Which approach should be used: rifle or shotgun? From an idealistic perspective, a rifle is a single focused shot while a shotgun spreads out the focus of the blast. From a skeptical point of view, a rifle shot is often pictured as being ‘narrow minded’ while a shotgun is seen as ‘unfocused.’ What does any of this have to do with the church? When it comes to the church’s work of evangelism and cultural transformation, there are those who argue for and against each perspective. Some argue for a blast that allows for a greater spread of impact. Others say that this lacks focus and instead a more rifle-like approach should be taken. The broad perspective responds with accusations that this is too narrow. Which is correct? The answer is what any hunter will tell you: Pick the one that fits the target.

The key factor behind the choice of shotgun or rifle is distance. A shot that is too focused will miss at short distances. A hunter once missed a shot at deer only thirty feet in front of him because the scope on his rifle was set for 100 yards. On the other hand, a shotgun is perfect for short distances. But, if the target is 100 yards a way, a shotgun blast’s power will have spread out to such a degree that any target at that distance will be more harassed than seriously harmed.

So, what’s the target for the church? This very question came to my mind as I sat at the Mission to the World Global Mission Conference this weekend in Greenville. If the goal is to reach my next door neighbor with the gospel, it’s silly to have a rifled approach. What would be far more effective would be a shotgun blast, where multiple believers spread out into their spheres of influence to each reach their neighbor. As one seminar speaker from Berlin suggested, imagine the effectiveness of a group of believers each focusing on three close friends. In Berlin, the results of this approach have been astounding.

On the other hand, if a group of believers in Berlin want to make an impact in Brussels, a shotgun approach will simply fail to have an impact. Multiple approaches may actually weaken any efforts at that distance. Instead, it will take a rifle, a focusing of resources along with strategic planning to create an effective means of reaching those at a distance in Brussels. To push the analogy further, perhaps the target is not Brussels but a cultural institution of a particular country. In order to use a close-up shotgun blast, one would need people in that part of culture. If this is not the case, a single strategy backed by great resources may work much better, such as a media campaign or thought-provoking advertising.

The key factor for the church then is to determine the target and choose the appropriate approach. In my church, the challenge is to tell members to start thinking of shotgun approaches, of everyone reaching those nearby with the gospel and not just a rifled focused strategic approach. At the same time, the church as a whole can not rely only upon the shotgun approach but must also focus upon rifle-like strategy for larger scale impact at a distance, for instance, how to address poverty on a large community scale. In this way, used properly, both the broad approach of many engaging neighbors and the narrow approach of one larger focus become effective. Let us pray that the church has the wisdom to choose and encourage the correct approach for each scenario.

My thoughts drift to the scene from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, as Maximus stands in the gladiatorial arena after a victory shouting to the watching masses “I do not entertain.” While the Gladiator can make the argument that he fights simply to survive, the obvious truth is that he most certainly entertains.

Today, in the aftermath of yesterday’s elections, political analysts are scrambling to explain why one candidate lost and another won. Their answer: extremism. In the mind set of most political pundits, “extremism” is a sure way to lose an election. But is extremism accurately defined? In almost every case, the accusation of being ‘way out there’ deserves an immediate riled response of “I am not extreme!” but the truth is that this defense carries no more weight than that of Maximus, and will be listened to just as little.

According to Merriam-Webster’s, ‘extremism’ is “belief in and support for ideas that are very far from what most people consider correct or reasonable.” But how is this term used in American Politics? Candidate A says hot, but candidate B says cold. Fifty-one percent agree with A, forty-nine percent with B. Therefore, Candidate B is an extremist. Obviously, this is not in keeping with the definition of extremism. The term ‘extremism’ would be more accurate if Candidate A suggested a raise in taxes but Candidate B suggested that the government should give every citizen one million dollars. “Most people” would agree that the US government does not have sufficient funds for such a policy. This would indeed be an extreme suggestion.

In the real world, though, to declare a large minority as extreme is, well, extreme! For instance, in one election yesterday, the losing candidate was labeled as ‘too extreme.’ Yet, that election was decided by less than one percent. In another election, a candidate was said to have won because he was not extreme, obviously because he won by nearly twenty percent of the vote. Does this mean that the forty percent who voted against him are extreme? An extreme position, by definition, should be seen as incorrect by ‘most people,’ but sixty percent is far from ‘most.’ The truth is that very few political positions are as ‘extreme’ as they are labeled. To the victor go the spoils, allowing the victor to declare the loser as ‘extreme,’ even if they receive forty-nine percent of the vote.

