Dr. Timothy Tennent: The Call to Holiness
Philip Yancey’s best-selling book, The Jesus I Never Knew, chronicles his slow realization that the Jesus he met in Sunday school was not the same Jesus he met in the pages of the New Testament. Yancey recalls a poster of Jesus displayed on the wall of his Sunday school class, which portrayed Jesus serenely standing in a pastoral setting in the midst of children with a small, sleeping lamb in his arms. The Jesus portrayed in Sunday school and children’s sermons is often, Yancey comments, “a Mister Rogers before the age of children’s television.” He is kind, gentle, reassuring, otherworldly, and, most of all, very nice. However, at some point it dawned on Yancey that no government in the world would execute Mister Rogers.
This illustration underscores my conviction that the great project of this new generation of Christians is the rediscovery and recovery of historic faith. We have inherited (and tried to pass along) a diminished, domesticated gospel. To be fair, every generation of Christians tends to sand down the prophetic edges of Scripture, lessen the cost of discipleship, and ignore the “hard” texts of Jesus. However, at some point the gospel has gone through so much dramatic reductionism that the rising generation of Christians says, “Wait a minute, what is called “Christianity” is not what I read about in the pages of the New Testament!” We are, once again, at that point. Church history is filled with the names of those who saw this gap and led movements to bring renewal to the Christian church: Brigid of Kildare (d. 525), Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153), Francis of Assisi (d. 1226), John Hus (d. 1415), Martin Luther (d. 1546), Teresa of Avila (d. 1582), Philip Jacob Spener (d. 1705), John Wesley (d. 1791), Abraham Malpan (d. 1845), Samuel Ajayi Crowther (d. 1891), Watchman Nee (d. 1972), are a few of the names on this esteemed list. The one thing which brings this diverse group together is that they all experienced this “gap” between what the church of their day was currently embracing as “Christianity” and the actual Christianity of the New Testament, the Apostles and Martyrs, and they acted decisively to address the gap.
Whenever the church experiences this loss, God raises up men and women who lead the recovery effort. This is precisely what I am praying for. There are so many areas which need recovery it is hard to know where to begin. The recovery of supernaturalism, the renewal of divine healing, the restoration of the doctrine of sanctification, the return of an unshaking confidence in the Word of God, the remembrance of church history, are a few examples which will be part of this effort. However, central to this project will be a rebirth of holiness in the lives of those who belong to Christ. Every revival in history has been accompanied by a renewed sense of holiness. The ethical collapse of the church is, tragically, not limited to the “mainline” churches. It cuts right across all churches and all denominations. The need for this recovery is wide and deep.
In the United Methodist Church, one of the classic ways that the collapse of holiness gets imported into the church is to misunderstand the nature of the Apostles’ Creed. I have heard several of our leaders say when asked how they could justify various immoral acts being embraced by the church they respond, “It is not in the Apostles’ Creed.” The notion behind this statement is that the Apostles’ Creed represents the only shared core of Christian identity, and anything outside of the Apostles’ Creed are matters of indifference which the church should accept as legitimate matters of difference.
However, a cursory examination of the church’s commitment to training and discipleship (historically called catechesis) reveals that the church used three core documents as the foundation for discipleship. The Apostles’ Creed was used to establish the doctrinal core of Christian identity, the Ten Commandments was used to establish the ethical core of Christian identity, and the Lord’s Prayer was used to establish the formational core of Christian identity. It takes a commitment to all three of these to produce faithful Christians. The Apostles’ Creed does not address ethical issues. So, we should not expect to find admonitions about murder or sexual purity in the Apostles’ Creed. It is a survey of the grand meta-narrative which undergirds the great doctrines of the church. The Ten Commandments does not limit the ethics of the church to a list of ten things. On the contrary, the church saw the Ten Commandments as the starting point for understanding the whole ethical landscape of holiness in the church. So, for example, the admonition against murder is not limited to murder, but would include all areas where someone’s life is devalued, including racism. The admonition against adultery is foundational for a whole range of sexual sins, including the use of digital pornography, as well as homosexual behavior. The Lord’s Prayer is not meant to be the only prayer we pray, or in any way limit the extent of our prayers. Rather, the Lord’s Prayer sets up a kind of pattern or structure which helps us to understand the broader nature of all prayer. Some of the renewal movements in church history were primarily about the recovery of doctrine (such as the 16th century Reformation). Others, like the pietistic movement, were about the recovery of formation. However, all renewal movements bring a renewed emphasis on holiness.
Jesus Christ and his redeemed bride remain the only hope for our culture and our world which has clearly lost its way. As pastors and leaders, I pray that each and every one of you will redouble your efforts to disciple and train a whole new generation of Christians to recover the glorious gospel as revealed in the New Testament.
PS: “Our New Room gatherings have been transformative for hundreds of you. Therefore, I want to strongly encourage you to join us for A Night With New Room on September 25, 7-9pm EST with this link: https://newroomconference.com. This will be in place of our normal gathering due to COVID-10. This will be a pivotal gathering calling Christians far and wide to sow like never before for a great awakening. We are anticipating it being the largest event Asbury has ever hosted in our history. Please join us.”
Come Holy Spirit!!!!!
Sounds good!
Thank you, Dr. Tennent, for not only this article, but all your thoughts as we go through these troubling times in the life of the UMC. You are a terrific leader that embodies the theological thought that is sorely missing in the church today. The only seminary I considered back in 1990 was Asbury since I knew I could not compromise my foundational beliefs. I have fond memories of my time in Wilmore and consider those days as some of the best of my life.
Thank you for your words. We are having trouble finding a church that exhibits these three aspects of discipleship. The UMC is falling away from core beliefs and practices, at least in my experience.
Check out the Anglican Church in North America. Their Catechesis is built directly on these three sources