Category: Church

What do we do with 1st Timothy 4:1 People?

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God- Hebrews 3:12

As a general rule my regular Bible reading includes a chapter out of a book I’m reading as well as a Psalm or two. Additionally, I have this thing I call an “openness” policy when it comes to Bible reading. This “policy” isn’t anything super special, weird or spiritual.  It just means that if my Bible falls open to a particular verse as I’m flipping between my regular Bible reading and the Psalms, I give it a read. This ensures I have a regular Bible reading routine AND I give God space to speak to me through something I didn’t intend to read that day.  

Sometimes He does. Sometimes He doesn’t. This morning He did.  As I was flipping between 1st Peter chapter two and Psalms three my Bible fell open to this:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons- 1st Timothy 4:1 NASB

This verse led me down a thought-provoking little rabbit hole. I began looking up words in the Greek and quickly discovered the word translated “depart” sometimes translated “fall away” in English is a far more robust word in the Greek. It doesn’t just mean “to leave” or to “quit something”. It means to “defect from loudly” and/or to “revolt against” the thing you’re leaving. 

This is kind of where we’re living right now. 

Most of those who have left the church in recent years haven’t just departed quietly from church world and gone on with their lives. Most have left with guns blazing (metaphorically speaking) and have staged a revolt against all things Christian. Many are filled with fury and vitriolic criticism aimed at churches and church leaders. They hate all things traditionally Christian and are determined to see the Church “reformed” and transformed it into something entirely different than what is found on the pages of the New Testament. 

This begs a question: 

What do we do with “former Christians” who are critical of the church or who want to see the church radically transformed to better suit the values they currently hold dear? There are at least three things we should be careful to do when dealing with former Christians. The first is:

Listen- 

Please understand I am not saying we should automatically do everything the angry unbeliever thinks ought to be done. That’s crazy talk. That said, there is always value in listening with a discerning ear (Proverbs 18:5). Thoughtful, discerning listening often uncovers a world of hurt and pain lying just beneath the vitriol and hate of those who have left the church. When this happens, we have an opportunity to discuss what led to the departure and perhaps even do a little repair work in the process. Loving people enough to listen is pretty much always a good idea.  (1st Peter 4:8). However, it is critical we exercise wisdom and discernment as we listen. We must carefully separate any anger they have towards God’s decrees concerning right and wrong and people who may have done them wrong. If a person hates God because He limits their personal freedom in some way that is not our problem (Psalm 68:1).  We should pray for those people and leave them to God. However, if someone hates the way they were treated by God’s people we ought to at least try and repair the damage. 

Be humble when humility is appropriate-

Christians screw up. All the time. In the last couple of decades there has been a lot of mess in Church world. There has been a plethora of corrupt and/or inept leadership. The church has also been inundated with some well-intended but poorly thought-out programs/bandwagons such as the purity movement. On top of all that there’s been hordes of legalism and very little grace for those who would have benefitted from some. If you’re dealing with a defector who was a victim of bad leadership, mean Christians or crummy doctrine it is totally appropriate to admit wrong where wrong was clearly done and apologize on behalf of the church for the pain they experienced. 

And finally:

Do not negotiate with terrorists when it comes to issues that really matter- 

Christians should do their best to show love and respect to those who oppose God. No one in the history of Christianity has ever been won to Jesus (or won back) with ugliness, contempt or meanness (Romans 13:7, 1stPeter 2:17). 

That being said. 

Those who have departed the faith are (unbeknownst to them) under the influence of deceiving spirits. They are (again, unknowingly) devotees of “doctrines of demons”. Therefore, they tend to loathe God, God’s standards of right and wrong and anyone who upholds those standards. Most defectors wish to transform Christianity into something trendy, woke and very twenty-first century. Practically speaking, this means opposing traditional marriage, toppling gender norms and celebrating abortion as a “gift”. It always means encouraging and celebrating all forms of sexual expression, no matter how weird and deviant they may be. Period. 

We simply cannot negotiate with spiritual terrorists. It’s that simple and nothing personal. We must obey God above all else (Acts 5:29). This means God’s word cannot be modified or tossed out by those who lack spiritual understanding. It is our responsibility as Christians to “contend earnestly for the faith” and to “make a defense” for what we believe (Jude 1:3, 1st Peter 3:15). This must be done kindly and firmly, and always without apology. 

Three Crazy-Town Beliefs that are Taking Root in the Church-

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long- Psalm 25:5

Our world is awash with crazy-town beliefs and deceptive philosophies. I could give a million examples (okay, well maybe not a million, but a lot). 

Here’s one example: 

A majority of folks today (especially those under forty) literally think there is no such thing as absolute, fixed, immutable truth. These folks (most of them very nice people) are persuaded that every individual on earth has their own unique little “truth”. No one can dispute their truth even if their “truth” flies in the face of all sorts of hard evidence to the contrary or contradicts someone else’s “truth”. Thanks to this crazy-town worldview we are now at a place where a significant minority now “identifies” as something they clearly are not (an animal, a different gender, a different race, etc.). These folks are convinced their “truth” is the TRUTH. So much so, they demand the rest of the world enter into their delusion and celebrate their “truth”.  Normal folks can even get “cancelled” if they refuse to enter into these delusions. 

