Programs, Plans and Prayers

In the beginning the church was established and empowered by the Holy Spirit and given inspired instructions for it growth and development, but carnal and crafty men took control and changed it into something entirely different. Now the church is fallen, fragmented and false. It has become a curious thing, governed largely by programs, plans and prayers.

In 1937, a man named Napoleon Hill wrote a book titled Think and Grow Rich. The book sold over ten million copies and has influenced many - including Andrew Carnage, Clemet W. Stone, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuler and millions of others like them who have been committed to the positive thinking and success philosophy. Hill tells how he sat in a restaurant in Detroit, watching the rain form streams on a large windowpane and observing how they started out small, merged and increasing in size as they flowed down the glass. He was writing a series of small books on The Laws of Success, and these streams suggested seventeen titles. He wrote his books and summarized them later in his Think and Grow Rich.

The point I am making is this: Random thoughts need to be gathered up and formulated into plans, programs and prayers in order to make them coherent and communicable, but the church has gone too far; she has become enslaved to her programs, plans and prayers and neglect the inspired instructions given her. We shall spend considerable time later studying the divine instructions, but for now we need to look into these human functions. There is nothing original or inspired about these; they are copied directly from the social and business world.

The Programs

1. The Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) movement has a 12 step program for sobriety, which deals with confession, affirmation and growth. I commend them for both their program and their adherence, but it is regrettable how they become wedded to their program and defer living as they try to master it. “Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic,” they confess as they continue their struggle. Their aim is to “come clean” and grow, but by their self- depreciation they continue to relapse. Some are helped by this program, some succeed in spite of their program, and some become genuinely converted to Christ and don’t need a program. They serve a Savior not a self-help program.

2. The Weight Watchers also have a program that is so important to them that they spend more time studying calories and weighing food than they do enjoying life. Their adherents, who sincerely desire to lose weight, seem to overlook the simple fact that the best way to loose weight is to stuff less food into one’s stomach. If a diet program doesn’t work for them they look for another while they go on overeating.

The Plans

1. Those who teach must devise a lesson plan or find a work book that has one. Many teachers, just like many preachers, never learn how to analyze Scripture and develop an expository lesson. Eventually most of them discover that they are teaching a plan instead of the people, and they grow dull while the people become disinterested.

2. The Church of Christ has a five step plan of salvation. I talked with a members some time ago who told me how he had attempted to aid a seeker who had asked him what he would have to know in order to become a member of the church. “I told him that he wouldn’t need to know much,” the member related, “just the plan of salvation.” By that he meant, hear the Word, believe what you hear, repent of your sins, confess Christ and be baptized. This five step plan was introduced by Evangelist Walter Scott in the early days of the Campbell-Stone Restoration Movement. My brother could tell a man how to become a member of the “Church of Christ,” but I wonder if he could have told him about Christ? Can you imagine Philip giving the eunuch a five step plan when he wanted to know more about the Christ he had heard about in Jerusalem? Or Peter responding to the jailer’s question, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” by answering, “You don’t have to do much, just the plan of salvation?” I must not have been a very effective minister or I would have taught him better. Tell seekers and others with whom you speak what Philip told the eunuch and Peter told the jailer: “Believe with all your heart” and “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved...” Before someone reminds me of baptism, I hasten to say that both of these men were baptized; that was what people did in those days when they believed in Christ. However, this biblical mandate is not as popular in our time as it was in the beginning because churches have now finished their programs.

3. Grandma’s pan plan. John and Mary were married. John watched his new bride make her first pot roast. She cut off about one quarter of the roast and put the remainder in the pan. John inquired, “The roast is not very large, why didn’t you put it all in the pan?” Lost for an answer, Mary replied, “I don’t know; that’s the way mom always did it. I’ll call her and find our.” So she called, “Mom, why did you always cut off part of the roast before you put it in the pan?” Mom replied, “I don’t know, Mary, that’s the way your grandma always did it. I’ll call her to find out and I’ll call you back.” So Mary’s mom called her mother, “Mary wanted to know why I cut off part of the roast before I put it in the pan. All I could tell her was that that’s the way I have always seen you do it; can you tell me why, so I can call Mary back and tell her? “Why child,” grandma replied, “didn’t you know that my pan was too small?” For two generations grandma’s family followed a tradition without even knowing why.

The Prayers

1. The prayer wheel is a Buddhist aid to prayer. As they pray, they spin a wheel to convey their prayers to their deity(s). They may begin with a single wheel on a long handle, but they eventually pray before a row of wheels, turning them all as they walk by them. They depend on their wheel and pray from the wheel rather than from the heart, and the wheel becomes a hindrance rather than a help.
2. The rosary is another distracting “aid.” Those who depend on such objects feel that they must have them in order to be successful in their prayers. But counting beads and spinning wheels, like so many other traditional practices, become the center of the worshiper’s prayer life and divert their prayers away from God to the object at hand. It’s as if the wheel or the beads are mediators and people can’t get through to God without them. Using them is habit forming, and people grow addicted to them.
3. Then there is the “little prayer” that is so popular today. Jesus encountered a rich ruler on the road one day, who asked Him what he had to do to have eternal life. Jesus said, “Sell what you have and give to the poor and come follow me.” He didn’t tell the man to give it all to the poor, as is generally said, but rather, stop hoarding and start giving; stop being selfish and start being generous. I read a modern version of this incident some years ago, which went like this: Jesus encounters a rich young ruler on the road one day and had a conversation with him. The man asked what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus questioned his convictions and commitments, and then said, “Say this little prayer after me.” The rich man repeated the little prayer and went on his way rejoicing because he had great possessions.

Conclusion: If you are free in Christ, stay free; don’t become enslaved to a program. Programs change in a progressive church and society. Nor should you reduce your theology to a pattern. Churches lead by pattern; God leads us by His Spirit and His Word. And don’t depend on a little prayer, a big prayer, a repeated prayer, a memorized prayer or any other kind of prayer except a heart prayer.

Hey good people! It’s well past time that we returned to God and His holiness and gave up “doing church” our way. Jesus Christ is our Lord, the Holy Spirit is our Counselor, and God is still our Father. Let us respect divine authority and not be entangled in either the maddening maize of worldliness or the dullness and confusion of unbelieving churches. But if you have a good church, be a good member, cherish and support it. Let your life be “a call to return.”
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Note: I’m sending this essay early because I’m going to Columbus, OH to spend a few days with my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. It is always so good to be with them. They like me! You should receive number one in my series on Romans eight on Friday 26th.