Pharis Ectomy e PDF

With an entertaining blend of social-scientist-meets-sage,
Peter Haas provides a penetrating look at our faith that

just might reveal our own “hidden Pharisees.” Through a
series of autopsies, Haas bypasses the cheap “church
make-over solutions” and cuts straight to our deepest
need: a Pharisectomy.
Although only in his mid-30’s, Pastor Peter Haas
has already become a well known pastor, author
and conference speaker. After experiencing a radi-
cal conversion to Christianity while working in a
nightclub as a rave d.j., Peter has travelled
the world sharing about God’s miraculous
passion. Since relocating to Minneapolis,
Minnesota in 2004, Peter planted an arts-
oriented multi-site church called Substance. In
Peter Haas
just a few short years, Substance has become
“Pharisectomy explores
one of the fastest growing and most youthful
the American church in
an intriguing, entertain- mega-churches in the United States. Peter
ing, and insightful way.” currently resides in Minneapolis with his wife
Craig Groeschel, Senior and three kids.

pastor of LifeChurch.tv
(Edmond, OK) and author
of WEIRD: Because Normal
Isn’t Working
USD $12.99
RELIGION / Christian Life / Spiritual Growth
Praise for Pharisectomy
“In all our efforts to live as committed believers, have we missed the very
presence of God? Peter Haas’s pointed and poignant question is long overdue.
Using crafted storytelling and quick wit, he cuts to the heart of what it truly
means and looks like to live a grace-centered life. Pharisectomy offers much-
needed insight for the church.”
—Lindy Lowry
Editor of Outreach Magazine
“It’s hard to see our own hypocrisy in the mirror. Peter’s book not only helps
you identify it but eliminate it. Pharisectomy explores the American church
in an intriguing, entertaining, and insightful way.”
—Craig Groeschel
Senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)
and author of WEIRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working
“When trying to live righteously becomes a way to earn God’s acceptance

instead of being a response to His love, it can do much more harm than good.
The Bible tells us salvation can’t be earned . . . it’s a free gift. Peter’s life and this
book are both compelling evidence of the powerful things God can do with
someone who receives His free gift of grace. The book contains truths that can
radically change your life!”
—Robert Morris
Senior pastor of Gateway Church (Southlake, TX)
“Pharisectomy is one ‘ectomy’ that won’t leave you in pain and discomfort but
in joy, hope, humor, and renewed zest for life. One word of warning: the book
is not your best airplane companion. You will disturb your seatmates by the
laughter, the nodding of the head and, yes, the squirming—not to mention the
puzzled interrogations about the title.”
—Leonard Sweet
Best-selling author, chief contributor to sermons.com, and professor
(Drew University and George Fox University)
“Truth be told, we all have a Pharisee inside us that we’re reluctant to find.
Through vulnerable stories, quick wit, bite-sized chapters, and challenging
applications, Peter Haas helps us—from seasoned Christians to new ones—
hop up on the operating table to have our inner Pharisee removed.”
—Warren Bird
Research Director for Leadership Network
and author of Multisite Roadtrip,
Viral Churches, and The Other 80%
“God has given Peter Haas the ability to slap you in the face and hug you all at
the same time! He is a voice of the new generation in the church world today.
And he has something to say! Peter’s humor and ultra practical insights make
this book a must read.”
—Matt Keller
Lead pastor of Next Level Church (Ft. Myers, FL)
and founder of Next Level Coaching (www.MyNextLevel.me)
“Peter Haas doesn’t try to be relevant—he just is! Refreshingly authentic, his
whimsical character should not be mistaken for shallowness. Pharisectomy
can help cut out the legalism and religiosity without abandoning biblical
righteousness and abiding spirituality.”
—Rob Hoskins
President of OneHope, Inc.
“Peter’s observations of the weird things churches do are hilarious yet pain-
fully true. I actually found a few characters he described in my own church,
and I hope they read this book too.”
—Craig Altman
Senior pastor of Grace Family Church (Lutz, FL)
“Peter Haas is a fresh voice for the church and today’s generation. I believe
this book will be well received by some, a real challenge for others, and a two-
by-four between the eyes for others. Read it, enjoy it, and see what God says
to you while you listen to the stories Peter shares!”
—Rob Ketterling
Senior pastor of River Valley Church (Apple Valley, MN)
“Pharisectomy is seriously funny storytelling mixed with deep biblical in-
sights. This is a great response to a generation that’s quitting on church.”
—Joe Champion
Lead pastor of Celebration Church (Georgetown, TX)
“In a church world that’s filled with cynicism and critique, Peter Haas offers
a fresh way to stay connected to God’s life-giving Spirit.”
—Chris Hodges
Lead pastor of Church of the Highlands (Birmingham, AL)
P harisectomy
P harisectomy
How to Joyfully Remove Your Inner
Pharisee and Other Religiously
Transmitted Diseases
by
Peter Haas
www.InfluencesResources.com
Copyright © 2012 by Peter Haas

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published by Influence Resources

1445 N. Boonville Ave., Springfield, Missouri 65802
Published in association with The Quadrivium Group—Orlando, FL

info@TheQuadriviumGroup.com
Developmental Editing—Ben Stroup, BenStroup.com—Greenbrier, TN
Copy Editing and Proofreading—Kyle Olund, KLO Publishing—
Hendersonville, TN
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical,
photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission
of the publisher, except brief quotations used in connection
with reviews in magazines or newspapers.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission
of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com.
The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered
in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House
Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-93669-944-5
First printing 2012
Printed in United States of America
To my friend and mentor
Billy Hornsby (1949–2011)
You showed me that treating people with grace and
respect is one of the highest forms of worship.
Contents
Foreword by Greg Surratt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Introduction
Jesus Still Goes to Nightclubs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
What might I need to know to survive this book?
Chapter One
How I Became an Urban Legend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What are the fundamentals of a modern-day Pharisee?
Chapter Two
Why I Gave Up on Chopping off Hands. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Why don’t we obey every rule in the Bible?
Chapter Three
The Art of Giving Your All. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
How do we get radical without being religious?
Chapter Four
Checkbook Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Why did sinners run to Christ even though His messages
were tough?
Chapter Five
Christians vs. Children of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
How are we supposed to love spooky, weird, or
boring churches?
Chapter Six
The Art of Hedge Making. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
What are the classic behaviors of a well-meaning legalist?
« vii »
P h a r i s e c to m y
Chapter Seven
The Rise of Rabid Pets (Part I). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
If I were to accidentally kill my church, how might I do this?
Chapter Eight
Preventing Dogfights (Rabid Pets, Part II). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
How do we circumvent complicated church debates
and deficiencies?
Chapter Nine
The Great Generation Gap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Why are young Westerners leaving the church in droves?
Conclusion
The Real Reason Religiously Diseased People Are Messed Up. . . . 135
What is it that truly reveals Christ to the world?
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
« viii »
Foreword
L et me start by saying that I love Peter Haas. I love his

wit, I love his insight, I love his transparency. My life is better for
having met him. I loved the title of this book when he first shared it
with me. I had one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
So, why should you read it?
Have you ever run into someone who was totally cynical about
church? They were fed up with the hypocrisy, the fighting, the le-
galism, and everything else in between. Maybe they were hurt by
believers when they were young. Or maybe they tried to give church
a chance at one point in their lives, only to find out that there was
little love or acceptance to be found. The truth is, I think that anyone
who has grown up in church can relate to those sorts of feelings. I
can remember a time when I wondered if I wanted to be a part of the
church any longer. I had been so turned off by fighting and ugliness
that I wasn’t sure it was worth it. Fortunately, God brought some
good people into my life who reminded me that the church can
also be a place of love and healing. Cynicism isn’t just a problem for
outsiders—those of us who have the most experience with church are
sometimes the most cynical and bitter of all.
That is why I am excited about the book you are now reading.
Peter knows all about those cynical feelings and what they can do
to a person. Growing up, Peter experienced many different church
denominations and styles, but came away with one basic assumption:
church is a place you endure to keep God happy. Peter left the church
with no intention of going back. Fortunately, God had other plans!
A remarkable encounter with God in a nightclub convinced Peter to
give religion (and church) a second chance, and he has never looked
back. Like me, Peter is passionate to reach those who are unchurched
« ix »
or have left the church. Young people are leaving the church in droves,
and I cannot think of a better person to bring them back than Peter.
Did I mention Peter is funny? Really funny. Years ago a mentor of
mine told me that the secret of a good sermon is to “Make ’em laugh,
make ’em cry, and give ’em Jesus.” Peter’s book definitely has the first
one covered, and probably the second too. As for the third part,
Pharisectomy helps the reader encounter Jesus in new and refresh-
ing ways. This is a book for people who have been burned by church
and for people who have never set foot inside a church. Peter knows
what it is like to be both an insider and an outsider, which makes him
uniquely able to speak to both groups. Pharisectomy is also a book for
people who have been in church their whole lives but feel that many
of their most basic questions have never been answered.
At its core, Pharisectomy is about dealing with the hypocrisy, the
cynicism, and the elitism—not in others, but in ourselves. Peter does
an excellent job of showing legalism for what it is and demonstrating
just how dangerous it is. In many cases, legalism is the reason people
have been hurt in churches and have no desire to return. But Peter
shows that when we move past our bitterness and cynicism, we can
experience the love, joy, and freedom Jesus has for us.
If you have ever been hurt in a church, or even if you were the
one doing the hurting, I believe that this book has the potential to
radically impact your life. A Pharisectomy is kind of like all those
immunization shots you got when you were young—if you are going
to be healthy, you need them. A Pharisectomy is an operation that
all of us need, and I am grateful that Peter is here to walk us through
the procedure.
—Greg Surratt
Lead pastor, Seacoast Church
and author of Ir-Rev-Rend
«x»
Introduction
Jesus Still Goes to

Nightclubs
What might I need to know to survive this book?
Did you know Jesus goes to nightclubs? I’m not implying

that He literally shows up and starts dancing. But in the Gospels, He
certainly hung out in scandalous places. And He definitely came to
my nightclub one night.
Believe it or not, I actually turned my life over to Christ while
working as a rave DJ. I wasn’t exactly open to Christianity at the time.
So as you’d imagine, the story leading up to it is actually quite bizarre.
You should know I never actually hated Christians. I never really
knew any of the “mean and restrictive” types (you know . . . the ultra
conservative ones who worried that dancing might lead to premarital
hand holding or that rock music, when played backward, tempted
kids to watch the Smurfs).
Don’t get me wrong. I knew those Christians existed, because
their “Praise the Lord!” T-shirts gave them away. And someone was
obviously passionate enough to scratch “I love Jesus” on the toilet
stall at the local gas station, which struck me as an odd evangelism
strategy. But their only real influence on our community was that
they kept jean jumpers perpetually in style.
You see, where I grew up, church affiliation was nothing more
than fire insurance. Almost everyone was Catholic or liberal prot-
estant. Some of the best drinking parties of the year were actually
« xi »
P h a r is e c to m y
fundraisers for local churches. De-

spite our families’ libertarian stances The whole experience
on many things, no one seemed to came to symbolize my
have fun in church. entire perception of
One time, I was at my grandma’s church, a place where
church when suddenly an old man you endure boring rituals
died in the pew in front of me. He to keep God happy.
kind of just tipped over in the middle
of the sermon. Nobody seemed to react with urgency. Believe it or not,
the service never stopped while the paramedics hauled the guy away!
It was as though this sort of thing happened all the time. So I’m quite
certain his autopsy showed he was officially bored to death. The whole
experience came to symbolize my entire perception of church, a place
where you endure boring rituals to keep God happy.
To make church services harder for me, my dad was passionately
tone deaf in a crowd, and my mom was always the loudest and most
enthusiastic harmonizer in the entire congregation. I secretly hoped
that the organist would show up drunk one day and start randomly
playing Take Me Out to the Ball Game or, at the very least, plunk out
the cue for everyone to shout “Charge!”
Maybe the pipe organ itself was half of my problem. You see,
I always thought it would be a perfect worship instrument if your
middle name was Count Dracula or Phantom of the Opera. But for
daily use, organs are a bit odd, don’t you think? Have you ever been
at a party and thought, “Man, if only we had a pipe organ? Let’s get
this party started!” Besides, I always thought it was strange that both
haunted houses and churches endorsed the same favorite instru-
ment. And when people literally died in front of me, this c onnection
wasn’t lost on me.
To be fair, I also didn’t want a contemporary church either, be-
cause contemporary worship in my church dictionary generally meant
American Idol for fifty-year-olds. My mom had a few melodramatic
moments where she threatened to switch our family to one such
church. We called them holy-roller churches. People did awkward
« xii »
J e s u s S t i l l G o e s to Nig h tc lu b s
things there that they didn’t seem

to do anywhere else. Everyone had People did awkward
their hands in the air as though things there that
they all spontaneously started to they didn’t seem to
slow dance with a ten-foot Jesus. I do anywhere else.
felt like I was at a high school dance Everyone had their
where everyone was slathering “in- hands in the air
visible Jesus” with embarrassing as though they all
public displays of affection. Not to spontaneously started
mention the services were a good to slow dance with a
forty minutes longer. I concluded ten-foot Jesus.
that most of us preferred a short
and boring church experience rather than a long and uncomfortable
love fest.
When I went to my liberal Lutheran confirmation class, I vividly
remember my thirteen-year-old friend telling me on our extremely
long trip to the bathroom, “If we can simply survive confirmation,
we’ll get to graduate from church.” It sounded like such a poetic goal.
“And it’s awesome ’cuz grandma gives you money, and our moms
won’t force us to go to church anymore.”
We were like two jailbirds watching the sun set on the wall of
our dungeon. “Think of it this way,” he consoled me, “it could be far
worse. We could be stuck in a Catholic CCD class or one of those
conservative churches where you never get to graduate.” At the time
it seemed like such a positive and inspirational outlook. After his
halftime speech, I breathed in deeply through wide nostrils and set
about my goal of graduating from church.
My Catholic friend, who was later kicked out of his CCD classes,
kept encouraging us to follow his lead. But I didn’t quite have the guts to
snort holy water up my nose like he did. Besides, Lutherans don’t have
holy water. Nonetheless, I almost succeeded in getting kicked out one
Wednesday night service during Lent.
It was already hard enough to attend on Sundays, but going on
Wednesdays during Lent was torture. Fortunately, I got to sit with my
« xiii »
friend on Wednesday nights. But we were a terrible combination. In

an attempt to entertain ourselves, we discovered that it’s possible to
blow out a candle that’s twelve feet away, such as the candles on the
altar in the front of the church.
So during Communion one Wednesday, we knelt down near the
altar with the intent of achieving this feat. Of course, the trick was
to blow without looking conspicuous. And if you closed your eyes
while blowing, it looked like you were extremely passionate, perhaps
relieved, about receiving Communion. Then after a mind-numbing,
hilarious, four-second delay, the candles would suddenly cower
under our pubescent manliness.
The thought never occurred to us that half the audience was
watching. In a Pentecostal church, our heavy “Communion breath-
ing” might have passed suspicion, but Lutheran boys simply aren’t
that passionate about wine and wafers. Our confirmation teacher was
furious. But unlike our local nuns, my Lutheran educators were so
filled with grace that we weren’t successful in getting kicked out. It
seemed we were in it for the long haul.
The Night Jesus Went Clubbing

Ultimately, I succeeded in my goal of graduating from church. And
from that point on, I simply did what most young people do—I ex-
perimented with everything. Quitting church enabled me to stay up
incredibly late going to nightclubs. I eventually became a rave DJ.
Before long, I was mixing and scratching up unsavory dance mixes
and selling them all over the place.
As cool as it sounds, it was a miserable season of my life. Al-
though I was free from church, I was empty inside. I was dating my
future wife at the time. One day, she discovered her father’s body
after he committed suicide in their backyard. That same week, my
good friend died in a car accident. So like most people when they’re
confronted with their mortality, I started to ask questions about the
deep things of life.
« xiv »
I knew enough to know that this entire world couldn’t have just
spontaneously arrived out of nothing. A Christian friend once told
me, “When you ask God to reveal Himself to you, He will.” But I kept
telling myself, “Been there. Done that.” On the other hand, Atheism
felt like an equally blind and ignorant reaction to Christianity. One
night while at the nightclub where I was working, I got so depressed
that I did an extremely scary thing . . . I prayed.
Praying felt a lot like wearing lederhosen. If you’re not familiar
with these stylish yet traditional European suspender-shorts, you
should know that wearing them makes you feel like churning butter
and dancing. The ethnic dress code somehow connects you with your
heritage yet simultaneously makes you wonder if it’s just another ef-
feminate thing your mother talked you into doing. Put that together,
and that’s what that prayer felt like to me.
As I stood in the DJ booth on the second story of this nightclub
and looked down, I noticed everyone was drunk, stoned, or aimless.
I just felt overwhelmed with sadness for the first time. And out of
my mouth leapt this prayer, “God, whoever you are . . . whatever you
are . . . if you were powerful enough to create the world, then you
should be powerful enough to reveal yourself to me. Show me the
right religion, and I’ll follow you. Give me a sign.”
I was hoping for lightning bolts across the sky spelling out: Islam,
Buddhism, or “None of the Above.” Suddenly, I snapped out of my
deep prayer and thought, “What am I doing?” as I became conscious
of my lederhosen. “Am I praying? Wow. I need a cigarette.” So I passed
things off to my assistant and headed for the door.
Only a few steps away from the stairwell, a total stranger ap-
proached me. At first I thought he was trying to sell me drugs. I missed
most of his first statement with the blaring music. But his next state-
ment rattled me to the core. He said, “Jesus wants you to follow Him!”
“What did you say?” Perhaps I didn’t hear him correctly. Getting
closer to him, he repeated, “Jesus has a plan for your life, and He
wants you to follow Him. If you follow Him, He’ll give you a buzz like
you’ve never experienced before.”
« xv »
Suddenly, I came to the terrifying realization that just maybe

God had heard my prayer. I mean, what are the odds? I just prayed
this heartfelt prayer thirty seconds earlier. And now, moments later,
Jesus is literally taking over strange people in my nightclub. Much
like Agent Smith in the Matrix, it seemed like Jesus could, at will, take
over anyone’s body in that entire place to stop me. I was cornered and
scared out of my mind.
The words just flew out of my mouth, “Tell me what I’m supposed
to do!” At first, the young Jesus-man looked at me as if I was mocking
him, but I wasn’t joking one bit. I was spooked. God had answered
my call. I sure as heck better pay attention and respond.
The guy stammered confusingly about what to do next. “Uh . . .
well . . . uh . . . I guess we could pray?” So right there in the nightclub,
I prayed this old-fashioned repentance prayer. I really had no idea
about what I was entering into.
This strange, young man begged me to meet him at church the
next morning. Even after I woke up, I was still a bit spooked over how
quickly God had answered my prayer. I grabbed my stuff and headed
off to church. Looking back, it’s still a bit crazy that I went. Of course,
I stood out like a sore thumb with my grunge hair and Nine Inch
Nails T-shirt. I was about to become baptized into every imaginable
subculture of evangelical and charismatic Christianity.
Over the next few years, I checked out all sorts of churches. To
my friends and family, it appeared as though I had fallen off the deep
end. And in many ways, I had. Although I had spent years making
fun of evangelical and charismatic church culture, I secretly felt that
God’s response to my nightclub prayer demanded that I try out every
weird part of Christianity for a season. And this book documents a
few of those funniest moments.
Most Christians are completely blind to their subculture. As you’ll
see throughout this book, the church is filled with unique assump-
tions about life that don’t even come from the Bible. And if you’ve
grown up in church, I hope this book will give you fresh eyes into the
reality that many Americans find themselves in. Like me, they’ve quit
on church. And the stats are rather staggering.
« xvi »
Although around 43 percent of

Americans claim to go to church, Bottom line, churches
only about 17 to 20.4 percent actu- are failing to connect,
ally went to church last w eekend.1 and it has become an
That’s to any kind of church, in- epidemic. Church, as we
cluding ones where the gospel may have known it, simply
be absent or hard to find. If you isn’t working.
parse that number down to those
who actually attended “evangelical or charismatic” churches, some
put that number as low as 9.1 percent, the majority of whom are
baby boomers or senior citizens.2 That means most of the young
people in America have quit on church.3 One scholar noted that
there’s not a single state in the U.S., except Hawaii, where evangeli-
cal or charismatic church growth even kept pace with population
growth since 1990.4 Bottom line, churches are failing to connect,
and it has become an epidemic. Church, as we have known it, simply
isn’t working.
These stats drove me into church leadership. I had hoped my out-
sider perspective might offer me some valuable insight. Within a rel-
atively short period of time, I became a youth pastor with thousands
of people coming to our youth ministry events. Honestly, I can’t take
credit for any of my early ministry successes. God clearly had me on
a fast track. Stranger still, by my mid-twenties, I ended up taking over
the church where I began as a youth pastor.
Becoming a senior pastor automatically turns you into a magnet for
weird Christian agendas, especially when you’re taking over a church.
I wasn’t quite ready to hear the deluge of spiritual critiques that most
pastors deal with. In some ways, pastoring a church is like competing
in an extreme sport where you run through a dense pack of grizzly
bears every Sunday. On one hand, it’s a rush. On the other hand, you
quickly become aware of just how hostile a church environment can be.
And to be fair, I quickly realized that I was inadvertently “punch-
ing grizzly bears” by being naïve to Christian taboos. As you’ll discover
in upcoming chapters, I did everything a good pastor isn’t supposed
to do. For example, I once cussed in the pulpit (with good intensions,
« xvii »
of course). My wife was probably the first pastor’s wife in America

to have her nose pierced. I also played card games other than UNO.
And worst of all, I once confessed in the pulpit that Halloween was
my favorite holiday, which is basically the first step in converting
to Satanism.
Thankfully, the majority of the people in that church were both
healthy and merciful on me as I grew up in front of them. And after a
decade of untamed leadership lessons, we moved several hours away
to plant a new church community called Substance in Minneapolis.
And that is where the five of us (me and my wife, plus three kids)
currently call home.
The Art of Pharisectomy

Now after hearing my story, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch for you
to believe that Substance is a pretty unusual church. Many people talk
about our fast growth, our video campuses, and our ability to do an
all techno worship set. But what really makes us unique is the people
we attract. Believe it or not, over 70 percent of the thousands who
show up are under age thirty, and few of them have ever been a part
of a church before. Indeed, our fastest-growing campus is in a county
where less than 5.1 percent of the population goes to any evangelical
or charismatic church of any kind.
Although we get a few “Christian transfers” from other churches,
we tend to get a really eclectic mix—from liberal professors to drug
dealers—even people involved with organized crime. Almost every
Sunday, I talk to young professionals who are still hung over from the
night before. I constantly remind our volunteers, “Don’t assume that
you know what a meth addict looks like.” In fact, it’s not uncommon
for visitors to call me Father Peter for lack of a better expression.
(I have to admit that my three kids
used to get really confused by this. People like this don’t stay
They would say, “Daddy . . . do you very long in a place
really have other kids? . . . and why with religious diseases.
are they so old?”)
« xviii »
In fact, last month I talked to a thirty-five-year-old who had

literally never said the word pastor in his entire life. So stories like
these have had a big influence on why I’m writing this book, be-
cause people like this don’t stay very long in a place with religious
diseases.
Much of this book is written for them. Like me, they are start-
ing a strange new journey into the jungles of Western Christianity.
And like me, they will encounter all sorts of misguided approaches
to God. Thus, I want to be the fun-loving tour guide who points out
religious diseases before they contract one. My hope is you’ll join me
on this adventure.
Parts of our journey will answer basic questions like: If we’re for-
given, then why do we use guilt to motivate ourselves and others? or
How do Christians get so mean? But things will get very interesting
once we ask questions like: What does biblical legalism really look
like? and What would a Pharisee look like today?
As we study a few of their characteristics, you’re going to see a
lot of things about Western Christianity in a whole new light. Some
of you are finally going to be able to put a finger on why you gave
up on church. Others will discover how to become a tour guide like
me, a person who helps others stay in the life-giving joy of Christ.
But before we venture out, it’s important for me to establish a few
ground rules.
Requirement #1: Keep a Sense of Humor

Keep in mind I have a severe allergy to overly serious books. For ex-
ample, have you ever read a Christian book that just makes you want
to hate everything about the church, the Bride of Christ? I call them
“Bride-hater” books. Their strategy is to get Christians so revved up
about the church that we’ll suddenly “hate it” back into improvement.
(By the way, I tried this technique on my wife once; it didn’t go well.)
So we’ll take a more tongue-in-cheek approach to things.
We’re going to talk about chain-smoking monkeys and illegal
uses of underwear. There are some unusual things in Christianity,
and we are going to have some fun with them.
« xix »
But we’ll also talk about serious things, like the time when God
performed an undeniable miracle in front of us or the time when
God recently called me to completely empty almost all of my finan-
cial savings and bank accounts for His kingdom. So there will be
conviction mixed with frankly entertaining stories. And somehow,
amidst this curious mix of seemingly unrelated items, we will grasp
a profound new way of relating to God, a non-Pharisee way of
being a God follower.
As the book goes on, I’m going to get increasingly deep. Like
a doctor checking for prostate cancer, I’m going to put a finger in,
and on, some things. And it might get a little bit awkward. (I’m feel-
ing awkward already, aren’t you?) You see, we’re going to explore the
hidden priorities and assumptions that many churches operate with.
So I hope you keep sledding through the rest of this book. I proudly
avoided having any filler in this book. And many of my nerdy friends
tell me that I’ve kept the best for last.
Requirement #2: Don’t Let Your Youngsters Read

This Book
Keep in mind, this book is definitely rated PG-13. I share fascinat-
ing statistics about how church attendance affects sexual satisfaction
amidst other eye-opening details. Thus, it might cause your tween-
ager to ask you some potentially complicated (or at least out of the
ordinary) questions. Thankfully, I won’t have to be there if this hap-
pens. But there’s one last thing.
Requirement #3: Don’t Use This Book to Judge the Weird

Church Down the Street
A while back I was driving on a six-lane interstate in Minneapolis.
People were driving terribly. And there was this clueless dork in front
of me who left his blinker on. Finally, he turned it off. Next thing
you know, there’s another idiot who left his blinker on. And for a
guy like me who prides himself on his self-awareness, a rant sud-
denly leapt out of my mouth like a roaring tiger, “Can you believe all
of these stupid drivers? What is wrong with everybody?” And right
« xx »
before I finished, I looked down to a

horrifying revelation: I was the one Most of the people
who had his blinker on. In fact, they who have religiously
were signaling me. transmitted diseases
Likewise, most of the people don’t even realize they
who have religiously transmitted have them.
diseases don’t even realize they
have them. Ironically, you can have religious diseases and not even
be going to church right now. Quite often, the people who are most
cynical about the church are the ones who’ve contracted the greatest
number of religious diseases.
I regularly run into a lot of young Christians who like to imagine
themselves as totally disease-free. “I’m not like my parents or that
weird church down the road,” they say. Other Christians falsely think
that by attending a hip, non-traditional church they are suddenly ex-
empt from religiously transmitted diseases. Not true. As you’ll soon
find out, postmodern hipster-Christians often have an equal number
of religious diseases as the boring, traditional ones.
Truth be told, we all have a hidden Pharisee lurking inside us.
Besides, there’s nothing worse than ignorantly driving through
life with your blinker on. How sad would it be if we spent most
of our lives bickering at the very saints who were trying to help
us the most?
So hop onto the operating table. My stories will be both absurd
and true. And I promise to keep things light-hearted. (I won’t make
you wear lederhosen, even though that would be fun.) And hope-
fully I haven’t already offended any of you pipe organ lovers. There’s
actually a small place in my heart that still enjoys one played (a very,
very small place).
But no matter where you’re at
in your faith journey, open up your Truth be told, we all have
heart to God. After all, He’s a real a hidden Pharisee lurking
prankster. And He just might show inside us.
up in your nightclub.
« xxi »
Chapter One
How I Became an Urban