Sigh.

It’s easy to get really judgy regarding this stuff.   

However, it is critical we remember, that at this writing planet earth is very much under the control of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2, Job 1:7, 2nd Corinthians 4:4, Revelation 2:13). This generation is also (in my opinion) living in an age of powerful deception (Matthew 24:3-4, 2nd Thessalonians 2:11, Psalm 4:2).  Therefore, Christians are not exempt from getting caught up in deceptive philosophies or wrong thinking (Colossians 2:8). Some of those philosophies and deceptions are the same the ones our non-Christian friends and neighbors have fallen prey to, others are unique to Christianity.  There are at least three worldly and wildly dangerous beliefs that have infiltrated Christian thinking. These beliefs are taking the church captive and hamstringing the churches effectiveness. They are:

Your authentic self is your best self-

We live in a time and place where individualism is valued above all else. Everyone is encouraged to discover and celebrate their “authentic self”. This sounds great on the surface. It even sounds kind of Christian, after all, God made us all unique individuals, right? Well… sort of. It is true we are all unique creations made in God’s image (Psalm 139:14). It’s also true that it is a beautiful act of worship to discover our giftedness and use it for God’s glory and the good of the church (1st Corinthians 7:7, Hebrews 2:4, Ephesians 4:8-16). However, all humans are—at the core of who we are— fallen, sinful and super messy. This means that when we celebrate someone’s “authentic self” what we are really celebrating is their sin nature run amok.  Oftentimes, we are applauding the very things (chaos and sin) that keep people from finding genuine peace, spiritual transformation and moral virtue (2nd Corinthians 5:17, 2nd Corinthians 3:18). Our aim as believers should not be to become our “authentic” or “true” self or to applaud anyone else’s “authentic self”. Instead, our aim ought to be to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification (becoming like Jesus) and to help others to do the same (Matthew 28:18-20).  Romans 12, Colossians 3, 2nd Peter 1:3-11 give us the blueprint for the sanctification process. If we follow the instruction in those passages we will be successful Christians and our best self. 

Results matter more than character-

Unfortunately, it has become disturbingly common for churches and Christians to disregard the bad behavior of Christian leaders because “good things are happening in the organization/church” or “people are getting saved” (1st Timothy 5:24-25). This whole notion disregards Scripture that tells us that God is deeply concerned with more than results (Proverbs 16:2, James 4:2-4). Anything (even a good thing) done with a wrong heart or bad motives will have little to no eternal value (1st Corinthians 3:10-15, Hebrews 4:12-14). Furthermore, it’s simply a fact that when people “get saved” under a bad leader quite often they end up falling away from the faith when the leader’s behavior is revealed. All this to say, character matters. When character is sacrificed on an altar of “results” the results we get will ultimately be less than what could have been and displeasing to the Lord. Yikes. 

Prayer is irrelevant- 

God commands Christians to pray (Matthew 5:44 James 5:16, Philippians 4:6, 1st Thessalonians 5:17). However, there are a lot of Christians who believe God has already decided and/or already knows how everything is going to work out so there is no reason to pray. These folks literally believe God has commanded them to do something totally pointless that makes no sense. I believe prayer is critical because God speaks to people through situations and in a still small voice every time we ask Him to. Seriously. He does. Every. Single. Time. The more we ask the more He prompts people. Humans have freewill so sometimes they ignore God’s promptings. That’s on them. It’s on us to keep asking for the Fathers will (Matthew 18:1-6). 

What we believe matters. 

A lot. 

Wrong thinking always leads to wrong actions. Wrong actions inevitably yield terrible outcomes. Conversely, right thinking provides spiritual protection and ensures a better outcome. In our age of deception, it is imperative we hold every idea and belief up to the light of Scripture, even the ideas we hear in church or from Christian influencers. If the idea or belief lines up with Scripture we ought to live by it, if it doesn’t it needs to go. 

Seriously. 

How Should Christians Respond to the Sparkle Creed?

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment,but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ– 2nd Peter 3:17b-18a NASB

Every once in a while, I have to decide whether or not I’m going to hop on a bandwagon and write about something that’s getting a lot of attention in the news cycle. 

 As a I general rule I just say “no”. 

Angry ranting about the unrelenting moral decay in our world feels really good.  However, eventually it gets super old and kind of tedious. Peevish complaining helps no one and changes nothing. Furthermore, bitter ranting has a way of transforming Christians into a weird cartoony version of our calling (Matthew 5:13-16, 1st Corinthians 13:1-3).

Sigh. 

This week I decided to break my rule and rant a little before offering a response. 

It all started when I saw a report on secular news channel concerning a church trend I had never heard of before this week: The Sparkle Creed.  Apparently, the Sparkle Creed has been a thing in a number of progressive churches for a couple of years now. It is the brainchild of Satan and the Reverend Rachel Small Stokes. 

