Let The Word Do It’s Work

Pastors put in many hours preparing their messages.  We open a text.  We read the text.  We ponder the text, and dissect the text.  We parse verbs, we analyze the passage, and we compare a particular passage with other passages and the Bible as a whole.

We read other pastors’ thoughts.  We meditate on the passage that we will preach.  Finally, after hours of consideration, the passage begins to impact us.  We catch the vision of the intention of the passage.  It begins to open up for us, and we begin to be transformed by it.

Personal insights are gained, and we begin to make application for our own lives, and for the lives that we have oversight of.  We begin to see the power of the passage, and how the lives of our listeners can be transformed if they understand and embrace the eternal truths that we plan to teach.  We get excited, anticipating sharing these glorious discoveries and considerations with our church.  We long for our church family to embrace these truths, and be blessed, convicted, and encouraged.

We enter the pulpit full of excitement and anticipation, but then a different reality hits us: The people are bored, tired, unmotivated, beat down, and apparently unresponsive.  We quickly sense that they do not share the same enthusiasm that has grown in us during our time of study.

At this point in a Sunday message, this is where my well intentioned flesh tries to do the work of the Spirit.  I try to “get them excited” with suggestions and admonitions.  I might even rebuke them a bit for their seeming lack of appreciation for the Word that is before them.

While preaching, I begin to think to myself, “What is wrong with these people?  Why are they so unresponsive to this incredible truth?”  Literally, I sometimes expect some discernable excitement in the first 5 minutes of my preaching.

I want them to be blessed, but I also want to know that they are “getting it”, so I prod, cajole, prompt “amens” etc.  I seek to excite them into believing the power of God’s word.

How wrong I am to do this! My excitement for a particular passage has come after many hours of study and meditation.  It has taken hours for me to get excited about the passage, and now I expect the dear saints in our church to immediately share my excitement.  When I sense that they don’t, I unconsciously try to stimulate them in fleshly ways.

I listen to a fair amount of preachers.  I enjoy listening to sermons.  I have noticed how the preachers that I am impacted by are very methodical in their presentation.  They build a case, and they present the logic of a passage. They anticipate objections to the passage, and they answer those objections in their preaching.  They teach the principles, they make applications, and then they walk away, trusting that God’s word will impact the listeners.

We often do not see any immediate impact that Biblical truth may have upon a person.  Our listeners need time to digest the word.  They need time to consider the word.  They need time to wrestle with it, as we have already done.

I need to learn to not gauge the impact of my preaching by what I see on Sunday morning. I need to learn to not try to excite the people about the word of God.  I need to preach the word of God, and let the Word do it’s work in the hearts of the people.

My efforts to excite and stimulate on the spot are distracting and only serve to clutter the truths that God wants to communicate through me.

May we who preach learn to let God’s Word do it’s work.  May we deliver it well, concisely, clearly, and not worry about needing to gauge the effectiveness of it by what see on Sunday morning.

 

Paul’s Goals For the Church

 

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Saturday is for Silly – Every Public Speakers Worst Nightmare

An honest mistake.
If you’ve ever spoken in public, my guess is that you have never had this happen.
Just a misplaced ‘n’

Cultural Shift – Part 3; Implications For Western Christianity

[dropcap3]A[/dropcap3]s I’ve studied church history, I think it no stretch to conclude that local churches, over the last 2 millennia, have experienced an average attendance of about 75 adults. Enter, 20th century American Christianity. Or, as I like to call it, Consumeranity.

The average church size in America at present hovers at a little more than 180 adult members, roughly 2.5x larger than historical averages. While nearly 60% of American churches are 100 or less, and around 90% are under 400; more than half of all churchgoers in America attend a church of 400 or more adults.(1) Most congregations are small but most people are apart of large congregations. Such large [Consumeranity] congregations skew the numbers, and [unfortunately] this abnormality is normal for the majority of American Christians.

This anomaly is a relatively recent phenomena (the last 50 years or less), and I believe that the cultural shift taking place in America today will – in the next generation – bring the church back to normal in terms of congregational size and makeup. But what happens when abnormal, which has become normal, reverts back to true normal?

