The Problem Is Sin, The Enemy Is Satan, The Answer is Salvation.

The news cycle this week has me vexed.

Two more shootings, African American victims at the hands of the police. No matter if the cops are exonerated or not, this is still a tragedy. People have died, and it is sad. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

Police officers who were guarding the right to assemble and speak freely in Dallas were assaulted in a sniper attack in Dallas. Again, a tragedy. People have died at the hands of hate. One of the snipers said his goal was to kill as many white cops as possible. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.

Meanwhile, across this nation of ours, three thousand babies are murdered daily at the hands of doctors who are sworn to 'do no harm'. In the urban areas, violence is rampant. Race seems to be an issue there, with black on black crime dwarfing the amount of white on black crime. These statistics are lost behind the media reporting that there is an open season of sorts on black youth. This further enhances the problem creating more of an atmosphere of distrust.

As the Practical Theologian, there are many ways to answer the question "what is the problem here?" However there is only one right way to answer, and that is through the lens of scripture. According to the scripture, the clear problem is sin, the enemy is Satan, and the only solution is salvation.

The Problem: Sin  I know, it sounds way too simplistic, but SIN is the problem. Where there is racism that is the result of hatred, and that is rooted in the sin nature. Where does this come from? It comes from the first man Adam (Romans 5:12), Adam's son Cain committed the first murder with an unlicensed rock. The murder was rooted in covetousness for Cain wanted the same blessing that his brother had received. Throughout history, murders have occurred for many different reasons, but all are ultimately crimes of hate. And while it is easy to look at others, we are guilty of the same things (James 4:1-2) and though we may not kill somebody, When we hate, we murder (1 John 3:15) and Jesus said that even anger towards a brother is murder in the heart (Matthew 5:21-22).

Murder is not a societal problem, it is not a gun problem, it is a sin problem that is rooted in the individual. We are born in our natural beings as sinners. (Romans 3:10-18) We are not good people who do bad things, we are wicked, God-hating rebels who do exactly what our nature dictates (Ephesians 3:1-3). When a human being kills another human being with intent and hatred towards that person, he is doing what is in his or her nature to do (Matthew 15:19). Without the restraining grace of God, we would see a lot more murders, because this world is filled with hate. The hate is rooted in selfish desires (James 4:1-2). When we do not get what we want as wicked reprobates, we do whatever it takes to get it- even murder.

The Enemy: Satan Satan is a murderer and a liar (John 8:44) he is roaming about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). When you are a child of Satan, which all humans are from birth (John 8:45. Ephesians 2:1-3) you naturally do what your nature tells you to do. We have a nature to sin. Satan, the enemy of our souls, takes advantage of that reality and exploits that nature. In the hands of a murderer, a gun is a tool (as is a rock, a crock pot filled with bb's, a candlestick, or a knife). In the hands of Satan, a sinner is a tool by which he accomplishes his evil. Satan hates you, and will use you(like a tool) to harm others whom he also hates.

There is an important distinction that Christians must remember. Our enemies are not the homosexuals, the (insert the race here), the (insert denomination here), the Muslims, the democrats, the republicans, or the Police. Our enemy is Satan. He hates non-believers, and he hates believers even more. He is our enemy, and our battle is against him and his demons, principalities, and powers (Ephesians 6:12). We are commanded to put on the whole armor of God (which is Christ) to do battle against these powers and principalities.

Any "Christian" who hates people is not a Christian at all. So the KKK? not Christians. Westboro Baptist Church? Not Christians. The Catholics who ran the Crusades and the Inquisition? Not Christians.  It is not me who says this, it is God's word. (1 John 3:15, John 8:44-45) By the fruit (actions) we can recognize who is a child of God and who is a child of the devil. (For those who say the radical jihadists are not Muslims, I challenge you to find the same support in the Quran)

The Solution? Salvation. You may be thinking at this point that I have a pretty low view of man (I do) and there is no hope for the human race (there is, Ephesians 2:4) It is true that by nature we are sinners, falling far short of the glory and moral perfection of God (Romans 3:9-18, 23) We are from birth and by nature children of the devil (Ephesians 2:1-3), and under the wrath and condemnation of God (John 3:18-20, 36) This is why the clarion call of Jesus is to be BORN AGAIN (John 3:3,5).  

We must repent. What this means is that we must turn from our sin and our own righteousness. We must also turn to (believe, place trust in) Jesus Christ for salvation. When we do this, Jesus makes us a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:8-10). Our sins are washed clean (1 Corinthians 6:11) because Jesus took the penalty of our sin on Himself, taking our unrighteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) and giving us the benefit of His righteousness. Because we sin, we deserve to die, but the free gift of Christ is eternal life (Romans 6:23). God is no respecter of persons. Whomever you are, you must be born again, or you will not see the Kingdom of God

The only answer to sin is Christ, for by His perfect life - (He was tempted in every way, yet he did not sin Hebrews 4:15) -For those who believe, he paid the penalty of sin (death/wrath of God). For those who believe, the penalty for sin has been paid. Also, for those who believe, the power of sin no longer has power over us- we can obey God and do His will. It is called walking by the Spirit, and it is a process called sanctification. Finally, one day, Christians (those who have repented and accepted the free grace of God in salvation) will be free from the very presence of sin.

