Tag: Theology

Let the Lions Defend Themselves

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Culture, Theology

–August of 1996

Let The Lions Defend Themselves

The story is told of a circus train which derailed while passing through the mountainous terrain of West Virginia. As locals gathered to observe the situation, much attention was given to the car which contained the circus lions. These massive beasts, already disturbed by the accident, were being further aggravated by neighboring dogs which were barking snapping at them through the heavy iron bars. The frustrated circus owner, concerned for the welfare of his prized animals, began to cry out, “What can we do to protect the lions?” An amused farmer called back with this bit of practical advice: “Why, mister, you don’t need to protect lions! Just turn them loose, and they’ll protect themselves!”

This story reminds us of the inherent power of the Gospel message, a power that it contains in and of itself. The Gospel needs only an outlet, a channel, someone to “open the door and let it out” in order to demonstrate its native dynamic.

Now to give the full picture, it is admitted that the Christian minister sometimes must adopt a defensive posture. In a society oriented toward doubt and skepticism, it is necessary to employ reason and logic to “protect” Christianity from the “barking dogs of dissent” Whose howls of criticism often dominate the intellectual marketplace. This is the task of apologetics, and it involves the responsibility of proving or defending the Good News. Paul himself declared that he was “set for the defense of the gospel.” Furthermore, Peter admonished his readers to be prepared to defend their faith before those who would inquire about the hope we have in Christ (I Pet. 3:15).

A second aspect of the Christian minister’s responsibility in relationship to the Gospel is that of persuading. Here again Paul acknowledged, “Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” King Agrippa certainly felt the force of the apostle’s persuasive powers for he candidly admitted, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” This concession, however, didn’t satisfy Paul, and he promptly increased pressure upon Agrippa to be “altogether” persuaded. There certainly is a time and place for the preacher of the Gospel, under divine direction, to bring his hearers tactfully—yet firmly—to a crisis, to a point of decision.

However, to maintain a balanced view of the Great Commission, remember that the Gospel had been best advanced—not by proving or persuading—but simply by proclaiming. This basic methodology is often neglected because it is humbling; it accents the message, not the messenger. It does not depend upon “enticing words of man’s wisdom” but simply upon the Holy Spirit’s power. When angels appeared to astonished shepherds in Bethlehem, they didn’t unfold complex arguments to prove the birth of the Messiah; nor did they come with a high-pressure sales technique to convince their hearers to worship the newborn King. They simply proclaimed the birth of the Saviour and let the wonder and mystique of their message do its own work. The world has not been the same since that day.

So, the next time you are tempted to be discouraged by your inabilities or your want of talent, take heart. The power of the Gospel message does not lie within ourselves; it is inherent in the message itself. The Gospel only needs a channel, someone to open the door and release it. The lion will defend itself.

Try the Uplook!

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

—October of 1995

Try the Uplook!

A young boy in the neighborhood lost his father last winter.  This spring as father-and-son teams hit the front yards to pitch and hit the baseball, he felt alone.  Not to be outdone, however, he took his bat and ball to the old familiar spot in the front yard and started his own game.  With a chipper spirit he threw the ball into the air and swung with all his might.  The bat cut only air, and a watching neighbor boy yelled, “Strike one!”  The lad hastily retrieved the ball threw it into the air and swung again.  “Strike two!” echoed from across the way.  With a tinge of fear and a ton of resolve, he flipped the ball for the final swing.  “Strike, three, you’re out!” screamed the unwanted umpire, along with the cruel words, “You’re a lousy hitter!”  The undaunted boy sucked up his chest, marched over to the fence and yelled back, “I’m not a lousy hitter; I’m a great pitcher! I just struck myself out!”

This young man displayed a great attitude and enthusiasm toward life.  He obviously had learned well that attitude can make all the difference.

Authentic Christianity has been characterized by an enthusiastic attitude.  Paul, awaiting martyrdom in a Roman cell, wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice” (Phil. 4:4).  When Peter was placed in Herod’s prison to await his death, the Scripture tells us that the very night before his planned martyrdom, Peter lay down between two soldiers and slept.  No whining or the wringing of hands in misery!  He just slept.  He looked Herod’s sword in the face with perfect peace and went sound asleep.

