Shack Attack!

...actually it's just a pun (for those who weren't born then, Shakatak were an 80's band).

Lots of people have been asking what I think about The Shack by Wm Paul Young.

Firstly I should say that I'm not interested in rushing out and attacking someone else or their theology. Sadly, you can find some pretty graceless attacks by christians on christians on the internet and I don't want to join in with that! I think it was John Wimber who said "My brother is never my enemy" and I think that's a pretty good sentiment to go with.

I'm going to assume that anyone who's reading this has read the book. If not you can get a synopsis at Amazon.

First let's get some positives in there!

The author, it would seem from the brief bio on the back cover, has been through some tough times and so he maybe has the right to speak on the subject of suffering to a degree that I don't. The book also seeks to portray a non-legalistic kind of relationship with God which is at odds with some of the legalism that plagues the lives of many Christians. It also seeks to illuminate the relationship that God has with himself as the Trinity and tries to deal with how people can deal with tragedy.

It's also true to say that people have genuinely found "The Shack" to be helpful. Of course, God can use all sorts of ways to speak to us, encourage us, or open up channels for healing So for instance God can stir compassion in us as we watch "Schindler's List" without us having to check out the film's theology! So I have no doubt that for some the book has been positively helpful and would not want to minimize that.

A major problem that we face is with the type of book that this is. It's a novel with a storyline which seems to be being used as a vehicle for teaching "truth" about God. There are many excellent books that have helped people to understand more of God, but they are usually either teaching books or allegories. Examples of allegories would be Narnia or Pilgrims Progress.

Narnia is a story which can be seen at some levels as an allegory, so it's ok for Aslan, the lion to be used to portray Jesus. We don't take on board everything Aslan says as a definitive statement of truth to be placed at the same level, or above the teaching of the bible, but we can see that it illuminates some aspects of truth for us. The difficulty with The Shack is that the author has not sought to use an obvious allegory, but to portray God as him/(her?)self. Thus the author puts words in the mouth of God, which I guess is a pretty risky thing to do!

By putting words into God's mouth, the author also puts the reader in a difficult position. It can give the words more credibility than if the author was teaching us from bible texts, experience or simply what he believes to be true. We are emotionally caught up with the story and this can leave us vulnerable to an underlying, non-biblical theology.

So what are the main problems with the theology behind "The Shack" from a biblical perspective?
Darren Arndt in his blog has helpfully identified 5 areas of concern.

1. The members of the trinity cannot morph into eachother
2. The claim that the Father didn't forsake Jesus on the cross
3. The claim that Jesus is continually choosing to be human
4. The claim that God will not send people to hell
5. The claim that there is no authority within the Trinity (and so there should not be authority anywhere)

Some of these issues (and others), are hinted at, while others are more clearly stated. This can be frustrating - often in the book "God" says something that seems to be clearly unbiblical but then it seems to be qualified. An example of this is when "God" seems to be saying "all roads lead to God" but then qualifies this by saying he uses all roads to reach people! Nonetheless, it does seem that the author is expounding a theology that goes beyond what the bible teaches.

As well as positively teaching some stuff that appears to be out of step with the bible, there are also some apparent omissions - for instance no mention of satan, no mention of being born again/regenerated, no mention (in a positive light) of the church.

In conclusion the author seems to have a problem with modern evangelical christianity. However, his answer is not to look back at what the bible teaches and get back to radical biblical christianity. Rather, he seems to seek to re-define God and our relationship with him in terms that accommodate a 21st century post-modern spirituality.

Oh yes and a final PS! - I was a bit uncomfortable with the bit at the end trying to get people to be "Shack Evangelists" - lets be evangelists for Jesus, rather than evangelists for a book!

PPS - I've also just found this helpful review

Sunday 2nd November 2008

ACTS 12 - "The gates of the prison are shut but the gates of heaven are open"

We’ve missed a few chapters but we don’t want to lose the plot.