So why does no one listen to claims of “I am not extreme!” Simple: They are extreme! If candidate A say hot, and candidate B says cold, and candidate A wins a simple majority, everyone should agree that, by definition, candidate B is not extreme. However, if what candidate B declares is so countercultural and so antithetical to human nature, candidate B will be declared, and quite accurately, as extreme.

The truth of the matter is that culture is not determined by a simple majority. Instead, culture is often determined by a vocal minority that has a majority of the influence. When this minority is opposed, even by a majority, such opinions are labeled as extreme. And, to point out the obvious, the vocal minority in American culture is largely anti-Bible and pro-whatever feels good and is good for me. When someone, politician or otherwise, begins suggesting Biblical Judeo-Christian values, it is viewed as extreme. This should come as no surprise seeing as Jesus Christ said Christians would be viewed as such.

The same was seen in the early church when it was declared ‘extreme’ by the vocal minority–the Roman government. When that vocal minority excepted Christianity officially under Constantine, the label of extremism dissipated. Sadly, so did Christianity’s prioritizing of scripture over politics. The history of the early church in Rome shows the dangers of being more political than scriptural. In the US, the goal of politicians is to be moderate enough to win an election. Being culturally extreme, even if not statistically or by definition extreme, can cost one victory in an election.

Sadly, many in Christianity, regardless of political party, allow their adherence to Biblical ethics and morality to slip in order to be less extreme and more electable. But Christians must hold to scripture, even if it means being labeled as extreme. It may mean that Christians win fewer elections, but that did not seem to bother the early Christians in Rome as they headed to their deaths in the arena. If being Biblical in one’s view of ethics and morality means bearing the label of ‘extreme,’ even when statistically a large portion of the US population agrees and only labeled as such because it disagrees with the vocal minority, then being ‘extreme’ is a label that should be carried with pride.

I prepared this as part of a presentation for a Men’s Breakfast this coming weekend, even before I saw Greg’s post on the topic!

I have noticed that many people view work like a violin. For most people, the value of work, like a violin, lies in what it produces. Just as a violin is valuable because it produces music, many people consider work to be valuable because of what it produces as goods and services for society. Work that fails to produce is viewed as about as valuable as a broken violin.

Still others say that work has no value unless it is done in a God-honoring way. These people would argue that my work has no value unless I give my best effort in my work and seek to honor God in my work. If I were playing a violin, it makes no difference how good the music I play is unless it is my best and my heart is in the right place as I’m playing. The argument here is that my work is as worthless as a broken violin if it is not done with the right heart. It’s not just what is produced in my work that gives my work value but how I go about producing it. If I’m not going to produce something from a correct mindset or with correct goals of honoring God, I might as well produce nothing because such work has no value.

But the more I have reflected upon the value of work from the Bible’s point of view, the more I believe that the Bible teaches something completely different from these two commonly held perspectives. To conclude that it is what I produce in my work that gives work value or to believe that it is how I produce what I produce in my work that gives it value is to basically believe that is it I who determines the value of my work. No production means no value. Incorrect goals and heart motivation means no value. If I want my work to have value, I must produce and produce from a good heart. Which means I’m in big trouble. There are many things in this world that I cannot control that affect production and I readily admit that I do not always have a correct heart, in fact, most of the time I don’t have a correct heart. We all sometimes punch the clock simply because that’s what we have to do to put food on the table and we can’t wait to get done with the day and get home to our families. If the value of work depends upon my behavior, my production, my heart, then a vast majority of the time, my work has no value, and that’s pretty discouraging. Most of the time, I’m about as good as a broken violin.

