Let's Get Out of The Church In 2020

In his Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7, Jesus makes the point that those who follow Him as disciples are both salt and light (Mt. 5:13-14). He does not say that we are to become the salt of the earth or the light of the world but rather that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  But Jesus also makes the point that it is not enough to simply be the light. Nor is it enough to simply let our light shine. Rather, what Jesus says is that we are to “let our light shine before men in such a way that they may see our good works” (Mt. 5:16). Therefore, that which manifests us as those who profess to follow Christ, Who is the light of the world, is our good works.  These good works, which we are to do manifest us as Christ's followers or His reflecting lights in the world.  And note, that these good works are to be worked out before men so as to be plainly seen.  

Apparently, Jesus wants our good works to be seen by men who do not know Him so that God the Father will be glorified (Mt. 5:16).  Now, Jesus does not discriminate between believers and nonbelievers in this verse.  He is saying that there is a sense in which even nonbelievers glorify God as they see and respond to the good works believers do as Christ's reflecting lights in the world. I take that to mean that as the result of seeing our good works done in Christ's Name, that they either end up repenting, trusting in Christ, and being saved or continue to reject Christ so as to finally get what we all deserve which is hell.  Either way, God is glorified as He will save those who see our Christ-honoring works and believe and condemn those who see them and do not.  The point is--that they see Christ reflected in us and in our good works which benefit  others.

Therefore, if our God-ordained, Christ-like, Holy Spirit empowered, Gospel-fueled, and beneficial “good works” are to be worked in such a way that people existing outside of Christ and are thus, of this world, may see them, we must do them outside the hidden, comfy, and safe walls of our churches.  We must be in the world to be seen by the world.  This demands that we be rubbing shoulders with all kinds of people....even people who are not the same as us as well as people we do not naturally gravitate to.  This might include the down and out, the rich and famous, the grocer and the butcher, democrats, republicans, pro-life, pro-choice, Trumpers, Never-Trumpers, gay, straight, climate change activists, progressives, tree-huggers, tree-slayers, conservatives, soccer moms, and every other label we humans can conceive—so that they glorify God--because our Christ-reflecting works are visibly and inclusively beneficial regardless of how they act out their rebellion to God.    

It goes without saying that it’s a whole lot easier dealing with people, especially the ones we disagree with and really don’t like, from a distance and as spectators--complaining about them from the safety and security of our pulpits and pews. But this doesn’t cut it when it comes to obeying and following Jesus. He told us to get up out of the pew, go out the doors of the church, and start doing some good things in this bad world so that people who don’t know, love and cherish Jesus can see what Jesus is actually all about and be brought into a saving relationship with Him which really glorifies God in the best possible way.   

So, can the world see us? Can people see our good works? Not if the only place we are known is at church. In the same way that lights are not meant to be covered up by baskets, Christians are not meant to hide out in their homes and churches.  So, let’s do something really drastic in 2020—let’s get out of our churches and our homes and go hang out with some unbelievers and let our light shine so they can see it and be impacted by it. They will glorify God one way or another and so will we!  

The Mystery of Christmas

On Christmas, we celebrate something quite wonderful: God entering our time and space. The eternal becomes temporal; the eternally infinite becomes temporarily finite; the Word that created all flesh becomes flesh.

It truly is a mystery!  The One who knows all things (John 16:30, 21:17) must “grow in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). The all-sufficient One (Acts 17:25) must hunger and thirst (Matt. 4:2, John 19:28). The creator of the world is homeless (Matt. 8:20), the Lord of life must die. (Phil. 2:8)

As Jesus, God the Son, Who knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), must watch His eternal plan unfold, bit by bit, moment by moment. He grows from infancy, to childhood, to adulthood, responding to events as they happen. One time He rejoices; another time He weeps. From day to day, from hour to hour, the changeless God endures change. But God the Son incarnate is still God, still transcendent. As He responds to events in time, He also looks down on the world from above time and space, ruling and governing all the events of nature and history in complete sovereignty—truly a mystery!

