The Yeah Yuck Man

Note: This was originally written by Max Lucado. I hope the pastors, and others who tend to be people pleaser's, find this helpful and encouraging...Steve

Bob loved to make people happy. Bob lived to make people happy. If people weren't happy, Bob wasn't happy. So every day Bob set out to make people happy. Not an easy task, for what makes some people happy makes other people angry.

Bob lived in a land where everyone wore coats. The people never removed their coats. Bob never asked "Why?", he only asked "Which?" - "Which coat should I wear?"

Bob's mother loved blue. So to please her he wore a blue coat. When she would see him wearing blue she would say, "Yay, Bob! I love it when you wear blue." So he wore the blue coat all the time. And since he never left his house and since he saw no one but his mother, he was happy, for she was happy and she said "Yay, Bob" over and over.

Bob grew up and got a job. The first day of his first job he got up early and put on his best blue coat and walked down the street. The crowds on the street, however, didn't like blue. They liked green. Everyone on the street wore green. As he walked past, everyone looked at his blue coat and said, "Yuck!"

Yuck! was a hard word for Bob to hear. He felt guilty that he had caused a "yuck" to come out of a person's mouth. He loved to hear "yay!" He hated to hear "yuck!"

When the people saw his coat and said "yuck," Bob dashed into a clothing store and bought a green coat. He put it on over his blue coat and walked back out in the street. "Yay!" the people shouted as he walked past. He felt better because he had made them feel better.

When he arrived at his workplace, he walked into his boss's office wearing a green coat. "Yuck!" said his boss.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Bob, quickly removing the green coat and revealing the blue. "You must be like my mother."

"Double yuck!" responded the boss. He got up from his chair, walked to the closet, and produced a yellow coat. "We like yellow here," he instructed.

"Whatever you say, sir," Bob answered, relived to know he wouldn't have to hear his boss say "yuck" anymore. He put the yellow coat over the green coat, which was over the blue coat. And so he went to work.

When it was time for him to go home, he replaced the yellow coat with the green and walked through the streets. Just before he got to his house, he put the blue coat over the green and the yellow coats and went inside.

Bob learned that life with three coats was hard. His movements were stiff, and he was always hot. There were also times when the cuff of one coat would peck out and someone would notice, but before the person could say "yuck" Bob would tuck it away.

One day he forgot to change his coat before he went home, and when his mother saw green she turned purple with disgust and started to say, "Yuck." But before she could, Bob ran and put his hand on her mouth and held the word in while he traded coats and then removed his hand so she said, "Yay!"

It was at this moment that Bob realized he had a special gift. He could change his colors with ease. With a little practice, he was able to shed one coat and replace it with another in a matter of seconds. Even Bob didn't understand his versatility, but he was pleased with it. For now he could be any color anytime and please every person.

His skill at changing coats quickly elevated him to high positions. Everyone liked him because everyone thought he was just like them. With time he was elected major over the entire city. His acceptance speech was brilliant. Those who loved green thought he was wearing green. Those who loved yellow thought he was wearing yellow, and his mother just knew he was wearing blue. Only he knew that he was constantly changing from one to the other. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it, because at the end everyone said, "Yay!"

Bob's multicolored life continued until one day some yellow-coated people stormed into his office. "We have found a criminal who needs to be executed," they announced, shoving a man towards Bob's desk. Bob was shocked at what he saw. The man wasn't wearing a coat at all, just a T-shirt.

"Leave him with me", Bob instructed, and the yellow coats left.

"Where is your coat?" asked the major.

"I don't wear one."

"You don't have one?"

"I don't want one"

"You don't want a coat? But everyone wears a coat. It.. it.. it's the way things are here."

"I'm not from here."

"What coat do they wear where you are from?"

"No coat."

"None?"

"None."

Bob looked at the man with amazement. "But what if people don't approve?"

"It's not their approval I seek."

Bob had never heard such words. He didn't know what to say. He'd never met a person without a coat. The man with no coat spoke again.

"I am here to show people they don't have to please people. I am here to tell the truth."

If Bob had ever heard of the world truth, he'd long since rejected it. "What is truth?" he asked.

But before the man could answer, people outside the mayor's office began to scream, "Kill him! Kill him!"

A mob had gathered outside the window. Bob went to it and saw the crowd was wearing green. Putting on his green coat, he said, "There is nothing wrong with this man."

"Yuck!" they shouted. Bob fell back at the sound. By then the yellow coats were back in his office. Seeing them, Bob changed his colors and pleaded, "The man is innocent."

