The Will of God

Having served decades as a pastor, I have struggled to answer a difficult question we all ask, “how do I know the will of God for my life?”  We are convinced that there must be some mystical aspect to the answer to this question.  We know and will readily say that God is concerned with what I do for a living, or whom I should marry; however, do we live in the awareness that God is concerned with it all?  He is concerned with our moment by moment decisions, and even the thoughts that captivate our minds.  Perhaps the more important consideration is if He is concerned with it all, how does that effect my life?  Do we allow this reality to shape our actions and our thought processes? 

A thorough exposition of John 15 leads to a conclusion that without being in the will of God, we can do nothing that has any lasting impact.  Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing.”  (John 15:5 NIV)  According to Christ, being connected to Him is how we live out His will.  In other words, it is impossible to either know or do the will of God if we are not connected with Him.  The key to knowing the will of God for our lives is to be connected to HIm.  Invest in a true, meaningful relationship with Christ and the will of God will come into focus.

I have discovered that while we are constantly asking the big questions about God’s will for our profession, relationships, and where we should live, we are missing opportunities every moment to be obedient to God’s will.  I have started asking myself anytime I start to struggle with those big questions, “what do you want from me right now God?”  That is a bit easier to answer.  We can know without any doubt that God wants us to love others, be honest and humble, and to control our thought life.  By focusing on the moment to moment will of God, the answers to those other life questions sometimes become clearer. 

I remember how excited we were in 2004 when we were beginning Light Over Europe Ministries (LOEM). We looked at the future with great expectations! For seven years we have ministered to children in the orphanages of Bulgaria; served the medical needs of people in Serbia; provided theological education for young ministerial students in Eastern and Central Europe; and seen hundreds of people give their lives to Christ all over the continent. We are so blessed to be involved in such an amazing ministry.

As awesome as these experiences have been, I have to say that I believe that 2012 will be our best year of ministry yet. God has given me a tremendous vision of how LOEM will be used by God to significantly penetrate the continent with the powerful message of Christ. We are blessed to have two gifted men join us as full time missionaries this year. Mike Vlajnic in Germany and Danko Dudok in Serbia will be leading efforts all across Europe focused on evangelism and church planting. We hope to see hundreds of people involved in these projects, and we are trusting God for the results. Stay tuned to the website for details all year long! To God be the glory!

Blessings to all,
Kevin Steger

Frustration

November 18, 2011
I have been inundated with attacks on my conservatism and Christian faith over the past
few days. It concerns me to think that we as Christians have acted so hatefully toward
people that we are now perceived by many who shape public opinion to be a societal
pariah. According to Rosie OʼDonnell, “Christians are a grave threat to America...” I do
not believe that her angry insults of Christians, any time she has a microphone, or the
despicable nature in which Christian characters are portrayed in almost any primetime
network television show are a result of hateful people who call themselves Christian. I
am sure that it is true that we have brought some of this insult upon ourselves by our
judgmental attitudes. However, there seems to be a deliberate effort in the realm of
popular culture to denigrate people who profess to follow Christ and the Christian faith
as a whole. People who hold to conservative political views are also being criticized
publicly by those who truly do have the power to shape public opinion. It is almost
impossible to watch an unbiased entertainment or news television program. It may not
be immediately obvious, but the liberal slant is always there, quietly, but no less
effectively shaping public opinion.
The real question is, “what does this fact say about our current societal reality?” The
conclusion is that we live in a post-Christian era. Europe has lived in this post-Christian
culture for the past sixty years. Now, we in the United States, have joined them. The
impact of a society shaped by Judaeo-Christian philosophy is now negligible in part
because we, Christ followers, have squandered opportunities to reach out to others with
the love of Jesus, but also because we now live in a society which has largely turned to
selfish materialism and cultural relativism. The American culture of our parentsʼ and
grandparentsʼ generations which was pervaded by personal responsibility has been
replaced by an entitlement attitude that is significantly less productive and more
susceptible to destructive influences.
The next logical question is, “what do we do now?” We, the Christ followers of today,
must live our lives the way Christ lived His, sacrificially. In Matthew 22:34ff, Jesus was
asked by the Pharisees, “what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus answered, “the
greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart...and the second
is like it, love your neighbor as yourself.” He went on to say that, “all of the law and
prophets hinge on these two commands.” This is what we must do now. We must love
the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And, with equal intensity, we
should love the people around us. It is frustrating for me to think that I cannot change
society as a whole, or how the world perceives conservative Christians. But, what I
must be willing to not only accept, but to act upon is Jesusʻ command. I must love God
and love others. If I am faithful in this, then perhaps I can make some kind of
difference. At least, I hope so.

