Thursday
Remembering the Great Commission
We're called to introduce people to Jesus, but sometimes it seems that sometimes we forget. Sometimes, we end up introducing them to our club, to churchianity. To religion. Ewww.
They're looking for real relationship, and Jesus offering real relationship, but we're offering membership in a Sunday Morning Club complete with its own foreign language and foreign culture. "Bring your friends to church!" we are exhorted, forgetting the "Go" of the Great Commission.
Coming to faith does NOT require leaving your culture, leaving your language, leaving your community, leaving your music behind. (Yes, it does involve leaving your slavery behind.) For example, there's no need for a pipe organ or Taylor acoustic guiter in a tribal church in order for their gathering to be legit. They worship with drums; you don't have to!
Here's a radical thought: Christian pop music is by NO means the only music that's acceptable - or desirable. Some believers like barbershop quartets! Others touch God in metal music or Dixieland or Baroque or dance music.
I even know of a church that worshiped with (shudder!) country music! They would line dance in church! What?!? (And they shared the building with a church that worshiped with grunge rock music! What's up with that?)
I get it that some folks often can't go back to the culture that enslaved them for years, but let's distinguish between the slavery that held us captive and the preference of music the enslavers enjoyed while they practiced their torture upon our souls.
And since music reaches people, the Great commission applies to music: GO TO THEM. Do NOT expect them to come to you. So bring the gospel to their music; not Gospel music, but the "Good News" of the Kingdom: that belongs in THEIR music, too. There's no need for them to leave their love for Italian operas behind in order to meet Jesus.
Our commission is to go to them, and to bring the good news of the Kingdom to them.
Our job is NOT to bring them to our culture, our little club.
When we disciple folks, we are to make them followers of Jesus, not into MiniMe's.
Some Thoughts About the Purpose of the Prophetic
The Message We Preach
Monday
Dealing With New Evidence
Questions For God
I have never known him to answer any question that begins with the word “Why?” “God, why did this happen?” "Why didn't you do that?"
I’m getting tired of questions that don’t get answered, so I’m going to ask smarter questions.
There are two questions that show up in the the second chapter of Acts that seem to work pretty well.
In Acts 2:12, a crowd, amazed and perplexed, asked “What does this mean?” That led to a supernatural sermon by Peter-of-the-Foot-in-Mouth, where he answered that question remarkably well for “an uneducated fisherman.”
An hour later, in response to that sermon, they asked, “What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). Peter answered with a spontaneous altar call and 5000 of them came to faith. I suspect they got their question answered real well.
I’m reminded of one more verse that’s critical for getting questions answered. John 7:17 says, “Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.” If we are not willing to commit to doing what God says – even before he answers the question – then it is far less likely that we will even get the answer to the question.
“Yes, Father. The answer is ‘Yes.’ Now what was the question?”
Learning How to Learn
I haven’t left the analytical skills behind, idle, as much as I have downgraded their importance, as Jesus Himself taught (in Mark 12:24), “Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?”
Replacing God With God's People
Let's assume that I never once err in my identifying what is of God and what is from deceiving spirits - and that of course is pure fantasy at best - then perhaps I have saved them the inconvenience of being sidetracked for a short while. But in the meantime, I have denied those immature believers the opportunity to hear from God themselves, substituting my own words in the place of His words, substituting my leading instead of His leading.
I do not believe that this is in their best interests for us to replace God's leadership in peoples' lives with our leadership, our protection.
Thursday
Milk or Meat?
Tuesday
Does God Harm People?
One verse that people use to support this theological drivel is Hebrews 12:6, which reads (in the NKJV):
The Greek word used for “chasten” is παιδεύω. The Strongs lexicon (http://bit.ly/TbnnDR) says the primary meaning of παιδεύω is:
1) to train children
a) to be instructed or taught or learn
b) to cause one to learn
Since the immediate context is about fathers training their children, and specifically compares God’s fathering to human fathering, this is an excellent contextual fit. The idea is more of a firm coach than a child-abuser, and the context, very much about fathering, supports the concept of instructing, training, coaching.
A better theological foundation about the nature of God is found earlier in Hebrews: in 1:3, the Bible declares, “The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being.” Note: “Exact representation.”
A lot of people have this OT image of God always ready to smite someone, always ready to judge people with death and disaster. That’s poppycock! How many people did Jesus smite? How many did he kill? How many times did someone come to Jesus, “the exact representation” of God’s being, asking to be healed, only to be told, “No, it’s better if you stay sick, because you’re learning something from the sickness.”