As a result of this shift, some will feel real pain. Many (especially the “movers and shakers” of mega-church evangelicalism) will fight against it. We tend to oppose change, as change is painful. But change is an essential part of life. Alistair Begg once said, “Where there’s life, there’s change. You want no change, live in a cemetery. [There’s no change there], accept for decay.” Therefore, if the church is to experience vitality and life, it will be faced with regular change, or it will decay.

What then does normal Christianity look like in the context of 21st century America? I think it looks like church has for 2,000 years. The gatherings of believers are smaller in size, community oriented, or people-group centered fellowships. For lack of a better word, they are tribal. This being the case, I’m not necessarily sure that multi-cultural, multi-ethnic churches are the norm. That’s not to say that there are not beautiful things that take place in such settings, they’re just not the norm.

Frontline missions has sought for generations to establish self-replicating, indigenous church planting movements. But in our own backyard we constantly seek for an American (or western) multiculturalism within the local body. Please don’t misunderstand, I’m not advocating segregation, only setting forth for consideration the idea that congregations have an established cultural identity from which they worship and express Christian love and character in a way that is relevant to the cultural makeup of the gathered believers.

What then does it practically look like? In all honesty it is quite hard to say, as I have no rhyme or reason for my belief, other than a hunch. I do however think that over the next 30 years the larger congregations in America will fracture along tribal fault-lines as the charismatic executive leaders move on. The churches will become multifarious. They would therefore do well to be proactive in their planning now, if they are to have influence then. I suggest that the best thing the larger traditional church can do is not to scrap it all in favor of a “home church movement” (as one home church movement leader once exhorted me to do) or fight against the shift to prop up the establishment, but to embrace the reality of a smaller community church model by taking what I believe is an Antioch approach.

The Church of Antioch was the first thriving “uttermost parts” church mentioned in the book of Acts. It was the first Gentile church, and the first at which the followers of Christ were referred to as “Christians.” Little is said in the book of Acts about the makeup of the Antioch church, but my gut tells me that it was a fairly large fellowship with multiple meeting places throughout the region.  They were one church, composed of many congregations, superintend by a plurality of overseers (I have purposefully chosen not to use “plurality of elders,” as it means something more than what I’m saying here). The core leadership of Antioch consisted of five apostolic, teaching leaders; Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, Saul (Paul). Antioch thrived for several centuries and was known as a charitable, missional and evangelical church.

As large western churches navigate the current cultural shift, and more and more church planters step forth to birth new works; I propose (as possible first steps) that they/we maintain established church structures to raise up a multiplicity of lay pastors to oversee small community fellowships throughout a city, county or region. Furthermore, churches ought to establish an apostolic core of leadership dedicated to discipleship, for equipping an ever increasing population of overseeing pastors and missionaries.

Ideally, for our fellowship (Calvary Escondido), I’d love to see us get to a point where we have 30+ lay pastors, overseeing small gatherings (under 75) in homes, community centers and other well-suited venues throughout our city and the surrounding region. I would expect we would maintain the structure we currently have for regular corporate worship gatherings as well as a central meeting place for equipping and training. Such a body incorporates the strengths of smaller fellowships (self-care of benevolence, discipline, counsel and other pastoral care needs) as well as the accountability and enabling resources of a larger congregation.

I am quite sure that I’ve overlooked several blind-spots in my consideration of where ecclesiology is headed in 21st century western culture, but as I’m certain it is experiencing a course correction, I want to be at least hypothesizing what that may look like. At the end of the day, I know one thing for sure… God builds his church, I tend to be just “along for the ride.”

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(1) National Congregations Study – 2006-07

10 Things I Wish Someone Told Me About Church Planting

I often try and think about the things that I wish someone would have spoken to me about before I made a ton of mistakes. Yes, I grew from these mistakes and the Lord always brings beauty out of ashes, but if only someone would have told me certain things. Now that I think about it, it would be better aptly titled, ‘Things I Really Took to Heart Before Church Planting” as I’m sure some of these concepts I had heard about before planting.

These will be in no particular order. But here goes…

1. God is more concerned with the Minister than the Ministry.

I was shocked to realize that God was more concerned with the state of my heart than He was with the perceived success of the plant. I know a pastor who told me that the first five years was for the pastor’s growth, the next five years is for the fellowship’s growth. He even went so far to call his first church plant’s people ‘the poor practice sheep’. When God calls a man to go and plant a church, He loves that man enough to kill him. It often takes some time for us to realize, but God is more concerned with making the church planter like Jesus than He is in blessing the work. Don’t get me wrong, He’ll do an amazing work in the fellowship. But He’s more concerned with your growth, than the church’s growth.