Why did God enter time in Christ?  First and foremost, for His Father’s glory so that God the Father could remain just in forgiving and justifying sinners who deserved His wrath (Rom. 3:25-26).  The Son of God took on the limitations of time, space even death, so that He would pay the penalty for the sins of anyone and everyone who would believe in Him.  In this way and only through this way is God the Father able to forgive believing sinners and remain true to His own righteousness.  Jesus entered time to glorify God in providing the means by which believers would be forgiven and find their joy in God.  

Whereas, at the incarnation, when God the Son became the God-Man, He entered time to live and die for those of us who believe—He also entered time to “be with us”.  That is what His Christmas Name “Emmanuel” means:  God with us.

He is still with us, now. Jesus said that He would be with us always (Matt. 28:20) in the Spirit (John 14:15-18). That means that God is an actor in history (His-story), as well as transcends history. He is with me as I write, watching one moment pass into the next, initiating yet responding to each event, bringing his sovereign Lordship to bear on every situation as it comes, hearing and responding to my prayers. But He is also looking down on the world from his transcendent, timelessly eternal viewpoint. He is both transcendent and immanent. As transcendent, He brings all things to pass according to His eternal plan. As immanent, He works in and with all things, moment by moment, to accomplish His sovereign will.  

Thus, in the incarnation, God the Son invades the time and space of history to become the “leading man” in His own drama of redemption which He planned in eternity past.  But as He plays His part in His own divine drama from below—He also and at the same time acts above History as its divine sovereign director holding every atomic particle of every being, thing, and action in place (Col. 1:17).

There are those, called Open Theists, who believe that if we are to do justice to this apparent “give-and-take” relationship that we see unfolding in the pages of the Bible between God and his creatures in history, we must reject God’s sovereign control over history, even his exhaustive knowledge of the future. Those conclusions do not follow logically, and they certainly are not biblical.  Rather, these biblical pictures of God’s seemingly “give and take” relationship with His creatures actions in time should lead us to a heightened view of God’s sovereignty. 

Our God is one who can and does accomplish his sovereign will, not only “from above,” by his eternal decrees, but also “from below,” by making all things work together for his good purpose (Rom. 8:28). Even those events which the biblically non-informed see as an apparent defeat for God such as the rejection and crucifixion of His Son, Jesus, are but, the out workings of his eternal plan.  In the very death of Jesus for our sins, God was acting in time to bring his sovereign purpose to pass (Acts 2:23).  Likewise, even in our our lives, when sin has gotten the best of us, God is not defeated.  Sin's work does not trump God's work in His people.  He is always at work in believers' lives (Phil. 2:13) even when we're sinning, taking what we mean for evil and using it ultimately for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).  

So Christmas reveals in a wonderful way that God acts in time as well as above it. Christmas shows us how wonderfully God relates to us, not only as a mysterious being from another realm, but as a person in our own realm: interacting with us, hearing our prayers, guiding us step by step, chastising us with fatherly discipline, comforting us with the wonderful promises of the blessings of Christ. Truly He is Emmanuel, the God who is really with us and Who is nonetheless eternally the Sovereign Lord above and beyond us.

Making Decisions About The Future Without Knowing The Future

Decisions, especially those major, life-changing decisions about the future, are challenging, to say the least.  What makes them particularly difficult, at least for me, is just the simple fact that I'm trying to make a decision about the future, that will affect my family's and my future, without being privy to what the future even looks like.  This can cause me as well as probably many of you some stress.  So, let me share with you some things I have learned and am learning right now as I lead my family through a particularly challenging decision-making process that will undoubtedly affect our future.