I love this image. Just as a fresh young seedling needs nurture, people need nurture. Nurture is at the heart of discipleship. Jesus called Christians to nurture each other, especially Christian leaders to nurture young believers. Paul says in Ephesians 4, "¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. ¹⁶ From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

Jesus' plan for His followers is to provide for their growth, so that they might be able to have an impact on the lost world around them. When we, the Church, fail to be focused on providing for spiritual growth, spiritual transformation, we fail Christ. This is His call for each of us.

Light Over Europe Ministries is committed to providing opportunities for young Christian leaders all over Europe to learn and grow in their service to Christ. As a result, I will be in Andernach, Germany again, from September 10-16 to teach a basic Christian counseling course. Please be praying for all of the participants that they may be used by Christ to grow His church.

Blessings in Christ,

Kevin Steger

Faith vs Reason

Faith vs. Reason: A False Dichotomy?

There are probably twenty different views about the relationship between faith and reason in this very room. These views can be intensely personal and based in large part upon experience and education.

Evidentialists think that faith can be established on the basis of firm evidence. I think particularly about the growing field of creationism. I will refrain from making any statement as to its validity.

Pragmatists, like Blaise Pascal, think that faith can’t be founded on evidence but that it can nevertheless be rational because it is in our interests.

Fideists think that faith, by its nature, is irrational, that it cannot be supported by reason, but that this reflects the limitations of reason rather than of faith.

Skeptics think that faith cannot be supported by reason, and that this shows the limitations of faith.

The following quotations are representative of these diverse views.


William K Clifford, a noted 19th century geometrician and philosopher said,
“It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.”


Richard Dawkins, a 20th century British evolutionary biologist said,
“Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence.”


Benjamin Franklin, an important 18th century American practitioner of the scientific method, said,
“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”


William James, a late 19th and early 20th century psychologist and philosopher whose work included the seeds of Bertrand Russell’s and John Dewey’s pragmatism, said,
“Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is theoretically possible.”


Søren Kierkegaard, a 19th century Danish Christian apologist, devoted to anti-Hegelian thought, said,
“Certainty... lurks at the door of faith and threatens to devour it.”



Martin Luther, the most prolific of the protestant reformers of the 15th and 16th centuries, said,
“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding.”



Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French mathematician and Christian philosopher, said,
“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.”



Bertrand Russell, a prominent 20th century Welsh Logician, said,
“We may define ‘faith’ as the firm belief in something for which there is no evidence. Where there is evidence, no one speaks of "faith." We do not speak of faith that two and two are four or that the earth is round. We only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.”





Paul Tillich, a German American 20th century Christian existentialist philosopher, said,
“Faith consists in being vitally concerned with that ultimate reality to which I give the symbolical name of God. Whoever reflects earnestly on the meaning of life is on the verge of an act of faith.”


D Elton Trueblood, American Quaker Theologian of the 20th century, said,
“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”


Mark Twain
“Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.”


Voltaire, a witty 18th century French playwright and one of France’s most celebrated citizens, said,
“Faith consists in believing when it is beyond the power of reason to believe.”


Hebrews 11:1 (NRSV)
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.


The work to which God has called me, an evangelical ministry called Light Over Europe Ministries, which we started in 2005, has placed me in the synthesis of this argument between faith and reason. More correctly, I should say that this work has placed me in the middle of a landscape which is completely defined by the victory of reason over faith, as if there was a need for an all out war between reason and faith. Europe is a spiritual wasteland conquered by resentment for the church and everything it represents. Even many of the seminaries in Europe teach theology as nothing more than philosophy or even pure fantasy. The High Historical Textual criticism of the Germans has humanized God right out of the Bible. This view is pervasive throughout German theological education. The home of the protestant reformation has become the home of the secular reformation. Don’t misunderstand me please, I see a real place in Biblical scholarship for historical textual criticism. It strongly shapes my own personal hermeneutic. However, I stop short of the German critics.