2. Visit the Local Pastors, not the Local Churches.

It is important for a church planter to visit and meet the pastors in the area that he is moving into. I’ll speak in point 3 about the major pitfall of most church planters in this regard. But relationships with local pastors are invaluable. Those who have been in the area for awhile will have a unique perspective, an experiential perspective, about an area. You can learn from them. But don’t visit their churches. I would say even if they invite you, don’t go. Why? Because if you have a heart for people, you will build relationships with them and when they hear that you are going to plant in the area, some will want to come. And then the ‘sheep stealing’ discussion starts. Church planting is hard enough and the last thing you want is to get off on the wrong foot with people that you want to be close to. I made this mistake personally, so I know.

3. Don’t let your Calling Drive a Wedge between You and Other Pastors.

Almost all first time church planters make this mistake. I made a reference to this in my second point. Here’s how it happens… You sense God’s call to an area and you are rightfully excited. Upon your arrival, you are filled with ideas and vision. You meet with another local pastor and as you speak of your ideas, you make them feel as if they are in God’s doghouse. They will automatically resent you. An example of this is when a planter says something like, ‘God has called me here because He wants to see a Bible Church here’. That says to most people, ‘You are not a Bible teaching church.’ Humility is not learned, it is a consequence from being broken. Because He has broken you, you will be humble. So although you are just getting started, and you probably haven’t been broken much yet, try and respect your brothers who have been plowing the field that you are going to work in. Remember this, ‘You are not God’s gift to the area that you are called to! Jesus is. You are just an unprofitable servant doing what you were asked to do.’

4. Don’t even Think about Quitting for at Least 4 Years.

They say that 80% of church plants fail. Why? They fail for numerous reasons, I’m sure. I think one of the main reasons is that guys quit too soon. Before you even step out, you should be prepared to commit 5 years of your life to it. If God is calling you, what is 5 years anyway? As I said, you should not even think about throwing the towel in until you’ve been laboring for 4 years. It takes time for a church to get established (most people will say that a church is still a baby at 10 years old). God will work in His timing so be patient. I don’t have statistics to back it up, but I imagine of the 80% that fail, most of them shut the doors within the first few years.

5. The Attacks Will Come so Don’t Freak Out When They Do.

When the children of Israel left Egypt did they just coast to the Promised Land? Nope. They had attacks from the outside (the Egyptians and the Amalekites). They had attacks from the inside (Korah, the Golden Calf, the 10 scared spies, etc). The same holds true for the ministry of our Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul. The attacks will come. If you sign up for the front lines of a battle, don’t freak out when bullets start flying. When you are called to plant a church, you just signed up to be on the front lines, expect there to be issues. They will come from people on the outside and they will come from people on the inside. Expect them and when they arrive, don’t think it’s strange.

6. Before You Become the Senior (or Lead) Pastor, Be An Assistant Pastor.

I believe that this is so crucial and I am soo grateful for my training as an assistant pastor. In every field, you have to learn the ropes before you take the reins. As a doctor, you don’t just jump from Medical School into the Operating Room. First you do your residency. Same is true of business. The guy from the mail room never gets hired as the CEO. Never. Why? Because they first need to learn the ropes of business. I have found that the ministry is caught (much like a cold). I learned soo much from catching the ministry from my pastor. I learned things to avoid, ways to handle situations, how to gracefully let someone leave the church, how to handle a wounded sheep, etc. Most pastors who have never been Assistant Pastors normally hurt a lot of people because they need caught the ministry from another pastor. My advice would be, “If you want to be plant a church, get on staff at a church first.”

7. Get a Mentor, You’ll Need Him.

My pastor, John Henry Corcoran, told me before I left to plant the first church, that the next set of lessons that I need to learn can only be learned as the pastor. But once you step on out, you are in uncharted territory. You want and need someone who you can bounce ideas off of. You want to have someone who can say to you, ‘Whatever you do, don’t do that.’ I did that once and …’ You’ll also need someone who can support you personally. Once you step on out, the enemy will be gunning for you like never before. You need accountability as most church planters feel isolated from people. Make sure that you have someone who will ask you the hard questions and keep your struggles and issues before the Lord.

