Is Our Biggest Problem Low Self-Esteem or Low Christ Esteem?

Most people in our culture today seem to think that most of our personal problems are due to a low self-esteem. The reason we have trouble in our relationships, trouble finding or keeping a job, or trouble breaking an addiction is because we think so poorly of ourselves.

But as I was meditating on a Scripture this morning I realized that we have a much bigger and deeper problem than having a poor self-image. Our greatest problem is not low self-esteem, it's low Christ-esteem. Ponder this verse for a moment:

He was despised and rejected by men;

a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;

and as one from whom men hide their faces

he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3 ESV)

We did not esteem Jesus. We despised him and rejected him. We hid our faces from him because the sight of him on the cross offended and disturbed us.

Could this really be true of Americans today? Dan Kimball suggested in his book They Like Jesus but Not the Church, that people in our culture esteem Jesus very highly. They actually find him attractive. It's organized religion that they despise and reject. But is this true? Are Americans simply more spiritual than the Jews and Romans who rejected Jesus? I don't think so.

Edward J. Young says this in his commentary on Isaiah:

The unbelief that Isaiah here depicts is the same unbelief found all about us today. Men say pleasant and complimentary things about the Lord of Glory. They will praise His ethics, His teaching, declare that He was a good man and a great prophet, the only one who has answers to the social problems that today confront the world. They will not, however, acknowledge that the death of Christ was a vicarious sacrifice, designed to satisfy the justice of God and to reconcile an offended God to the sinner. Men will not receive what God says concerning His Son. Today also, the Servant is despised and rejected of men, and men do not esteem Him. (V.3 p. 344)

It's time for those of us who have come to know and understand who Jesus truly is and what He did on the cross to realize that our main problem is not that we esteem ourselves so poorly, but that we do not esteem Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. The greatest need of the human heart is not to love the self, but to know and love the Savior and be restored into fellowship with our Creator. This should change the way Christians counsel people and it should also change the way we sort through our own problems. Your relationships, job situations, and addictions are more affected by your esteem for Christ than they are by your esteem for yourself. Your soul was designed to delight and enjoy Christ in all of His glory and grace, not to navel gaze. Christ-esteem is actually the key to mental health. Here's how John Piper puts it:

Our final inheritance is this: that we will see the glory of God and praise him for it. We will see his glory, savor his glory, and show his glory. This is why we were created. This goes to the heart of what it means for us to be fully human and for God to be fully honored. And the amazing thing is that the two happen together. They happen in the same act. God is profoundly honored and glorified in the very act of our being profoundly completed and satisfied in him. God exists to be glorious. We exist to see glory—and savor that glory, and to give it expression in praise.

That is the ultimate goal of redemption, and so I take it to be a statement about the ultimate meaning of human wholeness. If praising God’s glory is our final destiny, then seeing and savoring and praising God’s glory must be at the heart of what it means to be fully human. Seeing and savoring God is, therefore, the heart of mental health.

Where do we see the Glory of God most vividly displayed?

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6 ESV)

The face of Jesus Christ.

Family-Driven Faith

Part of being a missional community is building families that our centered around the gospel and are a small glimpse of what the Kingdom of God is like. Here's a great book by Voddie Baucham Jr. on raising your children:

http://www.crossway.org/blog/2009/09/trackback-thursday-family-driven-faith/

Are You Living in Community? 15 Important Questions

We have been talking a lot about being a missional community and the importance of relationships, but are you living in community? Here are 15 questions every follower of Jesus needs to ask himself/herself: (If you aren’t married you can skip #12 and 13)

