
----encouraging one another and bearing one another's burdens.
For that reason I reiterate the motive of this particular subject ----
to help you understand some possible conditions that may have brought you
to certain circumstances and/or times of discouragement, weariness, and
frustration. By my so doing, you may hopefully get a renewed vigor and a
fresh burst of energy because you can see more clearly the reason some
things are happening in your ministry, and you also can develop some
specific personal disciplines that will enable you to address them
correctly as God leads you.
2. The second is the danger of alienating and losing some readers
because I am treading on ground, in some cases, where even "angels fear
to tread", and not everyone will feel the same as I do about some of
these things.
3. The third danger is to falsely conclude that we are the cause of the
conditions I am discussing. Such is not the case. You and I have
primarily inherited the conditions, and there is nothing we can do to
change what happened back then. However, we must also realize we have an
opportunity to do something about it now, if we feel they are issues that
need to be changed.
4. The fourth danger, and perhaps the most treacherous of all, is to
present the false conclusions that, A) everything about the present-day
church is bad (which is certainly NOT TRUE), B) that the major problems
with which we need to deal are structural, historical, and intellectual
(which is also NOT true), and C) that by simply modifying, replacing, or
eliminating some of the things we have inherited, we can make everything
better (which is obviously also not a guarantee). The real arena of
change for us is in the heart ---- Not in the structural.
IT IS A HEART ISSUE:
The truth of the matter is that if all we do is try to change things on
an intellectual, structural, or programmatic level, we have missed the
entire point. IT IS A HEART ISSUE we must deal with. The
institutionalization of the church came as a result of issues of the
heart. Intellectualization of scripture, culturalization of approaches,
and all the rest, ultimately take place because of the heart ---- Not
because of culture, societal trends, or denominational pressure. We MUST
keep in mind that events, programs, plans, structures, even personal
growth disciplines, are only as good as the attitude and sensitivity of
the heart will allow.
You could jump on a band wagon and try to change every single one of the
things about which I am writing, and end up in the very same boat ----
just more badly damaged, and in process of swamping.
So, as we continue, let me encourage you to offer your heart attitude to
the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
CONCERNING LAST WEEK'S LETTER:
Several of you wrote to me and referred to my following comment: ---- "
And death cannot produce life, because death is dead. Dead things
produce nothing but more death and the stench of death. This is an
absolute impossibility ---- that death can produce life ---- that
institutionalism can produce life, even life in a church." You referred
me to John 12:24 where Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone:
but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."
My response to that, first of all, is "Thank you!" That is an excellent
observation.
Secondly, however, rather than that verse contradicting what I said, I
believe it validates it ---- because, you see, it was the outer hull and
the meat (i.e. the body and the carnal mind) that had to die, because
that's all it could do. "To be carnally minded is death, but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8:6). And when such
death exists, the inner nucleus of the grain of wheat, which is life,
comes forth.
The distinction to make at this point is that the death of which Jesus
spoke did not PRODUCE the life, but rather it RELEASED life. It was true
in His own death and resurrection, which is what He was actually
referring to, and it is true concerning my application. This is the
exact concept Paul was trying to express in Gal 2:20, when he declared,
"I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live . . .", and in
Romans chapters 6-8.
It's very simple ---- as in the parable of the grain of wheat, so it is
with institutionalized Christianity ---- death can produce nothing but
death. But, when death arrives, that death itself has the potential of
releasing (but NOT producing) the real life of the Church into full
vitality, power, and fruitfulness again.
Praise His Name!
Which leads us to . . .
2. INTELLECTUALIZATION OF SCRIPTURE:
This is a sticky one, because it can be easily misunderstood. I believe
there have been four or five major events or trends since the Reformation
that have led us to taking a far too intellectual approach to God's Holy,
divinely inspired Word, though, in most cases, that was not necessarily
the initial intent.
Bear in mind that I am absolutely NOT criticizing good education,but
rather, the process of taking Biblical principles and truth and running
them through a process of mentally examining, explaining, teaching,
memorizing, and rationalizing them with the result, intended or
unintended, of stripping them of their divine origin, truth, content,
application, and purpose. Good, godly education and Spirit-led Bible
study and memorization are of great value, but skewering God's Word with
such inconsiderate and ruthless techniques as noted above is both an
insult to a Holy God, a disservice to those who were used as instruments
in God's hands to pen His Words, and great harm to the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ and its commission to share the Gospel with the world.
