There he stood on stage with his Off-White Nike kicks, skinny jeans, and a muscle-tee—serving it up while the crowd lapped it up. The experience—mesmerizing. The atmosphere—captivating. The energy—electrifying.
The entire experience exuded an exacting degree of precision—laser-like precision—everything from the lights angling off the walls to the hard-fade haircuts occupying the seats.
No, I’m not describing a sneaker conference in Brooklyn, an Apple event in San Francisco, or a music festival in Austin.
I’m describing… church.
But not just any church. Perhaps even, the ‘average’ church. And maybe even, the ‘typical’ church in your own city.
Don’t get riled up.
I write in jest.
I love me some nice sneakers. My friends look good with the fade. I wouldn’t wear a muscle tee for obvious reasons. And I certainly don’t hate high production quality. I like it with everything else, so why not in church, too?
There’s something to be said for expression, creativity, and excellence in light of our expressive, excellent, and creative God.
But before we go criticizing or critiquing or complaining about the ‘controversial Christian church’ happening across the street or upon our Facebook feed—each of us must go beyond what makes us feel immediately uncomfortable and ask the main question. The first question. The most important question. And if anything, the diagnostic question to what makes a church—for lack of better words—a good church: What’s their main emphasis?
What’s the main substance of the church? What’s the main thing? I mean, the main, main thing?
What, in particular, does it talk about most? What, in particular, makes you feel most moved while you’re there? Where are its time and money devoted to most? The question of ‘mosts’ will reveal its emphasis.
Style Isn’t The Issue
It might seem like today’s church culture—with all of its differing teaching styles, worship times, dress codes, and venue spaces—is a recent phenomenon, but that’s not the case.
There have always been different church cultures, who did things in different ways, who met in different venues, who had different preferences, and the like—all the way back to the church of Ephesus to Colossae to Philippi. The cultures of each city back in Jesus’ day were not uniform, so neither were their relative churches. The leaders had different styles. The venues had different aesthetics. The cultures had different idols. And churches strove to reach their communities differently given their differing contexts.
The truth is, there are—and will continue to be—many church cultures out there. There will always be a choice between a stain-glassed church, warehouse church, house church, or a rent-a-high-school-auditorium church. There will always be the traditional and the trendy, the catechismal and the contemporary, the young and the old, the established and the new. That’s fine. In fact, that’s great.
Beyond the surface of things—how it looks, how it feels, what venue it’s in, what the pastor wears, what style the music is—there is an underlying denominator that exists at every church. Namely, when all factors are brought into the equation, what is it all measured against and founded upon?
The church culture ‘controversy’ we see today is not significant because of their own cultural differences, but on what a church places their emphases.
Minor League Majors, Major League Minors
As has been an age-old problem, perhaps the greatest danger in the church today is majoring on the minors and minoring on the majors. Or, to say it another way, putting too much emphasis on things that are of secondary or tertiary importance and not putting enough emphasis on the things that are of primary importance.
If you’re looking for a church home, observing where a church puts their emphasis might be the most important thing you can do. And if you’re a church leader, putting the emphasis on the right things is the most important thing you can do.
Emphasis functions like the rudder of a boat. It might seem small, but where you apply emphasis will change the entire direction, destination, and culture of your vessel—whether it’s old or young, red or blue, trendy or traditional, gigantic or modest. And just like a rudder determines the direction of a ship, so also does emphasis determine the culture of a church.
In a day of ‘church shopping’ and ‘church hopping,’ perhaps the best way to gauge a church culture and to discover its emphases is by asking 2 diagnostic questions.
- What do you hear?
- What do you feel?
What Do You Hear?
What do you hear from the stage or pulpit most? What do the songs draw attention to? What does the sermon exalt the most?
I can think of a number of emphases, maybe you’re familiar with some of these yourself based on your background (in fact, some of these might be what has put a bad taste in your mouth about Christianity in the first place): Law, emotion, individualism, anti-intellectualism, politics, ritualism, and more.
It’s important to note that every particular emphasis will always yield a particular, corresponding effect as well. Or to say it another way, whatever is sown will also be reaped. If you sow apple seeds, you will reap apple trees. The same is true in what a church emphasizes. Here are some examples of the principle of sowing and reaping in what a church emphasizes:
If a church primarily sows an emphasis of the behaviors you’re supposed to do as a Christian (law), it will reap a culture of heavy-laden legalism.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis of a great, feel-good experience, it will reap a culture of empty-minded emotionalism.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis on your potential and personal transformation, it will reap a culture of narcissistic individualism and consumerism.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis on doctrinal knowledge, it will reap a culture of egotistical intellectualism.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis on particular political affairs, it will reap a narrow-minded tribalism and a truncated Great Commission.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis on social activism, it will reap a culture of a short-sighted gospel and skin-deep salvation.
If a church primarily sows an emphasis on the Word of God and the gospel of Jesus, it will reap a culture of the fruits of the Spirit both individually and corporately.
Do you see how sowing the seeds of emphasis will bring a harvest for your faith, for better or for worse? What a church sows in emphasis, it will reap in its members’ faith.
What Do You Feel?
Here’s another diagnostic question that’s similar, but gauges the visceral, sensory affects. When you leave a church service, what do you feel? What immediately comes to mind? What’s your overall gut reaction?
If it is primarily, “I need to do this better,” then you are at a church whose various rivers are emptying into the frigid ocean of legalism.
If it is primarily, “Wow that was an incredible experience!” then you are at a church that’s running on the anaerobic fumes of emotionalism.
