For a couple of weeks now I have found myself more than intrigued by the story of the pastor succession problem at a far away place named the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Coral Ridge was one of early pioneers in television ministry (remember those?) that featured amazing music and the preaching of Dr. D. James Kennedy, who when he stuck to scripture was good but often wandered into some political theme or another that was so off-the-wall that it would make even a conservative like me, blanch.
Kennedy served for forty years as the church’s only senior minister, and did the worse thing any pastor can do to a congregation – he had a massive heart attack right after Christmas in 2006 and died the following September. Such an act, in non-Roman Catholic circles, usually qualifies one for sainthood and Kennedy was, in fact, canonized by his loyal followers who were still, and rightly so, morning his passing when a new Senior Minister was called.
The church elders landed on an unlikely candidate with the unusual name of Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin). Actually his full name is William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, after his grandfather, Billy Graham. He is a chip off the old block. He is an excellent preacher, handsome, smart, who preaches Christ centered and biblically based sermons. With all that going for him you think he too would have been subject for canonization too but unfortunately, he was only the subject of vilification after having a honeymoon with his new people he described as lasting about ten days.
What was wrong? The first complaint I heard was that Tchividjian preferred to preach in a suit rather than in his Geneva robe as had Dr. Kennedy. The second complaint was that he preferred to be more like his grandfather and preach solely scripture rather than pick a political side and ride that pony. And the third was that he changed the service. None of these seemed to be hanging offences so I was surprised by the zeal of his attackers. They passed out flyers, they called for a congregational meeting to have him removed, and generally made his life miserable fighting against any change he tried to bring. Here is what one member said:
To which, church consultant John H. Armstrong, responded:
We know that fight and we know that having a multi-million dollar building can be a blessing but also know that it can be a burden. We know what it is like to be in Pastor Tchividjian’s shoes thinking that the church should be open to everyone and having members leave because they didn’t want to share the facility with people of other nationalities. What this is all about is a misplaced zeal that tries to control God.
That’s what Peter wanted to do. He had just finished confessing Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and then Jesus tells him what that means. It means that Peter’s friend would suffer and die and Peter just hates that idea. Who wouldn’t? Let’s not be too hard on Peter here. Jesus had come along and given his life meaning, fulfillment, wholeness, a sense of purpose. Besides that, Jesus was Peter’s friend not a single one of us in this room, no right-minded person who has ever read these words, hasn’t stood in Peter’s shoes and when a friend delivered bad news hasn’t replied with “God forbid it.”
And here is why I think Jesus had to react so sternly and swiftly to Peter’s words, which have also been translated, “God would never let this happen to you.” Jesus had to react because there was a real temptation being put before him here. He could go home, go back to being a carpenter, raise a family, retire, live to a ripe old age, and die of natural causes or he continue on his journey to Jerusalem. He could give into Peter’s zeal for his protection, or he could follow the Father’s will. Jesus had to put Peter and his thoughts behind him in order to do what he had to do.
Misplaced zeal always tries to control God. Misplaced zeal always puts its trust in things that are less than God. Misplaced zeal spends enormous amounts of time trying to stand in the way of God’s will instead of standing behind the people who are going to carry it out. Misplaced zeal spends more time attacking than it does affirming.
Jesus puts Peter behind him. And Saint Paul tells us how we are to react to those who would tear down rather than build up. First, he says, never let them take away your zeal for the gospel. Serve the Lord above all, pray with those who need prayer, weep with those who need someone to weep with them, party with those who need someone to party with. In other words, live out the gospel.
And to those who would attack you, be as kind as you can to them, and then leave them in God’s hands.
Here is what Tchividjian said about his critics, the people who zealously worked to take away his job:
He learned how Christ’s treats all of us from his grandfather who spoke about Christ’s unmerited love and grace to millions. Billy Graham and his grandson, have a zeal that is firmly rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we like them do as well in never lagging in our zeal to serve the Lord. And may that zeal never be misplaced.
©The Rev’d Dr. David C. Nelson
21 August 2011o Teach You.”
Kennedy served for forty years as the church’s only senior minister, and did the worse thing any pastor can do to a congregation – he had a massive heart attack right after Christmas in 2006 and died the following September. Such an act, in non-Roman Catholic circles, usually qualifies one for sainthood and Kennedy was, in fact, canonized by his loyal followers who were still, and rightly so, morning his passing when a new Senior Minister was called.