In closing, the scripture exhorts us to weep with those who weep. I am right there with those who are in mourning. I weep for our nation. I weep for those who have been killed and their families. Most of all, I weep for the lost who are on their way to a place called hell. I urge you to consider you standing before God today. Turn to Christ and live.

What is the Problem with Evangelism Ministry? Part 4 When Ministry Becomes A Mistress or Spiritual Adultery

I am a man who has been broken because I have failed in the most important human relationship created by God. It is a human relationship that God established, blessed, and devised to be a picture of how he deals both with His old covenant people Israel and His New Covenant people- the Church. 

A point of clarification: The church is the invisible and universal body of Christ. The members of the church are those who are born again by God, having repented of sin and trusted in (two sides of the same coin granted by God's grace Ephesians 2:8-9) Christ alone for their salvation. 

I will begin with a parable; There was a man who married a wife. He was in love with her, and desired to serve her and honor God with all of his being by loving her like Christ does the church. With this same passion, He also dove into ministry. As years passed, and children came into the home, and the cares of this world and the realities of married life crept in, this man began to pour his life into ministry. You see, at home, he did not feel the same respect that he did in ministry. People in his ministry hung on his every word, laughed at his jokes, and really were blessed what he had to say. He lost that at home, because his wife saw him act in dishonorable and non respectful ways. She did not hang on his every word, laugh at his jokes, and was often times not blessed, but cursed by him as stupid or not understanding. You see, the demands at home were not being met because he was pouring his life  and all of his energy into his ministry. His wife and kids got the leftovers. Eventually, his wife left him. She was seen as the bad person, She was condemned as the non Christian. 

At this point, you are probably thinking that the spouse is responsible for her own responses. Yes, that is true. However, the man sets the tone. The scripture is very clear that the man’s role in marriage is the one of headship, and with that great power comes great responsibility. Ephesians 5:23-33 details the husband’s role.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,

        How does Christ want us to love our wives? Like Christ loved the church. It is agape love, something that Christian marriages strive to emulate. It is choosing to place love on a person, love without strings attached, love that prefers the object of the love above all others. How did Christ demonstrate Agape love towards the church? He laid down his life for the church. He gave up his human existence for the church. How can a man do that for his wife? By preferring her needs above that of his own; her need to be loved and feel loved above his need for respect and self-fulfillment. This example is found in Christ. There is nothing that Christ did not give. He left his heavenly home, laid down some of his attributes for a time, took on flesh, and the confinement of time to save His people- His bride. He gave it all, submitting to the Father before the beginning of time to lay down His life for His sheep. This is not a legalistic standard, it is an attitude.  It is a conviction. It is a decision to place the needs of the object of your love above that of your own life.  It is a act of gratitude for what Christ has done for you.

When a husband prefers ministry or elevates ministry (or work, or anything) over the obligation to love his wife, he is demonstrating a lack of understanding about the Gospel. I wonder specifically about para-church evangelism ministry: Why would a man travel across the country for days, weeks, or even months at a time to seek out a soul that is lost? He will say because he loves them and is concerned for their soul. He is commanded to seek and to save that which is lost. When he is willing to do that while leaving aside or downgrading the priority of loving his wife as Christ loved the church, is he serving God, or serving self? When the wife clearly communicates that she is not feeling loved, regardless if her motivation is pure, the priority is to listen, to hear, and to respond by laying down your life and even your ministry to love your wife as Christ loves the church. This brings more glory to God than any sermon ever preached.

²⁶ that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^[a]

The next way that Jesus showed Agape love for His body, the church, was laying down his life to save her and also to sanctify her. It was not enough that Christ died to justify us before God and to make us righteous, His laying down his life also benefited us by cleansing us, making us holy. A man who lays down his life for his wife looks like a man who is concerned and intentional in making sure His wife is not only a Christian, but also strives to make her holy through the Word of God. He studies with her, reads with her, prays with her. When he sins, and he will, he confesses to her and seeks her forgiveness. He models the life as a Christian. He seeks to emulate Christ in all he does. And the focus, again, is on the object, his wife, who is loved and preferred above all else. Christ placed this focused love on His sheep, and his focused love was so intense that he laid down his life for the object loved. Men are commanded to do the same. We will never do it perfectly, but it should be our life’s focus.

Men in ministry and in industry will spend hours in study. Pastors I know take 16-20 hours a week preparing for their sermon. Men in industry prepare and study so they can be the top in their field. While men in ministry  hopefully are doing these things to the glory of God, and Christian men in industry do the same, I wonder if many even put a fraction of the energy into doing the job Jesus commands in sanctifying their wives? I do not know any man in ministry or industry who would give up just because someone is stubborn and does not want to listen. They will continue to pursue and strive because they want the best for that person. Why then do we lay down that responsibility at home, where we have been commanded to do it? 

²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

Christ’s agape love is demonstrated in that, while we were still sinners, He died for us (believers). He showed his love by preferring our need for righteousness above his need for life. When the scripture describes this love, it says several times that we ought to love our neighbors as ourselves, and here it says as our own bodies. I do not know about you, but when I am hungry, all I can think about is what I am going to eat, and where I am going to eat. It is my primary concern. That is the attitude we ought to have in dealing with our neighbor, and in a more intentional way with our spouses. Our love and preference for our spouses overrides and is on a higher level of importance than loving our neighbor. Christ is in us, we no longer live, but Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20). In the spiritual realm, we are seen as righteous, because the Spirit of Christ now dwells in us. We are indistinguishable from Him in the heavenlies, and we are to become more like Him as we walk this earth. In the same way, we are to be one flesh with our wife. We are separate people (like Christ and Us) but we are one flesh in the spiritual realm. Our wives are our flesh. We are to nourish them spiritually, cherish them above all others. We do this to our own benefit, and if we fail to do it, it is to our detriment.

 It is here that we see that marriages are broken. If we do not love, nourish, and cherish our wives, then something spiritual happens. It is like a tear in our flesh. It is as though there is a wound that must be dealt with, and if it is not, the wound festers, becomes infected, and eventually can lead to amputation or even death. When we are not behaving like Christ to our wives, it is like a wound to our own flesh. She recognizes it in her spirit. If we do not deal with loving her spirit, and taking care of that wound, we are doing damage to our own flesh. Now, carrying through the illustration, when we deal with a wound, it is not always pleasant. It can hurt. The medicine that brings relief often stings. And the longer that it takes for the medicine to be applied, however, the worse it becomes. If you love your body, and you get a cut, you deal with it. We must be so attune to our wives’ spirit that if we wound her spirit, we need to be ready to bring the medicine of repentance, confession, and forgiveness to bear so that you can be healed.

What I hear and see all too often in ministry is a man who is self-centered and focused on building his own kingdom while claiming to build Christ's kingdom.  As stated above, in building our kingdoms in ministry or industry, we will strive to understand the mindset of the market in which we live, studying and gaining knowledge about how best to serve our congregation or our market. Yet, we spend little time and effort in an attempt to live with our wives in an understanding way (1 Peter 3:7) .

³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

                So the command in this verse is clear: love your wife as yourself. This is the highest order. The man holds the burden of responsibility in the marriage to love his wife as Christ loves the church. The responsibility of the wife is to lovingly submit and to respect her husband. 

               

         But you retort- what if the wife just hates ministry? Are you a believer in the sovereignty of God?  Do you think that God chooses the one to whom we are supposed to be married so that our spouse can help us be built more into the image of Christ?  Or does God’s sovereignty end with our decisions about who we marry? Does not God make all things to work out for the good (Romans 8:28) so that we can be made into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) or just some things?

Marriage brings together into one flesh two people who are sinful.  They are two people who need the Gospel. Every day. They need to realize that they are each broken and sinful people. They both need to realize that they are incapable of doing the things God has commanded them to do. The husband needs to realize that he cannot love His wife perfectly, but he will strive to with the help of Christ. When he fails, he will repent, confess, and seek forgiveness of both his wife and from God. He will receive grace and forgiveness and will be made whole. That is the gospel. When the wife does not submit to the husband or give him respect, she will realize it, repent of it, confess and seek forgiveness from her husband and from God, and she will receive grace and forgiveness and be made whole. That is the Gospel.  And when this is demonstrated in marriage, it brings more glory to God.

As ministers of the Gospel, we all must hold one another in the church to this standard of Gospel living before we do any gospel preaching. Again, we cannot do it perfectly. But we must strive to do it. When we fail, we must repent, confess our sin, and seek forgiveness. And there are seasons we must lay down the ministry to repair our marriage. 

Part one
Part Two
Part Three

What is the Problem With Evangelism Ministry? Part 3: Skewed perspective

 Where there is no guidance, a people falls,

    but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.  

Proverbs 11:14

   I have a great deal of respect for full time evangelists, street preachers, and missionaries. I also have a little bit of jealousy. I loved my time of life when I was able to do public ministry regularly. As I detailed before, however, ministry became idolatrous to me. It became at least synonymous with God,  if not above God in some cases for me. If I was not evangelizing regularly, I felt far away from God and disobedient to God. When I was going through the initial separation process with my now ex-wife, I continued to evangelize regularly because my wife was seen as the sinful one. I am guilty of portraying her that way, but my evangelism friends were all too happy to receive my reports. I was almost seen as a hero of sorts because I was being persecuted because I wanted to serve the Lord Jesus in evangelism, and all that time my now ex-wife and my kids were against it. When my ex-wife abandoned me and our marriage, I saw it as an opportunity to increase my 'ministry 'time and focus. God was trying to get a hold of me- not to evangelize more, but to mold me more into the image of Christ. I was not listening. Ministry was my god. 

     I believe that it is part of the curse; this idea that men are connected with what they do. When they do well at something, they are affirmed by it, and, of course, bury themselves in it. Just like a man who has an affair with a person at work, he is missing out on something at home- more than likely that thing is respect. At work, the man is seen as qualified, professional, adept at his profession, and people admire him for his success. This is true in para-church evangelism ministries. In fact, the leaders of these ministries are often idolized by the followers.  The men specifically feel respect from their friends in the ministry. Even as they are being reviled by those to whom they are preaching, (like the photo below, an evangelist with a pig's head on a stake getting 'persecuted' at a Muslim festival)that is interpreted as being a fantastic preacher hitting people with the truth. The respect factor grows. I had an affair; my mistress was ministry. It was like a drug that became better and better the more chaotic the situation became. I thrived on this chaos. If you look at the blogs and the websites of many preachers, they thrive on negative attention, portraying it as a badge of honor, and privileged persecution.

Preacher with pig's head at a Muslim festival

     Part of the problem with modern evangelistic ministries is that you are with a group of people who are all of the same mind going for the same goal. There is a positive aspect to this; The fellowship is fantastic when you are of this type of mindset. You can accomplish great things when you are of one mind. There is also very real danger in that they become more closed off to outside influence, even if that outside influence is the church or the spouse and family. I have witnessed men, myself included, who have no fear of what society and the world can do to them, and this places them in a dangerous spot. The attitude is that the end justifies the means. So they do not fear or respect police officers, judges, or what is worse, whom they perceive to be bad churches or church leaders. They even stop caring about what their family thinks. They do what they want to do because they believe that are doing it for God and anyone who stands against them is the anti-Christ. 

     This is the skewed perspective that I am speaking of, and have witnessed in many para-church evangelism ministries. Yes it is true that every Christian should be a missionary, proclaiming Christ and the good news at every opportunity that they get. However, as I pointed out before, this looks different for different people. They only common thing to evangelism ministry is the truthful, verbal proclamation of the Gospel. How people do it is irrelevant. However, to many para-church evangelistic ministries, the only way to do it is their way, whether it be open-air on a street corner or college campus or one to one in a public area. If you are not doing it in the way that they do it ( and in some cases, this includes the words and tone) it is not considered evangelism. In my case, when I recently backed away from regular open-air ministry to focus for a season on my local church ministry and my new wife and family, I was seen as a backslider and was believed by some to no longer be a Christian. 

     The skewed perspective is personified in the scriptures by the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a group of Godly men who desired to serve God, and believed the best way to do that and to demonstrate that was through a dedication to law keeping. Not only were they dedicated to keeping the Mosaic law, they were also dedicated to keeping their strict interpretation of enforcement. What this meant to them was a focus on the letter of the law and their interpretation of it. This evolved into law enforcement; they became keepers and enforcers of their interpretation of the law. They would literally watch every step on the Sabbath. They determined what was work and what was not on the Sabbath.  Any breaking of their interpretation of the law meant punishment which could include stoning. Jesus exposed them on many occasions for their hypocrisy in the keeping and the enforcement of laws. A great example of this is found in Jesus' words in Matthew 23: 

23 8 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.[c] 9 And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. 11 The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

     We can observe this same attitude in para-church evangelism ministries. People who fear specific types of evangelism are seen as lesser Christians, or not Christian at all. My ex-wife was accused many times of being a weak Christian or a non-Christian because she struggled sometimes with my evangelism. To my shame, many times I did not stand up for her. I relished the fact that I looked good and she looked bad. In that way, and in many others, I was a failure as a husband, and I rejected Jesus' Lordship as I did not love my ex-wife as Jesus loved the church. I was not the only one. I hear countless stories of husbands elevating ministry to the place of the wife. That is, the love ministry more than they love their wife. They choose the mistress of ministry time and time again over their wives. And some even leave their wives- some emotionally and spiritually- and some even physically leave their wives. And when the evangelist leaves his wife- he is taking a bold stand for Jesus. If the non-evangelist wife leaves because she has been abandoned time and time again by her husband, she is seen as the sinner. The para-church evangelism ministry is doing damage to the Gospel when this happens. 

 23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4 They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,[a] and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6 and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi[b] by others.

