The Unsaved Church
Bono and Eugene
“There are no “successful” congregations in the Scriptures or in the history of the church.” Eugene Peterson, Practice Resurrection
Now wait a minute Dr. Peterson, scholar, pastor, linguist, internationally famous writer. Are you sure there wasn’t even one successful congregation? Now that you are in heaven, the next realm, having put off the perishable and put on the imperishable, would you like to revise your statement? It seems Dr. Peterson isn’t returning my calls. About face, congregation! Seems like we will need to dig in to see what this subversive Presbyterian pastor meant and why he put that word, “successful,” in quotes. Maybe a couple of windows into his soul will help us.
Peterson was widely read. He sold millions of books. He was such a great linguist that he translated the entire Bible from the original languages and called it The Message. Possibly you own a copy of said Bible. Pastors love to read it from the pulpit in order to explain what the Bible is attempting to say. Peterson started this translation when he was a pastor in Maryland. His motive was to get his parishioners to read the Bible. He wrote it in a more reachable English, starting with the book of Galatians.
Peterson’s entire career centered around word and sacrament. His book, Eat This Book[1] whets one’s appetite for the scriptures. I would go further—it makes you scramble for the nearest Bible—you can’t wait to read it. Peterson was one part struggling pastor who resigned from the church he started because he thought himself a failure. His elders talked him out of it and he stayed for many years.
He was also ambitious, driven, gifted in languages, and could have made a career of teaching semitic languages. He claimed that he didn’t know how to lead people in worship, how to lead them into the presence of God. This is a struggle that many clergy never get to and/or through. We are so often wrapped up in ourselves, our preaching, our goals—we forget the why behind it all. When he started writing and was published his books had great appeal to many “successful” pastors who admired him but didn’t have the gumption to try the semi-monastic life he lived. Count me among them. His book, The Pastor, is the crown jewel of his example—I have it beside me as I write.[2]
Out of admiration and curiosity, many “successful” mega stars and wannabe stars invited him to conferences drenched in celebrity and testosterone tempered only by the restraining power of the Holy Spirit. Audiences would listen in hushed silence as he would say, “The spirit of the megachurch is the spirit of antichrist.” And the congregation gasped, they really did—I was in the room. After he finished telling them that the best life is one where we become irrelevant and unnecessary to what the “world” finds relevant and necessary, he spoke of living a subversive life, shaping the world from the inside out. The work of the pastor is to do the slow but urgent and vital work of spiritual formation, soul development into Christlikeness.
A conference presented an award to him. He politely smiled and left as quickly as possible to get back to his Montana home situated beside a beautiful lake where he would write, pray, take walks, and hand out bulletins at his church on Sundays. He once spoke about how these conferences sucked all the Jesus out of him and he would need several days reading Karl Barth to recover his spiritual equilibrium. I might say here, not because he was so holy, but because he was so human.[3] To any man, not just a holy man, praise and celebrity is spiritual kryptonite, it slowly takes away your strength.
Peterson advised pastor friends not to ascend the ecclesial heights and take big churches where the lights shine bright. Like Icarus, you get caught up in flight and drift into the sun and melt. Peterson stayed in his medium to large congregation of five hundred for twenty-five years until he became a professor. At retirement, he separated himself to translate The Message in his Montana retreat. Peterson fought the good fight to stay out of the limelight, and it was a true battle because the world came for him. Pilgrims would arrive in his hometown of Kalispell where he grew up the son of a butcher. They would ask where the Peterson’s lived and I am sure some locals had never heard of Eugene or if they did, they gave people the wrong directions on purpose.
Bono.
He was pursued by conference organizers, publishers, editors, writers, film makers and even a few rock stars. The story is told and confirmed by him that Bono, yes, the lead singer of U2, loved Peterson’s books and the entire band wanted to spend time with him. On one occasion Bono invited Peterson to attend a concert and to spend several hours together talking about knowing God, et al. Peterson said, “Who is Bono?” Then after some deliberation turned Bono down. The interviewer of Peterson at that moment said, “Eugene, come on, it was Bono!” Peterson smiled, “No, it was Isaiah.” At the time Eugene was busy translating the book of Isaiah, Bono would need to wait. In due course, Peterson and his wife did go to a concert and they did spend time with the band. There is a video available on YouTube where Bono and Peterson are in dialogue concerning a Psalm, music, writing, and God.[4]
Toward the end of Peterson’s life he made a statement that might sum up his struggle to be just a pastor and stick to the most important work. “I’ve done a pretty good job of staying Eugene.” This means that he was continually fighting becoming what others demanded of him, what others wanted him to be, but he refused to become a celebrity. He didn’t want to be “successful.” What is also true is he had the financial freedom from book sales to be his own person. And he was famous, even if he didn’t want to be. But he just found himself successful, he wasn’t looking for it. When pressed, he would acknowledge that many pastors find themselves famous, successful, quite luminous, and forced to hire security. Dallas Willard said it so well, “If you do good work, people will notice.” Now I think you might know what Peterson meant by “successful.”
Success.
