The Beauty of Holiness

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–March of 1998

The Beauty of Holiness

In a recent revival meeting, the pastor and I were reminiscing about some of the people we had known from years gone by here on the Hilltop. The name of Mrs. R.W. Dunn was mentioned. Sister Dunn was a beautiful example of Christian holiness, so gentle and winsome. My pastor friend went on to say, “I miss that sweetness that has made holiness people truly beautiful people.”

My friend’s comments were not just sentimental reflections on the loss of a few “old timers,” whose personality just happened to lend itself toward gentleness. Nor was it a jab at today’s holiness constituents. Rather, I believe it was a genuine longing for God’s people to array themselves in the beauty of true holy living – a trait that has indeed been historically true of holiness people.

God is interested in beauty. A casual glance at His creation gives overwhelming testimony to that fact. Take a drive over the Beartooth Highway in the Great Rockies. Spend a day touring New England’s brilliant autumn countryside. Watch the sunrise on the southern edge of the Grand Canyon. Take an unhurried look at a bougainvillaea bloom blowing in a warm southern breeze, or a shy water lily in a beaver pond in upstate New York. Spend an afternoon peering through the pristine waters of the Caribbean at the breathtaking display of coral reef, while splendidly colored fish dart about. For that matter, just look out your window at the budding narcissus and the chirping cardinal. God has spared nothing in making a beautiful world!

If you are still not convinced, look into the Scripture at the two building projects God has undertaken. Read about the intricate tapestry of the tabernacle and the ornate designs God planned there. Then, turn to the closing book of the Bible and read the breathtaking description of Heaven. The overwhelming beauty of the eternal city of God impoverishes the human language to describe it.

Doesn’t it stand to reason that if God has so clearly testified to His interest in beauty that He would also want beautiful people? I believe at the very heart of redemption is the removal of the ugliness of sin and the restoration of the beauty of holiness. As a matter of fact, Peter and Timothy both take considerable portions of a chapter to tell us that a life adorned with the ornaments of “good works” and “a meek and quiet spirit” are in the “sight of God of great price.” This is a beauty that flows out of a regenerated and sanctified heart. It is a beauty that is attractive and alluring. On the contrary, any attempt to fabricate beauty through worldly embellishments becomes a false beauty, just as any attempt at holy living that is negative, self-conscious, weird, or denunciatory is like lilies that have begun to rot – repulsive and ill smelling.

Can the qualities of Christian beauty be defined? I believe they can, and I also believe that they are quite obvious. For instance, holy people are beautiful people because they are real people. Pretense and sham are always beauty spoilers by anyone’s yardstick. People who are authentic, genuine, and truthful (all traits of true holiness) can always be described as beautiful people. Another element of beauty is richness. Holy people are beautiful people because they are rich people. No, not in the sense of dollars, but in the sense of depth and fullness. Paul Rees said it like this, “A fussy straining after piety is not beautiful; it is pathetic. True holiness, however, is an overflow of the indwelling Christ. It is not something that has to be strenuously pumped up. It is artesian. It is the natural overflow of inner goodness.”

Holy people are beautiful people because they are balanced people. Jesus denounced the Pharisees because of their ugly imbalance. He described them as people who paid the most minute  attention to the least of issues, yet neglected the most obvious and weighty responsibilities of true spiritual living. The holy man has balance and proportion. He has the ability to disagree without becoming disagreeable. He knows how to be separated without being eccentric. He knows how to be sober without becoming morbid. He knows how to be firm without becoming harsh.

God is actively engaged in making His saints beautiful people. It begins in the decisive moments of conversion and cleansing, and continues in the daily discipline of being conformed to His image. It is my constant prayer that the Lord will make my life appealing and alluring so that I may truly worship Him “in the beauty of holiness.”

The Word in Worship

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Theology

–Winter of 1997

The Word in Worship

For many Americans the recent blur of holiday activities was momentarily suspended by a curious news story out of Clearwater, Florida, a few days before Christmas.  It began when a pedestrian outside of a local bank noticed that one of the large smoke-colored windows appeared to reflect the image of Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Word spread rapidly and within hours police officers had to be summoned to manage the influx of traffic as worshipers of Mary flooded the streets and sidewalks, offering prayers, reciting the rosary and shedding tears of adoration and joy.  One wonders how it is that the groundskeeper seemed to be expressing the minority opinion when he concluded that the image was simply a coincidental result of a chemical reaction between the window finish and the lawn sprinkler.