Are You Living in Gospel-Centered Community?*

1. Who in your life knows the sin that you struggle with? (James 5:16)
2. Who do you meet with regularly to pray? (Matt 18:19)
3. With whom are you living a life of love in front of amazed unbelievers? (John 13:34-35)
4. Who’s corrected you in some area of your life lately? (1 Tim 5:20)
5. Who have you corrected recently?
6. Who are you currently discipling and teaching the Scripture? (2 Tim 2:2)
7. Who do you meet with regularly to discuss what your learning in the Bible?
8. Who will be by your hospitable bed to pray for you and encourage you?
9. Who will fight to keep you from straying from the faith? (Matt 18:15-20)
10. Who do you serve with, using the gifts that God has given you?
11. Who are you partnering with to reach non-Christians that you know?
12. Who do you meet with when your marriage is in trouble?
13. Who is regularly praying for your marriage?
14. Who are you encouraging daily? (Heb 3:12-13)
15. Who have you counseled with the Word of God recently?

Can you answer all of these questions convincingly? Every follower of Christ should be in intense spiritual relationships with other followers of Christ. Most Americans live in isolation rather than community (though technology may give us the illusion of community), but those who desire to follow Jesus are called to take part in each other’s lives and to building gospel-centered relationships. Don’t let these questions discourage you; let them motivate you to make these kinds of relationships a priority in your life. Let’s not be content with Sunday Morning Christianity; let’s live in gospel-centered community!

*Questions by Brian Howard of Copperhill Church http://copperhillchurch.org

Emergent Liberal or Emerging Evangelical?

There is a growing movement happening in our country right now of what may be called “The Emerging Church.” Mark Driscoll defines it like this:

The emerging church is a growing, loosely connected movement of primarily young pastors who are glad to see the end of modernity and are seeking to function as missionaries who bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to emerging and postmodern cultures. (Confessions of a Reformission Rev.)

Emerging churches believe that churches should have a closed hand holding Christian theology and an open hand embracing different cultural expressions of Christianity. Jude urges us: “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). We are to contend for the faith that was once and for all given to us. We don’t need to reinterpret it or reinvent it. We don’t need to repaint it or reimagine it. It was once and for all delivered to us. We are stewards of it and are charged to contend for it; fight for it; lay down our lives for it. So we have the gospel and Christian theology in a closed hand.

But we have cultural expressions in an open hand. Paul, the great apostle, missionary, and church planter, talks about his evangelism strategy in his first letter to the church in Corinth:

19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. (1 Cor 9 ESV)

So Paul believed missionaries should seek to understand the people they are trying to reach and communicate in a way that they can understand. Also a Christian community of Jews might meet in a synagogue and sing the Psalms. That’s okay. A group of Greeks might meet in a house and write new songs in their own language and style. That’s okay, too. In the same way, emerging churches are seeking to understand postmodern and emerging cultures and reach them effectively. We realize we don’t need a building with a steeple in order to be the church. We don’t need to sing from the hymn book or wear a suit and tie to be the church. We can change our cultural expression of Christianity “that by all means” we “may save some.” This does not mean modifying or playing around with the gospel, but instead we do “all for the sake of the gospel,” that we “may share with them in its blessings.”

However, some within the emerging church are questioning the basic historic beliefs of Christianity. This group has become known as The Emergent Church. People such as Brian McLaren, Doug Pagitt, and Tony Jones have been speaking around the country and writing books which have had great influence on the emergent conversation. These guys are questioning and even rejecting doctrines like: Jesus’ death on the cross as a penal substitute for our sins, the reality of hell as eternal torment, God’s sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, God as Father, and the clarity, perfection, and authority of the Scripture. Even Rob Bell in his book Velvet Elvis suggested that doctrines like the Trinity and virgin birth of Jesus are like springs on a trampoline that ultimately aren’t necessary for the Christian faith (22-27). The Emergent Church is essentially the new Liberalism. Instead of accommodating Modernism, they are accommodating Postmodernism. They are giving ultimate authority to postmodern philosophy and are subjecting the Bible and its teaching to it.