So what’s happened?
Crucial story in Acts 10 & 11.
Pivotal. Up and till this time, the church comprised those who had a Jewish background. Peter has a vision whilst praying of a sheet coming down from heaven with food that was ceremonially clean and unclean and he was told to eat both.The message is “don’t call anyone unclean” it perplexes him. But then through a series of God-engineered events Peter finds himself preaching to a Roman centurion and his household - people who the Jews would have called unclean. The Spirit falls on them even before the message has ended and they speak in tongues praising God. As a result the apostles realize for the first time that the gospel is also for the gentiles, the non-Jews. If Acts 10 hadn’t happened Christianity would be confined to those who had been born as Jews.

That’s a brief outline of what’s happened. Now onto Acts 12.

Acts 12 is a continuation of what we’ve been seeing - God doing amazing things, but the church suffering persecution. So here we have the second great martyrdom. Unlike Stephen, James’ death is covered by just a few words.
Different Herod, this is Herod Agrippa I – grandson of Herod at Jesus birthThis one was king, friendly with Jews.We don’t know exactly why he seized James, may have been to curry favour.

So now the church is facing a double whammy - not just religious opposition but political. Stephen was stoned to death which was how the Jews carried out the death penalty. James was beheaded – a Roman death penalty.

In this persecution we find the words of Jesus being fulfilled. He had warned them of persecution. In John 16 he said “anyone who kills you will think he is serving God”Seen that last week in Afghanistan.Worldwide the church is experiencing much blessing and much persecution.

So Herod kills James and then because this pleases the Jews, he seizes Peter, but Herod holds over any further action till after Passover. Peter is guarded by a force of 16 soldiers. Two of them chained to him. No chance of escape.

While he is in prison the church is praying (verse 5)We see as the story develops how God miraculously releases Peter. The gates to the jail were locked but the gates to heaven are open. God specialises in unlocking that which is locked, at releasing that which is bound, at overcoming impossible odds.Joshua at Jericho – “Jericho was tightly shut up” – God says “see I have delivered Jericho into your hands”
So twice Luke tells us that the church was praying (verses 5 & 12)

We can have many difficulties to overcome, but we can have many “but the church was praying” solutions

We may be left with the question - Why did James die but Peter was saved – we need to face it, don’t skirt round the difficult questions. We don’t know. We can guess.
We want an answer when things go wrong for us – “Is God punishing us?”, “Did we lack faith?” “Weren’t we praying hard enough?” God doesn’t owe us an explanation. This is important.

We have situations that we can’t explain. We need to be prepared. We have to be prepared for the James’s as well as the Peters. From heaven, James dying is not failure. 1 Corinthians 15:54 – death is swallowed up in victory.

Prayer – it’s a mystery. God cannot be put in a box. We seek to understand everything we can and when we get to the end of that we worship. God doesn’t need our prayers but he wants our prayers

Come boldly – with confidence. Hebrews 4:16. When Abby comes home she just walks in the door. When visitors come they knock, they don’t just walk in. Coming boldly to God means we just walk in to his presence. We don’t have to knock on the door. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find HELP

God is concerned with our passion, not our attendance. He isn’t worried by numbers. Luke doesn’t say how many were praying, but he does tell us about the fervency. James the effective FERVENT prayer. Earnest prayer – about the heart. Not casual or dutiful. God doesn’t merely answer because we reach a level of earnestness/passion, but he IS interested in our hearts. Our earnestness reflects his

Little faith can be enough. We don’t know exactly what they were praying. But there is not much evidence of faith – they are surprised. Not a high level of expectation. Sometimes we try to hype up our faith. We don’t need to.

Final word… the word of God grew and multiplied. The triumph of the gospel.

The gates to your jail may be locked, but the gates of heaven are open.If you have a situation that seems locked up, get friends, get your housegroup to pray.