It goes without saying that the religious frenzy displayed outside the Clearwater, Florida, bank, while having a veneer of spirituality and piety diverged widely from true Scriptural worship.  Any time the central authority of Scripture is compromised, a fatal blow is struck to the heart of worship.  Heresy and cultic malpractices are the inevitable results.  Conversely, when God’s Word is consciously and consistently given priority, it contributes a soundness to worship, clearly defining the object of worship and governing the worship process in general.

However, lest we smile to condescendingly upon the misdirected idolizers of Mary, it might be appropriate to examine ourselves and ask if our worship is truly modeled and marked by the Word of God.  There is little doubt that we pay lip service to the supreme and prominent place that Scripture should occupy in our religious assemblies.  Furthermore, we have remained unquestionably committed to the supernatural character of the Bible, readily denouncing any and every threat or perceived threat to the doctrines of inspiration and inerrancy.  But, does this laudable conviction manifest itself in a real objective way – particularly in the context of public worship?  Or do our hurried worship services encumbered with a litany of organizational announcements, sandwiched between a handful of extemporaneous digressions ranging from stories of transportation difficulties on the way to church to half-humorous reflections on last week’s church get-together, leave little time for careful, thoughtful reading and meditating on the Word of God?  Are sermons something more than motivational speeches or spiritual pep-talks wrapped in a Scripture text?  Do they, in reality, unfold the holy Word?

In this book, The Ultimate Priority, John MacArthur, Jr., laments that, “some sermons are only marginally biblical but move the congregation and make them laugh and cry…They might be interesting, fun, entertaining, exciting and impressive sermons, but they do not help the people worship God.”  The result of such biblically deficient worship is predictable.  Worship eventually relaxes into a ragged, undefined shallow exercise that ultimately focuses on self rather than on God.  Over time the average congregation acclimates itself to the spiritually lean atmosphere.  Rather than sensing that something is wrong, they actually begin to enjoy and expect these services of entertainment where they always leave feeling good.

In Nehemiah the power of the Word of God to motivate true worship is clearly demonstrated as Ezra read from the sacred scroll in the presence of the standing congregation.  Though convicted and challenged by the Word, the grateful assembly responded in chorus, “Amen, Amen.”  With lifted hands they “worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.”  May God grant us such a revival…a revival of true worship, firmly grounded in and flowing from a meaningful commitment to the holy Word.

The Wind Should Be In Our Face

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Ministry

–October of 1997

The Wind Should Be In Our Face

“While I was showing, at Charles’ Square, what it is ‘to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God,’ a great shout began.  Many of the rabble had brought an ox, which they were vehemently laboring to drive in among the people.  But their labor was in vain; for in spite of them all, he ran round and round, one way and the other, and at length broke through the midst of them clear away, leaving us calmly rejoicing and praising God.”

The above memory preserved in the personal diary of Rev. John Wesley on July 12, 1741, is typical of a hundred other entries which he made in his now famous journal.  Thumbing back a few pages on Friday, October 19, 1739, Wesley, preaching in Newport, lifted the text, “What must I do to be saved?”  He then records that one old man “…during a great part of the sermon, cursed and swore almost incessantly; and, towards the conclusion, took up a great stone, which he many times attempted to throw.  But that he could not do.”

The warm-hearted preaching of Wesley and his colleagues often touched off a hot-headed reaction in nobles and peasants alike, as the counter cultural influence of early Methodist checked and challenged the advance of evil at every intersection of life.  It was said that an old Methodist meeting house could be identified by its broken windows, a witness to the opposition of offended and angry antagonists.  However, at other times the straightforward preaching of Wesley and his army of circuit riders was rewarded when confronted sinners melted under the searing light of early Methodism’s “sin and salvation” message.  Historian Mark Knoll records one such victory from the ministry of Burton Randall, a friend and comrade of the illustrious Peter Cartwright.  Randall wished to preach in a town near Dubuque, Iowa, but the only building large enough to host a crowd was the pool hall.  The owner consented to the meeting and, out of respect for the visiting ministry, covered his gambling table with a sheet.  “Where upon Randall, noticing a similarity to a coffin, preached a vigorous sermon that resulted in the conversion of the proprietor and the sale of his hall!”