Legend
What are the fundamentals of a modern-day
Pharisee?
T he first time I ever cussed into a church microphone

was right after I became a youth pastor. I’m not saying it was the
best decision. I’ve always been an odd fit for pastoring. But the kids
dug my exceptionally long hair, especially in a Pentecostal church.
I looked as though I had just quit an intense grunge band. So the
church folk were genuinely afraid that my alternative looks might
lead their teens astray. They wrote letters and informed the hierarchy
that “long hair on guys is the precursor to premarital sex.” I had spent
many rebellious years hoping this was true, but to no avail. Despite
my suspicious looks, my senior pastor was super-cool and willing
to accept the risks and the critique letters over a hire like me, which
makes the following story ten times funnier.
I was preaching from the New Testament where Paul starts rip-
ping on his previous approaches toward God. He compared all of his
former Pharisaical ways to dung or rubbish in light of the “surpass-
ing greatness of knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8). Of course, being fresh
out of my college Greek class, I started explaining to my pubescent
crowd that the words dung or rubbish weren’t an adequate transla-
tion. Paul used a far grittier word. So to climax my riveting exegesis,
I proceeded to translate Paul in a way they would never forget.
«1»
“Young people, he’s actually sayin’ that his entire world outside of
Christ, including his religiosity, was nothing more than a pile of S#*!”
A wide-eyed hush swept across the crowd. As crickets chirped, the
eighth graders looked on, bewildered yet smiling ear to ear. Then, in
what I imagined to be anointed passion, I repeated the official Peter
Haas Translation (PHT) a few more ways.
To add to my foible, the youth ministry auditorium shared a thin
wall with about a half dozen children’s classrooms. With every choice
word, hundreds of sweet little kids went wide-eyed and slack-jawed
on the other side of the dividing wall.
At the time, I was too impressed with my biblical insights to con-
sider the implications of my new PA system. Every time the Sun-
day school teachers reeled their kids back into their Bible lesson on
Noah, a booming new S-bomb would drop. Noah’s Ark was a sunken
ship. Everyone was wondering what that scary, new youth pastor was
doing over there.
Needless to say, after barely surviving a mob of concerned par-
ents, I almost lost my job. As my pastor graciously listened to me ex-
plain myself, I protested, “But more people gave their lives to Christ
in that service than we’ve ever seen in our ministry.” The ministry
that had spanned only three months, mind you. Much like a person
standing in front of a television judge on a courtroom show, I sud-
denly became uncomfortably aware of how ridiculous my argument
was becoming. Quite ironically, I was up a “certain creek” without
a paddle. So I did what any self-respecting, hyper-spiritual person
would do; I played the God-card.
“God told me to do it,” I exclaimed. At the time it seemed like a
novel argument that nobody had ever thought of before. My pastor
graciously let me off the hook after a much needed tongue-lashing.
He also told me to alert him if “God told me” to do anything else.
But I guarantee you that none of those youngsters will ever forget
Philippians 3. None of us should, because it is significant. Despite
my imperfect exposition, Paul is still saying something quite scan-
dalous. He was a Pharisee, yet he rejected this approach to God for
something totally new.
«2»
How I Became an Urban Legend
The Pharisees were a well-respected group of people. After two

thousand years of demonizing them, we forget the fact that many
people saw them as the apex of spirituality. They were a religious
revival, a “back to the Bible” movement. It was a holiness movement
mixed with charismatic prayer. Many Pharisees memorized all of
the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. It wasn’t unusual for
Pharisees to pray and meditate for nine hours every day in three,
three-hour segments. Many would also fast for two entire days each
week. So these guys were no slouches when it came to spiritual dis-
cipline. And yet, both Paul and Jesus are scandalously saying their
approach to God is actually missing it.
Now if you were trying to peg Jesus as belonging to a cer-
tain group, He probably would have fit in best with the Pharisees.
Ironically, the Sadducees, Essenes, and other contemporaries
were in many ways more legalistic and dysfunctional than their
Pharisaic counterparts. And, yes, the Gospels repeatedly refer
to the Pharisees as a nemesis of sorts to Jesus (Matt. 16:12;
Matt. 23). Even though Jesus didn’t subscribe to many of their
purity rituals (Mark 7), He definitely substantiated much of their
theological worldviews (Matt. 23:2–3).5 However, Jesus distin-
guished an approach to God that was sensationally unique, even
to the Pharisees.
But first, it’s important to understand that within Pharisaical
circles, there were two main schools of thought. Some belonged to
the school of Shammai, the name of their popular teacher. His in-
terpretations of the Law were notorious for being extra stringent.
Thus, it was said that Shammai required a “heavy yoke,” a large list
of do’s and don’ts in order to be a healthy God-follower. Even today,
every pastor and church has a yoke
of sorts, a statement of faith or an Jesus distinguished an
unspoken list of behaviors that approach to God
needs to be followed. For example, that was sensationally
swearing in the pulpit is usually a unique, even to the
no-no in most churches. (I know! Pharisees.
It’s shocking but true.)
«3»
In contrast, the Pharisaical school of Hillel was a bit more relaxed

and liberal. But even Hillel advocated a yoke that would make all of
us look like scrawny wimps. Indeed, the Pharisees were so obsessed
with maintaining their ceremonial purity that they’d rarely even eat
with a normal person (aka a non-Pharisee). They’d even make all of
their incoming adherents practice techniques on how to avoid touch-
ing a non-Pharisee’s clothing out of fear of defiling themselves. Even
relaxed Pharisaical schools would require new trainees to maintain
mind-blowing levels of ritual purity for three months to a year before
granting them full acceptance.
Despite the passion and zeal with which these groups studied
and applied Scripture, it’s interesting that Jesus didn’t solidly join any
of these groups. Certainly, this must have been peculiar to His first-
century listeners. In fact, in total contrast to many of His Pharisa-
ical comparisons, Christ said, “. . . my yoke is easy and my burden
is light” (Matt. 11:30). He is saying that His approach to spirituality
is incredibly simple. My list of dos and don’ts is refreshingly shorter
than most. Indeed, Jesus went as far as to say that following God
should be virtually effortless and joy-filled, even during tough times
and difficult moments.
Matthew 13:44 is one of my favorite descriptions of Christianity.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a
field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went
and sold all he had and bought that field.” In other words, when
a person has a true encounter with God (the treasure), they’ll do
anything to possess it. Anything that stands in the way (e.g., sin) is
joyfully set aside.
And notice the man in this Indeed, Jesus went
parable didn’t sell all that he had as far as to say that
reluctantly or under compulsion. following God should
He didn’t say, “Ugh! Christianity be virtually effortless
is so tough!” He didn’t sit around and joy-filled, even
and grieve. He didn’t do it because during tough times and
someone logically argued him into difficult moments.
it or because it was the right thing
«4»
to do. He did it joyfully because he

knew he had just won the lottery. The Bible isn’t a list of
Paul later writes that it is God’s requirements; rather,
kindness that leads us toward re- it’s a list of results
pentance (Rom. 2:4). This means after experiencing
any repentance that isn’t a reaction God’s love.
to God’s treasure is false repen-
tance, which is precisely what diseased believers miss.
Quite often, the advocates of dead religion bid us to take up
crosses without preaching a joy set before us (Heb. 12:2). Rather than
helping people experience the treasure firsthand, they simply shame
people into buying it or expect people to take their word for it, as if a
theoretical description should suffice.
Yet Paul rejected these approaches saying, “My message and my
preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a dem-
onstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on
men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Cor. 2:4–5). Even Paul un-
derstood that if people don’t experience the treasure firsthand, then
obedience will feel forced and unnatural.
And that’s a perfect description of pharisaical faith, an obliga-
tion to serve God that’s instilled through guilt or logic. Sadly, many
Christians are about as happy as a bag of rocks when it comes to
things of faith.
So before diving into the rest of this book, it’s critical that
I make one simple truth loud and clear: The Bible isn’t a list of
requirements; rather, it’s a list of
results after experiencing God’s Unfortunately, many
love. Following God isn’t an ac- churches peddle joyless
tion but a reaction. And if you obligation as though it
have to painstakingly motivate was God’s greatest gift.
yourself or others to serve God The results of
“because it’s the right thing to this approach can
do,” you’ve already missed the be exceptionally
very foundations of biblical destructive.
Christianity.
«5»
Pharisaical faith is a lot like threatening your kids at a sports

game, “When our team scores a touchdown, you better cheer or I
will spank you! And, doggone it little Bobby, you better give them a
whoop-whoop or, so help me, I will give you a whoop-whoop.” Un-
fortunately, many churches peddle joyless obligation as though it was
God’s greatest gift. The results of this approach can be exceptionally
destructive.
A Riverdancer Having a Stroke

Not long after I gave my life to Christ, I visited many small Pente-
costal and evangelical churches throughout the region. Everything
about these churches was weird to me. But after Christ answered
that prayer of mine in that nightclub, I felt like I needed to embrace
His people no matter how bizarre they were. One such church ex-
perience made me question my open-minded approach, though.
The moment the service started, it turned into a freak-fest like I had
never seen before.
Like most Americans, I had never really been in a contemporary
worshiping church before. Seeing people raise their hands in worship
was already mind-blowing to me. But this church was on a whole
new level.
The moment the first chord was struck, flags and banners ex-
ploded out of nowhere. Imagine a fireworks show in the backseat
of your car. The previously normal-looking woman next to me sud-
denly sprung into a shocking gyration with her ribbons. She looked
like a cross between Kevin Bacon in Footloose and an amateur ninja
practicing twirling kicks.
At one point, her ribbon accidently whipped me in the eye like a
towel snap in a gym shower. She didn’t even notice that I had almost
lost my eye. She probably assumed that I was crying out of joy.
To make matters worse, a large man in front of me kept unsuc-
cessfully trying to blow into a shofar horn. In between blows he
would wheeze. It sounded like a dying moose call. In my heart I kept
rooting for him, “You can do it! Take a deeper breath.” But despite
«6»
the strangeness of it all, I kept thinking to myself, “What do I know

about God? Maybe I’m missing out?” Besides, were my all-night rave
parties really that different? But then something happened that made
me rethink everything.
I was still a new believer. I had been naїvely dragging all of my
pot-smoking friends to church. One of my friends was already a
bit concerned about my eye wound. So when the band broke into
this unique two-step song that seemed to cross polka music with
the opening number from Fiddler on the Roof, my friend stressfully
blurted, “Bro, I really need a smoke.” Just before he escaped, the
worship leader started yelling, “Come on people! Dance like David
danced! If you loved God, you’d be dancing right now.” Amazingly, he
then started pointing out people in the audience who weren’t “giving
their all to Christ” in dance.
I began feeling totally condemned at this point. If I didn’t start
doing the Pentecostal two-step kick, I was pretty sure that I was
going straight to hell. Yet my friend, who had already accepted
the fact he’s going to hell, wasn’t about to move a muscle. So I was
conflicted. I wanted to demonstrate normalcy to my invited friend;
yet, I simultaneously didn’t want the earth to open up and swallow
me in a fiery blaze. Suddenly, the left side of my body—the side
that was opposite my unchurched friend—started dancing, and
my right side tried to stand as stoic and uninterested as possible. I
probably looked like a Riverdancer having a stroke. But what was
I supposed to do?
The sad part was, despite all the hype, there was no real joy in
the room. I’ve been at parties when my team won the Super Bowl.
We went crazy. But this service was a faint echo of that passing
joy. Yet true worship should feel a million times better than a silly
football game! And it wasn’t the flags, ribbons, or ninja-like twirl-
ing that bothered me. Because after a long hard day, a few ninja
twirls might feel exhilarating. Rather, it was the inauthenticity of
the whole thing. It was contrived. Even worse, it was induced and
obligatory. And if I, as a baby Christian, could feel the inauthentic-
ity, no wonder God Himself looks at the heart and not the f ormat
«7»
(1 Sam. 16:7). If only Christians

would do the same. Biblical repentance is
This worship leader used guilt a reaction to God’s
and peer pressure to create the kindness, not an
pretense for passionate worship, at action to earn it.
least as that church defined it. And
guilt can be a powerful motivator, which is why people use it. That
only works for a season.
That’s why the Bible offers us a far more powerful motivator:
unmerited grace. Again, biblical repentance is a reaction to God’s
kindness, not an action to earn it (Rom. 2:4). Righteousness is not the
reward of living rightly. It’s the unmerited gift that irresistibly results
in right living (Titus 3:5). Or as Paul puts it, “For the grace of God . . .
teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness,” not guilt, shame, or clever
manipulation techniques (Titus 2:11–12).
So here’s a simple way to assess yourself: If you think that serv-
ing God is hard or oppressive, chances are you have false repentance
lurking in your heart. If the process of getting sin out of your life is
anything but joyful, then chances are you have never experienced the
true treasure in the first place. If you did, then perhaps you have since
abandoned it for a works-oriented faith. And now you’re an action,
not a reaction.
If this is you, listen closely to me. Because if you continue
living in this false religion, you’re not only going to get more
confused, you’ll confuse others, which is probably how you got
suckered into thinking Christian obedience is joyless in the first
place.
You see, despite everything Paul achieved as a Pharisee, he
considered all of it dung compared to the surpassing greatness of
knowing Christ. Why? Because Paul found a treasure that changes
everything—motivation included.
But have you found this treasure? If you’re still a bit confused
by this new approach to God, allow me to reveal one final contrast
between Jesus and His religious contemporaries.
«8»
How to Make Jesus Mad

In John 4, we read about Jesus having a conversation with a
Samaritan woman. Jews hated Samaritans, so it’s quite radical that
Jesus, a Jew, would even have a conversation with her, let alone talk
to a woman of her reputation. Just when she was being reeled into
Christ’s winsome ways, she put her guard up and started giving Him
a classic worship debate.
“You Jews claim that the place where we must worship is
in Jerusalem” (John 4:20). In other words, you Jews reject us
because you think we have compromised worship. But Jesus
dismantled this entire way of thinking by saying, “Yet a time is
coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worship-
ers the Father seeks” (John 4:23). In other words, if you think
worship is a format, like where you worship, how many songs,
or how much altar ministry, etc., then you’ve already missed
God’s heart. And why? Because worship is a heart condition,
not a church formula or any other system that is created by men
(Col. 2:8).
In fact, right after this conversation, Jesus started an unlikely
revival in a place like Samaria that defied the appropriate worship
formula of His day. It was almost as if He were saying, “The moment
you try to create an elite worship formula, God is going to break
out of it.”
But with this story in mind,
check out what Jesus said in Mark In other words, if you
11:15. It’s the story where Jesus think worship is a
went into the temple and wildly format, like where you
overturned the tables of the money- worship, how many
changers. What in the world could songs, or how much
make the Son of God so mad that altar ministry, etc., then
He’d violently overturn tables? you’ve already missed
Believe it or not, this passage has God’s heart.
nothing to do with prayer. In fact,
«9»
I believe that Jesus had the Samaritan woman in mind when He did
this. So allow me to explain.
The Jews of Jerusalem liked to see themselves as having the purest
form of worship. And in those days, many connected pure wor-
ship to a geographical location. Thus, as a message to outsiders,
“real Jews” would make it hard for any travelers to come worship.
After all, in order to worship, you needed a sacrifice of some sort.
Yet the nature of travel in those days made it next to impossible to
bring your own animals with you. Thus, in order to worship, trav-
elers would have to spend inordinate amounts of money to pur-
chase sacrificial animals at inflated costs to connect with God. This
hurdle made it clear that true followers of God lived in Jerusalem.
Like the Samaritan woman mentioned, Jerusalem was the holy city
(John 4:20).
So let’s look at the reason Jesus gave for overturning the tables. He
quoted directly from Isaiah 56:7, where God says that “my house will
be called a house of prayer for all nations.” It’s critical to understand
Jesus’ emphasis wasn’t prayer. Jews were already constantly in prayer.
Many Pharisees prayed for nine hours a day. So I highly doubt Jesus
was suggesting increasing the total time in prayer to ten or twelve
hours, as if there were some magical number that would suddenly
satisfy God. Besides, Jesus’ listeners would have instantaneously un-
derstood He was quoting Isaiah 56, which puts a profound spin on
why Christ overturned tables.
In Isaiah 56, God also gives a pretty strong indictment of elitist
spirituality. God goes out of His way to encourage outsiders, those
who feel incompatible with the elitist approaches to true worship.
God makes the case that He will de-
fend those who the hyperspiritual Jesus was upset because
world deems compromised. And religious people were
arguably, Christ was the ultimate trying to make God
fulfillment of this. inaccessible to those
Jesus was upset because reli- outside their approach
gious people were trying to make to worship.
God inaccessible to those outside
« 10 »
their approach to worship. And worst of all, they were doing it under
the guise of protecting true spirituality, even though they really didn’t
give a rip about the nations or those outside the temple walls. And
unfortunately, modern-day Pharisees do the same thing.
Today, many Christians use music as the central driving force of
the church service. Personally, I love this, yet music wasn’t even used
this way until Wesley or the Moravians in the 1700s. Some historians
credit Charles Finney in the 1800s as being one of the first to de-
sign emotional worship experiences leading to altar ministry in the
modern or charismatic sense. Thus, the modern concept of creating
an extended musical worship or prayer experience is fairly new to
Christianity. And yet, for many Christians, the music and altar
ministry has idolatrously become the very litmus test as to whether
the Holy Spirit even attends that church.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I love powerful, Spirit-filled wor-
ship experiences. In fact, we regularly have worship nights that go
on for several hours straight. At Substance, our church is filled with
brilliant musicians, intercessors, and worshipers who love to go deep
with God.
But I bring up this example to show that, quite often, we’re really
no different than the Pharisees. They spiritualized and idolized their
purity rituals and temple procedures. So when Jesus didn’t do wor-
ship in the exact way that they idealized, they couldn’t even imagine
Him as being a legit God-follower. Indeed, they missed the literal
presence of God because He just didn’t fit into their narrow concept
of an anointed lifestyle. These same pharisaical tendencies are still
alive and well.
That’s why I get a little bit irked
when Christians misinterpret Jesus’ We need to become
anger in the temple as being an argu- painfully aware of how
ment for more intense prayer and wor- we’re obscuring God
ship. There’s certainly a time for intense from those who need to
prayer and God-seeking. But in this connect with Him the
passage, that’s the exact opposite mes- most: the lost.
sage that Jesus was trying to get across.
« 11 »
Instead, Jesus was arguing for a more accessible worship expe-

rience. We need to become painfully aware of how we’re obscur-
ing God from those who need to connect with Him the most: the
lost. To be honest, I was one of those lost people. And if God hadn’t
miraculously ambushed me in that nightclub, I would have given up
on church like most Americans.
The Urban Legend

So allow me to wind down by explaining where we’re going in the
next few chapters. There is a lot of spiritual sounding stuff in modern
Christianity that still obscures people’s ability to get in sync with God’s
true work on earth. In the coming chapters, I’m going to give you
numerous test questions that will help you evaluate this for yourself.
And hopefully it will prevent you from enrolling in the school of hard
knocks. Fortunately, you can learn from my mistakes. And speaking
of mistakes, there’s a ridiculous part two to the story surrounding my
“S-bomb Sermon.”
At first I thought my infamous message would stay with me in
Wisconsin. Seven years later I was attending a pastor’s conference out
West, a twenty-two hour drive from that church. A group of pastors
and I were lamenting over the stupid things we’ve done in the pulpit.
Suddenly, one of the pastors began, “But guys, nobody can top this
story. I once heard about a pastor who was preaching on Philippians
3 and . . .” he started describing someone who did the exact same
thing as me!
At first I thought, “Whew! I’m not alone in being an idiot.” But as
the story rolled on, it became clear that I was that man he was talk-
ing about. I was famous, but that is not something you want to be
remembered for among your pastor friends. Sweat started pouring
down my brow. I think at one point I confidently shouted, “What an
idiot! . . . What was he thinking?” After all, it was a rather famous
minister who was sharing the story.
And I’m not sure what happened next—whether I was in my
body or out—but I vaguely remember confessing to my colleagues
« 12 »
that I was that man. And now, three hundred therapy sessions later,
I can laugh about it. Indeed, I’m quite proud of the fact that I’m an
urban legend.
But I’m living proof that God can use anyone. He has a sense of
humor. He has a joy that is greater than anything you can imagine. So
stay on the operating table. This Pharisectomy is just getting started.
Once you experience this change, it will be downright painful to ever
return to lifeless religion again.
Chapter One in Review

Key Ideas
1. Religion is no substitute for an authentic relationship with God.
This was the trap of the Pharisees.
2. Jesus’ approach to spirituality is incredibly simple; His list of do’s
and don’ts is short.
3. When a person has a true encounter with God, he will do any-
thing to possess it.
4. Many Christians today serve God out of a sense of obligation that
is the result of guilt or misapplied logic.
5. God looks at the heart of our worship, not the format.
6. Grace is the unmerited gift that results in right living.
7. Often our attempts to protect the true message of the gospel actu-
ally obscure it.
8. Christians today are much like the Pharisees in that they spiritu-
alize and idolize their rituals. They actually worship the worship
service.
9. Worship often communicates little about God and a lot about us.
10. Lifeless religion has become the norm for many believers.
Discussion Questions
1. Was there any information about the Pharisees that was new or
interesting to you? If so, what?
« 13 »
2. If you had a Christian upbringing, in your opinion, did you come

from a tradition that advocated a “heavy” or “light” yoke? Give
examples as to why you think this.
3. Matthew 13:44 teaches that the process of getting sin out of our
lives should be joyful. Have you ever tried to obey God reluc-
tantly or under obligation? How did this make you feel?
4. Grace is an unmerited gift that results in right living. What does
your lifestyle say about the presence of God’s grace in your life?
5. Think about your most recent worship experience. Was the focus
more on people or on God? Explain how you know the answer.
6. How are you dealing with current sin-struggles that make you
feel oppressed or joyless?
7. Have you ever been to a church with a strange worship format?
How did you feel? Did you think the service was designed for
believers or unbelievers?
8. Does worship at your church lead people toward a relationship
with God, or is it an obstacle to seeing God for who He really is?
Explain.
9. In your opinion, what are a few modern examples of how churches
make it hard for outsiders to understand the gospel? Are there
any worship practices that you love that might be hard for new-
comers to enjoy? Why?
10. Based on what you read in this chapter, how will you approach
worship differently?
« 14 »
Chapter Two
Why I Gave Up on
Chopping off Hands
Why don’t we obey every rule in the Bible?
For a season, my wife and I decided we would only play

our audio Bible when we were in our car. Our hope was that our
three kids would get a little extra exposure to Scripture. Of course, if
you’ve ever read the whole Bible, you’ll quickly realize that there are
many parts that are definitely R-rated. I realized this the hard way as
my nine-, seven-, and four-year-old kids heard the following passage
one morning from Deuteronomy 25:11–12: “If two men are fighting
and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his
assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you
shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.”
My kids quickly realized that they weren’t getting the whole story
in their classes at church. None of my kids cared about Jonah or Go-
liath anymore. “Dad, can we read Deuteronomy again?” they’d con-
tinually say with a curious snicker.
I don’t preach on this verse very often as it’s only an occasional
problem for my church. However, I am known to hold this verse up
at football games and write it on sympathy cards, just to see if people
actually read Scripture references.
But seriously, I was captivated when I first read this. Was it that
big of a problem that God had to personally address it? Was there a
rash of husky women crossing the line of appropriateness? I always
« 15 »
imagined God reaching His breaking point, “That’s it! Enough’s enough!
Whatever happened to a wholesome old-fashioned man-fight?”
But here’s the real question I want to ponder: Why do mod-
ern Christians apply certain Old Testament commands like, “Do
not steal” but not others like, “Cut off her hand”? I mean, there
are all sorts of unique Old Testament commands that we no lon-
ger apply.
As a young Christian, I wondered if we weren’t being a bit hypo-
critical about which parts of the Bible we wanted to obey. Part of it
was because I didn’t understand Covenant Law very well. And, quite
frankly, modern Pharisees still don’t.
People would often say, “Well much of that Law passed away with
the New Covenant.” But this sweeping statement didn’t really settle
things for me. I think that most intellectually honest Christians are
going to need a little more clarity. Theologian J. I. Packer proposed a
solution for this confusion by distinguishing three separate types of
Law (the lists of do’s and don’ts that God gave to Moses): Moral, Civil/
Political, and Ceremonial Law.6
Moral Law represents good things to do all the time. The Ten
Commandments are no less relevant today than they were thousands
of years ago. No Christian would kill their neighbor and say, “It’s all
good. I’m a New Testament Christian. I’m not under the Law, right?”
And why not? Because these commands are generally good advice no
matter what time period you live in.
The second type of Law in the Old Testament is Civil/Political Law.
These laws were essentially an application of Moral Law on a munici-
pal and national level. These are the
Mosaic equivalent of speed limits But this sweeping
and garbage restrictions. So if the statement didn’t really
Moral Law says, “Love your neigh- settle things for me.
bor as yourself,” then the Civil Law I think that most
might say, “Don’t practice on your intellectually honest
shofar at 3 a.m.” Most of these laws Christians are going to
only applied as long as Israel was an need a little more clarity.
autonomous nation-state.
« 16 »
W h y I G av e Up o n C h o ppi n g o ff H a n d s
These ancient laws may seem a bit absurd or extreme; however,

our modern-day legal system is littered with strange laws, most of
which are from the last one hundred years.
Did you know it’s illegal in Fairbanks, Alaska, to feed alcoholic
beverages to a moose? How many drunken moose altercations did it
take before someone put their foot down? Or did you know it’s illegal
in San Francisco to wipe your car with used underwear? (Personally,
that makes sense to me.) But I’ve always wondered how the police
would determine if it’s used or not, legally speaking. In South Bend,
Indiana, it’s illegal for monkeys to smoke cigarettes, a law that I’d still
support today. Or in Pennsylvania, ministers are forbidden from per-
forming marriages when either the bride or groom is drunk, which
makes sense. But such a law in Wisconsin, where I grew up, would
have nullified 90 percent of all weddings.
Every culture has its share of excesses, right? No one wants to live
around inebriated moose or chain-smoking monkeys. Thus, our laws
can become a rather strange necessity. The Civil/Political Laws of the
Old Testament are no exception.
The last set of laws in the Old Testament are Ceremonial Laws,
which were regulations that governed the worship rituals of God’s
people. These are the parts of the Old Testament that the book of
Hebrews and Colossians refer to as fulfilled. Christ became our Pass-
over lamb (1 Cor. 5:6–8). Christ became our high priest, our sacrifice,
once for all time (Heb. 5:5; 7:27; 9:12). And His work on the cross is
the ultimate fulfillment of the Sabbath. Thus, Paul and other Bible au-
thors argued these rituals and laws were nothing more than a shadow
of things to come (Col. 2:16–17; Heb. 9:10; 10:1). They were an object
lesson—an analogy of sorts—pointing to a greater reality fulfilled in
Christ (Heb. 9:23–24).
We would still be smart to obey the Moral Law. Disciplines like
tithing, not stealing, or not committing adultery are no less relevant
(and perhaps ignored) today than they were in Bible times. These
principles generally predated the Mosaic Law and spoke to transcen-
dent human sin problems, things like selfishness, lust, or not putting
God first.
« 17 »
However, some Christians falsely assume that everything from

the Old Testament is suddenly obsolete with the New Testament.
And, yes, that might be true of the ceremonial facets of the Law. But
if we love people, we still need to tell them when the stove is hot (i.e.,
teach the Moral Law).
This doesn’t mean we should do this by being judgmental idiots.
That’s why Paul said we must be careful to use the Law in context.
Simply put, the Moral Law (aka truth) is like a butter knife: You can
use it to make sandwiches for the neighbor kids or you can kill them
with it. Paul also said, “He has made us competent as ministers of a
new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills,
but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6).
The difference between a Pharisee and a Christian is not that one
teaches the Law and the other doesn’t. Rather, the difference is in how
the Law is taught and the motives that drive our obedience to the
Law. There are entire ministries designed around obnoxious people
telling others about the Moral Law minus any kindness that might
actually lead to repentance.
Many Christians falsely think that through logic and persuasive
words they can lead people to biblical repentance. And, yes, we can
motivate people to do all sorts of things through logic, guilt, or other
influence techniques. But if a person’s repentance isn’t a true response
to God’s kindness, then we need to seriously question whether such
a repentance is a biblical one.
To put this another way: Many Christians falsely think that evan-
gelism is the proclamation of truth. But the Bible teaches that it’s truth
plus a relationship with the Spirit of life (Rom. 8). In fact, the apostle
Paul taught that ministering truth by itself is propagating the law of
sin and death (Rom. 7). It’s worse than giving medicine without the
spoonful of sugar; it’s indigestible. Thus, when sinners get angry at
our incomplete gospel proclamations, many legalistic Christians think
they’re being persecuted. But, in reality, their victims are nothing more
than little kids vomiting up their ill-advised approach to medicine.
At my church, we’ve come to term these practices as spiritual
abortions. Every human being has a spiritual gestation period. And
« 18 »
ithout kindness or a loving com-

w
munity, they have no ability to be Despite these biblical
born again in the biblical sense. prerequisites, many
Despite these biblical prerequisites, Christians can’t stand
many Christians can’t stand being being a patient witness
a patient witness of God’s kindness. of God’s kindness. The
The end result is the use of un- end result is the use of
healthy tactics that prematurely de- unhealthy tactics that
liver spiritual babies before they’re prematurely deliver
ready. spiritual babies before
When we take these shortcuts they’re ready.
to influencing people, it’s a lot like
jamming big chunks of meat down a baby’s throat and then wonder-
ing why the baby dies. We can pretend that people have rejected our
meaty gospel. What they’re rejecting is our pharisaical approaches to
transformation. And deep in their hearts, people know when they are
encountering divine kindness versus human religiosity.
Identifying a Counterfeit
It’s similar to how my five-year-old son recently responded at a
grade school band concert. The emcee finished an elaborate de-
scription of the first song. But the moment the fifth-grade band
started playing, it sounded like a bunch of offbeat clangs and clunks.
To my astonishment, my son stood up on his seat and yelled with a
betrayed look on his face, “Wait! That’s not music!” as if something
was being deviously foisted upon a crowd of innocent listeners. I
immediately tried to put my hand over his mouth. But, like William
Wallace in Braveheart, he passionately repeated it, each time with
more resolve.
As my hand clasped over his confused face, the whole crowd
snickered at his adorable honesty. We all pretended that it wasn’t
true. He looked at me as though I was an accessory to a crime. Like
most children, they call things as they see them. And quite often,
they’re right.
« 19 »
Likewise, we’ve all had false religion forced upon us. And when
our childlike faith challenged the disparity, much like my son, many
of us had the voices of religious adulthood cover our mouths. As a re-
sult, we ingested a gospel that was devoid of good news. In some ways,
this entire book is dedicated to my son’s honest and pure impulse.
Let’s not become lost in the silly things that Pharisees do. In up-
coming chapters, we’ll make sure to devote a good amount of time
to those diseases. So instead, let’s see if we might have a sneaky
Pharisee of our own lurking inside. As I introduce the following two
approaches to the Law, ask yourself this question: Which of these ap-
proaches do I tend to embrace most often?
The Legalistic Approach to God’s Law

The pharisaical approach is the epitome of legalism. It occurs when
we obey God’s Moral Law to earn God’s love and attain God’s righ-
teousness. Key symptoms may include:
• Striving
• A lack of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23)
• A consistent lack of motivation for things like prayer or Bible reading
• Quite often, the commands of God feel like a curse
• Obedience feels hard
• God routinely feels distant or perhaps disinterested
The Grace-Driven Approach to God’s Law

On the other hand, we have the grace-driven approach. This occurs
when we understand God’s free gift of grace. Shockingly, our righ-
teousness has nothing to do with our behavior. God scandalously
applies righteousness to our sin-drenched souls out of pure generos-
ity. Key symptoms may include:
• Feeling like you just won the lottery

• A desire to shout and scream like a crazy person
• A strong desire to meet with this God over and over in prayer
« 20 »
In a grace-driven approach, we
don’t obey because we have to but Shockingly, our
because we want to. The Moral Law, righteousness has
which condemned us outside of nothing to do with
Christ, has now become our wor- our behavior. God
ship list. Obedience is now just scandalously applies
one of the fun ways we say thanks righteousness to our
to Him while He drenches us with sin-drenched souls out
favor; it naturally flows from our of pure generosity.
lives. Christianity is not a process
in which we earn love; it’s a process in which we reflect love. Or
as it’s often said, “We are not saved by good works. We’re saved for
good works!”
For the Christian, the Bible isn’t a list of requirements but a list
of results after experiencing God’s love. Righteousness is not the
reward of living rightly. It’s the unmerited gift that, once understood,
irresistibly results in right living. And suddenly the motivating en-
ergy that drives our quest for morality changes from striving to being
thankful for what God has already done in and through us. This has
a profound effect on how joy-filled and grateful your faith becomes
and has a dramatic effect on how you motivate those around you to
serve the Lord.
So which of these two approaches do you live out more? If
you’re like me, you probably vacillate between the two of them quite
often. So the real questions become: How do we stop this craziness?
How do we tip ourselves into the grace-driven approach once and
for all?
Truth be told, it’s incredibly easy to pick up burdens that God
never called us to carry (Matt. 11:28). Even more, there’s still a part
of us that wants to earn God’s righteousness. And why? Grace just
doesn’t seem fair! And, honestly, it’s not fair. But you’re lying to your-
self if you think you can start earning His love. So allow me to give
you a better analogy of who you are in Christ. I hope this will thor-
oughly persuade you to abandon all of your legalistic pursuits once
and for all.
« 21 »
You Are a Doorknob

