"Be Holy": flawed practice vs. absolute truth

Across the centuries countless peeps have been set back in their Spiritual journey because the church has been subject to flawed practices. It is quite common for me to be engaged with young people who have walked away from Christianity because they have been disillusioned or hurt by the failures of the church in difficult times in their life.  I am not chastising the church because its not perfect, but I am calling out to individuals to not be drawn away from God's Truth because the messenger is not perfect. Do not reject Truth because the practice is flawed.

My pet peeve example is what I believe to be the church's Institutional Imperative to preach "progressive sanctification." The idea that one must collaborate with God to complete "sanctification," to advance in Holiness, is not the Gospel truth. Verses like 1 Peter 1: 15 where we are exalted to "be Holy as God is Holy" takes on the progressive nature because pastors are stuck in this box about us needing to "grow in Christ."  I know it feels like the Christian walk is a work in progress, but when did "feeling like" define truth. The result of preaching "progressive sanctification" is not freedom, joy and hope. It keeps Christians wondering what's wrong with them, why can't they get free from sin, why can't they be more joyful, why so much despair?

Suppose "definitive sanctification" explained "be Holy"? Maybe "be Holy" simply means be what you are, not become something you aspire to be. It seems to me Jesus goes to great length to explain to us the privileges and provision of His Kingdom. He wants us to know we are IN when we receive Him. We don't have a training period where we have to grow to receive ALL He has to offer. Why does the church have to make us feel that way?

Its not because pastors and theologians are stupid or are intentionally trying to deceive the flock. Its because the human imperative of Social Exchange has so much influence on human sense-making that without us knowing it, it is so difficult to explain to others that Grace completely transforms us. Nothing left for us to do but live it out. "Be Holy" is not a goal to attain, it is a statement of Truth about us encouraging us to be what we are.

To "be Holy" is to in faith appropriate the sanctifying Grace we have been given, not to partner with God to beat the sin out of us, to become something we have yet to attain.

My hearts desire is for Kingdom Dwellers to live from the privileges and provisions of an adopted child of God, not to be constantly feeling like the orphan they used to be. Anything that constrains our joy, freedom, significance, and hope is flawed practice. Truth produces good fruit.

Testimony of a "Disrupter"

A new book out on finding one's 5%, which is our Intentional Difference, the unique us made to make a difference, is an interesting context to reference an experience I had this week. I was meeting with an old colleague from the 1990's. I had moved on in 1999 to other things, never really looking back. He was sharing with me how several ideas I initiated in the 1990's in Coca-Cola Consolidated, which were totally disruptive then, are now dominant practices 20 years later. In fact the market-based pricing system, which replaced the industry norm of cost plus pricing and transformed the ability to grow sales and margin simultaneously, is now common practice throughout the entire Coca-Cola bottling network in the US. The company (which raised many eyebrows then) i started in early 1990's to support these initiatives is a thriving mainstay in what is now considered normal my thousands of peeps.

In reflecting over those years I also remember how Forest Hill Church had struggled in the early 1990's with strategic decisions of building a new building and planting churches. After several years of watching the leaders postpone the tough decisions, I became Clerk of Session. In that year under "disruptive" leadership the Session initiated steps to build a new sanctuary and to plant 5 churches. Both of these help define the present nature of the Church.

Neither of these impacts I had on organizations have benefited me personally, either economically or in public acclaim. I never sought either. I think the lesson from my life looking back to those who feel compelled to lead from their 5% (iDiff) is that we are not to expect an exchange of our 5% with the world for personal gain. The benefit of leading from the 5% is the joy we receive from being faithful to playing out what God has put in us.

Faithfulness not worldly significance is the fruit of Grace and the message of

"why do you hate God?"

The movie "God is not Dead" captured much of the cultural debate over why progressives claim God does not exist. Most of the key debate points were there but as always, proving matters of faith is like oil and water, they are incompatible. So the clincher was not air-tight logic, but to get the professor, which was advocating "God is Dead," to admit he hates God. The debate is over at that point and the case for existence of God is "proven" because how can someone hate something that doesn't exist.

The movie claims that many atheists in the Western world were once Christians, but God let them down. He did not manage their circumstances as they felt He should, if He is God and cares about them. While many peeps may not go as far as claiming to be atheist or to "hate God", God has lost relevancy and power because of the same reason, God hasn't delivered. So either He can't or He doesn't want to.

This is the human imperative of exchange, alive and well in our relationship with God. Social exchange was all over the movie. The boy friend of girl with cancer, the Muslim father with his daughter, the Muslim son and his father, the professor and his wife (or live in, not sure), the Christian girl friend of the student defending God, the same guy who had girl friend with cancer could not love his own mother without seeing some exchange reason to do so.

While not saying so exactly, the movie found many ways to illustrate the message of my book