Poop can be "deeper" too.

Okay, I need to tell you up front that this is something that ticks me off so I may be a little straight forward about it....

This weekend (and about once every few months since I've been in the ministry) I spoke with someone about being evangelical in nature vs. "deep" on Sunday mornings.

I had someone say to me "I know you're church is trying to reach the lost but our salvation is secure so we want a church that will teach us deep things of God and go verse by verse through the bible."

I informed this person that we don't go "verse by verse" but rather we rotate between "expository" teaching and topical.

Let me interject here before I get hate mail:
Teaching style and an Active Christian life are never mutually exclusive. I'm not advocating one or the other per-se. My concern is with a person who chooses ANY teaching style and then sits on their rear soaking it up. My beef IS NOT about a particular style of teaching. If you can't download that, stop reading.


The rest is what I didn't say but gets my heart pumping fast:
The bible isn't written like a textbook. We don't have "Chapter 12: Marriage" or "Chapter 24: finances". When your heart is on getting to know God for all he is and getting to know who you are because of Him you don't necessarily have to go 'verse by verse'. I'm not busting on "expository" teaching. I think any teacher in his/her heart should be "expository" in message prep. We as the teachers should know a great deal about the subject matter before we share it with others... but what I'm saying is that the self-righteous attitudes of people who will die on that hill drive me nuts. The funny thing is that most people I've bumped into that use the term "expository" think that it means non-stop verse by verse... When expository really means exposing... like developing film. It's taking the text and sharing the context and content to the present day audience in such a way that they can swallow the text the way the 'church' understood it in their culture.

If Paul wrote the bible today he'd use terms about computers and internet and business and marketing to talk about life. He wouldn't use agriculture. If he used a sports illustration he'd probably use baseball or soccer instead of track and field. People miss the point of the text when they can't see past the illustrations of scripture.

Understanding where a text is coming from is HUGE for the person teaching it but for the listener who AT MAX will only hear 26 hours (1/2 hour for 52 Sundays) and for those investigating Christianity... they need to hear the heart of God. They need to understand the content more then the context.

My view is that most MDiv's have 2 years of a language (Greek/Hebrew)... If you think that the average person is going to pick up the language based on 26 hours a year of your sermons, you're nuts. It not only provides an unreal expectation (you lie to yourself), it produces a spiritual arrogance with tones that only compare to the pharaseical system of Christ's day. If you had to spend 3 hours a week in class plus 15 hours of week in study for 2 years to learn a language but you think you can teach it in 10 minute chunks of a message over the course of a year or two, you've lost your mind or you think pretty high of yourself... pick one.

So this brings me to my point:
When I hear "Deeper" used as a phrase among Christians I have several feelings on their attitude:

1. If you want to understand the language... go to Seminary.
2. Just because I learn Spanish (which I have) doesn't mean I've learned the culture and context. That's an insult.
3. Most Christians are spiritually fat and need to exercise their faith.
4. The "deepest" part of Christianity is that it's a faith where Jesus says "come to me as children"
5. Arrogance disguised as intelligence is still arrogance.
6. The lost are God's primary fixation, not 'depth'.
7. To make a phone call to my wife (show love), I don't need to know how the phone system works.
8. If you're so smart, teach someone something. Who are YOU discipling personally?
9. Do those who cry for deep teaching also cry for deep compassion, deep commitment, deep brokenness, deep sense of helplessness?
10. The Pharasees knew the OT pretty good too and they still mangaged to get is screwed up.

I think we've created an American Christianity that's self-consumed (understatement of the year). I see absolutely NO EXCUSE for a Christian [especially of more than 3 years in] not to be fully committed to reaching the lost with all of their being. Anything less to me is a mockery of our faith. Traditional or "Contemporary" it doesn't matter. If your life isn't beyond self and outward focused... You've missed the point.

The very beginning and continual core of our faith is "God I'm nothing without you." This is the beginning of salvation. We must teach people that it's not a trite phrase but really can only be reflected if your heart is changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. That initial encounter with God can only be followed by a heart that says "Jesus you are everything. All I have I owe to you and all I'll ever be is what you can make me. My life is meaningless apart from your glory revealed in it. I'm a sinner saved by grace through faith and nothing I can do (or know) makes that change. You are everything and I'm nothing so I want to give my life as a living sacrifice... I want my heart to line up with your heart and do your will."

I don't need to know Greek or Hebrew to love my neighbor or place every area of my life captive to your love and teachings. I can make every thought captive to you if the only language I know is my own."

I don't know about you but I'm done trying to cater to the 13-year Christians with pew-impressions in their rear-end. I want God to pour out his spirit on my community. I want him to start with me and overflow to everyone I meet. I want to be a part of a Christianity that has sore knees from meeting with God and dirt under our fingernails from our encounters with fellow man. Downloaded data that doesn't lead to a soul-satisfying life mission of outpouring is to me data that simply doesn't compute.