But whether they met with opposition or success, Methodist pioneers altered neither their message nor their method.  They clearly understood that the gospel banner had always been carried forward while facing winds of opposition.  However, it seems as if the world today neither opposes nor affirms the church.  It appears that the church marches around carrying the gospel banner, invoking nothing more than a yawn from the opposing forces of darkness.  While this is certainly not the case in many third world countries, here in the West it appears that even the holiness movement is in danger of settling in to a comfortable co-existence with a sinful society.  We have perfected the art of preaching against sin, but not in such a way as to disturb a sin drunken culture around us.  As Vance Havner once said, “We have developed the fine art of almost saying something.”  We have separated ourselves from the world and the world is separated from us, and neither side seems to care.  Where formerly the church was persecuted, today it is simply ignored.

I am not calling for, nor encouraging a bullish and offensive behavior simply to pick a fight with sinners so we can rejoice that we have been persecuted for Jesus’ sake.  Nor is mistreatment in opposition being held up as a litmus test of genuine Christianity.  Martyrdom itself is not proof of truth.  But surely if we are indeed being salt and light in a sin-darkened world, if we are truly confronting society’s sins such as abortion, immorality, gambling, pornography, discrimination and homosexuality, if indeed we are denouncing the apathy, lukewarmness and deadness of those who sleep in Zion, and if we are openly challenging humanistic, atheistic and New Age philosophies, somewhere along the way we will encounter both opposition and success.  Some will resent our message and retaliate.  Others will respect our message and capitulate.  Surely the wind will once again blow in our face.

The Shadow of the Inn

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Holiday

–December of 1997

The Shadow of the Inn

It was on Christmas in my first pastorate that I heard Johnny’s story.  Johnny was a grade school boy, big in body but sadly slow in mind and movement.  He was good-natured and kind, thoughtful in almost every way.  Though other children ridiculed Johnny, it was always Johnny who was ready to take up for a smaller child and to stand in his stead in front of the schoolyard bully.  It was Johnny who was always willing and ready to share his lunch with anyone who had forgotten his.  Johnny’s heart was always large enough to include anyone that wanted or needed his love, though he was often shut out by others.

It was nearing Christmas, and Johnny’s church was making plans for its annual program.  All the children were assigned an appropriate part.  Of course, Johnny was always given the shortest role possible.  His slowness of speech and learning difficulties really allowed him nothing else.  This year’s assignments came easy, and Johnny was to be the Innkeeper.  It was a role that only had ten words, and even Johnny could master that.

Finally the rehearsals were over, and the night of the pageant arrived.  The church was crowded with proud mothers and fathers, as well as many visiting guests.  The children stood, nervously fidgeting behind the make-shift curtain.  The cardboard inn was in its place, as well as the stable and manger scene.  Johnny was taken to his position by the prompter and told to stand very still until Mary and Joseph knocked on the door.

The curtain finally opened.  Mary and Joseph started down the center aisle and stood with sobriety and uncertainty in front of the inn door.  Finally Joseph knocked on the door.  The door opened, and with a gruff voice Johnny shouted, “What do you want?”

“We need lodging.”

“Seek it elsewhere.  The inn is filled.”

“But sir we’ve sought everywhere in vain, and we have traveled so far.”

“There is no room.  Go away.”

“But oh, kind innkeeper, my wife is expecting; and the moment of birth is upon her.  We need your help.”

Johnny relaxed.  He lost sight of the crowd and stood looking gently down at Mary.  Finally the prompter whispered from the wing, “Be gone!  Be gone!” shouted Johnny automatically.  Joseph took Mary by the arm and slowly moved away.  But Johnny did not go back inside his little cardboard inn.  He stood at the head of the center aisle and watched sadly as the couple moved away.  Tears began to run down his cheeks.  Suddenly he lifted his hand and stepped down the aisle after them and said, “Don’t go!  You can have my room.”

A wave of laughter ran through the congregation.  Then silence filled the sanctuary.  Then tears began to fall freely as every listener received the impact of Johnny’s message.  Johnny had made room.

There is no question in my mind that Luke penciled with inspired deliberateness the brief story of rejection at the crowded inn the night that our Saviour was born.  The shadows cast by that filled-to-capacity inn have prophetically fallen across the full length of man’s history.  The Son of God found no room that night; and, sadly, He finds little room today.  The Scripture tells us we have turned as it were our faces from Him.  He sought to fill our lives with His presence, but we rejected Him.  We spat in His face, we plowed His back with a scourge, we spiked Him naked to a cross and mocked His anguish until the sun hid its face in shame.  Yet despite all of our rejection, God made peace through the blood of that cross.  Even now, though He stands in the shadow of the inn that spells rejection, He patiently knocks at the door of our heart, seeking entrance.  Will you make room?

