Back in Interview 11, Joe Martin talked about how he was soon to step down from his leadership position at the Church of God (General Conference).  In this episode, you’ll hear from Seth Ross, who has taken up the mantle and who casts his vision for the future.  You’ll learn about his background, his twenty years pastoring a church in Ohio, and how he came to be the executive director.  What I found particularly refreshing about Ross’ outlook is how non-sectarian he is.  Rather than looking at the Church of God as a denomination to be protected from hostile secularists, on the one hand, and heresy hunting evangelicals, on the other, he sees his role as a cheerleader and facilitator not only for his network of churches, but also individuals far and wide who are studying the bible and coming to discover God’s identity, the kingdom gospel, conditional immortality, and believers’ baptism.  Whether you are a member of the Church of God or not, this interview should get you excited about the future of what God’s doing in the world in our time.

Notes and Links:

No one joined the Pharisees out of desire to practice professional hypocrisy. They were the devout, the separated, the ones who took God and holiness seriously. However, by the time of Jesus, they had confused godliness with self-righteousness and lost compassion in the process. It’s so easy for us to root for Jesus as he calls them on their hypocrisy. Nonetheless, this same attitude–thinking we’re better than others–is not just a Pharisee problem. When we look within our own hearts, we see our own self-righteousness masking itself as moral outrage. What’s the cure? The way to heal a judgmental heart is with the medicine of grace and humility.

Quotes from This Episode

Dale Tuggy:

“God would rather have ten humble Trinitarians that are trying to follow Jesus every day, and act his teachings in their daily lives, he’d rather have ten of those guys than one constantly battling and self-righteous, angry, condemning, doctrine-obsessed unitarian, who’s got the correct theology. So…don’t be that guy. If we’re that guy, the movement’s doomed.”

Frederick Douglass:

“I find, since reading over the foregoing Narrative, that I have, in several instances, spoken in such a tone and manner, respecting religion, as may possibly lead those unacquainted with my religious views to suppose me an opponent of all religion. To remove the liability of such misapprehension, I deem it proper to append the following brief explanation.

What I have said respecting and against religion, I mean strictly to apply to the slaveholding religion of this land, and with no possible reference to Christianity proper; for, between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. To be the friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other.

I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ: I therefore hate the corrupt, slave-holding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity. I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of “stealing the livery of the court of heaven to serve the devil in.” I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which everywhere surround me.

We have men-stealers for ministers, women-whippers for missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cow skin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. The man who robs me of my earnings at the end of each week meets me as a class-leader on Sunday morning, to show me the way of life, and the path of salvation. He who sells my sister, for purposes of prostitution, stands forth as the pious advocate of purity. He who proclaims it a religious duty to read the Bible denies me the right of learning to read the name of the God who made me…

The Christianity of America is a Christianity, of whose votaries it may be as truly said, as it was of the ancient scribes and Pharisees, “They bind heavy burdens, and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith; these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides! which s

Now that we’ve worked through several counterfeit gods, including love, money, success, and power, it’s time to dig in a little deeper.  Do you understand your own heart?  Can you discern where you are tempted to idolize something or someone?  In order to figure this out, ask yourself these four questions:

Asking these kinds of questions can help you discover your own counterfeit gods.  However, even once you’ve identified and uprooted them, you still have to put God on the throne.  One of the best ways to do this is to recognize the incredible worth and value of God.  To that end, here are ten reasons why God is is worthy of worship.

10 Reasons Why God Is Awesome

Ultimately, we need to cultivate our relationship with God.  Worshiping him takes work and diligence, but it is grounded in God’s unfathomable love shown to us through the cross.

Notes and Links:

Covetousness, self-reliance, and envy can rob us of gratitude and contentedness.  So much of our world programs us to feel restless, entitled, and discontent regarding our possessions, how we look, our work, and our relationships.  Have you ever asked yourself, “How much is enough?”  Taking his cue from the Apostle Paul, John Cortright shares the secret of being content: recognizing that what God has done through Christ is already enough.  In the end, Cortright concludes based on Psalm 73, that God is his chief good, his portion, his refuge, therefore, come what may, God is enough!