I was on a German train one afternoon going from Frankfurt to Koblenz. I often try to situate myself on the train so that I sit by a young (a very relative term) German. In this case it was a 23 yr. old fraulein. As we talked, we got around to the always eventual question, “what brings you to Germany?” Please know that I am in no way ashamed to be involved in Christian ministry, not at all. However, I know that in these situations, when I respond thus, I must be prepared for the onslaught. Because it is inevitable. The first question is, “how can you possibly believe in God?” I respond as eloquently in my somewhat limited German as I can. Then, the discussion continues in English without missing a beat. She asks, “don’t the big bang and evolutionary theories show you the folly of faith in God?” I explain how both of those theories also require faith. There is not complete evidence to support either of those theories. And, finally, as always, the comment comes. “How can you support something that has been the cause of so much human suffering. Look at the crusades both Medieval and contemporary, and the inquisition. How can you explain those away?” Its at this point that the discussion often breaks down.

Europe’s a-spiritual landscape results from a post-Christian ideology. One which says, reason, or science, is the ultimate in the human quest for understanding. It is a landscape in which faith and reason cannot co-exist.

What about the United States? 40 years ago, 30-40% of the population in Europe claimed to be regenerated believers in Jesus Christ. Today, in the United States, the numbers are similar. My concern is that in 25 years or so, the US spiritual landscape will be like Europe’s today, with less than 1% of the population claiming a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. One of the reasons for the spiritual decline in Europe is that there the Faith vs. Reason dichotomy came to a rather violent conclusion. There is no need for faith. Scientific discovery will reveal everything man needs to know.

I want to revisit one of the aforementioned quotes. Blaise Pascal said,
“Faith certainly tells us what the senses do not, but not the contrary of what they see; it is above, not against them.” Pascal was a mathematician by trade, a child prodigy, finding mistakes in the geometry of Renee Descartes at the age of 13. Then, after an accident involving a four horse team and a coach in which he narrowly escaped with his life, he met God. As he was working out his own faith in God, he said that there was a wager worth taking. He said when it comes to believing in God, there is “a chance of gain against a finite number of chances for loss.” From here, his faith grew, believing as we have already seen that Faith is above reason. For Pascal as for many other important thinkers, Faith and Reason were and are not mutually exclusive.

During the American Revolution, Orthodox protestants turned to Francis Bacon to explain the use of reason and revelation together. Bacon was a rationalist, committed to a shrewd and analytic process which did not accept things unless they were founded on hard evidence. A process later known as the “Baconian Method.” Herbert Hovenkamp writes in his book, Science and Religion in America, that the Baconian method “symbolized the belief that knowledge about God and knowledge about the world are of the same kind, that in the process of investigating one a person always makes discoveries about the other.” Francis Bacon’s conclusions seem to be strongly impacted by the Apostle Paul who wrote, “God has revealed enough of himself in nature, so that man is without excuse.” Romans 1:20

A normal eventuality is that when we investigate the world, we consider the things that we cannot know, the things of God. Then as we investigate God, we must investigate scripture. In Germany, the textual critics conclude that the Bible does not accurately record truths about God. That any real investigation of God must come through purely philosophical exercise. German theology is now much more representative of Hegelian philosophy instead of Lutheran thought. Martin Luther considered the Bible to be not only spiritually but also historically authoritative. Hegel, arguably the most important of all German philosophers, said, “real truth is spiritual,” albeit not in the religious sense. His philosophy came to be known as Idealism. Hegel and his disciples promoted a way of thinking which says we can never really know God. That the truth of his existence is too ideal, to perfect for man to even relate to. This idealism applied to faith ultimately takes away the need for faith. Karl Marx would start with Hegelianism and end up in atheistic communism.

Soren Kierkegaard recognized the danger of Hegel’s views and defended faith against them saying, “the thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do; the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.” For Kierkegaard, real truth is not a matter of detached, abstract speculation. It was a matter of painful heart-searching.

