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Christian Excellence:  Is it That Important?

Orginally published on Thursday, February 22, 2007 at 6:00 AM
by Todd Rhoades

In the sect of Christianity I grew up in, and am currently on my way out of, there is a predominant attitude that excellence is not important in the church. There are the occasional exceptions to this rule, but by and large this is the way it is. Cutting corners is usually considered a bad thing in business, especially when it weakens the quality or presentation of the product. Now, I’m not saying that “the Gospel” is a product necessarily, but it is something that we want to put in front of people’s faces as much as possible (it’s called evangelism). Since I’ve never bought anything that someone tried to sell me forcibly, I doubt I would respond well to forcible evangelism. When Jesus met the woman at the well, he didn’t have to scare her with threats of eternal damnation. However, He did help her realize that she was a messed up person. Most of us know how that story ends...

Back to excellence. I’m constantly reminded of the man who gave 3 of his servants each a different sum of money to trade and invest. (Matthew 25:14-29) When the man returned, 2 of the men had used the money wisely to earn a return. The 3rd man simply buried his money, so as to take no risk and guarantee that he would not lose his master’s money. The master was happy with what the first 2 men did and displeased with what the last man did. Consequently, he took the 3rd man’s money and gave it to one of the other men.

If you’ve been at this blog for any amount of time, you know that it sickens me to see Christians living substandard. Kent Hovind thought he was above the law. Christians misunderstand and distrust science. It’s all very frustrating.

On top of that, Christians are criticizing other Christians for pursuing excellence.

But the question inevitably comes up, who determines excellence? What is “our best”?

I’ve been learning from my buddy Matthew, who blogs at exno.blogspot.com, that quality can be quantified. Of course, he is speaking in terms of biology, but I believe the principle applies to much more than that. So we must understand how the quality of our service to God can be quantified.

OK, I know that sounds confusing, so let’s go through it. I LOVE Chick-fil-A restaurants. I believe they are a high-quality fast food establishment. Now, if I think about it long enough, I can successfully quantify WHY Chick-fil-A gives me the impression of excellence. They always have clean floors, their staff is courteous, their fries are always hot, you can be in and out in under 3 minutes most of the time, etc. Now, we could go deeper and deeper quantifying management structure, top-down quality vision and leadership, but you get the point. Quality is directly correlated to quantities.

So, how does that relate to the Christian church? Is God the judge of quality, or is “thea world”? Could it be both? Could it be neither?

It’s the natural question to ask, right?

There are tons of things that God is silent about in the Bible. For instance, the early church never used big projector screens (duh, they weren’t invented). But they also never used hymn books. The early church met in houses and Jewish synagogues, not in church buildings. They wore robes, not suit-coats. They sang cultural Jewish styles, not contemporary Christian music (or classical for that matter). The early church did things much differently than even the most conservative of modern churches. The same with the reformers, the Puritans, the fundamentalists, etc.

But they did them in excellence! One of my favorite passages in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 2:1-5

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Now, some people use this verse as an excuse to NOT exercise excellence in the church. In fact, it means quite the opposite. Essentially, Paul decides to go in and preach a simple message to the Corinthians, rather than a deep theologically rich and impressive message (I liked Perry’s take on this in his post today). Instead, he came in with simplicity and spoke to them simple truths that they would much more easily respond to. But the key here is HOW Paul came to that decision. Look at his words:

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Paul knew his audience. This is key, remember this.

And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom

Note that Paul does not condemn a message that is expository, just one that is full of a bunch of opinion. Paul stuck to the primaries, and left his opinion on the secondaries out of the message.

that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

OK, that’s really good stuff, did you catch it? Paul was obsessed with making the message about GOD, and dedicating every part of it to pointing to Christ and making sure that it stuck! There’s no point in talking about Jesus in Spanish to an English speaking man. He won’t understand. Likewise, if you talk for 45 minutes in today’s culture, there’s a good chance that people won’t retain much of what you said (yeah, you can complain about how immature we are, and how the early church would listen to hours of preaching all you want. you’re just in denial about reality. Paul wasn’t). I’ve said it before, but a well placed illustration can be priceless for hearers. I’ve retained more of the Biblical principles listening to Andy Stanley than I have any other preachers (from all over the map, McArthur, Piper, Swindoll, J.R.Rice, the whole bunch).