This is it in its entirety:

I believe in the non-binary God whose pronouns are plural.
I believe in Jesus Christ, their child, who wore a fabulous tunic and had two dads and saw everyone as a sibling-child of God.
I believe in the rainbow Spirit, who shatters our image of one white light and refracts it into a rainbow of gorgeous diversity.

I believe in the church of everyday saints as numerous, creative, and resilient as patches on the AIDS quilt, whose feet are grounded in mud and whose eyes gaze at the stars in wonder.
I believe in the calling to each of us that love is love is love, so beloved, let us love.
I believe, glorious God. Help my unbelief

 Amen.

Okay. So,

The Sparkle Creed is a steaming pile of bad doctrine wrapped up in woke twaddle. One need not be a Pastor, Bible scholar or even necessarily a Christian to see and understand this so-called creed is a total departure from historical, biblical, orthodox Christianity (1st Timothy 4:1). 

Sadly.

The architect of the Sparkle “Creed” is a member of and a teacher in a denomination that exchanged the truth of God for a giant pack of lies years ago (Romans 1:18).  Therefore, her teachings should shock no one. This is simply what happens when a “Christian” pastor or teacher has no connection to spiritual reality, biblical truth and/or Jesus (Colossians 1:15-20, Colossians 2:10, Colossians 2:19). When human beings lean on their own limited understanding of life and faith things are bound to go south and they clearly have (Proverbs 3:5-6).

The Sparkle Creed is the byproduct of apostasy (Jeremiah 8:5, 2nd Thessalonians 2:3).

There are two types of apostasy. The first is the one most Christians think of when they think of apostasy. It’s when an individual professing Christian turns their back on the church, ditches sound doctrine and goes off do their own spiritual thing. Whether or not these folks ever really knew the Lord at all is open to debate. Different schools of thought (and theology) have differing opinions on the subject. In one sense it doesn’t really matter. What matters, is that these folks have departed from the faith and are no longer a functioning part of the body of Christ (1st Timothy 6:20-21, 2nd Timothy 2:17-19).  

The other type of apostasy happens when the organized church of Jesus Christ leaves sound doctrine and loyalty to Jesus in the dust to follow deceitful spirits and teach things that appeal to the unredeemed (1st Timothy 4:1). This is not the first-time in history churches have become apostate. The same thing happened in the Middle Ages. That apostasy eventually led to the Reformation. 

The church was designed to be a preserving influence in the culture (Matthew 5:13-16). Therefore, apostasies always affect more than just the church. When churches depart form truth it impacts everything. Crime goes up, governments go bad and people in general, become much ickier and more violent. 

It’s just what happens. 

The question for followers of Jesus is: what do we do about it? Do we clutch our pearls in horror? Do we lament the loss of biblical truth?  Do we weep and cry and wail over the moral drift? Do we scream and yell about all the dirty rotten heretics who are attempting to take over the church? 

Yes. 

All of those are acceptable responses. For a minute. 

Then it’s time to get a grip. We must remember the Church of Jesus Christ will never be defeated by anyone or anything including apostasy, wrong thinking, woke pastors and the Sparkle Creed (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is still firmly in control. There will always be a remnant who love Jesus and stay faithful. Period. 

However. 

It is critical we do our part. Our part is to know truth, live truth, love biblically and stand firm against the encroaching madness (Colossians 1:13-23, Romans 12:1-2, 1st Corinthians 16:13, Ephesians 6:11). 

Doing our part might mean having an uncomfortable conversation with a Christian brother or sister who’s being pulled into Sparkle Creed kind of thinking. It might mean leaving a church that’s in the process of going woke.  It might mean rethinking how we educate our kids. 

It definitely means loving messy people who need Jesus. 

When we choose to do those hard things, we become pleasing to Jesus and the solution to all the confusion in this world (Matthew 25:21, Matthew 5:11-12, 1st Corinthians 3:13-15)

Seven Churches Series- Thyatira the Hot Mess Church

Lisa M. Price2 Comments


For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions- 2nd Timothy 4:3 ESV

Peculiar fact:

Comfort and ease do not always make people better people.  

Such was the case with the Church in Thyatira.

Unlike most of the churches in Asia Minor, the church in Thyatira was not living under the constant threat of brutal persecution. Martyrdom was not an everyday occurrence in Thyatira. There is zero evidence the believers in Thyatira were suffering from the consequences of extreme poverty like the Christians in Smyrna. Emperor worship was not a huge issue in Thyatira. All-in-all Thyatira was a rather peaceful place to be a Christian, at least compared to other cities in the Roman Empire. This means all of the problems in the church came from within the church.  

Thyatira was a hot mess.

Even so, the letter begins with an encouraging tone. This little detail indicates Jesus chooses to sees the good in our lives even when we are failing to live up to His expectations. Jesus praises the Christians in Thyatira for their faith in God, their love for one another other and their faithful service to Him (John 13:34-35). He applauds their perseverance (Hebrews 10:36) and acknowledges that their good deeds have grown in number rather than diminishing over time (Ephesians 2:8-10, Hebrews 10:24). 

