Belief as It Relates to Jesus

In last week's blog (July 22, 2019 - I Believe ... The Problem with Belief), I spoke of how the focus on belief has led many who call themselves Christians to act in un-Christian ways. The focus on belief is an attempt to be "right," which appeals to the ego and fosters a not-so-subtle arrogance that looks at the "other" as "wrong" and, thereby, less than. This focus on belief divides and polarizes. It is often marked by a rigid spirit that is unable to tolerate any other way of thinking, evidence that the heart is untouched and unchanged.

And, yet, belief is vitally important ... belief as it relates to Jesus, that is. 

I see belief as it relates to Jesus as significantly different from belief about some ethical or theological or political position. Belief about an ethical or theological or political position sets up the us-them polarization, the ego-driven need to be right, the arrogance that fuels disdain for those who think differently. Belief as it relates to Jesus leads to a radically different outcome.

Unfortunately, popular Christianity often places belief as it relates to Jesus in the same category as ethical or theological or political beliefs (a position on one side of an issue). It makes belief as it relates to Jesus about who Jesus is, i.e., God's son - God in human flesh. This focus on who Jesus is distracts us from what Jesus taught and how Jesus lived. It allows us to believe in Jesus but not follow Jesus. Richard Rohr notes that Jesus never called anyone to worship him; he called them to follow him, that is, to live the ways of God that he taught.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God. Some today speak of the Kingdom as the Reign of God. The Kingdom was the dominant theme of Jesus' preaching and teaching. He proclaimed the Kingdom to be a present reality, inviting people to embrace it and pursue it here and now. His ministry and teachings reflected the ways of the Kingdom - a society/world patterned after the character of God and practicing the ways of God:

• everyone is a beloved, valued child of God; 
• relationships are based on grace and forgiveness; 
• power is used to serve; 
• material wealth - as a form of power - is used on behalf of the poor and powerless; 
• transformation of heart and mind that leads to personal, spiritual growth and wholeness is the Kingdom's objective for the individual; 
• a world of peace and abundance is the Kingdom's objective for society. (See my book A God-shaped World: Exploring the Teachings of Jesus about the Kingdom of God and the Implications for the Church Today.) 

When we pray the prayer that Jesus taught - the Lord's Prayer - we are praying for this kind of world to become a reality on earth: "thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven."

In my mind, the primary question is not "do we believe Jesus was/is the Son of God?" (Yes, I know that sounds like heresy!) The more important question is "do we believe what Jesus taught about who God is (self-giving, servant love), about how God relates (grace and forgiveness), about using power (and material wealth!) to serve, about embracing and treating all - no exceptions - as individuals of worth and value, about a transformed society, about a transformed heart and mind?"

The two questions call for different kinds of belief. The first - who was Jesus? - calls us to accept a fact as true. It allows us to identify ourselves as a Christian without requiring much more of us. The second - what Jesus taught - calls us to act on what we say we believe. It calls us to begin to live the ways of God that Jesus taught. It calls us to face our struggle to do so, opening our hearts and minds to the transforming work of the Spirit. It calls us to follow him.

Some kinds of belief are passive. They allow us to take a position that may or may not impact the way we actually live. Belief as it relates to Jesus calls for action. It calls us to act on what we say we believe. Trusting what Jesus taught, we allow the teachings of Jesus to shape how we think and how we actually live.

I call this kind of belief, faith.

I Believe - the Problem with Belief

Dating back to the early centuries of the church, the followers of Jesus have attempted to identify the right way to believe, i.e., orthodoxy. Those early efforts produced The Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, among others. Those early creeds sought to clarify the orthodox position on the nature of Jesus. Note how much of the creed is devoted to statements about Jesus in comparison to statements about God the Father and the Spirit.

The Reformation in the 1500's gave birth to multiple denominations based on belief. Martin Luther founded the church that bears his name on the principles of faith alone (rejecting the Catholic emphasis upon works) and only scripture (rejecting the Catholic emphasis on tradition). Calvin establish a church based on the belief in the absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and man's complete dependency upon God's grace. Baptists distinguished themselves through believer's baptism (as opposed to infant baptism) and the priesthood of all believers (Jesus is the only mediator one needs in the relationship with God). Obviously, these characterizations are over simplifications.

