Monthly Archives: August 2019

Theodore got it wrong, and he got it right.

I'm referring to Theodore Roosevelt who said "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

He was wrong when he wrote "It is not the critic who counts." I know what he meant, and I'll get to that later, but good critics do count. The word critic comes from the Greek word that means "to judge" or "to make an appraisal." In terms of tone, that's neutral. A good critic is someone who can say "I think you can do better in this way." That's a gift from God, though it may be painful to hear.

Listening to a good critic requires a deep level of humility. I must be willing to admit that I have areas of my life that need to be better and that I am almost certainly blind to those areas. I need a good critic.

John Mark (read Hearing Voices, part 1 for his story) had left Paul and Barnabas in the middle of a mission trip. Paul may have been overly aggressive in his criticism of John Mark's decision, but that criticism may have provided for John Mark's correction and strengthening.

Someone recently sent me a quote from Mike Mason who described a man's soul as being like a densely populated city, where "nothing new can be built in his heart without something else being torn down." The good critic can help you see what needs to be torn down.

So, what constitutes a good critic? That's where Teddy got it right.

When you try anything new, you are stepping into the arena. In the arena you will have opponents who are dedicated to your defeat. Those are not the critics you want to listen to. In the stands you will have critics who rain down upon you insults, laughter, shame, ridicule, distortions, and outright lies. Those are not critics you need to listen to.

The worst critic, of course, is the one you carry into the arena with you. It lives between your ears and is telling you that you have nothing new to contribute, that there are always people who do it better, and that you never were any good at this any way.

The real problem is that we give waaaaayyyyy too much attention to the bad critics. I've decided at this stage in my life that I'm only going to listen to people who have been in the arena. That's a good critic. I'm a lot better at not listening to the critics in the cheap seats. At least I say I am.

The only way to avoid critics, good or bad, is to not enter the arena, and that's exactly what your bad critics want you to do. Give up. But thankfully, the voice of the critic is not the only voice speaking to you.

There are two other voices. Again, in the business, that's what we call "a tease." Come back next week. In the meantime, don't give up. Listen to someone who can make you better when you reenter the arena.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

August 26, 2019

"And there arose a sharp contention between Paul and Barnabas, so that they separated from one another." Acts 15:39

What I'm about to share with you today is simply a great story from the book of Acts. I'm going to use this story over the next three weeks to talk about the three voices you need to listen to in life when you're in the middle of a contentious situation.

The story is really the backstory for the verse "there arose a sharp contention between Paul and Barnabas, so that they separated." The two leading missionary figures of the day, powerful and influential leaders in the church, came to a contentious chapter in their lives that led them to go their separate ways. What in the world happened?

The bone of contention concerned a young man named John Mark, who was actually Barnabas's cousin. He had accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey, and Luke tells us that he left mid-mission, so to speak, and returned to Jerusalem.

Some months later Paul proposed to Barnabas a second missionary journey. Barnabas agreed and suggested they again take John Mark with them. Here is where the problem began. Paul refused. He was not happy that John Mark had left them during the first journey.

We don't have the details, but we might speculate that John Mark simply didn't want to go farther away from home. Maybe he was sick. Maybe he just decided he wasn't cut out for missionary journeys. Pamphylia, where John Mark left them, was a somewhat wilder, less stable area. He might have been scared. Paul did end up getting stoned there and left for dead, so John Mark's departure may have been the better part of valor.

All we can know for sure is that Paul was not happy with the parting during the first journey, and he wasn't about to allow this timid fellow on the second trip. Thus, the stage was set for what Luke called "a sharp contention" as Barnabas argued for his young cousin to get a second chance, and Paul, ever zealous and almost certainly unbending, wanted nothing to do with the undependable young man.

Now think about John Mark for a moment. Have you ever wanted to impress someone you really looked up to? Have you ever let them down? Have you ever let anyone down? Has that failure echoed in your mind, convincing you that you really never will amount to much? Don't you think some of those thoughts rattled around in John Mark's head as he thought about how he'd let down the great Paul?

Or perhaps it's simply a contentious situation you're dealing with. These come and go. They happen at work, in traffic, in families, on Facebook (good grief!). How do you deal with them? You listen to the voices. Now I'll tell you what those voices are in the coming three weeks. This is what we call in the business "a tease." It will make you come back next week.

For this week, however, let's just nail down that we all have contentious situations that can lead to all kinds of caustic spiritual emotions like anger, resentment, shame, guilt, confusion, etc. Let's also nail down that the contentious way things might be in your life right now is not necessarily the way things will be down the road. God is always working grace into the lives of people who are open to it.

