I’m a little uncomfortable with the term “church planting.”

I understand that it’s trying to describe something more organic than building and filling church facilities; something that communicates growth and change, and that the alternative term “church-building” would have attached to it all of the baggage of “church buildings.” But “church planting” isn’t really a scriptural term.

Yup, I’m aware of Jesus’ parables of the sower and the seeds and the soil (Matthew 13, 25:24-26; Mark 4; Luke 8); that Paul would take up the metaphor also (1 Corinthians 9:11; 3:6-8). And while they may well have application to gospel-sowing on a community-wide as well as individual scale, I keep coming back to the impression that – with these metaphors – Jesus and Paul were talking about sowing gospel seed in individual, sin-soiled hearts. Their subject was “soul-planting.”

When they spoke about “church-building”, they used the words associated with church-building.

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” ~ Matthew 16:18 – one of only two times Jesus used a word translated “church” or “assembly” in scripture.

Paul even switched metaphors to make his point:

“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” ~ 1 Corinthians 3:9-11

And neither was talking about brick-and-mortar building(s); they were talking about using stone – rock-solid faith that will not shift in storms of persecution and floods of doubt.

Peter, the one whose pebble-faith was grown to boulder-sized conviction, agreed:

“As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him — you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” ~ 1 Peter 2:1-11 (partial quote here)

Sure, I know that using a stone-masonry metaphor today will also carry with it all the baggage of Masonic imagery, too – but the metaphor is scriptural. It conveys an endurance in storm and persecution; speaks of becoming the altar and “spiritual house” in which “spiritual sacrifices” are made, and talks about building on the foundation of Jesus Christ as God’s fellow workers.

When my family and I traveled in Ireland this last summer, we saw – all over the middle part of the island nation – stone walls, some hundreds of years old; others thousands. They marked boundaries, formed sheep pens, walled in gardens. And some out on the barren, wind-blown coastal burrens had no apparent purpose on a soil to rocky to support life of any kind. But the walls persist, carefully hand-laid, stone fitting upon stone.

I have a little bit of fear that when we use the term “church planting,” we’re bringing with it the very correct impression that as planters we are not responsible for the receptivity of the soil; an impression that can lead to a kind of fatalism and expectation of failure. That is to be expected – on an individual basis – because individual people can reject the seed of the word; let it be snatched out of their hearts by fear of persecution; let it be choked out of their lives by cares and worries of the world.

Churches don’t. At least, they shouldn’t. They should be built up together, supporting each other, founded on an active faith in Christ that is as enduring as stone. That’s why Jesus spoke so much about building on a foundation that lasts:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” ~ Matthew 7:24-27

So plant the seed, yes. Be grateful when not all of it falls along the path. Praise God when the seed finds root, and the root finds soil, and the soil is moist and ready for it.

Then work with Him to build a wall, founded on rock-solid faith in Christ, to keep out the birds and the weeds and the thorns.

Everyone has times when faith grows weak.

I’m in one of those times. I’m in one of those times when faith seems less genuine and the One in whom I have faith seems less real and more distant.

I know better. I know what scripture says about how close He is. Close enough that unseen armies surround the prophet and his servant. Close enough that a soon-to-be-martyr can see Him on His throne and recognize His face. Close enough that the prime evangelist of century one can tell the polytheists of the Areopagus that He is not far from any of us.

I’m talking about feelings. And if He feels distant – like the old couple talking about why they don’t sit as close together in the car seat anymore – I know who has moved, and it isn’t the Driver.

I feel like I’ve slipped back into programmatic worship mode. You know what I mean. I’m talking about where you were before you began to realize that Sunday church inside the right building wasn’t the totality of Christian life, service and worship.

(You do know that, don’t you? I’m still pretty sure of it. But …)

I used to know and feel the same thing, and that thing was a life-direction pointed toward Him. It was a recognition of what He has done. It was a sense of gratitude and partnership and humility. It was growth and transformation and sanctification – being set apart for something worthwhile in life.

I remember that feeling.

So I can know enough to write the words, but I can’t feel enough to live them.

I can Facebook a little. (I don’t really care if I ever tweet again.) I can’t blog, though, because when you blog, your head and your heart have to be in it and in it together.

Right now I can’t go to a hill with scenes of fear and woe. I can’t go to the garden alone, whether dew is on the roses or not. I need to turn around and start back toward Him from where I am.

I need me some Psalms.