Then the tone changes. 

Dramatically.

 Most of the problems in Thyatira appear to have revolved around a female teacher Jesus calls “Jezebel”. It is possible (but unlikely) “Jezebel” was this woman’s actual name. It’s far more likely Jesus was equating the woman in Thyatira with Queen Jezebel in 1st and 2nd Kings. This was by no means a complimentary comparison. The Old Testament Jezebel was a foul woman who normalized Baal worship in Israel. The sexual immorality and child sacrifice that went hand-in-hand with Baal worship ultimately led to judgment and seventy years of Babylonian captivity for the Jewish people. (1st Kings 16:30-32, Jeremiah 19:5, Jeremiah 32:35). 

Yikes. 

Jesus has three primary issues with the woman He calls “Jezebel”:

First, she called herself a prophetess when she was a complete fraud (Revelation 2:20). There is no shortage of good examples of female prophets in both the Old and New Testaments (Exodus 15:1, Judges 4:4, 1st Samuel 25:28-32, Isaiah 8:3, 2nd Kings 24:14, Luke 2:36, Acts 2:17-18, Acts 21:9). That being said, a title does not automatically make someone the thing they claim to be (James 3:1, 2nd Peter 2:1-4, Jude 16-21). 

Second, this woman’s teaching was ultimately a concession to the surrounding culture. Her teaching permitted Christians to practice paganism while still claiming to “be Christian”. The pagan worship she encouraged which would have certainly involved sexual immorality (adultery, homosexuality, promiscuity) and drunkenness as part of the “worship”. Joining in pagan worship was appealing to less mature Christians because it enabled them to blend in with the surrounding culture, thus keeping persecution at bay. Jesus forbids this type of compromise because He knows Christians never reach the lost with the gospel by mimicking the civilization they live in.

And finally, Jesus had in some way confronted “Jezebel” concerning her teaching and she refused to change. He confronted her, either by speaking directly to her conscience or through people He used to challenge her. She chose to continue on in her false teaching in spite of the warnings she had been given (Revelation 2:20-22). Jesus was not amused. He promises to “cast her on a bed of suffering” for her refusal to repent. This stands as a stark warning to anyone who is tempted to ignore their conscience. 

Jesus also liberally criticizes those in leadership who looked the other way while this woman led the ignorant into a spiritually treacherous compromise with the culture (Revelation 2:20).  “Jezebel” was guilty of false teaching but the weak leadership in Thyatira gave her a platform. Her ministry would not have lasted without the platform they provided. It’s clear from the text: the spiritual leadership at the helm in Thyatira were not oblivious nubs led astray by an evil mastermind who was outfoxing them with her excellent (but untrue) arguments. Jesus is clear: by refusing to deal with her sin they aided her ministry. 

Sigh. 

Jesus’ tough talk to the church in Thyatira teaches us that we believe about life and God matters to Jesus. It is not okay for a believer in Jesus to passively accept or willfully go after “Christian” teachings that tickle their ears and make space for sin (2nd Timothy 4:3-4). Nor, is it acceptable for Christians to help a false teacher by buying their books, listening to their podcasts or attending their church. Those who knowingly help a false teacher to grow their ministry bear a share of the responsibility for the harm they cause.  

Jesus finishes His letter to the church in Thyatira with some encouragement to the discouraged faithful there. He encourages them to simply “hold on to what they have” (faith in the goodness of God) in spite of what they see going on in their church. That’s it. That’s all He expects is their fidelity. In return He promises them a place in His Kingdom and the future opportunity to rule and reign with Him if they choose to remain faithful and true even in a church full of compromise and sin.

Seven Churches Series- Smyrna the Brave and Faithful Church

Lisa M. Price2 Comments

Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them- Hebrews 11:36-38

There was no place in the ancient world where it made sense from a practical perspective to be a Christian.

Period.

Everywhere in the Roman world there was always a very real chance persecution would break out. Men, women and even children were put to death simply for professing Jesus as Lord.

That said. 

There were some places where it was easier to be a Christian than others. This is because most persecution against Christians tended to center around a practice known as Emperor or Caesar worship. 

The Roman Empire was massive. Its territory covered most of Europe, Greece, all of Asia Minor (Turkey), much of the near East, Israel, Spain, much of Africa and then some. The sheer vastness of the territory created a complex problem for Roman rulers. 

Unity. 

How exactly does one unify millions of people from literally hundreds of diverse cultures and all sorts of religious backgrounds? This was a critical question. Without something to unify all those diverse people groups mayhem, rebellion and anarchy would break out all over the Empire. Clearly, none of the emperors wanted any of those things on their watch.  

This is where Caesar worship comes in. 