When you treat the Bible on the same plane with secular literature, and
use only the same tools of examination, ingestion, and digestion, you
insult the character of God by tramping on His divine and holy Word with
filthy and contaminated feet of depraved man. God's Word deserves and
demands much more than that!
So, here are the events and trends I believe have contributed to leading
in this downward spiral concerning the Bible:
1) I believe we have to openly acknowledge that the principle of
interpretation called German Higher Criticism set the stage that caused
many believers to fall prey to analyzing and rationalizing the Bible from
an academic and intellectual approach to the point that we began to call
in question certain portions of Scripture as to their authorship, their
authenticity, and their accuracy. Regardless of what you may conclude
about any passage of scripture, using that approach automatically causes
you to look at the Bible as a whole with a certain degree of suspicion,
uncertainty, and selectivity. God intended us to receive His "engrafted"
Word by revelation, not rationalization.
2) Add to that the influence of men such as Princeton's B.B. Warfield
who strongly espoused the idea that certain Biblical phenomenon such as
extraordinary miraculous acts of God and certain spiritual gifts were no
longer valid for our day, and, whatever else may come as a result, one
thing is certain ---- it began the church's debate over such things that
led to highly vocal disagreements, splits, and even the development of
other denominations competing for the souls of others by trying to prove
their interpretation of scripture was the correct one, and all others
were wrong.
You know, ---- it's really the height of arrogance and the extremity of
danger to place ourselves in such a position as to speak "ex cathedra"
for Jehovah God. We must never forget the great D. T. Niles' timeless
quote about preaching, even at its best. It is "simply one beggar
telling another beggar where to find bread."
3) About that same time came another movement that led to what
eventually was tagged "dispensationalism". Now, I grew up with that
Biblical interpretation of things as it related to the second coming of
Christ. I tell people that I was born with a Schofield Bible in one hand
and Larkin's *Dispensational Truth* in the other, and was raised where
the belt buckle of the Bible belt snapped together. And ---- I don't
regret that influence. I still hold to the basic idea that history seems
to indicate that God has demonstrated His sovereignty and grace and man's
total inability to govern himself through periods of time (which is
really what the word "dispensation" means), and I do believe we are
living in the last stages of what the Dispensationalist calls the "Church
Age".
However ---- two major extremes came out of that philosophy which further
elevated scriptural debate and sectarian isolation to heights where it
never should have gone. One was the parallel agreement with Warfield
concerning miraculous manifestations and certain gifts. The other was
the rigid positioning as to the time and circumstances concerning the
return of Christ. Now, I must say that I had my own chart I would use
when teaching from Revelation and Daniel.
Frankly, I don't think most of my opinions are too different from what
they were in my earlier years of preaching. However, I have concluded
that much of it is opinion and is subject to interpreting scripture with
limited human understanding, and I cannot allow myself to even imply that
those opinions are all actually Biblical fact. I'm much like former SBC
vice president and author Jack Taylor once said in a church I pastored
---- "I know a lot less about the second coming now than I did twenty
years ago."
So, regardless of whether or not you are a "dispensationalist", all of
us, I think, must recognize, that some conclusions have been
intellectually formed that have further institutionalized and divided us,
and they should not have done so. In fact, they have even become tests
of fellowship, and have further divided the Church, deepened the
competitive spirit, and generated special "hobby horse" doctrines around
which to isolate ourselves, call special conferences, and create further
imbalance in the total message of the Gospel.
4) Further, the development of what I choose to call "Legalistic
Fundamentalism" over the past eighty years has done still more damage to
the cause of Christ by influencing us to be far too rigid and
judgemental toward one another, and again, has caused God's Word to be
both the object of debate and the tool of debate. In some ways it has
become both the whipping post and the whip.
This is an example of a very good thing that was taken out of context and
ended up being taken much too far. I remember my preacher father going
to Founders' Week at that great institution of training, Moody Bible
Institute, and listening to some of America's and England's greatest
teachers and preachers proclaim the "fundamentals" of our faith. And,
with that, I can declare I am unashamedly fundamental. But, if you think
I'm a narrow-minded, vindictive, judgemental, argumentative, legalistic,
"fundamentalist" that demands you agree with me or we can't even be
friends (let alone have fellowship together), then you've missed knowing
who I am altogether.