I’ve always liked celebrity auctions because they reveal how silly we
all are. Some famous person blows their nose, and the rest of us im-
mediately start bidding on the tissue. Then we can brag about our
majestically framed snot-rag (and how it reveals our tight bond with
the blower) when our friends come over. Our secret hope is that it
will make them want to be our friends even more. (At least that’s how
it worked for me in fifth grade when I got my favorite professional
wrestler’s autograph.)
A while ago the news reported that someone spent a fanatical
amount of money purchasing a creaky old doorknob from the estate
sale of Marilyn Monroe. It was mind-blowing what this stupid old
doorknob sold for. Of course it wasn’t even a high-quality door-
knob, not that I’m a doorknob expert. But I certainly know it had
no intrinsic value except for the fact that it belonged to Marilyn
Monroe.
It’s the same way for those of us who belong to Christ. On our
own, we’re just another doorknob. What makes us special is that Jesus
touched us. Just as the doorknob in the auction had gained merit by
being associated with Marilyn Monroe, our merit comes from being
associated with Christ. Now you might still be tempted to say, “But
God: Look at me! I’m a freaking great doorknob! I read my Bible
more than others. I even return rogue shopping carts in the grocery
store parking lot.” May I lovingly remind you that you’re still an old
doorknob?
Your righteousness, worthiness, and ability to qualify for God’s
favor is not based on any intrinsic worth (Titus 3:5). Sadly, you—even
on your greatest day—still fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23), which
is why our value is entirely based upon whom we belong to—Christ.
Whether they admit it or not, every church still struggles with
the legalistic tendency to set up new ways to earn God’s love. Many
churches teach tithing or unknown tongues as though they were an
obligation or sign of elitism rather than a celebration. Indeed, you
can turn just about any command of God into an obligation.
« 22 »
Many Christians even turn their worship formats into an indis-

pensible means for earning God’s favor as though God is suddenly
impressed that we cried 4.5 extra tears and did a full fifteen more
minutes of [fill in the blank] than the church down the road. And
suddenly God is so impressed that He exclaims, “Wow! Take a look
at that doorknob! I haven’t even touched it, yet it’s gotta be worth
thousands. Wow! I better visit that church.” It sounds absurd because
it is absurd.
I bring this up to remind us that we’re really no different than the
Pharisees most of the time. They depended upon their purity rituals
as the notch in their belts that made them feel special. No one wants
to admit they’re just a doorknob who has been touched by someone
special. Jesus doesn’t estimate spiritual value the same way we do.
We can look at first-century Pharisees as though they were
freaky-weird; but, sometimes the only way we’re different is that we
spiritualize a different set of rituals or values. In the end, none of us
will gain access to heaven because we worshiped God for His favorite
length of time or had the perfect amount of great theology.
Truth be told, we all are going to look back on our imperfect
worship and theology and cringe at some point in this life and the life
to come. We’re going to cry, “Oh God! I can’t even believe you took
any pleasure in our ridiculous attempts to praise you.” And God will
say, “That’s because I took pleasure in the Christ that is in you, your
hope of glory, not your formats or your lame attempts at theological
perfection.”
So here’s a question for you: What degree of perfect theology and
methodology does God require before He allows you into heaven? If
we understand the Scriptures, this very question is a sign that we’ve
missed the point. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by
works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). This includes tithing,
tongues, expository sermons, and perfect theology. Paul continued
in Colossians when he said, “See to it that no one takes you captive
through hollow and deceptive philosophy.” He understood that all
our earthly attempts to please God outside of grace “[depend] on
« 23 »
human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world

rather than on Christ” (Col. 2:8).
In Christ, faith is our only obligation; the rest of God’s Law is
celebration. I still wouldn’t recommend killing your neighbors or
ignoring tithes, tongues, or any other spiritual opportunities. In-
deed, we’d be fools to ignore basic morality or to avoid experiencing
these powerful gifts. But let’s not turn tools or gifts into obligations.
Although the difference is small, it’s profound. And like my son at
that concert, we should stand and confront the disparity as small as
it might seem.
Here’s the real reason why my son confronted the band that day:
He loves music. And his five-year-old heart isn’t afraid to bust a move
when the music is right. But what happens if the world around him
fails to see the disparity? He just might have to spend the rest of his
life tolerating an empty counterfeit. And many of you have done that
long enough with Christianity. Stand up for God’s sake! Abandon all
pretenses of value, and the Christ in you will bring you to an over-
whelming glory so great that an eternity of praise could never and
should never satisfy you.
Chapter Two in Review

Key Ideas
1. There are three types of Law in the Old Testament: Moral, Civil/
Political, and Ceremonial.
2. There are no shortcuts to spiritual formation.
3. The difference between a Pharisee and a Christian is how the Law
is taught and the motives that drive such obedience.
4. Real evangelism is the “proclamation of truth” plus a relationship
with the Spirit of life.
5. The legalistic approach to God’s Law occurs when we obey God’s
Moral Law so as to earn God’s love and attain His righteousness.
6. The grace-driven approach to God’s Law occurs when we under-
stand God’s free gift of grace.
« 24 »
7. Obedience is one of the fun ways we say thanks to Him while

He drenches us with favor; yet it naturally flows from our lives.
8. For the Christian, the Bible isn’t a list of requirements but a list of
results after experiencing God’s love.
9. Righteousness is not the reward of living rightly; it’s the unmer-
ited gift that irresistibly results in right living.
10. “Christ in you” brings an overwhelming glory so great that an
eternity of praise could never and should never satisfy you.
1. Have you ever struggled to understand the Old Testament Law?
How did the “three types of Law” proposed in this chapter bring
clarity or confusion to your understanding of Old Testament
rules?
2. Which approach to God’s Law—legalistic or grace-driven—most
often motivates you?
3. What is the danger of living with a legalistic approach to God’s
Law?
4. If kindness is what truly leads people to repentance, how might
this change the way we share the gospel?
5. In your opinion, what are some examples of people taking short-
cuts to sharing the gospel?
6. Is there anyone you’d like to share the gospel with? What are
some practical ways that you could show them the kindness of
God?
7. Looking at your spiritual history, has your tendency been to fall
into the grace-driven approach or the legalistic approach? Do
you feel you’re still striving a lot when it comes to your relation-
ship with God? What causes you to say this?
8. Why do you suppose we like to earn righteousness? What is it
that causes us to want to perform for God? How does this com-
pare to how God imparts righteousness?
« 25 »
9. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being absolute right living), how

would you rate your right living? What does your rating say about
your understanding of God’s grace?
10. Describe a time when you were bored with worship. What would
you change about that experience if you could go back in time?
« 26 »
Chapter Three
The Art of Giving

Your All
How do we get radical without being
religious?
D id you know that frequent church attendance

dramatically increases your life expectancy? In fact, epidemiologists
(doctors who study epidemics) have routinely documented a strik-
ing difference and significant health improvement for those who de-
voutly participate in God-centered social groups versus those who
don’t.7 Another study found that church attendance dramatically in-
creases your odds of sexual satisfaction.8 (I promise I’m not making
this up, and I promise that stat will grow your church.) In fact, that
same study found that people who attend church twice a week even
have greater . . . well, you get the idea. There are certainly a lot of
benefits to serving God. And whenever I share these benefits, church
attendance gets a little bit easier for everyone.
I could take a slightly more pharisaical approach and simply
threaten people, “You might make God mad!” or “You might lose
your salvation if you don’t come to church.” As many pastors try to
do, I could shame people into coming to church. But why give guilt
trips when Scripture give us endless positive incentives for obedience?
Remember, the kingdom of heaven is a treasure, not an obliga-
tion. In fact, I would go as far as to say if obedience to any command
« 27 »
from God’s Word is joyless for you—even radical obedience—then

you probably aren’t experiencing the power of biblical obedience.
Don’t misunderstand me. Christianity is all about carrying
crosses. God has a call on all of our lives, and sometimes that call can
get painful. But even Christ endured His cross “for the joy set before
him” (Heb. 12:2). Jesus had such a beautifully intoxicating vision of
the future that the present cost was easily worth it. As I mentioned
before, Christians often preach the suffering of the cross minus the
joy set before us. Thus, Scripture becomes a tool that oppresses p eople
more than uplifts them. It is supposed to be good news.
Recently, God called me to make a radical sacrifice. And I have
to admit, the task that God challenged me with took my breath
away. His challenge confronted the very foundations of my faith.
But before I tell you what happened, it’s important you understand
the backstory.
At Substance, we’re constantly launching new portable campuses
and spiritual hospitals all over the city in order to accommodate
growth. Yet based on our demographics, it’s incredibly rare to meet
a person who’s even heard the word tithing9 before, let alone people
who dare to actually do it.
I often get a little jealous when I hear some of my southern pastor
friends talk about their church incomes. It almost seems as though
half of their members came out of the womb tithing. When our church
broke two thousand attendees, we were lucky if even eighty people
gave anything. Obviously, part of this is due to the youthfulness of our
church. Still, it makes ministry and facility planning in a fast-growing,
barely churched congregation like ours a complicated task.
Recently, my wife and I were hoping to upgrade our house. We
live in a small 1950s-style ranch
house in an economically depressed Jesus had such a
part of the city. For a megachurch beautifully intoxicating
pastor, people are often startled vision of the future
by how conservatively we live. All that the present cost
five of our family members share a was easily worth it.
singular, small bathroom sink (and
« 28 »
T h e A r t o f G i v i n g Yo u r A l l
three of the five are women). For the last five years, we’ve been saving
up a large down payment with the hopes of an upgrade. Yet, as we
planned to launch our fourth church campus, we also felt God was
personally asking us to make additional financial sacrifices.
My wife and I have always given away 15 percent of our income
as a starting point. We’ve given away as much as 50 percent. And
this is partly because we’ve always felt that contentment and financial
generosity are the heartbeat of the gospel, not to mention a great way
to move the heart of God (Prov. 11:25; Acts 10:4).
Did you know that if your combined household income exceeds
$40,000, then you are in the top 3 percent of the world’s wealthiest
people?10 When we talk about great wealth, we often focus on the for-
tunes of people like Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg—the .000,000,01
percent rich—when in reality most of us are mega-rich compared to
the rest of the world. And since my income exceeds this 3 percent, I
find it irresistibly fun to sow my money into kingdom causes. None
of our previous acts of generosity, however, compared to the request
that God was about to ask of us.
Did I Hear You Right?

As I was praying about the amount God wanted us to sacrifice for
this new campus launch, I finally asked my wife, “Of all the accounts
that we can touch, how much do we even have?” My wife (who’s a
great bean counter) started outlining all of our accounts: “We’ve got
$23,000 in our emergency fund, $9,000 in our automotive mutual
fund . . .” And she continued listing off all of our investments and
bank accounts. I had to admit I was a bit impressed by how much my
wife and I had saved up. Suddenly, as she listed off our last five years
of savings, I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon my heart, “Peter, I want
you to give it ALL away.”
Immediately I thought, “That CAN’T be the Lord! I rebuke
that thought!” Perhaps it was my overactive imagination. After all,
sometimes it’s easy to mistake our own thoughts for God’s thoughts,
right? Or perhaps I was hearing him incorrectly. I mean, maybe God
« 29 »
was saying, “I want you to go to

the MALL, not I want you to give This fear of radical
it ALL.” Or what if it was the devil obedience is an
trying to trick me? experience that every
As my heart was racing, I single one of us will
stopped for a second and thought, struggle with at some
“Why would the devil want me to point or another.
give more money to the gospel?”
But I kept trying to think of reasons why this was silliness. I
mean, how am I going to sell this to my wife? How will I tell
my financial advisor? He’s going to think we’re crazy, perhaps
suicidal. What about the new house we’ve been dreaming about
for years? Our kids are sick and tired of bunking together. Can
I really tolerate our tiny square footage any longer? It would
take years before we could upgrade, let alone get our financial
margin back.
The truth was I did hear the Lord correctly. God has never
forsaken us before. So the real question was, why was I suddenly
so scared to obey? And before I share the rest of this story, I
think this is a profound question to stop and meditate on. This
fear of radical obedience is an experience that every single one
of us will struggle with at some point or another. So how do
we deal with these fears, and what is actually lurking behind
these feelings?
Fire in the Fireplace

I vividly remember having this same feeling as a new believer. I came
upon numerous Bible texts that call us to avoid sexual activity outside
of marriage. To be honest, my first response was, “No way! Who in
their right mind would obey that?” I actually remember saying to
God, “Prove it.” I’m kind of an analytical skeptic, especially when
I’m required to change something. And, as if on cue, the next several
days I kept running into a jaw-dropping number of secular university
studies on sex.
« 30 »
To my shock and surprise, it’s a statistical fact that those who have
sex outside of marriage are more likely to:
• break up or get divorced,11

• experience physical abuse (odds double),12
• experience emotional abuse,13
• experience anxiety and depression,14
• be sexually dissatisfied,15
• feel guilt and ongoing sexual inhibition,16 and
• commit adultery in the future.17
And this was just the beginning of the research. These facts kept
jumping out at me wherever I looked.
When I read all of this research, I started feeling angry at our
American culture. I felt as though I had been lied to about my
sexuality. I was a bit surprised by the sheer enormity of informa-
tion that I had either completely missed or ignored. That entire
week I felt as if God kept heckling me with a smile, “You wanted
proof, right?”
Obedience to God’s Word regarding sexual purity suddenly be-
came a lot easier after doing my research. Notice I didn’t say easy,
but easier. But who in their right mind wants to have increased de-
pression, anxiety, adultery, and divorce rates? I suppose obedience
became easier because I realized that the God who created my sexu-
ality has my best interests in mind. What if the very same God who
created my sexuality is actually a good God, a God who has an amaz-
ing plan for me? What if He’s not a killjoy? Once I finally accepted a
biblical revelation of who He really was, obedience was actually fun.
I started to understand what the Bible calls an obedience that comes
from faith. And remember that phrase because, as you’re about to see,
it’s incredibly important.
For example, in Romans 1:5–6, the apostle Paul explains that
we have a unique message—a message that sets us apart from other
preachers who peddle oppressive religion: “Through [Christ] and for
« 31 »
his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from
among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.”
Notice that Paul isn’t talking about obedience that comes from
obligation, shame, or fear. Certainly, these three tools can be a power-
ful form of motivation. I hate to admit it, but sometimes it seems as
though half of the books in Christian bookstores are designed around
this approach. But Paul intentionally distanced himself from these infe-
rior motivators because he knew they would ultimately lead to failure.
Christians aren’t called only to proclaim truth. We’re called to
inspire faith, grounded in truth, out of which obedience naturally
flows. As in the above example about sexuality, God gave me a
few reasons to keep fire in the fireplace. He didn’t yell at me. He
didn’t shame me or make my desires out to be dirty. Rather, He
kindly gave me a few secular confirmations to propel me into a
biblical lifestyle. That is to say, He got into my world, as silly as
that world was. And once His subtle strategy to subvert my views
took root, obedience naturally started flowing. Most important,
it was joyful!
Many churches simply shame people into action. They often
quote Scripture in which Jesus offended the masses. And yes, there
are parts of the gospel that are unavoidably difficult. Yet this narrow
stereotype of the “Offensive Jesus” simply doesn’t jive with the greater
teachings of Christ where sinners constantly ran to Him. Most of
His offensive teachings were directed toward the religiously diseased.
He’d literally measure back to them the same oppressive measures
they were using (Matt. 7:2).
But these oppressive approaches to radical Christianity are silly
for two reasons. First of all, sin has
built-in consequences all by itself. If Christians aren’t called
you are hell-bent on touching a hot only to proclaim truth.
stove . . . fine. Let’s see how it works We’re called to inspire
out for you. You don’t have to take faith, grounded in truth,
my word for it. Besides, the school out of which obedience
of hard knocks has an incredibly naturally flows.
effective curriculum.
« 32 »
Further, if I highjack the role of the Holy Spirit in your life (John
16:8), you’ll probably sever your relationship with me. Sinning is a lot
like eating chocolate-covered poop. If you’re convinced that you’re
missing out, despite my constant warnings, I refuse to manipulate
you. When you become aware that the warm morsel of filth in your
mouth was less than satisfying, you’re going to need a friend nearby.
And I want to be that friend standing with a big bowl of spiritual ice
cream or at least some mouthwash. (I’ll let you choose.)
How would you ever find your way to my bowl of ice cream if I
motivated you with shame? If I shame you with oppressive teachings
or repeatedly make you feel like an idiot (to motivate you), chances
are you would reject our relationship (and your refreshing bowl of
ice cream). This, unfortunately, is a good picture of how dead religion
has previously worked in many of our lives.
Quite often we heard the truth, but it wasn’t life-giving truth. We
heard the call for obedience, but it wasn’t an obedience built upon
freshly inspired faith (Rom.1:5–6). Thus, even if it motivated us for
a season, we finally decided that we weren’t any happier living under
constant condemnation. Hence, we decided to go back and take an-
other bite of chocolate-covered poop. At least that was sweet for a
moment.
Paul argues in Romans 1:5 that we aren’t merely calling people to
obedience, we’re calling people to an obedience that results from our
faith. To preach truth without inspiring faith is a false gospel. It has
little power to bring about sustained change. And even if we succeed
in creating some mutant form of obedience, it will hardly feel joy-
ful, let alone glorify God. That’s why my primary goal as a teacher of
the gospel isn’t to proclaim truth. It’s to isolate unbelief and inspire
faith.18
What are the hardest commands for you to keep? What are the
habits you want to start or stop? I always begin with the question:
What is this sin my answer to? Or, what is the legitimate God-given
need in me that I’m filling with inferior substitutes? You see, in all of
these things, you might think you have an obedience problem when
you actually have a faith problem. You might be able to motivate
« 33 »
yourself with shame for short time, giving yourself a semblance of

progress, but if you don’t deal with the root cause—your lack of
faith—you’ll just be going down the path of dead religion.
So if obedience naturally flows from faith, how do we keep our
faith stirred up? Faith is like leaky fuel, especially when we’re going
through a crisis. So allow me to give you two powerful tools that
will keep your faith-tank full: constant meditation and inconveniently
godly friends.
Constant Meditation
I love the story where the disciples were trying to cast out a demon
but weren’t able to. As a result, the disciples were having a squabble
with the teachers of the Law. Jesus, just coming off a prayer retreat,
walks onto the scene and immediately casts the demon out. A bit
confused, the disciples asked Jesus why He was able to do it while
they, on the other hand, looked like impotent dorks. Christ’s reply is
quite profound, “This kind can come out only by prayer” (Mark 9:29).
If you want authority over tough spiritual situations, like this demon,
you’ve got to live a lifestyle of prayer. Theological squabbling is a
common by-product of spiritual impotence, but this isn’t the only
passage that shows miraculous favor upon those who pray more often.
Daniel, an important Old Testament character, was a man of
prayer and fasting. An angel even told him, “As soon as you began
to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you
are highly esteemed” (Dan. 9:23). The Bible certainly isn’t implying
that God loves certain people more than others; however, the Bible is
clear that everyone does not get the same results. So, once again, we
could infer that there is a connection between prayer and miracles
in Scripture.
In fact, right now there are
many of you with problems that Theological squabbling
you feel unable to conquer. Like is a common by-product
the disciples, you’ve invoked all the of spiritual impotence.
right formulas from Scripture; yet,
« 34 »
your problem still seems to flop around and scream at you. I don’t
want to oversimplify things, but what if, like the disciples, your life-
style of prayer and fasting has something to be desired? And if that’s
the case, it’s time to employ meditation.
One of the most powerful types of prayer is meditation. Most
people think of prayer as asking God for things (aka supplication),
but Jesus taught that too much supplication is a sign of dysfunction
(Matt. 6:7–8). Healthy prayer, however, requires listening to God as
well; and, one of the greatest ways God speaks is through His Word.
That’s why if we want to get to know God, we’ve got to spend a sub-
stantial amount of time memorizing, meditating, and praying His
Word (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1). Not surprisingly, when Jesus prayed and
fasted, He said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Listening to God is
foundational.
If you don’t know what meditation is, let me explain. Meditation
is basically thinking deeply on every word in the promises of God.
It’s literally the process of dwelling upon each and every word. In
fact, a good sermon is essentially a corporate meditation on a specific
Scripture verse or passage. And when you get good at meditating, a
rather profound process ensues.
For every problem we could have, God has a promise to answer
it. But knowing God’s Word isn’t enough—believing that it is true is
what counts. And that is exactly what meditation does. Meditation
is the process of converting truth into spiritual fuel. It turns head
knowledge into heart knowledge. Or, as Hebrews 4:2 puts it, God’s
word must be “combined with faith” before it will achieve its super-
natural results.
Recently a friend of mine was going through a rough spot finan-
cially. He tithed regularly, but one week was particularly rough. He
calculated his tithe to be $350, yet he wanted every dollar to stay in
his savings. So he wrestled through it by asking, “Should I give it to
the church? Should I hold onto it?”
At church that morning I happened to be teaching on Prov-
erbs 3:9–10, which says, “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with
« 35 »
the firstfruits of all your crops; then

your barns will be filled to overflow- Prayer-filled meditation
ing, and your vats will brim over is what causes us to
with new wine.” I was reminding stay faithful while the
the church that there’s an incredible miraculous is incubating.
cause and effect that God is daring
us to participate in. In many ways, we were corporately meditating
on this Scripture. And, like a lot of people, my friend felt faith rise
in his heart.
He decided to write out his tithe check for $350. And get this, that
very month he brought in the largest commission he had ever gotten,
almost exactly one hundred times his tithe check! Do the math. That’s
a lot of money to make in one month. In fact, he set a new company
record for the biggest week ever. But even more amazing, none of
these sales leads had been in his pipeline. They came straight out of
nowhere. You can’t tell me that’s a coincidence.
Prayer-filled meditation is what causes us to stay faithful while
the miraculous is incubating. Thus, even if we lack the authority of
Daniel or Jesus, Christ still assures us that we can be delivered when
we are faithful and obedient in prayer and fasting.
Inconveniently Godly Friendships

The second incubator of faith (and thus, obedience) is a bit more
practical: Find godly friends. And by godly friends I don’t mean
religious friends (aka people who motivate themselves with ob-
ligation, shame, or fear). I love this quote I’ve heard from many
different sources: “Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your
future.” The Bible is constantly calling us to be cautious about our
relationships (Prov. 12:26; 13:20; 2 Cor. 6:14; 1 Cor. 15:33; Heb.
10:24–25).
Many studies have found that one of the single greatest statistical
predictors of spiritual growth is having a high quantity of intimate
Christian friends.19 Not surprisingly, it’s also one of the largest sta-
tistical predictors of church health, church growth, as well as church
« 36 »
satisfaction.20 Naturally, research

like this has altered the way I think Constant meditation
about church. And, keep in mind, and inconveniently
your friends affect far more than godly friends have a
just your spirituality. profound effect on
Did you know that having sup- our ability to obey and
portive friends doubles your odds enjoy God.
of surviving cancer,21 stroke,22 and
heart disease?23 Scientific research now shows we can significantly
predict happiness, stress, memory loss,24 weight,25 life expectancy,
and odds of quitting smoking26 exclusively based on your quantity
and quality of friends!
In fact, research is now discovering that even our genetic code
can be affected by those we hang around!27 So, most certainly, our
friends will affect every aspect of our faith. Quite simply, our fel-
lowship is the single most important aspect of our physical, spiritual
and emotional well-being. Suddenly, our criteria for choosing jobs,
churches, and even spouses dramatically changes.
So it’s critical that we surround ourselves with people who in-
conveniently and outwardly pursue their faith. We need friends like
Stephen of Acts 6:5, who was chosen because he was “a man full of
faith and of the Holy Spirit.”
Which of your friends stir up your faith in a life-giving way? And
what are you going to do to get around them more? Constant medita-
tion and inconveniently godly friends have a profound effect on our
ability to obey and enjoy God.
Giving My All
Coming back to my story, I was so scared to empty all my invest-
ments and bank accounts for Christ. But I immediately started
bringing Scripture promises to mind. I started meditating on Scrip-
ture promises like Proverbs 11:25, “A generous person will prosper;
whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.” And “Whoever sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will
« 37 »
also reap generously” (2 Cor. 9:6). Before long, I started getting this
giddy feeling that I may have stumbled upon the greatest investment
opportunity on earth. It wasn’t oppressive; it was joyful. But what
would my wife think?
Right when I was about to tell her my thoughts she blurted, “I
think we should give it all!” Immediately, we glared at each other with
wide-eyed grins. “Really?” I grimaced. It was a total rush, perhaps a
holy moment. When we both finally breathed, we started thinking
about the logistics of it all: How do we involve our kids in this deci-
sion? How do we tell our financial advisor? And, what might this
affect in our immediate future, things like family vacations?
Truth be told, it took a lot of work to give away all that money.
And there was still a grieving process that we had to go through. Even
to this day, every time I see a beautiful house, I ache a little. Every
time my daughters leave their hair dryers on our small bathroom
sink, I moan. I hate living in a neighborhood where cars get jacked all
the time. And it kills my wife that we have a terrible house for host-
ing people. Yet there’s always going to be something to whine about.
There’s always going to be something to tempt us to say, “God, I’ll be
generous next year.”
Honestly, it’s the little things that make generosity hard. For ex-
ample, I’d been looking at snow blowers for the previous two years.
When you live in a place that can get over eight feet of snow in the
winter, there are some things that become a necessity. Yet every dollar
needed to go right back into our emergency fund. So the last thing I
could afford was a snow blower.
No matter where I went, there seemed to be these gorgeous snow
blowers for sale. Like an alcoholic
walking through a bar, it seemed as There’s always going to be
if the devil was torturing me. One something to whine about.
day, as I was walking through a There’s always going to be
home improvement store, I saw the something to tempt us to
shiniest, reddest snow blower I’ve say, “God, I’ll be generous
ever seen. It was almost as though next year.”
heaven was shining down on it. So,
« 38 »
at last, I broke down and started ranting at God, “God, this is torture!
I’m trying to put you first financially, but Lord, are you even in this?
Did I make a foolish decision?”
Later that day, I was visiting a church to hear a guest speaker. And
even while worship was going on, I found myself continuing to rant
at God, “I was foolish to give all our money away!” And, no lie, the
minister, who I didn’t even know, literally called me out of the audi-
ence and said, “The Lord just spoke to me about you and told me to
tell you that you have answered God’s call to produce wealth.” I was
a bit shocked. He continued, “And because you have answered God’s
call, He will open up doors of significance for you.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure that God could get any
clearer than this. My wife and I were literally buzzing for the rest of
the night. As we went home, snow blowers were the last thing on my
mind. If God can supernaturally speak to us through a total stranger,
then He can certainly take care of our practical needs.
Then suddenly, we got a phone call from this delightful couple
in our church. Shockingly, they said, “At our last worship night, God
told us to buy you guys a brand new snow blower. And, we were
wondering . . . when can we drop it off?”
Keep in mind, I never told anyone about this need. So, what are
the odds? God’s not kidding around when He promises that if you’ll
put His kingdom first, He’ll add things into your life (Matt. 6:33).
And guess what? That winter brought one of the highest quanti-
ties of snow in Minnesota history (over eight feet). Every time that
snow blower growled to a start, I felt like having a Pentecostal wor-
ship service. Even crazier than God providing that snow blower,
the moment my wife and I secretly made that decision, our weekly
church income suddenly jumped by over 35 percent, and stayed that
high. That’s a huge amount of money. It’s hard for me to see all of
these things as a coincidence.
Obedience isn’t always easy; but, it’s always joyful. My personal
wealth hasn’t necessarily bounced back yet. But my fulfillment is at
a record high, along with my trust in God. That’s why I never try to
be faithful to God. Instead, I try to be full of faith, and faithfulness
« 39 »
aturally results. You may call it semantics, but I call it a Pharisec-

n
tomy. And as my large pile of personal miracle stories stack up, so
does my faith in the One who is faithful.
We don’t need shame, guilt, or obligation to motivate us. And
even when people foolishly touch the hot stove, we needn’t give them
lectures or I-told-you-so’s. We give them modern-day miracle sto-
ries, the details of which are so specific that it leaves them wondering:
What if God really does care about me? Well, guess what? He does
care about you! And when this kind of faith grips your heart, prepare
for an irresistible obedience—even radical obedience—that will turn
your world head-over-heels.
Chapter Three in Review

Key Ideas
1. The kingdom of heaven is a treasure, not an obligation.
2. Fear of radical obedience is an experience that every single one
of us will struggle with at some point or another.
3. Christians aren’t called to proclaim truth; we’re called to inspire
faith in the truth.
4. Most of Jesus’ offensive teachings were directed toward the reli-
giously diseased.
5. To preach truth without inspiring people’s faith is a false gospel.
6. There are two powerful tools that will keep your faith-tank full:
constant meditation and inconveniently godly friends.
7. Theological squabbling is a common by-product of spiritual
impotence.
8. Prayer-filled meditation is what causes us to stay faithful while
the miraculous is incubating.
9. It’s critical that we surround ourselves with people who inconve-
niently and outwardly pursue their faith.
10. Obedience isn’t always easy, but it’s always joyful.
« 40 »
1. Have you ever felt oppressed with truth instead of uplifted by
it? What do you think are the differences? Can you think of any
examples?
2. Authentic Christianity is all about carrying crosses. What does
carrying crosses mean to you? Are you carrying crosses? Explain
your response.
3. What are some ways you can inspire faith in the truth? What is
the difference between this and proclaiming the truth?
4. What are three ways you can meditate on God’s Word? What did
God teach you the last time you meditated on His Word?
5. You will become like the people with whom you associate. If
this is true, where is your life headed? Are you satisfied with this
image of your future? Why or why not?
6. If you’re comfortable sharing: Are there any areas in which you’ve
experienced a fear of obeying? What were they? Why do you
think you felt that way?
7. Have you ever meditated on Scripture before? If so, do you have
any suggestions about when, how, or where to do it?
8. In light of the influence of friends on our lives, how does this
change the way you think about your job, your church, and your
family?
9. If a person lacks friends or has less than healthy friends, how
might they change them? How might our job, commute, or fami-
lies affect our ability to change friends?
10. How have others tried to play the role of the Holy Spirit in your
life? What was the end result of these situations?
« 41 »
Chapter four
Checkbook Christianity
Why did sinners run to Christ even though
His messages were tough?
E very church has that one person who takes too much
responsibility for the spiritual and theological hygiene of everyone
else. I call them church rebukers. They’re not always easy to recognize
because they don’t all grow long beards and carry stone tablets any-
more. You see, church rebukers come in all shapes and sizes.
I’ll never forget the first time a woman stood up in the middle of
my message and started screaming at me. (Believe it or not, I’ve had
three over the years.) I’m sure there were probably a few messages
where I actually deserved such a crazy person, but that specific mes-
sage was quite tame. The Lord knows I was being a good little boy
(e.g., no swear words).
But most church rebukers use more subtle approaches. In char-
ismatic churches, you’ll experience something that I call prophelying.
People share their silly opinion and then say, “God told me to say
this to you.”
One time I finished preaching and two people lined up to talk.
The first said, “That message was terrible! The Spirit has been irrepa-
rably grieved.” And, no lie, the very next person said, “That message
moved the heart of God! He is totally pleased with you.” You see,
either the Holy Spirit needs to take an anti-depressant, or people are
prophelying.
« 43 »
But church leaders aren’t the only people who get targeted. It’s
easy for any long-term member of the body of Christ to get cynical
about God’s people over time. After experiencing phenomena like
these for years, I’ve had to create a special list of truly spiritual people
who are uniquely qualified to get in my face. Otherwise, I would have
either quit being teachable or simply quit being a leader entirely.
Another clever technique church rebukers use is called accu-
sigizing. They accuse people, but it’s couched in an apology. They
usually approach you with a sappy look in their eyes saying, “Hey,
I just wanted to apologize to you . . . you see, I’ve been nursing a
grudge, telling all my friends about how you manipulate people. But,
I’m sorry ’bout that.” Thus, they compel you to fish out their piranha
with your bare hands.
A similar technique is what I call the confrontation-affirmation.
You sneak a confrontation into an encouragement, “You wanna know
what I love about you? Some people get all concerned about wearing
stylish clothing or personal hygiene; but you . . . you’re free . . . I love
that!”
Being a die-hard songwriter, I’ve always enjoyed being in vari-
ous worship bands. Early on, I remember being in a band with a guy
named Billy. He was a vocalist who, bless his heart, couldn’t sing to
save his life. (A good Christian always blesses someone’s heart be-
fore ripping him to shreds. It somehow nullifies the bad things we’re
about to say.) And right before our team leader removed Billy from
the team, he started out with a classic confrontation-affirmation line,
“Billy, you know what I like about you . . .” We all perked up with
wide eyes. We knew what was coming. “Billy, you have a worshiper’s
heart. Some people get all focused on singing in tune, but you . . .
you just focus on God.” Of course, when a professional, black-belt
church rebuker uses this technique, it’s usually so subtle and quick
that you feel compelled to say a warm “thanks.” Thanks for . . . well . . .
ripping on me?
Some church rebukers specialize on certain topics. There was
one guy at our church who people started calling “Calvin-nazi Ken.”
Somehow he turned every conversation into a confrontation against
« 44 »
C h e c k b o o k C h r is t i a n i t y
your beliefs on predestination.