The big issue for us when making decisions about the future is risk.  We simply don't want to risk making a bad or the wrong decision because we do not know which decision is the best one to make. So, in order to alleviate as much risk as possible we want to know as many details about the future as possible, which for us as believers means asking God to give us clear leading as to what to do because He does know the future we don't know.  But, God doesn't usually work this way.  The future is His to know and ours to find out by experiencing it when it comes (Deuteronomy 29:29).  

As Kevin DeYoung puts it:

"Obsessing over the future is not how God wants us to live, because showing us the future is not God's way.  His way is to speak to us in the Scriptures and transform us by the renewing of our minds.  His way is not a crystal ball.  His way is wisdom.  We should stop looking for God to reveal the future to us and remove all risk from our lives.  We should start looking to God--His character and promises--and thereby have confidence to take risks for His name's sake." 

Our big problem in decision making is not so much a lack of trust as much as it is misplaced trust.  We get wrapped around the axle of trusting God to lead us to make the perfect decision, which will bring about the best possible results whereas, we should be asking God to help us make the wisest, most biblically informed, most gospel-impacting, and most spiritually healthy decision and then trust God with the results--resting in the fact that because of God's sovereignty--all of our decisions will end up being used by Him to accomplish His will for us.  Like, Scotty Smith writes, "Life isn't primarily about making the right decisions but, trusting the right Lord.  

Practically speaking, this means reaching the point in our decision-making process where we desire God's wisdom rather than His omniscience. Certainly, we should research our options and consider all our choices wisely.  But when, what we really want to know is every step, every turn, every possibility, and every outcome of God's plan for our lives we’re no longer seeking understanding, were wanting omniscience.  And quite frankly, the biblical way to making decisions isn’t found in grasping for God’s omniscience, but in grasping God’s hand as we trust that He has been leading and guiding us all along.

When it comes to non-moral choices about specific and perhaps major life-changing decisions, too often, too many of us, approach God's leading as something we just, with the onset of this decision, discovered we needed, rather than assuming that God has been leading us all along as Psalm 23 teaches us.  In other words, instead of assuming we need God's leading in choosing which fork in the road to take, perhaps we should assume that God has been leading us all along and the two options before us are the result of God's leading.  The assumption that God has already been leading us and therefore, has led us to this fork in the road means that either option would be a fine and perfectly good option to pursue since God cannot and would not tempt us to do that which is wrong (James 1:13).  

Looking at our arrival at a junction in life where a major decision is required as a divine appointment and then seeing the choices before us as the good options God has led us to consider and choose from removes the sting of fear from our decision making.  This perspective on decision making leads us to freely and responsibly choose between good, God provided, and God-engineered options so as to experience freedom rather than fear in our decision making.  

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to worry about the future, which obviously encompasses the decisions we have made and will make about the future—not because we have access to the information God only has in His omniscience or because an unknown future isn’t scary, but because our Heavenly Father cares for us:  "Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" (Matt. 6:25–26)

The idea of our Heavenly Father caring for us is not merely isolated to providing for our material needs of food and clothing, but also to those multiple and important decisions we must make that end up providing definition to our lives.  Again, the assumption is that as we are seeking God's Kingdom and God's righteousness, He is leading us, and thus the choices He is leading us to are good options to freely choose from.  

But don't make the mistake of thinking that this freedom to choose--promises that our choices will always prove successful or safe.  Freedom has never been a synonym for safety.  In fact, most of the time, freedom is risky, at least from our perspective, because when we do grasp his hand and decide to trust him, we don’t know what he’ll do.  As Elisabeth Elliot writes:

"Our prayers for guidance (or for anything else) really begin here: I trust him. This requires abandonment. We are no longer saying, “If I trust him, he’ll give me such and such,” but, “I trust him. Let him give me or withhold from me what he chooses.”

You see, at the end of the day, assuming God has already been and is continuing to lead us as a result of His providential and sovereign care, as we seek his kingdom and righteousness, means we can freely live life by making the "risky" decisions that will define our lives without overanalyzing every decision or being paralyzed by fear or the prospect of failure.