8. The Key to Church Planting – Discipleship

There are a small percentage of church plants that take off like wildfire. Most of them are slow going. Like Jesus, discipleship is the key to building the kingdom. Discipleship involves relationship and relationship takes time and energy. You need to pour into the people that God has brought to you. You need to be available and open with them. You need, like the apostle Paul, to be a poured out offering. Discipleship builds solid churches.

9. Beware of Friends and Family Who Want to Help with the Church Plant.

I know, this statement is a bit shocking. I have found from my own experiences and in talking with many other pastors that one of the biggest hindrances to a pastor’s joy is the well meaning friends and family members (extended) who want to be involved. I often tell men to discourage their close buddies and families members from being there at all in the early stages.

10. Make Sure That You Keep Feeding Your Soul.

For most church planters, they are used to going to church. Even if you are in service at the church, you are often hearing the Word taught a few times a week. Once you step out, you need to make sure that you are still sitting under the teaching of the Word. I have found that the best way to do this is to pick a ‘Pastor’ for the next three months. It can be anyone you want. But listen to a few Bible studies a week from a certain pastor. Maybe study through a book or sermon series with a certain pastor. As I am writing this, I am presently studying through the book of Colossians with Pastor Tim Brown of Calvary Chapel Fremont and am being absolutely blessed and convicted. If you let this lapse, you will sense the leanness of your soul.

THE NEWCOMERS: 6 People You’ll Meet on Your Church Planting Adventure, and How we Serve them

All church planters want people to come to theirchurch.  We who have started a churchfrom the ground up all share that in common. The first official gathering of Refuge Church was a home bible studywhich consisted of six adults and our three little kids.  I remember that we all had that mix of emotions that all church planting teams have. On the one hand we felt courageous and unstoppable.  We felt that since God had called us to thiswork there was no question that we were going to see Him bust down the gates of hell in our midst.  On the other hand we were honestly a bit fearful.  We went through those down times of asking God, “Why would you call us to serve You this way?”  As if His choice of us for this work ever had anything to do with some kind of inherent goodness or talents we possessed thatHe needed!

With that mix of zeal and fear we launched public Sunday services for Refuge Church in Riverdale, UT January 10, 2010.  We had a whopping 12 people show up!  Still, we were just glad to see anyone besides our initial six that morning!  And since that time we have seen the Lord grow our Sunday morning attendance to 120 people, start three vibrant house churches, and establish a ministry internship program for guys who want to confirm and get trained in their calling from God.  All of this has happened in one crazy year!  We stand amazed at God’s grace and glory for what He is doing!

The person all church planters want to come to their new church most is the person who doesn’t know Jesus as their personal savior.  We long to see people come into our services belonging to the kingdom of darkness, but leave our services belonging to the Kingdom of the blessed God and His Son Jesus Christ! But the fact is, particularly for people planting churches in the United States, many visitors to our services will be people who are already Christians.  In my experience planting and pastoring churches I have generally found that Christians who show up to your church fall into one of six categories.  Below I have listed those categories and how I think the Lord has taught me to approach each type of person.  My hope is that my experience will be of some value to planters who are processing how to best serve not only the lost, but the different personalities of Christians they will inevitably meet on their church planting adventure.

 

The Drifters

The first group of Christians who will visit your church are the Drifters.  Drifters are Christians who you might think of as shopaholics when it comes to the local church.  They wander from church to church never really committing or even intending to commit to a local church in any meaningful way.  You can usually identify these
people by their, “What does this church have to offer me?” mentality.

I have had a lot of drifters stop by the church I pastor.  It’s been hard for me to deal
with them upfront because, as any church planter knows, you are excited to have
anyone with a pulse show up at your church when you’re starting out!  The thought of offending someone with loving truth is a tough pill to swallow because it might result in them leaving your church to drift on to the next place.  I think Mark Driscoll has a good exhortation for us here.  He compares drifters with cows.  He says, “Cows are selfish people who wander from church to church, chewing up resources without ever giving back to the church until they kill it.  A fence needs to be built around the church to keep the cows out.”[1]

