From Mark Driscoll’s book, The Radical Reformission.  

It’s a book that’s been out for a while and just like all “Christian” books that aren’t the Bible, there are truths within it and it should be read with discernment.  

“Biblical Principles for Cultural Decision-Making”

1- Is it beneficial to me personally and to the gospel generally (1 Cor. 6:12)?  

2- Will I lose self-control and be mastered by what I participate in  (1 Cor. 6:12)?  

3- Will I be doing this in the presence of someone who I know will fall into sin as a result (1 Cor. 8:9–10)?  

4- Is it a violation of the laws of my city, state, or nation (Rom. 13:1–7)? 

5- If I fail to do this, will I lose opportunities to share the gospel (1 Cor. 10:27–30)?  

6- Can I do this with a clear conscience (Acts 24:16)?

7- Will this cause me to sin by feeding sinful desires (Rom. 13:13–14)?

8- Am I convinced that this is what God desires for me to do (Rom. 13:5)?

9- Does my participation proceed from my faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 14:23)?

10- Am I doing this to help other people, or am I just being selfish (1 Cor. 10:24)?

11- Can I do this in a way that glorifies God (1 Cor. 10:31–33)?

12- Am I following the example of Jesus Christ to help save sinners (1 Cor. 10:33–11:1)?

Point being, if the only way to have the opportunity to talk about Jesus with a co-worker is at the bar after work, then, by all means, go to the bar on mission, but not at the expense of leaving your wife at home to take care of your kids.  ”Honey, but it was in Jesus name.”.  No, that won’t work and it shouldn’t work.  

Know that I’m not the trendy, modern church guy who gets a kick out of rocking the bible belt boat.  Honestly, I’m really over the non-gospel centered sermons that address, “Is drinking alcohol a sin?” and then at no point mention the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.  Seriously, I think we all know the answer to the alcohol question if we’re sitting in church on a Sunday morning.  That sermon always result in folks posting pictures of their favorite import beer on facebook with a kitchy caption, like, “Sooooo good”.  Yeah, we know, beer is cool.  We don’t need to know how much cooler it makes you…. again.  It boils down to this, “sin is the problem, Jesus is the answer, hell is hot, and forever is a long time”.  If you can sit at the bar, have a beer, and maintain these basic principles and share the gospel, then you’re not in sin sitting and having a drink with a friend.

I know, people freak out about the idea of sheep at the bar at Applebees, here’s the kicker; you can’t get drunk, fall into trash talking, gossip, cheat on your spouse with your eyes or worse.  If you going to the bar leads you to doing body shots for Jesus, you lost self-control and broke all these principles.  There is nothing beneficial to you or the gospel in that.  And if that environment terrifies you or derails you, don’t get in it.

If you’re beer leads your friend to feeling ok with having 12 beers because, “look, my cool Christian friend is drinking with me”, then there’s nothing beneficial in that.  And this goes for the house too.  If you’re having company over and you’re able to have a glass of wine and be ok, but your company is bent towards getting smashed, put the boxed Franzia wine away for the night. It serves no purpose, plus, Franzia is so cheap, it’s probably more cost effective to turn that wine into water.

In relation to item #4 and breaking the law, at no point is there glory in smoking crack.  If you have a friend who’s addicted to drugs and you see that buying them an 8-ball is your path in to sharing the gospel with them….. NO.  The only laws of man we’re allowed to break is if sharing the gospel is what is against the law.  We can break that one all day.  We cannot, however, engage in “buying crack for Jesus”.

Look, we all know that the religious people of Jesus’ day accused Jesus of being a “drunk and a glutton” because of the company he kept and/or they wanted to take away from what he was doing.  People love to use that one to justify the occasional guys/girls night out that includes 10-too-many Jägerbombs and/or whisky sours (I know because I used to use that one).  As if non-Christian friends look those Christians in their drunkenness and say, “Look at them.  Drunk, but yet still so full of the Lord.” and then their heart opens up to the gospel and their saved right there in the TGI Friday’s parking lot.  If that’s your salvation story, please let me know.  

I like Driscoll and the book, but I’m not going to tell you to ascribe to all that he says and neither would he.  I do think these principles are a very good guide to address engaging with culture.

*These are just my thoughts.  I didn’t go to seminary, nor do I even begin to claim that I know all the depths of the Bible.  Read God’s word for yourself and look for help with biblical truths from qualified leaders in the church.  If their reply is, “I don’t know about that one, but I’ll get an answer”, you’ve got yourself a leader you can trust.

It’s my off Friday, Good Friday at that, and that means I’m in my Rocky t-shirt. Every time I wear this shirt, I get comments from 25-45 year olds. It Must be It is a generational thing. I’m willing to bet that I would get the same comments from the same demographic if I wore this Red Dawn t-shirt, which if it was sold in Target, I’d already own it. It’s awesome.

Not ironically, both Rocky IV and Red Dawn were made in the 1980’s and feature communist villains hell-bent on crushing the red, white, and blue (easy Toby Keith). And this leads me to today’s comment about the shirt. I was getting some new tires and the guy behind the counter made a comment about the shirt, as did his co-worker, and we had some small talk about the glory of Rocky Balboa. I went on to tell a story about a time when I was watching Rocky IV with my oldest son when he said something to the effect, “Who is Rocky?”. Disappointed in myself for not already teaching my son about Rocky, I was, but the fact that he does know who Jesus is and he hasn’t knifed anyone, I still consider that I’m on the plus side of the parenting Mendoza Line.

Anyway, I told the guys that I broke down the idea Rocky to my son and finished with, “besides he’s defeating the communists.” Then, jokingly, but seriously, the guy behind the counter says, “Hey, that’s my culture there!”, in an accent that he thickened up to show me that he was Russian.

Awkward pause, but fantastic comeback, I said, “Actually, he brought the world together with ‘If I can change and you can change, everybody can change!’”. All of us were in agreement, still talking about the power of Rocky in strong man-code. No harm, no counter-cultural foul amongst men. If Rocky doesn’t win that fight, it’s possible that I’m in Russia behind the counter selling tires and instead of Rocky, we’re talking about the Drago movie series. (Shudder)

Rocky Balboa, Global Ambassador. If I can change tires and you can change tires, everyone can change tires!!

80’s Greatness.

You’d never see this contract in sports or any other profession.  I’m just as guilty as anyone of having treated Sunday like any other day and this snippet from “Death by Suburb” by Dave Goetz is a crazy snapshot of where the country was over 60 years ago in terms of Sundays.

“We’ve come a long way since the “no Sunday” contract that my wife’s uncle (Lee Pfund) signed in 1945 when he played major league baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He recalls, “I believed that you shouldn’t work on Sunday.” He refused to pitch on the Lord’s Day, and his stance didn’t seem to surprise many.”

Before you get all bent out of shape, this post has nothing to do with baseball or missing church.

I can remember growing up, that we truly did nothing other than church on Sundays.  The mornings started with angst and now that I have kids of my own to get ready on Sunday mornings, I totally understand why.  With teeth brushing, getting unwilling kids dressed, fixing hair, all while wondering what in the world the other spouse is doing creates a high stress environment that I think can only be matched in Navy SEAL BUDs training.  One difference for me today is that my mom routinely fielded the why-can’t-I-wear-jeans-like-Billy question from me when I was growing up.  Now we just ask my 11 year old that he wear a belt with his pants if they require one.  But he typically tests the “come as you are” theory by wearing sweatpants or gym shorts.  Never mind the logo on those shorts/sweats probably drive them past the price point of his cargo shorts from kohls.

Once my parents got us to church on Sunday mornings, we had Sunday school, which then followed with “big” church (when I got older) or another round in the the Sunday School building for a lighter version of Sunday School where we had red juice and cookies while some hapless woman looked after a bunch of kids hopped up on sugar and had already been cooped up in a classroom for an hour. I’m sure that lady felt like she was really doing “God’s work” in that dungeon of vanilla-color painted cement brick walls and kids balancing cups of fruit punch on their heads and ring cookies on each finger.  I think I remember they played a tape or record of cheesy Christian kids music as our ambient soundtrack while we waited for our parents to get out of the 90 minute service.  Which would explain my semi-disdain for CCM today.  Church took 90 minutes primarily because the pastor told the choir director 5 different times, “One more verse, Ms. Betty”, until finally, backsliding Mr. Johnny walked the aisle and “got saved” for the 16th time.  Even at 10 years old that theology didn’t make any sense to me.

After church, we always had a meal somewhere.  Typically it was one of several buffets in or around town; Western Sizzlin’ on the hill in Snellville, Shoney’s, Morrison’s Cafe at the Mall, Ryan’s.  Sometimes it was a meal at home or grandma’s, but we always went home afterward and didn’t do anything else that day, until we went back to church that night.  And I mean we didn’t do anything else.  It really was a day of rest.  My dad didn’t do yard work.  The lawn mower wasn’t cranked because it made too much noise and would disturb the neighbors during their quiet Sunday.  I can remember being outside in the yard, quietly playing game 7 of the World Series with myself and being able to hear a lawn mower running several houses down and thinking, “I’ll never disturb God by cutting grass on Sunday”.

