The Scary Art of Criticism

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Originally, we’re told, a critic was someone who remarked on the worth of a literary piece. To “critique” was to pass judgment on a writing.

“Everyone’s a critic,” goes the old line. Not in the sense that everyone is passing judgment on literary offerings but simply that everyone has an opinion on everything.

“How’s the food?” you ask a diner in the restaurant. “Did you enjoy the movie?” you ask someone coming out the cinema. “So, what did you think of today’s sermon?” you ask the worshiper since you had to miss church this morning. “And how was the choir special?”

Everyone has an opinion. Everyone is a critic. Welcome to Human Nature 101.

You and I sit in our living room and notice the television news anchor has dyed her hair a rather strange color. The weather guy has put on weight. And what an odd outfit one of the other women on the program is wearing.

One thing you can count on: If you and I notice these things enough to remark on them, someone is writing or calling the station to point it out. And that bugs the fire out of the television personalities.

I’ve heard them complain, “Why do people think they have a right to call attention to what you are wearing or how you do your hair or whether I’ve added a few pounds?”

The answer: If we are going to be staring at you every day of our lives, we will notice these things. And if something is not right, it bugs us. And–important point coming up!–when we are bugged, we feel we have to try to remedy the situation.

In fact, it’s more than a right. It’s our duty.

That’s why we are all critics. Ask a coach. At any level, in any sport, coaches are constantly pestered by spectators who sit in the stands and call attention to their shortcomings. He should have taken that player out, put this one in, not called that play, called a timeout.

We are critics because when we see things that upset us, we want to set them right. In that sense, we are all “controllers.”

Nowhere does the matter of criticism come into play more than in the congregation of Christian people. It’s there that people have come for healing. It’s there many find such compassionate friends whom they come to trust that they begin to open themselves up. And they become vulnerable to great hurt from those who should have been their best friends.

Five points on the subject of criticism need to be emphasized here.

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The Sermon/Song/Article Shot Round the World

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The other day I posted a note on Facebook that went something like this: “It’s not a resolution for 2011, but my goal is to write an article for my website that gets passed around the world and is used of God to change everyone who reads it.”

That thought has lingered with me ever since, to the point that I really feel it’s something I need to try to do.

And yes, I have checked out my motives on this. I imagine this is not unlike a pastor wanting to preach a sermon that will be read and quoted across the globe. Or someone wanting to write a song that will top the charts. Are my motives pure? I think so. With all my heart I want to glorify the Lord Jesus and to bless His people. In no way is this about me.

As the subject burned in my heart, I began reflecting on what kind of article it would have to be in order to have that kind of effect. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

It would have to–

–touch a nerve. That is, connect with people immediately.

–meet a need. It can’t be theoretical but has to deal with genuine issues.

–tell a story. Stories connect better than abstract principles.

–give a formula. It needs to offer solid solutions to the problem it addresses.

Later, it occurred to me that this is also the description (prescription?) for a good sermon and for a great country song!

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How to Spot a Healthy Church in 30 Seconds

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Something about those children intrigued me, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.

For the past week or two, I have noticed these three small children playing in their yard near the Mississippi River levee. Normally, in my daily walk I don’t travel as far east as their house, but recently I began lengthening the walk by another mile, trying to lose more weight. That’s when I began noticing them.

The oldest child seemed to be seven or eight. There was a younger brother and a little sister. In the yard was all kinds of play equipment. No matter how cold it was, they were out there laughing and running, jumping and hiding, having a big time. You could hear them a block away.

Something about that made me smile. “Whatever the parents are doing,” I thought, “it’s working.”

Yesterday, the children were out once more, enjoying life. As I reached my turning-around point and headed back, I noticed they were doing something different. They and another boy had several large-wheel vehicles at the top of the levee which they were riding down to their yard across the grassy expanse. Two women sat in chairs near the house, keeping an eye on them. One was the mother, I assumed.

As I neared them, all the children rode off the levee except the oldest boy. As I approached, he looked in my direction and said, “Hi. I’m Harley.” I was so taken aback, I had to ask, “That’s your name?” He said it was. I said, “Hi Harley. My name is Mister Joe.” He smiled a big grin and said,”Hi, Mister Joe!” Then, off the levee he went.

I walked away thinking my first impression of that family was right on. The parents are doing many things right. Here is a little kid with a great friendly attitude, confident enough to introduce himself to strangers, and enjoying life to its fullest.

One day soon I plan to introduce myself to the parents. I’m going to predict that I will find the family does not have a television set and the children do not own computer games. There’s more to that family than this, of course, and I want to find out what it is.

From the first, I had felt there was something so attractive about that family.

And that’s what started me thinking about churches. Is it possible to do a drive-by of a church and within a few seconds determine that it’s a healthy church?

I’ve run that question by a number of friends.

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The 10 Best Things in Galatians

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You’re sitting in church listening to the pastor. His sermon is typical of most you have heard through the years: sometimes he scales the rhetorical heights and leads you to emotional highs, and once in a while he bogs down in minutiae and loses you in details. In between, he “shells the corn,” as we used to say on the farm to indicate someone doing a job well but not spectacularly.

