Drought

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England is a very wet country. We get some rain almost every day. Those of you in the Pacific Northwest can identify with the climate here. The weather here is so variable, that it is the most common theme of conversation. In fact, I dare anyone in England to engage in a conversation with someone without the weather being mentioned!

All this weather talk gets me thinking. Recently, because of a draught here, the government called for a “hosepipe ban”. In other words, if you use your hose to water your garden or wash your car or whatever, you will be charged a fine of £1000! I found this intriguing especially as I am from California and it never rains there. I guess Californians have the luxury of stealing water from neighbors, but when you’re on an island, this becomes more difficult.

Strangely, we have had some extremely heavy rain storms come through causing flooding over the past several weeks. Wondering if I was able to wash my car, I checked to see if the ban was still on. YES! It is still on. Apparently we received too much rain! The water came down in such volume that it all turned into runoff and hardly any had sunk below the surface.

Enough about British weather… It is a wonder to me that people (including myself) who hear lots of Bible teaching can still have a drought in their soul. But the fact of the matter is that it’s not the volume of Bible that we hear, but rather the depth of penetration what we hear has. I can tend to think a person just needs to listen to more Bible studies, which may actually just turn into runoff. I can hear some people at this point say, “Wait, God’s word doesn’t return void, certainly more Bible is better.” Hear me out.

Jesus said we are to “take heed how you hear” (Mark 4:24-25 NKJV). Hearing the word doesn’t profit us if that word is not absorbed. At best, we get wet on the surface, but the soul is still parched. What our people may need is not necessarily more Bible studies, but rather focusing on the heart’s reception of God’s truth to which they are already exposed.

Recently we decided to use the same text from Sunday’s teaching in our home groups. Our desire is to see the same truth that was heard on Sunday absorbed with the help of community. My thinking is that if our people could learn one truth about God well from his word each week and truly absorb that truth, the drought of soul would be replaced by a well-watered garden. Their capacity for intake would increase. We can focus on how that truth teaches us, rebukes us, exhorts us, and helps us walk with Jesus (2Tim 3:16) both as individuals and in community.

Unspiritual Christianity

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Today is one of those articles that I am going to try and say something that I don’t really know how to say. I really have struggled over the years to articulate this reality and find myself struggling today again to find the words to express something of value.

My pondering began with a simple question, “How is it possible for Christianity to be perceived as unspiritual?” The gospel is simply the Lordship of Jesus. When a person believes in Jesus, they are indwelt by the Spirit of God, the third person of the Blessed Trinity.There is no Christianity without the Spirit. Yet, as I look around the body of Christ, there seems to be way more examples of unspiritual Christianity then there are spiritual ones. Now when I speak about the need for Christianity to be spiritual, I mean “of the Spirit” in the simplest of terms. Not even necessarily the expression of spiritual giftings. I am talking about the basics of love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, patience, goodness and self control (Galatians 5:23). I am talking about lives that are lived out in the simplest aspects of agape love and service. I am talking about the ‘shalom’ of God being at work and being outworked through the body of Christ. Concepts such as agape, simplicity, service, unity and peace-making are in my mind.

As I survey much of the Christianity around today, I don’t see much of this. So I started to wonder why. Why is so much of Christianity look so little like the life of Jesus? I see much personal politics, attack-dog disagreements, sin cloaked in religion, bickering, jockeying for position, niches and cliches. It is so common for people to rise up in churches if they are charismatic or sychopantic rather than having a Jesus-formed character.

So I am going to list a few reasons why this may be the case. Instead of commenting on each of them, I will simply list them and let you all have fun with them.

1) When information is king
2) When theology is not translated to the street level
3) Classic Self-salvation plans
4) Cultural Idolatry
5) A lack of any focus on spiritual formation (true biblical discipleship)
6) A western individualistic focus rather than community formation
7) Prayerlessness
8) The Curse of Affluence
9) The Influence of Business Practices upon Church Leadership
10) Tax-exempt status
11) Church as entertainment

Comfortable Christianity?

