Nowata Methodists Podcast

The Rickman Family is Reading!

Exciting times in the Rickman household lately. For much of my life, reading has been a great blessing. It is generally agreed in society that reading is a good thing to do, which is strange because from a certain point of view it is not at all practical. As Katie Oldham pointed out, it is the practice at looking at processed and marked slices of tree for hours, hallucinating vividly. It is engaging fully in the life of the mind. There are more- and less-worthy books to read, but the process of reading itself is of great benefit.

Higher literacy correlates with higher income, better critical thinking skills, more social mobility, better health outcomes, crime reduction, and it has many other salutary benefits. If a man wants his children to do well in life, one of the best things he can do for his children is ensure that they can read and enjoy doing it.

This wasn’t ever a problem for Susanna. Before she was two years old, she wanted to understand how those symbols corresponded with sounds. May I never forget when she drew the link between the ‘M’ on the Methodist Church sign outside this church building and the ‘m’ sound for “mama.” She put that together on her own and grew from there. Today she will disappear for a day at a time, fully invested in the world of a book.

Jesse was a different creature entirely. He has been a genius with rocks and sticks and blocks. Abstract stuff hasn’t had as much immediate allure for him. In fact, when dealing directly with ideas, abstractions, the world of values and beliefs, he has largely been insecure and reluctant to engage. We realized early on that we couldn’t push him to read with the same aggressiveness that we used with Susie. It was a gentle and inconsistent approach that eventually led to him learning his letters, but he learned them.

Clementine, for some reason, couldn’t even see the difference between the letters. She would gladly sit down to work with me on learning them, but she couldn’t retain anything. Anything. We would work on the same five letters for 15 minutes, and she wouldn’t know a single one of them. She would insist that she knew her letters, then we would sit down and start going through the flash cards. She would just guess. So confident, so clueless. Very sweet, but also quite sad. I worried that she was dyslexic. Then I just put it down. Sara Beth eventually picked it up with her, using a book that Melinda Bellatti gifted us, which didn’t focus on the names of the letters at all, but only the sounds they made. The two sat down and did close to 50 lessons out of the 100 offered by the book. After those many weeks, Clementine eventually started being able to string these things together. We rejoiced. The lessons ended.

Even after Jesse learned his letters, reading was still hard work. We got him started on the Dick and Jane books, which I also read when beginning. Rather than getting excited about being able to piece it together, the arduous work turned him off. We had to cajole him to engage. He insisted on reading, instead, the Bible. But that is at such a high reading level that he easily got tired and discouraged. Eventually we quit pushing for a season. Then a few months later, something changed. He picked up an easy book, read it midday, and finally enjoyed it. Now he is devouring the original Boxcar Children book series. He and his older sister ruminate together on developments in the storyline.

The really fun development of late is that Clementine is now plodding through the Dick and Jane books. She isn’t the natural that Susanna was, and she’s not resisting the way Jesse did. She’s just slowly doing the work. I sit with her for a few minutes to help her, but then Josiah or someone else needs me, so I call on Susanna or Jesse to sit next to her and help her.

Helping a child read isn’t as simple as just giving them the word they are struggling with. You can’t do that. They won’t learn. Rather, you are teaching them how to do it. How the letters generally behave in reference to one another. They have to sound it out. Then repeat and do it again. Put the words they have rendered in dialogue with the images shown on the page. Make sure they comprehend it.

Finally, after several years, the Rickman family has a reading machine built in, where an increasing number of members of the family are able to educate the newer ones in the practice. Each one of us who knows how to read can patiently and lovingly come alongside the younger ones and lead them to the next step. As each reads more refined materials, the older ones of us have now established a culture in which we engage and encourage one another forward. May the Lord bless this effort and use it for his glory!

The Household of God

The household of God, the Church, is much like this. There is a skill that we are collectively pursuing, which also has salutary impacts on the lives of those who learn. Namely, the skill, lifestyle, worldview of salvation. Christ has sent us his Spirit to guide us in the ways of righteousness. It is much bigger and more beautiful than the practice of reading. Wonderfully, it includes reading the Bible as an invaluable facet of the larger project.

Walking in the ways of Christ is very much like reading. It requires a large front-end investment. A great deal of time spent just familiarizing ourselves with very basic things. Stuff like prayer and fasting, stuff like learning what is in the Bible, how to talk about faith, how to practice hospitality, mindfulness, care of others. These are basic skills that are often quite boring and intimidating. But then, once one masters these different basic acts, one can then weave them together in a beautiful tapestry, a life of faith, that is a great love song to God. The task of sanctification before us was indeed accomplished in a single event on the cross in Christ, but in our lives it takes places gradually and continually until we die:

The Rub: Refusal to Work

Yet there have always been folks in the church who struggle to learn to practice the faith very well. From the beginning, the scriptures have warned us of the insufficiency of a stagnated spiritual life:

11 We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. 12 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:11-14

The reality is that a person will never read Shakespeare, Moby Dick, the Odyssey, any of the classics, or any of the greatest thinkers, poets, writers of our day unless they first spend the time to learn their letters and then plod through simple and boring content like Dick and Jane. Paul wanted to write to his people about the life of faith, but he despaired that they just simply weren’t going to be able to go very far with him because they hadn’t put in the basic work.

One cannot build a house unless he learns carpentry. One cannot make a meal until he learns how to cook. One cannot run a marathon unless she has trained. This concept applies in any worthy field. One doesn’t just magically pick something up and instantly know how to do it. It takes painstaking practice, much time and energy spent in the pursuit of excellence.

Yet many don’t want to work. For many Christians today, it is like when Clementine would insist that she knew her letters, but we would sit down and get out the flashcards, and she knew nothing. She was surrounded by letters everywhere she went, but she didn’t know them for what they were. Similarly, many Christians come to the Christian place, they sing the Christian songs, they hear the hired Christian get up and talk, but they cannot really articulate much of anything serious about the faith. They know little more about it than someone who isn’t even a Christian. They cannot navigate their Bibles or tell you what they say. They cannot pray in their personal lives much less train others to do so. They cannot comprehend fasting, self-denial, self-control, or any practices that significantly depart from the culture around us in a profound way. They believe they are Christians every bit as much as Clementine believed she knew her letters, but they do not show basic competency with the fundamental units of the life. There are churches filled with people like this. And it isn’t just newer members, people recently converted. Sometimes adults go their entire lives, into old age, without mastering these basic skills and learning to build a life around them. I would actually say that this sort of dissonance is the norm in American churches today.

Paul expressed this frustration more than once. Not just in Hebrews, but also in his letters to Corinth, he is regularly frustrated at their reluctance to grow in maturity:

1 Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. - 1 Corinthians 3:1-3a

Discerning Maturity

That last phrase there is pretty key in distinguishing whether or not a person you’re dealing with is a mature Christian or not: Can they distinguish in any way a difference between the ways of the world and the way of Christ? They are not the same. They are opposed to one another. Fine, a person can sit in a pew and attend worship somewhat regularly. All that means is that they can be somewhat punctual and they can endure an hour or so of Christian sights and sounds. A Christian that does not make. Can a man explain and model for you something different from what the world has to offer? That is what Paul highlights in these excerpts I have read through here.

When he uses the metaphor of milk and meat, this is dealing with basic human development. It is entirely appropriate for a baby to drink milk. In fact, it is good for the baby. There’s nothing better than mother’s milk. But if that is the only nutrition that a person gets as they grow up, then it becomes, not only odd, but warped in some sense. This image of an older boy breastfeeding from his mother disturbed us a few years ago when TIME Magazine reported on people who were keeping their children in this arrested development. It is unsettling isn’t it?":

Yet that is what is often found as the general standard of Christian discipleship in American churches. To build on the metaphor from Paul, a modern Christian isn’t just keeping that steady diet of beginner milk, they are also supplementing, not with meat, but with processed junk food. Many believers cannot distinguish between true biblical doctrine and the junk that false teachers often spew that feels good but is divorced from the gospel. They cannot distinguish between the voice of the Good Shepherd and the voice of the false shepherds. Their diet of junk food has rendered their stomachs unable to digest good doctrine, opting instead for the stuff that tastes good but has no true nourishment. As a person who only eats junk would get indigestion at actually eating something healthy, so many today, claiming to be Christians, take offense at Christian teaching. Entire local churches are to be found filled with people who will take offense at a message about sin and damnation, the lostness of our world, the essential nature of biblical holiness.