     Additionally, there is a strange thing that happens with many street preachers. As they are preaching the law, there is a spiritual reality that happens. The law is meant to be the whole counsel of God, but it becomes focused on the Mosaic law, specifically the ten commandments. It is the law (the whole counsel of God) that converts the soul (Psalm 19:7). The ten commandments are the moral law of God, and is very effective in pricking the conscience of an unbeliever. What often happens is that the focus of the preaching is only on the law, or at least heavily focused on it. The spiritual reality is that the law condemns and kills (2 Corinthians 3:8, Galatians 3) - it cannot bring life- only the Spirit can bring life. The keeping of the law is a burden that could not be borne even by the Pharisees. With all the preaching of the law, the preaching becomes very legalistic. What is missing all too often is the good news of the Gospel. The law was kept by Christ on the behalf of the sheep- those who hear His voice, repent, and believe on Him alone. There is a spiritual pride that comes in laying down the law which is impossible for an unbeliever to attain to. Even those who have repented and believed on Christ struggle with and battle sin in this life, but they fail to communicate that (some even deny they sin). Standing on the pulpit, delivering an impossible standard of righteousness breeds pride. This is combined with the attention they get from the people they are preaching to, even though it is overwhelmingly negative. Added to this is the praise they get from their peers, and even some people within the church, and the para-church street evangelist begins to get full of pride. This pride is damaging first and foremost because God hates pride. It is also damaging because we cannot hear the reasoned voices of other believers who do not see things the same way that we do. 

13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.[d] 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell[e] as yourselves.

      This is part and parcel with the skewed perspective that is created with focusing on one command in scripture and not having a balanced, well rounded, whole scripture approach. In other words, it is letting one area of the Christian life overrule all other areas of the Christian life. It is not allowing the whole of scripture shape your worldview and your walk in Christ. Many of the evangelists I know believe in preaching that is exegetical in nature, and will scream and yell when someone takes scripture out of context. Yet, I contend, that they are doing the same thing when it comes to the focus of their ministry. In many cases, it is completely out of balance. They focus on the go- and throw away the make disciples, baptize, and teach (Matthew 28:18-20) They focus on the preaching and proclaiming- which is very important, and many do a great job of that. But for those who only focus on evangelism, and using the law to evangelize (which is proper to do under the right circumstances:  1 Timothy 1:8-10) and not the important part of personal holiness, and looking after themselves, they are in real danger. And what is worse, many of their converts become just like them. 

     23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Finally, as was stated in this article, evangelists that take part in para-church evangelism are very good at looking good to those with whom they are ministering with away from their everyday life. It is easy to put on a mask (the very definition of hypocrisy) when there is no one with you that walks in your life day to day or holds you biblically accountable. It is easy to have a good look on the outside, and for your words to be theologically accurate, but on the inside you are rotting away. You have left a trail of broken promises to your church and family. Most of all, you are portraying the Gospel in a false manner. 

   25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

     I am not saying that every evangelist in para-church ministry is a Pharisee, for this would be an unfair statement. There are many faithful men and women in the US and around the world who are bringing the truth of the Gospel to a world that needs it. However, there are pockets of men and women who are not overseen by a church who are right now misrepresenting the character and nature of the God they claim to serve. They are doing this through refusing accountability of an elder board, replacing them with other evangelism friends. They are refusing the accountability of spouse and family, preferring instead the praise (even the ridicule) of their peers and those to whom they are preaching.  They are abandoning the church, preferring their preaching friends or recorded sermons of pastors they admire. 

     The very worst thing that a skewed perspective brings is the thought that you are good with God just because you are proclaiming the Gospel in a bold way in the open air. We only become righteous through the finished work of Christ. This is accomplished by grace through faith that is not of ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is continued as we respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is assisted by being obedient  to the whole Word of God, which includes being in the Word, being in continued fellowship with a body of believers, and being in right relationships with others- specifically our spouse and children and those within the church (Ephesians 5). When any of these things is out of whack, and you still manage to preach in the open air, you need to examine yourself to see if you have a skewed perspective. If someone in your life- your pastor, your spouse, your children, and others who care question your perspective, then you likely do. 

What is the problem with evangelism ministry? Part 2 Who is qualified to Evangelize?

In reality, there are two different questions here. Let me begin with a true illustration: 

     I was preaching in Downtown Minneapolis when a person who was in line to go into a strip club told me that he was a street preacher and loved to share his faith. He got out of line, reeking of alcohol, and wanted to speak with me about things of God. When I questioned him about the fact he was intoxicated, and heading into a strip club, why the inconsistency. He explained he was getting married, and this was his bachelor party. He would ask for forgiveness in church later. I warned him of his hypocrisy, he cussed at me and returned to the line with his friends. 

     That was a rare occurrence; I had heard many people all over the United States claiming their faith in Christ while they were drunk, high, or cussing me out- none claimed to be an evangelist. What is not rare today is people who are evangelizing that lone-wolves, nomads, and look less like Christ and more like a circus performer. These folks give the honest, church-covered and sent ones a bad name. People associate the worst examples (Fred Phelps) with the best examples (Jeremiah Cry, Shawn the Baptist). However, something even more insidious is going on, the evangelists who look qualified, but, behind the scenes, are not living as a Christian. Their sin is easily hidden, and covered up because they have no accountability outside their circle of friends. I was one of these people, and there are many more out there than we know. 