Psalm 73.25-28

My flesh and my heart may fail,

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

But for me it is good to be near God;

Notes:

The 19th century philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, believed that our desire for success, money, or love really went back to our “will to power.”  Whereas other philosophies focused on calibrating our internal state to accept reality, Nietzsche focused more on conforming reality to our desires.  Although it’s terribly out of fashion to admit one desires and pursues power, this counterfeit god is alive and well.  We can get so involved with a political party, a social justice issue, or advocating some cause that we begin to live for it rather than God.  We seek to make the world better and this often takes heroic sacrifice and commitment, which, in turn, can easily lead to removing God from the throne of our hearts and even defying how he says to live in the process.  The solution is not to divest ourselves of power, but to submit our wills to God.  Humility is the way God can redeem our influence for his purposes.  In his earthly ministry, Jesus was powerful, but he did not let it go to his head; instead, he constantly recognized that God was the source of his words and works.  In the end, God exalted Jesus, bestowing on him a name that is above everyone else.  This is our example.

Notes and Links:

Saint Patrick is one of the most courageous missionaries of Christian history. Although revelers mark his day with debauchery and drunkenness, he pursued holiness and risked his life to preach to the Irish barbarians. He held out to the ancient Irish tribes a promise of protection from their gods and demons, if only they would come to Christ. Not only is he an example of virtue and courage, he also shows how far forgiving and loving our enemies can go. After patiently waiting for years for his non-missionary-minded church to send him, he got to preach to the very people who had kidnapped and enslaved him as a teenager.  Learn who the real St. Patrick was and how his life can inspire you to live for Christ in our post-Christian society today.

Notes:

Everyone enjoys accomplishment and achievement, but what happens when we take success and make it our ultimate goal in life?  When you reach the pinnacle of success in any field, it’s easy to get depressed, asking yourself, “Is this all there is?”  Furthermore, you may begin to fear that you won’t be able to maintain your position as other star-eyed would-be achievers are climbing to the top in an effort to push you off.  How can we guard against worshiping the counterfeit god of success without settling into complacency or laziness?  In this episode we answer this question by embracing the goodness and joy of achievement while recognizing that our ultimate worth comes from God’s gracious offer of love, demonstrated on the cross of his dear Son.

Notes and Links:

The history of Christianity can sometimes be really depressing, especially when we look at the “heresy hunters.” From Justin Martyr and Irenaues in the second century to Athanasius and Epiphanius of the fourth century, as Christians we progressively came to define ourselves on the basis of what we don’t believe.  As a result, so much energy focused on precisely defining and policing the boundaries of orthodox doctrine.  This tendency continued to develop throughout the middle ages, culminating with the Catholic Inquisition in Spain where the church interrogated, tortured, and executed “heretics” (typically Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism).

In the sixteenth century, even Protestants executed heretics like the founders of the Anabaptists and Michael Servetus.  Thankfully, the world has changed so much from the days when one could be executed for thought crimes.  However, especially with the advent of the internet, the heresy-hunting impulse is alive and well within Christianity.  Across countless blogs, chatrooms, and youtube channels, self-appointed orthodox defenders continue to bully and blackball other honest-hearted Christians for their unwillingness to accept their list of essential doctrines.

In this eye-opening talk, Dr. Dale Tuggy discusses four approaches to heresy, including (1) Catholic, (2) Protestant, (3) “free” Protestant, and (4) apostolic.  He argues that there is such a thing as heresy, and we should take it seriously, but it has a lot more to do with divisiveness than doctrinal errors.  Ironically, the heresy-hunters are the ones guilty of causing αἵρεσεις (factions) in the body of Christ.

Notes:

I bet you don’t think you struggle with greed. In fact, I’ve never met anyone who told me this was a problem for him or her. But greed is subtle. It sneaks up on you when you think you’re just working towards financial security or building your confidence or taking control of your life. In this episode we discuss how greed lurks in the shadows as well as how to slay the beast through gratitude and generosity.

Notes and Links:

We all have competing impulses within us vying for our attention and expression. How do you know which ones to amplify and which to repress? How should we think of ourselves? Are we powerful and valuable creatures made in God’s image or accidental byproducts of time plus chance plus matter? In order to live out authentic humanity we need to grasp who we are and how God calls us to live. Only when we live in conformity with our designer and creator can we flourish and bring him glory.

Notes: