The Orange County Chopper Church ??? January 30, 2008
Posted by reformedville in : Theology , trackbackMy brother-in-law and former business partner’s favorite program is Orange County Choppers. Dave is one of those guys who will look at an item and study it for years before he buys it. He made a decision two years ago that he was going to buy a motorcycle that fit his needs and he studies every option to see if it is worth it or not.
Every time I go and visit we sit around and watch the Orange County Chopper Show and see how these bikes are built. I was just down this past weekend and after watching a couple episodes I said, you know for all they put into those bikes in design, options, and cash, how much do they really get used? I think I spoiled the show by asking the question. We talked about all the special equipment that goes into it for high performance, etc. He was telling me many of the bikes just get put in a company showroom, as they have so much investment in them, they are not meant to be ridden, just showcased. Many aren’t really practical for everyday use.
In historic Protestantism the view of the job of the pastor was different than that of many modern evangelical churches. Many churches today focus on worship and evangelism/conversion, however, some have such a high emphasis on the latter aspect, that while many are converted we saw a real epidemic of milk Christians who never developed into mature Christians and really knew God’s Word. A neighbor introduced me to historic Protestantism where there was an extremely heavy focus on teaching and the catechisms and I was amazed at how biblically literate these folks were. I spent hours a day reading and could not get enough of this knowledge. In a couple years I felt like before I had really known very little about God’s Word. I was being equipped and couldn’t believe how much I was growing in the Lord.
We had excellent teacher’s dissecting the Greek and the Hebrew and studying the Institutes and the catechism. We wee up to date on the six day/period debates, the trends in Christianity, the distinctives between denominations and why we were right. Seemed like we had the best equipment and fantastic teachers to boot! I learned how teaching was one of the most important attributes of an elder, in fact one could not even qualify to be an elder if they could not teach a class and equip the saints.
But over a period of time I started to notice that the focus on the teaching was academic. In fact so heavily academic I questioned several times what is a job of the teacher? And again got the same answer to equip the saints. I listened to many studies on how the modern church was grooming pastors to be “ear ticklers” and to just preach what would be accepted by the congregation, never challenging them with the Word of God. We studied the mechanics of how God operates in salvation over and over and over again. Many times I asked, when are we going to put this on the street and have some evangelistic outreach? Several times I got the same answer, the people were not ready yet, they had to be taught more.
I was speaking to a good pastor friend of mine from another denomination I hadn’t seen for a few years and was telling him about my new church and how excited we were about it. I told him how different it was and how we had grown and how happy we were to be eating meat weekly rather than on a milk diet. We were by the pool enjoying a nice day when he asked me, are you sure you are eating meat? I said of course, and talked about all the new theological material we had covered. I told him of the great teaching and how proficient several were in the original languages. Then he asked me how they were in English? I didn’t understand. He said to me, well you said this is a church that has been around for thirty years and they have forty members. You believe in covenant theology, so how many second or third generations are there in the church? I was stumped, because I did not get what he was trying to tell me.
He said John, if the teaching is really good, how equipped are the saints to do the work of the gospel? You tell me that your services do not focus on evangelism or salvation, but equipping the saints correct? I said yes. He said well are the saints doing the work of the gospel evangelizing? What outreaches do you have in the community? How many new members have you had in the last year? How many people have come to know the Lord? I began to slowly admit we were not ready to evangelize yet, as we were not equipped. He kindly said, perhaps your teachers are not as good as you or they think they are. Sure they pass along all kinds of new knowledge, but they are not teaching you the basics of how to be salt and light and tell others about the joy and hope you have inside you.
I discounted some of it, maybe because of hurt, pride, and reasoned well, this was a retirement area; we were the youngest family in the church. But over the years I have noticed this to be a trend in historic Protestantism. We gain much knowledge, and can have intense, enriching theological discussions, and walked away really blessed. But sometimes others will look on and look at you like a deer in the headlamps.
I have reflected over time that we seek what is comfortable for us in the way of worship many times. It is great to learn something new and to be as the Berean’s, challenge each other with the Word of God and be well equipped. But is historic Protestantism, and for that fact the church in general becoming like the Orange County Chopper Gospel? Having all the theological bells and whistles, the top of the line sermons and understanding the mechanics of how God works; yet remaining on the showroom floor because as well equipped as it is, few know how to operate it on and in the street. I have had to start asking myself if we have been guilty of tickling our own minds with new knowledge, the newest book, the newest controversy, yet have not been instructed and challenged how to fulfill the day to kingdom work of putting this knowledge into action with the person who does not know the Lord. Are our houses of worship more academically geared than geared to the work of the gospel?
I learned to ride a cycle when I was 13 when I got my first dirt bike, I had a ton of spills, broke a couple cam chains, learned how to jump, lay into corners and accelerate out of them, how to speed slide, as well as how to ride an unknown trail. Once I had a dirt bike and how to operate it under almost any condition, I learned how to ride a street bike and it was rather easy. The lessons learned on the dirt bike made riding a full size motorcycle second nature. Riding a dirt bike was on the trail training so to speak. Unlike an Orange County Chopper it was something I could use and became very comfortable with.
There used to be a show on called “News you can use”. It wasn’t just news and facts, but news that affected you. Perhaps it is time as teachers we start truly teaching our people how to spread the news that the world can use- the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is time we learn how to equip the flocks to fulfill their assigned task of being the priesthood of believers in the real world and be salt and light in the Kingdom of God.
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Note: Recently some have misunderstood my current posts. I belong to a group called reformation42day. There are groups such as ACE, CURE and the like out there on the national scale as well. There has been a new reformation movement going on for a couple decades but today we are coming to some crucial points in the evangelical and reformed community. Our group is mostly pastors and some lay people. We even have a “private blog” among ourselves so others can not see it and we can discuss things freely.
The point. If we always approach questions and problems within the church the same way and walk away with the same answers we are most likely going to get the same results. We have in many ways lost critical thinking and linear thought. We have in many ways lost our ability to think outside the box. We will do it in our private lives but not when it comes to the church.
There are those of us in the church who love her and are not only willing to die for her, but to live for her too. And we see things in terms of more than just one local congregation but as trends in the church in general. I am one of the people, being a preacher son first and then a church planters son, who has seen the church from most angles, as well as being outside of it, who has determioned to ask the questions that have not been asked, asked the questions that makes us self examine what we are doing, asking the uncomfortable question. Offend the stock answers but questioning them. See in many ways we have lost the whole art of honesty, including within ourselves and stayed with the known and the comfortable.
I challenge people all the time in this aspect. The majoirty of my blog readers “know where I am coming from” as a mindset, and know this is not some childish rant of where I didnt get my way on something, or thaat I am advocating lone ranger Christianity. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am challenging God’s people with our mission as memebers of His Kingdom and am asking people, (considering most people who come to the blog are between 25-60), to think on issues both local and to think in Kingdom terms.
Thanks, John
Originally posted on uprisingyouth 10/06
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