That, of course, is the theological equivalent of saying, “The devil – whose job it is to steal, kill and destroy – can do a better job of raising God’s kids through stealing killing and destroying, than God can do through loving them.” That, I’m afraid, is profitable for nothing more serious than fertilizing your tomatoes: run away from such stinky, libelous accusations of God’s character!
Someone will say (and often loudly and rudely): “But God judges sin! God is holy!”
Thursday
A Problem with Trusting.
1) Leaders can be flattered and tempted to take the place of the Holy Spirit in a wounded person's life. ("They need me!") This is not an insignificant temptation; it feels good to be needed.
Tuesday
Dangerous Roads Ahead
Some will choose not to walk the roads, because there is danger there. But to fear to go in that direction because there is danger somewhere down that road, well, that's the mistake that the Pharisees made, and that didn't turn out so well for them.
Someone spoke of vomiting out lukewarm believers in Revelation. "I wish that you were hot or cold!" he said.
No thank you.
I will guard against error, against danger, of course. I trust my brothers and sisters to help guard me, as I help guard them. (Thank you for your help!)
But I will travel the road that my Father lays in front of me. If I fall, I fall, and I will get up and go on. But I will not be one who avoids the way my ever-loving Daddy has laid out before me, merely because it's dangerous. I trust him to help me travel this road. He has not promised that I would never fail; he has promised that he would never leave, and that he would provide all that I need. I can trust him.
Do you remember what Bilbo used to say: "It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
We must not hide indoors, simply because it's dangerous out there.
Saturday
Change of Focus
Tuesday
Bluejays and Swimming Holes
During a time of prayer the other day, I saw a stellars jay picking maple seeds out of the gutters at the edge of the house I was staying at. I love jays, their bright blue boldness and perky confidence.
I had just asked God to speak to me this morning, and immediately the jay caught my attention; so I stopped what I was doing and appreciated his beauty. “Thanks Father, for such a beautiful creation.”
I felt the Lord whisper to me, “This bird was created for this purpose, to give you beauty to enjoy this morning, to draw your attention to Me.” Just by being who he was, he was fulfilling God’s purpose for him.
When I was nine or ten years old, my family went camping across western
The next morning, I had a difficult time waking up. After four or five attempts to rouse, my father threatened me: “If you don’t get up, I’m going to throw you in the lake.” Of course I didn’t believe him; he was my dad. He wouldn’t do that. So I didn’t take it seriously.
A few minutes later, I was still in bed, and my dad grabbed my sleeping bag, drug it down to the side of the swimming area, and unceremoniously dumped me out on the dock. “OK OK! I’m up. I’m ten years old, standing there in the cool morning air in my big flannel pajamas; I wanted to go back to camp.
But no! He pushed once, and I made a huge splash. Totally soaked, I climbed back up on the dock, but by that time, he was halfway back to camp, so I took off after him, splashing water everywhere! Eventually, I caught him and gave him a hug, as well as splashed my brother pretty well.
We're going to talk about two truths today, two truths that contradict each other, and yet each is true.
The first truth is this: just by being yourself, you accomplish much in the purposes that God has for you.
For example, Jesus said, in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.”
OK. What do you need to do to accomplish the task of being a light? Nothing!
In the middle of the night, even a little town like Tenino is full of lights. You can't hide something like that. You can't hide the light that shines out of you, particularly when you're walking among people in darkness.
Jesus says you’re like that; like a city set up on a hill that everyone can see in the darkness. It takes more work to stop being who you are than to continue.
Sometimes, Jesus ministered like this. Remember in Matthew 9, the woman that came up and touched the hem of His garment? She was healed from a twelve-year-long problem.
That happened regularly with Jesus.
Mark 6:56 Wherever He entered into villages, cities, or in the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged Him that they might just touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched Him were made well.
All He did sometimes was just walk by, being Himself.
And if you’re walking with Jesus, then who you are is a powerful ministry. There's no sweat, no fuss, no panic, nothing you can do.
People see you. They recognize that there's something about you that is more than what’s visible.
I sell technical electronic stuff where I work, and one of my customers is
One Friday morning, he showed up as I expected, but he came into my office kind of quiet, and he closed the door behind him, which he never does, and sat down in the chair. “David, there’s something different about you,” he said. “There’s a peace about you and I need peace. What is it?”
Whoa.