So, when we call ourselves “emerging”, we do that very carefully. We want people to understand that while we are seeking to reach postmodern people, that doesn’t mean we are reimagining the doctrines of our faith. We believe Jesus died as a substitute bearing the punishment for our sins. We believe that hell is real and it does involve eternal torment. We believe that God is sovereign over history and knows the future in its entirety. We believe God has revealed himself as Father and its okay to call him that. We believe that the Bible is perfect and authoritative and with the Spirit’s help every Christian can study it and understand what it means. In short, we are an emerging evangelical church, not an emergent liberal one.

What Kind of Church is Enigma?

In his book Confessions of a Refomission Rev., Mark Driscoll identifies three different types of churches: Traditional and Institutional, Contemporary and Evangelical, and Emerging and Missional. Here’s the difference:

Traditional and Institutional

When our nation first formed, Christianity was very influential and the church had a prominent role in society. Most politicians were members of a church (even if they didn’t believe) simply because it was the proper thing to do. Some call this “functional Christendom.” In this environment most churches were traditional and institutional. Here’s how Driscoll describes them:

• Missions is sending Americans to foreign countries
• Culture is where the church expects to enjoy influence
• The primary culture is modern
• Theology is liberalism vs. fundamentalism
• Churches exist to meet needs of their members
• Churches grow through births and denominational loyalties
• Community means relationships within church not outiders
• Pastors are selected and trained at seminary, outside local church
• Pastors do most of the ministry, especially evangelism
• Lost people are not frequently pursued for evangelistic relationships
• Faith is private and personal
• Worship services are based on tradition (robes, organs, hymnals, liturgy)
• Church buildings considered sacred places where people act and dress formally

Contemporary and Evangelical

Slowly, more people sitting in the pews of these churches ceased to genuinely believe and trust in Jesus and soon a new generation emerged that had less interest in going to a traditional church. As most of the traditional churches have dwindled, new churches which were contemporary and evangelical emerged. Here’s what they looked like:

• Missions is a department that sends people and money to foreign countries
• Culture is where the church battles to recover its lost influence
• The primary culture is transitioning from modern to postmodern
• Theology is conservative and built on a modernistic view of truth and knowledge
• Churches exist to meet the felt needs of spiritual consumers
• Churches grow through marketing that brings people to church events
• Community means welcoming lost people into the church culture
• Pastors don’t need formal training or ordination
• Pastors are like CEOs who lead and manage a staff which does the ministry
• Lost people are invited to evangelistic church programs that target seekers
• Faith is private and personal but openly shown at church
• Worship services are based on styles of the 80s and 90s (acoustic guitars, drama, etc.)
• Church building are functional places where people can dress and act informally

Emerging and Missional

Many young people are now dropping out of the contemporary and evangelical churches. While those churches are scrambling to make adjustments as our culture continues to change, a new kind of church is emerging which has been labeled missional. Here’s what this kind of church looks like:

• Missions is every Christian being a missionary to their local culture
• The church accepts its marginalization in culture, but seeks to gain influence by serving the common good
• The primary culture to reach is postmodern and pluralistic
• Theology ranges from ancient orthodoxy to heterodox liberalism built on postmodern denials of truth and known knowledge.
• Churches are the people who love Jesus and serve his mission in a local culture.
• Churches grow as Christian bring Jesus to lost people through hospitality
• Community means the church is a counterculture with a new kingdom way of life through Jesus
• Pastors don’t need to be trained or ordained formally, but are trained in the local church
• Pastors are missiologists who train Christians to be effective missionaries
• Lost people are saved by the Holy Spirit when and how he determines
• Faith is lived publicly together as the church and includes all of life
• Worship services blend ancient forms and current local cultural styles
• Church buildings are sacred, as is all of God’s creation.