The human race suffers from the besetting sin of pride. This has its origin in the god of this world, Lucifer.[5] I think C.S. Lewis defined this as the tendency of one man competing with another man for the love a woman. A proud man, Lewis contended, will not only want to win the woman because he wants her. He would want to take her from his competitor even if he didn’t want her. The real prize for the proud man is winning—defeating all competitors. Winning just to win, winning when you don’t need to win, winning because it feels good to you. Winning at all costs, especially when it costs others dearly and does them damage. Greatness is winning when you must and walking away when you can.
It would not surprise you then, that the Christian world keeps track of the biggest, fastest, most awesome churches and pastors in the land. Conferences use these stars to fill seats and publishers use them to sell products, even providing the ghost writers. The stars are surrounded by support teams that translate “success” into followers, friends, likes, and subscribers. This creates an integrated monetizing machine that must be fed constantly with new subscribers, new products, new meetings, or music and films, in order to pay the salaries of those who work in it. And again, the church is swept away like Icarus, and we start drifting into the sun. There is an old saying, “nothing fails like success.” So, what was Peterson trying to tell us when he spoke of Subversive Christianity, of leaders being irrelevant and unnecessary? What he meant was, don’t be distracted, don’t be swept away, don’t insert the needle for the poisonous IV drip that will shrink your soul. Instead…
Doing the right thing in the wrong way.
What Peterson is getting at is that success, not in quotation marks, is the slow but urgent work of spiritual formation of people into Christlikeness. He told us that American culture is stubbornly resistant to the way of Jesus. American culture, good marketing and conscientious technique can lead to mass movements. Most often however, because of human frailty, the strength of the antagonistic culture, and the shallowness of character in church leaders, the movement sputters to a stop. Frankly, I am often astonished by how distracted, and not very serious many pastors and churches are regarding Biblical success. It pains me to say it, but I see a lot of leaders trying to stay out of trouble, not wanting to make waves. And I am not just speaking about in the wider culture, I’m talking about creating waves inside the church over trivial matters. For example, styles of worship, asking people to shake up their lives and end groups that have lost their productivity, and to start new ones that could produce more disciples. In most cases, not just more disciples, any disciples, how about one new disciple? Is anyone interested in kicking the devil’s ass? Then follow me! Sorry about that.
A word about the struggle for success.
The inscription on an old watch of mine said, “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” Galatians 5:17, NIV.
This is the battle ground and the fight is waged within a person. Real spiritual work is done right here, inside-out and outside-in—success is Christlikeness. Being Christlike is not about nice, it’s not passive, actually, it is rather nasty in nature. The competition is between the “flesh,” which is the human propensity or excessive desire to please oneself first, and the work of the Holy Spirit in a reborn soul.
The battle is moment by moment and it includes the body. The body is our delivery system to the world. That is why we are called upon by the same author to put our bodies on the altar as a living sacrifice. Sacrifice involved death, lots of blood, screaming, squirming, and the sacrificial person trying to escape the altar. Jesus himself didn’t go quietly into the night and onto the cross. He tried to get out of it, begged his Father to change his mind, and accused him of forsaking him. Jesus didn’t gain our attention because he was passive, but for who he was and is. For more detail on saying “yes” to God and living a transcendent life, read the two chapters in my book, Conversion and Discipleship on the Holy Spirit and change.[6]
Paul details out for us the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Paul would not get a good grade in grammar because he speaks of the Fruit of the Spirit, but used “Fruit” in the singular, yet he mentions nine characteristics, he should have used the plural. But he wanted to make a point. The fruit of the spirit is one thing growing inside us as the Holy Spirit does his work. [7]
You can’t see growth, you can only measure it.
The choice of fruit was intentional. It is botanical in nature. Before time lapse photography, you couldn’t see oranges get bigger, or tomatoes get brighter red, or flowers blooming. Just like you can’t watch your son get taller, or your waistline get larger. You can stand and stare, but you just can’t see it. You can notice it over time, and you can measure it. A young man or woman athlete can be faster at 16 than they were are 15, but if you asked them, “are you faster now than a year ago?” They would likely say, “I don’t know.” The only way they can tell is with a stopwatch. You can measure a tomato, you can get on a bathroom scale, and growth is real, it happens, but its nature is to so slow you can’t see it. This is how God works most of the time, it is the most common way we develop Christlike characteristics. It all begins with desires, then we begin to take action, go into training so to speak, then we form habits and those habits create new character traits in us.
All this is initiated and powered by the Holy Spirit.