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If there’s one thing my own heart has convinced me of, and my interactions with other Christian’s has taught me time and time again, it is that many Christians in the west expect God to provide us with a comfortable Christianity.  We gauge whether or not God is calling us to serve Him by cost, comforts, and conveniences we may have to sacrifice. If we feel called to something that will cost more money than we’d like to spend, think we have, or can provide, we conclude the feeling must not be from God. If we sense the nudge of the Holy Spirit toward a project or person that would cause us discomfort (physically or emotionally), we back out. If serving some way is just inconvenient, either at church or elsewhere, many Christians conclude God must not be leading, or things would just go smoothly.

Comfortable Christianity Slogans

Here are some of my favorite statements I hear, and some I’ve said, which demonstrate our expectation of a comfortable Christianity:

 “If I’m stressed out, it means I’ve taken too much on and need to let something go.” (Comfort)

 “We want to come to church, but we live fifteen minutes across town.” (Convenience)

 “We want to tithe, but money’s a little tight right now.” (Cost)

 “We’d love to go to a small group, but I have to rush home, eat quickly, and get the family packed up in a hurry, and by that time we’re just stressed.  Going to Bible study as a family shouldn’t be stressful.” (Convenience/Comfort)

 “I meant to come to the once per quarter discipleship event at church, but Saturdays are when I sleep in.” (Convenience)

 “I know those people need help, but my kids can’t miss their nap.” (Convenience/Cost/Comfort)

 “We haven’t been at church in three months because it’s SUMMER!” (Convenience/Comfort)

God’s Not a Kill-joy

Now, to be clear, I’m not saying all of the above statements are sinful every time they’re made.  For instance, sometimes a kid just needs a nap. But too often, these kinds of things become excuses for not wanting to suffer in any way, to be part of the body of Christ, or serve people. The truth is, biblical Christianity includes the call to joyfully suffer. If our Christianity is the Christianity of the Christ, it will mean great cost at times, to us and our families. It will mean inconvenience, and it will mean discomfort. It will include things like only camping two weeks in the summer with your family instead of ten, specifically so you can serve your church and community on the other weekends. It may include kids going without naps, stressful drives to the prayer meeting, spending money you don’t have because God promised to provide, and sacrificing days off on the couch, for days off in the trench serving God.

Jesus and the Apostles

Consider a few verses, and ask yourself if they represent legitimate potential experiences in your life, based on how you live out your version of the Christian life:

Matthew 8:19-20: “Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’” That’s right. Jesus was telling this dude that he may have to sleep on the street to follow Jesus faithfully. What if following Jesus meant that for you? Would you write off His call to sacrifice as the voice of the Devil? Some would conclude that  Satan was the one speaking if they were merely being asked to give up a spare room to a guest, let alone their entire house.

Matthew 16:24-25: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.’” That’s a tough cost to ponder. As John Piper reminded a group of students in regard to this passage, “The cross isn’t some annoying person sitting next to you in history class. The cross is the place where you die with nails driven through your hands and feet, while the crows eat your eyes out.” Jesus’ point is that truly following Him will feel like that spiritually at times for us all. And for some, they will literally be called to die for the faith, as He did.

Acts 5:41- “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” This was the response of the apostles when they were persecuted for their faithfulness to Jesus and His gospel. Most of us would think God was punishing us if He allowed us to suffer for Christ.

1 John 3:16- “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” This one is brutally plain, but true, and needs no elaboration.

What about You?

So, does your version of Christianity demand comfort, or is it real and biblical Christianity? Christians worship the crucified Christ, a suffering Savior. If you follow Him, you should expect to meet His experiences. And yet, the mystery of Christ is that He can grant a greater joy in giving, and suffering, than we experience when we avoid such things at all costs. The paradoxical thing is that when we avoid cost, inconvenience, and discomfort, we actually avoid joy, blessing, spiritual maturation, usefulness, and sanctification, which, at some levels, the Holy Spirit only uses the tool of suffering to provide.

