Michael Craven Blog – Christian Blogger

Practical Unity: Living Out the Words of Jesus to “Be One”

Monday, May 13, 2013

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It’s easy to talk about “unity within the church” as long as we’re talking in the abstract. However, what do you do when a Christian brother or sister offends you or sins against you? Do you “write them off” and go your separate ways? I submit this is often the easier choice, but Jesus and the standards of his kingdom rule do not permit us to do so.

Let’s consider the significance of Jesus’s prayer to the Father in John 17 when he prays:

The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. (John 17: 20–21, The Message)

Upon reading these words, we must recognize that any break in relationship threatens to undermine the essential witness of the church and its message. Notice Jesus says When we are of one heart and mind the world might believe that Yahweh [the God of Israel] is the one true God and Jesus, his son, is the promised King come to reign over and bring restoration to his world through his people: the church!

Some suggest Jesus is only referring to a nebulous spiritual unity; however, Jesus emphasizes a form of unity that is visible to the watching world, and thus must be referring to a relational unity that can be observed. This does not mean we have to agree on every point of doctrine—we don’t! Nor does it mean we are to embrace some sort of fuzzy ecumenism in which we compromise the truth of the gospel or overlook sin within the church.

Jesus continues by saying, “Father, I want those you gave me To be with me, right where I am, ... I have made your very being known to them—Who you are and what you do—And continue to make it known, so that your love for me Might be in them exactly as I am in them” (v. 24, 26, The Message, emphasis mine). In saying this, Jesus establishes the love of the Father (the “very being” of God) for the Son as the standard by which we are to love others.

This love is not like the world’s, which is conditioned upon the response or attitude of the recipient—it is a never-ceasing love that is outrageous in its generosity! It is a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres (see 1 Cor. 13).

Thus when we find ourselves at odds (no matter how justified) with our brother or sister, our only response is to run to them with an attitude of reconciliation. We are compelled by the love of God to do so for fear that if we don’t, we are reinforcing doubt about the truth of God and salvation in Christ.

Furthermore, we are to pursue reconciliation with others in a spirit of forgiveness in the same way the Father pursues reconciliation with us! In this relationship we are the offending party—utterly in the wrong—and yet God graciously seeks after and forgives us “while we were still sinners.” It is utterly one-sided, an act of outrageous generosity from the Father! This is the way of the kingdom in which God’s power is manifested and true and mutual reconciliation can follow.

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S. Michael Craven is the president of Battle for Truth and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on Battle for Truth and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.

God as Father

Monday, March 04, 2013

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In Scripture there are many different names used to describe God. While all the names of God are important for a variety of reasons, the name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names in terms of understanding how he relates to his people. The Aramaic word Abba would most closely be translated as “Daddy.” It was a common term that young children would use to address their fathers. It signifies the close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust a young child puts in his daddy.

Anyone who has been a Christian for almost any length of time understands God as “our Father.” Having received salvation at the age of twenty-one, I, too, understood the concept of God as Father but it wasn’t until last year—at the age of fifty-two—that I truly began to understand the fatherhood of God beyond the abstract.

You see, last year my son deployed to Afghanistan. As an infantry Marine, his job was to "locate, close with, and kill the enemy." He and his comrades spent almost every day in direct ground combat.

As his father, I spent every waking moment burdened for his safety and well-being. The anxiety and stress was, at times, overwhelming. Every time the phone rang or there was a knock at the door, my heart would stop, wondering if this was the dreaded call telling me my precious son had been killed or wounded. My heart and mind were utterly occupied with concern for his welfare. When I was able to speak with him, sometimes following a particularly harrowing day of combat, all of my energy was dedicated to guiding him toward the only Truth in which he might find comfort and solace. Every word was carefully chosen and delivered—as he literally walked through the valley of the shadow of death—so that his character would be formed in truth and his peace would not be found in other things or even me but in our Lord.

It was through this experience I began to truly understand the Father’s love for me. I thought, “If I, who was human, were so fixated on the total welfare of my son, how much more is my Heavenly Father attentive to me?” No longer was the concept of God as Father an abstract idea but a real experience in which I now knew the intimate and intentional depth of the Father’s love.

Some of you may be thinking, “What’s the big deal? This should be obvious.” However, others of you, like me, never had the benefit of an earthly father who loved, nurtured, and counseled you as his precious child. As a result, God as Father may remain somewhat abstract in the absence of a godly model of earthly fatherhood.

God the Father is the perfect example for all earthly fathers. He is holy, just, and fair, but his most outstanding quality is love—“because God is love” (1 John 4:8, NIV). If you are an adopted child of God, rest fully in the assurance that your Father loves you with power, particularity, and intentionality far greater than anything in this world.

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S. Michael Craven is the president of Battle for Truth and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on Battle for Truth and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.

