The Law of Reproduction

Following an extensive study of the religious beliefs of American teenagers, sociologist Christian Smith chose the term “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” to describe their default belief system. Here are its basic tenets:

1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.

4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

As Ross Douthat reviews the history of religious life in the United States in his book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, he characterizes the 1960s and ‘70s as the period when accommodation became a predominant value among influential theologians and other church leaders. People were encouraged to be less dogmatic, to acknowledge that truth is relative, and to open their minds to the wisdom of non-Christian traditions. Many believed that such openness would lead to a more inclusive Christianity.

Perhaps you can see how the combination of the belief system that Smith outlines and the climate that Douthat describes were not necessarily good for the life and health of the community of faith. If the central goal of life is to be happy and it’s all about me, then I really don’t need to be that concerned about other people. Furthermore, if being good and nice and fair to others means that I’m not supposed to question their values or behavior, then I should just keep my ideas to myself.

The truth is that disciples of Jesus Christ have a responsibility not only to introduce other people to Jesus, but also to equip them live a life worthy of someone who is known as a Christian. Disciples make disciples. Fully devoted followers of Jesus are committed to helping others become fully devoted followers of Jesus, too. The strength and influence of the church is wholly dependent upon its commitment to making disciples. Producing transformed lives, and seeing those lives reproduced in others, is the core challenge to every believer and to each congregation.

All the Good You Can

Most people are much happier when they hear that they are going to be served than they are when they find out they are going to be serving others. I will admit there are also those people who would just as soon be left alone. Still, I wonder why there is so much negativity associated with the idea of serving.

After all, when you serve someone you are doing something for their benefit. In other words when you serve your goal is to make someone’s life better by doing something good for them. When Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley dreamed up Zaxby’s while they were shooting baskets in Statesboro, they also came up with this mission statement: Consistently create encore experiences that enrich lives one person at a time. They wanted to make sure that the people who worked in their restaurant understood that it was more than just about getting food in front of a customer. With each meal they served their mission was to enrich people’s lives.

John Wesley was concerned that people not only devote themselves to worship and devotion; but also to compassion and justice. For Wesley this was one way to fulfill the commandments to love God and to love your neighbor. John Wesley’s Rule has been traditionally attributed to him as one of the ways he endeavored to encourage the people called Methodists to serve God and their neighbor.

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.

That is a whole lot of good. Can you imagine how it would enrich the lives of your friends and family if you were to adopt Wesley’s Rule? Imagine how it would improve your relationships with your neighbors and the people who work with you. Consider the ways the whole climate of a community could be transformed if all those who call themselves Christians took this commitment to do good seriously.

Serving others in a spirit of Christ’s love is essential to living a life of Christian discipleship and it is one of the most effective correctives to the destructive influence of a growing culture of entitlement. That’s the truth!

More Than a Messenger

Moments after the championship game ends—before the celebration begins to die down or the trophy is awarded; a message comes on the screen telling you how you can own your own championship shirt or hat. The next morning—sometimes even that very evening—people line up to purchase commemorative merchandise proclaiming, “We’re #1!” They may not own anything else that indicates their affection for the winning team, or they may have a closet full of clothes in their team’s colors. Nevertheless, they want show other people they are part of the victory.

The Olympic Games will open in London in less than three weeks. You may have already seen people wearing shirts, hats or jerseys announcing their support for Team USA. The sale of officially licensed merchandise is one of the ways the U.S. Olympic Team helps cover the cost of sending athletes to the games. You have to admit that it stirs your heart when you see crowds of folks dressed in red, white and blue cheering for the men and women who are representing our country.

People make the choice to show their support for teams at every level. You’ll see parents and grandparents at the Little League field wearing shirts and hats that match those of the kids playing on the field. It is not hard to tell who is pulling for which team as you walk from the parking lot into the stadium at most high school football games.

Even if your alma mater has never played for a national championship, let me remind you that every person who accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior is already part of a winning team. God is currently at work in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. God is committed to transforming you so that when people look at you they will see a representative of Jesus Christ.

While that is great good news, it is also pretty intimidating. Most of the time I feel woefully inadequate to represent the Savior of the world; and yet, that is precisely the task that Jesus has assigned to the community of believers. When I recall that Jesus prayed for all who believe in him because of the message of other believers, it reminds me that the world will be convinced not by one person’s eloquence; but by the love that marks the life of this peculiar community.

So as Paul reminds the Colossians, let me encourage you: “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him” (3:10); then our community will truly be acceptable ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Finding Your Way

It was Christmas Day. John Rhoads and his wife, Starry, were headed back home to Reno, NV after spending a few days with their son in Oregon. It was a 500-mile drive, so they were glad they had a GPS device to help them find the shortest route.

Since they were driving their four-wheel-drive Toyota Sequoia, they didn’t get too surprised when the GPS device told them to turn onto a graded dirt road that led into the Winema-Fremont National Forest. About the same time, the snow started to fall. John started to become concerned “when we noticed that the snow was getting deep and we were over 30 miles into this road. We thought we didn't have much farther to go.”

When they did finally decide to turn around, the snow was so deep that they couldn’t get their Sequoia to budge. They checked their cell phones to call for help, but they didn’t have a signal. Fortunately, they had packed a lot of warm clothes and a good supply of snack foods.

For three days they sat in their SUV, cranking it up every few hours to run the heater and reminding each other to eat. The weather conditions eventually improved enough for their GPS-enabled cell phone to get a weak signal and relay coordinates to a dispatcher.

This is just one story of the kind of errors that can result as people rely on one imperfect source of information. There are other stories of people driving onto railway lines, heading the wrong way down one-way streets, getting stuck under bridges, and pulling into strangers’ driveways.

Geoff Sundstrom, a spokesman for the American Automobile Association says, “We've become so accustomed to relying on our technology that we don't often think about what might occur if that technology fails us. And with that in mind we don't want to abandon some of the common-sense motoring advice that our parents and grandparents probably followed…. I think it's definitely a good idea if you're traveling in an area with which you are unfamiliar that you also have a good paper map as well as a GPS just in case you do find yourself in a situation where you are lost and your GPS isn't helping you out.”

No matter how good your sense of direction is, it is wise to have a guide you can trust when you are trying to find your way—and that’s not just when you’re driving. Indeed, you face some of the most difficult decisions about which way to turn as you move through the situations in your everyday life. Do you depend on yourself and what feels right to you; or do you allow yourself to be led by the Holy Spirit?

As Paul reminds the Galatians, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (5:25). That’s the truth that leads to life.