Sunday afternoons were for naps, which in retrospect were necessary to make it through two services in one day.  Everything was slow on Sundays.  Very few people were on the roads and even fewer stores were open.  Sundays seemed to last much longer than any other day of the week.  Even time was slower on Sunday.  That is, until I turned 16 and “got wheels”.  I convinced my parents that I needed to drive to church on Sunday.  Nearly every Sunday for the next few years, I pulled my truck into the parking lot, make sure I walked past their Sunday school room door, ensuring they saw me, and then I’d walk down the hall, back out to my truck, and I’d cruise the next hour.  Slowly, Sundays became another day of the week for me.  Soon I was working at a golf course on Sundays and then I joined the military and was shipped of to Tacoma, Washington for almost 4 years.

That was my first long-term exposure to life outside the bible belt and right away we noticed that Sundays were no different than Saturdays and we fell right into it.  Life began to speed up and had increased in speed every year sense.  Things became even more busy when our kids came along and the business of the week made Sundays not a day of rest, but a day to reload.  We did all of the things we didn’t get to during the week on Sunday; yard work, house work, shopping.  Sunday wasn’t anything special and church was an inconvenience, but made me feel like I’d “checked” that one off and maybe God would give me something during the week for being good with my begrudging attendance.  My life was too busy and important to stop for Sunday.

A few years ago, I started to go to church on Sunday and have even been lucky enough to be part of a church plant from the beginning.  It’s been the greatest thing God has ever allowed me to be a part of.  But the idea of a day of rest has still surpassed me and it’s my fault.  We now do all that we did before and also make time for church activities and service and, honestly, it sometimes creates some resentment for the worship that I need.  I love the church family that I have and I wouldn’t change any of it.  The problem is me and I know it.  Sometimes, Church still “gets in my way” and that makes me look at what activities I see as “value earned” and reevaluate.

Even this post took weeks to write.  Sitting in draft status, getting an update here and there.  Life is too busy for a father of 4 to do this kind of stuff on a regular basis considering that I can’t write and am not a good wordsmith. 

But something is changing in terms of Sundays for me.  We’re starting to get back to the idea of “rest” on Sunday.  Congregate worship and service on Sunday is setting the table for true rest and connection with God and I’m starting to see the “thicker” life in Christ.  I’m still new to all of this, so this is all part of the progress.  Lunch with friends after church, or anytime for that matter, is good.  Good food with good friends is a common theme throughout the bible and is now one of the few times I don’t dig for my iPhone to check for a message or a score.  Sunday as sabbath is slowly making a comeback.  I’m actually getting back to the rest I started running from in 1993.  Sure, they’re will be times when work is unavoidable and activities will come up, but at least an effort is being made.  Interruptions are a part of life and are actually what trigger growth quickest, so I’m not talking about 100% church attendance.  I’m talking about Sabbath rest and unplugging from the self-inflicted, anxiety laden chaos of life for a moment.

By the time I’m an old man, I’ll figure out why it makes so much more sense to slow down and enjoy life with God, my wife, and the people who actually care about me, instead of the people who care about me for what I can do for them, and to not run the ego-driven rat race to keep up with people who I don’t really like in the first place. 

Eugene Peterson’s comments on the Church and Pastors in his 1987 book, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity. 1987…..

“For a long time, I have been convinced that I could take a person with a high school education, give him or her a six-month trade school training, and provide a pastor who would be satisfactory to any discriminating American congregation. The curriculum would consist of four courses.
Course I: Creative Plagiarism. I would put you in touch with a wide range of excellent and inspirational talks, show you how to alter them just enough to obscure their origins, and get you a reputation for wit and wisdom.
Course II: Voice Control for Prayer and Counseling. We would develop your own distinct style of Holy Joe intonation, acquiring the skill in resonance and modulation that conveys and unmistakable aura of sanctity.
Course III: Efficient Office Management. There is nothing that parishioners admire more in their pastors than the capacity to run a tight ship administratively. If we return all phone calls within twenty-four hours, answer all the letters within a week, distributing enough carbons to key people so that they know we are on top of things, and have just the right amount of clutter on our desk—not too much, or we appear inefficient, not too little or we appear underemployed—we quickly get the reputation for efficiency that is far more important than anything that we actually do.
Course IV: Image Projection. Here we would master the half-dozen well-known and easily implemented devices that that create the impression that we are terrifically busy and widely sought after for counsel by influential people in the community.

A one-week refresher course each year would introduce new phrases that would convince our parishioners that we are bold innovators on the cutting edge of the megatrends and at the same time solidly rooted in all the traditional values of our sainted ancestors.(I have been laughing for several years over this trade school training with which I plan to make my fortune. Recently, though, the joke has backfired on me. I keep seeing advertisements for institutes and workshops all over the country that invite pastors to sign up for this exact curriculum. The advertised course offerings are not quite as honestly labeled as mine, but the content appears to be identical—a curriculum that trains pastors to satisfy the current consumer tastes in religion. I’m not laughing anymore.)”

- Eugene Peterson, Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, 1987