When we focus on ourselves what we see can be very discouraging.  When we look at the world around us, we can be over-whelmed by its problems.  But when we look to Christ we always come away with hope.

The secret of an enthusiastic spirit is in understanding the sovereignty of God.  Joseph looked up from the long years of separation from family years of prison and slavery, and saw that though others “meant it for evil, God meant it for good.”  Had Joseph just chosen to look at things horizontally he could have walked away a sour, bitter man.  But because he chose to look at things vertically, he went through the dark years of his life and came out a man with the right perspective and a good attitude.

A failure to trace the divine purpose of God in our trials will make room for a negative critical spirit toward what has happened to us.  Jacob fell prey to such bitterness over the tragedy of Joseph.  “All these things be against me,” he wailed when God was simply planning the preservation of his own life and that of his family.

When I was a small boy I would follow the steps of my father as he plowed a long furrow through the field.  I was amazed how he was able to make the rows so straight.  The secret, he told me, was to find a fixed object at the end of the row and keep an upward look toward that object rather than constantly looking down at where you were walking.  This has proven to be good advice for living.  The man who buries his gaze in the temporal troubles of time will lose his perspective on life and ultimately lose his way.  He will become so problem-conscious that he loses his God consciousness.

We certainly are no match for the situations of life, but God is!   For every need we have, there is a corresponding fullness found in Him.  God is sufficient!

Can you feel the spirit of optimism when Paul looks up and taps into the divine resources as he speaks to us in Romans 8:31, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”  He looked up again and said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

The key to tapping into the sovereignty and sufficiency of God is not through the popular self-help teaching, but through real surrender and submission.  We are flooded with articles and books on “four easy steps” to spiritual happiness.  The real formula, however, is not “help yourself,” but “yield yourself.”  As we yield ourselves to Christ, we open our eyes to the sovereign ways of God and avail ourselves of supernatural strength.

Negativism, unbelief and despair are spiritual viruses that have lethal consequences to the soul.  They are contagious and will leave death in their wake.  On the other hand, a positive confident attitude, born out of looking unto Jesus, will help dispel the demons of despair and usher in an optimistic, confident trust – a trust that will straighten our shoulders, lift our heads, and make us far more effective Christians.

So remember! If the outlook is bleak, try the uplook!

The Grace of Gratitude

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

—November of 1995

The Grace of Gratitude

According to a medieval legend, two angels were once sent down to earth, one to gather up petitions and the other to collect thanksgivings.  The first angel found petitions everywhere.  He soon returned to heaven with a huge load of them on his back and a bundle in each hand.  The second angel had no such easy time.  He had to search diligently to find even a mere handful to take back to heaven.

Admittedly, legends can be farfetched and unrealistic or they can be painfully accurate.  This one, however, is much too accurate for comfort.  We would all have to admit that the high stakes scramble for more of this world’s goods has robbed the church of her voice of thanksgiving.  Our long period of materialistic comfort has made us easy in Zion and unaccustomed to the exercise of humble gratitude.

The Apostle Paul knew the importance of gratitude to the Christian as well as the subtle danger of ingratitude.  Listen to the music of gratitude that plays through his epistle to the Colossians:

Chapter one, verse 3: “We give thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus.”

Chapter one, verse 12: “…giving thanks unto the Father.”

Chapter two, verse 7: “…abounding…with thanksgiving.”

Chapter three, verse 17: “…giving thanks unto God and the Father by Him.”

Chapter four, verse 17: “Continue in prayer and watch in the same with thanksgiving.”

Paul’s hymnody of thanks seems to center in chapter three, verse 15 when he says, “and be ye thankful.”

Paul’s strong imperative to “wear a garment of gratitude” is anchored to three firm convictions in the Apostle’s life.

Paul saw gratitude as a required grace.  Not a luxury but a necessity, not an option but a conviction.  Paul placed it among the required rather than the elective classes in the school of Christian experience.  I have a debt to be grateful!

I owe it to God to be grateful.  He has given me life, eternal life and the opportunity to do something with it.