"Yuck!" they proclaimed. Bob covered his ears at the word.

He looked at the man and pleaded, "Who are you?"

The man answered simply, "Who are you?"

Bob did not know. But suddenly he wanted to. Just them his mother, who'd heard the crisis, entered the office. Without realizing it, Bob changed to blue. "He is not one of us," she said.

"But, but,..."

"Kill him!"

A torrent of voices came from all directions. Bob again covered his ears and looked at the man with no coat. The man was silent. Bob was tormented. "I can't please them and set you free!" he shouted over their screams.

The man with no coat was silent, "I can't please you and them!"

Still the man was silent. "Speak to me!" Bob demanded. The man with no coat spoke one word. "Choose." "I can't!" Bob declared. He threw up his hand and screamed, "Take him, I wash my hand of the choice."

But even Bob knew in making no choice he had made one. The man was led away, and Bob was left alone. Alone with his coats.

"A Gentle Thunder, Max Lucado, 1995, Word Publishing Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved."

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up

Between 1956 and 1968, Television aired a program called "To Tell the Truth" The show consisted of 4 celebrity panelists asking questions of three contestant's to determine their identity. One of the contestants usually had an unusual occupation or had done something noteworthy, and it is this person that the panel must attempt to identify. Each of the three contestants claimed to be this person After votes were cast host Gary Moore and later Bill Cullen would ask "Will the real [person's name], please stand up?".

I sometimes ask that question as I listen to others share their views about Christ or even as I read the scriptures for myself. "Will the real Jesus please stand up".

The modernist view of Jesus presents a CEO type of Jesus. He is linear, propositional, , Driven by a purpose, moral, and a Republican. The Jesus Seminar presents Him as a wayfaring rabbi who doesn't know He's divine. The post Modern view of Jesus is an historical person who what little they know of Him, they like, who makes no demands on any one except to love. William P. Young in his book "The Shack" pictures God as a chubby black woman named "Papa" and Jesus a jean wearing, ordinary guy who likes to work in his shop.

When it comes to theology, there are differing schools of thought too. Are we all elected and God in total control as the Reformed thinkers would have us believe or do we have some say in our salvation. Then there is the issue of Eschatology (the study of end times things). Some are Pre-mil, Pre-trib and dispensational (That means there is a literal 1,000 year of rule of Christ on the earth and Jesus will return at the end of the tribulation with the saints he took up at the beginning of the 7 years of tribulation to rule and reign for 1,000 years), others believe Christians go though the Tribulation and then Jesus comes back to set up his 1,000 rule upon the earth; then there are those who are Amillinial which means there is no literal 1,000 years where christ reigns upon the earth.

It's all pretty heady stuff that theologs and thinkers like to wrap their brains around. Lately, though rather than enter the endless debate, I have found myself trying to understand what was in the mind of the writers of the gospels and epistles when they wrote. To me, If I could figure out their intent, then the theological/escatalogical questions and all biblical questions really coulc be answered.

For instance, In the issue of Eschatology, the Amillinial position has gained ground in recent years. People like Hank Haanagraf of "The Bible Answer Man" is Amil. But as I study the church history, that position was introduced in the 6th century by Augustine. But those who studied under John the revelator (he was the one who lived the longest of the apostles) all believed in a literal 1,000 reign of Christ on the earth. To me, then, a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ upon the earth makes the most sense because apparently that is what was in the mind of John when he wrote Revelation!

So my quest is this: to not have my theology, image of Jesus, or my eschatology shaped by my world view, but to have my worldview shaped by the scriptures and the original writers intent. I think we would all do well to do the same. This April I am undertaking an independent study with Dr. Wayne House on early church history. Presently, I am studying the patristic period to Nicea. Then this summer, I will be taking a class on "The Historical Jesus". I'll keep you all posted on what I learn.

The Berlin Wall and the Emerging Church

At 2:20 p.m. at the Brandenburg Gate, in West Berlin, Germany, President Ronald Reagan gave 2,703 word speech where these now famous words were spoken

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate…Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

The Berlin Wall which divided the city of Berlin and the nation of Germany into two parts became a symbol dividing the two ideologies of Communism and democracy

The wall was pulled down in 1989 and brought about a unified Germany. But more importantly the crumbling of the Wall heralded the end of the Cold War and the dismantling of the Communist Bloc.

From my vantage point the Emergent or Emerging leaders are calling for the same thing.Whether behind pulpits, or in class rooms they are demanding theological monoliths, well as definitions of Church, and what it means to be a Christian to be torn down and Christianity restructured to met the demands and reflect the values of a new culture.