So what type of church are we? Hmm.... The type of church you form should be determined by the type of people you want to reach. Driscoll says that older retirees tend to be more modern in their thinking and therefore traditional and institutional churches tend to reach them well. People in their late thirties, forties, and fifties tend to be attracted to contemporary and evangelical churches. Young creative types are generally reached through emerging and missional churches. As many of you know, we have a desire to reach the young creative types such as artists and musicians. As you look at our vision for a cafe and concert venue, we would definitely be considered more of an emerging and missional church. The one clear distinction I would make is that our theology is definitely ancient orthodox, and we are not interested in repainting the doctrines of Christianity as some are. Our methods may seem liberal to some, but our theology is definitely very conservative. Because of that tension we will always be criticized by people who hate what we do and people who hate what we teach. When you think about it, though, this is exactly what happened to Jesus. The Pharisees criticized his hospitality to sinners and they plotted his murder for confronting their sin. Jesus loved lost people, but he also called a spade a spade. He made no bones about talking about hell, sin, or his death and resurrection. We are just trying to follow in the footsteps of our Master.

Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out

Many of you have read Mark Driscoll's book The Radical Reformission. If you haven't yet, you should. You can either order a copy online or borrow a copy from someone. The main thesis of that book is that the American church is need of a "reformission." We need to reform the way we view our mission. Missions is not just something we do overseas, but something we do everyday on the job, at home, and at the grocery store. Every Christian is a missionary.

When Jesus saves us he calls us to the gospel (loving our Lord), the culture (loving our neighbor), and the church (loving our brothers and sisters). True reformission is faithful to all three of these. Driscoll gives four different types of churches and describes them like this:

Gospel+Culture-Church = Parachurch

Some of you may have been involved with college ministries like Navigators or Campus Crusade. These groups tend to love the gospel and love their neighbors, but not to love the church. Some "missional" or "emergent" groups now could be considered in this group. Many of them are trying to find a new way to be a Christ follower without belonging to a "church," or else redefining church so that it becomes more of a hang out for friends then a community of mutually committed believers which gathers for worship, the preaching of the Word, and receiving the Sacraments.

Gospel+Church-Gospel = Liberalism

Some churches are so focused on being culturally relevant that they compromise the gospel message to suit the thinking and desires of their neighbors. Many churches are becoming so enamored with postmodern thinking that they are willing to give up precious doctrines of the church and even lose the authority and truth of the Scriptures. This is nothing but a new rise of Christian liberalism.

Church+Gospel-Culture = Fundamentalism

Many churches are navel-gazers. They love to talk and debate doctrine. They love to have bible studies and have Christian gatherings. They may love the gospel, but they aren't bringing it to the lost neighbors around them who so desperately need it. The mission of the church becomes growing numbers or growing satisfaction from the members, rather than reaching more lost people.

How About You?

Everyone of us have probably been in one or more of these types of churches or ministries. The reason we are in the midst of a replant right now is partially because our church became more of a navel-gazing church and lost sight of its mission. I've heard stories about the street meetings our church used to do. A group from our church back in the 50's used to go to downtown Utica and sing songs about Jesus and preach sermons about Jesus. They weren't very fruitful, but their passion for mission was obvious. They wanted to reach people, they developed a plan, and they faithfully carried it out for ten years! However, over the years many people in our church became preoccupied with experiencing the Holy Spirit as an end and not a means. Jesus gave us the Spirit to empower us on mission. It was a means to an end. We are filled in order to be sent effectively on mission to reach lost people with the gospel. Many of us were simply seeking to be filled as an end in itself. We were consumers who came to church to be filled for our own sake. I don't mean this as a judgment on anyone, but as a confession. I was one of the consumers. For any church that wants to have "reformission," it will begin with repentance:

Father, forgive us for our selfishness and self-centeredness. Forgive us for loving ourselves so much and not loving our neighbors who are still in darkness. We ask for an outpouring of Your Spirit, not for our sake, but for the sake of Your name: that Your name may be proclaimed in all the earth. We want the gospel about Jesus to be heard and embraced by the lost people we live by, work with, and study with. Help us, Father in Jesus' name. Amen.

Gospel+Culture+Church = Reformission

This is our vision for Enigma Church, the new church that is emerging from the dust and ashes of the old. We want to faithfully love and share the gospel. We want to constantly look out and see the lost people around us and develop strategies to reach them. We want to faithfully gather, love, and challenge one another as the church.