But, as I said just a moment ago, I believe that the Bible says that it is not we who give value to our work but God our creator who endows our work with value. All the way at the beginning, in Genesis chapter two, we read that God was at work creating the heavens and the earth. The word translated as work in our english Bibles is the Hebrew word for occupation or business. God’s occupation or business for six days was the creating of the world, and on day six, one of those creations was mankind, created in God’s image, in God’s likeness, to reflect the nature and actions of God in their very being. Mankind was created as God’s representative, as his reflection on earth. It should be no surprise then that in the book of Genesis we see God the creator telling mankind, the creature made in God’s likeness, to rule over the earth just as God rules over creation, to create by being fruitful and multiplying just as God created all things, and to work just as God himself worked for six days and continues to work in upholding our world. When we as human beings work we do so as part of our calling as creatures to reflect our creator. God calls us to work because He works. When you change tires, build houses, add numbers, teach classes, medically examine people, drive a truck, whatever work you do, you are fulfilling part of the calling that God the creator gave to all of us as human beings, as those made after his likeness, to work just as He our creator works. From beginning to end, it is the fact that God has called us to work as his creatures made in his likeness that gives our work its intrinsic value. Our work has value because it is part of our calling as God’s creatures from the very beginning of human existence. Our work has value not because of what we do but because work is part of God’s calling upon us as His creatures. Each day as we roll out of bed to begin another day’s work or as we head home from work at the end of the day we are reminded by Scripture that what we do has value, not because of what we bring to it, not even because of what we produce or how we produce it, but because of the God who calls us to work, as his creatures, reflective of Him, our creator, the one who was the first to work and still works in our world even now. It is understanding the intrinsic value of work as our calling from God that causes us to carefully consider and examine what we produce and how we produce it, not the other way around.

Jessa Duggar, one of the daughters in the famous Duggar family of 19 children, recently made the news for beginning to date, only in the Duggar family teens do not “date”, they “court.” Says Mom Michelle, “Courtship is not just about having fun…You are really considering if this person could be your life partner — you pray about it and see what happens. …” The whole topic of dating versus courtship has been a big debate in Christian circles ever since Joshua Harris released his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye. Harris’ book was met with another Christian’s book I Gave Dating a Chance, highlighting how difficult it is to decide if the Bible is in favor of “dating” or “courting.” The question, though, should not be dating or courting. Actually, there is a far more important question to be asked involving one’s goals and perspective of success.

Success, according to most daters and Mrs. Duggar cited above, is based on whether or not I find a spouse. It is about finding ME a spouse, to find someone with whom I can spend the rest of MY life. As Mrs. Duggar said “YOU are really considering if this person could be YOUR life partner.” In essence, that means that the entire dating or courting process revolves around ME, finding ME a spouse!  While obviously no one dates or courts unless they are looking for a spouse, this has sadly become the end all, the goal, the ultimate intention, the number 1 priority, and the criteria for determining success. Did I find a spouse? Dating and courting in this way is inherently and Biblically selfish!

In defense of Mrs. Duggar and her daughter and all other Christian daters/courters, this selfishness inherent in our modern methods of courtship is so subtle that no one even notices how such a perspective twists and perverts the dating and courtship process. The reality, though, is that there are other callings in dating/courting that are higher callings for the Christian than the quest to find a spouse. We know that having our lives built on the foundation of God’s Word, under the authority of Jesus Christ, means that our primary goal in all of life is to glorify God, but somehow, we have forgotten that Scripture dictates our secondary goal in all things should be to serve others before ourselves.

Jesus said that the second greatest commandment after loving God is to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). Paul says in Philippians 2:3-4 to “count others more significant than yourselves” and to “look not only to [your] own interests but also to the interests of others.” Again, the Apostle Paul says in Romans 15:2 “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” In 1 Thessalonians 5:11 he writes, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Christians are called to take the focus off of themselves and focus on others!

The Christian life can be summed up in the children’s Sunday School acronym “J.O.Y.” which stands for “Jesus, Others, then Yourself.” Yet, by making the secondary goal of dating all about finding myself a spouse, we have made dating God-focused, then Me-focused, taking the acronym “J.O.Y.” and making it “J.Y.O.” This simply is not that to which God has called us. To elevate our own interests over the interests of others is selfish and stands in opposition to the commands of our authority, Jesus Christ.

In order to realistically have the goal of serving others in dating, in order to realign our goals of dating and put “J.O.Y.” in the correct order, we need to radically change our whole perspective on dating or courting. We should not be evaluating the success of our dating relationships by whether we find a spouse but whether we can honestly say, “I served the brother or sister in Christ that I was dating/courting.” This in no way guarantees the outcome of a relationship will be marriage, but it does honor God in that the goal is to edify the other person. In fact, this should be true of all of our relationships, whether they be friendships, work partnerships, or in our families. In all of our relationships with other people we should be striving to glorify God and serve others. That’s the argument Paul makes in Philippians 2, calling us to have the mind of service that Christ has towards His people. Finding a spouse may be why we started dating, but that goal cannot be elevated over striving to serve the other person.

