The standard by which pragmatic American Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism puts their stamp of approval on someone is in the numbers that they bring in to their churches. As long as you have thousands coming in, you are considered a heavy weight. Anything you do or say becomes the new bar that the rest of us peons have to emulate in order to earn their status of success. The outlandish and outrageous becomes par for the course. Their actions are defended with the missional contextualization argument that makes it all good when attempting to reach certain subcultures in ways they can understand. What has bothered me about much of Evangelicalism is how they trivialize everything sacred and holy. What has bothered me about much of Fundamentalism is how they trivialize that which is sacred and holy while putting on a facade of taking the ministry seriously. Here's what I man by trivializing. On James MacDonald's blog, he announced the sessions at the Elephant Room and they are named after Beatles Songs. Not to mention having dialogue with a heretic as if he were one of their equals. In Evangelical churches, worship is trivialized by the markings of pop culture engraved in everything from the pastors clothes to the bandstand on the stage. The church is trivialized to be nothing more than a weekly pop rock concert and pep talk. In Fundamentalism, however, there is at least the appearance of seriousness by the use of hymn books, the pastor's suit and tie and the orderly service. Yet, when it comes to the preaching, it is often nothing more than a pep talk, story telling or sheep beating devoid of any theological substance or exegetical work.
In Dr. Lawson's teaching on the ministries of Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield and Charles Spurgeon, there was something that separated these men of God from almost all the well known Christian leaders today - that is Gravitas! Gravitas is Latin for seriousness, dignity, weightiness, substance and sobriety. The Reformers couldn't afford to be superficial, shallow, trifling and petty. The entire fate of Europe depended on how they taught, wrote, lived and influenced others with the truth of God. Unfortunately, the fate of western civilization also depends on today's pulpits just as much as it did back then. The difference is that there is nobody being killed in the process and today's leaders think that ministry is customer service. The Puritans also carried this kind of weightiness about them. They lived with eternity ever before them. They were not interested in being hip, stylish, current, popular or any of the other valueless preoccupations of modern Christian leaders. They saw their duties as having eternal import. They saw the lives of those under their care as always on the brink of eternal judgment . They lived Corum Deo "before the face of God" which sobered them up in everything that they did. It made them more aware of the preciousness of time, the reality of hell, the eternal destinies of their families and friends, and the consequences of ideas. After spending a few private hours with Dr. Lawson over lunch, dinner, coffee and just driving back and forth to the airport, I was immediately aware his laser focus on the task at hand. He was not casual about anything. He had very little interest in small talk. He didn't want to waste his breath on that which was of no mutual edification. We mostly talked about theology, history and ministry related subjects. It was no wonder that this man travels, preaches, writes and pastors like he does! He redeems the time, he doesn't waste time on internet chatter, he doesn't trifle with worthless entertainment and he doesn't even listen to music that is less serious than he is. He was not uptight, stuffy, boring or snobbish either. It was like spending a couple hours with John Owen, Richard Baxter or some other Puritan from another century. He modeled for me what it means to be in this world, but not of this world in just a few short hours and in the pulpit as he taught us about men whom he has spent years studying.
I was personally challenged to take my ministry, marriage, study, preaching, teaching, leisure, music, leadership, entertainment, time, prayer and personal holiness much more seriously than I have been by constantly keeping eternity before my sight! I want my ministry to be characterized by gravitas!
12 Pontifications:
That is very true.
Thanks for those words.
I have been pondering this for a while, and appreciate the post. It seems that so often our churches and members are characterized by a lightness that can only be achieved by ignoring the eternal. We ignore the character of God and the seriousness of sin and act like it really does matter what happened in our favorite sitcom last week.
Unfortunately, like you noted, being grave means being thought to be stuffy, uptight, and boring.
We need more gravity among the saints. Again, good post.
Ok, criticize a pastor who invites a heretic (you are referring to T.D. Jakes, who believes in modalism) to a theological discussion, then praise a pastor for teaching from Martin Luther, who clearly taught that baptism has saving power. Confused. Please clarify brother.