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. ~ Psalm 73:2

He will not let your foot slip — he who watches over you will not slumber … ~ Psalm 121:3

When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your love, O LORD, supported me. ~ Psalm 94:18

My friend Tim moved his beautiful wife Nancy to hospice care yesterday. They are the parents of two terrific teenagers. Their daughter had to have surgery to remove a tumor in her brain this year. Nancy has battled cancer for two years.

She is much more than a simple reminder of my mortality. She is a valiant warrior in the faith, an extraordinary mother, a beloved wife, a cherished sister in Christ. She is still the lovely girl Tim introduced me to more than twenty years ago, and when I saw them together, I couldn’t help but think, “What a lucky stiff to find someone like her!”

So last night I prayed for a miracle.

My family prayed for a miracle when my dad died and was revived by EMTs, only to remain in an unresponsive coma for a few weeks before slipping away again.

Yet I believe in miracles. That’s why I pray for them. I believe that God can, should, would, and does bless His children in supernatural ways (as Dallas Willard phrases it in Hearing God).

Many people don’t, because they do not believe those things. – Or, at least, they believe that He can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t, and/or doesn’t bless His children in supernatural ways anymore.

And they know that there’s no point in asking Him, because they don’t believe.

In fact, some are so certain of their unbelief that they teach it as doctrine. An article in a fairly recent publication even puts it in boldface: “there were no more miracles needed.” (Because putting something in boldface or repeating it to extinction automatically makes it true, so that no logic nor citation of scripture is needed.)

Sounds like Nazareth to me.

Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor.” He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their lack of faith. ~ Mark 6:4-6

I don’t think this means that their lack of faith prevented Jesus from being capable of doing miracles – because it clearly says that He could still “lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them.” I think it means that they could see the miracles and their unbelief prevented them from seeing them for what they were: God’s compassion toward His children in a sin-sick and dying world, expressed in a supernatural way.

I think they wrote them off. Coincidence. Illusion. Fakery.

Of such people of unremitting unbelief, Jesus tells the story of the conversation between Lazarus and Abraham in the next life:

“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
“He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'” ~ Luke 16:30-31

Some will quote this and John 10:25 and :38 and John 14:11 and conclude that the purpose of miracles was only to verify the Word, or more accurately, Jesus’ relationship to the Father. But that is inserting an unwarranted “only” into the conclusion. It’s going beyond the Word. In fact, it’s contradicting the Word.

The Word says:

Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” ~ Matthew 15:32

Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. ~ Matthew 20:34

Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” ~ Mark 1:41

Has God run out of compassion? Can He only answer prayers in the ways to which we limit Him? Is it possible we do not have, because we do not ask? Or we’re asking for the wrong things for the wrong motives? (James 4:1-3) Or because we ask, but don’t believe God can, would, should or does? (James 1:6)

I’m not advocating all-out gullibility. I’m not saying that I believe (or that you should believe) that every faith-healing televangelist who takes up a collection after the same people have been slain in the Spirit to be healed of their infirmities for the dozenth time in the dozenth city on their tour actually manifest the indisputable power of God.

But there’s a vast difference between that gullibility and the kind of unbelief that says, “I don’t believe it happens because I’ve never seen it.”

Really?

I have never been a first-hand eyewitness to nuclear fission, human birth, or the moment that someone decides to believe in God. But I see the incredible results of those things happening all around me all the time and – in spite of the fact that to a reactor technician … to an obstetric nurse … to a minister of the gospel … to them, these things may become quite mundane and natural and ordinary – to me, they are quite extraordinary and supernatural and miraculous. God designed them. They were created at His word. The very faith that I have in Him is His gift to me. (Ephesians 2:8)

Maybe you’ve never seen a miracle because you never believed you would or could or should or did.

But to say “there were no more miracles needed” and to boldface it as if were God’s own truth …?

Try telling that to my friend Tim.

It’s a story of faith.

Linus believes in the doctrine of The Great Pumpkin, rising from the most sincere pumpkin patch in the world on midnight of Halloween and bringing gifts to its children. We don’t know where he got the doctrine. It seems ridiculous; a mish-mash of other childish myths and fables. But, in his innocence, he is sold out on it.

So it’s also a story of sincerity.

Though the other children in the Peanuts gallery make fun of him, they cannot doubt his own faith or sincerity. He is persecuted – even by Charlie Brown’s little sister Sally, who dotes on him gives up her tricks-or-treats and a party to sit with him in the pumpkin patch – but he doesn’t stop believing. Even when The Great Pumpkin just turns out to be an errant Easter Beagle named Snoopy, strayed from a World War I flying ace mission over the French countryside.

And it’s a story of redemption.