Twenty minutes later, we were praying together, and this Special Forces soldier had his hat in his hand, and was asking the King of Kings to be His Captain and Savior.
That man came to Christ because he came in contact with an ambassador of the
You have stories like that, lots of them. I don’t know your stories. I only tell mine because I was there.
I told you that we were going to talk about two contradictory truths: both were true, and yet they're the opposite of each other.
This is the first truth: Who you are is ministry. Who you are is effective at accomplishing God's purposes on this earth (that's all ministry is). It’s easy. You’re just you, and that’s a reflection of Jesus. Remember: You’re made in His image.
Maybe you cause someone to ask questions about Jesus. That’s ministry!
Maybe you lift a weight off of someone who’s burdened. That’s ministry!
Maybe you encourage someone that they really can succeed. That’s ministry.
Maybe you help someone find an answer to a problem that you had no idea that they had. That’s ministry.
When you walk with Jesus, it’s like someone who fell into the swimming pool fully dressed. When they climb out, you can tell exactly where they’ve been because they splash water every time they take a step.
You're like that: you fall in the pool with Jesus, and when you get out, you splash Jesus all over with every step you take. If it's been a long time since you’ve been in the pool, then maybe you don’t splash as much, but you splash ministry wherever you go. You splash God's purposes wherever you go.
So what do you do with this?
Nothing, really. Just hang out with Jesus, and be who you are.
Well, actually, that’s something we can do, isn’t it? Hang out with Jesus. But that’s something we already do. Get in the pool w/ Jesus. Get in the Word. Talk. Listen. Obey. That kind of stuff. The regular stuff of a believer’s life.
This makes us splash better.
The blue jay wasn't trying to accomplish anything; it was just being blue. You just be you, and be at peace with that. Relax. Rest.
By the way, when you're riding a bicycle, which pedal do you push? They're opposite of each other, you know. Which do you push on?
Whichever one is needing to be pushed.
We've pushed one pedal: who you are is ministry. There's no sweat, no fuss, no panic, nothing you can do. You just are ministry when you walk with Jesus.
Are you ready to push the other pedal now? I'm not going to blow your circuits, am I?
Ministry takes hard work.
Have you noticed that sometimes, ministry is work? If you’re going to be effective in the long run, you’re going to run into seasons when keeping going is a real pain in the Yaktüsk!
In my work of selling technical stuff, most of my customers are churches, and I consider my work to be ministry. I serve churches. They have a need with their sound system, for example, and they call me, and I help them meet their need.
But sometimes, I have to explain technical things to someone who isn't technical, and it tries my patience. Or sometimes, something's gone wrong, and they're angry or confused or offended, and it's hard making any sense with them. Or sometimes, it seems like a thousand little details go wrong with one project.
You've had that happen. You try to help someone, and they take advantage of you. Or you patiently speak truth into their life, and they don't hear. Or worse yet, they do the exact opposite of what you just taught them. Or you have to help them do the same thing over and over and over again.
I had a friend who only called me when he was in trouble. When he called, I wanted to answer the phone with, “Hi Bob. What's wrong now?” He never called unless he was in a panic, and he never applied the scriptural truth I gave him so he was often in a panic, always at the end of his rope, and always expecting me to bail him out. After a few years of it, I got real tired of it!
The thing that drew my attention to this idea so thoroughly was a story in Acts that I was studying when I saw the bluejay that God used as an example for me. I was meditating my way through Acts, and I'd come to Acts 16 and the story of the slave girl with the spirit of divination.
16 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. 17 This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” 18 And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.
Now that's ministry!
While I was meditating on this, the Lord drew my attention to Paul's motivation here: he was greatly annoyed. Other translations say he was "wearied out" or "sore troubled" or "grieved" or "vexed." I looked the word up in my Strong's concordance (we have one on the bookshelf for anyone to use who wants).
Here's what it said:
The Greek is 1278 diaponeo {dee-ap-on-eh'-o: }from 1223 and a derivative of 4192, which ends up literally: "through pain" or "by way of great trouble or passionate desire."
Paul was ministering through his pain. There are some times when great ministry only comes through great pain, great trouble or great passion.
By the way, this is normal!
In 1 Thessalonians 2, Paul talks about his ministry among the people there:
8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us. 9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God.
Paul says similar things in Colossians 1:28:
28 Him [Jesus] we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.
The word “Labor” here is kopiao: “to grow weary, tired, exhausted with toil or burdens or grief”
So I was sitting with the Lord, reflecting on this: “Lord, if I sometimes get tired in ministry, that doesn't really mean I'm unspiritual or weak, does it?”