Can a rational mind conceive of God?? Perhaps this question is where the problem lies. Any attempt to describe God with our limited human language will always fall short. In his book, Warranted Christian Belief, Alvin Plantenga comments on Kantian philosophy as follows, “the claim would be that Kant believes that our concepts do not apply to God, in which case we cannot refer to or think about him.” Alvin Plantinga is the John A O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and one of today’s leading epistemologists. His conclusions about this Kantian problem are as follows, “Kant believes there are two realms of objects; our experience is only of one realm, the realm of phenomena, which themselves depend on us for their existence; if we should go out of existence, so would they. That is because the phenomenal realm is somehow constructed by us out of the given, the data, the raw material of experience. The noumenal realm, however, is not thus dependent on us but is also such that we have no intuition, no direct experience of it. Finally, there is nevertheless a connection between the two worlds in that something like a causal transaction between the noumena and the transcendental ego produces in us the given out of which we construct the phenomenal world.” Plantinga says it much better than I can, faith and reason must exist together. Faith which cannot accept reason is incomplete, just as reason which leaves no room for faith.

What does this discussion have to say about our Wingate classrooms? Those classrooms which are full of impressionable students, some of whom are intensely interested in nurturing their yearning for spiritual knowledge. Other students simply do not have any room for faith in their life, it is irrational to them. Many of those students are in our religion classrooms only because they are required to be. How do we teach religion to a faith sterilized community of students? These past two semesters I have begun my Biblical survey courses by asking a simple question, “have you ever read the Bible, not all the way through, just at all?” Less than one percent of my students have answered yes. So, it seems reasonable to conclude that our classrooms have many students for whom faith has no meaning. How do we teach religion to a community of students who are themselves the result of an increasingly secular society? I am convinced that many of our students believe that faith and reason cannot co-exist. That the two concepts cancel each other out. As we teach religion without blatantly proselytizing, we must teach with passion, integrity, and authenticity. Our passion should flow from our own belief system and our own love for students. Our integrity must pervade our lesson plans, content, and the relationship built with students. And finally, our authenticity must be utilized to create a safe, open environment where we as teachers feel free to be personal, even intimate with our students about what we believe without insisting that they must also believe it. Rather, that authenticity and openness will create an environment in which our students will also feel free to investigate their own spiritual selves and perhaps even share their findings with their peers.

We must leave room in our hearts and our minds for both faith and reason. One without the other is inadequate. Our pedagogy must leave room for faith and reason. Our students must be encouraged to look at life as requiring both faith and reason. Remember what the Apostle Paul said, “for since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen by studying nature.”

Light Over Europe Ministries Blog Page, Initial Posting

February 10, 2009

The State of the 21st Century Church of Jesus Christ

by:  Dr. G. Kevin Steger, D.Ed.Min.

Light Over Europe Ministries, Inc.

www.loem.org

To All Who are Concerned-

Disclaimer:  I know that I personally have no position, authority, or mandate from which I may have a voice or right to speak about any perceived understanding of the condition of the contemporary church and expect that anyone should pay attention.  It is nothing more than a hope, that someone who also cares about the bride of Christ  will read this treatise and take action, that drives me to my keyboard.

Background:  

After 10 years of formal education and 3 degrees; twenty plus years in ministry in several different capacities in local churches in Texas; fifteen years as a teacher of college students in three different institutions of higher learning; and eight years of ministry on the European continent, it has become very clear that the church is in trouble.  Crisis seems to be the word of choice in our current political climate which is perhaps a bit extreme, but applied to the church, crisis, is the perfect word.  Crisis in the world-wide Christian Church??  Really??  Absolutely.  Unless the church changes its strategies and adjusts its practices and priorities it will simply cease to be a significant force in the world.  

The first mistake the church made happened early, it did not remain unified.  As a result there are literally thousands of different Christian groups across the world.  Some fall into the Catholic or Orthodox faith, while most others fall into that very large category called Protestant.  This division and its continuing fractures was not and is not God’s plan for the church.  (Ephesians 4)  

Upon reviewing the development and current condition of the church throughout the world it is very clear that the church has gone through cyclical changes.  The world currently includes expressions of the church at every stage.  Europe is post-Christian, where the church has principally lost its positive influence among people.  The church in North America continues to experience marginal growth in some areas, but it’s growth rate is woefully behind the population growth rate, and losing ground quickly.  In some third-world countries, eg. China, India, etc., the Church is rapidly growing, similar to the growth rate of the first century church, but these are exceptions rather than the rule.

