How the mighty fall

So Joshua Harris is separating from his wife.

It's like a kick to the gut, you know?  I wasn't all-in with his dating (i.e. non-dating) advice, and even wrote a bit on the topic a few years ago.  But he did some other work that was quite good.  We even went to hear him preach at Covenant Life Church in Maryland once when we were in the area.

So, it is a sobering point to ponder:  The foremost voice on Christian dating and abstinence is separating from his wife.  NPR and Fox are all over it.

O Lord God, protect Your Name and Your Reputation.

Of course Joshua Harris is not the keeper of God's reputation.  God Himself keeps His reputation.  If we believe in the Sovereignty of God, we must believe that God Himself is separating Himself from certain aspects (at least) of what Joshua Harris taught.

The world is broken and messy.  I fret because I fear that the world will throw out everything Joshua Harris ever said, and the Bible and Christianity in general, rather than only the things that were wrong.  This happens frequently.  We call it throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  It seems that many, many people are unable to separate the objective truth of a statement from whether it came from a credible source.  Once a source is deemed unreliable, people automatically earmark everything from that source as erroneous.  This would be a more valid response if we were dealing with, for instance, water.  If the water from a certain spring is polluted, then it's polluted, and you have to avoid drinking it.  But the teaching from a man is not as homogeneous as a glass of water.  One man's voice can speak both true things and false things, one right after the other.  Additionally, even with a water source, there may have been a time when it was not yet polluted, and some people might have--sealed in their refrigerators--a few jars of water drawn before the pollution occurred.  Those jars of water are still safe to drink.  Similarly, the water source could be purified, and after the impurities have been filtered out, it may be perfectly healthy to drink the water again.  Likewise, a flawed teacher may still teach some things that are true.  You need to be careful to evaluate what you hear, but you have to be careful anyway, with every teacher (Acts 17:11).  There has never been a perfect teacher, except Jesus.  This is why we need to read our Bibles and think for ourselves, and not accept spoon-feeding from any man, neglecting our responsibility to evaluate in light of scripture.

Poor Joshua Harris is just a guy.  He wrote his first book when he was 21.  What does a 21 year old--who isn't even married--know about love and marriage?  Yet, he became a best-seller, and a Christian celebrity.  He rode high atop the shoulders of powerful Christian leaders, and catapulted into senior leadership himself, at a tragically early age, in a very large church.  1 Timothy 3:6 warns of the danger that an unproven, untested man can fall into pride if he becomes a leader too soon.  The passage specifically warns about new converts, but I think we can extrapolate to any who are less proven than others.  Churches should seek out the most tested and tried men available to be leaders.  Churches should not pick young, exuberant men for high positions of authority, merely to enliven the atmosphere.  Sometimes a church will need to appoint a new believer or an inexperienced young man, because there are no elder men able to serve.  But when there are elders--older men who are wise, available and willing--the younger men should wait and watch and learn.

One thing we may be able to winnow out of this debacle is that celebrity Christianity is dangerous.  Bandwagon Christianity is dangerous.  Christianity that derives too much influence from youth culture is dangerous.

If it's new, it probably isn't true,

and if it's true, it probably isn't new.

(~I'm going to credit this to Alistair Begg)

Last week in church, we sang A Mighty Fortress is Our God.  I remember not so many years ago, "worship leaders" who mocked this amazing hymn and called it silly, impossible to relate to.  However, as I sang the words with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, my heart quailed.  I wondered if I were strong enough to be vocalizing what it said:

And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear for God has willed His truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him,
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure...
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth.
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also,
The body they may kill; God's truth abideth still,
His Kingdom is forever.

In case the old fashioned words are hard to understand, I will give a (non-rhyming) paraphrase:

Even though the world is full of evil powers that work against us, trying to take us down,
we do not need to fear, because God plans for His truth to be proven by His power sustaining us in our weakness, making us strong and triumphant (2 Corinthians 12:8-9).  God's grace breaks the power of sin (Romans 5:20).
Satan is a fearsome enemy, but we do not tremble before him.
It doesn't matter how angry Satan gets, because he will not win in the end.
One word from God--Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh (John 1)--has triumphed and will finish Satan off at just the right time.
The Word--Jesus--is above all other powers and authorities and abides in victory despite demonic antics on earth.
Furthermore, Jesus fills us with His Spirit and grants us spiritual gifts to use in the battle of love/righteousness/life over selfishness/sin/death.  He is on our side, and He works in us, through us and for us (Romans 8:31-34).
We can let all earthly things go, everything that is seen and transient (temporary--see 2 Corinthians 4:17-18).  Our enemies can even kill our earthly bodies, but they cannot separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39).
We will live forever in paradise with God.

We need to remember the time-tested truth of the ages, from antiquity to this present day.  We need to look to the lives of those who finished strong, and see what we can learn about how they did it.  We must never think that we, in our modernity, have discovered some sacred truth that nobody else in history ever knew before; that is the epitome of pride.  We must respect our forefathers in the faith, the ones who persevered.  We can learn from new voices, but we must beware of people who impose a new structure on us.  Whether we are considering new rules, new freedoms, or even new music styles, we must hold them up to the standards God has given us:

1.  Does this add to or subtract from what God has said in His Word?  

(the answer must be no, neither)

2.  Is this a manifestation of God's grace and love for all people?   

(the answer must be yes)

3.  Does this promote humility or pride in those who participate in it?  

(the answer must be that it promotes humility and does not promote pride)

4.  Does this increase my awareness of my need for Christ, both fundamentally and moment by moment?

(the answer must be yes)

All four criteria must be met.  To accomplish that, the Spirit of Jesus Himself must dwell inside us, illuminating the way.