False Comfort

Churches should not comfort themselves at the simple fact that people show up to listen. That should give no comfort at all, as our scriptures also tell us of an individual who loved to listen even though he was reprobate:

17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” 19 So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 20 because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him. - Mark 6:17-20

Clementine enjoyed sitting down with me to talk about letters even when she could not conceive of them or hold onto them. She enjoyed the time with her father. But it was not time well-spent. She wasn’t learning to read, which was the whole point. Moreover, this practice fostered frustration, and even resentment, between us. It was a good thing for her to learn another way. Now we can share in genuine intimacy around a book. What was wrong has now been made right! But that isn’t because I changed. It is because she did. Her mind was opened, she put in the work, and now she is connecting the dots. Because she changed, I can show her how to do this.

Judas was in the presence of Christ every day for three years, yet the scriptures tell us he was a wicked son of perdition. Remember that satan was in the presence of God in the garden before he rebelled. His presence was tolerated by God even though he was a rebel, even long after that in the time of Job. We are told in James that the demons believe in God, and that belief causes them to tremble. Even so, their knowledge does not save them. All that to say that we should take no comfort from people being in the right place bodily if their spirits are still foreign to God. If people are not establishing Christ as the center point of their lives, joyfully submitting all things to him, then we are failing at our fundamental task.

Think of learning a new language. If I were to go to China today, I would need to spend a massive amount of time and energy learning to speak Chinese, not to mention the cultural norms and laws of that area. Think of learning a musical instrument. Thousands of hours have to be spent in order to be able to produce anything very enjoyable. The Christian faith is very much like this. Yet even all the thousands of hours of worship and praise in the church building can do very little for a person if he or she is not engaged in the work of discipleship. It isn’t a matter only of time spent, but of one’s posture towards this great tradition. One has to actually take it into herself and be transformed by it.

The church is very much like the Rickman household. Or it is supposed to be, in the sense I have been talking about today. When a new believer comes in and needs to learn how to connect all the different elements of the Christian faith, yes, the pastor should be instructing them in that way, but also each person who is practiced in the faith should be able to step in and pick up wherever they are. Just as I can get up while Clementine is reading and have Susie or Jesse step in and lead her, so you should be able to step in and model how to pray, how to navigate the scriptures, how to minister to one’s neighbors, how to sing and make melody to the Lord, how to control your desire for sex, how to deny greed and envy, how to love and care for your family.

The concerning thing about many churches today is that many are full of people who will never learn to take a student’s posture. My children would have never learned to read from me if they had never even chosen to submit to me, to believe that I knew how to read, to trust that I was leading them to a better place. Likewise, many people in the pews, though they listen to a pastor, though they see an example of the pursuit of holiness, still choose to believe that the pastor doesn’t know know what he’s talking about, that he’s not leading them to a better place. They refuse to submit and follow, insisting on doing things their own way. And that is sad, because it means they are in arrested development. They have failed to launch.

Week by week, I am available to you, not just in my office hours, but with midweek opportunities for bible study, prayer and worship. A few of you let me instruct and equip you. Most of you do not. Now, if you were engaged in the work of equipping others in the faith in similar ways in dialogue with me, that would be one thing. But is that what is going on? Rather, how many of you have tried to convince yourselves, and sometimes convince me, that you just cannot be expected to grow in the faith? Some of you claim to be too busy. You aren’t. Some of you claim that my hopes are unrealistic. They aren’t. A few have told me that you are too old. You aren’t.

We Are Ambassadors

The Lord expects for every single one of you as members of his household to be able to lead others to him. As a foreign emissary is expected to be able to perfectly represent the goals and agenda of his nation, so has the Lord established you as an ambassador of his ways, his Kingdom:

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

It isn’t just the pastor who is an ambassador of Christ. It’s all of us. We are ambassadors. That means we repent of our sin and walk in newness of life. We have reconciliation with God, then we practice that reconciliation with men. We model what a reconciled life looks like among family, friends, neighbors, and enemies. We refuse to participate in the deeds of wickedness. We make no room for the desires of the flesh.

Pretend you are about to sit down and be quizzed on your Christian maturity as I once lovingly did with my daughter Clementine. The flashcards are not letters, but practices. You are asked to find a scripture in your Bible without using the index and tell the instructor what it means. You are asked to facilitate a time of prayer, lifting up others’ concerns to the Lord. You are asked to fast with a group of Christians to seek the Lord’s face. How many of you could pass such a test? Before any of that, how many of you could even stand to be quizzed? How many of you, were such an opportunity to come, would not rather take it as an insult to be examined? How many would freeze in horror at being put to the test?

The church of Christ has been established on earth to make Christians, people who are striving for excellence in all things pertaining to salvation. We are to be a peculiar people, a nation of priests and kings, reconciling the world to God. Like the reading metaphor I began my sermon with, it should be the culture of this body to strive for holiness in all our ways, against a worldly culture of mundane mediocrity. It is not an acceptable thing to excuse ourselves from such a task, claiming to be too busy, claiming that the demands of Christ are unrealistic. The only way to the green pastures and still waters is to follow the Good Shepherd through the valley of the shadow of death. That requires submission and obedience. It requires being a student learner, doing the hard work of integrating basics of the faith, and then actually growing in one’s faith.

Other Ways?

There is nothing else for a church to do. There are indeed many other churches engaged in other projects, but they have left the main thing behind. They are like fitness centers that have moved out the exercise equipment and started selling pastries for income. Likewise, there are a great many churches that worry about keeping the doors open and do whatever it takes to attract new butts to sit in the pews. But what is the point of getting new people if the people we have aren’t doing the basic work that we have been put on earth to do?

Remember, now, that Jesus spoke harshly to the Pharisees who, in his words, would travel land and sea to make a single convert, but would make them a child of hell (Matt. 23:15). There is no virtue just in getting new people, just in keeping the doors open. The job of the church is not just to pack the building with bodies. It is to make mature disciples who can then make mature disciples.

We can host all kinds of events in order to get people in here, and we will continue to do so. We can give all kinds of incentives, as of course there are many secondary benefits to joining a church. We can connect with people over all kinds of things that have little or nothing to do with Jesus and then try to work Jesus into it. I’m pessimistic about that being a good long term strategy, but that is indeed the strategy of many churches today.

Or, as I have been indicating throughout today’s message, we could engage in the work of earnest discipleship, get to know our neighbors, learn to articulate our faith, and one-by-one bring people to Jesus. This is how the early church did things. That approach never lost its faithfulness. As Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” We just started running out of people who are willing to do the work.

What does Jesus save us from, after all? Sin and death. Do we know people who sin and are going to die? Are we warning them? Are we showing them a different way of life? Or are we ourselves persisting in sin, saying we love Jesus but persisting in rebellion? This is the concern that any American pastor needs to have today, after many decades of confusion in our churches.

The Way Forward

We need to reestablish holy discipleship as the central task of the church. We need to continually insist that the church is here, not to cater to consumers, but to serve the Lord on his terms, established in our scriptures. We need to continually focus on God being sufficient for us even if many people outside this place seem to be uninterested.

Coming back to the opening metaphor for today’s sermon, how many of you compare with Susanna in your faith as she was to reading?: You heard about Jesus and you just ran towards him, training in the basics and then building integrated, holy lives. If a new person is won to Christ, you can capably sit down with them and show them the basics. Your lives reflect the transformed nature of the New Birth, so they can look to you to see a model of holy living.