     If you are born again, bible believing, God honoring Christian, you are commanded to go out into the world and preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 15:15, Acts 1:8). That is what you are supposed to be doing, in whatever way that God has gifted and called you. For some, that looks like handing out Gospel literature.. For others, it is sharing in a cafe or coffee shop one on one. For others, it is on a street corner. Still others in seasons in their life are focussed on the home and family. Wherever it is, when you realize what Christ has done for you in salvation, and the truth of the eternal destiny of all those who do not repent and believe in Christ, you must say something. 

     Are there other qualifications? Yes and no. And herein lies the danger. The local church, in many instances, has dropped the ball. Para-church ministries have picked it up and ran with it. And this is a good and a bad thing. It is good in that the Gospel is being proclaimed. It is bad because there is often little local control and oversight provided because of the nature of some the para-church ministries being event-oriented. In this case, a person can, unless there is serious vetting, be representing as a Christian that is not behaving like one at home or in the church. 

     There are also localized evangelism ministries that become like little churches in some cases. They are so hyper-focussed on their brand of evangelism that all they care about when joined by others is that they share their passion and the correct verbiage and methodology. And if the local church objects in any way, shape, or form they are seen as weak in evangelism. What is worse, if the spouse of a street preacher calls their ministry into question, they are seen as being sinful and not submissive. This has created a culture of nomadism and the creation of small evangelist led house churches that can often go off the rails theologically very quickly. 

     So back to the question: are there qualifications for an evangelist? I believe that there are, and they are all rooted within the local church. 

1. Set apart and sent out for ministry Acts 13:1-4 This is a descriptive fact within the book of Acts as to how the first missionaries were sent out by the local church. We can also see that Peter, Phillip, Stephen, and others were sent out by Jesus (Acts 1:8) after the Holy Spirit came upon them. They followed the pattern that Jesus commanded, going to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the outer parts of the earth. I do not believe that the book of Acts is prescriptive, but we can see the results of local churches evangelizing locally where the people can observe their lives within the community/church in Acts 2:42-47- God adding DAILY to the church.  In the case of Paul and Barnabas, they were sent out to "the ends of the earth" to plant local churches through Gospel proclamation. Clearly, they were under supervision (Acts 15) of the church in Jerusalem, and they were held accountable for their message and method by them. The pattern set in the New Testament is local church supervision even when it comes to world-wide ministry. In the case of Acts 15, there was a centralized authority over the smaller house churches or national churches as in Antioch. 
2. Recognized as having an evangelist gifting Ephesians 4:11ff The beautiful thing about the local church is that they can observe and recognize the spiritual gifts. We should all share the good news, but there are special gifts as given to evangelist. The purpose of this gift in context is to be used to build up and equip members of the local church so that they can go out and do the job of evangelizing. The purpose of spiritual gifts are to build up and equip the local church (Ephesians 4:13-14, see below). Necessarily, Christians are given gifts, we know that they are spiritual in nature when it is used to build up and edify the local body of believers. The end result is again that the church grows as people are saved through the proclamation of the Gospel ( Romans 10:14-15) and their response to it.  
3. Purpose: to build up and equip the local church Ephesians 4:13-14 Street evangelism should point people who respond to the message to a local, Bible-believing and teaching church so that the rest of the Great Commission can be applied within the church (discipleship, baptism, teaching). This benefits the church universal by preparing new workers for the harvest field.

     There are some who believe that an evangelist must be qualified as an elder in the church ( 1 Timothy 2, Titus 1) but that is not a good argument to be had. That would disqualify many people including children and women from evangelizing. But their point is heard, for many evangelists forget to take heed of themselves ( 1 Timothy 4:16) and their teaching. They forget the exhortation in Titus 2:1, 7-8 to teach according to sound doctrine, to be self controlled and temperate in their teaching. Most of all, we need to be of good reputation to unbelievers. If we do not have the protection, cover, and accountability of a strong, Biblical, and local church, anyone can be easily led astray by their own opinions and thoughts. 

     Paul had warnings directed towards those who judge. Necessarily, when one is properly sharing their faith, the subject of sin is brought up. When you talk about sin, and you are saying a behavior is wrong, you are making a judgment. Now the danger is that if we are practicing what we are judging, we are considered hypocrites ( See Romans 2: 17-25). When we are in knowing, lifestyle sin, and we proclaim judgment on sin, the name of God is blasphemed by the gentiles because of us (Romans 2:25). I experienced this even though I had repented of sin, and had been restored to ministry following my divorce, people still attacked me and were talking about the appearance of evil and hypocrisy in my ministry. The people to whom we are speaking about sin use many things to avoid the shock to the conscience. The most popular one, I think, is that 'you sin also'. When you are in knowing, lifestyle, and unrepentant sin, you cannot proclaim God's cleansing grace in your life without being a hypocrite. 