If it is primarily, “God can do great things through me!” then you are at a church that’s tacking on neon lights to the dark frames of individualism.
If it is primarily, “Our church rallies around this political candidate!” then you are at a church that’s blindly enlisting itself to the idol of nationalism.
If it is primarily, “That was very intellectually stimulating!” then you are at a church that pays its tithe to the ivory towers of academia.
Only if it is primarily, “Oh, what a God I serve!” then you, my friend, are at a church that is worshiping in spirit and in truth.
Which of the following describes the feeling you have when you leave church? I hope you can see the dangers of wrong emphasis.
When you leave a church service, you should not feel as if the emphasis was a moral lesson, a political rally, a lecture, self-help, or social activism. You should have left worshiping.
What We Need
Every diagnosed symptom and wrong emphasis needs an appropriate prescription as well. It’s true, every church can tend to lean towards a particular emphasis based on its leadership and cultural context. Here are several:
Individualism: (Perhaps the most pervasive in our individualistic society) If your Christianity focuses primarily on you—your transformation, your growth, and your potential—then it makes you wonder who you’re really worshiping. What people need most is not a longer look in the mirror, but a clearer view of God.
Nationalism: If your Christianity focuses primarily on politics—your party, your preferences, your platform—then it makes you wonder what kingdom you’re really serving. What people need most is not a country’s status to define their reality, but God who left his realm to redeem, restore, and redefine their own.
Moralism: If your Christianity focuses primarily on the law and what to do—your behavior, your morals, your reputation—then it makes you wonder what identity you’re really living for. What people need most is not ‘behave so God will love you and people will accept you’ but ‘behold the God who does,’ which frees you from being enslaved to the acceptance of others.
Emotionalism: If your Christianity focuses primarily on an emotional experience—how you feel, how you react, and the degree to which you emote—then it makes you wonder what your faith is really built upon. What people need most is not a catharsis of emotion, which changes by the hour, but a Word that is timeless and true over all the ages.
To be sure, the Bible certainly addresses the law, the emotion, the mind, your potential, politics, and social justice. But not one of those things is the central message of the Bible. The Bible is not primarily about the law (although it does have that), an emotional experience (although it will bring that), your untapped potential (although it does unlock that), precise doctrinal acuity (although that it does exhort that), political convictions (although it does shape that), or social activism (although it will compel that).
The Main, Main Thing
The Bible is not about you. All of the Bible is about the person and work of Jesus Christ (Jn. 5:39) to the praise of his glorious grace (Eph. 1:6-14). This is the grand message of the Bible, and quite fittingly, it’s only upon that foundation will everything else in life find its proper place and support. When the gospel is rightly positioned as the central foundation of Christianity, the law becomes appropriated rightly, emotions become stirred properly, doctrinal acuity is pursued out of love, and social issues and political concerns are seen as tools to serve instead of swords to wield.
Hear me out, the gospel does unlock your potential as a person, but that is not the best of the good news—at all. The gospel does stir your emotions, but that is not the best of the good news—by a long shot. The gospel does make you a more moral person, but that is not the best of the good news—as hopeful as that is! The gospel does transform your political convictions, but that is not the best of the good news—as important as that it is! The gospel does compel social activism, but that is not the best of the good news—as necessary as that is!
The best of the gospel is that we finally reconciled into a right relationship with God. That’s good news, especially when our ‘potential’ has been stunted; or when our dreams have been destroyed; or when our past moral failures still haunt us; or when we live in a broken country; or when we can’t ‘feel’ God in a spiritual way; or when we can’t serve others and must be served instead. In light of all that—through faith, the gospel guarantees that we get God!—and not because of anything we’ve done or will do, but because of what he’s done for us. That puts God in the spotlight—not my potential, not my experience, not my politics, not my morals, not my service.
If your heart burns aflame with God’s love—who He is and what he’s done—then you will become like the One you behold. If he’s grabbed your heart, you will take the law seriously, you will take social justice seriously, you will respond with real emotions, and you will be launched into his mission and your potential unlocked for the kingdom. These aren’t mutually exclusive. But they do have an order to them. If you put first things first, second things will surely follow. But if you put second things first, you will forfeit both.
Added Exclamation Points
So, pastor: lace up your Nikes and squeeze on those skinny jeans—or, slip on your Liverpools and button up your 3-piece suit—and preach your flippin’ mouth dry of this good news. And church attendee: listen critically and think critically. What’s really the emphasis that’s being declared at your church?
As the Apostle Paul said to us all, “Do not get drunk on wine (or emotion or production or music style or the approval of others or the ‘cool factor’ or the venue space or the live-stream or whatever, my addition), which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18, BSB).
Church leaders and church people—do not be ‘filled’ on empty emphases and tertiary things, which only leads to reckless indiscretion. Emphasize the gospel, and therefore, be filled with the Spirit.
If you want to wear a jean jacket and thick-rimmed frames, fine. Just elevate the gospel and the Word of God over everything else. Please don’t elevate your church hipster culture over that. And if you want to wear Chaco’s and play worship music with a banjo and the spoons, fine. Just elevate the Word of God over everything else. Please don’t elevate your church granola culture over that.
And even better—please church granola people and church hipster people—go to the same church and love the Word of God more than your culture, showing people that your unity in the gospel far exceeds where you differ in dress code (or politics or preferred music style).
That puts on display to the world around us not a cult with a culture, but a people with a Savior.