All adults living in the Roman Empire were obligated by law to go to a temple in their city once a year. While there they were required to throw some incense onto an altar and declare to a Roman official that whatever Caesar happened to be in power at the moment was God. If the person declined for any reason they would be transported to the nearest arena posthaste where they would be crucified, torn limb from limb, fed to a wild animal or beheaded ASAP. 

This ritual was quite effective at unifying the territories. 

However.

It also created all kinds of problems for Christians who refused to worship anyone but Jesus (Exodus 20:3, Psalm 16:4, 1st Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:5). 

There were cities where Caesar worship was not always strictly enforced. Christians were safer in those places. Jews were one of a handful of groups lawfully excluded from Caesar worship. If the synagogue leaders in a city allowed the church to be recognized as a sect of Judaism the Christians in the area would be given a break as well. 

The Christians in Smyrna got no breaks. Zero. Zilch. Nada. 

 The bureaucrats in Smyrna gleefully engaged in Caesar worship and were more than happy to execute anyone who refused to give Caesar his “due”. Moreover, the Jews in Smyrna loathed Christians. Not only did they refuse to protect Christians. They were so meanspirited towards the Church they would routinely report Christians as a deviant (anti-government) cult. Jewish leaders would suck up to government officials by suggesting Christians be given the “test” of Emperor worship, thus ensuring their death. The Jews were so off-the-charts cruel to Christians in Smyrna Jesus referred to the whole lot of them as a “synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9). 

Further complicating an already difficult and scary situation, a person’s ability to work anywhere in the Roman Empire was always tied to idol worship. Because the Christians in Smyrna refused to compromise on this issue they were the poorest people in arguably one of the richest cities anywhere in the Roman world. There are two words commonly used for poverty in the Greek language. One means worker. It describes someone who worked with their hands for a living. The other means utter destitution. Jesus used that word to describe the poverty of the Church in Smyrna (Revelation 2:10). The Christians in Smyrna were—by any measurable human standard— a rather sad and pathetic group of people. 

But. 

Jesus loved them. A lot. I don’t know if Jesus has favorites, but if He does they were for sure a favorite.  Smyrna is one of two churches out of the seven Jesus does not criticize in any way.  The Christians in Smyrna held a special place in Jesus’ heart for one reason and one reason only: they were faithful. They refused to cave to the immense social pressure they were under. They could have chosen to avoid taking unpopular stands on certain social issues. They could have chosen to pay lip service to Caesar and then told their church friends they didn’t or that they didn’t really mean it (Matthew 10:32).  They could have worshiped in pagan temples to keep their jobs. They could have lightened up on teaching Jesus is the only way to God (John 14:6). Those choices would have helped them gain favor with those in power. Those choices would have allowed them to make a decent living. Those choices would have kept them alive. 

Instead.

The Christians in Smyrna loudly and proudly declared Jesus to be the only God and took the many lumps that came with doing so.  Jesus did not promise them life would get easier, in fact, He did the exact opposite. He forecasted more suffering in their future (Revelation 2:10). However. He also promised He would be with them through the trouble. He also promised He would personally and lavishly reward them for their faithfulness (Revelation 2:10-11).

 Smyrna was not the polished church (that was Ephesus). Nor was it the wealthy church (that was Laodicea). It certainly wasn’t the popular church (that was Sardis) but it was a church Jesus loved passionately because it was the brave and faithful church that was unafraid to take a stand on the things that mattered most. 

Ephesus- The Middle Aged Church

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart- Proverbs 3:3 NIV

I have this weird little theory that all Christian churches, denominations and organizations follow the same basic pattern of growth and development.

All ministry ventures begin with a dream, desire or idea God plants in the heart of a person or a group of people.  This dream ultimately produces the birth of a beautiful, new ministry or church (Isaiah 43:19, Acts 2:42-47).

Then comes childhood.  

Childhood is an exhilarating time in a church or ministry. Childhood is all about beginnings and growth. All the activity of this phase is born out of genuine love for Jesus, passion for the mission of Jesus and a desire to honor and glorify Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20).   Leaders are all about obeying Jesus above all else. As a result this phase typically results in an abundance of growth and spiritual fruit (Acts 2:42-47).

The childhood phase is also marked by chaos. Leaders don’t always know what they’re doing. Really important things just don’t get done and it’s not unusual for there to be disputes between key leaders (Galatians 2:11-14).  Because this stage is naturally volatile, if an organization stays in childhood for too long it will die. No ministry or church can endure the disorganization and volatility of the childhood stage for long. 

It’s just too dang messy. 

If the organization or church survives the birth and childhood phase (some don’t). It marches into adulthood. Adulthood is the sweet spot for a ministry or church. There’s still an abundance of enthusiasm and a clear vision for where the ministry is going and what it exists for. The vision is firmly rooted in biblical principles and prayer. The ministry is still very Jesus centered, but there’s more discipline than in the childhood phase. The policies and leadership structure developed in the early adulthood phase provide the stability necessary to keep the thing from flying off the rails. This is typically a very long phase that is even more effective and fruitful than the childhood phase. The organization or church earns a good reputation in the community and it does a lot of good. People are saved, lives are transformed and Jesus is glorified in a big way (Romans 10:9, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 3:5). 