He answered, “If my Son Jesus got tired in his ministry and had to get alone with me to restore his soul, what makes you think you won't also get tired?”
So what do we do with this pedal? How do we respond in the times when ministry is hard work and we get discouraged, or frustrated, or weary?
The same way: Get in the pool and rest in Jesus. Get in the Word. Talk to Him. Listen. Obey. That kind of stuff. The regular stuff of a believer’s life.
Even Jesus had to get alone with God to restore His soul. What makes you think you don’t need what Jesus needed?
I believe that many of us are spending too much time sweating FOR God and too little time resting IN Him. And as a result, we’re getting Tired. Weary. Worn out.
I believe some of us are too afraid of getting tired and weary that we won’t get out of the pool and get in among the people.
Both of us have to repent. We need to get in the pool. And we need to get out of the pool and go back to camp.
OK. We’ve pushed on both pedals. Now our bicycle is getting somewhere!
The first pedal: Who you are is ministry! We’re like the blue jays.
To be more effective, get in the pool with Jesus.
The second pedal: Ministry takes hard work! We’re called co-laborers with Christ.
To be more effective, get in the pool with Jesus.
Either way: get in the pool with Jesus.
Sunday
Rapturous Prophecy
I imagine that this has been a bad year for Harold Camping. He had
quite energetically predicted that a date that would be the day of the Lord’s
return, the Rapture as it is called, and yet we’re all still here.
Apparently, he missed it.
There are, no doubt, a number of
consequences from such a public failure; it is not my intent to consider those.
I feel drawn to one thing.
He prophesied the Rapture, and he
was wrong.
Holy Spirit keeps drawing my
attention back to that issue: the prophecy was wrong. And he keeps asking me
this question: What's the difference between a false prophecy and an inaccurate
one? What is the difference between a false prophet and an inaccurate one?
Think about Baalam, son of Beor, the
famous false prophet of Numbers 22, the man with the talking donkey. While not
using the label “false prophet,” the NT castigates him as such (see 2 Peter
2:15, Jude 1:11, and Revelation 2:14). And yet, pretty much every single prophecy
he declared was fulfilled.
The false prophet spoke true
prophecies.
In the book of Acts, we meet the
prophet Agabus, who is received and treated as a true prophet of God. By
contrast, his prophecies, though accurate in general, missed some key details;
more importantly, the point of the prophecy (to go to Jerusalem or not) completely missed what God had been speaking to the
apostle.
The true prophet spoke inaccurate
prophecies.
It is clear that the old method of
judging a prophet – if his prophecies come to pass, he’s a true prophet, but if
his prophecies do not come to pass, he is a false prophet – is a complete
failure, at least by Biblical standards.
It appears that Baalam was judged a
false prophet, not for the accuracies of his prophetic words, but for his
loyalties. He spoke words that were nominally from the heart of God, but his
loyalties were mixed. From my perspective, it appears that in addition to
serving the Yahweh, he was also moved by his desire for honor and for money
(see Numbers 22:15-18). Baalam may have been living in the warning that Jesus
gave thousands of years later: “No man can serve two masters.”
By contrast, it appears that Agabus
did not suffer from a divided heart.
Agabus was not a false prophet, just
an inaccurate one. He got most of the revelation right (Paul would be arrested
when if he went to Jerusalem ), and he got most of the
interpretation right (though it was the Romans who arrested and bound Paul, not
the Jews), the people missed the application (“Paul, don’t go!”).
I have witnessed the ministry of
people who had a wonderful heart, but missed most of the details in what they
were saying, and missed the conclusion. They were bad prophets, terribly
inaccurate. But they were not false prophets. There was no motive other than
obeying God in their heart.
As I’ve been meditating on these
things, I have begun to suspect that it is the heart, not the words, that
determine whether someone is a true prophet or a false prophet. If we are
motivated by the need for fame, we cannot be moved by God alone. If I change
what I say in order that offerings won’t be hurt, we may need to ask some hard
questions. (Note: I am not addressing HOW a word is given, or even how it is
worded: wisdom has much to say about that. I’m addressing the WHAT of the word
being given.)
This may be the biggest danger: If I
declare a word from a true word, but fame or fortune come as a result, then
whatever seeds have lain dormant in my heart will sprout quickly and reveal the
condition of my heart. If I speak a prophecy without the need for fame or the
lust for money, but fame and money come, the seeds of that need for fame, the
seeds of the lust for money, if they were present in my heart, may sprout and
grow and flower and bear fruit.
