Rethink: Religious Appearance, the Jesus Revolution, and a Retreat
This month let's question the power of the Gospel versus a religious appearance, ponder the Jesus Revolution, and explore what it might look like to retreat.
Rethinking Faith: August 2023
Welcome to the August issue of Rethinking Faith. Today we will question the true power of the Gospel and compare it with mere religious appearance, ponder the Jesus Revolution movie, and explore the purpose and possibility of retreat.
“They will maintain the outward appearance of religion but will have repudiated (denied, refused to accept) its power. So avoid people like these.” 2 Timothy 3:5
It started with a sermon that I heard last Sunday about 2 Timothy 3:1-5. The speaker walked through a list of behaviors that began with being lovers of self and ended with not loving God. The words focused less on outward actions, and more on inner attitudes and motivations of the heart.
“For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God”
(1 Tim 3:2-4).
At first glance this list of sin and brokenness seems to be associated with the corrupted world in the last days. Then you get to verse five and realize that these people are maintaining an outward appearance of religion while their hearts are refusing to accept the transforming power of the Gospel.
They are inside the church.
I wrote some thoughts on Instagram as I processed my feelings.
Do you know what I hate?
That so many people have stories of abuse and trauma from within churches. That there is a familiar storyline of people who have been removed from church leadership for asking questions and/or pushing back. That leaders who are unethical, abusive, and power hungry stay in positions of power even when others in the church know what they are doing because no one can or will stand up to them.
I hate that many people across the country (and probably world) can read those words and wonder how I could possibly know what’s happening or has happened in their church. That people can automatically assume I’m talking about various specific churches because this is SO common.
But read Paul’s letter to his young friend Timothy. This garbage is not new. People love power and money and self more than they love God. They appear to be religious, but haven’t actually been changed by the Spirit. And what does Paul tell Timothy? Avoid these people.
Many abusive church leaders are entrenched. They’ve surrounded themselves with “yes men and women” who will never hold them accountable. They are nearly impossible to remove.
So maybe it’s time we just leave. Don’t ignore abuse. Don’t stay in a place that ignores it. Leave. Avoid such people.
The church was never meant to be a business led by a CEO. It’s supposed to be a body. It’s an organism not an organization. It’s a collected gathering of believers not a person on a stage speaking to spectators and fans.
I don’t know how to fix the corporate church or really even change it, I just know that it’s broken. But I also know that the body of Jesus—the true Church— is alive and well in coffee shops, living rooms, college dorms, parks, and more as believers gather to talk, question, dig, worship, and pray.
So I have hope.
“It's not something to explain. It's something to be experienced.”
Chuck Smith in the Jesus Revolution movie.
I finally watched the Jesus Revolution movie this last week with my husband. As Christian movies go, it was pretty good. I definitely walked away thinking and needing to do more research.
If you haven’t seen it yet, Jesus Revolution is based on a book with the same name by author and pastor Greg Laurie. It tells the story of a revival that spread among young people and hippies in the late 60s and early 70s. The book and movie focus on three people: Chuck Smith, an older straight-laced pastor that learns to accept and love people who are different from him, Greg Laurie, a teen that meets Jesus after joining a hippie crowd and lifestyle while looking for truth, and Lonnie Frisbee, a complicated hippie preacher with a past that he can’t shake, an ego that gets in the way, and an enthusiasm for Jesus that reaches others.
I’m still thinking about the movie and characters days later and I’m wondering.
Lonnie reminds me of people I’ve known with charismatic personalities who draw people in and get them hyped up, but then who turn out to be terribly broken individuals. After research, I learned that the real Lonnie struggled with drug addiction his entire life. Married to his wife Connie for a while, he also dabbled in homosexual relationships his whole life before dying from AIDS in his early 40s. Although the movie doesn’t talk directly about Lonnie’s drugs or relationships, it does show his large ego and his belief that without him, there isn’t a movement. You see a man who starts out wanting the focus on Jesus and ends wanting the focus and attention on himself.
From what I’ve read, Evangelical leaders at the time knew about Lonnie’s failures and struggles, but they ignored them and chose to focus on the good he was doing. This is frighteningly familiar as we’ve watched Christian leaders fall like dominoes in the last few years. And yet, God used Lonnie.
That’s the paradox I keep running into. God used him to soften Chuck Smith’s heart towards the young adults and hippies who didn’t wear shoes, smelled funny, and came to church with their questions, addictions, and brokenness. God used Lonnie to reach Greg Laurie who went on to preach the gospel to thousands of people through his church and Harvest organization.
As much as I want clear cut, right and wrong, obvious answers, I’m starting to think they don’t always exist in our broken world.
In Matthew 13, Jesus tells his disciples that the kingdom of heaven is like wheat and tares being sown in the same field. The word “tares” is understood by most scholars to be darnel, a poisonous weed that looked uncannily like wheat until the very end when the ears of grain appear on the plant. In the parable a farmer plants a field of wheat, but at night an enemy comes in and sows darnel as well. It’s impossible to tell the difference until the harvest comes. The farmer doesn’t want his wheat ruined so he lets them grow together and then at harvest he has his workers pull the darnel first and burn it before they harvest the wheat.
It’s crazy how God can use anything to further His kingdom, how His salvation doesn’t depend on our behaviors, and how He knows exactly how to separate the good from the bad at the end. It’s humbling. But I’m grateful.
Rest and Retreat
Earlier this week I had an opportunity to escape to this little farm that a couple has set up for Christian retreat. They have created a beautiful space meant for meeting with God, resting, and coming away refreshed. I had four hours to spend at the farm and I thought I was going to see how God might use me and this place to encourage others.
The owner showed me around the farm, talked a bit about creating it and the purpose behind it, and then let me into this gorgeous barn basement apartment that she wanted me to use for the day. The whole back end was a giant screened porch with cushioned chairs and wicker swings hanging from the ceiling. If I’m honest, my heart was feeling kind of skeptical at first, even a little judgmental. Then she left me alone and I just started crying. I walked around that apartment and cried for the first fifteen minutes of my four hours without even knowing why.
My retreat ended up being all about me. The Holy Spirit met me in a very real way. I haven’t set aside time like that in a very long time. I prayed, read Scripture, listened to worship songs, walked the property, and took a nap. It was beautiful. The Spirit confirmed some things, convicted me of other things, and spoke peace to my heart. And at the very end of my time, I had an idea: Hope Retreats.
I’m facilitating my first one in November. They are small, intimate day retreats for people who need to meet Jesus and have their hope restored. We will talk, pray, worship, eat, sleep, and have alone time with God.
We don’t take the time in our busy world that our bodies and souls need. We don’t take the time to enjoy the relationship with God that Jesus gave us. And we don’t take the time to relate to the Spirit we have been given. Time was a gift for me and I want to give that gift to others.
You don’t need a fancy barn or beautiful farm to retreat though. You can make it happen anywhere. I’d encourage you to give yourself the gift of time with God. It’s beautiful and totally worth it!
Thanks for taking a moment to rethink some of our religious traditions and beliefs. I know that it can be scary to deconstruct and reconstruct our faith, but finding the real Jesus is absolutely worth it. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts, questions, or comments.
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, my website, and on my podcast Looking for the Real God. I’d love to connect with you on any of these places!
You can also order an autographed copy of my book, “Religious Rebels: Finding Jesus in the Awkward Middle Way” by clicking on the button below.