Then comes middle age.

If an organization makes it to the middle age stage everything is going super well from an optics perspective. Money is pouring in, volunteers are plentiful and the stated mission is still rock solid. 

However. 

There is a subtle shift that begins with leadership. Leaders become, usually without realizing it, much more focused on building the organization than they are on Jesus and glorifying Jesus. Jesus is still important, but He is no longer the main thing. He’s more of a figurehead at this point. Passion for Jesus and devotion to the mission gets lost in the day-to-day of “doing ministry”, “raising money” and “growing the ministry” (Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 10:7-9, Ephesians 4:11-16). It not uncommon of for shady behavior and sexual misconduct to become a problem at this point. This is because leaders are much more focused is on how things LOOK rather than on holiness, righteousness and pleasing Jesus, it is also not all unusual for the shadiness and sexual misconduct to be swept under the rug in this phase.   All or most of the ministry work in middle age is centered on programs and fund raising rather than transforming people and glorifying Jesus.  On the surface the ministry activity APPEARS to be people and Jesus centered. However, most of it is focused firmly on keeping the ministry machine going, raising money and justifying the continued existence of the organization. 

This is exactly what where the church in Ephesus was at. 

By the time Jesus addressed the first church in Revelation they were firmly in the middle age stage. The churches love for Jesus and concern for the spiritual and emotional needs of people became lost in their desire to maintain the status quo.

Jesus calls this “losing their first love” (Revelation 2:4-5).

But here’s the thing: 

No one looking at the Ephesian church from the outside would have suspected there was a problem. Even most of the folks who attended the Ephesian church were likely unaware of the problems lurking just below the surface. The leaders were clueless. Leaders at this stage almost always lack any kind of real self-awareness. As a result, they thought everything was fine. And why not? All the externals looked awesome. Those who taught were skillful, polished and well-educated. The doctrine espoused was solid. No one deviated from orthodoxy. The church leadership avoided getting involved with problematic people or divisive issues. The money was rolling in and the attendees willingly suffered hardship for Jesus (Revelation 2:2-3).  

But. 

The people’s hearts were far from God. The people no longer cared about the things Jesus cared about. The Ephesian Church was still very busy kingdom building. It was just the wrong kingdom. It was a human kingdom instead of Jesus’ kingdom.  

Jesus’ instruction to the Ephesian Christians is straightforward: “do what you did at first”.  

Jesus knows that one of two things happens at this crossroad of middle age.

Most of the time the ministry continues a slow drift further and further from the original mission and bit by bit it loses its ability to make a spiritual impact on the world. The church or ministry remains but the power it once had to make disciples and transform the culture evaporates. The people lose their saltiness and the church or organization becomes spiritually worthless (Matthew 5:13). If it endures it morphs into more of a social service agency than an actual ministry. 

Or.

There is a spiritual awaking.  The people who attend and lead these churches recognize the problem. They see the drift. It breaks their hearts and they repent. They fully rededicate themselves to the cause of Christ. Jesus becomes the main thing once again and the church or organization continues to be a vital part of the body and a solution to the brokenness in this world (Revelation 2:7). 

However.

These things rarely (if ever) just happen.  

They happen when we ask God to show us the drift in our lives, our churches and our ministries (Hebrews 2:1). In order to see the drift we must pray daily for wisdom and self-awareness. We have to ask God to give us a heart that’s willing to see the problems in our lives and ministries and our role in those problems.

Most critically, we must be willing to do what we did at first (Jeremiah 17:9-10). We have to fight to go back to that childlike state of spiritual existence where Jesus was our everything and our obedience was a gift we joyfully gave Him.  

Q&A Friday-  

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Should Christians participate in boycott or cancel people?

This is not a question with a simple answer. 

There are two definitions for a boycott:

  1. To combine in abstaining from, or preventing dealings with, as a means of intimidation or coercion.
  2. To abstain from buying or using. 

 The first definition is more like canceling. A canceling kind of boycott is meant to bully corporations and individuals into doing what a particular group wants them to do. Jesus did not intimidate, coerce or bully anyone into anything and neither should His followers. Period.  

Furthermore.

From a historical perspective canceling types of boycotts have not worked out super well for Christians. Occasionally they have even backfired. They have actually made people curious about the products corporations were selling. In some cases, this drove business to the corporation that was supposed to be “punished” by the boycott.  So, no, I am not a fan of canceling kinds of boycotts.

That being said: 

The second kind of boycott is not a boycott it’s more like good stewardship.

As Christians our stuff isn’t really our stuff. All our stuff belongs to Jesus. 

Therefore:

Christians should view themselves as stewards or managers of their money and belongings, not owners. Christians should spend their money mindfully and prayerfully whenever possible. If we have a choice about where to spend our money we should think hard about whether or not Jesus would want us to spend His money at a particular company. 