Statement of the Problem:

As the church grew into the European continent, in the early centuries after the birth and death of Jesus Christ, millions of people became Christians and worshipped together in nondescript locations to avoid persecution. History reveals a change in the world’s attitude toward the Church.  The Roman Emperor Constantine made a royal decree which greatly impacted the church in the fourth century, making Christianity the state religion of the empire.  Purely by living in the empire, everyone was Christian.  The longer the church remained a state issue, the less invasive the message of Jesus Christ became.  Along with the tremendous damage placed upon the church by Constantine, the development of Church hierarchy, primarily expressed in the Papacy, placed a man-made chasm between God and the common man.  The priests and other leaders in the church mandated to the people, that they must approach God through an intermediary provided only by the church.  The Church took this position to maintain the viability of the Christian church and its institutional form without regard to its severe departure from the Biblical model. (Acts 2)  

Today, some of the most beautiful buildings in the entire world are church buildings found on the European continent.  These magnificent cathedrals were originally maintained by the people’s tithes and the administration of the world-wide Church. Due to this erroneous strategic change, they became empty relics which are now maintained by the government.  It remains to be true that there are people who are becoming Christians in Europe.  But, that growth is not happening as a result of the state churches.  Rather, a growing movement of evangelicals worshipping and serving the Lord in small groups is reaching the lost, getting closer to the Biblical model which never refers to the need for a building or any other institutionalization, with the exception of the offices of deacon, elder, and overseer.  (I Timothy 3)

The church in Europe, which at one time enjoyed world wide significance and power, has become insignificant.  If something does not change in the way North American churches are being promoted, started and operated, the same fate awaits them.  When a small group of people who are following Christ, remaining committed to the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, prayer, and communion, (Acts 2:42 ff) make the decision to tie themselves to an expensive piece of property and a building, the priorities of that church morph into something the New Testament authors would, were it possible, not even recognize as a church.  As a result of this new focus, the reason for the church’s existence and ministry became paying for the building and its staff, building the institution.  Sound familiar??

Plan for the Future:

The last best hope for humanity is the ministry of the Church.  Jesus taught this and provided for its perpetuation.  Therefore, there is still time for the church in North America and Europe to become significant again, but change must be the order of the day for the church.  The spiritual leaders of the church on these two continents today must look in two areas for guidance in operation and focus.  

The first and most important source for the church is the Bible.  Taking belief in the Divine inspiration of the Bible as preconception, there is no better place to find God’s plan for the growth and activity of the Church.  Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, recorded what the church was all about in chapter 2 of his work.  There it is stated that the church remained dedicated to four things; the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.  The result of this dedication was a dynamically growing church which would sweep over the entire Mediterranean world in a relatively short amount of time.  The second source for the church today is the still effective parts of the church in certain places in the world.  In China, India, Africa, as well as other third-world venues, the church is keeping pace with and surpassing the population growth rate.  How is it possible that the Christian population in these countries, which should presumably be doing church the way they were taught by the Western missionaries, are having success?  The answer is quite simple.  The spiritual leaders in these churches have remained focused as the church grows on the same four things as the first century church; dedication to the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, communion, and prayer.  In many cases, they have not made the fateful decision of anchoring the church to an expensive fixed location.  

There must be a renewed effort to train spiritual leaders in North America and Europe to start new churches the very way the first century spiritual leaders did.  They must be trained so that they have a full and functional understanding of the Bible and exegetical method to aptly teach the people.  They must be encouraged to begin these new groups as small house churches, which are freed up to function in what ever way is necessary in their particular environment and unique set of possibilities and parameters that will provide for the greatest possible impact in their communities.  The church must depart from the institutional method, the Bible does not encourage it.  Dr. Doyle Young, a church history professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in the late eighties and early nineties said it succinctly in the title of one of the chapters in his book, New Life For Your Church.  That title??  “God’s going to get us one day for those chandeliers.”

This has been recorded only for the purpose of encouraging the church toward growth and is in no way intended to single out any Christian group or growth strategy as ineffective.  Please accept it as such.

Kevin Steger