In this way, a relationship that did not end in marriage will be “successful” in the primary goal of glorifying God, the secondary goal of edifying the other person, and the tertiary goal of discovering whether or not the other person is a future spouse. If these goals are rearranged, it is possible that God is glorified and we discover whether or not the other person is a future spouse but the other person was not edified. In this second scenario, we are the only one served in the relationship. We end up tearing others down in our quest to find a spouse, treating them simply as a means to an end. Ironically, if we marry the person we date selfishly, we have potentially hurt our own spouse! This scenario also calls into question if we understand what it truly means to glorify God while dating. Can we glorify God while stepping on others to achieve our own end?

The question is not “should I court or should I date?” The question is “whom am I trying to serve while I court or date?” How will we measure success–I found a spouse or I edified a brother or sister in Christ? To this end, I actually wrote a small book on this topic that hopefully gives specific ways daters and courters can begin to apply the goal of service to others while they date or court. If you would like a copy, simply request one using the comment section below.

At a recent breakfast this week a friend of mine lamented the number of churches in our area that preach the so-called “Prosperity Gospel.” These churches teach that if we trust in Jesus, tithe regularly, and support the church’s mission, God will pour out incredible financial blessings upon us. For evidence, just look at that fancy car the pastor drives. My friend asked why no one every seems to realize this simply does not work. Most of the people in those churches do not become rich, no matter how many years they give their money. And if some do question why they are not financially blessed, they are told it is because they do not have sufficient faith or because they are not mature Christians yet. Keep waiting, keep trying, keep giving, and God will bless you richly. Don’t ask questions, just send in your check.

And then suddenly it hit me. We ‘evangelicals’ have our own prosperity gospel. Rather than telling people that if they simply send in their check they will prosper financially, we give people the five steps or seven secrets to spiritual prosperity. Much like a preacher in a congregation who proclaims a prosperity gospel of financial blessing we tell our church members that if they will simply follow tips from Scripture or put into practice easy techniques, they will spiritually prosper. We tell fathers that if they stop losing their temper but instead respect their children and love them unconditionally, both they and their kids will spiritually prosper. We tell women that if they will simply love their kids more they will feel less stress and anger and have more patience. If wives would have unconditional respect for their husbands and husbands unconditional love for their wives, marriages would spiritually prosper. If men would stop idolizing their jobs they would feel less pressure and spiritually prosper at work. If people in our churches would simply do these things, they will spiritually prosper. For evidence, simply look at the pastor.

On the one hand, there is an element of truth to all of these. If you stop sinning, you will spiritually prosper. On the other hand, you won’t stop sinning! In a very real way, we often make the mistake of attempting to boil down the Christian life into a series of easy to follow steps when the reality is that these steps are simply more Law. The Law, though, can only condemn; it has no real power. When we offer our congregations more Law as the so-called ‘secret’ to spiritual prosperity, we are offering them as big of a lie as the financial prosperity Gospel. They will grow frustrated because they keep trying to ‘do’ but aren’t prospering. Our churches will be filled with people who think that they are not prospering because they haven’t the faith or the spiritual maturity and some day as they grow older they will finally master these seven steps and begin to spiritually prosper. But none of that is true!

Instead of giving Christians the ‘evangelical prosperity gospel’ of “do this and you will spiritually prosper” we should giving them the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, because the Gospel has the power to transform lives. Do you want to prosper spiritually? Know Jesus and the gospel. Know that you have been adopted into Christ’s family and given an eternal inheritance with the saints in heaven. Know that God sees you as holy and blameless. Know that God is at work in your through the power of the Holy Spirit, transforming you and making you more like Christ. It is knowing the Gospel and having our faith increased by the Gospel that changes how we live and causes us to spiritually prosper. It is the power of God’s grace and the power of the Spirit of Christ at work within us that causes us to prosper. It is through understanding our sin, repenting of our sin, and turning in faith to Christ again and again that we prosper. It is not what we ‘do’ that makes us spiritual prosper but understanding and believing what Christ has ‘done’ that makes us prosper. Rather than pointing to our pastors as spiritual giants who spiritually prosper by what they do, our pastors should point to themselves as chief sinners and chief repenters who boldly proclaim and believe the Gospel because it is only in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that there is true spiritual prosperity.