For those who know Reformation Some Christians have
church history, John Calvin was acquired the misguided
notorious for his absurd rules, such notion that believers
as outlawing music, big hair, even are called to confront
the color red. Of course, Bob wasn’t the entire universe and
quite this bad. But he’d go so far as do so in some freaky-
to stop you in the middle of your weird ways.
prayer, “Uh, Peter . . . that’s not a
correct prayer,” as if John Calvin were looking down (or up) with
frustrated disdain.
Just to mess with him, my friends started praying, “Lord, thank
you for predestining me to believe prayer actually changes things.”
But really, it wasn’t Bob’s theology that bugged them. It was the fact
that everyone knew he didn’t seem to give a rip about anybody but
himself. If someone’s marriage was failing, his top priority would still
be to convert them to all five points of Calvinism.
Don’t misunderstand me; I do believe in healthy confrontation.
And that’s what we’re going to talk about in this chapter. As the old
saying goes, “People don’t care how much we know until they know
how much we care.” In fact, according to Scripture, it’s not truth that
changes people, it’s loving truth (1 Cor. 13:2).
Some Christians have acquired the misguided notion that be-
lievers are called to confront the entire universe and do so in some
freaky-weird ways. And yes, if we love people, we will tell them that
the stove is hot. However, a closer look at Scripture will reveal a more
thoughtful approach to changing our world. But before we study it,
allow me to share a concept with you called the checkbook theory.
How to Make a Love Sandwich

The checkbook theory has many names. In his best-selling book
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey called it
an emotional bank account. Others call it a love sandwich, but
that name creeps me out. Here’s the gist: People are like checking
« 45 »
accounts. You’ve got to make de-

posits before you can make with- You should be able to
drawals. If you write a check you do an amazingly intense
cannot cash, it’s called bouncing confrontation without
a check. (You see, young people, a person freaking out,
in the old days people actually provided that you’ve
got punished for spending money made an adequate
they didn’t have. Sounds like a very amount of deposits
scary world, doesn’t it?) Banks of love.
would sometimes fine you fifty dol-
lars for writing checks with insufficient funds. So, the analogy goes,
if you confront someone (make a withdrawal) without first loving on
them (making a deposit), you’ll certainly make them mad (bounce
a check). You should be able to do an amazingly intense confronta-
tion without a person freaking out, provided that you’ve made an
adequate amount of deposits of love. After all, these deposits reveal
your love for them.
For example, we’ve all been confronted by people who didn’t give
a rip about us. And not surprisingly, we all responded in the same
way, “Who are YOU to tell ME I shouldn’t pee in a public shower?”
or something similar. We all hate it when people share truths with-
out first giving us empathy or showing us that they care. And why?
We live in a culture where people share truths for selfish reasons all
the time.
Honestly, we all operate with this conditional teachability as a
matter of survival. Depending on the source, I’ve read that the aver-
age person experiences between six
hundred and three thousand adver- We live in a world of
tisements per day. Regardless of the endless truth claims.
exact number, we can all agree that All throughout church
a ton of ads bombard us each day. history we see that even
We live in a world where things are biblical truth has been
constantly being marketed to us: constantly peddled for
“You need this new car/wardrobe/ selfish gain.
electronic gadget.” “Your life will be
« 46 »
better if you do a colon cleanse.” We live in a world of endless truth

claims. Throughout church history we see that even biblical truth has
been constantly peddled for selfish gain. Our emotions protect us
from such liars by conditioning our teachability. We all secretly ask,
“Does this person really care about me? Will he inconveniently show
me selfless love? Or is he just trying to take advantage of me, sucker
me into a colon cleanse?”
As a general rule, if you’re ever scared to confront a certain per-
son, ask yourself, “Have I made an adequate amount of deposits?” or
“Have I shown them the type of love that they can understand?” If
not, there’s often a good reason why you’re scared. You know you’re
about to bounce a check. Any idiot can share the truth, but earning
the right to share truth is a totally different issue.
When applied to parenting, it can be profound. Your household
can operate with an amazing number of high standards provided
that your deposits of intelligible love exceed your demands. Thus,
when kids rebel from their “Pharisee Parents,” it’s usually not a re-
sult of stringent boundary making. After all, I know many parents
who are incredibly restrictive, yet their strong-willed kids never
rebel for long. Rather, rebellion is usually the child’s way of saying,
“Your love isn’t translating into my language; therefore, all I see is
oppressiveness.”
Throughout Scripture, we see God using the checkbook theory.
Just think about the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19), or the time Jesus
ministered to the woman at the well (John 5). It was a massive ges-
ture of kindness that He was even willing to talk to a woman like
her in public. In fact, Jesus was so
committed to making loving de- Your household can
posits that, despite the church re- operate with an amazing
bukers of His day, He constantly number of high standards
risked His own reputation to hang provided that your
out with tax collectors and sinners deposits of intelligible
(Luke 5:27). “While we were still love exceed your
sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. demands.
5:8). “We love because he first
« 47 »
loved us” (1 John 4:19). “God’s kindness leads [us] towards repen-
tance” (Rom. 2:4).
It’s also interesting to note that Jesus constantly healed people
(demonstrating the mercy of heaven) while He preached truth. And
when a person alters your life with such profound grace, you’re likely
to listen to him even if he has tough things to say to you. A person
who makes adequate deposits never has to water down the truth.
Jesus simply demonstrated the deposits of heaven, such as healing
and deliverance, before He demanded submission.
But what about all the intense messages Jesus directed toward
religious people? Did He use the checkbook theory then? I believe
He did. When a religious person chronically forgets that they too
are a sinner saved by grace, there’s nothing left to do but judge (see
Heb. 10:26). Of course, Jesus could do this because He was the
perfect Son of God. However, if you and I start judging like this,
we’re likely to make a few mistakes. That’s why James said, “There is
only one Lawgiver and Judge” (James 4:12). After all, sinful human
beings have a sketchy track record with this kind of stuff.
The Rise of the Angry Chipmunks

When our church started growing super fast, I had a pastor friend tell
me, “Peter . . . you better get ready, because there are a lot of Chris-
tians who are going to judge your church just because its growing.”
In fact, he even said that Substance is going to become a swear word
amidst struggling churches.
At first I thought, “No Way! I mean, why would that happen? Cer-
tainly, people are going to celebrate all of our crazy stories of trans-
formation!” But my friend’s advice was like a light switch. Within
days, word started getting back to me about pastors who were saying
the meanest things about our church and our motives. Many of the
accusations didn’t have any basis to them. Some of them were com-
pletely contradictory.
Someone called me anticharismatic. Then the very next week
I was ironically called hypercharismatic. Based on the criticisms
« 48 »
that kept coming back, I was a living paradox. You’d think I was a
living theological contradiction. One person started a huge rumor
that I was a “health and wealth” preacher because I said that “Jesus
came that we might have life to the fullest,” a direct quotation from
John 10:10. We finally proved that rumor wrong when people started
realizing that most of our executives had missing hubcaps on their
rusted-out cars. Dealing with Christians like these is like being
nibbled to death by a bunny rabbit.
One dude even told me, “You’ve got to be a compromised church
if you feel the need to go with a weird name like Substance.” He talked
as though the Holy Spirit only falls on churches named after trees
and rivers. Perhaps if we put all of these anointed names into one
single moniker, we’d undergo unstoppable revival. “Welcome to
Maple-Wood-Oak Creek-Birch-Elm-Fellowship River Church!”

Boom! Instant revival!
However, the most irritating critique came from an article in a
Christian newspaper. The headline read, “Substance: a church for
itching ears.” It was all about churches who compromise the gospel
to reach people. Keep in mind, we’re the church that did a four-part
series on hell during Easter. So it’s rather hard to make the argument
that we water anything down. Of course, the article didn’t address
anything specific that we could respond to. Some of our friends, who
apparently knew the author, told me that he wrote this even though he
had never once visited our church or even listened to a single sermon.
Have you ever felt so demoralized that you just wanted to beat
someone up in the name of Jesus? I always imagined in heaven that
God would give me the opportunity to face my opponents in a pro-
wrestling ring. Suddenly, I’m on a tag-team with GI Jesus. We march
into the arena while the song “To hell with the Devil” pumps out of
the speakers. Then, after Jesus pulls out a flawless gospel pile-driver
on my opponent, I’d jump up onto the turn-buckle. And then I’d yank
out my signature belt of truth, fold it, and give it a good snap to the
chants of a roaring crowd, “Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus!”
As this whining fantasy continued, the Lord suddenly stole me
from my victory slam to rebuke me, “Peter, do you really think you
« 49 »
have it that hard?” I felt conviction all over instantly. I’ve done a large
amount of work with pastors throughout the Middle East. The oppo-
sition they face makes mine look like an angry chipmunk. The Lord
finally led me to read Luke 4 and 5, where Jesus went to minister in
His hometown. Honestly, I’ve never seen church rebukers the same.
Call Out the Bears

If there was ever a group you’d hope would think the best about
you, you’d expect it be your friends and family. Nothing better than
a hometown crowd, right? But guess what the alleged God-seekers
tried to do to Jesus? They tried to throw Him off a cliff! They at-
tempted to murder Him in the name of defending God. (I bet they
feel pretty stupid right now.)
Christ managed to escape, but this must have had a massive
impact on Him. I don’t know if you have ever survived an attempted
murder. But I’d expect Him to be dealing with post-traumatic stress
disorder. Jesus was God, but the human side of Him had to be griev-
ing. Every one of His emotions were tested. I’m certain that this was
one of those turning points. The people He grew up with tried to kill
Him. If that had been me, it would have taken me decades to get over it.
Yet, immediately after this, Jesus went to Capernaum. He tried to
get away to a solitary place to pray, which is exactly what I would do
after people tried to kill me. And yet, these spiritual people were so
invasive that they hunted Him down on His spiritual retreat and tried
to lecture Him on His priorities.
Immediately after this, Jesus healed a paralytic, and some Phari-
sees started calling Him a blasphemer (Luke 5:21). Later, Jesus min-
istered to tax collectors (Luke 5:27); yet, along came the defenders
of religious purity who started falsely calling Him a drunkard and
a sinner. It almost seems like the gospel writer was trying to show
that the perfect preacher on earth had constant criticism from people
who saw themselves as defending authentic biblical faith.
As if Luke hadn’t already made his point abundantly clear, Jesus
started getting harassed by John the Baptist’s disciples in the very
« 50 »
next story. If there was ever a group you’d hope would leave you
alone . . . if there was ever a group you’d think would assume the
best . . . you’d hope it’d be your cousin’s group—your cousin, of all
people! But even they started nit-picking.
“Why aren’t you fasting?” they asked. They wanted to know,
“Why don’t you seek God the way we think people should be seeking
God?” Then, in the very next story, Jesus was ripped on for how He
interpreted the Sabbath! The debates just never seemed to end. There
had to have been a point where Jesus just wanted to freak out.
I’m certain Jesus thought about the passage in the Old Testament
where the prophet Elisha was going up to Bethel (2 Kings 2). People
started profaning God by mocking the prophet Elisha, saying, “Go
on up, Baldy!” (And those of you who are going bald will appre-
ciate this.) Elisha finally turned around and pronounced judgment
on them. At his word, two bears suddenly came running out of the
woods and mauled forty-two of them.28
So you can bet Jesus’ disciples were like, “Jesus, there’s got to be a
team of bears nearby! Just do it.” If God did this to protect Elisha, He’d
certainly do it for Jesus. And guess what? Jesus knew this. That’s why
Jesus rebuked Peter when He was being betrayed, “Do you think I
cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more
than twelve legions29 of angels?” (Matt. 26:53). Instead of calling out
for angels and bears, Jesus even sought to reach His most ruthless
persecutors, performing a miracle by healing a man’s ear.
And there’s a reason why Christ was so diligent in making depos-
its. As you’ll see in the following story, this principle of the checkbook
theory has a pretty profound effect on our ability to influence those
around us.
Two Confrontations, Two Results

We once had a church rebuker who looked like Brutus from Popeye
the Sailorman. She was the ultimate church rebuker, carrying the
strength of ten men in the form of a She-man. An e-mail from her
would cause the hairs on your neck to turn away in terror. You were
« 51 »
almost guaranteed to get rebuked by her at some point. But what

made her dangerous was the fact that so many people submitted to
her dominion.
Along came an innocent young lady who had just started com-
ing to our church. She was quite new in her faith. And she had
a large amount of residue from her former way of life. We were
patient with her. She had a flair for wearing a rather scant amount
of clothing, yet we felt like God wanted to deal with one thing
at a time. She had recently made some colossal lifestyle changes.
Simply seeing her in church was already a miracle. We knew it was
only a matter of time before God starting filing down her other
rough spots.
But along came Brutus the confronter lady. Only a few Sundays
after the girl started coming, she swooped down like a bird of prey.
Brutus had never met the young lady before, but she didn’t hesitate
to lecture the girl over her inappropriate clothing. Within minutes, a
few words turned into a shouting match. Not surprisingly, the young
lady stopped coming.
Thankfully, my wife had built an amazing relationship with
this young believer. The girl worked down at the local coffee shop.
Soon all of her coworkers heard about the crazy lady at our church
who belonged in the Taliban. Time and time again my wife was
there for her, even financially. After things settled down, the girl
eventually decided to come back to our church. However, this
time, she stayed close to my wife, who promised to ward off the
crazy lady.
Of course, that Sunday the young girl came dressed in an outfit
that would have made Lady Gaga blush. We knew we needed to talk
to her about it. We wondered, though, what she would do if we of-
fended her? She blatantly disagreed with every argument that the
church confronter lady gave, and the last thing we wanted to do was
hurt her again. Yet she was attracting all of the wrong guys. We knew
there was something deeper she was masking with her dress.
Finally, my wife just got blunt with her, “Honey, what in the world
are you doing with your outfits? What kind of attention are you trying
« 52 »
to get?” Stunned by my wife’s tough love, the girl immediately started

crying. After a powerful confession filled with childhood traumas
and insecurities, she finally said to my wife, “Carolyn, I completely
trust you. You’re absolutely right. Would you help me change this?”
You see, despite all of our fears, the girl responded to my wife’s con-
frontation with total devotion.
What impacted me most about this easy confrontation was the
contrast between my wife and the church-confronter lady. Both of
them shared the exact same truth yet netted totally different results.
What gives? Quite simply, it was the checkbook theory. My wife had
made an amazing number of deposits. The confronter lady had made
none. My wife earned the right to teach truth. The confronter lady
tried to take a shortcut. God will, ultimately, hold her responsible
for it.
Again, if the goal is simply to proclaim truth, then we’re free to
take all the shortcuts we want. But if the goal is to actually influence
people with the truth, then we need to be aware of mankind’s natural
defense mechanisms.
Lazy Love
People always ask me why we have so many people converting to
Christianity from crazy lifestyles. “How did you get so many ex-drug
dealers into your church? . . . What kinds of messages do you preach
that create this reaction?” Yet what people fail to understand is this:
Christianity is not a message; it’s a lifestyle. It’s caught, not taught.
It’s the context of the message that matters. Yet diseased Christians
are so idolatrously committed to their church-service formulas that
they can’t ever imagine an answer that isn’t “preach more expository
messages” or “do more prophetic altar ministry” (or whatever their
narrow-minded key to revival is).
Truth was never meant to be Christianity is not a
delivered outside of the context message; it’s a lifestyle.
of a loving community. By its very It’s caught, not taught.
nature, it can only create rebellion
« 53 »
in the hearts of people who hear

it. This is exactly what the apostle Yet diseased Christians
Paul was trying to say in Romans are so idolatrously
7 and 8. committed to
Paul teaches that although the their church-service
Law (the truth) is holy, righteous, formulas that they
and good, it fails to transform peo- can’t ever imagine
ple. It reveals our ugliness without an answer that isn’t
the power or the hope of ever chang- “preach more expository
ing it. Only a relationship with the messages” or “do more
Law and the Spirit of life in Christ prophetic altar ministry”
Jesus will set you free (Rom. 8:1–2). (or whatever their
This relationship comes by fellow- narrow-minded key
shiping with other people who live to revival is).
in Christ and, thus, are made one
by His Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned in chapter three, one of the greatest statistical pre-
dictors of spiritual growth is how many intimate Christian friends you
have at any given time.30 It’s not how many sermons you’ve heard or
how many tears you’ve cried during worship. Those who study behav-
ior modification clinically in the Christian context understand that
your relational community affects your behavior far more than mere
Bible knowledge or worship experiences.
Statistically, you can take two people, give them the same quantity
of God’s Word, and the one with the most Christian friends will be the
one who’s most likely to apply it. So
the real question we need to ask our- People who preach
selves is this, “Are we intimately con- truth outside the
nected with other people in the body context of loving
of Christ?” If not, it doesn’t matter community are like
how many sermons or worship ex- child abusers who try
periences you ingest. You have very shoving the steak of
low odds of actually changing. God’s Word down a
People who preach truth outside baby’s throat.
the context of loving c ommunity
« 54 »
are like child abusers who try shov-

ing the steak of God’s Word down Sadly, we will give
a baby’s throat. They produce death an account for every
because they fail to comprehend needless spiritual
how biblical repentance is created death created by
(Rom. 2:4). And adding insult to our haste-filled
injury, they often self-righteously proclamations.
defend their authority to speak
without making deposits.
Sadly, we will give an account for every needless spiritual death
created by our haste-filled proclamations. And much of what we
thought was persecution was really our own negligence.
But the good news is it doesn’t have to be this way. Almost
everyone in your city is teachable by someone. The question is: Are
they teachable to you? Speaking truth is easy, but earning the right to
speak truth is quite another.
You don’t need to water down your gospel if you have enough
deposits. Nor do you need to become one of those foolish Chris-
tians who parrots silly phrases like “the gospel is offensive,” a state-
ment that is often used as a cover-up for lazy love. Indeed, a relevant
gospel isn’t the subtraction of truth; rather, it’s the addition of
p
ractical love.
We will sometimes spend countless hours depositing into a
person’s soul, and they will still reject us. The checkbook approach
doesn’t guarantee teachability where deception reigns. What it does
guarantee is you will look like Christ. And frankly, isn’t that the
ultimate goal?
Chapter Four in Review

Key Ideas
1. Any long-term member of the body of Christ can get cynical
about God’s people.
2. According to Scripture, it’s not truth that changes people but
loving truth.
« 55 »
3. People are like checking accounts. You’ve got to make deposits

before you make withdrawals.
4. Emotions protect us from liars by conditioning our teachability.
5. When a person alters your life with profound grace, you’re likely
to listen to him even if he has tough things to say to you.
6. The principle of the checkbook theory has a profound effect on
our ability to influence those around us.
7. If our goal is to actually influence people with the truth, then we
must be aware of mankind’s natural defense mechanisms.
8. Christianity is not a message; it’s a lifestyle.
9. Your relational community affects your behavior far more than
mere Bible knowledge or worship experiences.
10. Speaking truth is easy; earning the right to speak truth is another
thing.
1. Can you think of any past confrontations that went badly? How
might the checkbook theory have affected these situations?
2. Authentic believers love the truth. If your love for the truth reveals
the quality of your relationship with God, what is the quality of
that relationship?
3. How does your relationship with God affect your teachability?
4. Who are you trying to influence? And what are some ways you
could make deposits into their love bank?
5. Who are those people who have altered your lifestyle? How are
you altering the lifestyles of others?
6. It has been said that some people give and receive love differently.
In other words, some people falsely think they’re making depos-
its while the recipient perceives love in a completely different way.
How might this love-language problem impact the effectiveness
of the checkbook theory?
« 56 »
7. Why is it easier for Christianity to be a message than it is for it to

be a lifestyle?
8. How might a church practice the checkbook theory on a cor-
porate level? Or if applied on a national level, how might this
approach affect how Christians are perceived in politics?
9. After reading about Christ’s opposition in Luke 4 and 5, what
could we learn about leadership in the body of Christ?
10. How are you earning the right to speak the truth into the lives of
others?
« 57 »
C h a p t e r fi v e
Christians vs. Children

of God
How are we supposed to love spooky, weird,
or boring churches?
I live on a street where people love to call the police for

everything. If someone forgets to grab a bag of leaves from their
front lawn, it suddenly becomes a public safety hazard. I like to think
of myself as being a great neighbor. Yet, I’ve had my share of mu-
nicipal violations—usually for cars parked on the street overnight
or nonbiodegradable leaf bags. I’m still bitter that they shut down
my backyard wood-chopping contest, and I’m surprised more of my
neighbors didn’t appreciate the Fourth of July when we played tag
using bottle rockets and Roman candles. But, all in all, my neighbors
are just looking out for me. Deep inside, there’s a small part of me
that feels loved, albeit a very small part.
I laugh when I read the police report in our local newspaper. It
usually lists all of last month’s crimes and complaints. One of them
literally read as follows: “Complainant reported neighbor’s dog was
left outside for days at a time. Complainant was concerned for dog’s
well-being. Located dog in question and found it to be a statue.”
A statue? I try to imagine how this neighbor felt upon realizing it
was a statue. Perhaps this person thought, You know, I always thought
that dog was rather disciplined! (In this neighbor’s defense, the police
« 59 »
could have arrested the statue owner for having poor taste.) Never-
theless, judging our neighbors can be tricky because we don’t often
see things correctly, do we?
Keep in mind: There’s a difference between judging and discern-
ing. When we judge, we often assume we know a person’s motives.
But only God can accurately judge hearts. That’s probably why God’s
Word repeatedly tells us to leave judgment to Him.
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way
you judge others, you will be judged” (Matt. 7:1–2). “There is only
one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But
you—who are you to judge your neighbor?” (James 4:12). “Speak
and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives
freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone
who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James
2:12–13).
The Bible also says that there is a time when judgment is neces-
sary, such as predatory sin in the church (1 Cor. 5). If you struggle
with alcohol, it’s one thing. But if you take some youth-group kids out
to get drunk, it’s quite another issue. If Christians fail to take a stand
in these circumstances, then God will actually hold us accountable
for our inactivity.
Many Christians fail to realize that there is a clear pattern for
biblical confrontation. For instance, if you have a problem with
someone, healthy confrontation should always be done gently
and with humility (Gal. 6:1–5). It must be done quickly so that
it doesn’t cause you to fester or spew on other people (Matt. 5:24;
Heb.12:14–15). You need to go to the source of the problem first
before you involve others (Matt. 18:15). So the time you confronted
your spouse on The Jerry Springer Show probably wasn’t the best
idea. Even more, the Bible calls us to assume the best about others
until proven guilty (1 Cor. 13:7). Only after these steps have been
exhausted should a person involve others (Matt. 18:16) and then
finally go public with his grievance (v. 17). Even then, the audience
shouldn’t be a non-Christian audience (1 Cor. 6:1), which again
probably means no to Jerry Springer. Besides, wisdom from heaven
« 60 »
C h r is t i a n s v s . C h i l d r e n o f G o d
(as opposed to hell) is “peace-lov-

ing, considerate, submissive, full Much of what passes
of mercy and good fruit, impartial for accountability in
and sincere” (James 3:17). the body of Christ is
To be honest, a huge number nothing more than
of Christian blog posts, sermons, demonic critique
books, and Web sites wouldn’t even as we often take
pass the James 3:17 test. Much of our confrontational
what passes for accountability in the approaches from the
body of Christ is nothing more than world rather than
demonic critique as we often take Scripture.
our confrontational approaches
from the world rather than Scripture. Their actions reveal that their
real master is the Accuser of o thers, a fancy name for the devil. As
a r esult, churches are often sucked into gang warfare and doctrinal
feuds that leave everyone feeling dirty.
Many of the people who destroy the body of Christ, ironically, do
so under the pretense that they’re protecting it. All of us participate
in this seemingly spiritual process at some point or another. And part
of this shocking revelation occurred to me when I stumbled upon a
peculiar text in Genesis.
Re-evaluating the Garden of Eden

Genesis 2:9 teaches us, “In the middle of the garden were the tree of
life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” These two distinct
trees existed at the center of this garden and are very important to
this story. We are told that God gave Adam and Eve the ability to eat
any fruit with one exception. They could not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
As the story goes, a serpent offered Eve the chance to be like God
if she were to eat fruit from this tree that God had explicitly said to
steer clear of. She first resisted but later gave in to the serpent’s logic
that eating this fruit would not be a bad thing but would make her
like God. Then Adam also ate the fruit, and both ushered sin into the
« 61 »
world, which separated us from our Creator. This is what we mean

when we talk about the fall of mankind. Everything has been going
downhill for us ever since.
As a younger Christian, it was hard for me to rid my mind of the
cartoonish image of Adam and Eve standing around with apples and
fig leaves. So after reading this text as an adult, there were three things
that struck me as profound:
1. This Wasn’t a Normal Tree

Remember, this was a knowledge tree. And what are we ingesting
when we eat from a knowledge tree? We ingest worldviews. We ingest
ideologies and information. A knowledge tree is similar to a text-
book, a library, or the Internet. Over the years, I’ve gotten so caught
up in the Sunday school image of this as a literal fruit tree that I’ve
missed a profound point. Seeking knowledge apart from God’s pres-
ence and life results in death. Hold onto this concept as we explore
two others.
2. The Temptation Appealed to Eve’s Desire to Be Like God

We all want to be more like our heroes, don’t we? Young people dress
like their favorite rock stars. Little kids emulate every word of their
parents (even words we hope they never hear). Likewise, I believe the
devil saw this same positive desire in Adam and Eve. They wanted
to be like their Heavenly Father. Yet the devil exploited this desire
to a destructive end. It’s similar to the crusades of the Middle Ages.
Many Christians were lured into killing others under the pretense that
it would make them more like Christ. The devil specializes in creat-
ing false paths to godliness. In fact, that’s actually a good definition
for religious sin, a plan to achieve godliness that goes beyond God’s
parameters.
3. It Wasn’t Just Evil Knowledge That Led to Death

Rather, good knowledge also rests at the source of all sin: rape, geno-
cide, torture, lying, gossip, and so on. I realize that it almost sounds
like a paradox. How can good knowledge result in death?
« 62 »
One time I got into a spat with my wife. Anyone who’s been mar-
ried for any period of time will understand what I’m talking about.
And in this particular argument, I was absolutely positive that I was
right. I was determined to prove my rightness no matter what the cost.
I remember that final moment when I finished the perfect argu-
ment. I felt like Tom Cruise’s character in A Few Good Men. As I
started basking in my glory, she stormed off and didn’t want to talk
to me! What? Part of me expected her to stay . . . perhaps smile at
my brilliance. I thought at least I’d get a “thank-you” for leading her
back to the truth.
Over the years I’ve learned a profound marital lesson: You can
win the battle yet still lose. The same is true with God. Rightness and
godliness aren’t always synonymous. You might be able to argue that
you are technically right, but if you’re not in sync with God, you’re
actually wrong.
The Fornication Fighter