  

Pastor Tim Keller once shared that when he first came to Manhattan to start Redeemer Presbyterian Church, people asked him, “Are you sure God has called you to start this church in New York City?” His answer surprised most of them and maybe it'll surprise you too.

I think He did. I see an opportunity. I don’t see anybody else taking the opportunity. I feel an obligation to come. I think it’s a good idea. I think God’s calling me. But I can’t be absolutely sure. I can be sure that I must not lie; it’s in the Bible. I can be sure that I must not bow down to idols; it’s in the Bible. I’m sure of a lot of things that are God’s will. But as far as I know, I won’t be sure that I’m called to plant a church until it happens.

And then when these same people would persist, incredulously asking him,  “But, didn’t you have a peace about it?” he replied:

No, it was too hard of a decision. It was too scary. But I know this: guidance is as much something God does as it is something he gives. Therefore, I knew that by selling my house and moving up here and signing a three-year lease that, if I failed to plant a church, God was preparing me for something I couldn’t envision.

In other words, Keller believed God had led him to the decisions and the options he needed to, freely and responsibly, choose between so as to grasp God's hand rather than trying to grasp His omniscience.  And this enabled him to rise above fear in making a life-changing decision and enjoy freedom.  In this, he followed the early Church Father, Augustine's advice, who, simply and succinctly, wrote in a sermon from 1 John 4:4-12, "Love God and do [choose] whatever you please."

GRACE-DRIVEN CHURCHES GLORIFY GOD BEST

Churches are often known for what drives them.  In other words, what they see themselves as existing to be and do.  And churches can be driven by all kinds of things.  Many are driven by tradition and their tradition in particular.  Others are driven by their resistance to change of any kind, having as their motto: "We’ve never done it this way before.”  Some churches are finance-driven and the only thing the membership wants to know before making a decision is "How much will it cost and can we afford it?"  Many churches  are numbers-driven, having as their bottom line--a bigger budget, a bigger building, and a growing membership roll.  Others still, are known for and driven by a certain theological perspective such as being reformed or non-reformed, charismatic or non-charismatic, seeker-driven or non seeker driven, liberal or conservative, contemporary/blended worship or traditional, etc.  And finally, there are churches which are driven by their programs, activities, ministries, personality, social causes, political progressiveness,  and a plethora of other possibilities.  

Personally, I think that churches should strive to be grace-driven and here are some reasons why.  First, grace-driven churches are driven by God’s saving grace to preach and live the gospel.  Second, they are driven by God’s sanctifying grace to speak words of grace to one another as well as to deal with each other in grace, correcting one another in grace, accepting one another as Jesus accepted them freely, unconditionally, and over and over again in and because of grace.  Third, they are driven by God's extravagant grace, in saving sinners, to take serious risks, expend great energy, significant resources, and exhaustive creativity in communicating and demonstrating the Gospel of grace to unbelievers both nearby and far away.  

God is grace-driven.  His plan of salvation, His desire to redeem, and His move to crush His own Son (Is. 53:10) so as to save us were all grace-driven acts.  But, while grace-driven, these acts were not simply carried out to make much of us and our need.  No, God’s grace-driveness is not about making much of us, which is often what many   of our churchs' "pet" projects, distinctions, preferences, and disagreements are driven by.  God's grace-drivenness is not an end in and of itself just as we are not an end in and of ourselves.  To think that would be to terribly misunderstand and pervert God's grace, which is a means to a much greater end.  That end is God’s glory. God is grace-driven because God is passionate about His own glory.  He justifies for His glory.  He forgives for His glory.  He redeems for His glory.  He saves for His glory and He keeps us saved for His glory.  God’s grace-driveness is first, foremost, and fundamentally about and for His glory.  