The Bible College Movement Facing The Future

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Education

–April of 1997

The Bible College Movement Facing The Future

 

In this interview, the Rev. Leonard Sankey and GBS President Michael Avery discuss the philosophy and vision of the Bible college movement and of God’s Bible School and College specifically.  Mr. Sankey, veteran holiness leader, conference speaker and pastor, is also chairman of the GBS Board of Trustees.

 

President Avery, what brought about the birth of the Bible college movement, and how does GBS fit into that historical event?

 The Bible college movement was a child born of necessity in the late 19th century.  The atheistic views of Darwin and the influx of higher criticism and liberal theology had brought about devastating results in the divinity schools and departments of religion in our major colleges and universities.  The mainline denominations were of no help in rectifying this course, as most had also pursued a very secularistic path and had heartily embraced a social gospel that emphasized a better cultural environment rather than focusing on the salvation of the soul.  It was in this environment that men like D.L. Moody and A.B. Simpson sounded the alarm and called for the establishment of Bible-training institutes to raise up a generation of young men and young women who believed in the ultimate authority of the Word of God and who would give their lives to advance God’s cause both at home and around the world.

GBS was a part of this movement.  Now the eighth oldest Bible college in America, it was the thirteenth of its kind to be formed.  Knapp founded the school for basically the same reasons that Moody and Simpson founded theirs.  He was concerned about the apostasy in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the lack of emphasis on the doctrine of entire sanctification, and the general apathy towards the evangelization of the lost, both at home and around the world.

It has been said by some that the Bible college movement came into existence at the beginning of the 20th century and will go out at the beginning of the 21st.  How do you respond to that statement?

 The Bible college movement has had a steady growth since its first school was started in 1882.  It has survived longer than its critics thought possible and endured for more decades than many of its early premillenialist leaders hoped would have been necessary.  Today, 115 years later, there are over 400 Bible colleges in America, each endeavoring to do its part in shaping the cultural landscape with the principles and convictions of God’s Word.  So you can see that sheer numbers tell us that they’re not going to pass away quickly.  Moreover, I’m convinced that the Bible college has more reason now than ever to remain active.  The movement was born in an evangelistic passion to save the world and usher in the Kingdom of God.  Today that must still be one of the forces that propels this movement.  However, there are many other significant reasons for the existence of the Bible college.  Let me give you at least three of those.

First, the church needs the Bible college to articulate and model a discipleship – what it really means to have “the mind of Christ.”  Research by George Barna and Associates reveal that 62 percent of “born again” Christians have concluded that “there is no such thing as absolute truth.”  The Bible college, then, must exalt the authority of an inerrant Scripture.  It must lead the way in declaring that the Bible is God’s standard for absolute truth, and it is the norm for daily Christian living.

Second, the church needs the Bible college to stimulate the church out of stagnancy, lethargy, and complacency.  It must assist the church in addressing old issues with new strategies and new issues with imagination commitment to Biblical ways of thinking and acting.

Third, the Bible college offers us the most logical place to re-flame a generation of young people who will be willing to commit themselves to a life of full-time Christian service.  At the Bible college, they will come to the understanding that seeking the lost and sharing the message of full salvation is the greatest vocation to which a person can give himself.

What do you see as one of the greatest problems in recruiting new students for the Bible college, President Avery?

 It would be difficult to single out one specific hindrance, but let me share with you some of the hindrances all Bible colleges are facing as we recruit prospective students.

The first is very painful, but I believe very pertinent to the problem the Bible colleges are facing.  It was summed up by Howard Hendricks, President of Taylor University, when he said, “Today’s parents’ desire for their children’s upward mobility serves as one of the greatest hindrances to young people committing themselves to full-time Christian ministry.”  Growing out of this hindrance is the mindset in today’s church world that the best and brightest of our young minds ought to be doctors, lawyers, and accountants; and that those who can’t rank in these professions should perhaps consider Bible college.  Brother Sankey, I want the next generation of Christian leaders to be more than mediocre!  We need them to be the very best, and that will require the very best of our youth.  God has always demanded and still demands the best of the flock, the best of the fruit, and the best of our gifts.  We must give Him the very best of our youth!