If I allow the fundamentals of God's Word, which I hold so dear, to
become tests of fellowship and conditions that must be met in order for
me to accept you, then I have allowed my convictions on the fundamentals
to degenerate into "legalistic fundamentalism".
It is likely others reading this letter find themselves in the same
position simply because, in our sincere desire and effort to "study to
show ourselves approved" and unashamed workmen, we fell prey to the
deceptive tactics of the enemy and substituted human religious
intellectualism in the place of Divine revelation.
5) Finally, though there are certainly other examples we could
consider, I mention one final influence. Strangely enough, of all those
which would appear to be honorable and desirable (and I believe they
still are), the very processes of group Bible studies, Bible study
courses, scripture memory contests, and other such things have often
eroded into something far less than they should have been or that we
intended.
he real purpose of such activity is to mature us and equip us for every
good work, but in many cases it has, instead, become purely an academic
exercise, intellectual ego building, a competitive approach to studying
the Bible, and a means of score keeping to see who is the better
Christian or the denomination with the most truth..
Instead of studying Scripture for its spiritual value and because we are
commanded to do so, we have often let it become a contest as to who can
memorize the most verses, who can discover the newest insight, or who can
gather the biggest crowds to a meeting focusing on a particular theme.
And, in doing so, we have settled for two very incomplete results ---- on
the one hand, man's own limited interpretation and understanding being
defined as truth, and on the other, the Logos itself. Few in recent
years have ever delved into the spiritual depths of God's Word and come
up with life-changing Rhema, where God takes the Logos, and by divine
revelation, pierces our hearts with Rhema.
Nothing seems to be a greater testimony of spirituality and genuine faith
than that of consistently and persistently reading and studying God's
Word. And, yet, it has frequently led to worshiping the Word of God,
rather than worshiping the God of the Word. You see, our goal in
reading, memorizing, teaching, and preaching the Word is NOT the Word and
how much we can know of it, from it, or about it. Rather, the goal is to
gain an intimate relationship and fellowship with the One and ONLY One
who loves you unconditionally, by learning more and more about Him from
His Word.
If we were to read our love letters from our spouses the way we sometimes
read God's Word, we might settle for falling in love with the letters and
out of love with the spouse, and ---- might even end up marrying the
postal carrier.
Somehow, there must be a shift from examining God's holy,
Spirit;-breathed, life-giving, Word through the eyes of incomplete
intelligence and rationalistic understanding, to that of receiving
revelation to our very spirits. In many ways we have reversed God's
process of revelation to the spirit which then flows into the eyes of our
understanding, thinking that the more we know with our minds, the more
spiritual we will be in our lives ---- when, in fact, we may end up being
more astonishingly ignorant of truly spiritual matters in our minds, and
horribly deformed in our spiritual growth.
This is the very practice of the Scribes in Jesus' day, and it has the
same consequence today that it had then ---- topical sectarianism,
intellectual arrogance, and spiritual death.
3. CREDALIZATION OF OUR DOCTRINES:
The reason I attach this next matter here, is because it really operates
hand in hand with the intellectualization of scripture. In fact, so much
of what I need to say about this has already been said above.
When we allow ourselves to begin judging others on the basis of whether
or not they believe as we do on non-essential matters, and when we
further allow those differences of beliefs to divide us from each other
based on doctrinal positions, and then go even further to insist that
those doctrines become tests of fellowship, we have indeed credalized our
doctrines. We may not want to admit it, but, in essence we have said,
"This is what we believe, and if you want to have fellowship with us, if
you want to join us, if you want to be like we are, then you must believe
what we believe."
To some, it may come as a surprise that Jesus did not make doctrine
either a test of fellowship or a sign of our salvation. In fact, He did
the opposite. When Jesus' disciples came to him questioning the message
and methods of John the Baptists' disciples, Jesus said, in essence,
"cool it, you guys; you're beginning to sound like the Pharisees! Since
they're declaring the same basic message the Father has given Me, and
they're not teaching things contradictory to the Gospel, let them use
whatever methods and approaches they want. They're not our enemies,
they're our partners."
