Eschatology Today

Inaugurated Eschatology: (n.) The wonderful already-but-not-yet tension and reality of redemption. Read the theological reflections of Pastor Jay and others around him below. This is a great place to dialog about the beauties of the Gospel!

Offering Criticism

It is never easy to receive criticism and rebuke. Admit it. It is embarrassing, humbling, and we usually initially react with hurt and anger. I don't think it will ever be easy. But, God uses it and we need it, and so much of our growth happens because of rebuke. So, let's start with that reality, that rebuke is not easy to take, as our launching pad into how to be one who offers criticism to the glory of God and the good of our brother or sister.

1. Be sensitive to the fact that it is hard to receive criticism. Part of loving another person is knowing how you affect them. Since criticism is a sharp scalpel, look for every way not to add burden by how, when, where, etc. you offer it.

2. Pray before you do it. God may not want you to rebuke someone, even if you are totally right about their total wrongness or sinfulness, and even if you two are close friends. He may want to work another way, or time it differently. So, pray and ask for wisdom. If nothing else, you need the Spirit to guide your words, body language, tone, and timing. Don't trust yourself to give criticism well on your own.

3. Make sure what you are about to offer is Biblical. If the nature of your criticism is in regard to your vocational field, or an issue of natural fact, then also make sure you can substantiate what you are about to say with fact, not your opinion. This helps vett your own heart from speaking out of preference rather than absolute truth.

4. If at all possible, offer criticism in person, with very loving body language. A man I respect a lot says he will give good news via a note or letter, but he only gives bad news in person. The personal touch of physical presence really sets the tone for criticism. It shows you care for the person, that you are not ashamed of looking them in the eye rather than hiding behind distance and words on a page, and that you want to dialogue, not just say your peace and be done with it. I once referred to Jesus' blood as 'spilled' in a communion prayer. A godly elder came up to me, put his arm around me and pulled me into his chest gently, and whispered in my year: Jay, 'spilled' implies accident. Perhaps you should use the word 'shed' instead. It connotes purposeful action. Then he affirmed me overall, and left. I felt loved by him, his correction was helpful, and I grew. It was a win-win. But, if you do offer criticism in person, make sure you do communicate love by your physical demeanor. Make it private. Look them in the eye. Be clear about what you perceive to be the issue and why. Then encourage them as you end. These interactions generally serve to deepen a friendship all the while challenging one of you to better things.

5. If you offer criticism in a note, then here are a few suggestions. Make sure the note is very personal. Avoid formal letterhead (especially from your workplace), do not type it, and make the language conversational and intimate. I have received two formal, workplace letterhead, typed notes. It seemed weird at the time until I realized the men who wrote them are from a generation where the distance and objectivity of a formal letter gave the impression that it is not personal, so no offense would be taken. Nowadays, everyone realizes that everything is person. Everything! That can be offensive, but that can also be good. So, embrace the personal nature of giving criticism. Just use the personal occasion to help someone grow by means of a truthful AND loving exchange. So, if you write a note, hand write it, use conversational language, and make sure you encourage along the way.

6. If you criticize an older person or even official superior, make sure you really do have the relationship with him/her to do that. Receiving critique from a significantly younger person or subordinate is all the more difficult to receive. Know the person. Some people in leadership invite such a relationship, but don't assume that is so in our increasingly egalitarian, anti-hierarchal, society. In my opinion, you should only approach a person in official or cultural leadership over you with criticism if you know you have a friendship as well as a leader-follower relationship, or if that leader has invited you to approach him/her that way if need be.

7. As a leader, one of the roles you play is to correct your people, group, company, practice, etc. But, you still must lead with a loving hand, especially in these matters. You will lose respect quickly if all you do is critique and correct and not extol and encourage. In this generation's cultural vocabulary, authority is an issue of inspiration not office or title any more. We still need to respect office and title, but at the end of the day leaders need to inspire by personal gravitas and character. So, by all means correct as part of your leadership, but do it in such a way that it blesses those under you and causes them to grow - perhaps into an eventual colleague and peer.

8. One final point. In terms of motive: make sure your desire to correct is driven by a truly loving desire to see the other person grow in truth, character, and/or ability. Don't move ahead unless you can truly say that. This is not about venting or truth for truth sake. This is about truth for tranformation, blessing, discipleship, love, and God's honor. Rebuke the way God rebukes, like a Father who loves his son.

So, there are some ways to consider offering criticism that honors God and blesses the other.

Just Do Something!

Book recommendation time! A friend of mine has just published a book on knowing God's will that looks like it complements my methodology on these matters. The title is: Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. Here is a link to it: http://www.amazon.com/Just-Do-Something-Decision-Without/dp/0802458386/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233260268&sr=1-3

It is basically a book on making decisions by the revealed will of God, the Bible, and how the Bible is to shape your thinking, will, and affections so that you can make choices via desires that organically stem from a Biblical, gospel oriented life. Kevin is a very insightful, humorous, and theological writer, pastor, and good dude overall. Check it out.

Relationship and Criticism Are Key

Did I say a two part series? You should be wary when preachers say stuff like that. To make each post shorter and more digestible, we'll take a few more slices of our theme of giving and taking godly criticism.