I leave you with two quotes to pray over today:

“We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed– always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”[1] –The Apostle Paul

 “We can only achieve perfect liberty and enjoy fellowship with Jesus when His command, His call to absolute discipleship, is appreciated in its entirety. Only the man who follows the command of Jesus single-mindedly, and unresistingly lets His yoke rest upon him, finds His burden easy, and under its gentle pressure receives the power to persevere in the right way. The command of Jesus is hard, unutterably hard, for those who try to resist it. But for those who willingly submit, the yoke is easy, and the burden is light. ‘His commandments are not grievous’ (1 John 5:3). His commandments are not some sort of spiritual shock treatment. Jesus asks nothing of us without giving us the strength to perform it. His commandment never seeks to destroy life, but to foster it, strengthen and heal it.”[2] –Dietrich Bonhoeffer

[1] 2 Corinthians 4:8-11 NKJV

[2] Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. The Cost of Discipleship. Page 38.

One Last Revival?

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I’ve been thinking about and praying for a revival. For years. Specifically, and more so even lately, I’ve been praying and hoping for a Josiah revival.

What’s a Josiah revival? It’s a last ditch kind of revival … one more mighty move of God before judgment falls. And fall it most certainly will.

Consider the sin of Sodom. Usually, we equate the sin of Sodom with overt and aggressive homosexuality. Yet those were only the final symptoms of their sin. God Himself describes what they in Sodom had done:

“Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. {50} And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.” (Ezekiel 16:49-50)

First, Sodom was proud. Pride is a reflection of self-sufficiency, that somehow we have accomplished or gained what we have on our own. President Abraham Lincoln ascribed this meaning of pride to the United States, mired at the time in a brutal Civil War which would ultimately take the lives of as many as 750,000 Americans. In his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation, Lincoln wrote of the untold blessings that our nation had received. After citing what he called the choicest bounties of heaven, he mourned:

“…We have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.” 

That is precisely what Sodom had done. They were a successful city-state, rich with agricultural and commercial success, wealthy and prosperous. But they thought they’d done these things themselves. They were proud, fat, and with much discretionary time on their hands. Their work week was short, they were materially satisfied, and so they turned their attention to pleasure and the lusts of the flesh. And because the flesh can never be satisfied, they devolved further and further from Divinely ordained sexual relations between a husband and wife. They ended up with total sexual confusion and perverted expression of their sexuality.

We (in the United States) are much like Sodom. Our lust and will to live without truth and accountability to the God who made us has led us to unimaginable national sin.

At the top of the list of our national sins has been the holocaust of abortion. This holocaust has claimed the lives of at least 54,000,000 innocents since 1973. How large is this number? It represents 1,367 million babies per year that have died. That number is far greater than ALL casualties of war from every war in which the U.S. has been involved since 1775.

President Lincoln believed that the Civil War was God’s just judgment for the sin of slavery. A former professor of mine once queried our class, “If the blood atonement for the sin of slavery was the Civil War, what do you suppose will be the blood atonement for the sin of abortion?”

It is evident to many that judgment is on its way (remember the Billy Graham quote, “If God does not judge America, He owes an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah”?).

But … perhaps … there can be one last mighty move of God prior to that judgment falling. A Josiah revival.

Josiah was the grandson of Manasseh, and the son of Amon. Manasseh reigned in Judah for fifty-five years, and Amon for two. The spiritual wickedness that accumulated in those years is unimaginable. Even though Manasseh repented and was forgiven, the damage had already been done. The LORD spoke through Jeremiah to say that judgment was inevitable, and that it would be horrible.

Then the LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. {2} And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, Thus says the LORD: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.”’ {3} And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction,” says the LORD: “the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. {4} I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.”

After Manasseh and Amon, Josiah became king when only 8 years old. Somehow, by the sovereign grace of God, he was cut out of a completely different bolt of cloth. At age 16 he began to seek the God of his father David, and at age 20 he began to aggressively purge idolatry from Judah and Jerusalem. And at 26 he was exposed to the Word of God through Hilkiah the priest and Shaphan the scribe.

What happened then was amazing and incredible. Covenants were made, purging and repentance continued, Passover was observed, the Word of God spread. All told, Judah experienced the effect of Josiah’s reign from the time he was twenty to the time he died at thirty-nine.  The land which had been so full of sins and idolatry of every kind was now a nation under God. Such a drastic change could only be produced by God Himself, using His Word and anointed leadership.