The church elders landed on an unlikely candidate with the unusual name of Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin). Actually his full name is William Graham Tullian Tchividjian, after his grandfather, Billy Graham. He is a chip off the old block. He is an excellent preacher, handsome, smart, who preaches Christ centered and biblically based sermons. With all that going for him you think he too would have been subject for canonization too but unfortunately, he was only the subject of vilification after having a honeymoon with his new people he described as lasting about ten days.
What was wrong? The first complaint I heard was that Tchividjian preferred to preach in a suit rather than in his Geneva robe as had Dr. Kennedy. The second complaint was that he preferred to be more like his grandfather and preach solely scripture rather than pick a political side and ride that pony. And the third was that he changed the service. None of these seemed to be hanging offences so I was surprised by the zeal of his attackers. They passed out flyers, they called for a congregational meeting to have him removed, and generally made his life miserable fighting against any change he tried to bring. Here is what one member said:
“God bless the young people that he’s brought over, but you’ve got to understand they’ve been meeting in a cafeteria or the high school. They are now in a multi-million dollar edifice, and they didn’t have to work for it”
To which, church consultant John H. Armstrong, responded:
It seems very apparent to me that the opposition to Tullian Tchividjian was rooted in raw power and control. The all-American view that you only get to share in what you’ve worked for, and thus paid for, comes through very clearly in [the disgruntled member’s] comment. I have heard this argument my entire life. You are an outsider because we paid for this and we own it. But I thought the building belonged to God, not to us. [John H. Armstrong, “Lessons from the Coral Ridge Con
troversy.” Posted on his blog September 23, 2009]
We know that fight and we know that having a multi-million dollar building can be a blessing but also know that it can be a burden. We know what it is like to be in Pastor Tchividjian’s shoes thinking that the church should be open to everyone and having members leave because they didn’t want to share the facility with people of other nationalities. What this is all about is a misplaced zeal that tries to control God.
That’s what Peter wanted to do. He had just finished confessing Christ as the Messiah, the Son of the living God, and then Jesus tells him what that means. It means that Peter’s friend would suffer and die and Peter just hates that idea. Who wouldn’t? Let’s not be too hard on Peter here. Jesus had come along and given his life meaning, fulfillment, wholeness, a sense of purpose. Besides that, Jesus was Peter’s friend not a single one of us in this room, no right-minded person who has ever read these words, hasn’t stood in Peter’s shoes and when a friend delivered bad news hasn’t replied with “God forbid it.”
And here is why I think Jesus had to react so sternly and swiftly to Peter’s words, which have also been translated, “God would never let this happen to you.” Jesus had to react because there was a real temptation being put before him here. He could go home, go back to being a carpenter, raise a family, retire, live to a ripe old age, and die of natural causes or he continue on his journey to Jerusalem. He could give into Peter’s zeal for his protection, or he could follow the Father’s will. Jesus had to put Peter and his thoughts behind him in order to do what he had to do.
Misplaced zeal always tries to control God. Misplaced zeal always puts its trust in things that are less than God. Misplaced zeal spends enormous amounts of time trying to stand in the way of God’s will instead of standing behind the people who are going to carry it out. Misplaced zeal spends more time attacking than it does affirming.
Jesus puts Peter behind him. And Saint Paul tells us how we are to react to those who would tear down rather than build up. First, he says, never let them take away your zeal for the gospel. Serve the Lord above all, pray with those who need prayer, weep with those who need someone to weep with them, party with those who need someone to party with. In other words, live out the gospel.
And to those who would attack you, be as kind as you can to them, and then leave them in God’s hands.
Here is what Tchividjian said about his critics, the people who zealously worked to take away his job:
My commitment is to speak about those who opposed me in a forgiving manner, in a Christ-like manner. I will, by God's grace, do my best to take the high road, to not disparage anybody, to operate in a posture of understanding. Some of these people had only had one pastor ever. So that's going to be hard for some people.
So I am very much working hard to treat those who have opposed me the way God and Christ treated me. [Bobby Ross, Jr., “Tullian Tchividjian: Allow Your Critics to Teach You.” Christianity Today. August 19, 2011.]
He learned how Christ’s treats all of us from his grandfather who spoke about Christ’s unmerited love and grace to millions. Billy Graham and his grandson, have a zeal that is firmly rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May we like them do as well in never lagging in our zeal to serve the Lord. And may that zeal never be misplaced.
©The Rev’d Dr. David C. Nelson
21 August 2011o Teach You.”
No comments:
Post a Comment