Here’s why:

Anytime we buy goods or services from a corporation that corporation makes a profit from our purchases. Many corporations then donate a percentage of their profits to causes they believe in and want to support. In a very real sense we are investing in those causes by spending our money the companies that donate to them.  

The bottom-line is: Christians should be mindful with their money and if they have a choice about whether or not they get their coffee, clothing or entertainment from a company that supports anti-biblical causes they should choose not to. 

Where Good Churches go Wrong-

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 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it– Hebrews 13:1-2 NASB 1995

Let’s be real. 

Church can be tough. 

Even if you’ve attended church forever and totally “get” church. Church can be hard.  Finding a new church is even harder. Meeting new people is hard. Stepping into an environment where you don’t understand all the rules is hard. Putting yourself out there is hard. Knowing out how to fit in is hard. Making new friends is hard.  All of those things are baked into finding a church home.

 Church is also important. 

Church really is a nonnegotiable for any serious follower of Jesus.  Church is the place where unbelievers become believers and learn to obey all that Jesus taught .Church was Jesus’ idea (Matthew 16:18, John 3:3). He decided what it should look like (Matthew 5-6, Matthew 18:15-17). He prayed for it (John 17:1-25). He invested in it (Matthew 11:1, Mark 4:33).  He died for it (Matthew 26-27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19, Matthew 14:22-33). He rose from the dead to redeem and empower it (Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20. Then He sent His people out to build it (Matthew 28:16-20).

All that makes church a biggest of big stinking deals.  

It also makes the following story super sad. I have a friend who is looking for a church. I won’t share the unpleasant details but suffice it to say her reasons for leaving her old church were one-hundred-percent valid.

Anyhoo.

My friend has attended four churches in nine weeks. She realized immediately the first two were a poor doctrinal fit. The third was tiny (not necessarily a problem). However, the pastor was also seriously unprepared (an actual problem). Number four was promising. The size was right, not too big, not too small. It was a healthy mix of age groups (young families, older adults, teens and young adults). The music was beautifully done and doctrinally on point. The sermon was solid and the doctrinal statement was sound. 

One problem. 

No one talked to her. There were greeters and they all smiled politely and made eye contact but did not say anything more significant than “hello” to her. Not once. There was a welcome time prior to the sermon and no one welcomed her. She did all the stuff you’re supposed to do. She showed up early and stayed late. She bathed. She dressed and behaved appropriately. Even with all that, no one, not even a staff member interacted with her.  

Nonetheless.

She soldiered on. A serve day was announced from the pulpit. She knew getting out and serving her community would be a good thing to do. She also knew it would give her a chance to interact with some of the people she was going to church with. 

At the serve day, she was assigned to a team and she tried to engage the other people on the team. She asked good questions, complimented the pastor on the sermon the week before and just generally did her best to be an agreeable, involved and helpful member of the team. To no avail. No one attempted to engage her when she arrived on site. No one asked her questions about herself. No one noticed when she left and went home. 

Two things. 

First.

Not every church is unfriendly. There are churches that do an outstanding job greeting new people and finding creative ways to integrate them into their church family. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. If this were the first story I heard about an otherwise solid church where the congregants appeared to lack basic social skills I would cheerfully write it off as an anomaly. It’s not. This stuff is real. Lots of people have lots of stories just like my friends’ story. 

Second. 

I know this woman. She is a committed and mature Christian. She gets church. She has social skills. She understands reality. She knows relationships are a two-way street. She did not show up at church and expect everyone to do the work for her. She was more than willing to smile, ask good questions, be friendly and get involved in the activities the church was offering. 

However.

My friend is not the only type of person who shows up at churches. Some people who show up at church don’t know Jesus. Some are clueless about how church works. They don’t understand how to get involved or make friends. Some of have poor social skills or a chip on their shoulder. Some are looking for an excuse to reject Jesus. This does not mean they need Jesus any less than anybody else. We give them the excuse they’re looking when we don’t make every effort to engage new people in a meaningful way. 

 Sometimes we become so fearful of rejection we refuse to step outside of our own tiny relational circles.  Or we become so locked into a tight little friend group that we have no room for anyone new. The problem  with letting fear or self-centeredness run the show we give the devil a foothold in someone else’s life and run the risk of running them out of church (Ephesians 4:26-27, 1st Peter 5:8). 

Here’s the thing:

Just because you feel welcome and loved at your church it doesn’t mean everyone who walks through the door feels the same.  Next week when you go to church, say a prayer, look around, let the Holy Spirit to lead you to the person who’s all alone or looks lost. Say hello, ask some questions, maybe invite them to lunch. Love on them. It’s the little things that make the biggest difference for the kingdom. 

How did Early Christians Thrive Under Horrible Leadership?

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 Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone- Titus 3:1-2 NIV

Bad leadership is not a twenty-first century invention.

A broken world breeds autocratic, egocentric, prideful leaders in every sphere of life. God’s people have seldom been exempted from the curse of awful leadership.