After Josiah died, they lived once again with no fear of the LORD. It was only a matter of time before the fall of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity.

A Josiah revival.

One last time when someone … when many some ones … begin to seek God with all their hearts.

One last time when idolatry and sin is purged.

One last time when the Word of God is discovered, preached, taught, believed, and obeyed.

One last time before the inevitable judgment of God falls upon America.

Can we pray for revival? Should we hope for revival? Is it possible that one last Josiah revival will come?

The Four Essential Practices of Pastoral Ministry

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Without controversy, the greatest work accomplished by Jesus Christ was His death and resurrection.  Yet these two events don’t exhaust the full scope of the assignment given to Him by His Father.  They are the pinnacle of His life, but there’s a lot of mountain underneath.  Though the essence of His mission was redemptive, we can see in the practice of His ministry His shepherd’s heart, His pastoral concern for the people He came to save.  He is not only the Redeemer of His people, He is our Shepherd, too.  His death was redemptive and His life was pastoral.

Though the focus of the gospels is clearly on the last week of Jesus’ life – His death and resurrection – there is much material devoted to His pastoral ministry among the people.  The death and resurrection of Jesus are the main themes of the gospels, but not the only themes.  Without His pastoral ministry among the people, the hostility of the Jewish leadership would be without context.  The gentleness of Jesus and His care as He moved among the people were in stark contrast to the indifference of the career minded, ego-driven religious leaders.  His pastoral ministry emphasized the twin virtues of servanthood and humility, virtues sorely lacking among the clergy of His day.

In John 17:4 Jesus refers to the work He has already accomplished.

I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work  which You have given Me to do.

Some might argue that Jesus is using the proleptic here, that He is referring to a future event as already accomplished – that He is summing up the whole of His life in one grand statement – that He is referring to His death and resurrection as past events, though future.  If suffering a sacrificial death and experiencing a resurrection in power were the only assignments given to Jesus, that might be an attractive interpretation.   But the work God had given Him to do, though culminating in the cross and empty tomb, were not exhausted by them.  In referring to the accomplished work in John 17:4, Jesus is looking back on the work He completed as a Shepherd among the people.

We are not left in the dark about the work that Jesus accomplished.  In John 17:6-13, Jesus reviews the work He completed whereby He glorified God.  They outline the pastoral ministry of Jesus Christ.  These verses set before us the four essential practices of ministry.  What Jesus exampled in His ministry and reviews in prayer here before His Father are the essence of being a shepherd to the flock of God.  Whatever our ministry training and ongoing theological education is, let’s master these four essential practices of pastoral ministry first.  The mature pastor and effective spiritual leader will be one who follows the pastoral example of Jesus and mimics the rhythm and patterns of His life.

Many who are reading this will, no doubt, find that they are already practicing the four essentials.  These practices of pastoral ministry do not exhaust the full scope of pastoral care, but, eliminate any one of them, and you will cripple the shepherd and impoverish the sheep.  OK – what are the four essential practices of pastoral ministry?

#1                 Manifesting the name of God –

I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.   John 17:6

#2                 Giving the Word –

I gave them Your word…   John 17:8

#3                 Praying for the people –

I ask on their behalf…   John 17:9     

#4                 Guarding the flock –

I was keeping them in Your name…I guarded them…  John 17:12

#1 has to do with the messenger whereas #2 has to do with the message.  If the messenger is rejected, the message will probably be rejected, too.  If we don’t manifest the character of God we become ineffective in speaking the word of God.  There is more to preaching than insight and delivery.  #3 is largely private whereas #4 is very personal as we get one-on-one with people and rebuke and challenge and encourage and weep with them.

In my next four blog pieces I will enlarge on each essential pastoral practice.

10 things on my mind this week…

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1. Blessed to hold the hand of and pray with a sister about to step from this life to the next after a battle with an aggressive cancer. Her words to me, “I want to live.” You will, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life, let not your heart be troubled.