Crabby older sister Lucy awakens at four in the morning, puts on her hat and coat, and goes out in the cold to fetch in little brother Linus, still shivering and asleep in the pumpkin patch. She pulls off his socks and shoes and tucks him into bed. In my eyes, Lucy is redeemed as a person by her love for her little brother.

Most of the children’s fare that’s cranked out for holiday broadcast these days is pretty much devoid of themes like these, even if you squint through a microscope at them.

That’s why “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” is a classic, still played on network broadcast television two generations later, and that’s why I still like to watch it.

But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

… say a lot about us, and how frequently we use some words is even more revealing: it shows what we talk about, what we are passionate about.

And I became curious a little while ago. I don’t have one of those word balloons on my blog that shows – graphically, at least – how often top phrases are used relative to each other. What does my blog talk about? What am I passionate about?

Then I began to wonder what other online sources would look like.

So I Googled, using advanced Google search, to find the incidences of some key words I came up with, out of my own head, as found on the sites Seek The Old Paths, back issues of Gospel Guardian, the NIV New Testament (using Bible Gateway’s internal search engine), New Wineskins and this blog. (I think I got the left-to-right-leaning order backwards.)

And this is what resulted:

Keyword	STOP	GG	NIV	NW	Blog
grace	302	514	116	112	440
obey	86	604	57	97	108
obedience	224	48	12	144	71
baptism	101	1,110	22	327	318
baptize	64	208	50	51	37
confess	151	309	20	163	101
condemnation	88	216	6	37	54
condemned	147	493	28	72	60
salvation	121	1,070	40	417	346
cross	210	552	42	628	205
distinctive	48	61	0	60	7
distinctiveness	13	41	0	6	8
doctrine	348	1,190	7	207	156
faith	160	107	286	246	405
sin	96	1,020	436	520	279
music	250	664	3	828	119
sing	170	163	9	303	159
heresy	52	117	0	41	38
spirit	125	100	368	127	106
Christ	230	150	531	297	114
Jesus	210	99	1,276	260	133
God	266	164	1,287	398	131

I realize this is only a measure of how many times, not how, these words were used, and I hope you do, too. I thought about using an equalizing factor and percentages, but the total number of words in the different columns looked close enough to being in the same range that it seemed superfluous.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

I’m sure my blog isn’t typical. But I will say that as far as emphasizing what scripture emphasizes in our online conversation, we all have a long journey ahead of us.

“Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing,and I will receive you.” ~ 2 Corinthians 6:17

“I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people. Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.” ~ Romans 16:17-19

There is no doctrine of distinctiveness in the Bible.

Not as it has been taught in my fellowship, anyway; there’s no scriptural doctrine of distinctiveness that says “We have everything right and any other believer or church which doesn’t is apostate and we must have nothing to do with them,” and then quotes verses like those above.

Because in the first one, Paul is talking about unbelievers. Not people who believe in Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, crucified and risen and reigning, but disagree with you about some spin you’ve put on scripture. Unbelievers. He’s talking about people who don’t believe at all.

The second one is talking about people who are trying to split off and divide and “disfellowship” (another word which – like “distinctiveness” – is not in the Bible). After all, it’s the person who draws lines where God hasn’t that is divisive; not the one who, perhaps unwittingly, crosses that wholly imaginary line. So to use that scripture as a proof text to justify divisiveness would require one to not associate with himself or herself.

Good luck with that. Sounds kind of schizoid to me.

Distinctiveness from unbelievers, yes. I can see that. (If you have to put an extra-scriptural label on it.) We should be displaying the mind and heart and Spirit and actions of Christ, which will be difficult for unbelievers who do not know or will not accept Him. We do so to win their minds, their hearts, their souls, and their actions to Christ. We do so because we can; because as believers we have the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8:9-11; Ephesians 1:13).

But not distinctiveness from other believers, even those with whom we disagree – no. Decidedly, NO. Insisting on such “distinctiveness” is not displaying the mind and heart and spirit and actions of Jesus. (And, no, we do not accept as fellow-believers those who live such lives sans shame or confession that they effectively deny a profession of faith in the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ [Jude 1:4; 1 Corinthians 5:9-11; 1 John 2:18-23].)

Scripture has a word for teaching men’s rules as if they were God’s, and it is not “distinctiveness” … it is “vain.” (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7).

Let’s just face facts.

The kind of distinctiveness that separates believers based on the teachings of man but not God is just a way to justify saying, “I’m right and you’re wrong. I’m saved and you’re not. I’m better than you are.” It is arrogance. It is the refuse of male bovines. It is a lie.

