Is Porn Really a Big Deal?

OK, this is not what I was going to blog on today. I feel like Jude when he was preparing to address the church and then was redirected concerning his topic. In saying that, please don't hear that I think my blog is inspired text. I just believe that the Lord placed it on my heart to share on this topic...

Pornography is a huge issue in America, both outside and inside the church. And I have found that it is more common in the church than anyone would guess. That's for two reasons: 1) It's a "secret sin" and unless you get caught it probably won't be found out until it works its way out in other areas of your life; and 2) We keep it secret because the church generally responds with rejection and distance when someone shares that they are struggling in this area.

Breaking the captivity of addictive behavior, like pronography, was the topic I had planned for today. That will have to wait for another day. Today, I just want to show you the threat and impact of pronography. The link (below) will take you to a secular website; this is not hyped-up Christian rhetoric. Porn is a serious problem. I have linked this page rather than posting it here because I know that some who read this blog are very sensitive to issues like this. Please know that there isn't any pornographic material or language at that site. Finally, don't think that this only affects "other" people. This is an issue in your church, your local school, and maybe even in your own home. Especially if you struggle in this area, click through and read the stats. Then, find someone safe to talk to.

http://www.onlinepsychologydegree.net/porn-addiction-in-america/
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God's Will

I’ve heard it many times. I don’t think I’ll stop hearing it until I go to glory. “How do I determine God’s will for my life?” Anyone who is sensitive to the Lordship of Christ must ask this question. But what is the answer? How do you know?

Well, there is the general answer, the call to obedience and faithfulness. It includes the responsibility to grow in faith and understanding, to become more like Christ Himself. Certainly that includes a holiness component, but being like Christ is more than that. If the purpose of our life was sinlessness, God would be cruel in leaving us here to do something we will never be able to do. Rather, He should just take us Home and seal us in a glorified state. But He doesn’t.

Therefore, it’s clear that He leaves us here for more than that. Generally speaking, that reason is to be like Christ by accepting His commission to be engaged in Kingdom work.

OK, in over 10 years of counseling in this area, I haven’t met a single person who was looking for that general answer (they get it anyway, because we all need to be reminded of it). Instead, they want to know what the Lord wants them to do here and now in these specific circumstances. While the circumstances vary tremendously, the answer is the same. Ready?

How does Scripture bear directly on your circumstances? This is defaulting back to God’s general will for your life. Will your decision bring you in line with His general will or derail you? Is this a decision for or against holiness as defined by God, not by the culture or anyone else? Scripture is your first rule.

Has God given you direction in the past? Sometimes, we follow God’s direction and then things go horribly wrong, at least from our perspective. Remember that circumstances never trump God’s direction. If you’re sure that you were following His guidance before you got into the mess, and if He chooses to be silent in your suffering, then He wants you to continue to follow His instructions. This is a time for perseverance.

Is God speaking to you now? Again, don’t assume that an opportunity that avails itself is a door that the Lord has opened. Many fall into sin this way. Others lose sight of their calling. If you are supposed to make a change, the Lord will make that clear to you. He does that by His Spirit working through His Word and in prayer and meditation, and He confirms that by His Spirit working through His people.

So, calm down and lean into Him. He can be trusted. You probably won’t get every last detail of how things will work out. You need to trust Him. Get into His Word. Pray fervently, asking Him to make your path clear. Involve trusted Christian friends, preferably not family (that’s another blog post). And then make your decision based up His guidance.

So, chocolate or strawberry ice cream? Hmmm. Lord? ;-)

Back on Mission...

Where is your head concerning "church" and "community or small group" and "mission" and "calling"? Are these things that you add to life if you have space to accommodate them? Are some just for certain people or should every Christ-follower understand all of them?

Here's a video I came across this morning and I wanted to share with any who might still be following this blog. I apologize for being silent for so long, but it seemed like the right thing to do for the sake of Christ's witness within my sphere. But now, it's time to get back on track, eh?

Remember that you can comment here on this blog or you can send me private messages at scburghart@gmail.com.

Blessings,
s

Resurrection Dance

Well, if you follow me on Twitter (@Steve_Burghart) or Facebook, you know that I have been reflecting for a few days on the significance of the Resurrection of Christ in the life of believers. And the conclusion? Well, I do have a tendancy to see what is broken and needs improvement, but can any of you say with confidence that the Church of Jesus Christ is living in the new life of grace rather than under the burden of the Law or in enslavement to sin?

Has the resurrection power of Christ created dancing in your heart? Look at this celebration is formerly-Communist Hungary...

Enslavement

OK, I spent (some might argue “wasted”) an entire week on sharing about ecclesiology from Alan Hirsch's book, The Forgotten Ways. I hope that was helpful for all of you. The exercise was therapeutic for me. But let’s get immensely practical now…

What do we do about sin? I’m not talking about other people’s sin. I mean mine; I mean yours. And before you say that you have none, be reminded of what John wrote:

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

So, now that we know that everyone sins, we have no more need for pretending, right? Yet, pretend is exactly what we do. Pretend and hide.

Watch this video about one man’s struggle with sin, but please finish reading the post once you’re finished:



Could you see the insidious nature of sin in the video? There is first an allure to sin. Even what our conscience would warn against, it calls to a need within. And before you smugly brush this all aside because your temptation is different than Nate’s, know that this is the nature of all sin.