I remember a similar example from back when I was in college at
the University of Minnesota. When the spring thaw came around, it
wasn’t uncommon to have tens of thousands of people walk through
the open-air mall in between the imposing forum-like buildings.
One afternoon, I saw a crowd of students gathering around one
angry man who was shouting at everyone. He was the only man
wearing a suit and bow tie. And by the time I got close enough, I re-
alized that he was pointing at people and calling them masturbators.
Now, I’ve yelled at people before—like when an official makes
a terrible call at a sports game—but I never remember shouting
“masturbator.” Maybe I need to be more creative in my name-calling,
but something told me this wasn’t a good situation.
With a rather dramatic flair, the man pointed at various people
around him and screeched, “You prostitutes, drunkards, and homo-
sexuals! None of you will inherit the kingdom!” His young son stood
nearby wearing a sandwich board depicting a person burning in hell.
People were walking away dejected saying, “Why are Christians so
« 63 »
mean?” I had been sharing Christ with numerous people in my dor-

mitory, and it broke my heart to see many of them nearby with disil-
lusioned looks on their faces.
So allow me to ask you an obvious question: Do you think this
man brought anyone closer to God? No. Because he was blatantly
ignoring Paul’s advice in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that God has “made us
competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of
the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
As I mentioned before, the devil can hijack truth when it’s de-
livered from an unloving heart or out of self-righteousness. Again,
“wisdom from heaven” (as opposed to hell) is “peace-loving, consid-
erate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere”
(James 3:17). This means that, if we share truth in a way that is void
of these characteristics, we might be technically right but still not be
life-giving.
That’s why when my wife saw what was happening with this crazy
mall preacher, she literally threw down her books and went right out
to the man and confronted him. A few people even cheered as she
did it. I’m certain that this is how the people of Jesus’ day felt when
someone had the guts to take on the religious establishment.
Whether you think she did the right thing or not, I don’t want
you to miss my greater point: You can have correct theology and
not be in step with God (Matt. 23:3). That was one of the major
lessons of the Fall (Gen. 3). It’s okay to want to be like God, but
there is a right and wrong way to be like Him. Good knowledge
(aka correct theology), such as the knowledge found in the for-
bidden tree, doesn’t necessarily lead us to life. And in the New
Testament, we see this contrast when Jesus asks us to become like
“little children.”
For example, in Matthew 19:13–14, we see all sorts of little kids
running to Jesus, hoping that He’d
place His hands on them and pray You can have correct
for them. “But,” Matthew records, theology and not be in
“the disciples rebuked those who step with God.
brought them. Jesus said, ‘Let the
« 64 »
little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom
of heaven belongs to such as these.’ When he had placed his hands on
them, he went on from there.”
Jesus seems to be saying that the realities of heaven belong to
those who run to God like these kids. Even more, these kids were
hoping that Jesus would bless them—a childish, perhaps even self-
centered, act to a religious person. Yet, Jesus completely disagreed. He
essentially countered that God loves it when we seek His blessings.
God doesn’t want us to become a bunch of self-centered consum-
ers who treat Him like a cosmic Santa Claus. Too many Christians
have been suckered into “prosperity gospels” or the American dream
rather than God’s dream. But, at the same time, God also doesn’t
want us to become cynical, lemon-faced adults who are upset at other
Christians because they won’t wear our favorite crown of thorns. In
fact, God gets irritated when we stop seeing Him as the one who
“rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6).
One of my favorite things to do is worship with little kids. They
don’t seem to complicate worship as many adults do. My three kids
constantly want me to crank up the stereo and dance with them.
When they were little, no matter what song I’d put on, they’d lift up
their hands and yell, “I love you, God!” (which got a bit strange when
“Ladies Night” started playing—but they didn’t care). No matter how
depressed I was feeling, my burdens seemed to be lifted as I jumped
around with them. Suddenly, God was my Father again (Matt. 6:8).
He was my protector (Ps. 91). I didn’t have to take care of my needs
because my Daddy would be there to help.
You can understand why Jesus was irritated with His disciples
in Matthew 19, especially when a chapter earlier Jesus had already
taught them: “Unless you change and become like little children, you
will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). Jesus wasn’t
threatening them. It was simply
a statement of fact. Grace cannot Cynicism is a sure sign
invade a self-sufficient heart. God that someone has robbed
cannot be our Father if we refuse to you of your innocence.
be His kids. Too often we choose to
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be Christians rather than children of God. Cynicism is a sure sign

that someone has robbed you of your innocence.
That’s why, in the New Testament, there are two different ways
to be like God. The first and healthiest approach is that we simply
surrender to the kingdom of heaven. We acknowledge that we offer
nothing of value. Once heaven invades our childlike worship, we are
filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). We didn’t earn
it through adultish acts of religion. We simply ingested Christ, the
bread of life (John 6:35). And suddenly, Christ came to live in us
(Col. 1:27)!
In direct contrast, we see the Adam-and-Eve approach to being
like God. We study the knowledge of good and evil. We study right
and wrong theology, right and wrong moral behavior. And through
this knowledge we talk the talk, yet there’s a blaming spirit that
accompanies it (Gen.3:12). We take on the appearance of godliness,
yet it rarely reflects the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We share truth, but
it’s devoid of the “peace-loving, considerate, submissive” wisdom of
heaven (James 3:17).
We’ve all met Christians who can spew theology, yet cynicism
runs rampant below the surface. We’ve all heard sermons that
oppressed us instead of uplifted us. Quite often it’s because we’re still
trying to achieve spirituality through the same tree that messed us
up in the first place.
And it’s not like God didn’t want us to learn about good and evil.
Rather, He wanted us to discern these things without the caustic in-
stinct to be the judge of creation, a role that was exclusively reserved
for Him (James 4:12).
This faulty approach to godliness is what Jesus accused the Phari-
sees of doing when He said, “You diligently study the Scriptures be-
cause you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the
Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have
life” (John 5:39–40). Jesus seems to be saying (according to the Peter
Haas Translation), “You still seek knowledge of good and evil, as if
somehow you’ll reach God. But what you need is me! I am the bread
of life, the tree of life, and the living water! Ingest me!”
« 66 »
So was Jesus saying that Bible

reading can lead us astray? Yes, if it’s It is possible to seek God
divorced from Him and the Spirit of and use Scripture for all
life that illuminates it. It is possible the wrong reasons.
to seek God and use Scripture for
all the wrong reasons.
One time, after I shared a devotional with a small group of peo-
ple, my friend came up to me and said, “Uhh, Peter, there’s no way
that your idea came from the Bible!” I immediately got defensive. I
suddenly felt like a grizzly bear getting kicked out of hibernation. I
got all riled up. After all, I knew I was right. (And if you haven’t no-
ticed, I’m right a lot.) So I immediately began searching Scripture so
I could say, “Oh yeah? Check this out, you dork! Apparently, you are
the one who doesn’t know the Bible!”
So let me ask you another obvious question: Was I reading my
Bible so that I could uplift my brother? Not at all. I just wanted to
show him that he’s an idiot who’s making my life harder. Likewise,
I’m not always convinced that we’re reading and preaching Scripture
in order to love and uplift people more.
Much like the Pharisees, many Christians study the Bible
with ill motives. For some, it’s that they serve an idol called
“perfect theology.” It comforts them to feel like they have every-
thing figured out. After all, if they can squeeze God into their
systematic theology, they no longer have to fear Him. He’s tame
and predictable. They can relax because the lion is finally put
in a cage, which is why they’re so threatened by anyone who
wrestles with their assumptions. Others use the Bible to control
others or to feel special. Still others preach because they feel
victimized by other people’s sin.
Thus preaching becomes one of After all, if they can
the few ways they feel they can squeeze God into their
strike back. systematic theology,
Just because Scripture may they no longer have to
come from our mouths, it doesn’t fear Him.
mean we’re giving life to others.
« 67 »
And if we want to remain healthy followers of Christ, we’ve got to

keep a few important things in mind:
Caution #1: If You Judge Based on Format or Style

Instead of Fruitfulness, You’ll Miss God
At my local Christian bookstore, there are a dizzying array of
books ranting about the ideal church. They propose unsubstanti-
ated conclusions like: Megachurches are all compromised; Home
churches are God’s favorite; God only moves in churches with free-
flowing altar ministry; If it’s not ultrarelevant, then it’s not God;
and so on. Almost all of these arguments tend to center around a
formatting issue related to church sizes or church services. Cer-
tainly, a healthy debate is always beneficial, provided it’s clothed
in both research and humility. But even healthy debates can be a
ridiculous exercise that misses a greater point. Let me show you
one such example.
One of the great debates among leaders relates to church size.
This discussion has been a longtime obsession of mine. I’ve spent a
good amount of time wondering about the perfect church size.
In favor of small churches, there are a number of studies that
show intimate community is the leading statistical predictor of spir-
itual transformation.31 Church small groups are a virtual necessity
for statistical health.32 That’s why our church constantly advocates
small groups. It’s not uncommon for Substance to have more people
in small groups than those attending our services. Thus, one could
easily conclude that smaller is better.
In direct contradiction to the smaller-is-better claim, though,
are many studies showing that bigger is better. One study, ironi-
cally, found that you’re more likely to have meaningful relation-
ships that extend outside of church services in churches “over 1,000
members than those with less than this.”33 Even more, the most
reliable studies show that the majority of church growth in the U.S.
in the last twenty years occurred in churches with over 1,000 mem-
bers. American churches between one hundred and one thousand
« 68 »
embers are having incredibly bad luck trying to grow.34 Hence,

m
one could easily assume that large churches are intrinsically better
at evangelism.
But here’s where both sides of this argument become silly.
No one in their right mind would ever claim that a 1,900-square-foot,
3-bedroom, brick house produces healthier children. Why not? It’s
because bricks and mortar (i.e., the format of the house) ultimately
have nothing to do with parenting. Rather, it’s the values of the house
that matter. Do mom and dad spend time with their kids? Do they
demonstrate a healthy marriage with healthy communication? In
other words, healthy family values transcend such superficial things
as home size and building materials.
In the same way, no one would ever claim medium-sized churches
have more faith than others, because we all know that faith, disciple-
ship, and fellowship are values that operate independently of format.
Church leaders either effectively provoke these values—regardless of
church size or worship format—or they don’t.
That’s why Jesus steered believers away from judging a prophet
(or church leader) based on format versus fruit (Matt. 7:18). Jesus got
pretty upset when His disciples stopped another group from doing
ministry because they didn’t meet their expectations, a fancy way of
saying they did things differently (Mark 9:38–41).
And we can understand Christ’s irritation when this is the
same reason why the Pharisees wouldn’t accept Him as the Mes-
siah. Jesus simply didn’t fit the narrow-minded format that people
were trained to see as healthy. So,
naturally, He got a bit passionate Jesus got pretty upset
when His own followers started when His disciples
doing the same thing. stopped another group
We need to celebrate a diversity from doing ministry
of church formats. Church formats because they didn’t meet
are often an extension of a leader’s their expectations, a
gift mix and resources, not a divine fancy way of saying they
cookie cutter by which all churches did things differently.
must be measured. Not all formats
« 69 »
of church are equally bearing

fruit in the United States, or Let’s not turn our
wherever you live. But let’s not opinions into the
turn our opinions into the only only way to be a real
way to be a real Christian. Christian.
Conviction in Strange Places

A while back, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon
this one southern televangelist. Everything about him was rather ir-
ritating. His preaching style was filled with Christian buzzwords. His
outfit looked as if he had just raided a 1980s suit factory. Even his
voice made me want to start ripping on him. I sat there with pure
cynicism flowing out of my heart.
And suddenly I sensed the voice of the Holy Spirit impressing on
my heart, “Peter, shut up and listen! Because I’ve got something to
say to you through this person!” It wasn’t an audible voice. But it was
the exact opposite of what I was thinking.
Immediately, I felt this holy fear of the Lord. Conviction was all
over me. I instantly realized that I was lacking the fruit of the Holy
Spirit (specifically kindness). So, right there on my couch, I repented
and started listening to this preacher with a totally different attitude.
Before long, the preacher shared a Scripture verse that jolted me! It
was so powerful I started weeping.
I immediately became aware that my wife might walk around
the corner at any given moment. I furiously started trying to wipe
away the snot. But my hands were like a windshield wiper in a tidal
wave. I wasn’t going to be able to hide this one. Even though my wife
knows that I regularly cry when I watch NFL films, having a similar
experience watching this TV preacher would be weird. I knew she
wouldn’t understand.
It touched me so much because, for the previous month, I had
been praying for a breakthrough in a specific area. And this was the
exact word I needed to hear. In fact, over the years, many of my most
profound God encounters have come from some pretty bizarre places.
« 70 »
Caution #2: When You Judge, You Become Isolated

from the Grace of God in Other People
The apostle Peter begged us to love each other because our attitude
toward one another makes up for many of our faults and mistakes.
He knew that cynicism and critique can rip apart just about any con-
gregation if we let it. No matter how great of a church you attend,
you can bet that the devil is actively working to seed cynicism and
critique.
Peter writes in his first epistle, “Each one should use whatever
gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s
grace in its various forms” (1 Pet. 4:10). When Christians are not
united, we are actually lacking the whole measure of God’s grace in
our lives.
Besides, most of the things that Christians divide over are ac-
tually kind of silly. That’s why Jesus had to come in the first place.
All of our feeble attempts to worship God are a bit ridiculous.
Yet He still takes pleasure when we approach Him with child-
like hearts.
So whenever I come upon forms of Christianity I disagree with,
or churches that have worship that’s weird to me, this is what I do:
Rather than critiquing and nitpicking, I give them the benefit of the
doubt. I say, “Father, what grace have you placed inside of them?
Lord, how can I enjoy you through this person? They might wear
way too much makeup or emphasize secondary doctrine way more
than is healthy. Their worship may be mega-boring, mega-spooky,
or mega-long, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still use them to ac-
complish your will.”
Almost every time I pray this,
something wild happens to me. Sud- When Christians are not
denly, I start to see them as God sees united, we are actually
them. I can feel the grace of heaven. lacking the whole
And then something powerful hap- measure of God’s grace
pens: When I look into their eyes, no in our lives.
matter how strange they appear to
« 71 »
me, I’m truly able to say, “I love you!” And when I say it, they actually
believe it because they feel God’s love coming straight through me.
And once you have that kind of spiritual rapport, you can have
amazing discussions that are free from arrogance or fear. You can
communicate without anyone feeling defensive. The flow of conver-
sation can go back and forth without all the emotions that often cloud
the truth.
Caution #3: You Can’t Antagonize and

Influence at the Same Time
I’m razzing a good number of approaches to Christianity in this
book, but those who really know me will find that I’m actually quite
warmhearted to Christians of all kinds. In fact, the approaches to
Christianity that are strangest to us are often the ones that have the
most to speak to us.
I’m not suggesting that we open up our hearts to anyone or
anything that claims to be Christian. (No snake handling. Seri-
ously, people!) But I believe that God can speak to us in all sorts
of ways, we can stay free in the innocence of Christ and, lastly,
God can use us to reach all sorts of people. I’m convinced that if
we can keep all three of these attributes flowing in our lives, our
churches will finally be prepared to see an unstoppable revival in
our generation.
Chapter Five in Review

Key Ideas
1. There’s a difference between judging and discerning.
2. Many people who destroy the body of Christ do so under the
pretense that they’re protecting it.
3. When we eat from a knowledge tree, we ingest worldviews, ide-
ologies, and information.
4. Religious sin is a desire for godliness that goes beyond God’s plan.
« 72 »
5. Truth can be used for demonic purposes when it’s delivered out-
side of God’s timing and void of love.
6. You can have correct theology but not be in step with God.
7. Grace cannot invade a self-sufficient heart.
8. There’s a healthy and unhealthy way to become more like God—
simply surrender to the kingdom of heaven or study right and
wrong theology and moral behavior.
9. If you judge others, you become isolated from the grace of God
in other people.
10. You can’t antagonize and influence at the same time.
1. Have you ever had someone complain about you to someone else
without coming to you first? How did it make you feel? Accord-
ing to Matthew 18:15, are there any circumstances where you
should go to someone else other than the person you have a prob-
lem with?
2. Describe a time when you committed religious sin. At what point
did you detour from God’s plan?
3. According to James 3:17, how should we deal with books, blogs,
pastors, or Web sites that defame specific Christians?
4. How would God prefer you share truth with another believer?
5. Self-sufficiency blocks grace in the life of a believer. Are you suf-
fering from self-sufficiency or living in grace? How do you know?
6. Looking back over the last decade of your life, have you ever held
a strong opinion about church methods that you changed your
opinion on? If so, what was it? And how have you changed?
7. If you were to rate your cynicism about church on a scale of one
to ten (with ten being extremely cynical), where would you be?
And why?
8. Why do you think people get so locked into one church model
as the correct model? How do you think your season of life
« 73 »
influences the model of church you prefer? (For example, how

might being single, having kids, or becoming a senior citizen af-
fect your criteria?)
9. The media often reports on the public protests of people who
claim to be believers but espouse hate on others. What does this
radical demonstration of hatred do to people who are pursuing
God for the first time?
10. Why is it so hard for God’s love to penetrate the hearts of people
who have been the object of Christian hatred?
« 74 »
C h a p t e r si x
The Art of
Hedge Making
What are the classic behaviors of a
well-meaning legalist?
H ave you ever seen an undeniable miracle? I’m talking

about the kind that gives you goose bumps and makes you giddy like
a kid at a magic show. I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff over the years.
Scripture seems to show that God has a dramatic bias toward
believers who live in unity with other believers. For example, the
Psalmist wrote, “When God’s people live together in unity . . . there
the Lord bestows his blessing” (Ps. 133:1, 3). We learn from James
5:16 that healing is preceded by authentic agreement with other righ-
teous believers. Or as a more popular example of this divine bias,
Jesus talks about a unique blessing, a power that God especially re-
serves for unity.
Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven . . . if two of you on earth agree about any-
thing they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven”
(Matt. 18:18–19). Jesus was essentially saying that God gives special
privileges to Christians who live in prayerful agreement and unity.
We simply have more power together than when we seek God alone.
Perhaps this is why Christ was so disturbed that His closest friends
couldn’t stay awake with Him to pray in the Garden of Gethsemane.
« 75 »
We read about the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. God’s people

were rebelling against Him. They were trying to glorify themselves
by building a great tower. Yet, despite their defiance, God paid them
a pretty huge compliment, “If as one people speaking the same lan-
guage they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will
be impossible for them” (v. 6). This seems to be the Old Testament
version of Matthew 18:19. And if this is mankind’s potential when
defying God, can you imagine our potential with God on our side?
I had been discussing these texts with my leaders one night when
many of them started lamenting the fact that they hadn’t seen many
undeniable miracles lately. One leader even confessed, “I don’t know
if I’ve ever seen a miracle like the kind of power mentioned in Mat-
thew 18 that forces me to say: God is here.”
And almost on cue, my cell phone interrupted our meeting. It
was a young lady from our church. She was literally weeping on the
phone. It turned out that she had just returned from the doctor, who
had diagnosed her with a huge tumor. It had doubled in size since
the previous week. She had a strong family history of cancer. So, quite
naturally, she was freaking out.
The moment I got off the phone, my leadership team all stared
at me with wide-eyed concern. “What happened?” one of my leaders
inquired. I felt overwhelmed with the sense that God had a divine les-
son for all of us. So I blurted, with inspirational boldness, “Well guys,
today is your day to see a miracle! Team, we’re going to fast all week
for this girl! And as surely as I know the Lord, He’s going to heal her.”
Have you ever made a rash vow? Have you ever made a bold dec-
laration that you had no ability to back up? After the meeting ended
that evening, my faith suddenly sprung a leak. And by the next morn-
ing, my war cry turned into a miserable yelp. I started asking myself,
“Did I get a bit presumptive in front of my team? I mean, God’s Word
constantly refers to Him as a healer, right?” But waiting on any an-
swer to prayer can create a mental minefield of sorts. Even still, my
team fasted with me. We were hungry to see God move.
The young lady went in for surgery at the end of the week. She,
too, was filled with supernatural expectation. And whether God
« 76 »
The Art of Hedge Making
healed her or simply guided the surgeon’s hands, it didn’t matter to

her. She simply knew that God was going to show up in response to
our agreement.
Immediately before the surgery, the second set of X-rays revealed
something dreadfully wrong. The nurses kept whispering to one an-
other. The doctor looked concerned. Our young friend began won-
dering, “Is it worse than I thought?”
The doctor finally explained, “I’m sorry if I look mystified. But it’s
just that I’m comparing your new x-rays to those we took a few days
ago and . . . although this is medically impossible, that huge tumor
has completely disappeared.” She was miraculously healed. And she
had the undeniable X-rays to prove it.
The news spread quickly throughout our leadership team. The
moment I heard this report, I did an end-zone dance and strutted
like my faith never wavered. But deep inside I felt the Holy Spirit
quipping at me, “Oh, you of leaky faith.”
I’m not saying that if you live in the power of agreement that God
will always do whatever we want in the timeline that we want it done.
After all, God is God. He answers our prayers and deepest yearn-
ings in diverse ways. And the Bible gives many reasons why we don’t
always get what we want.
Frankly, there are a lot of prayers that I’m actually glad He didn’t
answer—like the time I prayed that my mom would let me get a rattail
at my next hair cut; or the time I asked God to help me afford a WWJD
tattoo that I never got. Part of me wonders if heaven has a YouTube
site showcasing all of the silly prayers we pray. Despite the fact that
God doesn’t always do what we want, we’d also be foolish if we denied
the fact that God often shows up when we live in agreement and unity.
I recently read about a powerful citywide prayer meeting in Bra-
zil. Due to a few powerful business owners, the meetings were forced
to stop. Immediately after the meetings shut down, the city crime
rates surprisingly jumped by over 50 percent. Indeed, the crime rates
increased so dramatically within ninety days that both the mayor and
chief of police begged for the prayer meetings to start again. And sure
enough, the moment the meetings resumed, the crime rate suddenly
« 77 »
dropped again. Even the secular newspaper credited prayer as the

unmistakable difference maker. Since that time, church growth in
that region has jumped by an unprecedented 37 percent (over a half
million people started attending church again).35
So here is the million-dollar question: If God offers us so many mi-
raculous incentives for living in unity, why don’t we strive for it more?
And why are so many churches and organizations bickering and split-
ting over the silliest stuff? We all get our priorities mixed up from time
to time. So allow me to show you a few reasons why this happens.
The Belief Continuum

We all know that not all beliefs are equally important, right? For exam-
ple, your opinion on “Coke vs. Pepsi” isn’t as important as proclaim-
ing, “Jesus is the Son of God!” Neither does your opinion on Bible
translations compare to your opinion on the existence of heaven and
hell. But if we fail to stratify them, we may end up starting wars over
some pretty silly priorities.
After the Reformation hit Europe, it was a very easy time to lose
your life for believing certain things from the Bible. In times of un-
certainty, many people want to take gray areas of Scripture and make
them black and white. This practice was the spark that caused thou-
sands to become burned at the stake during the reformation. Thus,
around 1627, a rather unknown author penned the famous expres-
sion, “Unity in what is essential. Liberty in non-essentials. And in
all things, freedom.”36 His goal was to keep people from losing their
heads (literally and figuratively). So allow me to introduce a quick
diagram that illustrates this.37
« 78 »
On the far left side, we see the word Fundamentals. These are
doctrines that most scholars throughout history have considered
essential to biblical Christianity. For example, the divinity of Christ,
the Resurrection, the existence of heaven and hell, the reliability of
Scripture, and salvation through Christ alone are a few of the doc-
trines that, if altered, would fundamentally change the biblical and
historical foundations of Christianity.
Fundamentals are usually based upon multiple proof texts. They
are generally too black and white to make gray. Thus, anyone wanting
to dismantle these doctrines has his work cut out for him.
Moving to the right, we find Inferences. The reason I use this word
is because these types of doctrines can get a bit more hazy. They re-
quire us to infer things that go beyond the text in order to make sense
of them. Inferences aren’t supported by the same number of proof
texts and traditions as fundamentals.
For example, many people debate the question: Does the Bible
say that women can be in ministry? There are only a couple of texts
that deal with this issue, most of which raise fascinating yet compli-
cated questions about local context and interpretation.38
Personally, the debate is rather strange when almost 70 percent
of the body of Christ is women. Thus, to bench such a significant
group from preaching has the practical effect of grinding the entire
Great Commission to a screeching halt. But despite my support of
women preachers, at the very least, I can intellectually comprehend
how certain groups could interpret these passages differently. In the
end, inferences simply aren’t as black and white when compared to
many fundamentals.
Moving even further to the right are Speculations. These are doctrines
based on numerous inferences from numerous parts of Scripture. For
example, end-times doctrines (eschatology) or sovereignty doctrines
(like predestination or free will) are classic examples of speculation. They
generally require us to stack numerous biblical assumptions together,
including many ideas and assumptions that go well beyond Scripture.39
Last, we find Opinions on the far right. People will eternally de-
bate worship styles, what kinds of instruments should be played, how
« 79 »
many songs, what types of songs,

how much altar ministry, modesty Every human being
issues, etc. has the sinful tendency
As we found out in chapter one, to take their opinions,
some people dislike long hair on inferences, and
men. Some Christians feel tattoos speculations and
are evil (which is perhaps why God pass them off as
didn’t answer my prayer the way I fundamentals.
wanted Him to). For a season, I per-
sonally believed that mullets grieved the Holy Spirit. And I’m still not
convinced that the world needs Christian fortune cookies.
But, in light of these varying levels of belief, it’s important to un-
derstand: Every human being has the sinful tendency to take their
opinions, inferences, and speculations and pass them off as funda-
mentals. In some ways, there’s an insecurity inside all of us that hates
to have any beliefs that are less than certain. Indeed, the word funda-
mentalism is a term used to describe people who desire to make all
of their speculations and opinions fundamental. And, as we’ll soon
learn, there are many reasons why people strive for this world of
black and white.
An Argument for Humility

One time I was talking with a Christian who thought he knew
everything about predestination. He kept making cocky statements
as if it were so simple. And you’ve got to understand, this topic was a
ten-year obsession for me. After reading an endless amount of schol-
arly literature on the topic, I devoted myself to memorizing over a
hundred Bible passages related to the subject. My hope was that truth
would curl up and die at my feet. In the end, the only discovery I
made was that the entire issue comes down to a half dozen unknow-
able issues that go well beyond Scripture.
I still don’t claim to understand the beginning of it, but I knew
enough to know that this guy was totally full of himself. And his
overconfidence was downright irritating. While resisting the urge
« 80 »
to give him an intellectual spanking, my gentler side opted to take a

different strategy, asking him, “Of all the knowledge that’s available
in the universe, how much do you think mankind even knows?” I
then started explaining to him that our own small galaxy would take
millions of years to cross at light speed. Yet astronomers have found
clusters of galaxies numbering into the thousands, and human be-
ings have yet to reach Mars. He started getting suspicious about my
random rant. I finally asked him to quantify mankind’s knowledge
with a percentage. He admitted, “Well . . . If I exaggerate a bit, man-
kind probably doesn’t even know one-billionth of a percent of what’s
out there.”
Then I asked him, “And of all the knowledge that mankind
knows, how much of that do you personally know? Think about
all of the libraries on planet earth, then think about how much of
those libraries that you know.” He stood back and said, “Probably
less than .000000001 percent of that.”
“So, to summarize,” I told him, “you and I are pretty much total
and complete idiots—is that right?” He got my point. Much of our
discussion was about things that went way beyond our ability to
speak with confidence. My friend finally admitted that much of his
overconfidence was merely emulating other overconfident preachers
he was listening to.
Keep in mind, it’s fine to be passionate about our Bible specula-
tions—provided we have enough humility to publically admit where
the issues get gray. As we grow more comfortable with our assump-
tions, we get increasingly intolerant of people who need to wrestle with
them. Our motives behind making
things black and white are usually
good—we want to protect people. As we grow more
We want to undercut potentially comfortable with our
hurtful debates in our church. Yet, assumptions, we get
as we’ll see below, these good inten- increasingly intolerant
sions can lead to some pretty devas- of people who need to
tating religious diseases if not kept wrestle with them.
in check.
« 81 »
Our Obsession with Safety

Remember when playgrounds used to be dangerous? Way before
woodchips and rubber mulch, we had a soft layer of concrete to buf-
fer our falls. Playgrounds were the battlefield through which child-
hood warriors were made—where truth-or-dare led to bloody chins
and broken hearts.
I have to laugh when I think about the person who created some
of our favorite playground toys. Theoretically, teeter-totters are in-
tended to create a leisurely up and down sensation, perhaps tricking
children into a powerful lesson on teamwork. But I can’t remember
a single time when the true goal wasn’t to see how high I could vio-
lently buck my opponent into the air. And the merry-go-round was
a spinning torture device at the hands of older kids. Its entertain-
ment factor consisted of flinging your dizzy siblings through the air.
If successful, someone’s little sister would hilariously vomit on the
way back home.
Safety was a low priority in those days because playgrounds were
a form of natural selection. Slides were built twelve feet high and had
no side rails. Playgrounds served as a way of thinning out the herd.
When families were larger, we needed a way to get more attention
from our parents; thus, if little sister didn’t come home, we’d have less
competition for the singular television set. Parents knew this and
secretly wanted less competition as well; hence, they trusted us to
go to the local playground alone. It was a temporary Lord of the Flies
situation. Parents knew, however, we could always come home if a
retreat was absolutely necessary.
One of my favorite games as a fifth grader was called ghost riding.
We’d ride our dirt bikes up to the parallel bars; and, upon reaching
the neck-high bar, we’d launch our bikes as hard as we could while
jumping off of them. The goal was to see who could get their bike to
roll as far as possible without anyone riding it. A talented ghost rider
could sometimes achieve over seventy feet of rider-less pleasure.
It would inevitably end badly. Only on rare occasions would par-
ents stop us. Either someone would clothesline themselves, surviving
« 82 »
virtual decapitation; or, the bike itself would become a dangerous

projectile to some unsuspecting four-year-old. It was quite dramatic
because you could often see the impending collisions coming ap-
proximately ten seconds out.
Today’s playgrounds are completely different. They are squishy,
forgiving bubbles where parents make their kids slurp on sanitiz-
ing lotion. The world is a better place now that we aren’t losing
kids to rider-less bikes. But I think we’re also becoming aware
that overprotecting can also have its liabilities. There’s a stunning
amount of new research showing that overprotective parents pro-
duce less healthy kids.40 There has to be a balance, and this idea
of balance is something the Pharisees of Jesus’ day got embarrass-
ingly wrong.
Hedges Around the Law

Pharisees were obsessed with hedges of protection—protective rules
that buffered people from the mere possibility of sin. The Bible says,
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8). Various
groups created endless hedges or specific laws that doubly protected
people from violating this law.
One modern day example might be to declare all movies are bad
so that we ensure our children don’t see movies with messages we
don’t agree with. One of my friends humorously recalls that his for-
mer church forbade premarital sex because it might lead to dancing.
You get the idea. Hedges are intended to be a protective buffer. Too
often, these hedges can be used to oppress people.
In Jesus’ day, many teachers of the Law actually added over one
hundred additional hedges to the Sabbath. So when we see Jesus
and His disciples being accused of
disobeying the Sabbath, Jesus obvi- Hedges are intended to be
ously wasn’t disobeying Scripture; a protective buffer. Too
rather, He was simply disobeying often, these hedges can be
hedges (i.e., opinions that had been used to oppress people.
turned into fundamentals).
« 83 »
Even today, massive numbers of Israeli citizens forbid flipping

light switches on the Sabbath or even touching elevator buttons as
a hedge to prevent people from breaking the Sabbath. And I’m not
implying anyone is currently forced to do it. For many of them, it’s
a joyful way to serve their God. But, in Jesus’ day there would often
be violent ramifications for simply disagreeing with a well-known
teacher’s interpretation.
However, Jesus never objected to taking radical measures to
achieve purity. He, too, advocated, “If your eye causes you to sin,
gouge it out” (Mark 9:47, NLT). That is to say, if you have to take radi-
cal steps to honor God, do it. And in a hedge-less culture like ours, we
could probably stand to learn a bit more about this. Once you get to
know me, I have many personal hedges that might seem a bit extreme
to some. Having boundaries isn’t the problem. It’s when we force all of
our personal convictions onto other people that things can get pretty
weird.
Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “If someone’s eye causes them to
sin, gouge it out for them.” Again, it’s important to remember that,
on a communal level, Jesus advocated a minimal number of hedges
(Matt. 11:30). And here are a few suggestions as to why He did this.
1. Hedge making often becomes a substitute for listening to the