How Institutionalism Breeds Division

Monday, February 25, 2013

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Every organization requires rules in support of order, discipline, and efficiency—and the church is no different. We, too, have rules that aid in the organization and operation of the church. (There is always some measure of institutionalization required in the church.) In addition, we have established other rules that aid in the understanding and practice of the faith such as creeds, confessions, statements of faith, doctrinal statements, and so on. These are helpful guides to what we believe. What they don’t say is what we don’t believe. These conclusions we may draw by implication.

For example, your local church, tradition, or denomination may subscribe to adult baptism or “believer’s baptism” and this belief may be included in your doctrinal statements. Then you encounter another Christian who subscribes to infant baptism (paedobaptism) and you may assume by implication that their belief is wrong (because it differs from your institutional convictions) and thereby conclude it must be a false interpretation of biblical faith.

Christians have throughout the centuries—and most especially following the Protestant Reformation—arrived at very different understandings about a multitude of issues related to the teaching and practice of the Christian faith. Unfortunately, we tend to form enclaves around these doctrinal understandings, which are eventually institutionalized into denominations, thereby distinguishing us from other Christians. The result is sectarianism, which can create divisions within the body.

No longer is there such a thing as “mere Christianity” to borrow C. S. Lewis’s phrase, but Catholic-Christianity, Protestant-Christianity, Orthodox-Christianity—not to mention the countless Protestant denominations and nondenominational representations of Christianity. Universal fellowship centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ is exchanged for tribal commitments to traditions and various nonessential views.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t have deeply held doctrinal and theological convictions, merely that we should recognize that the Scriptures often leave room for the many varied interpretations of Christian practice. As the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer pointed out, the Bible is true truth—sufficient for salvation—but not exhaustive truth. It’s completely true about everything to which it speaks, but it doesn't speak about everything there is to know (see 1 Corinthians 13:12). Given this condition, which the Lord has determined, it becomes dangerous to speculate through implication on those things that are not essential to salvation and elevate them to essential beliefs that divide.

If we take seriously the Lord’s request of the Father that we “may be brought to complete unity” (John 17:23) then we would be wise to listen to and fellowship with one another in a spirit of love and charity; for according to Christ, this is how the world will believe that the Father has sent the Son (see John 17:21).

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S. Michael Craven is the president of Battle for Truth and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on Battle for Truth and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.

How Institutionalism Inhibits our Expectation of the Supernatural

Monday, February 18, 2013

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By reducing our conceptions of the church to an institution or organization to be managed, there often follows a decreased expectation of the supernatural in the affairs and activities of the church and, by extension, the individual Christian. Rather than seeking results beyond our human schemes and expectations, we find ourselves managing the church as an enterprise in which results can be forecast and progress measured using metrics common to modern business. The watchword becomes “measurable results,” without which an activity is deemed unworthy of pursuit or, if implemented, unsuccessful. Lost is the concept of faithfulness to our Lord and the principles of his kingdom, which may not always yield success in terms visible to us.

This, I think, is why “making disciples” is often exchanged for proselytism—because conversions are more easily measured than spiritual growth. The result can be evangelistic efforts and campaigns that are aimed at obtaining professions of faith, which as we now know are often nothing more than assent to a set of ideological propositions. This might explain why seventy-seven percent of American adults claim to be Christian and yet a mere four percent agree with the most basic tenets of the Christian faith. In the absence of true spiritual growth—in which our conceptions of reality are informed by Scripture—we can remain immature in our understanding and practice of the Christian faith.

Additionally, conversion through mere intellectual assent may remain devoid of real spiritual transformation. In the absence of an incarnational experience, one is left with an understanding of being Christian as merely following a set of do’s and don’ts—a life of self-reliant sin management. The unhealthy institutionalization of the church only reinforces this false notion, thus perpetuating a false understanding of what it truly means to follow Jesus.

Lastly, institutionalization has a dramatic impact on our expectations of the office of pastor. Instead of shepherd, the pastor is expected to function as the CEO—the person primarily responsible for the so-called success of the organization. As a shepherd, the pastor is devoted to the spiritual well-being and maturity of the flock. This is an activity beyond the scope of measurable metrics. In contrast to task-oriented church leaders, the pastor who shepherds a faith community through the competent exposition of the Scripture in a spirit of self-sacrificial service to those entrusted to his care leads a flock that thrives.

Sadly, the institutional mind-set has little patience for such pastors who invest more in the spiritual growth of their people rather than the numerical growth of the congregation. This might explain why only one out of ten men who enter the pastorate today will survive until retirement. This is an appalling statistic that reveals unhealthy expectations, which when unmet result in the pastor being kicked to the curb. I can’t imagine Jesus treating people the way we frequently treat those who have been called to preach the gospel!

Respond to this article here.

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S. Michael Craven is the president of Battle for Truth and the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity (Navpress, 2009). Michael's ministry is dedicated to equipping the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. For more information on Battle for Truth and the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven, visit www.battlefortruth.org.

Michael Craven

Practical Unity: Living Out the Words of Jesus to “Be One”

God as Father

How Institutionalism Breeds Division

How Institutionalism Inhibits our Expectation of the Supernatural

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