And this ultimately is for our good.  You see, wheres, God's grace saves and sanctifies us--God's glory satisfies us.  God's grace is the means by which we are able to see, enjoy, revel in, and forever be amazed by the glory of God.  This is what Jesus wants for us.  That's why He asked His Father that we who have been given to Him by the Father be with Him so that we may see His glory and be forever satisfied (John 17:24).  

Grace is the means to glory.  Therefore, if our churches really desire to glorify God by enjoying and being amazed by God, we absolutely must be, first and foremost, grace-driven!

We're Either Moving Forward Or We're Wandering In Retreat!

One of the things I have learned over the years both from Scripture as well as my own personal experience is that no matter how mature in Christ, how passionate about the gospel, how effective in ministry, and how greatly we may have sacrificed for the Faith, all of us are still very much prone to wander from the Lord we love.  And it doesn't take much to get us wandering.  For many of us its not as much an intentional walking away from Jesus or from His Word as much as it is an unintentional wandering resulting from the neglect of and inattentiveness to spiritual priorities and disciplines in our lives.  

One of the vivid examples the Bible gives us of such neglect is found in the Book of Nehemiah.  In this autobiographical report, Nehemiah gives us a “play by play” analysis of everything that took place when he traveled from the Persian city of Susa to Jerusalem to lead in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem as well as be used by God to help ignite a spiritual revival.  The climax of this revival is seen in chapters 8-9 where the people, upon hearing the Word of God, read and taught, respond by confessing and repenting of their sins.   Then in chapter 10, they signed a covenant in which they promised to obey and honor the Lord from there on out.  

What a tremendous response to the preaching of the Word of God.  I’m sure Nehemiah was ecstatic.  What preacher wouldn’t be thrilled to have a whole nation respond to the Word of God in such powerful expressions of love and loyalty to the Lord?  

Well after his twelve year success in leading in this great work for God among his people, Nehemiah needed to return to his day job as the cupbearer to King Artexerxes back in Persia.  In preparation, he did what any good leader would do under the same circumstances.  He made sure the reforms he had set in motion would be carried on by qualified men.  Once theses arrangements were made, he then left to resume his service to the king.

Now, fast forward twenty some years and Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, only to find that in the approximately two decades that he had been gone, the people had drifted back to the way they were before he had come the first time.  I’m sure he was shocked to hear about and actually see for himself that the mountaintop experience of twenty years ago had become a distant memory in the people’s minds and hearts.  And I’m certain, he was greatly saddened to find that the people’s zeal for God’s praise and glory, which burned hot twenty years ago, was now, cold as ice.

Nehemiah 13, is the record of how quickly and gradually God’s people can move from a spiritual high to spiritual decline.  Its a good reminder to all of us that even in our strongest and most vital  moments with God, we are still very “prone to wander from the God we love”.  

It appears, from reading chapter 13, that the people began their departure from Nehemiah’s reforms in very small and seemingly insignificant steps, that really could be described as inattentiveness to God’s Word.  More specifically, the people were guilty of a careless attitude toward corporate worship seriously (13:4-21) while the spiritual leaders were guilty of a nonchalant attitude toward their spiritual leadership responsibilities, giving their time, energy, and influence to following popular, yet unbiblical, trends (13:22, 28-30).

Spiritual and Biblical reform is always an ongoing experience.  If not, it, very quickly, becomes “dis-reform”, which sometimes leads us back to square one in our walk with the Lord.  We must never forget that regardless of whatever progress we have made in Christ, whatever growth and maturity we are experiencing, and however intimate our walk with the Lord is today--we are still prone to wander. We must not forget, that until Heaven, when the presence of sin is completely removed from us, that our hearts are still prone to wander from the God we love.  Therefore, as Proverbs 4:23 commands: We must always “Watch over our hearts with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.”