I think a good point to start with is this: give serious criticism only to those whom you have a strong relationship with. By strong I mean one in which there is mutual knowledge, history, affection, and trust. Most importantly, while a non-believer can be perceptive, keen, and accurate, I would value admonishment the most from a mature believer who is a friend. I do recognize that from time to time a wise and godly person you don't know well will rebuke you. You should take this seriously, even if you don't know them well. Often, because they are wise and godly, the form of the rebuke will be such that you will be inspired to repent with joy. But, as a rule, consider your relationship with the person as important to the benefit of the criticism.

There are a ton of lines of thought we could take, but let me just reiterate the importance of relationship in giving and taking criticism. If I were to focus on one angle, it would be your responsibility as the observer. If you observe falsehood and sin in another, even if you are totally correct in your analysis, please be very slow to actually approach them. Pray for them. Trust that God is at work in them if they are believer. Assume they have trusted and watchful friends in their life. Remember, if you don't know them, you cannot presume they do not, and you may be catching them in a rare moment of immaturity or weakness.

As a corollary, consider the source when you are criticized. I have not received too much substantive ciriticism as a pastor as of yet, by God's grace. But, one time a got a letter from a person I had never met that just blasted me for two recent sermons. I was assaulted at the methodological level and the heart level. I was smarting. It turns out this person had done this with several of my colleagues and was known as a cruel and judgmental person. After I cooled down I actually felt convicted by some of the things said person mentioned. But, most of it was dismissed by my wife and close friends. It was so absurd that if ever I were to receive a missive from said person, I would throw it away without reading it. Hopefully none of you will receive a rebuke like that one. But, the source was totally central to the affect. If it were a godly friend, both truth and love would have been communicated. If you don't feel the criticism was accurate, compounded by the accuser's lack of knowledge of you and your heart, then don't sweat it. God's Spirit is at work in you and God will be good to send messengers of loving rebuke - the Bible, sermons, personal conversations, spouses, and even children.

Criticism is best offered among Christ centered friends. Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

God Honoring Criticism

This week I will begin a two part blog series on receiving and giving criticism. This is a huge issue in the Christian life, I think. We often cite passages about not judging others in order to banish the very notion of critiquing people and their lives. In those passages I believe Jesus is not condemning the overall notion of analyzing another person, weighing their attitudes or actions against the truth of God's word. I think he is condemning hypocrisy. I actually think we are called to help each other in our Christian walk by discerning error and sin in each others lives, if we see it. The rub is: how do we do it in such a way that honors God by means of being both loving and truthful. So, that is a line of thought we will take on shortly.

Listen to Sermons!

The sermon one listens to on Sunday in the company of one's church family is the most important sermon of the week, given a Biblical ecclesiology, in my estimation. But, with the sources we have of recorded sermons on the internet, I would encourage you to make a habit of listening to sermons throughout the week. It is a great thing to have a good sermon going during a workout, while you are doing some chores, laying in bed at night, or just to have on hand in a moment of need. One can literally organize and catalogue thousands of sermons by Biblical book or topic on an ipod. I love preaching. I love it as my vocational calling and I take it with utmost seriousness, but I also love it as a science and art. So, I listen to sermons not only for edification, but also for professional and even artisan reasons. The more sermons one listens to, the more one gains discernment as a listener, and the more one gains in standards as well. But, one big caveat: discernment and standards should be primarily aimed at the content of preaching, not the style.

In fact, before I list some preachers that I recommend, let me warn you about listening to sermons on the web as a habit. First, don't commit parishioner adultery! That is, don't start listening to some of the world's greatest preachers as a way to fulfill longings that you don't get fulfilled with your local church preaching pastor. One can easily begin to lose respect and tune out your actual pastor if you know that John Piper or Mark Driscoll can easily be heard just a few hours later. No, those men themselves would beg you not to ever listen to them if they knew you did that. Love you pastor. He may not be the best communicator, but in as much as he preaches the Bible faithfully, give him your best as a listener and as one of his sheep. Respect him as one Jesus has put over you. And, like I said, don't get enamored by style and even resort to idolatry. Apart from being exegetically faithful, realize that these men are some of the most gifted communicators in the world. That is by definition rare, and not a Biblical necessity. It is great to have an unctional preacher. It helps. But, it is not the most important thing. That is why, again, your local church and your actual pastor is where your first fruit needs to go.

Having said that, let me list some of the preachers that have blessed me the most and who are readily available on the internet.

1. John Piper (Bethlehem Baptist Church, MN; Desiring God Ministries).
2. Alistair Begg (Parkside Church, outside Cleveland, OH).
3. Mark Driscoll (Mars Hill Church, Seattle).
4. Tim Keller (Redeemer Pres, NYC - Redeemer charges you, so look for his sermons on other sites).
5. Greg Thompson (Trinity Presbyterian, Charlottesville, VA).
6. Ravi Zacharias (Ravi Zacharias Ministries).
7. Duane Litfin (Wheaton College Chapel Archives).
8. Todd Wilson (Calvary Memorial Church, Oak Park, IL).
9. Old schoolers. Look for sites that have old recordings of A.W. Tozer, Martin Lloyd Jones, and vintage homililetical cats like that.
10. And, if you know of great preachers, let me know. As is the case with any field, I assure you the best preachers in the world are unknowns. God likes to do that, to keep those he has raised up for influence humble, and to bless a congregation of 50 or so with a man dripping with anointing solely for their good and God's glory.
* These are but a few.

So, tune in, listen well, be blessed.