Sadly, my personal experience has only confirmed Driscoll’s perspective.  I’ve come to the conclusion that drifters need to lovingly but boldly be exhorted to stop using the church, and to start being the church.  That doesn’t mean that anyone who isn’t
serving like they’re in fulltime ministry needs to be rebuked.  But when the Lord shows you that someone who has been coming around for a while has this kind of consumer mentality, the way to serve them is to disciple them.  Teach them about the exciting fact that Jesus has a special place and way for them to serve Him through serving His people. Teach them that when they begin to prayerfully serve God’s church instead of consuming it that they will find the words of Jesus to be true: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”[2]

 

The Disgruntled

Another group you will inevitably find visiting your church plant are the Disgruntled.  These are the people who got mad at their last church because they didn’t teach their pet doctrines enough, celebrate communion enough, baptize in the right way, and on and on and on.  They have come to your church sinfully hating their brothers, sisters, and the leadership of their former church.  To make matters worse, they usually tell you that they have decided to come to your church because you are everything good
that their former pastor or church isn’t. In this sense they are sinfully making you the functional Jesus in their life.

These people need to be told a few things: First, they need to be assured that if they are looking for the perfect church with a pastor who will be perfect like Jesus for them that they have absolutely not found it.  Second, they need to be encouraged to make sure that even if their motives for leaving their former church are biblical that their attitude is also biblical.  The Bible says to speak the truth in love.[3]  Many Christians who are unloving claim this verse when they are challenged about their arrogance.  They will tell you, “Speaking the truth is loving!”  The problem is that if speaking the truth is
loving enough in itself, the Holy Spirit wouldn’t have felt the need to inspire the added qualifier of, “in love.”  The disgruntled are served best by planters who will tell them that they need to have the loving heart of Jesus in their attitudes toward believers who err, and not just the sound doctrine of Jesus on their lips.

Lastly, the disgruntled need to be given a clear understanding of what your church’s
mission and doctrine are, and they need to be told upfront that they are welcome to be part of the fellowship as long as they don’t become a point of divisive contention over the positions of the church.  They don’t have to agree with everything, but they need to disagree agreeably, and they need to talk to their brother in every case of disagreement, not about their brother.  If they can’t agree on these points, they probably need to be told that they will be happier somewhere else.

 

The Damaged

A third group of people you will meet in your new church plant are the Damaged.  These are people who have been legitimately harmed in some way by churches and church leaders who are not living out the example of the Jesus they claim to represent.
For example, in our Christian community a formerly trusted local pastor was convicted of, and recently confessed to sexually abusing young kids involved with his ministry.   This dealt a huge blow to the faith of those who looked up to him as their pastor and
faithful spiritual guide.

Thefallout from this situation manifested itself in brokenness and pain in the hearts of many people who felt used and betrayed.  I spoke with one young man who had looked up to this man who admitted to feeling like he couldn’t trust any pastor after this experience. He was damaged spiritually.

These people need to be loved.  They need to be provided with a place where they can sit under the word of God, have access to trustworthy pastoral counseling, and simply be cared for.  They don’t need to be pushed and prodded to serve, forced to open up, or anything else.  Jesus has sent them to your church to be a spiritual hospital, and that’s all you need to be.

 

The Disassociated

The fourth group you will find at your new church plant are the Disassociated.  These are people who grew up in the church and have somewhere along the way for various reasons disassociated themselves with the local church. Sometimes this is because of laziness.  Sometimes this is because they never really received Jesus and became
born again.

The disassociated need loving pastors, leaders, and friends who will show them the love of Christ and welcome them.  They need someone to love them enough to take
opportunities to make sure they really understand the gospel.  Often times these people are cultural Christians and not born again Christians. They need to be deciphered in pastoral conversations and grounded in the gospel.  If they are saved they need to be encouraged in their understanding of the church.  They need to know that not only do they need the local body, but that the local body needs them.  They need to be connected with appropriate contexts and relationships of discipleship.

 

The Diners

Another common group of Christians you will find at your new church plant are the Diners.  We can’t be unloving, but we have to be honest about the fact that some churches simply don’t do a good job feeding the people the Word.  This produces
Christians who are genuinely saved, but incredibly malnourished.  The diners are those Christians who show up at your church looking for the nourishment that’s been missing in their previous church experience.  Many times the diners have an inability to pinpoint what’s been lacking in their spiritual journey thus far.  They know they are hungry, but they don’t know what they need to eat.