You want to know what the truth is, what scripture does say, and what a great equalizer it is – not only of Jews and Gentiles but everyone on any side of any question?

“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. … Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” ~ Romans 3:10, 22-24

None of us has it all right. None of us has done it all right. Not me. Not you. Not anyone. All of us are toast, as far as righteousness goes, but for the grace of God through the sacrifice of Christ.

Now that is doctrine. And we would do well to heed and teach it.

We would do even better to also trust God and not to lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5).

That’s doctrine, too.

It’s kind of an oxymoron, really.

I can find no scripture which connects worship exclusively with solemnity. There is grieving worship – the whole of Lamentations, for example; or the 137th Psalm. In them, Israel mourned the sin that led to their expatriation. The Lord’s admonition to keep silent before Him in His temple (which we often see cut from context and cut into wood plaques above sanctuary doors) was a command to repent from idolatry to “gods” of stone and wood in Habbakuk 2. There is mourning for people who are dead or at least thought dead. There is James’ advice to quarrelsome brothers and sisters in chapter 4 to mourn in their penitence.

(Maybe some of our brothers and sisters who cause dissension and division by forbidding worship which entertains God and man should mourn … and repent. – Then get over it, and experience some real joy!)

While there are these few examples of mourning and worship connected in scripture, what you will find throughout the Old and New Testaments are hundreds of examples of worship accompanied by joy.

From the poet’s exultation in Psalm 100 to the disciples’ recognition of the risen Lord in Luke 24:52, worship, praise and joy go together.

If you surround the Lord’s table and do nothing but mourn His death, week after week after week, know this: HE IS RISEN! (Matthew 28:7; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:6 – why do you think most Christians celebrate it on the first day of the week?!?)

If you gather time after time after time to share the bread and the cup while only mourning your sins, know this: THEY ARE FORGIVEN! (Psalm 32:1; Acts 2:38; >Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 2:12)

If you sing songs of joy and gratitude Sunday after Sunday after Sunday with only muttering gravity in your voice and duty in your face, know this: THE JOY OF THE LORD IS YOUR STRENGTH! (Psalm 28:7; Nehemiah 8:10)

Good people, if joyless fear and dread and silence is always and only to be the hallmark of worship acceptable to God, why is that Jesus, “full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth …'”? (Luke 10:21) Why then did His followers loudly and joyfully praise God for His miracles? (Luke 19:37)

If we are still to live and worship only in fear, why does the Hebrews writer go to such pains to distinguish the old covenant’s mountain of fear from the new covenant’s mountain of joyful angels? (Hebrews 12:18-24)

If our obedience to God in worship and life is paramount, why do we ignore 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – “Be joyful always“? Is the instruction to “entertain strangers” (Hebrews 13:2) not to be obeyed in the context of gathered worship?

You can’t even find the word “solemn” in the New Testament, except as a description of an oath to assassinate Paul (Acts 23:14)! The New Testament is a testament of gospel; of good news; of great joy that shall be to all people!

Doesn’t that bring you joy? Doesn’t that bring enjoyment, knowing it? Shouldn’t our worship to God reflect our enjoyment of His blessing, and entertain Him with our praise?

I recall a story told in a church I used to attend, of a brother who once asked a sour-faced elder if he was a happy person. “I suppose so,” was the grudging response. So he answered, “Then why don’t you let your face know it?”

My, has it really been four-and-a-half years since The Christian Affirmation? And has it made all the difference its authors had hoped?

Well, looking back into my archives, I discovered that it has a different home now:

http://www.austingrad.edu/christianaffirmation/affirmation.html

Don’t use the old URL. It’s evidently been allowed to expire or has been hacked – in either case, it seems to be in the care of some German-speaking porno promoters. That’s probably a more understandable, though no less despicable, incursion on the site than by those half-wits who went about using the online form to sign other people’s names, or totally foobulant names featuring uncomplimentary puns and other intendedly-humorous characteristics.*

At this viewing, I still count far less than a hundred signatories of the Affirmation. (Even including Howard Norton twice, since he did.)

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One other update. My one and only sermon MP3 now resides at What The Rich Man Lacked. I’ve edited out the excessively long and unrelated introduction, which was actually what I was asked to speak about from the pulpit. But the sermon weighed more heavily on my heart. And it still does.

_{*I was going to define “foobulant” here – a word coined by one of my college roommates – but like David Gerrold’s composed word “creebing,” it defines itself from the context. And, Rick, I apologize if I misspelled “foobulant.”}