Day Thirty-Eight - Becoming a World-Class Christian
Mr. Warren would like for us all to become “World-Class Christians.” By this he means a Christian who actively participates in some way to spread Christian ministry throughout the world. In the current chapter he elaborates on this concept. As the chapter begins, the reader is presented with a stark dichotomy. “You have a choice to make,” we are told. (p. 297) “You will be either a world-class Christian or a worldly Christian.” (p. 297) No one wishes to be thought of as “worldly.” The only alternative that Mr. Warren allows is his idea of “world-class.” He has presented us with a false dichotomy. In reality we are not limited to Mr. Warren’s two alternatives. We also have the option of being I Thessalonians 4:11 Christians, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.” But Mr. Warren does not acknowledge this option, or others that may be described. For him there is only the stark choice of either being labeled “worldly” or else fulfilling his idea of something he calls “world-class.” What is it about his notion that would exclude all other possibilities?
First, Mr. Warren says that the “World-class Christian … Shifts from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking.” (p. 299) In this he repeats ideas presented on pages 182-183, that selfishness is the hallmark of childishness and that thinking of others is the hallmark of maturity. Since, in his mind, Christian maturity shifts from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking, it is no wonder that on page 183 he declares that “thinking of others” is the “core” of Christianity. This makes for captivating eloquence, however, it simply is not true. In truth, the Christian mindset is shifted from being self-centered to being God-centered. This is such a basic truth of Christian orthodoxy that at times Mr. Warren himself shows an instinct to embrace it. Back on page 25 he asserted that, “We discover ... meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives.” However, he has not been able to hold this point of orthodoxy consistently. Instead of a call for his readers to acknowledge that God is the reference point of our lives and of everything, he calls us to make God this reference point. The way of true orthodoxy involves repentance. Mr. Warren’s way involves evaluation and determination. But, if evaluation and determination rest in Man, then “God” cannot be the God of Christian orthodoxy, no matter what the finally evaluating and determining Man says about him. If God must be made to be a reference point, then it no longer is God who is the reference point. As a result, as we proceed through the book and arrive at page 183 and then at page 299, we find that evaluating and determining Man has declared something different from what was declared on page 25. Now we find that the “core” of Christianity is “thinking of others,” and that we must shift our thinking from being self-centered to being other-centered. Remarkably, Mr. Warren says it is God - that erstwhile reference point - who commands us to center upon other people! But, the text cited in support of this notion - Philippians 2:4 - does not really command this, but commands instead that we should consider other people in addition to self-consideration. This hardly implies becoming “other-centered.”
What would Mr. Warren have us to do with an “other-centered” outlook? “Your goal,” he says, “is to figure out where others are in their spiritual journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to knowing Christ.” (p. 300) This is a completely meaningless abstraction. The idea of a “spiritual journey” is wildly popular in our day precisely because it is totally devoid of content. The whole idea of a “journey” metaphor is to avoid being accountable for holding to any definite position. The one who fancies himself as on a “journey” has no definite position, but constantly is in motion from one place to another. As Josh McDowell used to say, “It seems fashionable these days to be searching for truth; but it doesn’t seem fashionable to find it!” If ideas that were entertained one day are supplanted by other ideas on some subsequent day, it is no cause of worry because, after all, “I am on a journey!” Mr. Warren is willing to allow that unbelief is a “spiritual journey,” and that the unbeliever may advance incrementally toward Christ. However, the idea of taking a “step closer to knowing Christ” has no basis in reality. It is a completely meaningless abstraction. Every unbeliever always is only one step from knowing Christ: it is the step of repentance. God’s Word declares that unbelievers “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18) and are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). They “…loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.” (Jn. 3:19) The only sense in which unbelief may be characterized as a “spiritual journey” is in the sense that it is a studied and sustained - though pretended - flight from God. “Where others are in their spiritual journey” is impossible to “figure out.” There is no such thing as coming “a step closer to knowing Christ.” One does not grow out of unbelief into Christian faith, for there is nothing in darkness and falsehood that may serve as even one stone in the foundation of truth. No one ever is more than one step from Christ: the step of repentance of unbelief into faith in the Gospel of Christ. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8). Hearts piqued by this conviction acquire faith by the preaching of the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). This is the true Christian mission to the world. Mr. Warren cites Philippians 2:4 in defense of his notion that we ought to be “other-centered.” But this text exhorts us to be concerned with the interests of others. The best interest of the unbeliever is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but Mr. Warren would utilize the text to justify his idea of indulging the fantasy of a “spiritual journey.”
