"How do you defeat the giants that are keeping you from being the man God wants you to be?"
~Rick Warren, Daily Hope with Rick Warren, Steps to Defeating the Giants By Rick Warren
— January 30, 2015
How do you? You can read his article, here.
He is being metaphorical, right? As one contemplates the "giants" that are keeping them from being the man or woman that God wants them to be, that would be your first thought. Warren must have forgotten that David's giant in 1 Samuel 17 that Rick refers to in this devotional, was quite real. A taunting, bloodthirsty "giant" wasn't metaphorical for David.
And what did David do? He killed Goliath. With one small stone loaded into his slingshot, he hit the giant of a man squarely in the forehead and knocked him out dead cold and then he cut off his head.
Rick has some wrong ideas. David's experience with Goliath was not about the giant keeping David "from being the man God wanted David to be." David didn't have an identity crisis about who he was. He was a shepherd who tended sheep and protected them from danger. David was a man with faith in God.
Rick does point out that David had faith and God, and that you should too. He even puts several bible verses in this devotional page, but unfortunately, they are all used to prove Rick's points.... not the other way around. Also,Rick neglects to mention Jesus Christ and no mention of our biggest, most enormously giant problem that plagues us all.... sin.
Sin is quite a giant.... in fact it is so big and oppressive that it makes us all, even the best of men, "fall short of the glory of God."
Instead of using the story of David and Goliath to reveal who Jesus is and what he has done for us, encouraging readers to see Jesus in some way, Rick relates the story a completely different light. He says that if you want to be "great" like David, if you want to be a person with a great faith, a great dream and a great lifework.... all you got to do is... do the very things that David did. David did four things and you can do them to:
1. Remember how God helped you in the past.
2. Use the tools that God has given you now.3. Ignore the dream busters
and
4. Expect God to help you, for His glory.
Then you storm the battlefield shouting, and slay your giants.
Notice that with Rick, it's all about you.... your greatness your great faith, your great dreams and your great lifework... and about you slaying the "giants" that keep YOU from your potential.
And notice how that giants, (in fact, all things big,) are a bit of theme with Rick.
At the implementation of Warren's P.E.A.C.E. Plan, Rick's "global mission" was to slay the five evil giants that plague the world. This would be accomplished by listening to Rick and doing the five things that, Rick said, he believes that "Jesus wants us to do" ... (under the leadership and direction of none other than... Pastor Rick!)
Referring to Jesus, Rick said,
"He wants us to go into all the world and Plant faith communities, Equip servant leaders, Assist the poor, Care for the sick, and Educate the next generation. These five things make up what I call the PEACE Plan."
That's odd. The part about "going into all the world" sounds familiar; Jesus did say "go unto all the world and".... but what Jesus reportedly said to his disciples was, "Go unto all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) Rick takes a bit of liberty in using those same words that are familiar and changing the directive that follows in order to tell us the things that "Jesus" wants us to do today. Apparently, Rick has been having personal conversations with Jesus, conversations that have lead Rick Warrren Jesus new directive into, what Rick calls, "the PEACE Plan!
The P.E.A.C.E. Plan would attack the 5 evil GIANTS of spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. How is this done? According to the plan, it's done by:
1. Planting faith communities.
By "faith community" does he mean Christian church? The word is broadly applicable. Churches have, all along been planting churches long without the help of Rick.
2. Equipping "servant leaders."
Isn't this modern business term, a bit of an oxymoron?
Rick said of this "evil giant" to be tackled:
"Not only have these leaders not gone to seminary or Bible school, they haven’t even gone to high school or primary school. They have no training whatsoever -- and yet they lead the church. This must be remedied." ~ Rick Warren, Peace Plan Unveiling, Nov. 2003, Notes\So we see how these "egocentric," "self serving" and "corrupt" leaders were not really described as evil, just uneducated. Their crime is that they "lead the church." It's odd, isn't it, that Ricks description makes this "evil giant" looks a lot like Peter and John.... you know, "ordinary" "unschooled" men. (See: Acts 4:13.) Rick wanted to remedy this situation by training them to be "Purpose Driven."
and it's rather remarkable to note that the next three things has been done by Christian mean and women for years... without Rick's plan or leadership. He, however complained that the church was nothing but a big mouth, (unless of course, you were Catholic Relief Services.)
3. Assist the poor
4. Care for the sick
5. Educate the next generation.
In short, his plan for killing those giants (all five of them) was and still is a daunting task. All he needed to do was to get the church behind his plan and he would have it harnessed, working together, hand in hand with the rest of humanity, and together they could save the world.
Unfortunately, his plan was not to make disciples and baptize them. He did mean that he wanted to plant churches. Having noted publicly, that the church was the greatest distribution method for aid and material distribution, (since there was already a church to be found most everywhere on the planet.) What Rick wanted was to build "Faith communities," and make no mistake, a "faith communities" can refer to any religion on the planet. Now that he is selling diet books, he pushes the notion that this great distribution center called church is a great place for people get healthier... by doing the Daniel Plan.
In reality, (not metaphorically speaking here) there are big problems that plague the world. The ultimate being our complete separation from God in our death. But there is good news! Jesus Christ, the one who died and rose again, an put and end to evil by dying on the cross. Jesus Christ, God's promise made and kept, is God's plan of peace as he freely gives his love and offers salvation to a dying world. People can have more than purpose when the gospel is not hidden or obscured. They can have a Savior with a promise, one who is with them always and gives them a real hope when facing "giants"of any kind. By trusting in God and believing in the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ, we can not only be courageous when facing difficulty, but have peace, because of Jesus, and Jesus has overcome the world. (John 16:33)
"You don't need to be a giant to slay one. You just need to shoot straight. Remember David.
Rick Warren tweet, Jan 21, 2011
No.
Lets set the record straight. David had faith and the Lord was on his side. The Lord gave David victory over Goliath, not his ability to shoot. Also, you don't need to be a person with a great faith, a great dream or even a great life work...to be GREAT, like David, all you have to do is believe in Jesus through the preaching of the Word.
As for your great lifework.. Your works won't save you no matter how great or good they are.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2" 8-10
As for those great dreams.... Don't let those big dreams make you forget the truth about your God.
Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. Jeremiah 23:27
As for that great faith... How big a "faith" do you need before it's great?
And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you Luke 17: 5-6
No comments:
Post a Comment