Holy Spirit or discerning God’s will. It’s way easier to tell teenag-
ers all secular music is bad than to teach them spiritual discernment.
Teaching people discernment requires far more work and much
more risk. People also seem to lose their vigilance when an author-
ity is willing to predigest it for them. And that leads to our second
problem.
2. Hedge making causes people to seek God’s Word less. Many

pastors think I’m strange for saying this, but I actually enjoy a certain
amount of theological tension in my church. There’s nothing that
drives people to Scripture more than theological tension. Most of us
didn’t give a rip about certain doctrines or theological issues until we,
or someone we loved, started struggling with it.
« 84 »
That’s why the best disciple

makers are tension makers more That’s why the best
than teachers. I regularly share my disciple makers are
speculations and inferences; when tension makers more
I do, I make sure to add enough than teachers.
humility and soul tension so that
it actually results in people seeking God more than old-fashioned
indoctrination.
For example, I recently did a teaching series on the end-times
doctrines. But rather than giving everyone a predigested opinion, I
decided to share a detailed argument for all three major schools of
thought, and then allow the people to decide for themselves. Don’t
get me wrong. I definitely had an opinion. At times, it was incredibly
difficult for me to stay objective. Yet, I refused to rob people of their
soul tension. The net result was an unprecedented number of people
scouring their Bibles on a new level.
That’s why I strategically keep our church’s statement of faith
exclusively limited to fundamentals while mixing in permissive
statements on inferences and speculations. If our membership re-
quirements screen out everyone who doesn’t think like us, not only
will we fail to influence outsiders but we’ll inadvertently remove the
very spark that drives us to explore God’s Word. To put it plainly,
homogenous groups of Christians seek indoctrination more than
Scripture. So then, why do so many people seek it?
Theological tension can be very agitating, especially if those de-
bating things are either arrogant or polarizing. To counteract this,
insecure churches unfortunately respond by stamping out a coun-
terfeit type of unity—a unity through uniformity of thought rather
than unity through love. They commit this mistake by drawing a
circle around all of their beliefs and declaring that all of them are
fundamental.
Suddenly your church has an official Bible translation, a biblical
opinion on mustaches, or an official position on complicated theol-
ogy about end times. Sometimes these values aren’t officially printed
in a statement of faith but are nonetheless clear. We believe that the
« 85 »
Holy Spirit needs nine songs and thirty minutes of altar ministry in
order to move, or we believe that anyone who doesn’t join a particular
political party is compromised. And this leads to our third problem.
3. Hedge making causes your church to become elitist. If you

remember the story of the Transfiguration (Matt. 17), Peter was up
on a mountain praying with Jesus. Suddenly, Moses and Elijah, the
two most revered heroes of Jesus’ day, appeared and started talking
with Christ. In amazement, Peter decides to build shrines to all three
of them, when the voice of God suddenly thundered: “This is my Son,
whom I love. . . . Listen to him!” (v. 5).
Keep in mind, the majority of hedges in Jesus’ day stemmed from
Moses and Elijah. God knew that the Pharisees were already incapa-
ble of accepting Jesus because He did not value their Mosaic interpre-
tations to the same degree. Indeed, even after this experience, Peter
still almost missed God numerous times because of his overcom-
mitment to a Mosaic identity (Gal. 2:11; Acts 11:8). God knew the
temple system of Jerusalem would soon be destroyed. He knew that
their Jewish traditions, like circumcision, could become a massive
hindrance in fulfilling the Great Commission. So, we can understand
why God was so dramatic in keeping their focus on Christ alone.
Their self-made Jewish identities and their prolific applications
of the Law often became their b iggest obstacles to future obedience
(Acts 15; Phil. 3:5–7; Col. 2:4–12).
Likewise today, there are many people who are Calvinists more
than Christians, Charismatics more than followers of Christ. Quite
often we use these additional descriptors like shrines unto our theo-
logical hedges and heroes. We may not build shrines to Moses or Elijah
anymore; but today, we are too often Lutherans, Baptists, Emergents,
or [Fill in the Blank], when a simple “child of God” would suffice.
I once visited a church that had a statement of faith that was over
twenty pages long! I suggested that they should retitle it, Why We Are
the Only Christians on Planet Earth Going to Heaven. (They didn’t
laugh.) I was serious. Not surprisingly, this church had a reputation
of ripping on other churches.
« 86 »
In their defense, like many aging

churches and movements, they The more your
wanted to preserve their theologi- church finds its identity
cal traditions. Much like the apostle in its speculations
Peter, the motive for hedge making as opposed to its
or shrine building is usually good. fundamentals, the more
But there’s a dark side to this behav- isolated it becomes.
ior. The more your church finds its
identity in its speculations as opposed to its fundamentals, the more
isolated it becomes. It quietly severs unity with the greater body of
Christ. It silently expands the definition of a true Christian. Certainly,
it seems to reassure us that we’re walking the narrow path. But when
God routinely breaks out of these boxes, like when He became a Savior
to the Gentiles, such hedges ironically cause true obedience to feel like
compromise.
4. Hedge making causes churches to become a hostile place for

skeptics or new believers. When a church becomes dominated by
a long list of acceptable beliefs, it becomes a threatening place for
people to work through skepticism. If a person gives his life to Christ
in a highly hedged community, he has a shorter period of time in
which he can safely question things. After the grace period has worn
off, skepticism is immediately viewed as a threat to the cheap unity
that was created through uniformity, not love. The new believer must
either put his struggles in the closet (and become indoctrinated) or
risk his continued acceptance in order to actually understand his
convictions.
But healthy churches are a lot like healthy marriages. Smart
people realize that you don’t need to see eye to eye in order to walk
hand in hand. Biblical unity is not
a by-product of thinking alike, but Biblical unity is not
of thinking together. Yet, because a by-product of
Christians fail to realize this distinc- thinking alike, but of
tion, we discover the final conse- thinking together.
quence of hedge making.
« 87 »
5. Church becomes the ultimate distraction from God’s mission.

When I first moved to Minneapolis, I was a bit horrified by the quan-
tity of Christians enraptured in academic debates. What disturbed
me the most was the fact that Christianity is dying amazingly fast all
throughout the city. As I said earlier, only 5.1 percent of our county
goes to any evangelical or charismatic church, and the vast majority
are senior citizens. Furthermore, of the 5.1 percent that bother to go
to church, how many of them even consistently read their Bibles?
Frankly, half of the Christians I know aren’t mature enough to grasp
half of these debates. And it’s easy for Christians to forget the fact that
American Christianity is a sinking ship. If we can’t get lost souls to
enter our churches—imperfect as they might be—the whole debate
is useless anyway.
This is a microcosm of what’s going on in the greater West-
ern church. Evangelical groups are constantly being hijacked
by leaders who are obsessed with their hedges and theological
shrines. These well-meaning leaders say things like, “If only we
all embraced these church formats . . . embraced these inferences,
speculations, and opinions . . . THEN we’d experience revival.” Of
course, their goal is to preserve the church by creating uniformity
of thought. But what if the real problem is unity of purpose, re-
gardless of opinion?
Remember some of the final prayers of Christ? He prayed that
His disciples would be one (John 17:22). Why can’t we simply cel-
ebrate the amazing number of things we agree upon? Most of us
agree: Jesus is Lord. In no other name is there salvation. There is a
heaven. There is a hell. And if we give a rip, we need to reach this
world.
If approximately 225 million people die every day, that’s almost
3 people per second. As I’m writing this, the news just reported that
an average of 300 Somali children died of starvation and preventable
disease every day over the last six months. More than 2,000 kids die
every day of preventable diseases due to poverty. We haven’t even
gotten the Bible translated into every language yet. I mean, we’re fail-
ing on some pretty basic issues.
« 88 »
So when I get to heaven, I don’t

want to hear Jesus say, “OK, so you If we could simply
let five billion people go to hell just get 10 percent of
because you couldn’t affiliate with evangelicals to give 10
the rest of my team on earth who percent of their income
had different ideas—half of whom to church, we’d have
were actually right?” hundreds of millions
If we could simply get 10 per- of excess dollars to
cent of evangelicals to give 10 per- solve the largest global
cent of their income to church, we’d problems.
have hundreds of millions of excess
dollars to solve the largest global problems. Can you imagine if a
meager 20 percent actually took this challenge? We’d take over the
earth. The question is not whether we have the power to go and make
disciples of all nations. The question is: Can we stay in unity and go
together?
I assure you that none of these things will ever happen as long as
we fail to keep our faith simple, as Jesus did. There will always be differ-
ing opinions. And these differences may, at times, challenge our sense
of security. Yet, despite our best intentions to protect people, we may
ironically be accomplishing the exact opposite.
Let’s fall in love with humility-filled debates. Let’s be quick to
admit that we might be wrong. And yes, let’s continue to defend the
fundamentals of Christianity with tenacity. But, without a true spirit
of unity and humility, we will not only kill our desire for God’s Word,
but our legacy will look more like the nameless, faceless Pharisees
than the likeness of our Lord.
Chapter Six in Review

Key Ideas
1. God has a dramatic bias toward Christians who live in unity with
other believers.
2. We simply have more power together than when we seek God
alone.
« 89 »
3. All human beings have the sinful tendency to take their opinions,
inferences, and speculations and pass them off as fundamentals.
4. Hedge making often becomes a substitute for listening to the
Holy Spirit or discerning God’s will.
5. Hedge making causes people to seek God’s Word less.
6. Homogenous groups of Christians seek indoctrination more
than Scripture.
7. Hedge making causes the church to become elitist.
8. Hedge making causes churches to become a hostile place for
skeptics or newer believers.
9. Biblical unity is not a by-product of thinking alike but rather
thinking together.
10. Church becomes the ultimate distraction from God’s mission.
1. Have you ever seen an undeniable miracle? If so, share it.
2. Why is it easier to create rules than it is to establish principles?
3. Describe a time when you have been subjected to unreasonable
hedge making. How did it make you feel?
4. How might Matthew 18:19 change the way you pray?
5. How have you used prayer in an attempt to control God?
6. What were your thoughts on the belief continuum? Have you
ever made one of your convictions or speculations out to be more
absolute than it is? Or, have you ever changed opinions altogether
about certain beliefs? If so, what issues?
7. Did your parents ever make any protective hedges for you? Are
there times when protective hedges or rules might be necessary?
If so, when and on what issues?
8. What are three biblical principles by which you should live?
9. In what areas of life do you need more biblical protection? With
whom can you work on this area of life?
« 90 »
10. Of the following five principles, do any of them stick out to you
as particularly troubling? If so, which ones and why?
• Hedge making often becomes a substitute for listening to the

Holy Spirit or discerning God’s will.
• Hedge making causes people to seek God’s Word less.
• Hedge making causes your church to become elitist.
• Hedge making causes churches to become a hostile place for
skeptics or newer believers.
• Church becomes the ultimate distraction from God’s mission.
« 91 »
Chapter seven
The Rise of Rabid Pets

(Part I)
If I were to accidentally kill my church, how
might I do this?
H ave you ever had a pet peeve? (Like slow-merging cars

or people who think Facebook is a functional place to confront oth-
ers?) For instance, I have this amazing ability to get stupid songs
stuck in my head. That’s why I can’t stand Dora the Explorer or the
music at most health clubs. Somehow, no matter how long I’m at the
gym, I end up with the song “Pump Up the Jam” in my head. And
then there’s no escape for me.
All day long I’m forced to pump and stump the jam, which gets
really awkward when I’m trying to write a serious sermon or read the
Gospels. I don’t even know what it means to pump up the jam. The
same song also gets stuck in my head when I’m making peanut but-
ter sandwiches. And, quite mysteriously, my wife immediately knows
when it gets stuck in my head. But my point is this: A pet peeve
is something that personally drives us nuts, like nose picking, kids’
pizza places, or mime evangelism (as if communicating God’s love
wasn’t hard enough).
But in this chapter, we’re going to talk about a different kind of
personal pet; it’s called a pet purpose. Everyone’s got one. And it has
a mammoth effect on how happy your church experience might be.
« 93 »
But before we unpack this peculiar phenomenon, I need to explain a

few things that might seem a bit basic.
Unpacking the Five Purposes

Here’s a deep question for you: What is a biblical church? We could
probably lose ourselves in an endless debate here. In the book Purpose
Driven Church, Rick Warren eloquently addressed this question
by picking five main themes, or purposes, to a biblical church. Of
course, he could have easily chosen thirty-two, but to be simple,
he focused on: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and
worship.
Certainly, it’s important to distinguish purposes from methods
or formats. For example, there are a lot of ways to do church: con-
temporary, traditional, megachurch, small church, home church,
snake-handling church, etc. There are a lot of methods that I wouldn’t
recommend. But, no matter how you do church—format or size—the
transcendent purposes of a biblical church remains the same.
So, if you want to be a healthy, biblical church, you can’t aim for
merely one or two of these purposes unless you want to produce a
bizarre school of fish. At some point, we all need a more systematic
strategy for accomplishing all five. But indulge me as I break this
down a little more.
If you attend a biblical church, there will be a successful effort
to be evangelistic (Acts 1:8; Phil.1:6; 1 Thess. 2:8). Evangelism is just
a fancy word for sharing your faith in a fruitful way. I’m not saying
that everyone will respond to your message, but if you’re sharing your
faith and hardly anyone responds, you may want to reevaluate your
method. After all, there are a never-ending number of freakish ways
that people evangelize.
I’ve never been a big fan of Christian bumper stickers. I’m certain
there are probably a few people who’ve completely turned their lives
around after reading one. But how do you do nice things in cars? How
do we proactively exude happiness and rainbows while we drive? I
suppose we could smile and wave at everyone we see or mount a
« 94 »
T h e Ris e o f R a b i d P e t s ( Pa r t I )
giant plastic unicorn on our roof racks. Unless we regularly throw

money out of our windows, I’m just not sure it compensates for the
occasional bad merge or green light space-out.
And as I mentioned in the introduction, I’ve never understood
how people can spread the gospel by vandalizing toilet stalls. Nothing
pulls in the lost like, “Call God for a good time,” or, “Jezuz wuz here . . .
prayin’. ” Besides, if a person actually responded, you’ve given them a
terrible conversion story: “How did you receive Christ?” . . . “Well, I
was sitting on a toilet and . . .” You see, I think we can do better.
Another odd evangelism technique is called missionary dating
or, as I prefer, loveangelism. It’s when you date people into the body
of Christ. The only problem is, once you break up with them (so you
can win your next convert), they have a tendency to stop going to
church. Besides, it always gets a bit awkward when God “anoints you”
to reach more than one at the same time.
Then there’s the classic gospel-tract-disguised-as-a-twenty-
dollar-bill approach. A restaurant waitress recently told me that she
gets these instead of tips all the time. After all, nothing says, “God
Loves You” like a fake and deceptive blessing. I mean, imagine if God
returned the technique on us when we enter heaven, “Surprise! You
thought you were saved? Psych! Boy did I sucker you!” In the end
deception, vandalism, and lust don’t marry well with evangelism.
Evangelism methods vary from street witnessing to social jus-
tice outreach to the poor (Acts 3:6). Other Christians will apply this
purpose via evangelistic church services (aka attractional churches).
We can endlessly debate the pros and cons, but the point is that no
matter how you apply evangelism, a biblical church is going to work
hard at reaching the lost unless it’s disconnected from Christ and His
power (John 15; Matt. 28:19).
A biblical church is also going to be passionate about fellow-
ship. Church isn’t about getting people to attend a church service.
It’s a family (1 Thess. 2:8; Gal. 6:2; Heb. 10:24–25; Acts 2:42). As we
mentioned earlier in this book, intimate Christian friends are one
of the single greatest statistical predictors of spiritual growth. Thus,
it’s foolish to think we can disciple people without first providing a
« 95 »
ible-based family they can do life

B
with. We all need intimate account- Ministry and serving
ability and encouragement, which is others are divine
the heartbeat of biblical fellowship distractions that
(1 Cor. 15:33; Heb. 3:13; 10:24–25). free us from the
In addition to evangelism and tyranny of our overly
fellowship, a biblical church is magnified needs.
going to provide every member
with ministry opportunities. God created us to do good works
(Eph. 2:10). Indeed, ministry is one of the quickest ways we can
spiritually refresh ourselves (Prov. 11:25; Acts 20:35). In fact,
next to fellowship, numerous studies have shown that ministry
involvement is also one of the top statistical predictors of spiritual
growth.41 We can attempt to help everyone solve their problems, or
we can give them something that’s simply bigger than their prob-
lems. Ministry and serving others are divine distractions that free
us from the tyranny of our overly magnified needs. Thus, once
these foundational purposes fall in place, churches can then ef-
fectively participate in what I like to call the deeper disciplines:
discipleship and worship.
Discipleship is often characterized as learning Bible doctrines.
But it’s far more than the acquisition of information. Rather, it’s the
adaptation of a biblical lifestyle. In other words, do our sexuality, our
time, our money, and our thoughts conform to the likeness of Christ?
Would Christ loveangelize?
And the biblical purpose of worship doesn’t merely speak to how
emotional we get in church services. Worship is a lifestyle of commu-
nicating with our heavenly Father. In other words, how much time
do we spend in intercession throughout the day? Do we ever slow
down enough to listen for the prophetic voice of God in our hearts?
Do we live a lifestyle of thankfulness? Do we use our finances, words,
and emotions as tools of praise to our creator? You see, a biblical
church can’t merely specialize in just one of these areas. At some
point, our desire for health will demand that we advocate for all of
these things.
« 96 »
What Is Your Pet Purpose?

But here is where things get stimulating. Every Christian has a fa-
vorite church experience—one that stirs up their passion for God
more than the others. Thus, one of the first things we do when new
people join our church community is help them identify their pet
purpose, which is one of the five biblical purposes that personally
charges them up the most.
For example, at one time, my pet purpose used to be worship
and prayer. It was all I was interested in. I rarely went a day with-
out praying for an hour or two. Not surprisingly, I also wanted my
church to provide endless worship experiences for me. It was so new
and refreshing. Sunday-morning worship experiences were never
good enough. I could happily attend worship services two or three
hours at a time. But surprisingly, this pet purpose actually changed
for me.
In another season of my life, all I wanted was discipleship. I
memorized amazing quantities of Scripture with other people. I read
systematic theology like it was the most entertaining topic on planet
earth. I couldn’t get enough. And during this season I would have
been quite content attending a church that exclusively did two-hour
expository messages on Leviticus.
And you may not get as obsessive as I do, but everyone has a
pet purpose. It’s not a bad thing. It’s just a function of the body of
Christ that specifically inspires you. And for some of you it might be
due to your calling. God has gifted you in some very specific ways
(Eph. 4:11). Other times, God is sim-
ply moving in our lives in a specific A lot of times
way; thus, we simply prefer one of the Christians (or
five more than the others. But here’s churches) get so
where things get dysfunctional. overcommitted to their
A lot of times Christians (or pet purpose that they
churches) get so overcommitted start to define it as more
to their pet purpose that they start spiritual than others.
to define it as more spiritual than
« 97 »
thers. Have you experienced this yet? They often say, “If you were
o
really connected to Christ, then you’d do all prophetic worship all the
time.” “If this were really a ‘biblical church,’ then you’d primarily give
your lives to . . . social justice . . . end-times theology . . . prayer, etc.”
Sometimes it’s a purpose. Sometimes it’s a pet theology.
Everyone is passionate about his or her pet purpose. But many
Christians start to say things like, “If you don’t value my pet pur-
pose above all, then you’re compromised.” In fact, whenever the word
compromise is used in Christian debates, it’s incredibly common to be
coming from someone who is overcommitted to their pet purpose.
I like to call this a rabid pet purpose—Christians start foam-
ing at the mouth until everyone agrees with their narrow idea of
church. Quite often they declare that a biblical church is one that
showcases their favorite pet purpose on Sunday mornings. If the
rabid pet purpose is two hours of prophetic worship, then any pri-
mary church service without this is compromised. If the rabid pet
purpose is discipleship and the local pastor isn’t meaty enough,
then the church is watered down. After all, their beloved pet has
become an elite breed that needs special food. It’s the only breed
that makes God cry tears of joy whenever a church embraces its
furry wonder. Thus, these rabid pets go around and bite everyone
else’s pet into submission.
When Jesus referred to rabid pets, He preferred the term wolves
(Matt. 7:15–16; 10:16–17). And Jesus generally reserved this term
for describing deeply religious people. As I discussed in chapter
five, most of the people who destroy the body of Christ do so under
the pretense of protecting it. The great irony is that most wolves see
themselves as super sheep.
Hence, these diseased people no longer pick a church based on
how fruitful or balanced the com-
munity is. They no longer pick a Most of the people who
church based on how much it will destroy the body of
stretch them or their family. Rather, Christ do so under the
they expect their pet purpose to get pretense of protecting it.
snuggled on Sunday morning and
« 98 »
get upset when the pastor or budget committee doesn’t fund their pet
project. When they advocate for their pet, these people never see it as
a self-centered thing; it’s always presented as the most utilitarian or
best choice for the body of Christ. And rabid pets generally manifest
themselves around debates about worship formats, message formats,
or anything pertaining to church methodology.
Putting a Leash on Your Pet

Truth be told, rabid pets come in every shape and size. They don’t
just come from Charismania Kate or Calvin-nazi Joe. They take a
hold of every age and ethnicity. I’ve had friends go to conferences and
come back rabid. I’ve noticed that certain churches and books tend
to transmit spiritual rabies more than others. But rather than point
fingers, let’s look to see if we might have rabid pet purposes of our
own that are growling away in our hearts.
So here is an introspective question for you: What does a deep
church look like? Or what is a deep sermon? Your answers to these
questions often reveal your pet purpose or theology. And again, it’s
not wrong to have a pet purpose—as long as you know when to put
a leash on your pet. But what does a leash look like?
At our church, a leash on your pet means that you don’t need
Sunday morning church services to be all about your purpose. No
Christians should assume that their church’s main services are de-
signed for them. There are many potential audiences that your pastor
has in mind. Like a busy emergency room, pastors constantly have to
make complicated decisions about who should receive the most at-
tention. So don’t assume that it’s you, especially if you’re a long-term
Christian and you know how to feed yourself.
Even more, in a healthy church, services should only be a small
slice of a weekly church experience. It’s impossible to meet ev-
eryone’s needs in a singular service. And really, this is the same
thing Paul talked about in Romans 14:20 when he said, “Do not
destroy the work of God for the sake of [your personal issue].”
Or, to the Corinthians, he said, “Each one of you has a hymn, or a
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word of instruction, a revelation,

a tongue or an interpretation” They’re immature
(1 Cor. 14:26). Some want hymns, spiritual babies
others want teaching, still oth- who quote scriptures
ers want prophecy. And some of and rip on other
these experiences freak people out churches until everyone
(v. 23). Of course, Paul wasn’t coddles their pet ideas
forbidding them; rather, he was and preferences.
simply saying to put a leash on it. Entire denominations
There’s a proper time and place are embroiled in debates
for everything. But don’t think over pet purposes
you’re more spiritual (v. 36). And while Christianity
don’t you dare disunite the church slides toward total
body over these kinds of debates obsolescence.
(12:21) unless you’re a hyperspiri-
tual baby (13:11).
Unfortunately, that’s a perfect description of a lot of long-term
Christians. They’re immature spiritual babies who quote scriptures
and rip on other churches until everyone coddles their pet ideas and
preferences. Entire denominations are embroiled in debates over pet
purposes while Christianity slides toward total obsolescence.
Foaming at the Mouth

A while back I had a church leader come to me with a serious
concern. At the time, I was totally overwhelmed by our church.
We had literally grown by close to four hundred members that
month alone, at least half of whom had no previous church
experience.
That week was particularly overwhelming because three of our
brand-new attendees had made suicide attempts, and I was the only
person they felt comfortable calling. That same week I also had more
than a dozen people confess a sex addiction to me, not to mention the
two gentlemen who asked me to help them beat their meth addiction.
The needs of our church felt so overwhelming. So I wasn’t exactly
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excited to meet with this long-time church member, but since she
was a leader, I freed up my schedule.
As soon as I saw her face, I knew something was wrong. She
looked pretty upset. So I immediately popped the cork, “What’s up?”
Her first words were, “This church doesn’t give a rip about outreach.
I’m sick and tired of it! And I’m not sure I can stay here any longer.” Of
course, I was totally shocked. Our entire church was like an orphan-
age that was overwhelmed by abandoned kids. I felt as though I was
holding a dozen babies in my hands listening to someone rant about
how I didn’t care about babies. It seemed ludicrous.
I finally asked her, “What does outreach mean to you?” Of course,
she had just read a book by a rabid Christian that claimed missional
communities to multiethnic homeless people are the ultimate form
of outreach. She didn’t merely have a pet purpose for evangelism;
she had a pet methodology. She obviously resented the fact that our
church was so good at attractional church methods. And it was clear
that she didn’t want to judge me or our church by our fruit. Rather,
like many diseased Christians, she began to judge according to for-
mat as well.
Of course, like a lot of pastors, a part of me wanted to indulge
her and promise to start a soup kitchen ministry for her. After
all, I deeply believe in these types of ministries, and I loved this
leader. Yet, it was painfully clear, our church had bigger fish to fry.
The only reason we hadn’t started a ministry like that already was
because we didn’t have any leaders or resources to do so. And I
knew that I’d literally die if I tried to launch any more ministries
at that time.
And don’t get me wrong; I love social justice and am an advo-
cate for racial reconciliation. Sadly, this leader didn’t hang around
very long. And it’s especially sad knowing that, only a few months
later, we ended up launching dozens of amazing ministries that were
right up her alley. But, like a lot of people who get rabid pets, they
lose their ability to discern the greater will of God. As a result, these
impatient Christians become revival seekers rather than revival
makers. Instead of being joyfully contagious, they become cynically
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contentious. And in the process,

the church loses the ultimate cata- If parachurch
lyst for growth: unity. organizations aren’t
To amplify this problem, we’re constantly championing
seeing the rise of an unprecedented the local church
number of parachurch ministries— (warts and all), they
ministries that operate outside the often become
confines of the local church (e.g., incubators of idealism
pro-life organizations, missions, and rabidness that
social justice organizations, houses cause their followers to
of prayer, etc.). Ironically, many of become Bride haters—
these organizations were formed people who are so
because they no longer fit within opinionated about
the political confines of a local church that they
church or denomination (often a functionally become
church with a rabid-pet problem). incompatible with
Yet, by design, parachurch organi- God’s local church.
zations are often devoted to a sin-
gular pet purpose.
The problem, however, is that many of their followers, who
often have a weak connection with a healthy congregation, end
up getting an extremely narrow approach to Christianity. The or-
ganization isn’t a church; therefore, it can selectively apply a niche
number of biblical mandates. If parachurch organizations aren’t
constantly championing the local church (warts and all), they often
become incubators of idealism and rabidness that cause their fol-
lowers to become Bride haters—people who are so opinionated
about church that they functionally become incompatible with
God’s local church.
Honestly, it really disturbs me that many of the top Christian
authors that young people are reading aren’t successful practic-
ing pastors. I realize there are many brilliant nonpastors that all
of us should be reading. However, there’s an amazing number of
Christians who are deconstructing church without any impressive
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experience in reconstructing it.