I owe it to others to be grateful.  A sour, complaining spirit spreads gloom.  However, a joyful, cheerful spirit brings sunshine and smiles wherever it goes.

I owe it to myself.  Your physician will tell you that a mean, bitter, thankless spirit harms our health and robs us of life.  But of greater concern is what ingratitude does to us spiritually.  Of the thirteen plagues that came upon the children of Israel in their wilderness journey, eleven of those were punishment for murmuring against God.  In Romans chapter one, Paul charts the awful journey from godliness to godlessness.  He says in verse 21 that part of the root cause for such deviation is a spirit of ingratitude, “neither were they thankful.”

Gratitude is also a ripening grace.  A more literal translation of Paul’s words would be, “and become ye thankful.”   We must seek the grace of gratitude and cultivate the grace of gratitude until we are “abounding with thanksgiving.”  This is not an easy task.  None will ever overflow with thanksgiving until they see that gratitude is an inner disposition towards life that must be worked at.  Life has its mix of good and bad—of the difficult and the delightful; but it’s up to us as to how we respond to that mix.  Some people in examining a bush unhappily see only the thorns; others rejoice in the fragrance of its roses.  The lens through which we view life is so important.  Jacob saw his days as “few and evil.”  He described the loss of Joseph and the famine that reunited them with these words, “all these things be against me.”  However, Joseph looked at life through the lens of gratitude and described the same time period with a different set of words completely.  Joseph said, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.”  We see exactly what we discipline ourselves to see in life, and looking through the lens of thanksgiving will ripen us.

It is often said among Christians that our reward is in the world to come.  However, gratitude is a rewarding grace.  It has its own reward for us right now.

Gratitude exalts God.  Very few things honor and glorify God more than the sweet fragrance of a thankful soul.  It expels gloom and ushers in sweet peace and blessed hope.  More than once the child of God has used thanksgiving to drive back the clouds of sorrow and gloom.  Gratitude encourages graciousness.  It gives us the politeness of soul and graciousness of spirit that can’t be purchased for any amount of money.

Let’s declare war on whimpering and complaining!  Let’s put away from us forever the grumbling and fault-finding that is such a blight on the church today!  Reach into the closet of God’s grace and adorn yourself with the garment of gratitude!  It will make a difference!

A Bishop’s Bad Theology

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Theology

–May of 2010

A Bishop’s Bad Theology

I recently had the privilege to speak at a minister’s conference in India.  While there I had the opportunity to meet with the bishop of the Evangelical Church of India.  Since the ECI is the product of the American Holiness Movement, I asked the bishop about his denomination’s commitment to historical holiness doctrine.  He gave me a rather scornful look and said, “Oh, it’s still in our doctrinal statement, but holiness is not my concern!  My concern is evangelizing and planting churches!”

The old bishop told me much with the tilt of his head, the tone of his voice, and the dismissive wave of his hand as he uttered those two simple sentences.  I understand enough about leadership to know that when a leader “leans” into something with passion it generally happens.  I also know that when he ignores or downplays something it will generally be forgotten.  This behavior becomes the “working theology” of the leader; and unfortunately for the old bishop, his is neither biblical nor Wesleyan.

His first mistake is a failure to understand that the Great Commission equally embraces both conversion and discipleship.  When church leaders or pastors promote evangelism and neglect discipleship (the teaching of biblical doctrine), they put the church on a growth plane that is a mile wide and an inch deep.  How could anyone claim to be discipling and yet ignore the primary call of scripture to holy living?

Frankly, true evangelism cannot even exist in a doctrinal vacuum.  One cannot have an experience with Jesus Christ apart from what Christ has revealed about Himself in the Bible.  Romans chapter 10 tells us that people need sound Biblical information before they can be saved.  One can certainly join a church and even have a religious experience without any Biblical teaching, but one cannot have a true conversion experience without some knowledge of the gospel.  Paul clearly attributes the radical change that took place in the lives of the Roman Christians to the doctrine they were taught.  “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Rom. 6:17).