Paul’s Epistle to the Galatian churches has its emotional highs and also bogs down in places with theological details. Anyone attempting to teach the six chapters to his congregation will want to work hard and prepare well if he wishes to keep the people with him during the slower, heavier sections.

The most fun thing for a pastor to do–this is just my opinion–is to decide not to give his people a verse-by-verse study but to preach Galatians’ high points. He will “fill in the cracks” between the sermons with enough contextual material to get across the essence of the book. The advantage is he can take the epistle in bite-size portions. The disadvantage–well, the major one–is that he will be teaching the epistle piecemeal and not everyone will be present for all the sermons.

That said, here are my candidates for the ten best verses or passages in Galatians. If I were pastoring, these would be the basis for my series of ten sermons from this epistle. A word of explanation: The commentary here is not intended to be a sermon, but merely insights and other material you may find helpful.

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Man is Basically Good. (Try Saying That With a Straight Face.)

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My pastor says he was checking into a website responsible for a series of “believe-in-yourself” television commercials that have been airing over the holidays. When he checked to see who was responsible and what their values were, he found where they stated, “We believe in the basic goodness of all people.”

One wonders what kind of number a person would have to do on himself to convince himself of that misguided philosophy.

We want to believe it. That’s part of our sinful nature, to believe that we are all right and not in need of anyone saving us or forgiving us. It’s a major strain in our sinful system to hold that all we need to do is release everyone from restraints and for preachers to quit laying guilt trips on us and all will be well.

Uh huh. Did you read your morning paper? How many people were killed in your city last night by people who were resisting restraints and determining to have their own way.

Recently, I have discovered discussions on the contradictory nature of man in two of the strangest places. One was a western novel and the other a biography of a longshoreman philosophy from over 40 years ago.

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Pastor, Show Them How (Part III)

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(Back in October, I began a three-part series on “Pastor, You’ll Have to Show Them How.” It reminded the Lord’s shepherds that congregations do not come by great faith, strong compassion, and devout courage automatically. The pastor needs to teach these qualities to their people. I envisioned this as three articles, and did the first two–on how the pastor can teach faith and compassion to their people. For some reason, though, I neglected to do the third one. So, here it is, a few months late. The two earlier articles are found on my blog by scrolling down the archives (right side) to October 22, 2010.)

What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart. (Deuteronomy 20:8)

God did not want cowards in His army.

There’s something about faintheartedness that spreads from one person to another like wildfire. Better to go forward with a small fighting force made up of champions than with a massive one infiltrated with cowards.

Fear and courage are brothers, we are told. They show up at the same time, often hand in hand. But, like the brothers in my family and maybe yours, the competition between them is fierce. They struggle to see which will rule the day.

Fear and courage are both contagious.

Let someone start the conversation by pointing out how strong the enemy is and how weak our side is and how foolish we would be to go forward, and soon, his solo is drowned out by a chorus of like-minded fearmongers.

They had been waiting for an excuse to go home.

Let someone stand up and speak faith and courage, and often–not always, alas–others will step out of the crowd to stand with him. Ten warriors with courage–strong of heart and dead-set on victory–can do more than a thousand who are ruled by fear.

The twelve spies had returned from their forty days in Canaan. Israel’s multitude gathered around, eager for their report. There was good news a-plenty: the fields were fertile, the crops abundant, the orchards loaded, and the barns filled. But there was another side to the report: the land was well-populated, the cities were walled and protected by standing armies equipped with the latest technology. And if that wasn’t enough, there were giants in the land.

This could go either way.

It all came down to leadership.

Immediately after the report, faithful Caleb spoke up. “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

To his dismay, ten of the twelve spies responded: “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” They continued, “That land devours its inhabitants! We were like grasshoppers in the sight of those people!” (Numbers 14)

Caleb, you were outvoted, sir. Sorry. The twelfth member of your team, Joshua, seems to have kept quiet. We wonder why.

All night long, the sleepless congregation tossed in their beds, dwelling on their fears. By sunrise, they had hatched a plan. They would abandon Moses and this invisible “God” of his and return to Egypt. There, they would apologize to Pharaoh and act like none of this ever happened.

Now, at last, Joshua spoke up.

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Notes on Galatians

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Southern Baptists across the land will be focusing on Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians during this winter of 2010-11. We’ll be posting a series of cartoons on the epistle which teachers and pastors may download free of charge and use in their sessions. Following are notes on Galatians which may be of assistance to teachers and pastors. They’re not always in order, as we’re adding comments over a period of several days. In no way are they intended to be exhaustive. Or for that matter, exhausting!)

1. Galatians is Romans’ Little Brother.

A couple of seasons ago, Paul’s Epistle to the Romans was the focus of this mid-winter study. A lot of people who had probably shied away from this fearsome book delved in and found Romans to be rich, nourishing, and delightful. They discovered that it deals at length with subjects Galatians considers more concisely.

The point being: “If you like Galatians, you will love Romans!” And vice versa.