How many of you are like Jesse was, unsure of yourselves, unstable and insecure in receiving instruction? You want to do things your own way, but you haven’t submitted yet to do the hard work. You are too prideful to ask for help, to stubborn to think seriously about changing, too insecure to look at me or other mature believers for guidance.

How many of you are like Clementine was, eager to do the Christian things but seemingly unable to actually even start at the basics for some reason? You like to come to worship and sing the songs and get along with all the nice people, but you lack the discipline or resolve to do what needs to be done to grow in maturity.

The temptation of a conflict-averse pastor is to just focus on other people outside the church and to hope you get your walk sorted out. But that isn’t how I treated my own children. That isn’t loving. While I gave them space for short periods of time, we always came back to the task at hand. Likewise, my job as pastor is to make sure you are never comfortable while you are failing to grow. I need to constantly be driving you to move from milk to meat. Any pastor worth his salt is going to continually push his people into lives of authentic, constant, happy discipleship.

To that end, despite very low attendance at Bible study, I’m going to continue to host a Bible study for you. Despite very little interest in morning worship, I’m going to continue to host it. For you. Despite irregular and low attendance, I’m going to continue to be solid on Sunday morning worship, for you. Despite the fact that nobody seems to be very interested in noticing, I’m going to continue loving my family, honoring my wife, building up my children. Despite the fact that very few come into the church building to pray or receive encouragement, I will continue to be present at all hours. For you. Out of love and reference for Christ.

And my prayer is that many of you who seem uninterested and defensive will someday be excited to learn and grow. And when you do, and I hope it is before you die, I’ll aim to be here, ready to build you up. Today, Jesse and Clementine wouldn’t be able to read if they hadn’t eventually chosen to put in the time and effort, to listen to their parents, to be instructed. My prayer for many of you for years has been that you will likewise choose to submit to instruction. May the Lord continue to work on all of our hearts, drawing us more closely to him and one another, such that we rejoice to submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

"And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you prepared?’ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” - Luke 12:16-21 (LSB)

The readings this week were from Hosea 11:1-11, Psalm 107, Colossians 3:1-11, & Luke 12:13-21.

And Yahweh said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your God.”

Yet the number of the sons of IsraelWill be like the sand of the sea,Which cannot be measured or numbered;And it will be that in the placeWhere it is said to them,“You are not My people,”It will be said to them,“You are the sons of the living God.”

- Hosea 1:9-10 (LSB)

This week we went back to the revised common lectionary. The readings were Hosea 1:1-10, Psalm 85, Colossians 2:6-19, & Luke 11:1-13.

Sometimes it helps to reexamine something that is taken for granted. The word ‘grace’ is used frequently in Christian circles. Even so, do we all have a shared understanding of what it means? How does the concept correspond to, say, justice? Or mercy? How should we speak about grace in light of judgment, or rather, what is the relationship between grace and judgment?

These are things that believers are expected to understand. Indeed, if one doesn’t understand what grace is, then how exactly are we to receive it? Can we even receive it if we don’t understand what it is in a basic sense?

This isn’t a heady sermon. It is practical and immediate to our daily lives, how we understand ourselves, how we engage in right relationship with God and others.

Nowhere in this message is any new doctrine. It should reflect exactly what is found throughout the Bible, as well as the wellspring of doctrinal heritage on which we can and should draw.

May this be a blessing to you.

This sermon deals with the various considerations involved in how we reflect on ourselves as believers. Hebrews speaks to us regarding how it is that we should reflect upon the Old Testament, our covenant with Jesus, and the way we live today. This includes how we live together, the kinds of relationships we have with one another, the kind of relationship we have with our church.

The sermon consults the thoughts of luminaries like G.K. Chesterton, Paul Washer, Martin Lloyd-Jones, and other heavyweights. May it be an encouragement to you!

I didn’t write this one out. You should be able to read the text by accessing the ‘transcript’ for this one. If you need help doing that, you’re welcome to contact me directly at [email protected].

There is actually a ton of scripture on this topic. I read directly from 1 Corinthians, Philippians, and 1 Peter, but I paraphrase several more scriptures. This is one of those subjects that is so firmly established as to be pretty solid in talking about. Please, for your own sake, consider my words.

““You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” - Matthew 5:13-16

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written:

“They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Retracing Our Steps

Two weeks ago, I preached on how it is that you should rightly understand your lives in relation to money. Briefly, all that you have is God’s, and he has designated you as a steward of those things in your realm. Your right relationship with God depends upon submitting all you are and have to him. Or, as Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The Lord has entrusted each of our members with differing amounts of wealth and potential. If the church is rightly proclaiming Christ and him crucified, and if we have true disciples in our midst, then we will overflow with financial and other resources despite our small size. This all depends upon your right understanding of yourselves and of the nature of the church. If you do not see yourselves as Christ’s peculiar people, and if you do not see the church as the bride of Christ, then you will not feel as though the way you share your money with this church matters. It is my role as pastor to continue making the case for your discipleship and right participation in the church.

Last week, I preached on the context of Nowata. After ten years of ministry here, I cannot help but feel like I understand a good deal of the different forces at play here. I worked to describe our mission field here in ways that you could understand and share with me. As was made clear last week, we are living and called to work in a context of great spiritual darkness and decay. There is much working against us. Even so, the Holy Spirit is stronger than any worldly force. If we are submitting to his guidance and lordship, then we will prosper and succeed. Indeed, we do not have any other choice. It was for such a time as this that God has raised us up. We should not be dismayed or intimidated by our enemies. We must trust that God will prevail through us.

If we rightly understand ourselves, the church, and the Holy Spirit, then we should be committed to a shared way of life aimed at the salvation of the world immediately around us. To rehearse some basic realities of our ministry context that I laid out last week:

* Addiction is very common, tearing people and families apart.

* The destruction of the family and normalization of “alternative” family arrangements is increasingly common, such that our children are increasingly damaged.

* Folks are retreating into their homes, withdrawing from voluntary associations, getting narcissistic and warped.

* People commonly spend their money and worship in other counties, neglecting Nowata businesses and churches.

* The community of Nowata fills itself with diversions and distractions so that it doesn’t have to ask bigger questions and seek bigger answers that only the church has to offer.

Majority Religion in Nowata: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

Something I didn’t have time to talk about last week is the local religious orientation. At least half of the town is not tied at all to a covenant Christian community, otherwise known as a local church. Many are openly hostile to Christianity, or at least the institution of the local church. Some of these have been hurt by church in the past, but many of them have never been close to a church and carry many unfortunate stereotypes about Christ’s people.

As I talked about last week, a good number go to large churches in other towns. Most of these are large churches where they can attend irregularly and anonymously. Nowata has at least fourteen churches within city limits. A couple country churches exist. Perhaps three of these churches see more than 100 people in worship per week. On any given Sunday, I estimate that maybe only 20% of our town participates in worship in any capacity, including online, which doesn’t really come close to approximating what Christ has ordained for us to do.

The majority religion of this town is not actually Christianity. It is something called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It is a broad awareness of the fact that there is a God and he wants us to be moral and happy. A majority of people in this town will confess their belief in God, and maybe even in Jesus. Yet most of these will also eagerly confess that they think pretty much everyone who believes in God will go to heaven, and they see no problem whatsoever with the fact that they haven’t read their bibles, they are not an active part of a covenant community, and their lives aren’t any different from those around them. Most have no notion of holiness. That is the majority religion. It is the faith of demons: confessing that there is a God while living in ways that spurn him (James 2:19).

Local churches have largely been pressured into accommodating such a culture. A good deal of public outrage and offense is reserved for any churches that preach the exclusivity of Christ, the call to holiness, the reality of damnation and sin, or the requirement to be born again. In the age of social media, people who speak clearly on these things are routinely derided and scandalized online. Clergy and regular churchgoers have learned that they should not be too vocal about a high standards faith out in public, lest angry voices take exception to them.