Since the Reformation, multiple other denominations have been created, each based on different belief that produced a different practice. Local churches today, particularly so-called Bible churches and independent churches, commonly use statements of faith - a list of things they believe - as a way of identifying themselves.

In short, belief has been and is a central part of Christian identity throughout the centuries.

The UMC is embroiled today in a conflict that threatens to divide the church, a conflict about beliefs - belief about the "biblical" position toward homosexuality, belief about the nature of scripture and how to interpret it, belief about the nature of the Christian life, etc. This controversy reflects the problem with belief.

The focus on belief leads us down a dangerous path.

• Belief is about being right - the very meaning of the term orthodoxy.  
• Belief plays to our ego: "I'm right." It becomes an expression of "works righteousness," a way of avoiding our dependency upon God's grace. 
• Being right creates a subtle (or, not-so-subtle) arrogance. It implies "I am better than you." It asserts my superiority over you. 
• Belief polarizes. By its very nature, it demands that we take sides. It creates us-them divisions that destroys the unity of the Spirit in the body of Christ. 
• Belief creates a rigid spirit that is generally unwilling to engage in conversation and unable to hear differing views. 
• Belief appeals to the mind but can leave the heart untouched and unchanged. That is why our defense of our position - the right position, remember - reflects so little of the spirit of Christ. 
• The focus on belief diverts our attention from Jesus. 
• The focus on belief often prevents us from living the ways of Jesus. 

Don't misunderstand what I am saying. Belief is important. And believing the right things is vitally important. But to be healthy, belief needs to be coupled with faith.

Belief is not the same as faith. Belief is a function of the intellect. It is an intellectual embrace of a fact. Faith is an act of the will. Faith is putting into practice what we say we believe.  We place our faith in Jesus. That is, we believe what Jesus revealed about God (an intellectual embrace of a fact). Jesus taught that God is a God of grace and forgiveness who joyfully claims us as beloved children. Our faith frees us to move beyond guilt, shame,and fear. It frees us to come to God with confidence (an act of the will). We believe what Jesus taught about the ways of God (an intellectual embrace of a fact). Our faith leads us to live the ways he taught in glad dependency upon the Spirit (an act of the will).

As the followers of Jesus, how we live is more important that what we believe. If what we believe does not lead us to love as Jesus loved, our belief is of no value. The only way to be "right" is to love as Jesus loved.

What Needs to Change

The good news for plateaued and declining churches is that spiritual health and vitality, including growth, is possible ... if the members are willing to change. (See 7/8/18 post - The Good News ... and Challenge ... about Plateaued and Declining Churches.)

But change what? What needs to change?

Once churches are willing to address the decline and do the work of change (a huge step!), the tendency is to change the wrong things: organizational structure, worship styles, programs, schedules, facilities ... even pastors and staff! In other words, we change what we know to change. We seek to improve what we have always done. We do what we know to do. While these efforts can make a difference ... for a time, they will not produce the change that is needed nor will they produce change that will last. They will not produce spiritual health, vitality, and growth.

Ronald Heifetz, et.al., calls this kind of change technical work - applying known solutions to known problems, (The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, Harvard Business Review Press, 2009). Heifetz says what is needed is adaptive work -  leading a group to address situations and conditions . . .

for which known solutions do not work,

which require different questions,

which require the group to face the factors that create the condition;

which call for new learning that leads to different thinking and functioning.

Adaptive work builds on the past but requires new thinking and functioning in order to be effective in addressing the new realities of the present and to prepare for the coming future. 

Heifetz's writings points to what really needs to change. What needs to change is the thinking that shapes the functioning, the way we view and define the situation, the unidentified attitudes that govern how we do what we do, the spirit that permeates every aspect of church life. What needs to change is the church's culture. Until a church's culture changes, little else will change ... no matter how much time, energy, and money is invested in changing what we do.