  In closing, the only scriptural requirement for sharing your faith is that you be saved- today- right now- in this moment. You must take heed of yourself, your teaching, etc. When you are in sin- specifically, if you have a sin issue with another person, Jesus does not want your 'offering' of ministry until that is resolved (Matthew 5:23-24). Certainly, if the church of which you are a member says that they will not cover you in that ministry, or, if you are under discipline, or if you are in lifestyle and habitual sin, you should not be in evangelism ministry. 

Part 3: 

What is the problem with evangelism ministry? Part 1 Church Discipline

     I love evangelism. It is in my blood. Ever since I got saved, I wanted to be ‘out there’ telling other people about Jesus. I was that guy that offended friends and family members because of my passion for Jesus and the way that he saved me. I look back on that guy and I want his passion, but I also realize that the passion that I had needed to be tempered and taught and fashioned, because in some ways it was zeal without knowledge. This is not to say that we do not know enough as Christians to be able to share our faith and the truth that I am a sinner and God saved me through Christ, I am simply saying that discipleship helps us grow, mature, and temper our methodology. And a little Bible knowledge never hurt.

    I tell this little story because there is one more aspect that is true about passion for ministry. Passion for ministry in my life has taken me down a road where no one could speak to me about the unbalanced life that it created. It put me on an island that split me from some friends, family, and, I believe, contributed to the destruction of my first marriage and a total breakdown of my relationship with my oldest child. These are problems that were created by me being fooled into thinking that ministry is the most important, that serving God and following Jesus means that you must abandon all else that God has placed into your life, indeed, that certain Bible passages did not apply to me because I was serving God.

    Herein lies the problem: The institutional church that I was pastoring practiced church discipline, but it was a strong, passionate Pastor (me) with a strong personality of influence. The elders in the church did not see a problem until it blew up in their faces. My story is a cautionary tale because it took an overseeing body to come in and remove my mantel of leadership and practice the discipline that our little church could not. Here I sit, nearly four years later, a little wiser following a divorce where my ex-wife left me, I lost the church where I was pastoring, and I am no longer in formal ministry.

Church discipline worked. I repented of my sin, I sought and still seek out help. I was restored by the Church, and now have a little better understanding of who I am and why I failed. This came after much pain. I had to go through it in order for God to mold me into the person He wanted. I am now qualified again to minister, however, I am still trying to find that balance that does not take me over the edge.

My story is important, because it demonstrates the grace of God in church discipline. It is also important because it is indicative of a subculture within the church that is coming to the forefront today in a movement of evangelists. These are passionate men and women, like me, who want to tell the world about Jesus. However, within the movement there are many who, like me, abandon their God- given responsibility of their family. There are some that abandon the church as well and create their own churches simply because the church they were a part of does not move quick enough to respond to their passion. Others abandon any friends and family members who do not subscribe to or understand their own particular brand of ministry. Most become part of bands of preachers, para-church ministries, and event evangelism  which  have little or no church oversight. Even those who have strong church oversight do not have sufficient oversight in the lives of the evangelists to determine if they are truly fit for ministry.

What is the problem that is at the center of the culture that is evangelism ministry? I can only speak for myself; In my case, it was spiritual pride, followed by a good dose of respect in the eyes of my peers. When I was teaching, training, preaching, and writing in the context of discernment and evangelism ministry, I was at the top of my game. My saying after days of ministry that sometimes lasted sixteen hours or more was that you could sleep when you were dead. There were times that my motives were pure, to be sure. I believe that God used me, my teachings, and writings. People got saved hearing the message. Brothers and sisters were built up and encouraged to press forward in the ministry. But evangelism ministry was like a powerful drug to me, and there were times that it reared its ugly head in the form of sarcasm and less than gracious speech. It also caused me to be blind to the needs of my ex-wife, my family, and sometimes even my young church plant. I was spread too thin. But I found respect and excitement and amazing camaraderie of fellowship with those of like mind. My church and family relationships were dying, but I never felt more alive.

My other problem was that I believed that the proper hierarchy was loving God then wife than family than myself. In practice, this looked like that loving God was doing ministry, and therefore, if evangelism was doing ministry, it was in truth more important than my wife and my family.  I am afraid that while I knew and we could say that this is not the truth, that in practice it was the truth. Ministry, in my case, became idolatrous as it had become synonymous with God in my practice. It also was a false picture of God, because the word of God tells us that we are to love our wives in the same way as Christ loves the church. That means we are to lay down our lives for our wives, in the same way that Christ laid down His life for the church. We are NEVER told in scripture to lay down our lives for the church- Christ has already done this. When ministry supersedes the husband-wife relationship, it is in wrong position. When the family is in trouble, necessarily, you are not qualified to be in biblical church ministry. And while it is the call of every believer to share their faith, when the sharing of faith is done to the detriment of your primary responsibility in the family, you are in fact blaspheming God by misrepresenting His character and nature.