Many years after "the sharp contention" Paul sat in a jail cell facing a very uncertain future. He longed for his books and parchments, and especially for the companionship of a certain young man. So, he wrote to Timothy, "Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful in serving me." That's the same John Mark who had been the target of his condemnation years earlier.

Remember, God works His grace into the lives of everyone who is open to Him. You just have to listen to the voices.

Grace,

Terry Ellis

August 18, 2019

"In the world you will have tribulation, but rejoice for I have overcome the world." John 16:33

I've noticed that over the last several weeks I've touched often on the topic of suffering. This doesn't represent a plan on my part necessarily, for I really try to let topics come to me through prayer and what I happen to see at the time. It seems, I suppose, that trials and difficulties have caught my attention a bit more than usual lately.

It's an important topic, of course, and one that nearly everyone can relate to any given day. In my long preaching and writing career, sermons or columns on how to handle challenge and difficulty proved most popular or needed. Life is hard, and the hardness of life can be the great shipwreck of faith for many people. We need to get this idea right, or we risk losing all. It is the most consequential fault line in American theology.

Perhaps one reason I've been drawn to this topic so much lately is that I see so many people getting it wrong. Specifically, I find the idea that Christianity is the way to avoid suffering.

This idea has been around for a very long time. Rev. Ike used to preach that God wanted him to have a Cadillac, and you too presumably if you sent him enough money. I risk sounding snarky here, but when Janis Joplin satirically sang about the Lord buying her a Mercedes Benz, we have a theological problem that needs to be addressed.

The key to a good heresy is to take a kernel of truth and blow it wildly out of proportion. Does God want to bless us? Well, of course. Jesus said the Father knows how to give good things to His children. And yes, doing good does put us in a stream of Providence that generally leads to a better life, and doing bad will eventually catch up with you. But does that mean that if I tithe I'm due a disease-free life of luxury as I jet around the country in my Gulfstream? Of course not.

Now I don't want to substitute one distortion for another. We do love to casually, even caustically, dismiss some preachers as health and wealth peddlers. But I've listened to a message or two from one of the most libeled and I found that particular sermon to be positive and encouraging. Contempt is never a virtue even if I happen to agree with the assessment.

Now I've gone a long way around to get to this point: Christians are not in the suffering-avoidance business. We're called to be part of the suffering-redemption business. And that business is God's. It's an act of grace, not a reward for my works. Grace wins even when suffering shouts.

Jesus said quite clearly "in the world you will have tribulation." When He added "rejoice, I've overcome the world," He did not mean that we get a pass on the uncomfortable truth. Paul, James, and Peter echoed this idea. They all suffered, dying awful deaths because of their faith. To suggest in any way that we can or should avoid suffering turns the New Testament on its head.

We expend far too much energy, and have tremendously distorted expectations, regarding our own suffering. Pray to be healed, of course! Pray for a level path, without question! But above all things invite God into your suffering. The redemption throughsuffering is the central and richest idea of Christianity. The cross itself bears marvelous witness to this truth. It is the nexus of the very worst suffering imaginable and the greatest dispensation of grace possible.

Indulge me for a moment in a bit of Greek mythology. I think I can make it worth your while. Through Hades flow five rivers, with Styx being the most familiar. The river Lethe, however, is the most interesting. The word in Greek means "to forget." Everyone who goes to Hades can take a drink from the river and forget everything.

John Erskine's poem "Actaeon" focuses on a story from Greek mythology about a hunter who dies tragically. (It's a great story, but I don't have time to go into it. Google it.) Anyway, in the poem, Actaeon goes to Hades and comes to the River Lethe. After beautiful stanzas of reflection, he asks this question: "One draught of Lethe for a world of pain? An easy bargain. Yet I keep the thorn to keep the rose." He could have erased all pain, but he realized the pain was prelude to the blessing. Thorn and rose are forever linked. Lose one and you lose the other.

So here is the question I want to ask you this week: are you trying to take that drink and avoid all pain? Or are you willing to accept the pain in order to gain the blessing? It's the only way, really. All the other paths involve complaint, fear, and doubt about past, present, or future pain. Take any of those paths and you miss the redemptive grace Christ died to bring into the world.

For some of you this little exercise will mean that you stop playing God. Your questions have been inevitable, but they're now holding you back. It's time to move on. Invite God into your pain. He's there already. He understands your tears, your doubts, even your rage. But God is also good, and the source of all comfort. He is the rose we find after the thorn.

Grace,

Dr. Terry Ellis

August 4, 2019