Just like the people of God in Nehemiah's day, we cannot afford to underestimate the destructive inclination and desires of our own sinful flesh which we carry with us until the day we die and finally experience freedom from any further influence and inclination toward sin.  Nor can we disregard the powerful pull of the world toward its fruitless, fragile, and fleeting pleasures.  Certainly, we dare not forget that the enemy of our souls, who is none other than the devil, is always prowling around seeking those, who are careless among us, whom he can devour.   Finally, we must always keep at the forefront of our minds, the truth, that we are either moving forward in our battle against sin, our flesh, the world, and the devil or we are in retreat, which is nothing less than wandering.

My Trip To The Dentist--Maroua, Cameroon 2013 (A Repost By Request)

It was a late Thursday afternoon in Cameroon's Far North Region capital city of Maroua. I was getting hungry waiting for dinner so I grabbed a handful of peanuts, shoved them into my mouth, and started crunching vigorously. About three seconds into my munching, I chomped down on something a whole lot harder than any peanut I have ever encountered before. It was so hard, in fact, that it broke one of my molars. Turns out that one of those peanuts was not a peanut at all but actually a small brown stone that looked, to a 53 year old guy not wearing his glasses, like a peanut.

Well what do you do in Africa when you have shattered the back end of one of your meat-chomping molars? You go to the dentist of course. So the next day Fidele and I made the mile walk along a dusty makeshift road to whom I was told was the best dentist in our neck of the woods. As a plus, he had also attended dental school……somewhere.

Once there we walked into a small waiting room and waited about half an hour. Then it was show time. Fidele explained to the dentist why I was there as the dentist speaks a blend of Fulfulde and French while I barely get by with English. The dentist motioned for me to get in a chair and then he went to work. Tilting my head back as far as I thought it could go, he motioned for me to open my mouth and then he proceeded to take a small silver hand tool with a point and stuck it into the gaping hole in my broken tooth. Not being tied down or otherwise restrained Fidele must have thought the rapture was occurring and he was being left behind as I must have risen a good three feet out of that chair. Of course the dentist being a non-dispensational Muslim and not having read the “Left Behind” series thought no such thing and after stuffing me back in the chair uttered something that sounded a lot like “Allah have mercy”.

Then, all of a sudden realizing that Americans don’t quite have the same pain threshold as Africans the dentist yelled something in Fulfulde to his assistant who resembled, to me without my glasses, the African version of Osama Bin Laden. Hoping he was instructing him to load up a shot with Novocain before heading back into my mouth I was surprised and really concerned when the assistant took a strategic position next to me so as to better restrain me as the dentist made his next approach. With one arm holding my head in a sort of headlock and the other manipulating the silver tool, he once again stuck it smack dab in the middle of my broken tooth causing me more pain than I have felt since passing a kidney stone 14 months, 28 days, 7 hours and 25 minutes ago (But hey who’s counting?).

Finally, the dentist decided a shot of pain killer might leave less bruising, cause less trauma, and be less exhausting than having to keep me in a headlock. Whew, I was happy for that until I saw him loading up the shot. You see, every dentist I have ever been to in the States used these really tiny short needles when administering Novocain but this baby had to have been two to three inches or more. Anyway, with his assistant getting ready to grab a hold of my legs and the dentist putting me into another headlock he proceeded to threaten me with the hypo making motions for me to open my mouth. Wondering if the reason the needle was so long was because he might just run it through my cheek I submitted and the rest is history. I didn’t feel a thing after that. In fact, that one shot worked so well I couldn’t feel my nose or see out of my left eye for the rest of the day.

So what’s the moral to my story? Well, if you’re thinking it’s to avoid getting your dental work taken care of in Cameroon—it’s not. In fact, it’s been four days since my visit to the dentist and my tooth feels just fine. No, the moral is to watch out for counterfeits—whether they are rocks masquerading as peanuts, false teachers pretending to be preachers, or the fleeting, temporary, and fruitless pleasures of sin. The damage they will cause will be far greater than you ever thought possible and the pain experienced in dealing with and hopefully fixing the damage far greater, deeper, and possibly even more traumatic than you ever imagined.