2. Like eating Greek far more than reading Greek. Prepositions, participles, imperfect, active, indicative, third person singular… O my (or perhaps ομαι, which would of course be a deponent ending). Not sure just how well I’m getting it, but Greek class is mind bending. So wish I would have paid more attention in high school English class.

3. Find it interesting that it’s “wrong” to write an article in a public venue (i.e. blog) that can be openly challenged, but it’s perfectly acceptable to privately circulate a dozen page+ letter among ones peers and associates condemning and falsely labeling them, without their knowledge.

If someone has issue with something I’ve said or written they can comment here, email me, find me on Facebook, twitter, google+ or call my office.

4. Amazed by the spiritual insights gleaned from (1) raising Ethan, Addie & Eva, and (2) pruning the grape vine in my backyard.

5. So blessed by my mom and my wife as I approach Mother’s Day.

6. Intrigued by President Obama’s non-evolutionary “leap” to supporting gay marriage this week.

7. Thankful for the men God has put in my life that challenge me to be a better follower of God, husband to my wife, father to my kids and pastor of Cross Connection Escondido.

8. Excited by the several projects I’m collaborating on in multiple spheres. Am regularly blown away that I get to do what I get to do.

9. Consistently surprised by the graciousness of people to bless me and my family in very tangible ways that express their genuine love for us.

10. Praying for wisdom in unearthing and implementing a new paradigm in Christ honoring community for CCEsco.

Big Church, Small Church = Same Church

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As many of you know, I am a blogging veteran. It dawned on me recently that I have been blogging for over 10 years at this point. But is also interesting is that I find myself interacting on them less and less (although ironically, this article is on a blog). Why? Well because I have little bandwidth these days for incessant arguments. When I think about some of the most common arguments about church on blogs (whether ministry-minded blogs like CrossConnection or other Christian blogs), it is the church size preference argument. Most of the arguing, as I have thought about it, is actually from people who prefer smaller churches and then vilify larger churches. Although I don’t know of any larger church pastor starting a blog argument over church size, it is far to common to hear a mega church pastor speak down about a smaller church. I once stood in horror as a large church pastor asked a faithful brother of a smaller church, “How is your little work going?”. The work of God in salvation and in His people is never little. It is always huge.

But, for me, I feel that I have a unique vantage point on this because of how the Lord has led me. I have been involved pastorally in 4 churches (3 as the church-planter and senior pastor). The three churches I planted were turned over to other pastors with less than 100 people. Now I pastor a very large church. Here’s what I have learned. Simply stated, the church is the church. Whether large or small, the church is the people of God together in community. Every church is flawed in some way, yet being grown up into her head, Jesus. All churches have budget problems, building (or lack thereof) issues, committed members and folks who just come and go. On every level, the church is the church.

This was brought into stark focus for me recently as someone asked me how it was to teach at a large church. I said simply, it’s exactly the same, just more people hear the message at one time. I haven’t changed, the only difference is that now, if I look to the left or the right when I’m teaching, I’ll see myself amplified on jumbo screens (a terrifying sight). I still study the same, deliver it the same, pray that God uses it the same. After service, just like in a smaller body, some folks head for the doors and other folks want to spend time and talk. There are all the same people issues. In any church, large or small, most people have 10 truly close friends. That doesn’t change. A large church is not any less intimate than a smaller church. Why? Because intimacy is a heart issue not a size issue. Again, it’s all the same church.

So why do I write this? Well maybe it is my hope that people will be okay with simply stating their preference for church size and dynamics instead of seeking to justify the preference by vilifying the other side. I also say this because as a church planter and smaller church pastor, I also tried to vilify larger churches. It don’t think I did it maliciously. I did it naively. But my experience has taught me that the church is the church, no matter how many people are gathered together. We are all one big family in Jesus. I, for one, am grateful for that.

