Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Motive, proposes that there are only two motives that drive people to enter leadership. One, the wrong one, is reward. Many are “reward-centered” leaders–leading largely because of the self-serving rewards they gain through their position and power. Similarly, there are today“reward-centered” Christians and churches who are pursuing piety primarily because of the self-serving rewards delivered to them by their devotion.
John Ortberg, in Eternity is Now in Session, writes about one expression of what I’m calling “reward-centered” faith. I’ll summarize in my own words. Some believers today overemphasize the paradise of God. Their sole focus is on the paradise awaiting faithful followers in the hereafter. This was the destination portrayed in Paul Bunyan’s 17th century Pilgrim’s Progress. He wrote of Christianity as the journey of a man named “Christian” to “Celestial City” or heaven. That is, the sum of the journey of faith is to make it to heaven.
An overemphasis on the reward of paradise can have two tragic consequences. First, it can narrow the kind of spiritual practices that are prioritized in churches and lives. Often, what matters most are “boundary practices” that enable and affirm our trip to heaven. These include baptism, confession of faith, tithing, and church attendance. These are the things that define “success” and that get measured by church leaders. But what gets neglected are other practices that equip us for long-term loving here on earth. These include service, solitude, seeking justice, acts of mercy, prayer and self-examination.
A second consequence of an overemphasis on heaven is the way it blinds us to needs and issues requiring our attention here on earth. Philip Yancey calls it the “Grand Canyon Bus” syndrome. He warns that this view of faith results in disciples who are tourists taking a bus across the country to see the Grand Canyon. As they pass the golden wheat fields of Kansas and the grand mountains of Colorado, they see none of it, because they’ve lowered the blinds on their windows:
“Intent on the ultimate destination, they never even bother to look outside. As a result, they spend their time arguing over such matters as who has the best seat and who’s taking too much time in the bathroom.”
They become so heavenly minded that they are of no earthly good. These Christians and churches are least likely to notice acts of injustice in the world around them. And if seen by them, these Christians and churches are most likely to dismiss them or downplay the addressing of them as political or not central to the “gospel.”
To be clear, the hope of heaven is woven throughout Scripture and is an important part of growing in faith. It is especially critical for enduring pain and suffering. But much of the evangelical Christian emphasis on God’s paradise grows out of a white Western theology which sees personal sin as the sole focus of God and eternal salvation as the sole goal for humanity. In truth, the Bible is just as concerned with social and systemic sin as it is with personal and private sin, and with social and systemic salvation as it is with personal and private salvation. The here and now matter as much to God as the hereafter. Our prayer, after all, according to Jesus, is for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven or paradise, biblically viewed, is not merely a place of escape. It is the portrait of life as it was always meant to be, a life we labor with God to bring now on earth. And it is the promise of what many call “the great reversal”–the reality God is working toward this very moment, and inviting us to participate in fully, the tearing down of those who are prideful and in power and the raising up of the humble and lowly.
Author and speaker Beth Moore pointed at the twisted view of paradise all too common when she tweeted this in June 2020:
The current state of American Evangelicalism is what we get when the gospel is reduced to an entrance exam instead of a whole way of living, serving, loving & self-giving. The point of discipleship & Bible study is to grow in relationship with Christ and in resemblance to Christ.
The primary reward of paradise overshadows far more loving ways of living.