The lines that once defined Church and disciples of Christ are being erased and redrawn. For instance, some gatherings, or church meetings, are held in a bar or a pub, rather than a church building. If they still gather in a church building, the meeting place is referred to as the "worship space" not the sanctuary. And believers are not known as Christians but "Christ followers".The work of taking the gospel to the world is called "missional" not "evangelism" and is more about making disciples and being like Jesus to outsiders than large gatherings where converts are made.

The more radical Emergent arm of the new believer is calling for an end to the war in Iraq and Social activism. The Emerging arm is also calling for an end to war, but is more conservative theologically holding more closely the essentials of faith.

One pastor I know, Has services in a local bar. In just six months he has gone from 40 to 400 people. He sometimes arranges the chairs in the form of a cross. They have wanted to open the bar before or after services but are prohibited because minors attend services.

The pastor likes a good beer and uses words in his sermons that were taboo in previous generations. One sermon title even has the word Sh*t in it.

How are we to understand this shift and what should be our response?

First off, like it or not, culture is changing and so is the understanding of “the church”. While I don't wear the title of Emergent or Emerging I for one embrace the current notion that church is something we “do” rather that something we go to.

According to Ephesians 4:12 the purpose of the “gathering” saints is to equip them for the work of the ministry. Unfortunately, church has become a spectator sport where the work of the ministry is done by the paid staff and clergy. People speak confidently about what their church is doing, when in reality “the church” is sitting on it’s butt. There is no such thing as vicarious church.

I too enjoy the current interest in putting shoe leather to faith and “the church” doing it’s part to feed the homeless, take care of widows and orphans. In fact James 1:27 says “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world James talks about pure religion.”

Opponents of the Emerging or Emergent movement are concerned that the basic gospel message of salvation through Christ is being lost in social activism. Granted, we must be careful the the message of Salvation not be buried in social activism, but doing nothing to help the poor and the weak is a crime Jesus condemned in Matthew 25 and illustrated in the story of the Good Samaritan . In Matthew 25, good religious pew sitting people are rebuked for not caring for the poor, and in the story of the Good Samaritan, a Levite and a priest, were too busy doing “church” to stop and care for the man beaten and left in a ditch.

Mark Driscoll is called the cussing pastor. I don’t know what type of language he uses. And while I am not comfortable sprinkling my sermons with a few cuss words, I can say that words and meanings are changing along with the culture. It used to be that “gay” was a term used to describe a joyous attitude of the heart, not a lifestyle choice. Certain words once taboo are becoming a part of every day language and are seen as expressive by the current culture.

Now I am not advocating we pastors start cussing, or we meet in bars but I am saying we should at least examine how we do church, what defines a Christian, and what theological issues we can leave alone.

I am a part of a blog community (love you guys!) where the issue of Calvinism vs Arminianism, or Eschatology (End times stuff) often comes up. When ever it does, the fur flies, blood pressures rises and insinuations made. I believe these are important issues, but the debates have raged for hundreds of years and a resolution is no closer now in 2007 than it was in 1507!

Can’t we just admit that there are some issues that can’t be resolved and live with the tension? That’s one of the things I appreciate about the Emerging folks. They don’t expect their theology to be all neatly packed away and tidy. They are OK with the gray areas theologically where many American evangelicals are uneasy with anything not linearly laid out. Can’t we just love the Lordf with our whole hearts and accept that we see through a glass dimly now, but will understand and know at a future time?

I like too that the current trend toward authenticity although I wonder if Mosaics and Busters (those under 30 years of age) are truly honest. Most in the under 30 group are overly attached and influenced by “the tribe” or their friends. I don’t know how authentic one can be with that type of influence.

I think too that the present movement is recapturing the essence of the gospel. For years the gospel message has been “Get saved and avoid the fires of hell”. While hell is a real place and we should avoid it, Christ came to restore humanity to the father in the present and in the future (eternally). Through Christ we become whole people making us effective and productive NOW…While eternity is a matter we must all address, a relationship with Christ is way more than just sitting around waiting to die. We enjoy eternal life now through Christ and that continues on into eternity!

I like the rocks being thrown into the normally peaceful ecclesiological pool. I think thought in this area is necessary because, culture is changing and the way we’ve done church is not always the best way. To me it isn’t the Emerging or Emergent church but the church in Emerging culture

To that end, one thing I cannot deviate from is scriptures. I tend to be conservative on this. This is where I part company with Brian Maclaren and the Emergent Village. What is written and intended by the writers of the bible cannot be changed or to fit into or reflect the culture. It doesn’t work that way. Culture doesn’t shape scripture; scripture shapes culture. Let’s look at values, ecclesiology, the definition of a Christian and what church can look like –tear down those wall and make way for a new way but don’t mess with the authority of scripture!

