October 30, 2006
Rick Wannabes
A short article by Lisa Miller in the October 23, 2006 issue of Newsweek makes note that Pastor Rick Warren is getting some negative press. Ms. Miller states, “Has Warren gotten so huge – with 400,000 pastors trained in the art of being purpose-driven … – that he’s an easy target?” I’m not interested in the negative press, but I am struggling to get a handle on why 400,000 pastors are coveting Warren’s successes. I can’t help but see shades of Simon the Sorcerer mentioned in Acts 8. We’re told that Simon became a believer and was baptized. When he later saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles hands, he said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Acts 8:19 NIV. Am I really hearing 400,000 pastors say, ‘give me also this ability’?
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Gail;
----I am afraid you and I are hearing the same thing. To the credit of some 400,000 pastors, undoubtedly the most of them are truly wanting to elevate the spirituality of those they serve. There are undoubtedly a few others who share the spirituality of Simon the Sorcerer. But has it not been this way since the time of Simon the Sorcerer? I don't think we can blame Rick Warren for the greed that comes in man naturally.
----But we also need to recognize the cracks in the armor as Rick Warren presents it as much as we have to recognize the cracks in the armor as Steve Corey presents it. The beauty of the body of Christ is that no one is to follow men. We are to behold the example that men set and allow the truths of that example to blend in with what the Holy Spirit is making of ourselves. Careful study of the New Testament will reveal that the good works to which we have been called go far beyond knocking on doors, preaching on street corners, and handing out Snicker Bars in the name of the Jesus of Such and Such River Gravel Church. The Word of God far more often calls the Christian to attitudes than it does to ideology pounding. It elevates humility, honor for one another, sympathy, charity, patience, perseverence, forgiveness, and on, and on, and on, and on, far more than it does incantations of flowered up prayers, the rituals of clapping hands and waving arms, and the institutionalization of small groups.
----Jesus Christ came to make us alive from the inside to pour outward a fragrant godliness. That life is activated from the direction of the Word of God within us by the action of the Holy Spirit. It makes each of us individually important and uniquely prepared by Him. His church leaders are given as examples to His individuals who congregate at times, not as commandos or brain washers of their flocks. But for them to require study of another man's ideas by 40 day courses with carefully divised ideological paths to be rigorously followed goes far beyond the Biblical concept of "example." What follows are the jealousies and strifes that grow from one man being puffed up over against another.
----I find it so sad that the beauty of the body of Christ - all His people being lead by Him through His Spirit - has been replaced with a Picaso-ish picture of multidinous minions idolizing a few domineering zealots.
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