Despite the increase in bizarre new There’s an amazing
approaches to church, many of these number of Christians
new models aren’t actually more ef- who are deconstructing
fective in reaching the unchurched. church without any
Hence, the few young people who impressive experience in
still remain in our churches are reconstructing it.
being accosted with idealism and
rabid pets the size of King Kong. It’s no wonder so many people are
abandoning the church.
Preying Upon the Old and Small

Eventually, churches can become dominated by someone’s rabid
pet. Indeed, entire denominations can fall prostrate to such pets. Of
course, the smaller or older a church gets, the easier this becomes.
Here’s why.
In smaller churches, the economic fabric of the church usually
comes down to a small number of family clans. When one of them
becomes rabid, it becomes difficult for the church to cut them loose
because the church is often economically and relationally codepen-
dent with them. That’s why I always tell pastors of smaller churches
to get extra margin in their budgets. And why?
Church leaders are inundated with dozens of subjective deci-
sions. Just about every year there comes a complicated decision that
will cost you about two to five families. In fact, if your church’s deci-
sions aren’t costing you followers from time to time, you probably
aren’t following Christ (John 6:66). Rabid families will immedi-
ately hate the change, no matter what it is. And the remaining four
families are the sympathizer families that can’t understand why you
rudely won’t snuggle their crazy dog any longer. Thus, if you can’t
financially afford to lose all five families, then you’ll be stuck with a
slowly sinking ship—making political decisions rather than healthy
decisions.42
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In older churches, there’s usu-

ally a different reason why rabid Quite commonly,
pets take over. Most churches in churches also
America go into a permanent pla- tend to stop growing
teau after about fifteen to eighteen after their founding
43
years. There are a lot of reasons pastor resigns.
this happens (and, as we’ll see in
upcoming chapters, there are a lot of remedies). Quite commonly,
churches also tend to stop growing after their founding pastor re-
signs. Thus, it’s important to ask why this is a lethal turning point for
most churches.
When most founding pastors leave, many churches fall into a
never-ending power-vacuum. Even if someone fills the pulpit well,
very few fill the political shoes well. Thus the church becomes a
huge fight amidst staff or power families over rabid pet purposes.
Of course, not all dogfights happen in the open air. They happen in
board meetings, staff meetings, or any place where Christians share
their concerns (aka criticisms) without a clear view of the big picture.
Yet, very few people have enough clout to reconsolidate power and
reunify people after the founding pastor leaves, unless they simply
outlast everyone else.
Thus, most aging churches stay in a constant yet quiet civil war.
Rather than being called to the “central leader,” people’s allegiances
shift to being called to the house or the gangs of rabid pets that hud-
dle around a specific ministry.
Subsequent pastors live in a constant state of political pet snug-
gling. Indeed, most pastors who succeed the founder win the position
through pet snuggling more than decisive leadership. And whoever
has the most dominant pet usually controls the tradition that all lead-
ers must subsequently give homage to.
Many of you grew up in these kinds of churches. That’s why
you’ve given up on church as a functional institution. But the good
news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. Despite being bitten by many
well-meaning pets over the years, I still believe that church can be the
most refreshing place on earth.
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But how do we deal with rabid pets? What if we’re sick and tired
of leashing our pets? What if the pastor is dysfunctional and pre-
venting health, which is why our pets are becoming rabid in the first
place? Well, get ready. We’re going to hit all of these questions and
more in the next chapter.
Chapter Seven in Review

Key Ideas
1. No matter how you do church, the transcendent purposes of a
biblical church remain the same.
2. A biblical church is going to work hard at reaching the lost unless
it’s disconnected from Christ and His power.
3. A biblical church is also going to be passionate about fellowship.
4. A biblical church is going to provide every member with ministry
opportunities.
5. Ministry and serving others are divine distractions that free us
from the tyranny of our overly magnified needs.
6. Discipleship is the adaptation of a biblical lifestyle.
7. In a healthy church, services should only be a small slice of a
weekly church experience.
8. There’s an amazing number of Christians who are deconstructing
church without any interest in reconstructing it.
9. Most churches in America go into a permanent plateau after
about fifteen to eighteen years.
10. Churches tend to stop growing after their founding pastor
resigns.
1. Have you ever experienced a strange form of evangelism? What
was it? And how did it make you feel?
2. What do you think is the purpose of your church? Why do you
attend?
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3. Which of the five biblical purposes do you tend to focus on the

least: evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, or worship?
Or which of these five could you stand to grow in the most? Why?
4. What should your church expect from you? Are you meeting its
expectations?
5. How is your purpose for being in your church influenced by your
spiritual gifts?
6. What is your pet purpose? What is a deep church to you?
7. Is it the church’s job to facilitate your spiritual growth? Why or
why not?
8. Has your pet purpose ever changed? How did it change?
9. In your opinion, what do you think the difference is between a
pet purpose and a rabid pet purpose?
10. Describe the kind of church you would like to see established.
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C h a p t e r e ig h t
Preventing Dogfights
(Rabid Pets, Part II)
How do we circumvent complicated church
debates and deficiencies?
E ating healthy has become tricky. There are dozens of

types of eaters: vegetarians, vegans, and organic naturalists. But
rather than being a health-food junkie, I consider myself to be
“junk-food healthy.” It’s a name I created for a special breed of peo-
ple like myself who try to stay healthy while primarily eating junk
food. And, yes, it occasionally feels odd (like when you swig down
your vitamins with a soda), but I meticulously maintain a healthy
weight. I may not be able to make my pectorals dance anymore, but
they also don’t shimmy rebelliously when I do the Macarena.
It is true that I love organic foods, especially when I wrap them
around a Twinkie. I think we all need to watch where our food
comes from as well as be aware of health food marketing gimmicks.
I was looking at the package of a snack cake the other day. It literally
claimed to be a good source of Vitamin C, as though this somehow
compensated for the giant blockage it was about to create in my ar-
teries. For even more comfort, the company boldly claimed that this
treat was only twenty calories per serving. But, a careful look revealed
that each cake was ten servings, which would be perfect if we were a
village of happily singing Smurfs.
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But even health-food junkies would admit there is no single food

that can meet all of our dietary needs. Even more, there is no way to
stay healthy if you only eat one meal every seven days. So then, why
do so many Christians act as though a single church service could
meet all of their spiritual needs?
Even more, no matter what kind of worship you have, it’s either
going to be too long, too short, too seeker-friendly, too charismatic, too
liturgical, or too progressive for somebody. Unfortunately, dysfunc-
tional churches usually respond by taking one of three cancerous paths:
1. Leaders start creating services that cater to their noisiest long-

time attendees as opposed to the people the church needs to
reach the most.
2. Many churches simply blend five styles of worship into a putrid
stew that nobody ends up liking. Grandpa finally decides to rap
in church worship with his brand-new, comb-over fauxhawk, and
neither the seniors nor the youth end up liking it.
3. Leaders simply start saying, “We just don’t do that here.” Hence
they lock everyone’s good-natured pets in the closet just because
a few rabid pets drove everyone nuts.
As the pastor of a sizable church, I can empathize with this third

response more than any of the others. I’m constantly being pressured
by people to launch ministries that go outside of our organization’s
gift-mix or resources. And sometimes leaders need to make difficult
decisions about timing. Much like a fifteen-year-old girl shouldn’t
have a baby, some churches simply aren’t ready to birth certain
ministries.
However, many pastors are chopping off biblical purposes from
their churches, not realizing that God created these things for our
overall health. For example, a pastor friend of mine once said, “We
simply don’t do small groups.” Unfortunately, he thought he was
wisely clarifying the vision for his church. As a good friend (and an
obsessive researcher of church health), I told him in a nonoppressive
« 108 »
P r e v e n t i n g D o gfig h t s ( R a b i d P e t s , Pa r t I I )
way that small groups are one of

the greatest statistical predictors Ironically, many of the
of both church growth and church rabid pets that bite
44
health. Even more, the statisti- pastors are inadvertently
cal odds of church splits and dis- created by pastors who
gruntlement is dramatically higher were convinced they
in churches without strong small needed a narrow vision
groups. 45 of church to achieve
There are a few flaws to the success.
simple-is-always-smarter approach
to church. We can’t merely neglect certain things and then live in a
fantasy world of pretend church health, even though it makes the
political reality of our churches easier. Eventually such churches will
experience the following symptoms: they will implode into a pile of
unbalanced weirdness; they will fail to produce long-term transfor-
mation due to an anemic diet; or they’ll end up alienating a larger
number of people that could have easily been empowered with a
different way of thinking.
You can’t simply lock a healthy dog in a closet and expect it to
stay happy. Ironically, many of the rabid pets that bite pastors are
inadvertently created by pastors who were convinced they needed a
narrow vision of church to achieve success. Yet, ultimately we’ve got
to have a place where all five of the purposes of a biblical church can
be manifested.
So how do we accomplish this? I suggest three powerful solu-
tions that will keep you and your church free from the above prob-
lems. Here is how we can keep our churches a happy yet effective
place. And the first solution stays in line with our ridiculous rabid
dog analogy.
Healthy Churches Create Dog Parks

I might not be able to snuggle everyone’s pet on Sunday morning,
but I don’t have to lock everyone’s pet in the closet to deal with them.
Instead, we create a place in our church where everyone’s pet can run
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around with an appropriate amount of freedom. This, however, is

next to impossible without a sophisticated small-group system.
At Substance, we’ve intentionally designed an amazing number
of church models and experiences under one roof. We have weekend
church experiences that range from a few hundred into the thou-
sands. So you can choose your favorite church size. If you want home
churches, we’ve got them. If you want deep experiential worship and
altar ministry, we have midweek services that last for hours on end.
Besides, in a healthy church, services should only be a small slice of a
holistic discipleship experience. Most mature Christians know this;
hence, they don’t even participate in silly formatting debates.
We are, by no means, a church that has everything. Despite our
spiritual buffet, there are still people who get frustrated because they
can’t special order something else. We never start a ministry without
a passionate and qualified leader (a combination that is sometimes
quite rare). And not every program is able to be staff-led or church-
funded. But whenever we become aware of a legitimate missing need
in our church, there’s a powerful biblical pattern of provision that
every Christian must follow. So let’s read about how the apostles cre-
ated dog parks in the early church.
The Church’s First Dog Park

In Acts 6, we read of a social justice–oriented problem. Widows were
being overlooked in the distribution of food. Thus, good-natured pet
purposes came barking at the apostles front door. But the apostles
said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word
of God in order to wait on tables” (Acts 6:2). In other words, we’re not
going to change our sense of calling, even for a legitimate spiritual
or physical need. We have a clear obligation before God. Yet, despite
this firm stance, they also didn’t lock these good-natured pups in
the closet either. So listen to their solution, “Brothers, [you] choose
seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit
and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will
give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word” (vv. 3–4).
« 110 »
In other words, the apostles

didn’t actually take on new respon- Instead of dogfighting
sibilities, nor did they denounce and Scripture thrashing,
that it was a legitimate need. This the people courageously
could have exploded into a massive honored the wishes of
dogfight. Scripture could have been the apostles.
used as a weapon. This could have
become the first church split. But watch what happens. Scripture gives
us a stellar example of organizational maturity.
Instead of dogfighting and Scripture thrashing, the people cou-
rageously honored the wishes of the apostles. Picking the seven
probably took a lot more time than we’d like to imagine. Someone
had to make difficult decisions before the top seven leaders were
found. People could have whined, “I don’t want seven new leaders!
I love it when the apostle Peter comes by my table! Nobody does it
like him.” But instead they honored the apostles’ ability to discern
God’s will.
And because everyone responded with maturity, patience, and
honor, God ended up sending them a revival of sorts. Verse seven
says that “the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and
a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.”
Notice that God sent them more leaders (aka priests), which is
God’s reward for organizational maturity. Adding leaders is some-
thing that every organization is looking to do. The apostles didn’t
cave in and take on a responsibility that God wasn’t calling them to,
and the people didn’t whine about
Immature followers having to do a search process that
demand pastoral energy fit with the apostles’ criteria. The
or funding because they results speak for themselves: God
don’t want the burden of not only sent a revival, but He sent
being resourceful, and them more leaders.
the result is leaders leave Unfortunately, the exact op-
these churches faster posite process happens in most
than ever. churches. When churches become
a battleground of rabid pets, many
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immature leaders simply lock up the pets, “We don’t do that here.”
Immature followers demand pastoral energy or funding because they
don’t want the burden of being resourceful, and the result is leaders
leave these churches faster than ever. And where are they going? They
probably transfer to churches that have a healthier and more patient
approach to creating dog parks. After all, who wants to serve amidst
a faithless group of adult babies? Not me.
But going beyond dog parks, how else might we prevent dog-
fights? Part of the solution rests in redefining people’s entire concept
of church, which leads us to our second solution.
Healthy Churches Avoid Church Service Christianity

As I said earlier, it’s impossible to meet everyone’s needs and desires
in a singular service (unless it’s five hours long). Even then, it’s im-
possible to adequately reach every audience (seekers, newbies, and
goldie-oldies). And, in some ways, this entire debate reveals a narrow
concept of church.
A while back, I had a man come up to me after my message. I had
just finished praying with a group of people who gave their lives to
Christ. It was a powerful moment. Yet the look on this man’s face was
a stark contrast to those of the new believers I had been talking with.
He jumped right in with a bold conclusion, “I can tell this isn’t
a Bible-believing church.” A bit stunned by his bluntness, I asked,
“How so?” He began, “Well, you only shared about nine Bible verses
in your message.” And then he ranted about all the “fluff and filler” I
had in my message.
In my mind I started asking, What would have been the magi-
cal number of scriptures? Would heaven open up if I shared ten Bible
verses? Did I miss the anointing quota? But he continued blasting me
about how I should exclusively preach expository messages—that is,
line-by-line preaching through Scripture.
I have to admit: I love my fluff. I’m darn proud of my fluff. If I
can make a person laugh or engage them through good storytelling,
then I can share increasingly difficult truths. As the theologian Mary
« 112 »
Poppins once said, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”

Believe it or not, this is actually a scientific phenomenon.
Recently, there was a study done on the science of persuasion.
Scientists have long noted that when we hold an extended conver-
sation with others, our heart rates and breathing actually syncs up.
Studies show that this physiological phenomenon, often called en-
trainment, usually precedes persuasion.46
In other words, it’s hard to persuade people (i.e., evangelize or
disciple them) before this phenomenon occurs. And take a wild
guess what is the fastest way to create entrainment . . . laughter.
Humor is one of the most potent ingredients to persuasion on earth.
In fact, one of the largest church health studies found that laugh-
ter in a church is actually a statistical predictor of both health and
growth!47 So, in your face, Mr. Fluffhead. (Perhaps I’m still a bit
wounded?)
After Mr. Fluffhead finished his spiritual judgment, he paused
to see what I would do, perhaps hoping I would tearfully repent and
become more religious like him. And don’t get me wrong, I love ex-
pository preaching. But if transformation was entirely about God’s
written Word, then we should exclusively do Bible recitations with
absolutely no commentary whatsoever (and in Greek and Hebrew, of
course). Based on this man’s criteria, Jesus wouldn’t have been con-
sidered Bible-believing either. Sometimes Jesus or Paul would preach
an entire message without quoting a single scripture, and it’s not like
they didn’t have the text available to them.
And to be fair, this man also misunderstood the primary target
audience of my message. He assumed our church services are for
Christians—or people like him who already believe in the Bible.
So I finally said, “Sir, it’s interesting to me that you can tell if
I’m Bible-believing by listening to a single message. You see, here at
Substance, we believe that Bible-believing is a lifestyle—not a church
service or a sermon format. And if you really wanted to know if I was
Bible-believing, you’d have to spend the week with me.
“And if you did, you would have seen me memorizing a Bible
passage this morning with my three kids. If you did, you would
« 113 »
have seen me do my morning

devotions. If you did, you would But a healthy church
have seen my wife and I pray to- is like a healthy diet;
gether. And you would have seen we need numerous
my staff and I speak to one another feeding opportunities
in psalms, hymns, and spiritual throughout the week
songs.” I was just setting him up that are designed for
for my climax . . . numerous needs.
“It seems apparent to me that
you think Christianity is a church service. And you probably think
the gospel is a mere message. But here, we don’t even see this service
as church. And the last thing I’m gonna do is jam a big chunk of
biblical meat down a spiritual baby’s throat just so that I can ap-
pease a big baby Christian like you.” (I didn’t actually say that last
statement. But, man, it would have been a great zinger.) As I said
this, I imagined Jesus alley-ooping the ball to me as I did a reverse
slam dunk.
At first, Mr. Fluffhead didn’t know how to respond. I could tell
that my response flew right over his head. As we continued to talk, it
was apparent that he had a disease I call “Church Service Christian-
ity.” It’s when Christians start to think that the Sunday service actually
is the church.
People with this disease think that the Sunday service needs to
be the total summation of a church’s gospel. That’s why they fatally
assume they can know a church by attending its church service. But a
healthy church is like a healthy diet; we need numerous feeding oppor-
tunities throughout the week that are designed for numerous needs.
That’s why we regularly tell our congregation, “Church doesn’t
start until the service is over.” Indeed, “Church is what happens in
between church services.” Church
is a lifestyle of accountability, not Church is a lifestyle
a church-service format. Bible- of accountability,
believing is a lifestyle of Bible ap- not a church-service
plication not a sermon format. format.
Charismatic is a lifestyle of trusting
« 114 »
for the miraculous, not a worship format. I’ve noticed that impover-
ished and persecuted Christians seem to understand this distinction
far better than wealthy Westerners. After all, their circumstances
tend to prevent them from idolatrously confusing such formats for
the real thing.
So, aside from parroting a few catchphrases, how do we help
Christians redefine the purpose of church? One suggestion came
from a wise mentor of mine named Billy Hornsby.
Billy once told me about his visit to a Rolls Royce dealership in
England. Being an extreme luxury vehicle for the super wealthy, the
Rolls Royce showroom floor was absolutely spectacular. The whole
area made you feel as though you were the most important person
in the world.
As my friend sat down inside this brilliant machine, the aroma of
supple leather wafted up. The dashboard shimmered. It was glorious.
And as the door closed, it was like heaven itself had enveloped him.
So, putting both hands on the steering wheel, my normally frugal
friend started thinking, This car would certainly change my life.
Of course, he could never justify spending the money. Besides,
everything loses its shine with time. Yet, the whole experience was so
sensational, it ended up becoming one of the highlights of his trip.48
I listened to Billy tell his story like an enraptured school kid. But
then he started asking me a series of profound questions. “Peter,” he
said, “have you ever seen a great dealership change the oil on the
showroom floor? Probably not. And that’s because the showroom
floor has one purpose: Help the customer realize, ‘I must have this
car.’” Then he profoundly added, “Most churches do not have a show-
room floor.”
Now, if a dealership refused to change the oil in the showroom,
no one would assume that they don’t believe in oil changes. After all,
everyone knows that changing the oil in your vehicle is essential. And
that’s also why most dealerships have a mechanic shop and a parts
department. You want to keep the grease in the back.
Quite simply: immature Christians fail to understand that, just
like car dealerships, the maintenance of our souls requires numerous
« 115 »
departments. We need weekend church services (deemed the

showroom floor in many churches). But, we also need small groups or
midweek experiences (a mechanic shop or parts department) where
we can confess sins or get accountability for specialized issues, the
messy stuff. After all, sister So-and-So doesn’t want people watching
when she gets demonically delivered of snack cakes for the eighth time.
But here’s the opposite problem for some churches: They’ve exclu-
sively become a showroom floor. They have no depth, no dog parks,
no mechanic shop. Their narrow vision assumes church members
know how to outsource such needs. And if you happen to live in a
Bible Belt city or Christian oasis that’s replete with discipleship op-
portunities, more power to you. But most churches around the world
would be making a grave mistake by emulating such selectivity.
On the other hand, many churches are exclusively greasy-gross
mechanic shops. They’ve got the deepest discipleship and wor-
ship around; yet, the church never really grows—except by transfer
growth. To excuse this, they often make up silly excuses like, “We
don’t have quantity, but we have quality.” But over time, churches like
these usually lose both.
So to summarize: Every church needs to clarify where they will
put their showroom and their mechanic shop. Because, wherever
there is ambiguity, rabid dogs will continue to bite.
Healthy Churches Create an Others-Oriented Culture

Finally, at Substance we always tell people, “Nobody gets what they
want on Sunday mornings except the one lost sheep that heaven
wants to rejoice over.” You are certainly free to practice church dif-
ferently. For us, statements like these not only clarify our showroom
floor but they reorient our long-term members from being consum-
ers to servants.
Instead of making our weekend services a self-centered feeding
experience, we train our members to think completely differently
about church services. To make this applicable, let’s say you have four
hundred people coming to your church on Sunday. Imagine if one
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hundred of them came with the exclusive goal of giving someone else
a hundred dollars. Who wouldn’t want to attend this church?
My wife and I love to practice this type of generosity. Beyond
our tithes and offerings, we love to surprise people by paying their
monthly mortgages, helping them in crisis, or taking away their op-
pressive bills. It’s not uncommon for us to personally spend an extra
five hundred dollars a month on spontaneous benevolence. And if
only 25 percent of your four hundred–member church did this, it
would add up to a surplus of fifty thousand dollars a month to simply
help people who are struggling. Can you imagine what would happen
if this much extra benevolence flowed through a church of only four
hundred members?
Yet, imagine if another one hundred members came with the ex-
clusive goal of finding someone to encourage, pray for, or fast over
all week long. Finally, imagine if another hundred came with the ex-
clusive goal of finding needs to serve. You need a free babysitter this
week? . . . Your car needs repairs? . . . Your home needs improvement?
No problem. There’s a hundred people looking for ways to serve. And
finally, imagine that the remaining 25 percent are either unchurched
visitors or baby Christians who simply haven’t yet become others-
oriented in their spirituality.
Can you imagine how amazing this church would be? I mean,
three-quarters of the church isn’t even coming for themselves what-
soever. Quite simply, this would be a church in revival—a church like
Acts 2, which was obsessed with giving, not receiving.
In contrast to this, many long-term Christians still act like in-
fants, as if church was all about them. They act as though they’re
totally unable to feed themselves or start their own dog parks—
a sign of complete immaturity.
Hence they pick a church based Many long-term
on what it can do for them rather Christians still act
than on how much the church like infants, as if
stretches them to live for the lost. church was all
But it’s time we grow beyond this about them.
silliness.
« 117 »
The Road Map to Happy Dogs

So, to summarize, healthy churches create dog parks and define
church as a multiplicity of spiritual experiences. They don’t have do-
nothing members who defer responsibility nor dictator pastors who
refuse to allow diversity. And lastly, they see services as an outlet for
serving the lost—not a spiritual buffet for feeding themselves.
And the coolest part is this: Once a church embraces these ap-
proaches, it’s amazing how many dynamic leaders will flock to such
an environment. Soon, your church will have an answer for every
spiritual malady.
But this begins when people stop thinking that their preference
for church is the ultimate preference. Besides, you’ll soon realize
that you need a variety of spiritual meals in different seasons of your
life. Eventually, you’re going to get sick of spiritual Twinkies or pure
meat. That is to say, your obsession with prophetic prayer just might
give way to intense Bible study, which just might give way to assist-
ing those in poverty. And when these changes happen, you aren’t
going to want to leave your church or start a dogfight just to find an
alternative.
Chapter Eight in Review

Key Ideas
1. Many pastors chop off one or more of five biblical purposes for
their churches, not realizing that God demands all of these things
for our overall health.
2. In a healthy church, services should only be a small slice of a
holistic discipleship experience.
3. Healthy churches create ways to meet people where they are and
lead them toward spiritual maturity.
4. Immature followers demand pastoral energy or funding because
they don’t want the burden of being resourceful.
5. Healthy churches avoid church service–driven Christianity.
« 118 »
6. “Church Service Christianity” is when Christians start to think

that the Sunday service actually is the church.
7. Bible-believing is a lifestyle of Bible application, not a sermon
format.
8. Healthy churches create an others-oriented church culture.
9. Many long-term Christians act as if church is all about them.
10. Healthy churches don’t have do-nothing members who defer re-
sponsibility nor dictator pastors who refuse to allow diversity;
their leaders and members see church as an outlet for serving the
lost—not a spiritual buffet for feeding themselves.
1. Have you ever been a part of a church fight over a “ministry
hole”? How did your experience compare to the example of
Acts 6? Compared to the biblical example, would you recom-
mend a different approach now?
2. How does your present church experience compare to the picture
of the church in Acts 2?
3. In the last chapter, you identified your personal pet purpose. How
might you create a dog park for that purpose?
4. What other dog parks does your church need to consider?
5. How has this chapter reframed the way you think about the Sun-
day morning church service?
6. In what ministry should you be serving during the week? What
keeps others from joining you in this ministry?
7. How do you feed yourself spiritually throughout the week? And
how might it affect your Sunday morning church experience?
8. What are three things you can do to feed yourself spiritually
throughout the week?
9. If you came to your church to give, which of the following would
be easiest and/or hardest for you: giving of your time in prayer
and fasting; giving of your finances; or giving of your time in
« 119 »
service to others? Which of these do you think God is most inter-

ested in growing you in? Which form of generosity do you think
God desires to stretch you with the most?
10. How can you be more resourceful in meeting the needs of the lost
in your community?
« 120 »
Chapter nine
The Great
Generation Gap
Why are young Westerners leaving the
church in droves?
W hen other pastors come to Substance, they usually

say one of two things, “Wow, you guys are way more youthful than
any large church I’ve seen.” Or, “Wow, you guys are not a Bible-belt,
transfer-growth kind of church. There are a lot of extremely messed-
up people here.”
Of course, I never know how to respond to the latter one. It would
be kind of weird if we ran a hospital filled with predominantly healthy
people. In some ways, that’s one of my greatest fears for our church.
After all, Christians who aren’t regularly exposed to the messy lives
of drug addicts, cohabiting couples, and the like lose their ability to
see God’s purpose for His church. As a result of being cloistered, they
usually do one of two things:
1. Cloistered Christians analyze

and critique everything. When It would be kind of
you’re standing in an emergency weird if we ran a
room that doesn’t get much use, hospital filled with
you start having debates about predominantly
little stuff: “Should we really be healthy people.
using this type of operating table?
« 121 »
What kinds of scrubs should we allow people to wear?” There

are certain conversations you just won’t care about when some-
one is bleeding out on the operating table. But when you’re re-
moved from this environment, lesser issues become increasingly
important.
2. Cloistered churches become unhealthily self-oriented. When

churches plateau for more than a year or two, or when churches grow
extremely slowly, there’s a greater temptation for long-term members
to start obsessing over the question, “What do I like?” Hence, the
church culture adapts to those who are already coming rather than
those the church needs to reach.
Bridging the HUGE Generational Gap

Beyond these classic church foibles, I think there’s a bigger problem
lurking in Western churches. Young people are leaving church for
a lot of reasons. But sometimes we miss some of the most obvious
reasons.
Recently, I was nerdishly reading through the 2010 census of the
United States. As a huge advocate of church planting, I was hoping to
learn a few strategies about how we can better suit our church plants
to the needs of our evolving culture. Yet, a few of the stats ended up
smacking me right between the eyes.
According to the census, the majority of Americans are now
under forty years old. The largest of this group are young twenty-
somethings. This, by itself, isn’t incredibly unique. Most developing
countries are even more youthful than the U.S. However, this is ac-
tually quite profound when you consider that the vast majority of
American pastors and church decision makers are quickly becoming
senior citizens.
To put this another way, there’s roughly a two- to three-decade age
difference between the majority of church decision makers and the
average American. When you think about it, that’s a massive c ultural
disparity, especially when the largest and most receptive u nchurched
« 122 »
T h e G r e at G e n e r at i o n G a p
demographic is actually closer to

four decades apart from the aver- But there is also a
age American pastor. direct correlation
When I realized this, my mind between the median
started freaking out. I started age of a church and
thinking about all of the worship its odds of reaching
wars that churches get caught in. I unchurched people.
started thinking about all the mean-
spirited debates about postmodern Christians. And then I thought,
“What if all of these tensions are simply a symptom of a massive
generation gap in the church?”
Certainly this age disparity must be affecting churches every-
where. It’s kind of like having your grandpa make all of your clothing
decisions. There’s going to be some inevitable conflicts (unless Mick
Jagger is your grandpa). But there is also a direct correlation between
the median age of a church and its odds of reaching unchurched
people.
Researchers have known for a long time that most people who
accept Christ do so at a young age. There have been dozens of re-
searchers like George Barna who have shown that receptivity to the
gospel decreases with age. Not surprisingly, numerous studies have
also found that, as churches and their leaders age, their odds of both
growing and reaching unchurched people plummets.49
Why? It’s not rocket science. The vast majority of receptive, un-
churched people are young. Yet, most churches tend to take on the
median age of their prominent staff. Thus, as churches and their lead-
ers age, they statistically tend to focus less on the youthful world
of the unchurched. And if they do grow at all, these churches have
a much higher likelihood of benefiting from transfer growth as
opposed to unchurched growth.
Another reason why older The vast majority
churches grow less is because young of receptive,
people have this unique ability to unchurched people
create more babies than senior are young.
citizens. (Hopefully I don’t have to
« 123 »
explain this.) Thus, churches with younger median ages also benefit
from procreation growth—not just conversion growth.
Honestly, amidst all the flurry of church growth books, I’m sur-
prised there aren’t a few more pushing a procreation strategy. My
book could be called The Procreation-Driven Church. Then I’d follow
it up with a bestseller titled The Procreation-Driven Life. Come on,
people! This is a rare moment in history when this could work. At
the very least, growth goals would become way more entertaining.
I always imagine our church logo with the slogan, “Be Fruitful and
Multiply.” Imagine a pastor standing up saying, “Can I get a hundred
more men to stand up and pledge to making one more baby this
year?” I suspect there would be a lot less men whining, “This church
only cares about numbers.”
With such a strategy, Catholics and Mormons would definitely
have a theological advantage over evangelicals. We evangelicals
would have to think creatively, like marriage retreats or more reality
shows about large families like the Duggars. But, all jokes aside, this
widening generation gap is actually the source of a huge amount of
tension in Western churches.
Again, I don’t want to keep depressing you, but check out the
raw data: Numerous polls claim that 40 to 47 percent of Americans
attend church. But we also know that people routinely lie about poll-
ing questions that make them feel guilty—such as how many people
claimed to have voted but didn’t. And, you thought Uncle Sam wasn’t
watching.
As I mentioned in the introduction, the most reliable research
on the American church shows that far less people attend than
we ever thought. Only 9.1 percent attend an evangelical or char-
ismatic church on a weekly basis. In fact, there’s not been a single
state in the U.S. (except Hawaii) where church growth even kept up
with population growth in over twenty years (since 1990)!50 Thus,
suffice it to say, young people are quitting church as we know it.
So, the next question is this: How can we stop this trend? After
talking with hundreds of dynamic young people about it, a few
« 124 »
themes have emerged. So allow me to share a couple of their thoughts

as to why.
Stuck at the Kids’ Table

Recently, I was talking with a group of dynamic young leaders in our
church, many of whom are around the age of twenty-five and lead-
ing some of our largest ministries. They all know that by twenty-four
years old, I ran a ministry that had more than fourteen thousand at-
tendees. Granted, I was only able to accomplish that because smarter
leaders believed in me, so I wanted to return the favor by resourcing
these leaders and holding the bar pretty high.
They kept saying to me, “Thanks for giving us a chance to truly
impact this church.” Of course, in my mind I didn’t think I was
doing anything special. So I finally asked them, “Why do you all
keep saying that to me?” One of them finally responded, “In most
churches, you can’t even have a say on anything significant till
you’re at least forty years old—nor will you fit in until you’re fifty.
But here, you expect us to be leading large ministries by twenty-five.
It’s just inspiring!”
Another young leader proclaimed, “At my last church, they had a
young adult service for people wanting ‘edgier worship’ on Saturday
nights. And although their intensions were good, the mere existence
of such a service felt like a death sentence, like forcing a twenty-
nine-year-old to perpetually sit at
the kids’ table on Thanksgiving. So The truth is, these
we finally left.” young people are not
In other words, the whole phi- a minority anymore.
losophy of a youth-oriented service Indeed, they represent
subtly communicated to this dy- the majority of America—
namic young man, “We don’t want not to mention the
your influence, your music, or your culture of America’s most
culture in the main service.” So nat- receptive unchurched
urally, he had a harder time taking population.
ownership.
« 125 »
And don’t get me wrong, relegating people toward young adult

services or other non-ideal service times would make sense if we
were talking about a minority demographic wanting a bizarre or eso-
teric worship style. But, the truth is, these young people are not a
minority anymore. Indeed, they represent the majority of America—
not to mention the culture of America’s most receptive unchurched
population.
It’s no wonder they’re cynical about a church that claims to be in-
terested in the lost. They see a massive disparity between the church
and the lost people churches claim to be reaching; yet, they simultane-
ously feel powerless to change any of it. Not surprisingly, young people
have responded with a loud “See you later!” In fact, only 27 percent of
Americans have any faith in the organized church—and that’s the low-
est it’s been in the last forty years.51 In other words, when you add up
the small number of Christians under the age of twenty-nine who still
attend church, it’s rare to find one who isn’t brimming with cynicism.
Unfurling Our Middle-Aged Guts