P.S. - I'm also concerned about T.D. Jakes' invitation to the Elephant Room, but am waiting to see what becomes of it- if he even shows up, and what Mark Driscoll will rake him over the coals with.
Luther's infant baptism is a secondary issue.You can be wrong about baptism and be a Christian brother. The Godhead is a primary issue that if you are wrong about it, you are not a Christian and those who believe in a non-Christian god are damned to hell. That's the difference.
Will, teaching that baptism has saving power is NOT a "secondary issue." That is twisting the Gospel. You can't be serious.
Ya, Lutherans have a very fine line that is very easy to cross with that one. They don't believe in the Catholic idea of Baptismal regeneration, but they do have a view of baptism that is dangerously close. It's more of a "means of grace" view on steroids.
However, trying to say that TD Jakes and Martin Luther are on the same level of "inaccurate" doctrine is a big stretch. YOU can't be serious.
5:56 PM
By the way Mike,
I hope Driscoll cleans his clock also! I hope they actually expose him to be a heretic and call him to repentance. But, I really doubt that will happen. Those kinds of characters don't have the guts to confront false teachers. They will most likely "agree to disagree" shake hands, smile and have beers afterwards.
Luther's view of baptism is pretty clear. "It works the forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives all eternal salvation who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare". (Luther's small catechism)
"Concerning baptism, our churches teach that baptism is necessary for salvation and that God's grace is offered through baptism." (Augsburg Confession Article IX)
You're steeping into our past Indy Fundy Judge 'em Habits with that last post Will. I've heard Mark Driscoll "call the roll" more Biblically and often than a lot of others, and I don't even listen to him that often.
Also, could you provide any verses that say if you don't believe the Trinity, you're lost. Don't get me wrong with the question- I believe in the Trinity and believe it's important, but I don't see an author of the Book of the Bible clearly teach the Trinity as essential. Baptism- yes, just start with Ephesians 2:8, 9. I need more verses to be able to properly teach the importance of the Trinity to others. I know many Oneness Pentecostals. Any references or studies you could recommend would be great. Thanks!
Which are such words and promises of God?
Answer. -- Christ, our Lord, says in the last chapter of Mark: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Thirdly. How can water do such great things?
Answer. -- It is not the water indeed that does them, but the word of God which is in and with the water, and faith, which trusts such word of God in the water. For without the word of God the water is simple water and no baptism. But with the word of God it is a baptism, that is, a gracious water of life and a washing of regeneration in the Holy Ghost, as St. Paul says, Titus, chapter three: By the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying.
Luther taught justification by grace through faith alone, but as the catechism states, he believed baptism was a means by which that grace was given. There was no meritorious value in the baptism. Like I said, it is dangerously close, but it is your Baptist understanding of these concepts that makes it confusing when reading them. It took me a while to get my mind wrapped around the Lutheran view....I totally disagree with it.
Anyway, since we're totally off topic, my original post was to simply speak of the lack of reverence and seriousness in ministry that hallmarks most of modern contemporary ministry. The elephant room is a small recent example of that. I think it was a good idea initially, but after the first round with Perry Noble, they failed to renounce his actions as sinful and it all came down to "agree to disagree".
Oh ya,
And about trinitarianism being a life and death doctrine...there's not one verse in the Bible that states there is a trinity, let alone that you have to believe in it to be a Christian.
The truth is, if TD JAkes doesn't believe in a Triune God, then he worships a false god, an idol! Idolatry damns, we know that for sure.
How ashamed I feel about every moment I have wasted lounging, grumbling and being downright silly and "cool" in the presence of my children and others. Very challenging post. Thank you.
Willem Bronkhorst (Pastor, Constantia Park Baptist Church, Pretoria, South Africa).
P.S. Dr. Lawson is the main speaker at the Grace Ministers Conferences in South Africa next week. The Lprd willing, I'll be attending.
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