To Be Saved Is To be Forgiven ~ Luke 1:76-77

Almost 78 years ago, the Japanese attacked the American Pacific Naval Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor. For nearly two hours, waves of Japanese planes rained down bombs, torpedoes, and machine gun fire on American ships and planes causing the loss of more U.S. ships than had been lost during WW1. In all, the U.S. lost 18 ships including 8 battleships, 170 airplanes, and over 3500 servicemen. Later that day as the news of what happened at Pearl Harbor was broadcast on the radio—Americans were in shock at what had happened—But not for long—because they were rallied by President Franklin Roosevelt who delivered a message which in his mind all Americans needed to hear, believe, and then share with those who hadn’t heard.

The message was simple, short, concise, and powerful—“We are now in this war.  We are all in it. All the way.  Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.”  Americans did hear the message and what’s more they believed it—so much so that they gave themselves to the cause of fighting and winning WW2 and America was saved. 

And today, I was reminded of another simple, short, concise, and powerful message that all of us, especially me, need to keep hearing, keep believing, and keep sharing with those who haven’t heard and its found in Luke 1:76-77 which reads:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,

These 2 verses make up part of Zachariah's prophecy about the coming Savior and the part that his son, John the Baptist, would have in this Savior’s work of redemption. In these two verses Zachariah speaks to his newborn son John, giving him God’s commission for his life which was to proclaim the Savior's coming and the Lord’s salvation for all who would come to Him.  Zachariah states in verse 76—“And you child will be called the prophet of the Most High for you will go before the lord to prepare His way.” And in then in verse 77, Zachariah tells his baby boy exactly what it is he will be doing as the prophet of the Most High. “And you child, will give knowledge of salvation to His people. . .”

That was to be John the Baptist’s job—to give people the knowledge of how to be saved and specifically how to be saved from the wrath of God for their sins.  So, his life work—his life mission—his great commission, if you will was to tell people how to find salvation from the wrath of God for their sins. And then in the second part of verse 77, Zachariah tells his little baby boy what he would need to explain—what he needed to tell people.“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation—in the forgiveness of their sins.” Or “by the forgiveness of their sins”. Taken literally, the verse is better understood as saying—

“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation which consists in the forgiveness of their sins.”

In other words, John the Baptist’s calling was to proclaim the message-the good news—that the salvation God was offering them was bound up in the forgiveness of their sins.  Thus, if you are saved—that is—if you are trusting in Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross alone for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sins—you are right now and forever forgiven of those very sins. That’s the Gospel--that's God's Good News!  And that’s what God wanted John the Baptist to tell people.

So the Gospel is about Forgiveness.  It’s a proclamation of forgiveness—that God has made a way to forgive people for all their sins no matter how bad, how many, or how unforgiveable they seem. Its a message that God will completely pardon and remove from the divine record all the sins of any person who will come to Him on His terms through Christ the Lord.

 Which is why King David, a man who carried the burden of great and overwhelming sin was able to say—“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are removed out of sight.  Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”

You see, the Gospel is the wonderful declaration that as believers—our sins have been so removed and so separated from us that they no longer have anything to do with us or say about us. They no longer have any bearing upon us, our relationship with God, or our eternal destiny.  For believers, the Gospel is the decree of the King that our personal sin is no longer an issue between us. It’s the message that our sin is no longer our identity—His righteousness is! It’s so simple and yet it’s so profound for believer and non-believer alike.

Salvation is the result of having your sins forgiven.

Thus, to be saved from our sins and the just penalty of our sin is to be forgiven for our sins. To be saved completely from sin is to be forgiven completely. To be saved forever is to be forgiven forever.  So, if you have come to Christ for salvation by trusting in Him to save you from the eternal punishment you deserve for your sins—you are saved—and your sins are forgiven and they will never be used against you in God’s court.  Furthermore, your sins have been forgiven comprehensively in that every single one of them—whether a sinful thought, word, or deed—no matter when committed or still is yet to be committed—has been forgiven. You could not be saved if this were not true!  This means—that our sin is not the end of our story—forgiveness is! It also means that our sin is not our story—God’s forgiveness is! And because we are forgiven—we are reconciled to God, declared righteous by God, blameless before God, at peace with God, and destined to be with and enjoy God for all of eternity. And this is the message we need to hear and be preaching to ourselves everyday as believers.