Furthermore, sound doctrine is essential to spiritual formation.  Converts without a root quickly wither and die.  To view doctrinal teaching as a hindrance—a boundary or a divider—s to fail to understand even remotely the importance of theological thought on the spiritual life of a believer.  In reality sound theology is the map that enables us to put the pieces together for a full understanding of biblical truth, which in turn opens the door to subsequent growth.  The hard work of doctrinal instruction is not to make “smart” Christians, but “faithful” Christians!  “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee”(1 Tim. 4:16).  You will never have solid spiritual formation outside the context of sound doctrinal instruction.

The second mistake is that the bishop doesn’t understand the theological consequences of his words or his emphasis.  He makes holiness sound like extra baggage that ought to be, or at least can be, left aside.  Sort of a “tack-on” that can come later after the important work of saving souls is done.  Sadly he doesn’t understand the centrality of holiness to the whole process of redemption.  The desire to be holy is implanted in the hearts of all born-again believers.  They immediately manifest a desire to live a new kind of life.  They become sensitive to sin both in themselves and in their environment.  They long to live a life that is pleasing to God, even though they may not understand fully how to do it.

From a doctrinal perspective, the bishop is actually throwing out his Wesleyan theology and unwittingly embracing a version of Reformed theology.  Reformed theologians disconnect justification and sanctification.  To them justification is merely forensic and doesn’t affect any real change.  It only affects our standing with God.  Sanctification happens later in a slow process or maybe not even until death.  In this theological scheme real holiness simply takes a back seat.  Wesleyans, however, believe that sanctification begins in justification.  The work of regeneration or initial sanctification starts the process of making us into the image of Christ.  John Wesley said, “God justifies no one whom He does not also sanctify.  The work of sanctification begins at justification.  It begins the moment we are justified…It gradually increases from that moment…till, in another instant, the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man.”

To reduce conversion to a simple transaction that has no commitment to faithful discipleship, no hunger for holiness, and no real personal change is effectively to sell the gospel short.  To make holiness an aggravating addendum that can be left out or tacked on later is to abandon a holiness witness and to sell out the gospel.  I may not be a bishop, but I know better than this!

“Back to the Bible”

by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Church, Theology

–November of 2009

“Back to the Bible”

In the June 21, 1900 issue of The Revivalist Martin Wells Knapp laid out his case for starting a new Training School for Christian workers. The heart and soul of his argument was the need for a school devoted solely to the study of God’s Word.  Knapp decried the “deplorable ignorance” of most Christians (including ministers) of the Bible.  Knapp went on to say that in this new school the Word of God, “will be honored as the great Mississippi River of research and spiritual culture, into which all others (academic studies) are but tributary streams . . .”  The school’s motto, Back to the Bible, was prominently displayed on every brochure and building alike.  It became the central focus of education on the Hilltop.

Knapp was not the first one to make this appeal.  Erasmus, the great Renaissance scholar and reformer, lifted the cry “ad fontes – back to the sources.”  Erasmus wanted the pure Word of God unencumbered by the abuses of a wayward Church.  Other reformers, like Martin Luther, sought to untangle the Church from unscriptural traditions so that it might once again rest on “sola scriptura – scripture alone”.  These are but two examples of the many who have called the Church back to the Bible in areas of faith and practice.

The Church has always had a tendency to collect extra baggage along the way like a boat collects barnacles on its underbelly. This is not the result of evil intent but the result of good people zealously trying to live out their walk with God and guard the faith for future generations.  It happens when, out of a proper concern for truth and sound doctrine, good people become unable to distinguish between matters of primary importance from matters of secondary importance. Nevertheless, the end result can be a church that has replaced the authority of God’s Word with the deadening weight of traditionalism or worse just trivia.

On the other hand, there is another ditch the church has fallen into that is quite the opposite of the one described above. It is the work of misguided zealots who seek to cleanse the church of all forms of tradition, regulation and application of scripture. Their dislike for “the traditions of men” and appeals to “grace alone” can actually create an environment of disdain for scriptural authority and end up yielding chaos, ambiguity and a state of “every man doing what is right in his own eyes.”

Neither extreme promotes spiritual health or progress.  The answer for both lies in Knapp’s motto, “Back to the Bible.”  In my next article I will explain what that entails.