The Attractional Model of Evangelism: A Dry Well

For that reason, our churches have largely adopted what would be called an “attractional” model of evangelism. They build programs that are attractive to consumers to get them through the doors. Youth groups, daycares, festivals and block parties, holiday meals, fundraisers, concerts, plays, addiction recovery groups—all these things are done to attract people. The hope is that people will come with a worldly hunger that can be fed, and in the meantime Jesus can be offered. A hypothetically successful church that does this will be able to do a sort of bait-and-switch for folks, where they will eventually come, not to have their worldly hungers filled, but God will develop within them a spiritual desire that is then met by the church. This is a model that our own church has also been inclined to use.

Yet the problems with this approach are twofold: 1) Other churches are much better positioned to do this sort of stuff than we are, and they are ahead of us, and 2) This approach doesn’t seem to work very well, anyway. The churches in town that utilize this strategy see lots of turnover. Moreover, these strategies are less and less effective. It gives the sense that churches are fighting for scraps. Moreover, just like government assistance breeds a generation of people who feel entitled to free money, churches that continually seek to attract and entertain worldly folks breed a generation of people who feel entitled to the church on their terms. Not good.

The Plan/Strategy

It is at this point that I will now finally deliver what was promised a couple of weeks ago: an answer to the question of how it is that our church can and should do ministry in this town. The reality is that we have already built out a strong foundation upon which to do the hard work required. The strategy, going forward, is: to remain firm in our witness in a town that largely has its ears stopped. We need to do hard labor, backbreaking work, removing stones from the Lord’s field and planting seeds of faith that lead to a future harvest.

I think the first thing to insist upon is that we will do faithful ministry in this town by requiring basic truths of the faith to be taught and believed: Sin defaces the image of God in us, separates us from him, and guarantees our damnation. The only source of hope for us is the person and work of Christ Jesus, who took our punishment as a substitute for us on the cross. He has sent us his Spirit to give us the new birth and teach and empower us in matters of holiness. The purpose of all of our lives is to love and serve God and one another continually. The church has been established by Christ to call sinners to repentance, to serve as a mission outpost for Christ, to collectively walk in newness of life and equip the saints for ministry. We need to insist on that way of life, that unique call, at the front, middle, and end of everything, refusing to capitulate to the spirit of the age or the felt consumer desires of worldly people. We aren’t here for worldly people. We are here for those whom Christ is calling out of the world. I need to continue to make the case for that. You need to continue submitting to that.

Secondly, we have to get a mindset for the long term and the small victories. The reality is that we are doing this planting in hostile and indifferent terrain. Drugs, entertainment, and propaganda have a majority of folks in our society convinced that they don’t need Jesus in any biblical sense. Our job is to maintain our spiritual saltiness so that, when individuals here are awoken from their stupor, and God gives them a sincere desire to flee from the wrath to come and be saved from their sins, there will be a community right here that can instruct them in an alternative way of life marked by Christian scripture and history.

Foundations Already Laid

We have promising signs for the future in this community: young families with small children that will be raised together partnered with other folks of means who can establish a firm foundation for them.

The church has already established an endowment fund in perpetuity for the church. The principle amount cannot be touched, and it pays out 5% annually for our mission. As that fund continues to grow, this church’s baseline ministry is magnified. Folks in our church should continue to give to this fund, not only as memorial gifts in memory of those who have passed, but you should also be putting this fund as a gift in your wills and trusts. The local church should be a body that honors the legacy of those who came before, and we who are alive now should designate our gifts in order to ensure future thriving of this community when they have younger or fewer members who cannot otherwise sustain the required community. We have to continue being good stewards of the resources we already have, not blowing our wealth on things that do not bear fruit, but serving as faithful and benevolent witnesses to our God who blesses abundantly.

Other churches in town are already catering to a lowest-common-denominator way of life, a lukewarm and undemanding form of discipleship. If we participate in that race to the bottom, we will lose. The town will lose. Christ doesn’t save those who are aiming to do the bear minimum to be saved. We need to continue to insist on an ethos of high standards and demanding discipleship. When folks awake out of their stupor and sin, they need to find a community that 1) knows what is in their bibles, and 2) is successfully conforming their lives to it.

This begins with raising up a new generation of godly men and women who are unapologetically raising up their children to be true disciples. Men who are loving their wives as Christ loves his church. Women who are joyfully partnering with and submitting to their husbands’ godly leadership. Children who aren’t addicted to screens and junk food, but who are being raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord at home, participating in the lifeblood of the worshiping community here. Just a few of these family units will be enough to do great work for the Kingdom of God here in Nowata. Older folks, it is your job to pray for and support these younger families as they strive in this direction. Younger folks, it is your job to actually prioritize holiness and faithfulness above all things, insisting on godliness in your home. The integrity of our church depends upon your submission to Christ.

Our true holiness comes first, but it then proceeds out into the community. The church needs to find effective means of making contact with sinners whom the Lord is calling to repentance. We already have some of this foundation built up in two ways: 1) we have a strong online ministry, and 2) we have extra land in proximity to the church.

Online Ministry

People generally do not gather gather in public squares in the modern world. Rather, the public square is Facebook, YouTube, and various other social media platforms. Our church is already present and active on a few of them. The result is that we already receive between $1K and $2K per month from outside supporters who have been touched by our church’s online ministry. As we continue to grow in our capabilities and knowhow, we will be able to much more effectively target people in town who go to these outlets. We can essentially have a firm presence in the public square of our town.

Land

We are also sitting on a good deal of undeveloped land, one parcel to the northeast and another to the west. This can be used in many ways, but the way I imagine it’ll need to be used is to house people. Those of you who follow my podcast know that I recently interviewed a Nigerian scholar named Chinyere Priest, who is publishing on how to effectively move people out of Islam and into the the true Christian faith. It took me some time to understand that, when a person has been raised in a radically different tradition, it is very difficult to learn to live in a different way, with Christ as Lord. Oftentimes, people need to actually get space from the people and places they are daily attached to. If they cannot discover a new life in Christ, then they go back to the old way. That means churches that want to effectively provide for people to follow Christ need to have the means to provide a different space for them to learn and grow. If the church cannot offer alternative housing, at least on a temporary basis, then we will be very limited in our ability to free people from former ways of life. Essentially I’m saying that both physical and relational infrastructure is needed.

Because our culture no longer feeds into the church. Folks born in the US no longer see themselves as Christians by default, and they generally do not feel obligated to learn about the God who built this nation. In a generation or two, the only churches still alive in our culture will be those who have created this hands-on discipleship infrastructure. Churches that stay surface level and do not get into people’s lives very deeply will become increasingly irrelevant.

Getting a Deacon

Speaking of relational infrastructure, I think effective ministry in this town will require a deacon. In Acts of the Apostles, the Apostles functioned as elders, responsible for teaching and preaching, administering the sacraments and administering the affairs of the church. That is my role today. When the need came for people commissioned with authority by the church for ministries of mercy and interpersonal care, the first order of deacons was established (Acts 6:1-7).

Once upon a time, a public ministry resulted in people coming in the doors on their own. That hasn’t been the case for some time. Rather, people representing the church need to be designated to go out to build personal relationships with sinners aimed at calling them to repentance. Now, this needs to be done by every member of the church. Each of us should be getting to know our neighbors, praying for them, caring for them, and making efforts to bring them to Christ. Yet that time- and energy-consuming work is slow going for those of us with full time jobs and family lives. If this church wants to have a presence in the schools, nursing homes, jail, on local boards, senior citizens center…if it wants to have folks going door-to-door and making contact with folks at local events and in the grocery store…then it will need more than me to effectively do it. I currently do some of these things, but I am also administering the church.

Interns

I am currently working to get interns. We have had interns in the past who were a blessing to the church. We can and should have them again. But I think we should also aim to have an elder and a deacon for the sake of proper ministry here in Nowata. One man cannot do what is required alone. I am an exceptionally productive pastor. If you look at how other pastors perform, I am doing much more than an average full-time pastor. Even so, I do not have the required time and energy to do the hard relationship-building work required to bring people close. I intend to keep going door-to-door, ministering to our people and visiting you at your homes, having you into my home. Even so, this will not be enough to make the new connections needed to bring significant numbers into the household of God. We need to have a larger presence in the community, and that comes only from manpower. The question is if our church will be bold enough to designate what we have for a push in that direction.