Another hindrance is the anti-intellectualism that is still alive in the church.  There are those who feel that the Bible college shouldn’t stress scholarship and academic excellence – that mastering original languages and theology is not important and somehow detracts from real spirituality.  But scholarship and spirituality are friends, not foes.  Erasmus, the paramount scholar of the Renaissance, was often asked, “How does scholarship enhance your faith?”  To this he replied, “How does ignorance improve yours?”  I’m not saying that it takes an intellectual giant to be an effective minister, nor am I saying that only the brightest should be allowed to work in God’s Kingdom.  I am saying that we do our churches, our mission fields, and our Christian schools great harm when we offer them young men and women who cannot “rightly divide the Word of truth,” nor give each man “a reason for the hope” that is within them.

What is one of your fears for the Bible college movement as it faces a new millennium?

 My greatest fear is that Bible colleges will do anything to keep their enrollment up.  I predict all sorts of schemes and marketing strategies to attract students.  So many students now are remaining at home and going to local community colleges that the Bible college has made the community college its chief competitor.  Bible colleges are trying to adjust their programs to be more compatible with the community college by offering a variety of two-year degrees that would lure potential students.  The danger here is the message we are communicating to these kids.  We are saying, “Come to our Bible college; we are just another version of the community college.”  Brother Sankey, that is not true!  We are not another version of the community college.  We are a Bible college!  To try to lure a student, who has no compassion for, and is not compatible with, the mission and intent of our school, is simply to fill our schools with students who have no interest in our main purpose.

Don’t misunderstand me.  I want every student that I can get, whether he/she has a specific call to Christian ministry or not.  I want to expose that student to the influence of godly teachers and of faithful preaching in chapel services.  It may be that God will use that time to change that student’s life and call him into His service.  Furthermore, we will also offer a variety of two-year degrees tailor-made for that student.  However, at the core of those degrees will be the Bible.  We are a Bible college.  If we ever say anything different, we are straying from our original mission statement and purpose.  God’s Bible School was born for the purpose of training young men and young women for full-time Christian ministry and for the purpose of training those who did not feel a call into full-time Christian ministry but who wanted a Bible training so they could be effective laypeople in their local church and effective witnesses in their future vocation and profession.  That is what we are committed to continue doing so as long as Jesus tarries.

President Avery, my last question focuses on the future.  What do you see as the greatest challenge to GBS and the Bible college movement as it faces the future?

 Here again, Brother Sankey, that is a multi-faceted question that deserves more than a simple answer.  But maybe I could answer it this way.  The greatest challenge we face in the coming days is reaching the student who needs what we have, offering that student nothing less than the best and finding the resources to pay for it.

Recent statistics from the College Board indicate that only 20 percent of students who are now in college are living on campus in a residence hall.  So the traditional way of the student coming to a Bible college campus is clearly changing.  We are now facing the challenge of taking classes and lectures to external sites for various student populations across the country.  This will involve the possibility of external lectures in various places where students of all ages will come together.  It may involve satellite classes or offering external classes by video.  We get requests on a weekly basis from holiness people scattered literally around the world who want to finish a degree or to get some extra help in a particular area where they are weak.  We are looking into this right now and hope to have something in place by this fall.

The other part of that challenge is to make sure that what we give them is the very best we can give.  I have determined that our mission as a Bible college requires nothing less than academic, professional and spiritual excellence.  Striving for excellence is both painful and expensive.  We disgrace the cause of the Christ by advocating anything less than the best.  However, excellence is expensive!  As Bruce Lockerbie said, “There is no such thing as affordable excellence or excellence-on-the-cheap.”  But the cost of excellence is nowhere near the cost of mediocrity and inferiority.  I’ve committed myself to this institution and to God to offer this present generation and the coming generation of students the very best in training that we can give them.  We must offer them the best campus atmosphere for spiritual growth and character development that we can possibly give them.  We will keep our chapel pulpit hot with the kind of preaching that will enlarge their soul, warm their hearts, and keep them on the stretch for God.  Our faculty must be the best-prepared that they can possibly be to equip our students with all of the tools that will be necessary to “rightly divide the Word of truth” and carry the gospel to our present culture.  God deserves our best; and in clear conscience I cannot give Him less!

Again, excellence isn’t cheap.  It is very costly.  However, just as we have set a standard for excellence in training, we have also set a standard for excellence in managing our financial resources.  We are committed to being the most efficient stewards of the funds entrusted to us.  I consider every donation to be “blood money” for which we are accountable to God.  If we commit to excellence in both areas, God’s people will supply the needs for GBS both today and tomorrow.