Harold Camping prophesied what time
has proved to be an inaccurate word. It is self-evident that his prophesy has
brought both fame and fortune (all those ads cost money!).
But is he a false prophet? Or is he
merely a bad prophet, an inaccurate one?
This is a time when I am thankful
for the apostle’s wisdom: “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own
master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to
make him stand.” (Romans 4:4) I am thankful that I have no responsibility to
judge Harold Camping, no responsibility to train him, no responsibility to make
him stand. He has another Master who has both that responsibility and that
ability.
Saturday
Misconceptions About Church
It was late on a Sunday morning, and I was just waking up. I’d slept in, knowing that I wasn’t healthy and that I needed rest. I was thinking, “I’ll miss church if I don’t get up soon.”
For context, my Sunday morning “Church” is online and I attend by webcast. My “in real life” fellowship is another time during the week. This train of thought applies to both, really.
So I was thinking about what would happen if I miss church this morning, and that turned into an interesting train of thought. “What is my tradeoff? What am I missing if I miss church?”
The accusation crossed my mind that my online church is unnatural, not really what God has in mind for me, so I considered that for a moment. There actually is some merit in the argument that an online “fellowship,” where I am only an observer, not an actual participant, is not really what God had in mind as ideal for me. OK, let’s follow that thought for a moment?
But wait! Isn’t that what most Sunday morning gatherings are like? I’m an observer there, too. Oh, yes, I stand up when they say to, and sing the words they tell me to sing, and sit back down when they say to. But there’s no point during our time together at
Someone will say, “That’s not what Sunday mornings are for. That belongs in a home group.” [And here is where I’ll add my commercial: if you’re not part of a fellowship of believers that meets in an informal setting like a home, then they’re seriously missing out.] that kind of “sharing” is not an appropriate expectation for a Sunday morning gathering, though it would fit in the hallway or the lobby, maybe. There’s merit in that statement: Sunday mornings aren’t really designed for those kinds of things (which is rather a strong argument in favor of my online church – or for house church – but I’m going a different direction here).
So what are Sunday mornings for? What is the church gathering for, really?
Is Sunday Morning for worship? That can’t be right. My best worship is private, and I hear others tell me the same. I find that I believe that corporate worship is at its best when the worshippers have worshipped privately, and I know that I am a far better worship leader when I have worshipped privately. So while I affirm the value of corporate worship, I suspect that it is not the primary motivation, at least in God’s mind, for the gathering of the Saints.
I hear people talking about the value of getting fed at church; maybe the value of the church gathering is in the teaching. And I do value the teaching of my online church! But the Book is clear, and I’m fully committed to the concept that I must learn to feed myself first. The teaching there is good, but it is to supplement my own feasting on the Word. That can’t be the main value of church gatherings.
I’m going to be blunt here: It seems clear that the idea of “the message is the most valuable part of church gatherings” has come from those who preach. And it is from worship leaders that I most often hear that worship is the most important part of the service. (Please don’t assume that I don’t value a well-preached message from a gifted teacher, or that corporate worship isn’t glorious. If that’s what you’re hearing, you need to read this again more carefully!)
The thought crossed my mind, “What does the Bible say about the church coming together?” and as it did, a verse from Hebrews came with it:
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24,25
It hit me like a freight train: God’s purpose for us coming together is to encourage each other. Specifically, it’s to “spur one another on toward love and good deeds,” which is how we are to encourage each other.
That’s the reason for coming together as a congregation: encouragement.
There is more extensive teaching on the church gathering together in 1 Corinthians 11, and it’s focused on meals together. Paul touches again on the topic in the midst of teaching about spiritual gifts in chapter 14, and in that context, he says, “Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” Same thing: encouragement. Apart from these passages, there is no definitive teaching on church meetings in the New Testament, though Acts shows that the early church met daily in homes and weekly for apostolic teaching.
We could take it all together and form this model: When the saints come together, let’s gather around the dinner table, and let’s encourage one another, and let’s use what God gives us to that end.
My recommendation: learn to worship by yourself, not dependent on a leader and a band, though worship with them when you can. Learn to feed yourself, though supplement that with good, inspired teaching sometimes. But choose the congregation you gather with by this: “Is this a place where we can encourage one another?” And then go there, prepared to encourage, prepared to encourage others.