MOTIVATION AND MISSION

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Recently I’ve been reconvicted all over again on the issue of motive in mission.  I’m not generally one of those guys who struggles to have joy in ministry.  My problem is that I don’t always do ministry from a place of having joy in enough of the right things.  I love studying the Word, preaching the Word, training up leaders, designing discipleship processes, and so on.  My joy can terminate on those things in and of themselves.  It isn’t inherently wrong to enjoy those kinds of things.  But I need to do what I do in response to more than the joy I experience over performing those functions alone.  What is the great motive from which all my activities should flow?  How about love for God and love for people!  Take it from the Bible:

 “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This [is] the first commandment. And the second, like [it, is] this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31)

 “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed [the poor], and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

 There it is!  Love for God and people must be the motive for everything I do.  If my motive for doing what I do isn’t love for God and people (even if my activities are amoral) they are of no credit to me in the perspective of God.  My problem is that I can enjoy building systems, preaching sermons, counseling people, and raising up leaders, while thinking and feeling next to nothing for God or people.  I simply enjoy the processes inherently.

So let’s be honest with ourselves today.  God knows the truth already, so hiding is of no value.  Why are excited to preach that message this week?  Why are you looking forward to that meeting with those leaders?  Why are you looking forward to that upcoming ministry opportunity?  Why are you buzzing with zeal on the inside over expanding the scope of your mission?  Is the foundational motive of your mission love for God and people, and the knowledge that these other things merely facilitate the expression and expansion of that love?  Or is the foundational motive of your mission and activities simply an enjoyment of the processes, roles, and opportunities themselves?

Let’s take a love test.  If the verses were expressing your motive for mission, how would Mark 12:30-31 read?  Would it be, “My motivation for the mission comes from loving the ministry my God (processes, sermon, study, counseling, opportunities, prestige) with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul.  And I don’t think much of my neighbor, but I love myself.”?  Or would it read, “My motivation for the mission comes from actually loving THE LORD MY GOD and MY NEIGHBOR as myself.”?  Think about it.  Pray about it.  Respond appropriately.

The ‘One Another’

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Nehemiah 4:19

“Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.”

There is the very tangible reality in our daily lives that we are separated far from one another “on the wall”.

There is no doubt that the “work” we are involved in as the Body of Christ is vast and extensive from our point of view. As we look at the “walls” that lie in disrepair and comprehend that its “breaches are many” (Isaiah 22:9), we begin to understand the scope of all that has been done, and begin to understand the reach that still has to be accomplished in our own communities, to the ends of the globe.

What greater thing is there than pouring our very lives that have been redeemed from the slimy pit and have now been washed clean, purged from the stains of our guilty consciences and shot-out lives, into the great and eternal “work” that we have been called to and given gifts by His Spirit which enable us to engage ourselves in this work effectively and profitably for the renown of Jesus’ name.

There are those that each of us know and love and care for in the Body of Christ that are fighting and laboring and toiling, expending spiritual and physical blood, sweat, and tears in this “work”. They are the ones that fill the seats on Wednesdays and Sundays, falling asleep, nodding off during our sermons, not making it to the discipleship classes, the home fellowship or mid-week study all the time, “‘cuz I’m just plumb wore out”.

They are the ones who are directly involved in the “front lines” work of the ministry. They are the ones forging ahead day in and day out into the vast hordes of men and women, young and old who don’t believe. And it is at those moments that we feel so separate from one another in the work that God has set before us to do.

And here in Nehemiah 4:16 we see the position of the leaders in the “impossible” work in Jerusalem…namely repairing the breaches, rebuilding the wall. The leaders are positioned squarely behind the “frontline”. Yes, they are also directly involved in the work themselves, fighting, laboring and toiling alongside.

But they are also functioning “behind the scenes”, watching, directing, re-directing, encouraging, equipping, etc.

With this picture in mind, one thought stands out. There is the necessity that we must teach, by our lives and by our words, that in the work of the Lord and in the service of the Lord, in desiring to accomplish the task that is before us, there is a needed balance, with which we will be able to be most effective in our watching and in our working.

We, as pastors, have been separated from “waiting on tables”, so to speak, and strive to be constant in our giving of ourselves, our entire lives, to the ministry of the word and to prayer. Our desire, our goal, our calling, if you will, is to excel in being the leaders that God has gifted us to be so that you might be the best equipped, as you each are laboring and toiling on the front lines, rebuilding the walls.