To Believe or not to Believe: Author examines what moves people toward or away from God, church

This is an interesting interview with Scot McKnight. I don't agree with every thng he says but I like his comments on Mosaic's and Busters concept of sin--

People don't undergo religious conversion, switch traditions, or give up on God unless they are experiencing a crisis, said Scot McKnight, a New Testament scholar, author, and professor of religious studies at North Park University in Chicago.

But crisis vary according to the individual, he said, and can range from 'volcanic and dramatic' moments to 'gentle nods of the soul as we respond to the Gospel.'

Speaking to about 75 pastors and students at Winebrenner Theological Seminary Wednesday in a day-long series of lectures about conversion, Mr. McKnight addressed factors that lead to religious conversions as well as apostasy, or renunciations of faith. As a professor, he said, he tries to keep up with things that matter to his students in order to keep abreast of trends and to better understand the contexts of their lives.

"I like to talk about Brian McLaren, Rob Bell, because these students like them. They like them and that's good enough for me,' Mr. McKnight said. 'I want to find out what's making them tick. They read [DonaldMiller's book] Blue Like Jazz, I read Blue Like Jazz. I didn't think it was all that good of a book, but they think it's awesome." (I loved Blue Like jazz but think Mclaren is a heretic and I can't figure Bell out--Steve)

McKnight, whose nine books include "The Jesus Creed" and "The Real Mary", earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Nottingham and has been a professor for 27 years.
Today's college students are brought up with a vastly different perspective on morality than previous generations, he said.

"We are increasingly living with students who don't know what 'sin'means,' McKnight said. 'I find this amazing. They've grown up and they're not anti-moral, they're amoral or what Alan Mann calls'pre-moral."

He said a deceptively negative influence on today's college generation was Fred Rogers, the late Presbyterian minister and host of the long-running children's television program Mister Rogers.
"Sometimes I think the worst thing we can do for kids is to expose them to Mister Rogers because Mister Rogers is so nice. And these kids grow up believing that they're good and that God loves them. We want them to do that but we want them to have a little pain in life so the Gospel works more effectively," Mr. McKnight said.

He also cited James Dobson, psychologist and radio show host, for giving today's youth so much self-esteem that it has gotten out ofbalance. "They are overwhelmed by the message that they're good," Mr. McKnight said. "It is a generation intoxicated with self-esteem. Self-esteem today is on steroids, just like Barry Bonds."

The belief that everyone is OK has led young people to think they cannot criticize others, he said. "My students do not like to say someone else did something wrong," McKnight said. "They don't like that word. They're afraid that it's judgmental."

In contrast, he said his father was an athletic coach and an English teacher. "He told me I did things wrong all the time … and he corrected our grammar at dinner." Yet even people who are ignorant of sin are searching for spiritual answers because "all humans are seeking religious resolution in life," he said.

This innate need, or spiritual quest, is something that sociologists and psychologists discovered in the 1950s and 1960s, he said, adding that the Rev. Bill Hybells tapped into this desire when he founded the first seeker-sensitive church, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago, where Mr. McKnight attends.

The process of spiritual conversion has become 'institutionalized' in three distinct ways by three groups of churches, he said. In evangelical circles, it requires a personal decision; Roman Catholicsare sacramentalized or liturgized into faith, and mainline Protestants are socialized into the faith.

"All three groups are allergic to one another and cannot handle other approaches," he said.
Mr. McKnight went online to read personal stories of apostasy by people who explained why they gave up on God and quit the church. 'The levels of blasphemy and articulation' were depressing, he said, but also informative.

The five main themes he found were doubts about Scripture; perceived conflicts with science; the behavior of Christians; Christian doctrine on hell, and the way the God of the Bible allows people to suffer.

He said Thomas Paine's 1795 book, 'The Age of Reason', remains awide spread and influential work that has led generations of people to doubt the existence of God for more than 200 years.
He cited Paine's key statement: "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church."

Today's Christian churches need to do a better job of encouraging people to ask the difficult questions, even if pastors and churchleaders don't have ready answers. "If we don't make a safe place, they will find a safe place and it won't be in the church,'"Mr. McKnight said.

More information on Scot McKnight can be found on his Web site, www.jesuscreed.org.