Chuck Ryor

“‘I still sometimes feel like a loser kid in high school and I just have to pick myself up and tell myself that I’m a superstar every morning so that I can get through this day and be for my fans what they need for me to be.” She goes on to say, “I’m fighting for every kid that’s like me, that felt like I felt and feels like I still feel.” – Lady Gaga

Tim Keller is fond of quoting Madonna…over and over.  In varying sermons and books over the years he has cited the same quotation about her sense of trying to prove that she is a “somebody.”  It makes me feel better about recycling my sermon material.  Thanks, Dr. Keller.  As it turns out, Madonna isn’t the only insecure superstar on the planet.  Lady Gaga recently commented that her own feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing continue, even as she is arguably the most popular singer on Earth.

Most people don’t want to be this honest about how they feel, so I give credit to Lady Gaga.  Unfortunately, while many of us share a common human experience of feeling inadequate, there really is only one genuine solution to our problem.  We need to know that the God who created us loves us and created us each uniquely and for His glory.  While Gaga and others champion “accepting yourself,” they offer little substance as to how to do this.

Gaga says she gets up every day and reminds herself that she is a superstar.  But what do those of us do who have no outstanding performance capabilities, financial wherewithal, or anything else that culture deems important enough with which to measure success?   Christina Aguilera sang, “You are beautiful, no matter what they say.”  But if possessions, celebrity status and power are the measures of cultural beauty for us, most of us will never be beautiful – no matter what we say or how early we get up in the morning to recite mantras into the mirror.

I am nowhere near the most effective or best at anything in my neighborhood, let alone the planet.  Unfortunately, this means that I and others can continue to fantasize that if we one day “amounted to something” or “accomplished something,” we’d all of a sudden feel good about whom we were.  The fallacy of this way of thinking is evident from Gaga’s experience and statement, which is akin to what King Solomon said about trying to find our identity through the stuff of this earth.

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” – Ecclesiastes 1:2

Recently, my daughter was watching the TV show Glee (she kicked me out of the room because I turn every Glee episode into a Christian worldview class and she just wants to listen to the music).  The overarching theme of this Lady Gaga themed show was to “Accept yourself completely – the good and the bad.”  Sounds like a good message to some, but is it?  Naturally (the way I was born), I am a selfish, narcissistic, broken, insecure man.  Why would accepting this be a good idea?

Do I think God loves me in spite of those characteristics?  Yes, because through faith in Jesus He has forgiven me and credited me with the goodness of His Son.  Apart from Christ, the Scriptures say we all have natures that “naturally” put us at odds with God’s holiness.  While Jesus has satisfied God’s wrath with regards to the sins of all who want to come to Him, I still don’t think it is healthy to ignore that naturally I’m not a very good guy at all.  In Christ I am holy in God’s sight.  On my own…well, not so much.

The gospel does so much more than help us to be legally forgiven for our sins so we can spend eternity in heaven.  Applied thoroughly, we find the meaning and purpose of this life.  We are beings created in the image of God, but broken by our sin and the sin of our first ancestors.  Through our re-creation as His children through Christ, we are offered the chance to rediscover our value to our Creator.  Once that is settled in us, we have the chance to see ourselves as God intended us to – wonderfully loved by Him.  It doesn’t happen overnight, but we now have this abiding hope – a secure destination which we can use to guide us going forward in life.

One of Lady Gaga’s recent hits is “Born this Way.”  It has fast become the anthem of the young gay community and could be the theme of our entire culture.  The essence of this philosophy is that if we’re “naturally” born a certain way, then it automatically has to be good for us to act on those natural impulses.  Is that really always the case?  And how do we discern when we’re supposed to love who God created us to be or if we should labor to resist our natural proclivities to live life in rebellion to God’s authority?

In my natural state I feature the following:  (1) my selfishness; (2) my need to be better than others, my need to hoard wealth so I don’t have to consciously depend on and be thankful to God for His provision; and (3) my willingness to exaggerate the truth in order to make myself look better.  Any of this ringing true with you?  God may have accepted me in Christ in spite of these flaws, but He calls His children to turn from these things in response to the mercy and grace He has extended.

I can completely relate to Gaga’s desperate sense that she can never do enough to feel as if she’s not a loser.  We share this same sad lament (although there is less evidence of insignificance in her case).  However, I pray that she’d discover the hope to which I and others like me aspire:  that we would understand the love that God has for us and allow His love to satisfy the inner-discontent that tells us we need to do more, be more or have more in order to be at peace in this life.

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” – Hebrews 13:17

The last time (Part 1) we took a ride on the “good ship church polity,” I asked the question, “When a person or a faction of a church opposes its leadership’s decision to do go a certain direction, you have to ask yourself, “Why is he or she so angry about it?  Is it really about what is “Biblical” or “right”?  Or is it about control?”