It is the Body working together, every part functioning in the role and giftings that the Lord has given each of us.

Ephesians 4:11-16

We have been given the grand opportunity to glorify God in coming alongside one another in this Great and Extensive work that He has called us to, gifted us for, and given leaders in His Body as He has seen fit to equip us for the work He has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.

1 Corinthians 12:27

“Now you are the body of Christ (corporately) , and members individually.”

Helpless and Hopeless without God’s Word

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Jesus said:

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28)

Years ago I broke down and bought a GPS navigation device for our cars. We figured that given all the driving we do in places we’ve never been, it might be a great help. Also, for other kinds of searches (restaurants, places of interest, etc.) it has great information. In some ways this GPS has been wonderful, but in other ways very frustrating. It’s been sort of a love/hate relationship.

Early on, I decided I needed to name the female voice coming out of this device … the voice that told me—so smoothly—where I should go and when I had to turn. I decided upon the name “Wanda” for some reason. But when we decided to take Wanda on our trip to the East Coast, I decided to pronounce her name with an East Coast accent. “Wander” is how it came out.

“Wander.” How disturbingly appropriate—because that’s what kept happening under her driving instructions. Have you ever argued with a machine? Well now I can say that I have. “Wander” and I would go back and forth on numerous specifics. When it was obvious she was wrong, she was entirely unyielding—even when it was clear that she was adding an additional ½ hour to our trip.

Fortunately, we had a map in front of us, and in some cases, some local knowledge. My wife had lived on the East Coast for a number of years, so she was savvy re: many routes we needed to take. Combining map knowledge with local knowledge, we were able to defeat the occasional unwise counsel of Wander.

In my own spiritual life, I can recall a number of instances where the counsel of “Wander” came my way. If I listened, my journey would be waylaid. If I discerned and went the way of God’s map—the Bible—and the way of my knowledge of His ways in Christ that I’d learned over the years… then I’d be fine and I’d not lose my way.

Let me give you some examples of Wander’s counsel:

  •  (From almost 35 years ago), the teaching that all sickness was due to personal sin… therefore all I need to do is pray against the sin, and physical healing is guaranteed.

Refuted by John 9:1-3.

  • In a class at school, being taught that in order to receive God’s anointing, we must fast for a prescribed time before each sermon, avoid relations with our wives, and keep ourselves from some of the things in the OT law pertaining to the ideas of ceremonial uncleanness.

Refuted by the absolute absence of such instruction in the NT, and by passages like 2 Corinthians 3:3-18, Hebrews 7:21-22; 8:6-9.

  • Church growth is best accomplished by basing the church’s operating philosophy on the exercise of spiritual gifts, especially signs and wonders.

Refuted by the fact that Jesus commands pastors to feed the flock of God with the Word of God. Spiritual growth and equipping for ministry take place only through the Spirit’s application of the Bible to the heart of the hungry believer (2 Timothy 3:16-17). People are saved through the gospel, not through signs and wonders (Romans 1:16-17; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

  • When the church grows, we need to adopt wise management structures (i.e., organizational charts and lines of corporate reporting) to ensure ministry effectiveness.

Refuted by the fact that the church is an organism, not an organization. We are the living, breathing Body of Christ, and church structure needs to be relational, not structural. There is no NT evidence that the NT church organized itself using worldly methods of organization.

I could go on and on … suffice it to say that the only wise course of action—ever—is that which results from the Spirit’s direction through the Word of God. We need to hear God’s voice. When other voices cry out to us for our attention and obedience, we must always measure them against what the Bible teaches, and what our relationship with God in Christ has taught us through the years about the character and ways of God.

When I’ve listened to Wander without Biblical or spiritual discernment, I’ve fallen into a temporary ditch of some sort or another. When I’ve tested Wander and followed Jesus’ voice, which He promised that we would hear in John 10:27, then I’ve avoided the traps of unwise counsel which divert me from my spiritual journey.

In the flesh, we’re all prone to Wander. In the Spirit, we do very, very well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.   
 
(Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Words by Robert Robinson, 1758; Music: Nettleton, Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second, by John Wyeth, 1813)