Next, Mr. Warren admonishes us to “shift from local thinking to global thinking.” (p. 300) “God is a global God,” he says (p. 300) The flow of his argument is that since God thinks globally, then we also ought to think globally, or else we are “worldly.” But, is it really true to say that God is a globalist? In support of this view Mr. Warren cites Acts 17:26 from the “Contemporary English Version.” The CEV says that God “decided when and where every nation would be.” An actual translation, such as the NASB, says that God “determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” There occurs in the original Greek text the term horothesia, which denotes the very specific act by design to set a boundary - literally, a hill or a mountain. The CEV does not sufficiently account for this term. The “contemporary” aspect of the CEV (published in 1995) is that in our era it is considered chauvinistic, xenophobic, or even “racist” to think that the various nations ought to remain separated by boundaries. The CEV takes the boundaries out of Acts 17:26, and then Rick Warren cites the CEV as “biblical” proof that God is a globalist! Only in the era of the new, relevant, living, century, millennium paraphrase can a fellow cite a text plainly stating that God determines boundaries in support of a notion that God is a globalist! In Genesis 11:1-9 we gain a very clear idea of God’s opposition to “globalism.” Here we read of a unified humanity after the Noahic flood. They determined to build a great city and monument to their unity. But their unity was a type of idolatry, because it was grounded in their culture rather than in the Lordship and Word of their God. God opposed them. He confused their language and thus scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. There is no ultimate word of Man; therefore, there can be no ultimate, or “global,” culture.
Mr. Warren declares that, “much of the world already thinks globally.” (p. 300) He presents such a statement not as a warning, but as a model. But, is it not the nature of “worldliness” to think or to do as “much of the world” does? We are exhorted in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world,” and in James 1:27, to keep ourselves “unstained by the world.” Yet, the exhortation of Mr. Warren is that we are “worldly” if we do not adopt the outlook of “much of the world.”
On the strength of his “global” idea, Mr. Warren then exhorts his readers to pursue mission work after the pattern of Acts 1:8. In this text Jesus commands His disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Mr. Warren constructs the parallel: “His followers were to reach out to their community (Jerusalem), to their country (Judea), to other cultures (Samaria), and to other nations (everywhere in the world).” (p. 301) It then is his claim that “every Christian is called to be on a mission to all four groups in some way.” (p. 302) “I urge you,” he goes on, “to save and do whatever it takes to participate in a short-term mission trip overseas as soon as possible.” (p. 302) “Are you an Acts 1:8 Christian?” he challenges. (p. 302)
However, Mr. Warren’s noble rhetoric has no correspondence with reality. His vision, quite simply, is not how missionary work was done by the early church, nor is it how Christian missionary work has been done historically. In the book of Acts we read at several points of multiple thousands being added to the church, and we read of their numbers growing daily. Yet we do not read of many thousands of Christians then roving all over Judea, Samaria, the Mediterranean, and Asia preaching the Gospel. Instead, we read in Acts 13:1-3 of Paul and Barnabas being set apart by the Holy Spirit to be sent out on missions. We read also of Peter and John and others whom our Lord called into missionary work. Missionary work is apostolic and evangelistic work - the work of those who are gifted and called into it. Such work is a great burden that rightly is not to be laid upon each and every individual Christian. Though Mr. Warren has attempted laying such a burden upon his readership of 25 million or so, it does not appear that his readership has taken him very seriously. Though multiple millions have read his italicized exhortation to do whatever it takes to go on overseas missions as soon as possible, we do not read of any sudden spike in short-term mission activity. Mr. Warren’s “Acts 1:8 Christian” rhetoric is the sort of thing that millions of people like to read, but it is totally foreign to how missionary work actually occurred historically, and it is powerless to create missionaries out of ordinary Christians. Back on page 74 Mr. Warren paraphrased the “simple instructions” that God gave to Noah after the flood, “It’s time to get on with your life! Do the things I designed humans to do. Make love to your spouse. Have babies. Raise families. Plant crops and eat meals. Be humans! This is what I made you to be!” Evidently Noah was not an Acts 1:8 Christian! In truth there is a great work in a population of Christians living godly and quiet lives in which together they build a Christian culture. It was just this sort of culture, patiently and quietly built by millions of faithful though nameless Christians, that became the foundation of European civilization, and ultimately became the launching platform of the Scientific Revolution and Renaissance of Culture in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was these monumental achievements that ultimately made the United States of American possible. This was achieved by people who were not told they had to go traipsing all over the world on missions or else they were “worldly,” but who properly were burdened by the challenge of I Thessalonians 4:11, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.” Are you a I Thessalonians 4:11 Christian?