Exhortation to Step Up

Like anything else in life, the harvest will result from how much work you put into it on the front end. As our 2 Corinthians reading said, “those who sow generously will reap generously.” Unfortunately, the culture of most churches of this size in small rural locations like ours today is a model of subsistence living. Friends, people do not want to give to a sinking ship. They want to give to something with staying power, which is able to rightly discern itself and its role in the midst of uncertain times. I hope my preaching of late has conveyed the kind of leadership you have and the hope we have for future generations. If you choose to believe me and to act in accordance with the portrait I have painted, then we can intentionally lay a groundwork for a counterculture here that effectively targets the local culture and its sinners with a firm foundation, in which our resources have been marshaled for God’s glory.

There is a possibility of a church here in the future that is a solid and sturdy presence in the midst of an unstable life. In times of great social upheaval in medieval Europe, it was the church that was able to stand against cultural decline and provide a mission outpost in the wilderness, out of which came much flourishing in later generations. A few years ago, Rod Dreher published a book called ‘The Benedict Option,’ in which he argued that the church needed to retreat from society in order to preserve hope for later generations. Truth be told, I think that is where we are. I think the culture around us is so lost, so depraved, that we cannot engage it effectively in any larger sense. Rather than casting a wide net and getting large hauls, I think we can only fish with a rod, one at a time.

One can look at our church with worldly eyes and see much to be concerned about. One can see the smaller attendance and the lack of midweek discipleship, the examples of people who have gotten angry and left, or otherwise concluded that this church wasn’t for them, and conclude that this church is on its last legs.

But one could also look at the fact that a large number of the folks here were not here just a few years ago, and we have lost a large proportion of our members to death and relocation in previous years. The fact that we have maintained at all is quite something. One could take note of the young families that are committed to raising their children as Christians. One could take note of the respectable endowment fund, the land we own, the online presence we have, the solid pastoral leadership. After looking at these things, I think one would be sane to conclude that there is much to be hopeful about here.

Our country, our culture, has enough lukewarm local churches that talk a good game. But we aren’t called to “play church.” Life is short and a counterfeit church is a waste of everyone’s time. Rather than continuing forward the mainline social club norm popularized throughout our nation, I want to unapologetically pursue the zeal and commitment of the true church seen in previous generations. I would like to think that the Holy Spirit is likewise supplying you with such a hunger and yearning, such that more and more we find ourselves bound together in a fervent commitment to Christ through this local church.

Benediction

May this be known as a people who truly do love Christ first and prioritize his covenant body above the other competing loyalties in our lives. May the future community of Nowata have reason to remark at us: “Look how they love one another! Look how they actually live holy lives in our midst.” And then may the Lord draw them to himself through us.

That is my earnest prayer. And I pray you will join me in praying:

“This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 29:4-9

This passage was written by the prophet Jeremiah, who was ministering to the Jewish people in exile in Babylon. Rather than teaching separation from the world, he was teaching them how to bless the world that they didn’t belong in. This is a model for us today, we poor wayfaring strangers, citizens of the Kingdom of God while living on earth. For a time, we, too, have suffered false prophets and diviners, who have led us to ineffective witness in the world. As Jeremiah and other biblical authors make clear, it is important to have pastors in place who speak the truth to the people, lest they stumble.

A Pastor’s Function - Physician

There are many metaphors for what a pastor is like. He is like a coach that is training his spiritual athletes to win in the team sport of the church. He is like a general, leading the troops against the forces of the evil one. He is like a CEO, heading up the various projects under the umbrella of the corporation. Of course, the very word pastor in the Greek (poimen), is a metaphor meaning literally ‘shepherd,’ the notion being that he leads the flock of Christ to green pastures and still waters. Today, I would like to use the metaphor of a physician.

A physician is a person who treats sick people. In order to do that, any decent physician is going to start with a diagnosis. A diagnosis is the ascertaining and pronouncing of the malady plaguing the patient. A diagnosis is followed by a prognosis and treatment.

As I often remind you, Jesus, whose name means ‘savior,’ came to save us from our sins. He is often called the ‘Great Physician.’ He compares himself to a physician, as a physician only comes for those who are ill. He makes the point that the only people he is going to help are those who can admit that they have a problem. In a general sense, every human has a sin problem that is going to kill us. The Great Physician, Jesus, is the only one who can correctly diagnose and treat our malady.

It is true that I cannot treat you in the sense that Jesus can. He is Christ; I am not. Yet it is a similar concept to the ‘Good Shepherd.’ There is only one and his name is Jesus. We are all his sheep, of his flock, following his voice. Yet the structure of the church requires that a shepherd, or pastor, be in place. I am not the Good Shepherd. I am just a shepherd. I am not the Great Physician. I’m just a spiritual physician. I am in place to properly diagnose and then to treat the particular maladies in this context.

Basic Concepts & Doctrine

The sickness in any cultural context is sin. But what about this particular context? How does sin effectively capture the hearts of the people around us, dragging them to hell? That is where my function lies. In order to apply the balm of the gospel, it is helpful, and often essential, to know the nature of the wound or sickness. Just as medical misdiagnosis often results in the wrong treatment, and the wrong treatment can easily lead to more harm, so a misdiagnosis or misunderstanding of the problems of our time and place can easily result in more harm being done than good. Indeed, I think most churches today are misdiagnosing the problems of our society, and that is why we continue to see the church on the decline across the post-Christian West.

My interest in giving this sermon today is not out of any desire to tear down or degrade the culture I serve. It is rather to create a shared understanding of the work that Christ has called all of us to. We are not going to have a shared understanding of anything unless it is first articulated and then we all choose to adopt it together. It is my hope that you see the truth in what I say today and adopt it as your own understanding of our context.

This requires on the front end that you confess the doctrine of Total Depravity and the Imago Dei. The Imago Dei is the notion that all humans and cultures equally carry the image of God. The Lord made us in his image, and that means we are all of sacred worth. This is where the notion of human rights comes from, a notion that is still foreign to any culture that is not Judeo-Christian in its orientation. Total Depravity is the doctrine that all of us, and all worldly cultures, are conceived in wickedness, and that the untouched human heart is inclined to sin all the time. We are, by nature, sinful and estranged from God. Holiness is a supernatural act that God works in us. That is what we are doing here.

God loves and condemns the world. His love of the world does not cancel out his righteous anger towards sin. We are similarly called to love the world, to serve the world, to pour ourselves out for the world, even as we pronounce God’s judgment against the world and warn people about sin and death. That means our church here in Nowata is called to love our town, our state, and our country, even as we warn them about the things in our culture that seek to condemn us. We do this because people are naturally self-justifying. The human heart is deceptive.

“A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart.” - Proverbs 21:2

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” - Jeremiah 17:9

My Perspective - Granular & Birdseye

In Nowata, yes, this begins with sin. After ten years living and working here, ministering to these people, praying over this town daily—I think I have some insights as to the nature of the various maladies plaguing the people we are tasked with saving. Yes, it is Christ who saves, but he has ordained that we should do the work of bringing these sick people to the great physician of their souls. We need to do this work well. That means correctly diagnosing the problem. As a reminder, in my ten years here, I have visited you and hundreds of other people at their homes. I have frequented the hospital, the nursing homes, the schools, the jail. I have sat in the county court. I have been a part of civic and local government work groups, sat on nonprofit boards.

I also think it helpful to remind you that I accurately predicted what would happen in our former denomination many years before it happened. For years, from this pulpit, I prepared you for the decision that needed to be made. Church leadership eventually confirmed that I had been right, and they led the church to an almost-uniform vote to leave. Thousands of other local churches did not have the clarity to leave the United Methodist Church, and they are very upset. I know this because I started a podcast aimed at speaking to them, which now has a presence on a dozen media platforms and an annual viewership of a million people and a regular audience of at least 8K. I understand much of the world around us, such that 350 people daily consult a daily briefing I do on every weekday. I read books aimed at understanding larger cultural trends, interviewing authors and distilling information for you and thousands of others on a regular basis. All this to say that I have done about as much homework as one can do, both locally and more broadly, to know what I’m talking about. I can still be wrong about things, but my assessments should be received as informed.