Even in his simplicity, Paul teaches us a lesson about excellence and who judges it. God judges the excellence through our efforts, our obedience, and sometimes through results. If that means “the world” has developed a standard of excellence (for instance, piano playing. Certainly, “the world” has set a standard to use more than just your index fingers to play piano. This is a standard of excellence we would have no problem striving for), then so be it. You can’t reach them if you purposefully repulse them (I’m not talking about the Biblical “the world will hate you”. I’m talking about the attitude of “screw you ‘world’, we’d rather not have you in our church anyway, and we’re darn sure not going to up the quality of our service so you’ll come to church!” That goes for unchurched Christians as well).

Remember back in the parable of the talents (the 3 guys and the money). Notice how the master didn’t inquire into the methods of the 3 men in their quest to invest, he looked at the results. No doubt, the master would have been very upset if the men had used illegal practices to appreciate their money (much like we are to obey scriptural prohibitions in our methods of service), but assuming they followed the law, the master didn’t ask which stocks the men invested in, which brokerage firm they used, what the rate of return was, or any of that. He simply saw efforts and results. No doubt the efforts must not violate scriptural prohibitions, but effort does matter.

God works the same way, folks. Now, I’ll fight you tooth and nail over using methods prohibited in scripture to bring in crowds, but everything else if fair game. I liked this illustration: If God tells you that you have the entire Interstate highway to drive on, no traffic, just you, but tells you that you have to stay on the pavement, do it. But that doesn’t mean you have to keep it in a particular lane. WE’VE GOT THE WHOLE ROAD!!! Take advantage of it!!!

Excellence can be defined as our best. The best we have to offer in our service. If God has blessed you with enough money to buy a sound system that rivals the best in the business, why not get it? If God blesses you with talented musicians, use them!!! If God blesses you with a great video editor, take advantage of that!!! I’m not saying to be a bad steward of God’s money, but the fact is, when you are in charge of a church, you are responsible to NOT put obstacles in the way of a person’s salvation or worship experience. It fact, it’s your job to remove them (that’s why I love apologetics). If your sound system sounds like crap (and God has given you enough money to get a better one), or if your projector is worn out, or if your preaching style can be improved (something every pastor can help), and you don’t remove those obstacles, then you must take partial responsibility for someone tripping over the obstacles. Sure, it would be nice if every human being on earth wasn’t looking for reasons to run from God, but the fact is, we do. It’s a sin (I believe) to hand them excuses to use.

Excellence is quality. But the quantities of excellence must not violate scripture. God’s given us the road; why not use all the lanes? Wake up, Christians! God has called us to excellence!

(Lest I’m accused of taking the versed above out of context, the passage goes on to describe HOW they determined who needed what among the Christians who they taught. Paul also tells us that the more mature Christians are taught deeper information about God. This just goes to show how much God emphasizes giving people what they need. Christians today are bombarded with sex, more-so than any previous generation, due to online pornography, easy travel, etc. This is an example of an issue that all Christians face, and what the church needs to address. I’m a believer in small group classes to dive into deeper issues, and not addressing them in the main services. It seems that Paul knew this principle well.)

You can read more from Nathan here...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Nathan Rice lives in the southeastern United States and works in Information Technology.  He blogs daily at nathanrice.org on topics ranging from politics, church issues, science, and technology.


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  There are 7 Comments:

  • Posted by

    I’m all for excellence in all things church, in all the things we do in service of God.  I think most people who read here will agree with Nathan, God does call us to excellence.
    One point I’d like to see clarified is where he says “the quantities of excellence must not violate scripture.” As a counter point I’d ask, “How important is getting it right?”
    I correspond with an Episcopalian who is deeply involved in the current controversy about the place of gay Christians in the Church who says, that despite the depth of his involvement, he doesn’t see the issue as central to his salvation. To paraphrase him:
    When I arrive at the gates of heaven, I don’t expect St. Peter to say, You were on the right side of the homosexuality controversy in the Episcopal Church. Well done faithful servant, you may enter the Kingdom of God.
    He makes the point that arriving at one’s position on a controversial issue is, at least in part, an act of one’s intellect, as well as one’s faith.
    So I guess my question is, given that we all make mistakes in judgment, given that some people are blessed with greater intellect than others, given that many people are born without the mental capacity to accept or reject factual claims of any sort, and given that many human beings die before they can reasonably be expected to make a serious declaration of faith:
    How important is getting it right?