First, Mr. Warren says that the “World-class Christian … Shifts from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking.” (p. 299) In this he repeats ideas presented on pages 182-183, that selfishness is the hallmark of childishness and that thinking of others is the hallmark of maturity. Since, in his mind, Christian maturity shifts from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking, it is no wonder that on page 183 he declares that “thinking of others” is the “core” of Christianity. This makes for captivating eloquence, however, it simply is not true. In truth, the Christian mindset is shifted from being self-centered to being God-centered. This is such a basic truth of Christian orthodoxy that at times Mr. Warren himself shows an instinct to embrace it. Back on page 25 he asserted that, “We discover ... meaning and purpose only when we make God the reference point of our lives.” However, he has not been able to hold this point of orthodoxy consistently. Instead of a call for his readers to acknowledge that God is the reference point of our lives and of everything, he calls us to make God this reference point. The way of true orthodoxy involves repentance. Mr. Warren’s way involves evaluation and determination. But, if evaluation and determination rest in Man, then “God” cannot be the God of Christian orthodoxy, no matter what the finally evaluating and determining Man says about him. If God must be made to be a reference point, then it no longer is God who is the reference point. As a result, as we proceed through the book and arrive at page 183 and then at page 299, we find that evaluating and determining Man has declared something different from what was declared on page 25. Now we find that the “core” of Christianity is “thinking of others,” and that we must shift our thinking from being self-centered to being other-centered. Remarkably, Mr. Warren says it is God - that erstwhile reference point - who commands us to center upon other people! But, the text cited in support of this notion - Philippians 2:4 - does not really command this, but commands instead that we should consider other people in addition to self-consideration. This hardly implies becoming “other-centered.”
What would Mr. Warren have us to do with an “other-centered” outlook? “Your goal,” he says, “is to figure out where others are in their spiritual journey and then do whatever will bring them a step closer to knowing Christ.” (p. 300) This is a completely meaningless abstraction. The idea of a “spiritual journey” is wildly popular in our day precisely because it is totally devoid of content. The whole idea of a “journey” metaphor is to avoid being accountable for holding to any definite position. The one who fancies himself as on a “journey” has no definite position, but constantly is in motion from one place to another. As Josh McDowell used to say, “It seems fashionable these days to be searching for truth; but it doesn’t seem fashionable to find it!” If ideas that were entertained one day are supplanted by other ideas on some subsequent day, it is no cause of worry because, after all, “I am on a journey!” Mr. Warren is willing to allow that unbelief is a “spiritual journey,” and that the unbeliever may advance incrementally toward Christ. However, the idea of taking a “step closer to knowing Christ” has no basis in reality. It is a completely meaningless abstraction. Every unbeliever always is only one step from knowing Christ: it is the step of repentance. God’s Word declares that unbelievers “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18) and are “without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). They “…loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil.” (Jn. 3:19) The only sense in which unbelief may be characterized as a “spiritual journey” is in the sense that it is a studied and sustained - though pretended - flight from God. “Where others are in their spiritual journey” is impossible to “figure out.” There is no such thing as coming “a step closer to knowing Christ.” One does not grow out of unbelief into Christian faith, for there is nothing in darkness and falsehood that may serve as even one stone in the foundation of truth. No one ever is more than one step from Christ: the step of repentance of unbelief into faith in the Gospel of Christ. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (Jn. 16:8). Hearts piqued by this conviction acquire faith by the preaching of the Word of Christ (Rom. 10:17). This is the true Christian mission to the world. Mr. Warren cites Philippians 2:4 in defense of his notion that we ought to be “other-centered.” But this text exhorts us to be concerned with the interests of others. The best interest of the unbeliever is the conviction of the Holy Spirit, but Mr. Warren would utilize the text to justify his idea of indulging the fantasy of a “spiritual journey.”