Perhaps most importantly, I have met with the Ministerial Alliance for ten years, praying over this town, talking about the challenges of this mission field. And that’s what this is: a mission field. For the rest of today’s message, I’ll talk about this mission field. In order to hear me, you’re going to have to make room for me to speak in generalizations. Yes, there will be exceptions to things I talk about here. That doesn’t change the fact that what I’m asserting here is generally true, and that general truth has a larger impact we need to reckon with.

Next week, we will talk about how to do mission here.

Key Numbers to Understand Nowata

Nowata, Oklahoma is a town of 3,575 people, projected from the last census. Nowata County probably has about 9,463 people living it is, again projecting from the 2020 Census. The median value of owner-occupied homes is $121,900, this being figured from the total of 4,383 total household units in the county. The largest age group is 50–59 years old, making up 13.9% of the population, indicating a significant middle-aged and retiree presence. 32.6% of births are to unmarried mothers, with 39% of these mothers having less than a high school education. More than a quarter (25.5%) of Nowata County households consist of individuals living alone (13.3% of whom are 65 or older). The median household income for 2023 was $52,679, up 3.37% from $50,960 in 2022. 16.4% of individuals (1,516 people) live below the poverty line, higher than the Oklahoma average of 15.3%. 88% of Nowata County residents have a high school diploma or higher, slightly below the county average of 90%. 3,820 people are employed, down 4.29% from 3,990 in 2022. Our top industries are Health Care & Social Assistance: 745 people, Manufacturing: 606 people, and Retail Trade: 382 people. Also, 11.4% of residents moved since the previous year.

Is Nowata County especially poor? Not especially, no. We aren’t rich, though. The poverty rate in Nowata County, Oklahoma, as of 2023, is 16.4%, meaning approximately 1,516 individuals live below the federal poverty line. This is higher than the Oklahoma state average of 15.3%. Our county’s poverty rate ranks 27th among Oklahoma’s 77 counties for poverty rate. This places it in the middle tier of Oklahoma counties, as the state’s overall poverty rate is 15.9% (2023 American Community Survey), ranking Oklahoma as the sixth-poorest state nationally. There isn’t any solid data on how many in our county are underwritten by the government.

Some Basic History of the Area

The City of Nowata came together in the days of Indian Territory. A huge shallow oil deposit was found on the land here, and people flocked to the area in the first decades of the 1900s to make money off the oil. For a few decades, this was a well-off and orderly town. Yet as the oil dried up, so did a lot of the money and jobs. As I have spoken with many longtime Nowata people, the sense I often get is that the town generally feels its best days are behind it.

Cultural Trends

So far as I can tell, statistically speaking, Nowata is quite representative of larger social trends. There are definitely unique cultural things to be found in any place, including here. Yet in a county of 10% annual turnover, the truth is that the wider cultural shifts in the country are very impactful. Nowata is largely a recipient and incubator of much larger forces and trends that trickle in from many angles, which very few understand or anticipate.

Local Commerce

According to the older members of this church to whom I have spoken, our county has never been particularly good at supporting locally-owned businesses. Yes, large corporations have sometimes moved in with lower rates to put local stores out of business. But it is also the case that many are content to drive to Washington, Rogers, and Tulsa counties to spend their money rather than staying here. Nowata, like almost all American small towns, looks somewhat disparagingly upon itself. It doesn’t have the amenities of larger urban areas. It is generally ashamed of itself, and older folks generally have no qualms about telling their kids to get out of here and build a life in a better place. I think this is wrongheaded, by the way. American cities have largely prospered by a sustained brain drain from small towns over the last century. I am very worried about a culture that values whatever is big, shiny, and rich. That culture has largely saturated Nowata.

Labor Challenges

American blue collar workers and their culture has largely been disparaged since the 1960s in this country, as federal-level government has worked to deport such jobs overseas. Federalized education programs have pressured all young people to attend college and get white collar jobs, inferring something bad about those who work technical jobs. The result is a huge skills and job gap that people like Mike Rowe are working to fill. On the local level, that means that even when companies choose to locate here, they often struggle to find quality workers. Local business owners have complained to me or in groups that I have been a part of that they cannot find workers who can be dependable, who can show up on time, who can put in a full day of decent, hard work.

Unemployment & Government Assistance

Many people see work as not good. It is normal for many who could actually work to get by on government assistance or live off their parents’ social security. People who work in the banks here tell me of men who bring their elderly mothers into the bank to cash checks and move the money into their own accounts. I have personally worked with more than a dozen households here that ask for help after receiving thousands of welfare dollars on a monthly basis.

Declining Social Capital

Another national trend that has bled into our county has been a rapid decline in social capital. Social capital is the phenomenon of people who join voluntary organizations. Robert Putnum started noticing a decline of bowling leagues in the 1990s and began publishing on this topic. Since then, we have seen a rapid decline in all voluntary organizations, including the church. People are generally intolerant of group scenarios in which compromise and negotiation are required. We see this in every sector, including public schooling as other more individualized alternatives are available. Some of this can be good, but what it generally means is that people in our culture are increasingly incapable of speaking and cooperating with other people. Folks self-isolate. As Joseph can tell you: As we go door to door, we frequently find households that are very isolated, with folks who stay inside all day, watch tv and play video games, do the bare minimum engagement with the world. They are socially retarded and difficult to reach.

Household Budgeting

Folks, even middle class folks, around here generally do not know how to have a stable household budget. Credit card and payday loan debt is quite high. If national averages of lower income rural counties hold true, then the average Nowata household carries about $70K in debt. About a quarter of its residents are living in rentals. This provides a general feeling of insecurity, especially for children being raised in these households.

The Children

From conversations with local teachers and the Boys & Girls Club leadership, I know that Nowata children are not doing okay. The stats on single motherhood already accurately predict what is being reported on the ground. Many of our youth are significantly maladjusted. Attention and anxiety issues are normal. Addiction to screens and processed food is normal. It is relatively rare that children and youth know how to speak and interact with adults. Failure to launch is common. Cohabitation outside of wedlock is common, as is the illegitimacy and single parenthood that follows.

What I hope is clear to you as I talk through all this is how poisoned by propaganda our culture is. For decades, people here, like in other small American towns, have chosen to believe the lie that life is about relaxing, about getting what they want in the way they want it, about the narcissism that we see on tv and in city culture. Any old school ethos of hard work, of knowing one’s neighbors and participating in the social fabric, is generally regarded as quaint and unrealistic.

The Drug Use

Perhaps the largest and most influential outgrowth of this phenomenon is the rate of illicit drug use here in Nowata. Having gone into the jails and simply watched the streets with my eyeballs, I know that drug use here is huge. Nationally speaking, about one-in-five people are on anti-anxiety and anti-depression meds. Odds are, with the presence of Grand Lake Mental Health, this is higher here. With the legalization of marijuana, it is to be expected that about one-in-five is regularly partaking of that. Almost half of all people in Oklahoma regularly drink alcohol, and a good number of those are functional alcoholics. But the most concerning is those who are trying to manage addictions and lives built around methamphetamines and pain killers. Given that these things are socially unacceptable and often illegal, it is hard to get solid numbers on how many people here are affected. But we see them in the court, in the jail, we see their kids at the school. There are a lot. Depending on where you are and what time it is, the town is crawling with them.

