USING WISDOM TO LISTEN TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Certain sites are dedicated to restoring the spiritual success of the independent Baptist churches of the 1970's. The people in charge reason that if we will listen to the teachings of the greatest independent Baptist preachers of that decade, we will bring back their spiritual success. And the people who run these sites don't understand why they are failing.

The leaders back then followed a policy of covering up sin "for the good of the ministry." Eventually, they had to start criticizing Christians who objected to the growing sin. Criticism eventually turned to slander, and by the 1980's, their movement was in decline. Listening to the people who led that decline won't work.

But the people who run these sites believe that they also should cover up sin "for the good of the ministry." They truthfully tell of the successes of these great preachers, while censoring out any references to their failings.

And they do not understand why they are failing.

Using Wisdom to Ask the Right People

During the 1970's, a new Christian school opened every seven hours. As they began closing at an alarming rate, Bob Jones University, which had heavily promoted Christian education, tried to find out why. They asked the churches, the students, the leaders, etc., and were unable to find the answer.

God forbid that they should ask the teachers, who would have told them that the school and church leadership routinely sided with lying parents who wanted revenge on teachers who made their children behave. Christian schools became a death trap for their teachers, most of whom no longer attend church. There were few teachers with more than a few years' experience.

So why didn't they ask the teachers? Perhaps the teachers would have told them that their Christian colleges did not prepare them for the real problems of teaching (the parents), and that the teachers were trained to always have a good, loyal attitude towards leaders who did not deserve it.

It takes wisdom and humility to acknowledge that your methods and beliefs don't work, but it does get problems solved.

WISDOM AND KNOWING WHAT'S WRONG

In describing the failure of Christian schools and the activities of violent gangs at my college, something constantly shows up: the people who failed didn't understand what was wrong.

One Christian did an analysis of people who started new churches and failed, and he concluded: they usually didn't understand why they failed. When I talk to unsuccessful missionaries here in Mexico, I usually see that they don't understand what they're doing wrong.

Furthermore, when you try to tell them what they're doing wrong, they reject your explanation, because it is so different from what they believe. It takes wisdom (along with humility) to acknowledge that your failure is based on something you deeply believe but is still false.

APPLYING WISDOM TO FAILURE

One of the most colossal failures in American Christianity is the collapse of the Christian school movement. At one point in the 1970's, a new Christian school opened every seven hours. With better discipline and better academics, Christian schools were a major embarrassment to the jealous public school system.

And the churches got a side benefit, as the teachers also served in church ministries, teaching Sunday School, running bus routes, and volunteering in other areas. Plus, the spouses and families of the teachers were an asset to the church. It is no wonder that the Christian school movement thrived.

But today, most of them are gone, and most of the teachers don't even attend church. Time and again, enraged parents would get a teacher fired for making their child behave. Wanting the tuition money, Christian schools would get rid of Godly teachers and keep ungodly students (along with their ungodly parents). In my ten years of teaching, I observed that less than half of all Christian school teachers entered their third year. A Christian school teacher with twenty or thirty years of experience was unheard of.

"Wisdom is the principal thing" the Bible tells us; "Therefor, get wisdom." The consistent lack of wisdom of Christian school leaders destroyed what was once a mighty work of God.

APPLYING WISDOM TO SIN

One of the more puzzling parts of the four Gospels occurs when a person who was blind or had leprosy would approach Jesus for help, because Jesus would ask him what he wanted. Didn't Jesus know? And besides, wasn't it obvious? But what Jesus wanted was for the person to acknowledge what was wrong.

When I was in college, several students with large church bus routes organized violent gangs, with the encouragement of the college vice-president (a former Green Beret). When it came time for them to be expelled, they didn't understand why. They felt that they were the victims of a practical joke gone bad, and that their victims were partly to blame. The fact that none of them, including the vice-president, were disciples, nor that none of them feared the Lord, did not appear to be a problem for them.

A compromise was worked out: they would be suspended for one year, and the vice-president would be allowed to attach slanders to the records of the students who had opposed them. To the best of my knowledge, not one of them has ever obeyed the Biblical commands to get things right with their victims. And the result?

Despite their large bus routes, only one of them is pastoring today. One pastored for decades before his wife left him for another man. And as far as I know, none of them has ever figured out what the problem was. "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefor get wisdom" is a command they rejected.

THE THIRD GREAT PRINCIPLE OF FAILURE

"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefor, get wisdom." Proverbs 4:7

For a while during the 1970's, a new Christian school opened in the United States every seven hours. It was a common practice in those schools to get rid of Godly teachers who offended ungodly parents by making their children behave. As a result, these school kept ungodly students while losing Godly teachers. Today, the majority of those schools have folded.

I have mentioned freshmen who arrive at a Bible college and learn that there are only a few dozen students, and that the faculty are church staff. Incredibly, most of them stay, even after realizing that they were deceived.

I am amazed at the number of Christians who dislike their churches, but won't leave because their church forbids them. Stuck and unhappy, they waste years with no spiritual growth or success.

It is incredible how many servants of Christ cripple and destroy their own ministries by doing something stupid. No matter how Godly you are, without wisdom you're headed for failure.

Exalting Yourself Part 2

Thee are some very successful, unscriptural ministries run by wealthy televangelists who gain much of their wealth from poorly educated people. And these televangelists have something in common: self-promotion. The key to their success is teaching people how great the wealthy televangelists are.

As a result, churches are sometimes plagued by people who believe that they are authorized by God to glorify themselves by seizing control of ministries run by Godly people and taking all the credit. There might be exceptions, but in every case I know of, a person who seized a ministry that God gave to someone else ruined it. In every case in which the person held on to the ministry, it continued to succeed.

Jesus said that people who exalt themselves will be abased. It's hard to believe that when you look at the wealth and prestige of wealthy preachers, but their time is coming. And for their imitators in local churches, it often comes fairly quickly.