Sundays 7th & 14th September 2008

Acts 6 - The Appointment of "The Seven"
We are looking through Acts, not just as a series to hang some sermons on but to envision us for church
Acts – the story so far….
Jesus ascends to heavenThe Holy Spirit is poured out at the feast of Pentecost… as a result 3,000 believe and are baptizedDescription of the new communityHealing at the Gate beautiful, Peter & John siezedJudgement of Ananias & SaphiraMany healingsMore persecution – the apostles are seized
Acts 6 & 7
A problem arises over alleged discrimination in the churchThe apostles tell the people to choose 7 menof good repute, full of the Spirit & wisdomThe apostles lay hands on them and turn the job over to themThe word of God spreads, numbers increase.Stephen does “wonders and miraculous signs”He encounters opposition and is brought before the Sanhedrin, the ruling councilHe speaks with respect and courage but they don’t like what they hear!Stephen is stoned. Mob rule.Widespread persecution of the church follows and church is scattered
We’re going to look at 6 things
1. Don’t be surprised by problems
Our goal is not to be problem free.As we look at Acts we need to recognise it wasn’t all rosy.Growth is uncomfortable and requires adjustments.We need to get used to it!What worked as a group of 5,000 may not now work with 20,000Growth inevitably produces challenges and problems
But we need to realise that not growing also has problems!If a business stops growing, it doesn’t stop having problems – it just has different problems!For the Roman Empire – consolidation marked the beginning of the endThe Empire depended on conquering new people and assimilating them into the Empire so they became the soldiers, the business men, the politiciansThe gospel conquers people for Jesus and sets them to work in the kingdom.When Rome stopped growing it became weak. The seeds of decline were sown

2. The Threat to Unity
Threat to unity.
Dispute between Gk speaking Jewish Christians and those who spoke Aramaic. They would have had different culture and customs. So there was alleged discrimination on grounds of race and culture.The distinctive of Acts 4 - "there were no needy among them", was being lost
So amidst the amazing growth of church, this serious problem aroseA problem that could lead to disunity and divisionLater on Paul said in Gal 3:28 – there is neither Jew nor Greek – all one in Christ Jesus
3. How did apostles deal with it? Relevant to any area of leadership - church, work or home. Actually relevant to everyone!
They didn’tIgnore the problem and hope it would go awaySay "we’re growing it’s just one of those things, it’ll sort itself out"Say "Those Hellenists – always divisive!"SAy "We’re too busy we’ll deal with it later"Sympathise and do nothingOver spiritualise.Shift the blame onto othersSee it as a personal attackSay "We’ll get hold of the ring leaders"Say "Do you realise we’ve just been flogged!"
NO - They faced it head on and came up with a holy spirit inspired wise solution. A solution that was both practical and spiritual
They released people into ministry. Roger “Way forward is to release people”.They did not micro-manage the situation – they releasedThey didn’t say – the only way to get a job done properly is to do it yourselfNo they said we will “appoint them over this business” – gave them real responsibilityThey didn’t play it safe. Faith.
(Were they appointing deacons?)
We need to see principles, not a blueprint for Elders & Deacons.Luke does not call them deacons. He calls them "The 7".Serve at tables – may not mean to be waiters – rather may mean to sit at the table, managing the process.Maybe the apostles were saying "God hasn’t called us to sit behind desks!"
NIBC suggest the Seven were more like pre-cursor to Elders
My view is this passage is not a blue print for organising the church nor is it a job description for Elders or Deacons, rather it is a principle of how to handle pressures of growth.It was a wise and spirit inspired solution to a real and pressing problem

4. The qualifications that really matter
They didn’t look for the most unlikely candidateThey didn’t look for someone with management experienceThey didn’t look for a “charismatic personality”They didn’t look for someone who could knock a few heads together
They looked for men of good report, Full of the Spirit & WisdomIf those are the qualifications, then is anyone potentially disqualified?
So… these are the job qualifications…

5. What else we can learn about Stephen?
Full of faith and the Holy SpiritFull of grace and powerAnd did great wonders – not limited by his job description – alive to the opportunities for God to use himHe spoke with wisdomHe was respectful in his replyHe was able to give accountHe doesn’t fight his own causeHe is not timid – he engagesHe is not a man-pleaser. If I’d been there I’d have been willing him to tone it down! He was willing to upset people for the sake of the gospel. He didn’t compromise.He forgives
Did he have a special anointing that is beyond us? No. Don’t put him on a pedestal and admire him, but rather be motivated by his example
6. Looking forward
The ministry of Stephen resulted in a turning point. No longer did the church have favour. It was not even tolerated. It was scattered.
We need to remember that having favour in our community is not our goal! Nor is it a measure of success – Jesus said in Luke 6 – “Beware when people speak well of you…”. There are always times in church history when persecution comes.
We’re at a phase where we have favour – it might not always be so and it’s certainly not our goal.
So if we want to serve our Lord what are the qualifications? – be full of the Spirit and wisdom!