The “fruit of the Spirit” is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These are all character traits, not skills. It is quite intentional that Paul doesn’t mention ministry skills. He didn’t say the fruit of the Spirit is leading, preaching, mission strategy, counseling, and no mention of skills even though spiritual gifts are skills. But without the foundation of Christlike character, skills are dangerous, they allow the highly gifted to use their power for nefarious purposes.[8] What is most dangerous is that much of the time they are not aware of what they are doing. The Pharisees were well intentioned, they thought they were saving the faith and their nation. Jesus warned them that they were destroying it.[9]
The Unsaved Church
The unsaved church is the one that has forgotten this basic work. They have failed to succeed because they have chased “success.” They have graduated onto other endeavors. They are caught up in the quest to be relevant, to be necessary to their communities, and to be respected and liked by non-Christians. They are in serious need of refresher course in what kind of characteristics Christ desires for his disciples. And, of course, the work he desires for us. The very best work of a parent is to raise a child, the very best work of a disciple is to make another disciple. Like begets like, look at family photos, members look alike, dress alike, and usually are committed to carrying on family traditions. When it comes to success, it is this work of Christ’s disciples to become like him. And as we obey him and do what he told us to do, the fruit of the Spirit grows in us. I could go on but let me leave you with three characteristics of Christlikeness that will change the world in which they exist—but they are not spoken of very often.
1. Christlike people don’t defend themselves when found to be wrong
In fact, they are thankful to be found out and will fulfill the Proverb, Correct the wise, and they will love you. Proverbs 9:8 NLT
It is right to answer an accusation made against you that is false. Lay out the facts as you know them, but then leave the final justice to God. This is what we call surrender—trusting God with our reputations. This particular proverb speaks to when someone is correct in their assessment of you. It is time to thank them for it. God often uses others to help us redirect our lives. This is another reason why honesty tied to Biblical knowledge is so vital in navigating our lives. It is a sign of immaturity and spiritual danger when we must lash out, hate, seek revenge because someone called us out and made us look bad.
2. Christlike people don’t feel they are missing something by not sinning.
It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich. Psalm 37:6
Mature followers of Jesus have learned not to love sin. So much that they no longer desire to sin in the normal course of a day. Of course, we all do, but it is not intentional and not relished by those who are ever increasingly Christlike. Young and immature people have a hard time not being where the action is. If some fine looking specimen of a man or woman is self-centered, they have a sense of privation when they are not exploring other options. They think, “What a waste my beauty is, it needs to be shared.” What Christlikeness does is reshape that self-centered mind and they find satisfaction, even joy in not even having that thought. If you are flying to New York City from Los Angeles, you don’t even need to think about flying to Seattle. Flying to Seattle is irrelevant, it doesn’t occur to you. A Christ-shaped person doesn’t desire options that take them outside of God’s will. They know that there nothing outside of God’s will that is good.
3. Christlike disciples find it easier and more natural to do God’s will than to not do it.
“Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:29,30 NTL.
At some point this can actually happen. The burden religion can put on a person is heavy. Religion makes a person guilty, performance driven, closed, and dishonest. Religion says, “Obey God and he will accept you.” That is a very heavy burden. Jesus taught and the gospel taught by his followers says, “God accepts you, loves you—and because of that—I want to obey him, it is my heart’s desire.” This is why Jesus says if you are defeated and fed up with religion’s heavy burden, “come to me, the burden is light.” There is a burden and it is the responsibility to submit to Him. Once a person is operating out of this new mind set of delight and desire, the way of Christ easy. Not always easy in the sense that there isn’t pain and resistance in you and around you. But it does mean that it is a joy to obey Him, to do life his way.
Bill Hull
January 2023
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Eat-This-Book-Conversation-Spiritual/dp/0802864902/ref=asc_df_0802864902/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312050258762&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16941143029827541525&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031088&hvtargid=pla-634073718397&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=61316180879&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312050258762&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16941143029827541525&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9031088&hvtargid=pla-634073718397
[2] The Pastor, A Memoir, Eugene Peterson, 2011, Harper One.
[3] Karl Barth Church Dogmatics was a Peterson favorite. Barth wasn’t very holy either, he moved his mistress into his home and convinced his wife that the young secretary was important to his work. Barth was a theological force on the European scene. He moved the theological continent from far left liberal to Neo-Orthodox. This was no small feat and Bonhoeffer was in the same camp. It was revolutionary for the church and theologians to follow Barth’s lead and to propose that when you read the bible, it has the potential to become the Word of God. Dr. Barth, by the way, an honorary doctorate, didn’t get all the bits right, especially about wives. Possibly he mistakenly thought he was living in Rome in the second century where faithfulness to your wife was optional.
[4] https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Bono+and+Eugene+Peterson+discussion&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:012597a2,vid:-l40S5e90KY
[5] Isaiah 14:12-14 the five “I wills” of Satan is his pursuit of domination over God.
[6] Bill Hull, Conversion and Discipleship, You can’t have one without the other. Zondervan, 2016, pages 101-140. You can get it the audio, digital, or hard copy. https://www.amazon.com/Conversion-Discipleship-Cant-without-Other/dp/0310520096/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18AOYXU8826N3&keywords=conversion+and+discipleship+by+bill+hull&qid=1674146951&sprefix=Bill+Hull+Conversion+%2Caps%2C145&sr=8-1
[7] Galatians 5:19-23.
[8] I Corinthians 13:1-3
[9] Matthew 23:1-15.
Wonderful. Thank you, Bill. This hits much of the discussions the ladies and I have during our weekly discipleship studies. Am excited to share this with them!