This is where you come in.  These people need to be fed the Word of God.  They are like newborn babies who have been deprived of milk.  Like a good parent Jesus wants you to feed these malnourished baby believers with good Bible teaching so they can grow up to realize their full potential in Christ.

Additionally, diners need to be taught not to become part of the disgruntled.  If they aren’t, they will probably wake up to the fact that what they were missing at their last
church was the teaching of the Word, and get upset.  When this happens diners often move out of the restaurant into the war trench of the disgruntled.  It is your job to encourage them to love the church they came from, to pray for the church they came from, but to in no way look down on or act self-righteously toward the church they came from.

 

The Doghouse

The last group of Christians we’ll highlight that might show up at your new church plant are the group I call the doghouse.  These are Christians who have been kicked out of their previous local church.  They come to your church looking for a place to blend in and lay low either because they are rebellious, or embarrassed.

This is a delicate group. Don’t assume anything about people who are in the doghouse with other churches.  Sometimes they have been kicked out for legitimate reasons such as teaching heresy or living in open, willful, and unrepentant disobedience. Other times these are people who have suffered abuse at the hands of legalists.  They’ve been kicked out of their church not for biblical reasons, but perhaps for things like hanging out with non-Christians, not dressing a certain way, or not abiding by any other
number of anti-biblical manmade rules.

The doghouse is a hard group for lazy pastors and church planters to handle.  This is because it takes prayerful time and investigation to figure out which type of person in
the doghouse you’re really dealing with.  You’ll have to get the pertinent sides of the story from directly involved sources, read your Bible, get godly counsel, and pray for God’s wisdom as to what to do.

So when the investigation is done and the verdict is in, what do you do?  If it turns out that they were simply victims of legalism you need to welcome them to a church that will be a safe environment for them.  You need to show them the grace of God and be a pastor they can count on.  If they are found to have been legitimately removed from their former church, you need to tell them in a loving but frank manner that they cannot come to your church either.  If you let them assimilate into your church instead of feeling the consequences of the unrepentant sinful behavior they engaged in at their previous church you will short-circuit God’s plan of correction in their lives.[4]  That might feel gracious at the time, but it is in fact very unloving.    

 

Conclusion

Church planting is tough.  Sometimes it means dealing with tough people and tough situations.  As church planters we have to remember that Jesus put us where we are, in connection with the specific people who come our way for a reason.  Sometimes He wants to lovingly rebuke people through us.  Sometimes He wants to love the hurting through us.  No matter what the situation, we can do our job with confidence knowing that God is going to enable us to do what He has called us to do.  I’ll leave you with some words that the apostle Paul gave to a young pastor who had been part of his church planting team:

 

“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry…” (1 Timothy 1:12)

 

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy
6:12)

 


[1] Driscoll, Mark. Confessions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard
Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.
Page 79

[2] Acts 20:35b NKJV

[3] Ephesians 4:15

[4] See 1 Corinthians Chapter
5

Helping God Fill the Trench with Water

“Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.”
And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time.
And he said, “Do it the third time.” And they did it the third time.
And the water ran about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

1 Kings 18

 

Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.”

James 5

One of the snares of ministry that I find myself entangled in occasionally is the thinking that I am somehow helping God by what I am doing…as if He needed my help with anything.

“If I were hungry I would not tell you , for the world is Mine, and all its fullness.” Psalm 50

Elijah wanted to show God’s people that he wasn’t going to try to help God out. He actually went out of his way to prove that he didn’t have any smoldering charcoal briquettes up his sleeve that he shook out into the altar as he repaired it. He wasn’t putting on a religious show as he re-stacked the stones, laid the wood in order and placed the sacrifice for the burnt offering upon the wood.

He then proceeded to dig a trench around the altar with the prophets of Baal looking on, king Ahab, and the people of Israel. Now that was different. That wasn’t normal. Probably took a while ti dig since it hadn’t rained for a few years.

He then asked for four pots or barrels to be taken down the hill, presumably, filled with water, brought back up and poured over the whole altar. Now maybe some of you have stood on Carmel like I have…and the only thought I could muster was, “Where in the world did these guys go and get the water from? How long did that take?”He does it a second time…and a third time.