2. Subject: Paul, an Apostle? hah!

In this and other epistles, Paul defends his apostleship against the attacks of those who say he arrived too late and was not there “from the beginning.” He does not dispute that he came late to the party. “As one born out of due time,” is how he put it in I Corinthians 15:8.

Paul points out that while he did not get his gospel from the apostles, he did spend the same amount of time with Jesus as they–three years (Gal. 1:17-18).

He is not a man-made apostle and needs not to look to any human agency for accreditation or affirmation (Galatians 1:1). This, we rush to note, is not a put-down of seminaries or Bible schools. Paul had received a great deal of rabbinical training under Gamaliel, the master teacher of his day, and was clearly a strong believer in education. Once he came to know Christ, the Holy Spirit built upon everything he had learned in his new ministry.

In the most extensive defense of his apostleship–the Second Epistle to the Corinthians–Paul does an on-side kick (reverse handoff? choose your favorite sports metaphor!) that completely takes his critics by surprise. He presents his resume’ in a reverse manner, listing not his awards and accomplishments, but his scars and hardships. II Corinthians 11:22-32 is a fascinating document, one that shouts to believers of all generations what to look for in authentic leadership.

The question then becomes not: “What have you accomplished for the Lord?” but more like “What has serving Christ cost you?”

“Paul’s Gospel” is the message he preached across the known world of his day. The reason we need to establish what he preached is because of the strong judgment he pronounces upon anyone preaching anything else (1:8-9)!

Orthodox Christianity–a loaded expression, I suppose–has traditionally held that the gospel Paul preached is the authentic Christian message. That’s why Romans in particular has held such a esteemed place in the history of this faith.

I have pointed out Galatians 1:8-9 to those who came to my door hawking another gospel although they were using identical words to the ones Scripture uses. Anyone preaching any gospel of salvation other than the one found in Galatians and Romans is incurring the wrath of God upon himself. “For neither is there salvation in any other” (Acts 4:12). In every case, the young perveyors of alternative religions standing inside my doorway have not had an answer to that passage.

3. Ours is Not a Derived Salvation or a Second-Hand Apostleship.

This is hinted at in the previous point, but needs elaborating.

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End of the Year’s Leftovers

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Cleaning out a stack of papers, here are some of the tidbits I found. If you find anything of use to yourself in teaching or sermonizing, welcome to them.

Here is the makings of a sermon on God.

Nowhere is it written that the Lord of this universe has to be a God of love. It would be just as conceivable that a despot, a tyrant, might create a universe for sport. Or that God may be flighty like some people we know, and create a universe one day, then abandon it as His attention drifts toward some new project.

There are indeed those who think of the Lord of the universe as a tyrant who kills babies or an an absentee landlord who made us but has no further interest in our doings.

Were it not for three overriding facts, many of us might agree with them….

1) This World.

Creation speaks of a great God, a Lord of order and beauty, a Deity of kindness and compassion. My friend Fisher Humpreys asks, “Who but God would have thought of oysters?” And we might add, an octopus? a hippo? a camel? or my Uncle Edwin? The heavens declare the glory of God, and so does the earth.

2)The Bible.

Its revelation of God. This book is unique among the writings of all history. The more we learn about its intricacies and revelations, its teachings and its consistencies, the more we come away shaking our heads knowing, “This is from God.” Only the fool dismisses the Bible as a collection thrown together by a cabal intent on deceiving the world. We all should be so deceived, this Word is so wonderful.

3)The Lord Jesus Christ.

Among those who have walked this planet, He is unique. They said of Him, “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). We would add, “No one ever was born as He was born.” “No one ever lived as He lived.” “No one taught as He taught.” “No one worked as He worked.” “No one died quite the way He died.” And, then, “No one ever rose from the dead the way He did.”

There, pastor! See if you can find a sermon in there somewhere!

I thought of writing an article called, “Confessions of a Homesick Preacher.” Here are some of the notes I jotted down on that subject.

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Easy Does It, Pastor

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A friend e-mailed me today with a question I’ve never heard before.

Referring to Isaiah’s experience of worship in the 6th chapter of his prophecy, my friend said, “Is that descriptive or prescriptive?” That is, does this account of Isaiah’s experience simply show us how he worshiped on that occasion or is it saying this is how it’s to be done, and that all these elements must be present for worship to take place?

My correspondent felt it was descriptive. However, he has friends, he says, who were taught in seminary that Isaiah 6 is a blueprint for worship which must be followed.

I agreed with him. This passage makes no pretense at ordering all God’s children for all time to worship in the same way or to touch all those guidestones. It tells what happened to Isaiah on that day. Period.

All you have to do is think of others throughout Scripture who worshiped God in many different ways. Some had visions like Isaiah, but most seemed not to have done so. Some were shaken to the core, but most seem not to have been. Some experienced a life-changing call into the ministry, but they were in the minority.

What troubles me is how some among us–pastors and Bible teachers–take a wonderful passage with much to teach us and make of it something God never intended.

We turn the coat of many colors into a strait jacket.

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