So what does Substance do differently to reach young people? Ob-
viously, our church prefers to push the envelope when it comes to
worship styles during Sunday services. For example, we have a DJ
with turntables in most of our weekend bands. In the past, we’ve set
some pretty unusual goals, such as having one rap-worship song per
set. And, believe it or not, we’re capable of doing an entire worship
set in techno. We also do a lot with the creative digital arts. So, a lot
of people expect me to be the “relevance will save the church” guy.
But I’m not. In fact, many churches would be committing suicide by
doing an all-techno set.
Don’t get me wrong: There are a lot of churches that could afford
to be a bit more in sync with the culture around them. The best-selling
artist of the last decade (2000–2010) was the rap artist Eminem; yet,
ironically, the majority of Christian leaders don’t even know who
he is—let alone listen to a single rap artist. So, yes, the cultural gap
« 126 »
between the church and most

Americans is still wider than ever. Young Americans
But the disparity isn’t limited to also carry some
music. extremely different
Young Americans also carry assumptions about
some extremely different assump- Scripture than
tions about Scripture than previous previous generations.
generations. Quite often, A
merican
pastors assume far too much about the biblical literacy of their audi-
ences, or that they even believe in the Bible. Quite often, churches are
obsessed with giving answers before stopping to ask young people if
they have any questions.
Thus, many aging or cloistered Christians are like a doctor who
shoves celery down the throats of people who are having heart at-
tacks. Yes, those people probably should have been eating more cel-
ery, which would have prevented a heart attack in the first place, but
we need to deal with the blockage first. And only after saving them
can we teach them about how to eat healthier food. Likewise, at-
tempting to disciple Christians who haven’t even gotten basic things
down—like consistent church attendance—is misguided and some-
times even foolish.
Thus, even if young Christians attend our churches, they’re
reticent to invite their friends out of fear we’ll jam celery down
their throats. They don’t want to sound like they’re against cel-
ery for fear of being viewed as compromised. Yet, they also don’t
want to jeopardize the investment they’ve poured into their non-
Christian friends or coworkers. The following story serves as a per-
fect illustration.
Killing People with Spiritual Steak

A while back I remember hearing the story of a U.S. soldier who
liberated a particular concentration camp in World War II Germany.
The Jewish prisoners were virtually starved to death. So, in their zeal
« 127 »
to help, the service men gave these starving prisoners large quantities
of meat.
The sad part was that the frail bodies of these Jewish prisoners
couldn’t even digest it. And in the end, a huge number of them died
because it was the wrong food at the wrong time.
I wish everyone could have seen the documentary film of this
serviceman. He wept and wept because he realized that he was re-
sponsible for feeding these people the wrong food. And this is exactly
what the apostle Paul was talking about when he rebuked the church
in 1 Corinthians 14.
There was a good number of Corinthian Christians
who thought that they were more spiritual than everyone else
(1 Cor. 14:36). Earlier on, Paul warned them that their meetings do
“more harm than good” (1 Cor. 11:17). Their “depth” was starting
to freak people out, particularly when it came to unknown tongues.
Thus, Paul wrote, “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than
any of you. But in a church meeting I would rather speak five under-
standable words to help others than ten thousand words in an un-
known language. Dear brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your
understanding of these things” (1 Cor. 14:18–20 nlt).
So, keeping the word childish in mind, let’s skip down to verse 23,
“So, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come
into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown
language, they will think you are crazy.” Thus, Paul encourages leaders
to be wise about how they practice this.
But, the greater point here is this: There are legitimate spiritual
experiences that certain people
aren’t ready for. So, once again, If you see someone
there’s nothing wrong with “spiri- jamming huge
tual steak.” It’s fine to feed people chunks of steak
deep teachings and spiritual experi- down a baby’s throat,
ences, but if you see someone jam- you darn well better
ming huge chunks of steak down a rescue that baby.
baby’s throat, you darn well better
« 128 »
rescue that baby. Most people would

call this child abuse. You don’t feed Although relevance
a baby steak when they can only di- is important to
gest milk. It’s Discipleship 101. But young people,
in many churches like the Corin- authenticity is far
thian church, these types of prac- more important.
tices are actually deemed spiritual.
So, the reason why Paul is calling them childish is because they
fail to understand the process of discipleship. When pastors and lead-
ers fail to realize the spiritual immaturity of our culture at large, it
results in a grand-scale disaster. Christians yipe about the church
lacking potency; yet, ironically, the misguided potency of certain
churches is often amplifying the mortality rate. Even worse, the
moment a church acknowledges this problem and makes adjust-
ments, numerous cloistered Christians will immediately throw out
the label of “compromise”—just as they did to Christ when He started
rebuilding bridges.
So what do we do about this? Should we abandon meaty ex-
periences? Absolutely not! Once young people experience God’s
power and grow past infancy, they’re going to hunger for deep
encounters with God’s Word, even more than some adult Chris-
tians. But if pastors fail to delineate clear feeding stations, peo-
ple will continue to fight over the purpose of the weekly church
service.
And what about debates over relevant music and formats? Young
people do not want to see more old people rapping like Marshall
Mathers, nor do they want baby-boomers to unfurl their middle-
aged guts to show off their new belly-button piercing. Although
relevance is important to young people, authenticity is far more
important.
And, beyond this, most young people are looking for something
far more exhilarating: specifically, ownership. And why? Next to fel-
lowship, ownership in the body of Christ is one of the most intoxicat-
ing experiences a church can offer.
« 129 »
The Power of Ownership

Before I had kids, I had an aversion to holding babies. I simply
had no interest in them. Part of it is that I have an aversion to
bodily fluids (other than my own). I’ve been to the front lines, the
place where diapers couldn’t contain the decimation that awaited.
And the few times I had to change another kid’s diaper, it almost
killed me.
But once I had kids of my own, everything changed. I’m not say-
ing that I suddenly dove into the war on poop with patriotic enthu-
siasm, but ownership made a huge difference. And studies show that
the same holds true with the church.
Back in 2004, there was a large study done comparing Christians
who served in a church on a weekly basis to Christians who merely
attended a church. And listen to what they found:
Those who volunteer at their church on a weekly basis are

much more likely than non-volunteers to be satisfied with their
church, with their spiritual lives, and in their relationship with
God.52
In other words, ministry ownership has a massive effect on three

areas of a believer’s life: church satisfaction; personal spiritual growth;
and an ability to connect with God. These are some pretty amazing
benefits! So, if we give a rip about
people, we’re going to make sure they Rather than teaching
have a meaningful place to serve. baby boomers to dress
Once again, this is exactly what younger and start
the apostles were doing back in rapping (a cheap-
Acts 6. If you remember, there was renovation approach),
a similar cultural gap forming in perhaps we need to
the early church. Grecian Jews were start looking for more
feeling marginalized by the Hebraic anointed young people to
Jews. There was a representation empower.
problem in the church.
« 130 »
So what did the apostles do? They created the first multiethnic
launch team alongside a disciple named Stephen. They balanced out
their demographics by creating a leadership team that represented
the group being overlooked.53
The American church would do well to apply a similar strategy.
Rather than teaching baby boomers to dress younger and start rap-
ping (a cheap-renovation approach), perhaps we need to start look-
ing for more anointed young people to empower. If you can find
young people like Stephen, who are “full of God’s grace and power,”
chances are these young people will know how to reach their genera-
tion better than anyone.
Finding the Fountain of Youth

Let me get practical by sharing some simple ways to apply this apos-
tolic example:
1. Churches need to celebrate leaders on their platforms who

represent their mission. Nothing says “We value your demo-
graphic” like giving young people strategic and visible positions in a
church service.
2. Keep the median age of a church staff under forty years old.
Keep in mind, the majority of receptive, unchurched people are young
and multiethnic. So, this isn’t an affirmative action ploy. It’s a simple
act of survival.
And remember, this doesn’t devalue the role of older people.
If anything, it will ultimately heighten their value. After all, once
you fill up your church with meth addicts, sex addicts, and thirty-
somethings with messed up marriages, you’ll quickly see the need
for healthy parental figures. Besides, deep down, most people simply
want to be a part of a church that’s truly growing and changing lives.
And even if the youthfulness makes them uncomfortable, they will
« 131 »
eventually become addicted to the fruit, even if that means playing

a different role.
3. Allow the youth culture to define the main services. Churches

like Hillsong have long been allowing their youth culture to de-
fine their primary services. Not surprisingly, they’ve been able to
accomplish significant things in cities that many thought were
church-planting graveyards, a term that’s often attached to youth-
ful cities.
But no matter what kind of church you attend, keep this in mind,
“Big ships steer slowly.” Be patient with your church. And don’t burn
your Aunt Suzi’s Bible study group for not wanting to hear your new
punk song in church.
Many of you may not even be in a position to effect these types
of changes. If that’s you, talk to your leaders in an honoring way.
If you get the sense that the church is going in a different direc-
tion, graciously let the Lord lead you to a church that fits. But
do not—I repeat, do not—lead a rebellion at your church. And,
equally bad, don’t become one of those cynical Christians who are
so opinionated about church that you find yourself incompatible
with every form of Christianity out there. Either way, you render
yourself useless to the kingdom, which is the last thing God de-
sires for you.
Although the Bride of Christ may have a few warts, don’t let it
stop you from falling in love. If you’re a young person who feels
disenchanted, reinvest yourself. If you’re an older person who feels
threatened, don’t forget that spiritual grandchildren are one of the
greatest pleasures God gives us in this life.
In the end, eternity is being determined by our every action
in this life. And when we enter into heaven’s worship, our biggest
pleasure isn’t going to be the music
style or message format. Rather, it’s “Big ships steer
going to be who we get to worship slowly.” Be patient
with (Dan. 12:2–3). So let’s take as with your church.
many people with us as we can.
« 132 »
Chapter Nine in Review

Key Ideas
1. Christians who aren’t regularly exposed to the messy lives of drug
addicts and cohabiting couples lose their ability to see God’s pur-
pose for His church.
2. Cloistered Christians analyze and critique everything.
3. Cloistered churches become unhealthily self-oriented.
4. The vast majority of receptive unchurched people are young.
5. It’s rare to find a Christian under twenty-nine who isn’t brimming
with cynicism.
6. American pastors assume far too much about the biblical literacy
of their audiences.
7. Next to fellowship, ownership in the body of Christ is one of the
most intoxicating experiences a church can offer.
8. Ministry ownership has a massive effect on three areas of a be-
liever’s life: church satisfaction, personal spiritual growth, and an
ability to connect with God.
9. Churches need to celebrate leaders on their platforms who rep-
resent their mission.
10. Big ships steer slowly. Be patient with your church.
1. Were you surprised by the stat about median age affecting odds
of reaching the unchurched? Why or why not? In your opinion,
what are some practical ways this age gap is affecting the church
at large, as well as yours specifically? Give a few examples.
2. Would you describe your church as cloistered or committed? Ex-
plain your response.
3. If self-orientation is an indicator of the spiritual health of your
church, how healthy is your church? Explain your response.
4. Why are so many young Christians cynical? What can your
church do to change their attitudes?
« 133 »
5. How would you describe the biblical literacy of the people in your
church with whom you most often associate?
6. What type of music would you call relevant for your community?
Would you consider yourself to be normative of your community?
And do you think changes in worship music would really make a
difference in reaching unchurched people? Why or why not?
7. We read that being involved in weekly ministry of a local church
has a profound impact on people’s church satisfaction as well as
their relationships with God. In light of that, how does this affect
your view of involvement in a church? Do you feel like you have
an adequate amount of ownership in a local church?
8. What are some practical things that affect your involvement in a
local church? And what types of things could you do to enhance
your ownership?
9. Why is it important to grant ministry ownership to younger
members of the Christian family?
10. In your opinion, what are some practical ways that Western
churches could get more young people involved? And, are all
churches capable of making those changes? Why or why not?
« 134 »
C o n c l u si o n
The Real Reason

Religiously Diseased
People Are Messed Up
What is it that truly reveals Christ to
the World?
I’ ve always wanted to write a book conclusion that includes

something crazy like, “Therefore, all biblical Christians should do
colon cleanses.” That way, all of the people who skipped to the end
(you know who you are) would be confused. The shortcutters would
think, “Wow! I never saw that coming.” Or at the very least, “It took
nine chapters to conclude that?” And the rest of us would snicker.
I don’t blame people for cutting to the chase. After all, so much
of the world overflows with meaningless words. Those of us who are
smart will look for the most important ones. And that’s how I feel
when I read the final words of Christ.
Toward the end of John’s gospel, Jesus knew that His time was
coming to a close. Christ knew that many of His disciples would soon
be put to death by religiously diseased people. So He gave them a
command that would undeniably set them apart: “A new command
I give you: Love one another. . . . By this everyone will know that you
are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35).
« 135 »
It’s almost strange that Jesus

would call it new. It’s bizarre to Whether we like it
imagine that a joy-filled spiritual or not, God says that
family of love would somehow a loving community
be novel. Yet it reveals the spiri- is the single greatest
tual landscape from which Christ revelatory attribute of
sought to distinguish Himself. His church.
And I’m not convinced that the
spiritual landscape of today is much different than that of Christ’s
time on earth.
Many modern church leaders would prefer to modify Jesus’ com-
mand to: “Preach great Bible-based sermons, and by this all men will
know . . .” But that’s not what Jesus said. Still, others would modify
God’s Word to say, “Have deep prophetic worship experiences speck-
led with miracles, and by this all men will know . . .” Still others would
modify God’s Word to say, “Have relevant church services . . . and by
this all men will know . . .”
And, yes, I believe these are important facets of healthy Christi-
anity. Whether we like it or not, God says that a loving community is
the single greatest revelatory attribute of His church. Yet, it’s sermons
and worship experiences and theological debates that modern-day
Pharisees worry about most.
The real reason religiously diseased people fret over these things
is because they ultimately don’t believe that the grace of Jesus Christ
is good enough. Their fears and
insecurities drive them to numerous
destructive behaviors. And here are The real reason
a few that we covered in the first half religiously diseased
of the book: people fret over these
things is because
• Religiously diseased people they ultimately don’t
motivate themselves and believe that the grace
others using guilt rather than of Jesus Christ is
kindness and grace (Titus good enough.
2:11–12; Matt. 13:44).
« 136 »
The Real Reason Religiously Diseased People Are Messed Up
• Religiously diseased people proclaim truth outside of the

context of loving friendship (1 Cor. 13:1; 1 Thess. 2:8).
• Religiously diseased people preach an obedience that comes
from obligation rather than faith (Rom. 1:5–6).
• Religiously diseased people bid us to “take up crosses” without
preaching a “joy set before us” (Heb. 12:2).
• Religiously diseased people want to be like God through the
pursuit of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:5) when only
the Christ of Scripture can make us like God (John 5:39–40).
And He does this by living in us (Col. 1:27), not by our
command of theology.
• Religiously diseased people find their identity in doctrines and
methods, rather than in the one “who loved [us] and gave
himself for [us]” (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3–4).
• Religiously diseased people create unity through uniformity of
thought rather than through love.
Corporate Spiritual Diseases

You’ll notice that most of the maladies mentioned above affect your
personal experience of Christianity. I call them personal religious
diseases. But as we moved into the latter half of the book, we discov-
ered corporate religious diseases that have a much more profound
effect on those around you. So here are a few other dysfunctional
ideas that religiously diseased people engage in:
• They believe that the worship God delights in is a church-

service format rather than a lifestyle or attitude of the heart
(John 4:23). They even think that church-service formats are
a measurement of the Holy Spirit.
• They think the church exists for Christians rather than for lost
sheep (John 15). This leads them to value worship and sermon
formats that coddle the righteous as opposed to help the sick
(Mark 11:15).
« 137 »
• They think that church services are the summation of a church’s

gospel rather than a small slice of a greater whole. They believe
they can tell if a church is Bible-believing or filled with the
Spirit by its church services or sermons rather than the lifestyles
or fruitfulness of its people (Matt. 7:16).
• They obsess over isolated purposes for God’s church as though
their narrow approaches outline the most spiritual way to be a
Christian. Thus, they don’t choose their church based on how
balanced it is or how it stretches them. Rather, they choose it
by how much it scratches their preferred gospel agenda. They
conceal their crass consumerism under the false pretense of
defending “pure” spirituality.
• They protect people by making gray areas of Scripture black
and white. Or they create community rules as a shortcut
to c ultivating individual discernment, not realizing their
protections become prisons (Acts 15:10).
No matter who you are, you will struggle with a few of these
religious diseases throughout your life. No one is exempt. And
you cannot combat religious diseases with cynicism, bitterness, or
thoughtless critique. Ironically, those are the very ingredients that
foster religious diseases in the first place.
That’s why Peter echoed Christ’s new command by saying: “Above
all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of
sins” (1 Peter 4:8). Peter knew that everyone makes mistakes, himself
included. Eventually, someone else’s sin is going to slap you in the
face or make your life harder.
So remember this: The most The most accurate
accurate measure of your maturity measure of your
is how well you react to another maturity is how
person’s brokenness. The deeper well you react to
your trust in Christ, the easier it is another person’s
to remain an innocent child of God. brokenness.
And that’s what I want for all of you.
« 138 »
The Real Reason Religiously Diseased People Are Messed Up
Life is too short to be bitter, wounded, or cynical. You may not

come from a healthy church. You may not be able to make sense of
the current pain in your life. But God can make sense of it all. He
loves you, and He longs to make you a part of His family.
The church is not a perfect place. And quite often Christians do
a terrible job at reflecting His true nature. Perhaps now you’ll under-
stand that our heavenly Father has His arms open wide—not because
you have done all the right things, but because He has compassion
on all He has made. And once we understand that it’s not about us
but Him living through us, there simply isn’t anything left that can
become diseased. Why? Because “you died, and your life is now hid-
den with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3).
So let’s become Christ to the world. And then let’s party for all
eternity.
« 139 »
About the Author
A lthough only in his mid-thirties, Pastor Peter Haas

has already become a well-known pastor, author, and conference
speaker. After experiencing a radical conversion to Christianity
while working in a nightclub as a rave DJ, Peter has travelled the
world sharing about God’s miraculous passion.
After a decade of pastoring in Wisconsin, Peter and his family
relocated to Minneapolis in 2004, planting an arts-oriented, multisite
church called Substance (SubstanceChurch.com). In just a few short
years, Substance has become one of the fastest-growing and most
youthful megachurches in the United States. Over 70 percent of the
thousands who participate in its community are younger than thirty
years old. Known for its progressive worship, cell methods, and obvi-
ous appeal to unchurched twenty-somethings, Substance is making
waves in the modern church world.
Peter consults with church planters all over the globe as he
partners with the Association of Related Churches (ARC). With a
unique blend of comedian, futurist, and Bible teacher, he regularly
speaks at pastors’ conferences and college events on topics ranging
from spiritual growth to progressive church methods.
Beyond family and church, his next greatest passions are music,
film, and stand-up comedy. He’s an avid fan of indie rock. Playing
just about every instrument, from cello to electric guitar, he spends
most free nights in his recording studio, writing everything from
electronica worship to classical film soundtracks.
Peter currently resides in Minneapolis with his wife, Carolyn,
and their three kids. Visit PeterHaas.org or SubstanceChurch.com
for his thoughts on church, life, theology, etc., and to download
« 141 »
books, sermons, and other free resources. You may also follow
him on T witter (@PeterHaas1) as well as Facebook (Pastor Peter
Haas).
« 142 »
Notes
1. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Marler’s research estimates 20.4 per-

cent. The American Church Research Project argues 17.5 percent.
http://www.hartfordinstitute.org/research/fastfacts/fast_facts.
html#attend.
2. David T. Olson, The American Church in Crisis (Grand Rapids,
MI: Zondervan, 2008).
3. See http://leadnet.org//blog/post/my_take_on_church_attendance_
and_the_nones; or, check out: David Kinnaman, You Lost Me:
Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking the
Faith (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2011).
4. Olson, The American Church.
5. We tend to see the Pharisees as the apex of legalism. Yet, many
scholars argue that groups like the Sadducees were, in fact, more
legalistic. For example, Pharisees were often accused of being
“slippery” in their theology because of their acceptance of char-
ismatic mysticism and a broader canon of Scripture. Pharisees
also took a position on sovereignty theology that contemporaries
often felt was “dangerously ambiguous” by refusing to subscribe
to the predestination of the Essenes or the extreme free-will of
the Sadducees. Ultimately, there are always exceptions to these
stereotypes.
6. J. I. Packer, Concise Theology (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House
Publishers, Inc., 1993).
7. L. H. Powell, L. Shahabi, and C. E. Thoresen, “Religion and
Spirituality: Linkages to Physical Health,” American Psychologist,
58 (2003): 36–52.
« 143 »
8. A recent University of Chicago study known as “the most com-

prehensive and methodically sound sex survey ever conducted”
found dramatically higher rates of “the Big O” in women who
attend church services “religiously.” This echoed a 1940s Stan-
ford University Study and a 1970s Red Book Magazine survey that
found higher levels of sexual satisfaction “among women who
attend religious services religiously.” Cited from William Mattox,
Jr., “Aha! Call It the Revenge of the Church Ladies,” USA Today
(February 11, 1999).
9. In case you’re not up on your biblical vocabulary, tithing is a bib-
lical teaching of giving the first 10 percent of your income to
your local church. Then, God supernaturally enables you to do
more with your 90 percent than you were ever able to do with
100 percent (Mal. 3:10; Matt. 23:23; Prov. 3:9–10; Prov. 11:25–26).
I realize that many people have felt abused by tithing teachings.
If that’s you, I’m really sorry. The disciples of the early church
(those in the first two hundred years of the church) did, in fact,
teach tithing as a starting point for new believers. However, they
also taught it as a celebration, not an obligation. It was taught
in a similar way as prayer. Prayer doesn’t get you into heaven. It
doesn’t make God love you more. But, it clearly has supernatu-
ral implications. And it dramatically affects what your church is
capable of doing. Also keep in mind that the average American
church spends between six hundred and one thousand dollars
per attender per year (that’s primarily electricity, heating/AC,
basic programming, and the cost of your chair). So, hopefully,
you won’t pull your heart or your finances back from God’s work
just because you’ve encountered a few lemon pastors.
10. See the site www.globalrichlist.com to see where your income
lines up.
11. Dr. H. Norman Wright, renowned marriage and family therapist,
found that “testing out a partner sexually” increases divorce odds
to 75 percent; see One Marriage Under God (Sisters, OR: Mult-
nomah Publishers, Inc., 2005).
« 144 »
N ot e s
12. See Jan E. Stets and Murray A. Straus, “The Marriage License As
a Hitting License: A Comparison of Assaults in Dating, Cohab-
iting, and Married Couples,” Journal of Family Violence, vol. 4,
no. 2 (1989): 39; see also http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED296193.
pdf (1988; accessed 2012).
13. Ibid.
14. Wright, One Marriage Under God, 100.
15. A study quoted by Linda J. Waite and Maggie Gallagher, Talk
(October 2000): 155.
16. A 1982 UCLA study and a University of Connecticut study found
that non-religious women felt greater inhibition due to a feeling
of increased sexual risks (e.g., fear of contracting STDs, etc.).
17. Reported by David Larson of the National Institute for Health
Care Research.
18. This idea was given to me years ago by a pastor named Jess Strick-
land. So simple, yet profound.
19. See D. Michael Lindsay/Gallup Research, Friendship: Creating a
Culture of Connectivity in Your Church (Loveland, CO: Group
Publishing, Inc., 2005).
20. One of the largest church health and growth studies ever found
that “holistic small groups” within a church have a profound
effect. See Christian Schwartz, Natural Church Development
(Saint Charles, IL: Churchsmart Resoruces, 1996). This syncs
quite well with Michael Lindsay’s friendship study in 2004. Ironi-
cally, church size has little to do with church intimacy and odds
of authentic relational health.
21. E. A. Colon, A. L. Callies, M. K. Popkin, and P. B. McGlave,
Psychosomatics (1991): 32, 420–25. For further examples, see
Will Miller, Ph.D., Refrigerator Rights (New York, NY: The Berk-
ley Publishing Group, 2002), 137–43.
22. Jolanda Jetten, Catherine Haslam, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nyla
R. Branscombe, “The Social Cure,” Scientific American Mind,
(October 2009): 28.
« 145 »
23. J. Lynch, The Broken Heart: The Medical Consequences of Loneli-

ness (New York: Basic Books, 1977), 239–42. See also A ugustine
J. Kposowa, “Marital Status and Suicide in the National Longitu-
dinal Mortality Study,” Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health, 54 (2000): 254–61.
24. Jetten, Haslam, Branscome, “The Social Cure”: 28.
25. Jonah Lehrer, “The Buddy System: How the Medical Data Re-
vealed Secret to Health and Happiness,” Wired Magazine, Issue
17.10 (2009), 1.
26. Ibid.
27. Hardwired to Connect: The New Scientific Case for Authoritative
Communities, a report to the nation from the Commission on
Children at Risk, published by the Institute for American Values
(2003), 19.
28. Although we snicker about this story as though it was an over-
reaction, I’m sure it was a bigger deal back then.
29. Some scholars estimate that 12 legions equaled about 72,000.
That’s a lot of angels.
30. Lindsay, Friendship.
31. For one example, see Lindsay, Friendship.
32. See Christian Schwartz, “Quality Characteristic #6,” from the
classic church growth book Natural Church Development.
33. See Lindsay, Friendship.
35. Sources: Elizabeth Cornelio, Brian Mills of Interprayer, and
Hildegard Schneider of Bad Nauheim. Reported in Friday Fax #9,
26, and 37 (1999) as cited by James Rutz in Mega Shift, (Colorado
Springs, CO: Empowerment Press, 2005), 70.
36. Although Augustine is often credited with saying this, Ruper-
tus Meldenius is usually the individual that scholars credit (circa
1627).
« 146 »
N ot e s
37. There are many varieties of models illustrating “theological strat-

ification.” One of my favorite alternatives is the diagram found
in the book Your Primary Purpose by Ted Haggard (Lake Mary,
FL: Charisma House, 2006), 35–44. Some of the ideas here were
influenced by Haggard’s model.
38. For example, in 1 Corinthians 14:34, Paul wrote that women
should be silent. However, in the context, he’s also telling all sorts
of other groups to be silent under certain circumstances, from
tongue talkers to prophets. Also, we see in the book of Acts that
Paul happily works with female prophets. In other places we see
Paul giving instructions to female prophets. So, when Paul says
that women should be “silent,” is this a statement about how
God universally designed women, or is it simply instruction to
another group that needs to understand when speaking is ap-
propriate (like tongue talkers and prophets)? In order to answer
this, we must bring our assumptions to the text, as well as de-
cide what to do with the other texts that confirm or deny such
inferences.
39. For example, most speculations, such as arguments about pre-
destination or free will, require us to answer questions that go
beyond Scripture—such as How literally or figuratively do we in-
terpret certain passages of Scripture? or Who determines when we
apply a literal or figurative approach to interpretation? Even then,
speculations require us to add numerous inferences together:
A + B + C + D = Your Speculation.
40. Robert Epstein citing Barbara Morrongiello’s University of
Guelph study “What Makes a Good Parent,” Scientific American
Mind, (November/December 2010): 49.
42. This example is classic “family systems theory.” For more, read
Edwin H. Friedman’s brilliant treatise, Failure of Nerve (New
York, NY: Seabury Books, 2007).
« 147 »
43. Numerous studies confirm similar results for churches between

years fifteen to twenty. For examples of such studies, see Win Arn,
The Pastor’s Manual for Effective Ministry (Monrovia, CA: Church
Growth, 1988), 41; or “Churches Die with Dignity,” Christianity
Today (January 14, 1991): 69; or Olson, The American Church.
45. Churches with free-market cells (affinity-based ministry groups)
have greater ministry opportunities that sync with people’s gift
mixes and passions. For example, see Schwartz, Quality Charac-
teristic #2, Natural Church Development.
46. As one example, see Daniel Goleman, Annie McKee, and Rich-
ard E. Boyatzis, Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emo-
tional Intelligence (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing,
2002), 7, 10.
47. Schwartz, Quality Characteristic #8, Natural Church Development.
48. For an expanded version of this story, see Billy Hornsby, The
Attractional Church: Growth Through a Refreshing, Relational,
and Relevant Church Experience (Nashville, TN: FaithWords,
2011), 22–24.
50. Ibid.
51. This number comes from a 2007 Harris Poll.
53. It’s critical to note that they all had Grecian names.
« 148 »

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With an entertaining blend of social-scientist-meets-sage,

Peter Haas provides a penetrating look at our faith that

Although only in his mid-30’s, Pastor Peter Haas

has already become a well known pastor, author

and conference speaker. After experiencing a radi-

cal conversion to Christianity while working in a

nightclub as a rave d.j., Peter has travelled

the world sharing about God’s miraculous

passion. Since relocating to Minneapolis,

Minnesota in 2004, Peter planted an arts-

oriented multi-site church called Substance. In

Craig Groeschel, Senior and three kids.

“When trying to live righteously becomes a way to earn God’s acceptance

Copyright © 2012 by Peter Haas

Published by Influence Resources

Published in association with The Quadrivium Group—Orlando, FL

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

Foreword by Greg Surratt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

L et me start by saying that I love Peter Haas. I love his

Jesus Still Goes to

Did you know Jesus goes to nightclubs? I’m not implying

f­undraisers for local churches. De-

things there that they didn’t seem

friend on Wednesday nights. But we were a terrible combination. In

The Night Jesus Went Clubbing

Suddenly, I came to the terrifying realization that just maybe

Although around 43 percent of

of course). My wife was probably the first pastor’s wife in America

The Art of Pharisectomy

In fact, last month I talked to a thirty-five-year-old who had

Requirement #1: Keep a Sense of Humor

Requirement #2: Don’t Let Your Youngsters Read

Requirement #3: Don’t Use This Book to Judge the Weird

before I finished, I looked down to a

How I Became an Urban

T he first time I ever cussed into a church microphone

The Pharisees were a well-respected group of people. After two

In contrast, the Pharisaical school of Hillel was a bit more relaxed

to do. He did it joyfully because he

Pharisaical faith is a lot like threatening your kids at a sports

A Riverdancer Having a Stroke

the strangeness of it all, I kept thinking to myself, “What do I know

(1 Sam. 16:7). If only Christians

How to Make Jesus Mad

Instead, Jesus was arguing for a more accessible worship expe-

The Urban Legend

Chapter One in Review

2. If you had a Christian upbringing, in your opinion, did you come

For a season, my wife and I decided we would only play

These ancient laws may seem a bit absurd or extreme; however,

However, some Christians falsely assume that everything from

­ ithout kindness or a loving com-

The Legalistic Approach to God’s Law

The Grace-Driven Approach to God’s Law

• Feeling like you just won the lottery

You Are a Doorknob

Many Christians even turn their worship formats into an indis-

human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world

Chapter Two in Review

fundraisers for local churches. De-

ithout kindness or a loving com-

the firstfruits of all your crops; then

aturally results. You may call it semantics, but I call it a Pharisec-

embers are having incredibly bad luck trying to grow.34 Hence,

influences the model of church you prefer? (For example, how

5. Church becomes the ultimate distraction from God’s mission.