This guy is going out of his way to do something people had never seen before. He was removing himself from the equation, as much as he possibly could. In my mind, he was utterly convinced that God was going to show up. And the people were in need of being utterly convinced themselves that God is who Elijah says he is.

What is Elijah doing? He wasn’t apologizing or arguing or defending God. He simply afforded God an opportunity to show up.

There is a specific way in which God desires to be approached and worshipped. There is a responsibility on our part to repair the altar by  “stacking the stones, and laying the wood in order, to lay the sacrifice in order upon the altar in plain view for all to see.” But even this is nothing, in and of itself, if there is no fire sent from heaven to consume it all, beyond all logical belief and to the amazement of the people we are repairing altars in front of on a regular basis.

In the absence of fire, we are simply doing what the false prophets do…stack the stones, throw on the wood, lay on the sacrifice, and proceed to exert ourselves in vain, putting on one heck of a show to entertain those who are in rebellion against the God who created them and loves them, entertaining them for a brief morning or afternoon, while they continue to falter between two opinions and are destined to be cast into hell.

Am I exerting myself in vain, putting on a show to entertain the starving and the dying, dancing, screaming, and cutting myself to prove just how much I really love God?

Am I defying all logic and stepping outside the box, doing things that aren’t “normal” by pouring water on the altar of my ministry, the altar of my calling, the altar I have been given to repair in the generation I have been born into so that God may be glorified when He proves He is by that manifesting Presence of His holy fire?

The Need for Self-Discipline

“But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27)

The Corinthian church gave Paul the apostle grief in certain areas … seems like there was a small but rebellious group within the fellowship that thought it necessary to challenge him regarding his style and his approach to ministry. Therefore, Paul the apostle took the time to biblically explain and defend his actions. In doing so, he set the tone for all future ministers of the gospel.

Their issue with Paul centered around his rights as a minister. Among other things, they claimed that he (and Barnabas) should not be allowed to refrain from working (to wholly dedicate themselves to preaching and teaching). In other words (so they said), ministers of the gospel have no right to full-time financial support.

Paul’s response presented a masterful scriptural case that paves the way for preachers of the gospel to receive material support in their ministries (see 1 Corinthians 9:1-14).

But this privilege is accompanied by responsibility (1 Corinthians 9:15-23). Even though the minister can and may receive a salary, it’s not a given that he do so. In Paul’s case, he refused financial support so he could offer the gospel free of charge. He reasoned that because this was his calling from God and the stewardship he’d received from Him, he should approach things this way. Woe to him if he didn’t preach the gospel! In fact, his ministry required him to radically adjust to each group he sought to reach. He would become all things to all men, that he might save some.

Paul’s approach to ministry is an example to all who minister in Christ’s name. And, Paul’s example requires a great deal of self discipline. A minister who develops a love for the world’s flavors will have a hard time avoiding self-indulgent attitudes. A minister who fails to see his calling as a mandate and stewardship will think that his service is optional, and that he is free to live for himself.

As a pastor of many years, I have observed a lot just by watching (quote from Yogi Berra). In some cases, I have seen leaders devolve into having the wrong vision for their service. They start to focus on the development of the organization, instead of the development of the people. As the organization grows, so does the capacity for them to draw a nice salary, live in a nice home, drive nice cars, and have a very comfortable lifestyle. If they’re not careful, this becomes their new treasure, and their heart will most surely follow (Matthew 6:21). Instead of valuing God’s kingdom and the fulfillment of the Great Commission, they value the “growth” of the church, which usually means growth in numbers and budgets and buildings and programs.

It requires self-discipline to maintain the correct vision and goals in life. After all, what are we here for?

Paul compares his own personal approach to self-discipline with that of a high-level athlete (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). The athlete runs to win; the athlete is temperate (has self-control) in all things. The athlete competes for the crown at the end of the race. In other words, the athlete will do whatever it takes to compete and win.

So it is with us. First, we assess the goal of our life. Should not that be to hear these blessed words: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21)? Should not our goal be to discover the Divine purpose for our lives, our calling, and our stewardship?

If we maintain the correct goal (i.e. treasure), we must then give ourselves wholly to the fulfillment of it.

Thus, the need for self-discipline.

Thanks for reading.

In Christ,

Bill Holdridge

Total Wellness #4 – Loving God with all your Mind – Daniel Fusco @ Calvary North Bay

 

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