Culture is about attitude ... spirit ... outlook ... thinking. It lies outside our awareness but it is reflected in how we do what we do ... in the comments that are made ... in the decisions that are made ... in how the decisions are made and who influences them ... in the policies we adopt to define what can and cannot be done ... in our need for policies.

The culture in most plateaued and declining churches is focused on self: our preferences, our comfort, those like us. (See again last week's post.) It is generally conflict avoidant. This kind of culture is shaped by our human nature, untouched by our religious beliefs and involvement.

What is needed is a church culture shaped by the nature of God rather than our human nature, by the teachings of Jesus rather than our likes and dislikes. What is needed is a culture that reflects the servant ways of the Kingdom ... a culture marked by grace and forgiveness, a spirit of glad welcome that embraces all (without exception or condition), an orientation and commitment to personal growth and transformation, compassion, mutual support and encouragement, generosity and abundance, joy. What is needed is a discipleship culture.

The Good News ... and Challenge ... about Plateaued and Declining Churches

"There is no such thing as a dysfunctional organization, because every organization is perfectly aligned to achieve the results it currently gets," Ronald Heifetz, etc. The Practice of Adaptive Leadership: Tools and Tactics for Changing Your Organization and the World, (2009). 

This profound statement, when we understand it, is sobering ... and liberating ... and challenging! 

First, understanding the statement. Heifetz states the obvious: functioning determines outcome. What we do determines what we get. Think "choices have consequences." E.g., the lack of money management and over-spending produces debt and financial stress. The outcome (consequence) is debt and financial stress. The source (choice) is the mismanagement of money and over-spending. More money will not solve the financial stress because the problem lies in the mismanagement of the money. Until the mismanagement is changed, the result will be unchanged, regardless of how much money one has.  

Next, the sobering reality: Heifetz's statement, applied to churches, means that plateaued and declining churches across The UMC actually function in a way to produce the plateau and decline they are experiencing. What they are doing produces the decline they are experiencing!

Understanding this sobering reality can be liberating! It means we are not doomed to the decline we fear and say we dislike. We can change the outcome (decline) by changing what we do.

And therein is the challenge. We don't like change.

We do what we do in church life because it is comfortable and familiar. It meets our needs and fulfills our desires (comfortable). It is the way we have always done things (familiar). The predictability and certainty of the way we do things gives us a sense of security, albeit a false sense of security. The focus is on us: our preferences and desires, our comfort and satisfaction. Naturally, we resist anything that disturbs our comfort and substitutes something new in place of our preferences, i.e., change. We don't like change because it disturbs our comfort and displaces our preferences.

We defend our way of doing things by arguing it is the "right" or "proper" or "biblical" way of doing things. In reality, the way we do things is because it is the way we like to do things.

Heifetz's statement exposes our real objective: our comfort, our preferences, our desire for familiarity and predictability. That unrecognized objective is why we resist change, even in the face of decline. We really do not resist change; we resist the discomfort change brings. Until the discomfort of the decline is greater than the discomfort of change, we will continue to do what we have always done ... even though it produces the decline about which we whine ... even though the decline will ultimately lead to death.

What we do determines what we get. Our functioning determines the outcome. If we want a different outcome, we must change what we do. If we want growth and vitality instead of stagnation and decline, we must change how we function as a church. If we want comfort, if we want to have our preferences, we don't have to change a thing. But let's be honest about what we want and quit whining about our decline.

The challenge is to identify what we want, then adjust what we do to produce what we want. But let's be clear: vitality and growth will require change and the discomfort it brings.

The Path to Authentic Spirituality

Authentic spirituality is the result of the Spirit's work in our lives, growing us up spiritually. Spiritual growth is the path to authentic spirituality. But the Spirit's transforming work requires our active involvement - our participation. We see this reality in Peter's experience, recorded in Acts 10 and 11.