You see, sin is more than the bad choices you make. There is a spiritual dimension. Sin is alive! It has consciousness. And it would have you and me. Look at how the Lord warned Cain:

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:6-7

Cornelius Plantinga wrote a fantastic, scholarly book on the nature of sin, Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be. In it he describes how sin works in our lives. First, it allures us. When you are in a vulnerable place, your enemy knows and prepares a trap. But he’s not done once you bite. Then he begins a campaign of lies meant to drive you away from redemption. The lies are pretty standard and revolve around justification and/or acceptance. He may tell you that you deserve to do whatever you are doing because you have been mistreated or denied. Whether or not you hear that lie, he will surely tell you that you need to hide your sin from others, especially strong believers who are personally committed to helping you grow in the Lord. The lie is that you will be shunned and rejected. The truth, God’s truth for His church, is that you will be held accountable and helped toward victory and restoration. And finally, if you succumb to the second attack, the enemy makes you an apostle of death, encouraging you to drag others into your sin.

So, that was a lot of theory on sin and I promised to make this practical. Thanks for holding me accountable! What does this mean for us as Christians who are choosing to partake of Christian community? It means that community is your highest priority when dealing with sin, yours or someone in your circle of influence.

Certainly, the Bible is the source of truth, but it is only in communion with committed saints that the enemy is thwarted. So, do you ever feel the tug away from community? That’s the time when you should be praying fervently that the Lord would show you the dark desires of your heart that are trying to isolate you from the support you need. And, is there someone in your group that is pulling away? Pursue him! Find out what’s up in a loving and encouraging way. Become a safe place for that person and offer to walk through his dark valley with him.

I have over a decade of small group experience that says that a failing marriage sees withdrawal from group attendance shortly before disaster. Connect with the couple who can’t seem to prioritize group time or who interact on a superficial level. Connect with the spouse who withdraws into self or work or hobbies. Connect with the teen who lives behind a shut door and comes out only with earbuds inserted or who sits alone at church on Sunday morning.

Read more of the 1 John 1 passage and see the importance of avoiding isolation and committing to live “in the light” and notice that the fellowship that follows is not limited to between you and the Lord, but involves other believers. It’s God’s design; seek to live it!

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives. 1 John 1:5-10 (emphasis added)

Forgotten – Not Community!

Well, this one is going to sound odd coming from the guy who is continually talking about biblical community, but stick with me. The church has built its identity around community and that is wrong.

If you are trying to build community, you are defining the church according to something that feels right to us. The gospel message gets reinterpreted in a form that validates our sense of belonging. It becomes, in essence, a justification of how we interpret family. In the process, the gospel message is watered down or even perverted.

Right now, some of you are saying, “Woohoo! No more push to get into small groups!” Hold your horses. We don’t shoot for community. We shoot for mission! And a right understanding of mission brings us together as a community formed in the context of ordeal. Hirsch calls this Communitas. And while the ordeal may be a matter of survival as it was in the 1st and 2nd Centuries and for the last 60 years in China, it doesn’t have to be that ominous. It simply means community formed around a worthy cause, namely the gospel of the Kingdom.

Communitas is a longing that God has placed in us, a desire to be part of something significant and far bigger than our puny lives. But communitas has been lost from the church primarily because of the absence of the other aspects that Hirsch outlines in his book. In the end, we have a safe, predicable, comfortable faith. And that’s because we have a safe, predictable, comforting God. And while He sends us His Spirit as a comforter, He clearly is not safe and loves to bust out of our boxes of predictability. Besides, ask yourself why the Spirit would be a comforter and Jesus would say that we need Him if we’re safe and life is predictable.

Want to understand communitas better? Spend some time with CS Lewis; the beavers will tell you that Aslan is not safe, but He is good. And spend some time with Lewis’ friend, Tolkien and set out on the most amazing journey with the most unlikely and unformidable comrades as they play their ordained roles in the final destruction of evil in the kingdom.

Or, seek comfort and miss the adventure for which you were created and redeemed…

Forgotten – Structured for Growth

Hirsch calls us to implement Organic Systems within the church. He points out that this has not been the approach of the western church. Instead of a decentralized network approach, we have generally implemented a top-down, hierarchical, centralized structure. We have done this in the name of preserving doctrine. But he points out that it has historically done very little to protect from heresy in the church. Why? Because the model we implement is a power and control model. And who is attracted to that type of leadership? Men who want power!

William Pitt offered this thought in a speech in 1770 but it became famous when Lord Acton wrote about the Catholic Church to Bishop Creighton in 1887 saying, “All power corrupts, and absolute power corrupt absolutely.” But this is at the heart of the fallen human nature. We want to have God’s power and authority. So, men have taken biblical injunctions to man watchtowers and have seized the opportunity to choke the life out of God’s design for His church. To add insult to injury, we incorporated worldly business principles, forming the Church Growth Movement that grew but weakened the church.

Hirsch calls for a return to an organic model that decentralizes power and removes restrictions to growth and allows the environment that the church saw in its primal form, an environment conducive to rapid growth. He encourages you to think virus. As a humorous side note, after my leadership team created our current Connect Ministry shirts with the slogan “It’s how we roll,” I was considering the next slogan: “Connect. It’s viral and I’m contagious!” It didn’t sit well with the team. But we may revisit it! This idea is central to Hirsch’s desire to see a “sneezable” faith.

The question to be answered by every community of faith is, “Will we build to equip and empower or to control?” This is a question central to Small Group Theory, so I am very familiar with it. But, sadly, most churches don’t even consider the implications of their decisions in this area. And, at the end of the day, it seems more sensible, even spiritual to err on the side of control. But, what then does that say about our view of the role of the Holy Spirit in the church?