The Hebrews were brutally enslaved by the Egyptians for centuries before God miraculously liberated them from bondage. David, prior to his ascension to the throne endured decades of harassment and abuse and more than one murder attempt at the hands of the authority in his life: Saul. Early Christians were routinely persecuted, abused, denied the ability to work and even murdered simply for refusing to worship human authority figures as God’s. Throughout church history sincere followers of Jesus have been victimized and oppressed. At times even by so-called “Christian leaders” who loved power more than they feared God. Over and over again, throughout history Christian people have grown stronger, wiser and more faithful to God in the middle of unspeakable suffering and persecution 

How they did that matters.

A Lot.

 Especially now. Leadership is not, as a whole is not getting better. Events of the last few years have exposed a creepy authoritarian element in many political leaders from countries once thought to be unswervingly democratic and safe from tyranny like Australia, Austria, New Zealand and Canada. Some public schools and health departments have become despotic in their approach in their approach to leadership. Even the church has had more than its fair share of greedy, narcissistic and exploitive leaders.

Sigh. 

Christians throughout history have been able to live with and pray for corrupt, evil and despotic leaders. They were able to do so, because they understood deep at the core of who they were that every human being on earth is ultimately answerable to God.  

They knew leadership is a stewardship. Human beings might think they are electing, appointing or hiring a leader—or an arrogant leader might imagine they have achieved their position due to their own cleverness, power or maneuvering but in reality, God—not human wisdom or control is what places people in positions of authority. This means that ultimately all human leaders whether they lead the church, the state or the family will someday answer to God for how they handle (or mishandle) the power and authority they have been asked to steward (Luke 12:47-48). 

Early Christians understood that no one actually gets away with anything. Not really. Contemporary believers do everything they can to avoid thinking about or talking about the J-word. Judgment. Most Christians are super uncomfortable with anyone getting punished, even if they totally one-hundred-percent deserve to be punished for their horrible behavior. The writings of the Church Fathers indicate early Christians did not have any such issues (2nd Thessalonians 1:6, Romans 12:19, Jude 1:5-7, 2nd Peter 2:4-21). Early Christians understood in a very real way God is not just a God of love. He is also a God of judgment. Early Christians took solace in knowing that evil, prideful leaders who refused to do what was right would someday be punished for their sins. Early Christians had the faith to believe God would settle the score, if not in this life, then in the one to come (Revelation 21:11-15). This knowledge empowered them to endure the suffering that goes along with living under the thumb of unjust and evil leaders.

They also knew enough about history and the Bible to know that sometimes God does not wait until death to begin adjudicating things. Occasionally evil people get a preview of their eternal suffering.  King Saul, the man who hunted David like an animal for years died by suicide and in disgrace. Queen Jezebel, arguably the most evil female leader in human history died from being thrown out a window. No one cared enough about her to retrieve her body. She was eventually eaten by wild dogs (yuck).   King Herod (Matthew 2:1-22) the man who murdered a village full of baby boys in an attempt to eradicate any competition for his power died of a horrible death from “intense itching”, “severe intestinal discomfort”, “breathlessness” and: wait for it… “gangrene of the genitalia”—His man part literally rotted off (super yuck). A sure sign of divine retribution if there ever was one. Early Christians saw Nero, the royal nut-job who set Rome on fire and blamed Christians for it killed himself to avoid being murdered by his own staff.   

Anytime a person refuses to repent they spend eternity in hell. Therefore, no one ought to revel in anyone else’s punishment. That being said, the beliefs of early Christians serve as a reminder for us in tough times that God is not unaware of anything. Nothing is hidden from His sight and everything will eventually be dealt with by Him (Hebrews 4:13).  

This affected the early church in profound ways. 

 They were able to pray for and feel compassion for their tormenters.  They were also thoughtful and cautious in the way they handled any authority they were given. They did not lord it over anyone.  It did not matter if the authority they held was in the church, the family or the state. They understood true Christians wear any authority they are given with a measure of humility and with a fear of the Lord. They knew no one is exempt from God’s judgment. 

We would do well to learn from them. 

FYI-

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Dear Readers, 

Beginning October 1, 2021 will no longer be sponsoring my blog posts on Facebook. I will continue to post all new blog posts on my personal Facebook page and my A Wise Life Facebook page for right now. There are a couple of reasons for this change: first I can no longer in good conscience give Facebook my money when they actively censor what I say by refusing to promote any blog they deem too “political”. Second, with so many people getting off of Facebook my reach has shrunk and it is no longer worth the hassle of being careful about what I say just to get a little promotional help.  This change means that it will be much harder for readers to find A Wise Life. It will no longer simply pop up on your social media feed.

You have two options if you want to continue reading A Wise Life. You can search for my page every week or you can subscribe for free. Subscriptions are easy: just go to the bottom of this blog where it says “subscribe” and type in your email address. A Wise Life will arrive in your email box every Sunday night. I will not sell or give your email address to anyone. I would appreciate it if you would “do me a solid” and continue to share any blog you feel is worth sharing on social media, as this is the only way I will continue to acquire new readers. 

Thanks, 

Lisa Price