A local contractor, a fantastic brother in Christ, named Baily Kile, recently made a Facebook post detailing this:

The comments that followed indicate that this is a problem that many are aware of and concerned about:

Summary of Maladies

Speaking plainly, Nowata has an underbelly of dysfunctional people that are not manageable. Our society has been trying to treat the issues with financial intervention and redistribution, coupled with mental health care and medication. The issues are not only not going away, but they are getting worse. This is impacting the morale of everyone in this town. It drags us all down, raising suspicions of one another and making all of us more wary about participating in local events and getting mixed up with local people. It is a vicious cycle that is going in a bad direction. Many of those more functional members of our county are often going to other counties, not only to consume and relax, but also to worship. So many who put themselves forward in this community as problem solvers and builders are not a part of the local religious life.

And that’s a real tragedy because, at root, the issues plaguing this county are spiritual in nature. We keep trying to treat these bullet wounds with band aids. Folks who are abjectly miserable are filling their lives with drugs, gambling (I didn’t have time to talk about the impact of casinos and sports gambling), dysfunctional relationships and pornography, escapism through video games and watching tv all day. You can’t tell me I’m wrong about this stuff; I see it in almost every household I touch. The only answer to these problems, the only thing that can possibly change these lives, is Jesus.

Neuroplasticity & Jesus

It was recently revealed that the smartest man in the world is a Korean man named YoungHoon Kim. He created waves this last week by publicly announcing that he is an unreserved Christian. A post of his made on X that I appreciated said:

That word ‘neuroplasticity’ means that it changes our brains. Christianity changes how, or rather who, we are. The word for this is ‘repentance’ and/or ‘conversion.’ A survey of Christian history reveals that the Christian faith has been the most influential force for good in the world. There is no competition. Christianity has turned societies bent on death and destruction into fortresses of heavenly beauty. Christianity has been up to the task of reforming sinners for almost two thousand years.

The Definition of Crazy

But I must make clear that the culture of the last century in our nation is not sufficient. For a long time, American Christianity has swallowed lies that have made us ineffective. Indeed, it is because we have been doing things wrong for so long that we find ourselves in this highly sinful and lost culture. The American church, generally speaking, failed to hold the line. Leadership chose to believe that Christians could give a bare minimum of themselves to Christ through the church, and that everything would be okay. Christians could be friends with the world, could get along with worldly people, could yoke themselves with unbelievers, and Christ would still prosper our work. These hopes have been revealed as lies. We need to sober up and reckon with this failure. The mainline Protestant project of the last two centuries is falling apart, as each denomination has collapsed in worldliness.

Next week I’m going to talk about the particulars of how our church needs to do ministry in this mission field if we hope to actually change anything, to actually make disciples, to actually last until Jesus comes. The church has been in decline across America, and local churches in Nowata are struggling just like everywhere else. The way our church has done discipleship in the past has not generally resulted in longevity among our members, nor has it resulted in people desperately running to get in the doors, despite the fact that the church is the only group with the solution to their problems.

We need to be able to reckon with things as they are, so that we can rightly pray for our town. It is only when we see things as they are that we can rightly pray, repent, and then work for God’s glory. It is my hope that we can and will do exactly that.

The Good News

Christ is able to transform the most wicked sinner into a saint. Christ is able to transform this town into a heavenly place! The Holy Spirit is the most powerful entity in the world, and he is working all things for the good of those who love him. Put your trust in God, and he will guide our footsteps together. May we joyfully submit to his direction and discipline, even though it means hard work on our part. To be a slave to Christ is the most blessed existence in all the world. Let us serve him joyfully together until Christ comes again in glory!

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” - Matthew 6:19-21

“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver.” - 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

“Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.” - 1 Timothy 6:9-10

Prologue

Like everything else that is of this world, money seeks to corrupt the hearts of Christians. In our culture today, money is one of the main idols worshiped, around which the church is often expected to operate. People get particularly sensitive about any talk of money from the pulpit. Many are eager to be uncharitable with any message indicating that one should be expected to be particularly holy in how they spend their money, or that the church is in any sense entitled to the wealth of its constituent members. Many are prone to respond defensively rather than truly considering themselves. That is why many preachers experience great anxiety about speaking with any kind of clarity or boldness on this topic. People will leave. People will stop giving. These fears have caused more than a few pastors to shrink away from preaching faithfully on this part of the faith.

In this sermon I’m going to address a lot of the wrong thinking that tries to gain entry and power in the church around money. I’m going to paint a clear picture of a right relationship with money, especially as it is concerned with the church, such that none of you will be able to show up to the judgment seat of Christ and say that you hadn’t ever heard this message.

I am obligated to give this sermon, first and foremost, because I am an ordained elder, entrusted with instructing you in true doctrine, to the end that you might walk in newness of life. I am under no obligation to kowtow to whatever worldly norms are dominant in the corporate or civic world. Rather, I am compelled by Almighty God to warn you about those alternative worldviews so that you are not so easily snared by the evil one. Speaking on these things faithfully requires breaking a number of cultural taboos. This should not shock you. Christianity is, after all, not of this world.

My Witness

The Lord has blessed me in many respects, including that of money. Sara Beth and I own a rental property in Tennessee, and we are building another one. We have paid off education debt and have good habits of saving and investing. Rather than using these things for our own comfort and glory (you see the vehicles we have, we don’t go on fancy vacations, we don’t wear fancy clothes), we render what we are able to the church. We tithe over 10% of our income to the church annually, while also giving to the poor and persecuted through other organizations. Our family has endowment funds with over $40K invested that pays out to this church in perpetuity. We continue to add to these funds regularly. In the event that we die, our trust stipulates that 51% of our liquidated net worth will go to the church, including a $1 million life insurance policy.

I keep my annual income here below minimum standards for the conference. I have no intention of asking for a raise, even if income goes way up, for reasons I’ll plan on explaining next week. I went down to 3/4 time employment in the last year so that the church would not have to pay an expensive mandatory health insurance bill for me and my family every month. My podcast and writings bring in more than $1K monthly. All of that goes to the church. The Rickmans put our treasure where our hearts are: with the covenant community of Christ. We consider it pure joy to be able to do so.

I have a master’s degree from an esteemed seminary. I am not a bad preacher and could rather easily climb the corporate ladder, so to speak, serving larger, richer churches that would want to pay me a lot more money. I have gotten other job offers in recent years. I choose to stay here, to live humbly, to pour my life into this community out of hopes that many of you will likewise be moved to give of yourself to the cause of Christ here in Nowata. Like St. Paul, I model what Christ requires and encourage you to follow in my example. I talk about living this way, not because I’m so great, but because Jesus is. He is worthy of this. He is also offended if I withhold of myself.

On the Rich

I am not down on the rich. It is not a sin to be rich. Jesus did indeed warn very explicitly about how difficult it is to maintain one’s righteousness as a rich person, but he also accepted the presence and assistance of rich men and women throughout his ministry. The scriptures are clear that the rich are to be exhorted to be humble and gracious about their money, accepting that God shows no partiality, and that much is expected of those to whom much has been entrusted. The rich are made in God’s image no more and no less than everyone else. They have a place in the church no more or less than anyone else.

Stewardship

Fundamental to understanding right relationship with money is to know, firstly, that the money in your bank account, your wallet, your assets—isn’t actually yours. You do not own anything you have, including your money. God does. You are not an owner, but rather a steward, managing the Lord’s assets for him. That is why, when the church was inaugurated in Acts 2, believers did not carry forward the tradition of the tithe from the old covenant, but rather liquidated all of their assets and gave everything to the church. This ethic was so pervasive that, when two early believers chose to lie and withhold some of their money, the Holy Spirit killed them. From the beginning, the church was not meant to be just another beggarly social club with membership dues, but rather an extended family that is collectively stewarding God’s resources for the sake of his glory and for the good of the world. That has not changed. So I don’t preach that we should tithe. I preach that we should spend every dollar entrusted to us for God’s glory and the good of the world. If the church isn’t a big part of that, to your mind, that makes me sad.

