The over-arching theme of this chapter is that the American Dream teaches us to rely upon our own power, when we ought to rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit. But the American dream isn’t all bad; it teaches us to be hard-working and successful, and use the talents God has innately put in us. So that is good. However, there is a dangerous temptation to begin thinking that our greatest asset is our own ability.
James Truslow Adams is credited with coining the phrase, “American dream,” and spoke of it like this: “a dream…in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.”
Platt continues:
So is there anything wrong with this picture? Certainly hard work and high aspirations are not bad, and the freedom to pursue our goals is something we should celebrate. Scripture explicitly commends all these things. But underlying this American dream are a dangerous assumption that, if we are not cautious, we will unknowingly accept and a deadly goal that, if we are not careful, we will ultimately achieve.
The “dangerous assumption” is the belief that our greatest asset is our own ability. How many times are people in America encouraged to believe in themselves? Definitely in most high school graduation speeches. It’s easy for us as Christians to say, “No, of course I don’t assume that. God is my greatest asset and source.” But do we really live in that belief? I know I don’t as much as I should. Do we live in our own security or are we truly dependent on God for our needs?
The “deadly goal” is death, which is what we achieve when we pursue our own desires through our own power. And under these circumstances, we will always attribute our accomplishments to our own glory. When we achieve our goals through our own power, we don’t attribute glory to the Father. In Adams’s words, we will be “recognized by others for what [we] are.” Platt: “This, after all, is the goal of the American dream: to make much of ourselves. But here the gospel and the American dream are clearly and ultimately antithetical to each other.” In the gospel, we are confronted with our complete inability to accomplish anything of value without Christ.
God actually delights in our inability and is always showing us through numerous examples in Scripture and in our own lives, our need for Him. Why? To make His name great! In the story of the battle for Jericho, God chooses a strategy through which only He could get the glory. Platt: “This is how God works. He puts his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.”
But it’s not just during the week that we struggle with ignorance of our dependence upon the power of God. I would say that the majority of churches significantly struggle with an American dream mentality in how they approach their programs. They structure their methods and programs in ways that emphasize their own ability and ingenuity.
Consider what it takes for successful businessmen and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs and hardworking associates, shrewd retirees and idealistic students to combine forces with a creative pastor to grow a ‘successful church’ today. Clearly, it doesn’t require the power of God to draw a crowd in our culture. A few key elements that we can manufacture will suffice.
First, we need a good performance. In an entertainment-driven culture, we need someone who can captivate the crowds. If we don’t have a charismatic communicator, we are doomed. So even if we have to show him on a video screen, we must have a good preacher. It’s even better if he has an accomplished worship leader with a strong band at his side…
Anyways. I think it’s good to be relevant to our culture, but when it leaves behind the power of God, even in the planning of the programs, then it’s crap. We ought to diligently seek the direction of God through prayer in everything that the church does. Not relying on the next new strategy or “next big thing” to keep us relevant, but relying on God’s power to do something great despite our weaknesses. Relying on the power of the gospel; living in genuine love, which draws the hopeless to the hope we have in Christ.
But what is strangely lacking in the picture of performances, personalities, programs, and professionals is desperation for the power of God. God’s power is at best an add-on to our strategies. I am frightened by the reality that the church I lead can carry on most of our activities smoothly, efficiently, even successfully, never realizing that the Holy Spirit of God is virtually absent from the picture. We can so easily deceive ourselves, mistaking the presence of physical bodies in a crowd for the existence of spiritual life in a community.
The reality is that it doesn’t matter how many resources the church has. The church I lead could have all the man-made resources that one could imagine, but apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, such a church will do nothing of significance for the glory of God. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. The church I lead could have the least gifted people, the least talented people, the fewest leaders, and the least money, and this church under the power of the Holy Spirit could still shake the nations for his glory.
Just look at all the stories in Acts where God powerfully uses His followers who are completely desperate for Him. Acts 2:41 says, “So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.” 3,000… and notice the language, “were added”. Who added them? God.
I pray that God will continue reminding us of our dependence upon Him, and help us to live in that reality.
You know, it's rather ironic that we can even have something called "cultural Christianity" - how we've managed to interweave two oppositional life perspectives is really rather astounding. Glorify God vs. glorify ourselves...we're constantly prone to the former, and yet commanded to do the latter... and somewhere we lose ourselves and the power of the gospel when we try to do both!
ReplyDelete**"He puts his people in positions where they are desperate for his power, and then he shows his provision in ways that display his greatness.” ~ so true!!
**"Relying on the power of the gospel; living in genuine love, which draws the hopeless to the hope we have in Christ." ~ Amen! : )
I want to add some questions from my experience. How do we measure success? When do we know that the Holy Spirit is "shaking mountains" with a small giftless community or a large infinite resources or infinite gifts community? It's been a struggling question for me for the last 10 years. When we did church planting 10 years ago, we had dynamic leaders, students from non-Christian families making commitments to Christ, and it felt like front lines mission work. But most of those people who made decisions for Christ went back to their original lifestyles or worse.
ReplyDeleteIn my next church experience, I went to a church that had just lost a significant portion of the youth group. For 4 years, I didn't see new people come in the door of that church. If I invited people, they would only come once because they didn't feel welcome in the community. When I would tell the youth pastor that there's a problem and that we're not growing, the Youth Pastor would say, "You can't judge what God's doing in people's hearts. God is always doing a good work, and I don't need to do too much for that to happen."
Then I joined a Christian community that operated in a house. A couple would open of their homes to anyone and everyone. The father of this family had dreams that this community would be a catalyst to the rest of the world. God gave him a vision that the influence of this community would reach millions with the gospel. I would meet new people every week, pray with new people every week, see people get healed by the power of Christ, and see myself get healed. This setting had dynamic leaders, dynamic worship leaders, and people that were willing to be transparent with eachother creating real community.
Now, I have been a part of churches with many resources or no resources. I've seen results that can be not long term. I've seen attitudes that create no growth or "un-judge-able" growth. I've seen a dynamic community set on fire by a vision of the gospel, and I've seen many other things in church. In the second church, we didn't do anything. We may have relied on God's ability and dependence, but we didn't make disciples, we didn't meet new people, we weren't hospitable to new people coming into the church (by our personalities). There is a factor of human ability (James 2). Is that separated from dependence?
God's power may make things alive, but in different communities, different programs, different styles, and different settings, we can get in the way. Maybe that's because of our lack of dependence. Maybe that's because we didn't go when God said, "Go". Maybe we didn't give enough of ourselves to the community. Our "doing" and our "dependence" is such a frustrating concept. I look at those 3 church settings, and I'm looking at the results. Does God even look that way at those things? Does He even care about the results? Is "results" too American of a word or concept? That's why the Emerging Church has gained so much enthusiasm in the last few years. "We're going to make better results than our predecessors". But I also want to avoid the mistakes of the past. Is that a human attitude? Is that really a God question?
Ultimately, I want to ask this question: what setting is most conducive to letting us get out of the way so that God can do whatever He wants us to do unobstructed?
Prayer over everything in the church. That's the setting. Yes, we contribute. To say we have no control, and might as well not try to improve things is wrong as well. So what do we do? We try our best to glorify God and make disciples, and encourage others to do the same in our church. All the while knowing that it's ultimately the power of God that gets things done through us.
ReplyDelete