Next, Mr. Warren admonishes us to “shift from local thinking to global thinking.” (p. 300) “God is a global God,” he says (p. 300) The flow of his argument is that since God thinks globally, then we also ought to think globally, or else we are “worldly.” But, is it really true to say that God is a globalist? In support of this view Mr. Warren cites Acts 17:26 from the “Contemporary English Version.” The CEV says that God “decided when and where every nation would be.” An actual translation, such as the NASB, says that God “determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation.” There occurs in the original Greek text the term horothesia, which denotes the very specific act by design to set a boundary - literally, a hill or a mountain. The CEV does not sufficiently account for this term. The “contemporary” aspect of the CEV (published in 1995) is that in our era it is considered chauvinistic, xenophobic, or even “racist” to think that the various nations ought to remain separated by boundaries. The CEV takes the boundaries out of Acts 17:26, and then Rick Warren cites the CEV as “biblical” proof that God is a globalist! Only in the era of the new, relevant, living, century, millennium paraphrase can a fellow cite a text plainly stating that God determines boundaries in support of a notion that God is a globalist! In Genesis 11:1-9 we gain a very clear idea of God’s opposition to “globalism.” Here we read of a unified humanity after the Noahic flood. They determined to build a great city and monument to their unity. But their unity was a type of idolatry, because it was grounded in their culture rather than in the Lordship and Word of their God. God opposed them. He confused their language and thus scattered them abroad over the face of the earth. There is no ultimate word of Man; therefore, there can be no ultimate, or “global,” culture.
Mr. Warren declares that, “much of the world already thinks globally.” (p. 300) He presents such a statement not as a warning, but as a model. But, is it not the nature of “worldliness” to think or to do as “much of the world” does? We are exhorted in Romans 12:2, “do not be conformed to this world,” and in James 1:27, to keep ourselves “unstained by the world.” Yet, the exhortation of Mr. Warren is that we are “worldly” if we do not adopt the outlook of “much of the world.”
On the strength of his “global” idea, Mr. Warren then exhorts his readers to pursue mission work after the pattern of Acts 1:8. In this text Jesus commands His disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth. Mr. Warren constructs the parallel: “His followers were to reach out to their community (Jerusalem), to their country (Judea), to other cultures (Samaria), and to other nations (everywhere in the world).” (p. 301) It then is his claim that “every Christian is called to be on a mission to all four groups in some way.” (p. 302) “I urge you,” he goes on, “to save and do whatever it takes to participate in a short-term mission trip overseas as soon as possible.” (p. 302) “Are you an Acts 1:8 Christian?” he challenges. (p. 302)
However, Mr. Warren’s noble rhetoric has no correspondence with reality. His vision, quite simply, is not how missionary work was done by the early church, nor is it how Christian missionary work has been done historically. In the book of Acts we read at several points of multiple thousands being added to the church, and we read of their numbers growing daily. Yet we do not read of many thousands of Christians then roving all over Judea, Samaria, the Mediterranean, and Asia preaching the Gospel. Instead, we read in Acts 13:1-3 of Paul and Barnabas being set apart by the Holy Spirit to be sent out on missions. We read also of Peter and John and others whom our Lord called into missionary work. Missionary work is apostolic and evangelistic work - the work of those who are gifted and called into it. Such work is a great burden that rightly is not to be laid upon each and every individual Christian. Though Mr. Warren has attempted laying such a burden upon his readership of 25 million or so, it does not appear that his readership has taken him very seriously. Though multiple millions have read his italicized exhortation to do whatever it takes to go on overseas missions as soon as possible, we do not read of any sudden spike in short-term mission activity. Mr. Warren’s “Acts 1:8 Christian” rhetoric is the sort of thing that millions of people like to read, but it is totally foreign to how missionary work actually occurred historically, and it is powerless to create missionaries out of ordinary Christians. Back on page 74 Mr. Warren paraphrased the “simple instructions” that God gave to Noah after the flood, “It’s time to get on with your life! Do the things I designed humans to do. Make love to your spouse. Have babies. Raise families. Plant crops and eat meals. Be humans! This is what I made you to be!” Evidently Noah was not an Acts 1:8 Christian! In truth there is a great work in a population of Christians living godly and quiet lives in which together they build a Christian culture. It was just this sort of culture, patiently and quietly built by millions of faithful though nameless Christians, that became the foundation of European civilization, and ultimately became the launching platform of the Scientific Revolution and Renaissance of Culture in the 15th and 16th centuries. It was these monumental achievements that ultimately made the United States of American possible. This was achieved by people who were not told they had to go traipsing all over the world on missions or else they were “worldly,” but who properly were burdened by the challenge of I Thessalonians 4:11, “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you.” Are you a I Thessalonians 4:11 Christian?
posted by S. C. Mooney at 10:14 PM
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