    This prayer by Thomas Merton, informs my own thinking.
    MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
    I do not see the road ahead of me.
    I cannot know for certain where it will end.
    Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
    But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
    And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
    I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
    And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
    Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
    I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

  • DanielR,

    I see your point.  I have one question though.  Are you essentially asking “what’s more important, getting it right, or doing it well?”

    If you are, I’d answer like this.  They’re both important.  Your point is well taken concerning people without the capacity to understand or comprehend truth, but for those of us who are given the critical faculty enough to determine both what is excellent (our best) and what is right (truth) are required to use those abilities to determine the answers to these questions.  It’s the old adage, “to whom much is given, much is required”.  I believe the opposite is true as well.

    Does that answer your question?

    Nathan

  • Posted by

    What a topic!  And I don’t know where to begin!  Paul does set the example for excellence that is God focused and actually simple.  I believe one contributing factor to less than excellence is the human tendency to make things complex.  It is like the small church with limited resources attempting to be like the mega-church offering multiple ministries.  I have pastored smaller churches where that was the tendency only to seem them flounder.  In my present work, I do my best to focus our energies where we do our best.  From time to time I have had to deal with sincere, passionate folks who want to start up a ministry - usually youth - and give them a realistic picture of the state of our church.  There has to be some changes first before we can move forward in excellence in new programs. 

    In buildings...well there is a tendency in many churches, to use the phrase - “if its good enough for the government” - to cut corners or even violate the law.  In my call to my present work, I inherited facilities that are aging and when maintenance is done we discover how many short-cuts were done in the past that make my head shake.  In a previous church, the parking lot needed expansion.  This required permits from the county which included approved engineer or architectural drawings.  One of the deacons suggested having a local guy come in and asphalt the area - no one would know.  I said no.  After I left that church and before another pastor came, the local guy came and paved the area over.  No permits.  No drawings.

  • Posted by Brian

    Nathan, I like your definition of excellence as giving your best.

    I think it’s important to be excellent as much as possible.  It also reflects Jesus - Mark 7:37 says: People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

    I know we’re not perfect like Jesus, but if Christlikeness is really what we want, then we should try to do all things well.

    One area this can really show up in is the worship service.  Good quality music can enhance worship, no matter what style you prefer.  What I mean by quality is simply that the musicians are actually talented enough to do a good job, the singers can actually carry a tune, etc.  It doesn’t need to be professional.  But I can tell you from personal experience that BAD music can greatly harm a worshipful atmosphere.  That’s not a judgment on the hearts of those involved - simply a judgment of talent or lack thereof.

    I want to be an excellent preacher and leader - not for the sake of pride, but rather for the sake of impacting the community in a positive manner for Christ.  If those outside the church see something done in a shoddy manner, they will generally not bother coming back.

    If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we do it all the time.  When we go to the restaurant, we want the service and the food to be good.  We want them to do everything well!

    Okay, that’s enough from me.  Thanks, Nathan, for bringing this back to our thinking.

    Brian

  • Thanks guys for the kind words.  I’m glad to see this post served its purpose, and I appreciate the encouragement from everyone!  More soon to come!

  • Posted by Jan

    I think it’s very important to create a culture of excellence in our ministries.

    That said, I agree with the statement that we do the best we can with what we’ve got and that we don’t start ministries we can’t not only maintain but grow with excellence.

    I’m thinking about the above post referring to excellence in worship.
    I guess because I’m the worship leader/ director.

    We are a small ministry, always trying to improve in this area. But we frankly don’t have the best musicians around.  I think we do a good job with what we’ve got and we are getting better at it.

    Is it excellent?  Nope.  And we do give opportunities to lead in worship to individuals who in larger churches probably wouldn’t be given the time of day.  Is that a mistake?  No I don’t think so.  They aren’t terrible, they’re just not the most trained, well excellent musicians. But the heart is there and the desire for excellence is.

    Anyway, size and resources do matter unfortunately when we discuss how excellent we can be.

  • Posted by

    Nathan, thank you for your thoughts.  I agree it is important to do our best in our ministry efforts.

    I have been taking a bashing lately for supporting/defending the Episcopal church in their recent struggles and perhaps I am a bit oversensitive.  Your terminology re: the quantities of excellence must not violate scripture sounds like alot of what I’ve been hearing lately about TEC violating scripture.  They may indeed be on the wrong track, but I support their sincere efforts to understand and emulate Jesus’ love and vision for His church.

    I agree that excellence is important in all we do for the Lord.  I’d love to raise my voice and lead the congregation in song, but the pained looks brought on by my inability to carry a tune tells me that is not my calling.

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