Scarcity and Need

Another fundamental doctrinal truth is that God does not need your money, nor does his church. Worldly people will look at the local church as just another worldly institution that needs money in order to pay bills. This is not right at all. This notion demeans and profanes the church. Just like God did not need the sacrifices of the Hebrews (Psalm 50:9-13), he does not need our money. He is just fine without it. Churches that beg, that act like everything is desperate and people need to give or else the church is going to die…these churches are misrepresenting the faith. The true faith doesn’t worry about money. Money will come if God wants us to have money. If the church is making true disciples, then those disciples will joyfully and graciously give. If the church has to cajole its people into giving, then there isn’t anything good to say about that. That is a shame.

The Lord is just fine without us. He doesn’t need us, our money, our prayers, our worship attendance. At all. God is Sovereign. There is nothing we can do to frustrate him or his plans. He offers us salvation, not because he needs us, but because he loves us. He allows us to participate in our salvation because he loves us. So everything we do in the life of faith is in response to his love. We render all that we have to him, not because he needs it, but because he deserves it. He is worthy. Moreover, it is we who need to give. God has given us these spiritual practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving for OUR sakes.

Satan is pleased when we operate from a mindset of scarcity and fear. He is pleased whenever churches wring their hands at the prospect of not being able to pay the bills, when they hoard tons of money and refuse to be bold in ministry. If the evil one can keep us paranoid about worldly notions of fiscal solvency and healthy longevity, then we can talk a good game about the gospel, but our witness lacks power. Here’s a truth: A person and a church’s true faith is exposed by their posture towards money. If you love it too much, such that it compromises how faithful you’re willing to be, then it is an idol that will drag you to hell.

In our church we struggle with this. Our church has plenty of money to stay afloat doing what we are doing just fine for many years. It is true that, on a monthly basis, we are generally not taking in as much as we are spending. That is, in the offering plate. Yet our net worth as a church has gone up $46K since the beginning of the year. We have some great outside help that is buttressing our church, such that we have a healthy endowment and investment fund. So any anxiety folks convey about money issues in this church is not appropriate.

I need to be more precise. If it is the case that we have members who could give more to God’s mission through the church, but they are choosing not to, then we should be worried. But the thing we should worry about is not making ends meet. It should be that we are not moving members to be disciples. But if all of our members are giving all that they can, and this is the best we can do, then everything is okay.

Jesus was very clear that our lives are not to be spent worrying about money. The fact that we nakedly run the church out of such fear is a defeat of our faith, especially when our financial standing continues to improve. When I first moved here ten years ago, the church’s net worth was about $130K. Since then, it has increased by a factor of six. That despite paying interns and part time positions, a hefty disaffiliation fee, HVAC and roofing overhauls, and crazy expensive and rising insurance rates. Any fears about the insolvency of the church are hypothetically a possibility, but they are an unfaithful distraction from much more pressing concerns. You should indeed give to the church, but not because God needs it, nor because the church needs it. If those are the reasons you are giving, then you should stop giving. You should not see giving to the church as a civic obligation. It should be a joyful act, participating in your own salvation and submitting to the Master who has given you all you have.

Giving should be done out of an acknowledgment that your money is actually God’s. It is an obedient act of submission to your Lord. If you are not willing to give to the Lord to the degree that your way of life has to be humbler than it would otherwise be, then your faith is exposed as lacking.

You should give to the church because she is the bride of Christ and you love her. Because your wellbeing is tied up with her. Because you understand the church to be a heavenly place on earth, a people that God cherishes and loves, to which you have bound yourself through the waters of baptism and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. People who understand the nature of the church do not have to be begged to give to her.

Failures of Faith in Our Finances

Many in America today refuse to give out of a cynical mindset. We hate the way that our government spends our money, the drug addict on the corner spends our money. Heck, we left our old denomination because they were being faithless with our money. A lot of organizations today refuse to be financially transparent because they know certain misers in their midst will come after them for the way that they spend their money. It is a crippling fear that is actually destroying organizations. Institutions refuse to report transparently, which causes folks to suspect foul play, which is often revealed, and then institutions rightly crumble. This is what is happening to our former denomination. As many of you look around at the failure of historic institutions to do what they have been tasked to do, it is a natural thing to let that poisonous distrust spread to some suspicion of your church.

That is why Sara Beth has our full church financials posted outside the church office. You can see all our line items on our budget, all our funds. There should be no room for suspicion here. I have told you openly of my own personal finances. You can see my salary on those forms and see that your offering is not going towards making a pastor wealthy. It isn’t being spent on luxury items. It is rather going to build something that can save many more people in our area of influence. That is what the church is here to do: save lost sinners. Turning dollars into disciples is the financial task of the church. If you think our church can do a better job at that, then please come to our board meetings, speak and pray with us. Reviewing how we spend our money is the right of every giving member of the church. The purpose isn’t to blow holes in our shared venture, but to include everyone in the shared task of discipleship. People who want to tear down will eventually find their way out of the church. Those who want to build something beautiful for God should find this a great people and place to do exactly that.

Even so, in any group, decisions will sometimes be made that individuals don’t feel good about. You might think something is wasteful, or ineffective, or even offensive. That is one of the reasons why so many voluntary organizations are failing nowadays. Folks have lost the ability to be gracious. It is important for us to understand something: Once I give money away, I lose control of it. That means I don’t have to answer to God for how it is felt. If the government spends the money I rendered in order to indoctrinate Pakistanis through USAID, I am not morally culpable. If the panhandler on the street uses my money on whiskey, again, I’m not culpable. If my church spends money on something stupid, then again, I’m not culpable. But if I withhold of myself because the people in charge of the church don’t do things exactly the way that I like, then that is something I’m going to have to answer to God for. Same with you. It is my job to warn you.

Now, if it turns out that I am deluded and this actually isn’t a church and we shouldn’t be funded, then not only should you not give, but you shouldn’t be here. Don’t waste your time and presence on something that is counterfeit or wrong. But if this is a church and if we are tasked with a holy mission in this town, then you should be eager, champing at the bit, to give as much as you are able. You should be eager to learn about the good our money has done in building a church building in Abuja, Nigeria, in helping keep foster kids in healthy homes in Nowata County, in supporting the new Heartland Annual Conference.

Wills & Trusts

The Rickmans shouldn’t be the only members with endowments aimed at building up the church in perpetuity. We shouldn’t be the only ones making the church a significant beneficiary in our wills or trusts. That should be a normal thing for all believers. Maybe some of you have done this and just haven’t told me, which is your prerogative. But if you haven’t made the church such a priority, then I would urge you to augment your budget accordingly. I have been surprised at the number of people who have been members of our church who died and left nothing at all to the church. I don’t know how to interpret that. If Jesus is right and our hearts are to be found with our treasures, then it is a very obvious conclusion that believers should be making their church a beneficiary.

Summary & Exhortation

If I were to boil down my message today, it would be an encouragement to actually believe, to actually be in the church. Trying to negotiate a fractional faith, a lukewarm faith of lackluster commitment, is a depressing affair. Such a faith will always leave you dissatisfied and insecure. Every week I’m telling you to give this thing your all. I tell you to be in your scriptures and prayer constantly, to fast, to get to know your neighbors and minister to them, to spend time making friends with your brothers and sisters in Christ here. Today’s sermon is just an extension of that. Give your all to Jesus, and you will find that it was the best investment you ever made. Choose to give anything less than that, and you will carry a deep regret. I would save you from that if I could.

I believe God is powerful and able to free us from our love of money, from the ways in which we excuse our selfishness. I believe our faith is so powerful as to cure us of fleshly desires, such that we can actually give joyfully and graciously. And as we do so, I know that we will come to see the church as a lot more than just a social club. It’ll be the very people of God, marching joyfully to heaven together.

Next Week

Next week I’m going to speak plainly about what all this money can and should be used for in the church. What kind of ministry is the Lord calling this church to do in the heart of Nowata? How is he requiring that we administer the blessings he has endowed us for his glory and for the good of the lives we touch? I have some very particular answers to this that I’ll speak to directly, so I would urge you to make it a priority to be in attendance next week.

“And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues like fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” - Acts 2: 1-4

Pentecost Sunday was this last Sunday so we visited the Book of Acts to retell the story of how The Holy Spirit fell on those gathered in the upper room.