Paul Billheimer, the late great German writer forcefully identified the
real test of fellowship between believers in his book *Love Covers*, when
he made it clear that Jesus never ever taught that doctrine was a test of
fellowship, but, instead, made it crystal clear that the real test of
true Christian fellowship and unity was ---- LOVE.
When the pagan world saw the early Christians, they didn't say, "My, look
how they agree with each other!" Instead they said, "My, how they LOVE
one another!" You can be certain that this generation will not say, "we
know you are Christians by your beliefs." They will say, though, "we
know you are Christians by your LOVE."
In "Rivers of Revival", which I mentioned at the beginning of this
letter, Neil Anderson and Elmer Towns write, "We must maintain an
unshakable commitment to the authority of Scripture, and never compromise
our character to produce results." They go on to say, "we do not have to
throw away our denominational distinctives or doctrinal beliefs to
preserve the unity of the Spirit." One of the ways we do that is to make
sure that, while we hold true to the Word of God and all it teaches, we
never allow ourselves to "credalize" our doctrines into a list of beliefs
by which we judge the "have's" and the "have not's", and then decide
whether or not we will fellowship or cooperate with another believer
based on whether or not he walks in locked step with our beliefs and
opinions.
May we ever be protected from the pitfall of resting on "what we believe"
as a testimony of our Christian life, rather than "Whom we obey". The
Bible does not say, "By their beliefs you will know them", but, rather by
their fruits.
The best way to make sure your "doctrine" is right is to spend excessive
time getting to know the Author of the book so intimately that you not
only can memorize His Word, but you will also identify His works, learn
His ways, see what He sees, hear what He hears, and let the Holy Spirit
regulate your heart beat to His.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
How is it with you, my friend? Have you ever missed out on a special
"Word" from God because you were too busy analyzing and exegeting the
scripture passage? Have you missed the spiritual "surge" in your spirit
because you concentrated so heavily on memorizing that verse that it lost
it's message to your heart? Like Ron Dunn said, "sometimes we start off
seeking God and end up settling for a sermon idea."
Have you ever missed out on a great blessing because the corporate
gathering included people of different denominations with which you
disagreed on some doctrinal point? Have you ever crushed a budding new
friendship because you discovered that person went to a church you felt
taught unscriptural concepts?
When you feel secure in Christ, you will cease feeling insecure around
others in your beliefs, in your denomination, and in your own sense of
self esteem. And, when you lose those areas of uncertainty and
insecurity, you mysteriously become very comfortable around other people
who may think, pray, worship, or believe differently than you do.
Why? Because you realize that your real security in in Jesus Christ, and
not in your mastery of Bible knowledge or your doctrinal beliefs. As
long as you put your trust in your own intellect, emotions, and beliefs,
you will always feel insecure around people who differ at those points.
However, if your trust and confidence are in Jesus Christ, you're as
secure as a new born chick under the wings of its mother.
I cannot begin to tell you just how many dear and wonderful friends I
have because Jesus enabled me to see them through His eyes and love them
with His love rather than shut them out of my life because we differed on
aspects of God's Word or had used our doctrines as a huge picket fence to
peer through but never climb over.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Jack Deere, former professor of Missions and Evangelism at Dallas
Theological Seminary said, "There is a day coming, when in one
generation, God is going to change the way the Church expresses and the
world perceives the Gospel." I believe we are living in that day.
What an exciting time to be alive. Imagine what it will be like when
Christ finally has His bride ready for the wedding, and we, after having
shared the Gospel with the entire world, then sit with Him at the
banquet.
Look up, dear friend; your redemption draweth nigh!
So ---- take a deep breath ---- take up the sword and shield ---- give a
shout of rejoicing ---- and . . . .
C H A R G E ! ! ! ! !
In Christ's Bond of Hope,
Bob Tolliver
Copyright April, 1998
Permission is granted to forward this newsletter to others who might be
encouraged, and to use this material in any way which would enhance the
lives and ministry effectiveness of others.
Life Unlimited Ministries
lifeunlimited@juno.com
Ph: 417-275-4854
Fax: 417-275-4855
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