The answer to that question is often “what’s being done is un-Biblical.”  And it is quite possible that this is the case.  Elders are human beings and broken and fallen as are the rest of us.  When Elders make a decision, collectively discern a direction the church should go, or give collective counsel to person they are shepherding, it is possible that some of these decisions violate Scripture.  Hence, the elders should be confronted and if they are unresponsive then a person could appeal to an earthly oversight (denominational leaders).  If that doesn’t work, they should appeal to a heavenly authority again.

There are a couple of assumptions I’m working under here.  First of all, I’m operating under the assumption that the Elders of the church are the proven spiritual leaders of a church and the most Godly and mature leaders in the church.  That’s not always the case, as unfortunately many churches appoint their leaders based on a set of criteria not listed in Scripture.  Characteristics such as money, power, status and personality aren’t listed as requirements for Elders (see 1 Timothy 3).

Secondly, I’m assuming that the church we’re talking about is governed by Elders as defined in a traditional “Presbyterian” sense.  In this case, Elders aren’t supposed to be power brokers who wield authority because they just want their way.  As a collective they are to be the final authority of the church and the means by which a congregation discerns God’s will.  If you’re looking for a Biblical pattern, it is discovered in Acts chapter four, where the elders are to be primarily focused on the Word of God and prayer.  The administration of the church is to be done under the oversight of the elders but performed by deacons and members of the church.

Finally, I’m assuming that when a person joins a church they are asked to submit to the government and leadership of the church and promise to be a non-divisive member of the congregation.  As part of their membership, these believers have some say in who gets to be an Elder.  Some churches hold nominations and elections; others have Elders train and appoint new elders who have to be approved by the congregation.  Either way, if you’re not convinced that Elders are God’s means of overseeing the church and its mission, than this is going to be a tough read.

My point in these posts is to discourage a un-Christ like politicization of the church.  When we create human systems of control that are really born of our fears, we run the risk of eliminating the possibility of seeing God’s Spirit do some of His best work.  The church is a spiritual enterprise by God’s design, and it is necessarily an entity that must be approached with dependency on the Holy Spirit.  At times there is a necessity to create extra-Biblical systems under the banner of “wisdom” (many of which we employ at our church).  However, if we’re not careful, these “addendums” can (and often do) inevitably rise above the Bible to become culturally accepted as the ‘way’ church is supposed to work.

American Christianity has popularized “Congregationalism” as a form of church government.  This polity is a reflection of our culture, born in response to the past abuse of authority in hierarchical forms of church government.  Churches that empower the congregation to vote on all matters, call congregational votes of confidence in leadership and see leaders as their representatives to forward a particular congregation member’s agenda are projecting our country’s political system.  In the United States we live a republic where our leaders are elected representatives to promote our rights and benefits.

Unfortunately, when these elected church leaders make principled decisions or anything with which some disagree, often the reaction is similar to the opponents of Presidents past and present.  Hysterical.  Deceptive.  While there is little or no evidence in the Scriptures that God ever led his people through this type of governance in his church, I wouldn’t have a problem with the system if I’d ever seen a faction of a church lose the congregational vote and not stomp off and start “2^nd Baptist Church” (that’s happened a couple of times).  If God is going to lead through the majority rule, than those in the minority would logically need to follow the will of God, too.  Right?

Unresponsiveness to the direction of the leadership isn’t relegated to congregationally governed churches, either.  I once had a person compare the elders of a church I worked at to Hitler.  They said the elders wanted blind obedience and that it was their duty as a congregation member to confront and speak up when things weren’t done right (in their estimation).  Hitler.  Really?

I once heard someone ask a pastor in a Presbyterian Church (and this is a direct quote), “Are you and the elders out of touch with the will of the congregation?”  The will of the congregation. Do you hear the echoes of American democracy in this statement?  What you don’t hear is any reverberation of Biblical thought when it comes to how the church is supposed to be guided from “Point A” to “Point B.”

From Genesis to Revelation the model of Scripture is that God speaks to ordained leadership who then leads the people to follow God’s will.  It’s about what God wants.  How God expresses His desires are through the Scripture and through His appointed means of discernment – primary among them is the plurality of Elders (or the priests of the Old Testament).  Our response to that leadership might be inquiry or the expression of concern (as children do with their parents in the home).  But divisive, angry speech and the hysteria that we see in American politics should never be part of the church’s way of doing business.  Not if a church wants to be Biblical in how it is led by God and desires for its leaders to direct them into God’s will.

“Obey. Submit. Those are strong words, particularly in our egalitarian, individualistic culture.  Yet the Bible’s call to obey and submit to our leaders in the church is to our advantage…Through submission we model the godly humility that should characterize us as a church, and through submission we maintain our Christian unity in the midst of disagreement. Thus we demonstrate that our shared faith in Christ is more important than any differences of opinion over matters that aren’t central to the gospel.” – Mark Devers