May the grace of God be at work in our hearts.

Demonstrating Mercy to the Suffering

Faithful Witness must involve clearly communicating the gospel and living in loving community, but is that all? Many conservative Christians would stop there. Tim Keller argues, “Caring for the poor is inseparable from the work of evangelism and the ministry of the word” (Keller 17). There were three main things that Jesus did before his death on the cross: “preaching, teaching, and healing” (Guder 133). He proclaimed the kingdom, he explained the kingdom, and he demonstrated the kingdom. Throughout his ministry Jesus demonstrated mercy to those suffering from disease, demons, hunger, sin, and even death. He said, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:20 ESV). Jesus also taught: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy,” and “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:7,16). Jesus told a rich man to sell all of his possessions and give them to the poor (Matthew 19:16-22) and he told a parable encouraging people to show mercy to anyone they happen upon who is need of medical care (Luke 10:29-36). So in both Jesus’ teaching and healing we find an example of mercy for us to follow.

In the same way, when a Christian community demonstrates mercy to the suffering today, it is a foretaste of the Reign of God. Lois Barret uses the word “healing” to describe this demonstration of mercy. She says: “It is right to see healing in its broad sense -- healing of the emotions, forgiveness of sin, peace, reconciliation, freedom, and restoration of justice and right relationships, as well as physical healing” (Guder 134). This healing mercy of the church is “a sign that the reign of God is near” (134). Chester and Timmis put it like this: “A day of reversals is coming when the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And this coming kingdom is anticipated in the Christian community—a jubilee community of forgiveness and justice” (72). As the poor and the suffering experience the mercy that we offer, we are able to point them to the day when our King returns and he will end all suffering. Like the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14, we can invite the suffering to share our food, our fellowship, and show them how they can be clothed in wedding garments through the gospel in anticipation of the great wedding banquet to come. There is a tension here that requires comment. On one hand, “there is no way we can rest content with major injustice in the world,” and on the other hand, “we must recognize that the final putting to rights of everything does indeed wait for the last day” (Wright 216). In faithfulness we demonstrate mercy and in humility we acknowledge that the task is beyond us.

So what does it look like for a Christian community to demonstrate mercy to the suffering? This will of course depend on the place where you live. The parable of the Good Samaritan reminds us to open our eyes to the suffering of the people around us. In his parable of the sheep and goats Jesus sets forth these acts of mercy: feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, and going to the prisoner (Matthew 25:35-36). Looking at the suffering around us we find other ways of showing mercy: sheltering the homeless, fostering and adopting the orphans, caring for the widows, helping the addicted, giving medical care to the uninsured, and comforting the mourning. To this we must add that “the best thing we can do for the poor is offer them a place of welcome and community” (81). One of the worst parts of suffering is the feeling of being alone. We not only seek to give them relief, we offer them our hands in friendship.

This demonstration of mercy is also an opportunity to disciple people who are not yet Christians (Driscoll 69). Many of the people in our post-Christian culture, who are uneasy about the idea of attending a church, will be happy to come with you to feed the homeless. This enables believers to invite people into their community so that they can learn what the Reign of God is like first hand. As they see what following Jesus looks like, we are then able to show them why we follow him. We point them back to his death and resurrection and what they accomplished. We point them forward to his return and the restoration of all things.

Chester, Tim and Steve Timmis. Total Church. Wheaton: Crossway, 2008.

Driscoll, Mark. The Radical Reformission. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004.

Guder, Darrell (ed.). Missional Church. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdsmans Publishing

Company, 1998.

Keller, Tim. “The Gospel and the Poor.” Themelios Journal. 33.3 (2008): 17. 3 April 2009.

<http://s3.amazonaws.com/tgc-documents/journal-issues/33.3/Themelios_33.3.pdf>

Wright, Nicholas. Surprised By Hope. New York: Harper One, 2008.