The Spirit initiates the growth process by teaching us the ways of God, therein confronting our old ways of thinking and functioning. This teaching and confrontation in Peter's experience is reflected in Acts 10:9-23. His way of thinking about eating food that was considered unclean, i.e., unacceptable, was challenged. Don't miss the fact that Peter's thinking was based upon the teachings of his religious heritage and supported by scripture. This confrontation stirred resistance and created confusion in Peter's mind. But the Spirit wasn't through. As Peter attempted to make sense of what had been told him in his vision, three Gentiles, including a Roman soldier, arrived and asked for him. These three people were, from Peter's perspective (again, based on his religious training), unclean people. Peter had been taught to have nothing to do with such people.

Peter's role in this experience was to follow the Spirit's lead. He was being called to respond - just as the Spirit's work in our life calls for a response from us. Generally that response includes the willingness to struggle rather than automatically reject a different way of thinking.

The "coincidence" of the vision and the arrival of the three Gentiles was more than Peter could ignore. He did not immediately set aside his beliefs and embrace this new way of thinking, but he did begin to explore it. He greeted the men and inquired about the reason for their search, 10:21. That conversation led to the next step: giving them lodging for the night - an unheard of act. The next day, Peter went with them to the home of Cornelius, a Roman officer, 10:23 - again, unheard of! At Cornelius' home, Peter acknowledged that God was teaching him a new way of thinking: "but God has shown me I should not call anyone profane or unclean," 10:28.

Peter's experience was far from over. He could state the new truth, but that did not mean he understood it or its implications or embraced those implications. So the Spirit continued to work. The Spirit confirmed this new way of thinking and relating in an undeniable way. The openness and hunger of the Gentiles convinced Peter, 10:34-35. So he began to share the gospel with them. As Peter preached, 10:34, the Spirit was poured out on the Gentiles just as the Spirit had been poured out on the Jewish disciples at Pentecost, 10:44-46. The truth that God was teaching Peter was now undeniable.

The Spirit's confirmation of this new way of thinking called for another response from Peter: he had to incorporate it into the way he thought and functioned. He had to act on it. He gave permission for the Gentiles to be baptized as followers of Jesus, 10:47-48. (I find it interesting that Peter did not do the baptizing!) The experience of spiritual growth calls us to embrace God's ways of thinking and begin to live them.

Accepting and acting on the new way of thinking would appear to be the end of the experience.  But it was not. Chapter 11 records that Peter was "called on the carpet" for his actions,11:2-3. In the face of complaint from leaders in the church at Jerusalem, Peter bore witness to his experience and became an advocate for this new way of thinking and relating, 11:4-18. The experience of spiritual growth is not complete until we become witnesses of and advocates for God's ways of thinking and relating.

But old ways of thinking and acting take a long time to die. Galatians 2:11-12 record an incident in which Peter reverted back to his old ways. Paul confronted him and called him back to the truth God had taught him. Spiritual growth does not involve steady, unbroken progress. It involves struggle, lapses, and renewed beginnings.

The relationship with God always follows a set pattern: God's initiative, our response. We call this pattern grace and faith. Throughout this experience, the Spirit was initiating, guiding Peter each step of the way - grace. But Peter's response was vital. His response allowed the process to continue - faith. At any point, Peter could have short circuited the experience by resisting the Spirit's work.

The Spirit transforms our lives by helping us grow spiritually. Our contribution is to respond to the Spirit's work, to follow the Spirit's lead. We cannot make ourselves grow spiritually any more than we can make ourselves grow physically. But we can put ourselves in a position to be open and receptive to the Spirit. That's what Peter did. This experience began as Peter went aside to pray, 10:9.

Such is the role of spiritual practices: to help us be open to God and sensitive to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. Such is the reason for involvement in the life of a church. Did you notice how spiritual friends were a part of Peter's experience? Peter was staying at Simon's house, 10:17. Simon, by the way, was a tanner - a Jew who was considered ritually unclean.  Yet Peter was staying with him. When Peter went to Cornelius' house, six other believers went with him, 10:23, 11:12. When Peter could no longer deny the truth that God was teaching him, he invited his spiritual friends to confirm his understanding and to act on it, 10:44-48. Spiritual growth takes place in spiritual community. We can't walk this journey alone!