The truly sad thing was that I was so deceived that I believed God needed me in ministry so badly, and that evangelism was so important that it was my wife and my children that were the ones who were sinning when they told me to come home and get my priorities in order. It was my ex-wife who was seen as wrong by the evangelism community I was a part of when she rightly recognized that my priorities were out of balance. This is a dangerous precedent when the church and the family see things out of balance but the para church ministry welcomes the participation of people who are in sin. There is no excuse for ministries to welcome a person who is under church discipline.

I am vexed at this problem because of what it says to the world about Jesus. In my case, nobody knew what was going on behind the scenes with my family, least of all me. I knew very well, but I didn’t see it because I did not want to see it.  Everybody knew that I had a family and a church and several jobs to keep it all afloat. I would hear things like “man you are gone a lot” “how does your family do it” “don’t your kids miss you” but I did not listen. All warning signs. I can only imagine the tongue wagging that was going on behind my back in the town when my ex-wife abandoned me. I did not have to imagine it because it happened in public after I was restored and I returned to evangelistic  ministry. When people mocked, they used phrases with knowledge. Even though I had been restored in the church, in the eyes of the world, I was still a failure because I failed at the most important human relationship. Restoration can be a powerful testimony, when done in the context of good church discipline in the midst of a loving church and good relationships.

The word discipline is a lot like discipleship, and that is what Biblical church discipline is. Many people upon hearing discipline immediately have a negative connotation of the word. However,  Biblical Church Discipline is for the purpose of the building up and edification of both the one being disciplined as well as the rest of the Church. Indeed, the primary role of the Church is to create disciples. The starting point is repentance and belief in Christ as Savior. Through justification by faith and redemption, people become adopted children of God. Discipleship is the process by which people in the church, according to their gifts, and  in concert with the Holy Spirit, train Christians in the faith with the goal of conforming them to the image of Christ. This, in turn, builds the church into maturity. Discipleship allows the power of the Gospel to change lives for the better, bringing glory to God through these changed lives. This also separates the church from the world as an agent of real and permanent life change, and this brings the Church to a new place of honor and respect in the community. This simply cannot and does not happen within para-church organizations or within most ‘event’ evangelism. Anybody who desires to sign up and has a modicum of knowledge how to answer the questions that some actually ask are given entrance to participate.

The textbook that must be used for discipleship is the scripture. After all, we are not interested in building followers of a specific church, theology,or even the individuals who are doing the discipleship. Least of all, we are not building followers of the culture. We are building followers of Jesus Christ. It is from within the scripture that we find what the Christian walk is to look like. Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16:

16All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

The location for discipline and discipleship is in the local church. The main problem in the para-church or event-evangelism community is that they are not the church, and they are not walking in the lives of the people who are participating in the events. In my case, many of these events were hundreds, even thousands of miles away from my community, family, and church. I would see these people for a week at the longest. And though they were friends of mine, I could hide truth from them long enough to complete the event. So the participants in the event may not be qualified to minister even in the streets. The discipline and discipleship is not the focus of the para church or event evangelism ministry, so people are not being discipled to walk in the light, because the leadership of the event is either fearful of man, or the organizers and leaders fears man more than they fear God. all that they can see is the pragmatic need to minister, all while they bring shame to the name of Christ.

 

    I was part of a para church ministry that did great work, but was nearly destroyed some three years ago from within. There was a great deal of sin within the leadership that was not exposed until someone was brave enough to bring the sin to light. They had no idea how deep it had gotten. The reality was that the leader, the pastor, had no real accountability and had almost a cult leader like power over his leadership team. It was a real situation of spiritual abuse and warfare, all because proper Biblical leadership was not in place. Discipleship and discipline could be practiced, but out of the oversight of a true church. This turned into spiritual abuse of a kind that I do not want to speak about here. Though the ministry is on a path to healing and growth after church discipline was applied, they, like other ministries, are in the cross hairs of those who wish to bring them down. Now, more than ever, evangelism ministries must be above reproach and very careful about self-examination and vetting of their participants. The stakes are too high to take shortcuts when it comes to the reputation of Christ and His Church.

 

It is my desire today to warn individuals and ministries when I see the warning signs that I wish people would have seen in me. I also hope to help them divide the right from the wrong. The glory of God is of primary importance. The gospel being proclaimed rightly in the home, the local church, and on the street  bring glory to God. When one is not taking care of business in the home or the local church, all the proclamations suffer, and the reputation of Christ is brought into ill repute by those who claim to love Him and the people observing the disaster. The warning in Luke 8:17 is pertinent here: For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. The longer the sin festers the more destruction happens when it is brought to light. I am fearful that ministries that I have participated in and contributed to will be destroyed from within if they refuse to use discernment or discipline within their membership.

The next blog post will be on the qualifications for evangelistic ministry.