We stand forgiven by a divine, eternal, comprehensive, and all guilt and condemnation destroying forgiveness which has saved us and made us right with God. This is the message we also need to believe everyday if we are ever to grow in our security in Christ and thus our love for Christ and thus our personal holiness—which only grows as we respond to what God has done for us in forgiving us. This is also the message, the Good News, we, like John the Baptist, have been commissioned to proclaim, that the Savior Jesus Christ has come and has provided salvation for everyone who will come to Him in faith believing.

What's A Pastor To Do?

Used to be that one of the most popular synonyms for the title "pastor" was another title, "preacher".  That's because, back in the day, that's what pastors were--preachers--because that's what they did.  Now, that's not all they did.  In fact, if that's all they did they really wouldn't be able to be pastors because pastors do more than preach.  Besides preaching, pastors also pray and shepherd the souls of those God has entrusted to them.  Of course, they also provide leadership and counsel to their congregations as they shepherd them.  So, there you have it.  Pastors primarily shepherd God's people by preaching and praying.

In preaching pastors are essentially talking to the congregation about God.  In their praying pastors talk to God about their congregation.  And in their shepherding, pastors, besides preaching and praying, live life with their people offering spiritual direction, counsel, encouragement, friendship, a listening ear, an imperfect example of what it looks like to follow Christ, and sometimes even firm loving discipline.  These three tasks of preaching, praying, and shepherding are the essential acts of pastoral ministry.  

This is not to say pastors don't do other things like moderating business meetings, presenting budgets, training church workers, attending meetings, overseeing building projects, analyzing community demographics, launching attendance growing programs, scheduling, and any number of other tasks that have somehow over the decades become part and parcel of what a pastor does.  It's almost as though a conspiracy was hatched to keep the pastor so busy with the peripheral that he has very little time and energy for the essential--the tasks of simply preaching, praying, and shepherding.

And how has the church fared with hordes of pastors neglecting the essential tasks of their calling to heed louder voices screaming "expediency", "pragmatism", "church growth", and "cultural relevancy"?  Not well.  You see, pastors who are too busy to study Scripture so as to preach, who are too busy to pray, and who are too busy to interact spiritually with their people have become themselves inattentive to God.  This results in their churches becoming inattentive to God too.  

Pastors do not need to be attentive to God to grow a big, experience-focused, program-heavy, entertaining,  "what's in it for me", Word deficient kind of church.  The word of faith prosperity false gospel preachers have proved that.  But, pastors do need to be attentive to God if they want to see themselves and their churches become and remain attentive to God so as to see healthy and authentic spiritual formation and growth take place that honors Christ-The Church's Chief Shepherd.

Boiling the pastor's job down to just one all-encompassing task is challenging.  At the risk of oversimplification I'd have to agree with one old pastor who said it's the task of keeping God's people attentive to God.  But, this can only be accomplished if and when well-meaning pastors get back to the basics of their pastoral calling--preaching, praying, and shepherding.            

    

REGIONS IN NEED UPDATE (NOVEMBER 2019)

Thanksgiving 2019 

Greetings from Rockholds, Kentucky. Thank you for taking the time to read our update and pray for us, our ministry, and those we have been given the joy of serving.  Many of these faithful servants, who are invisible to the Church in the West, serve in very challenging, hard, and dangerous places.  It is our joy to partner with you in working to advance the Gospel in these places by providing these indigenous workers with training, resources, and encouragement.  Thank you for helping us help them.

 MYANMAR TRIP REPORT

I returned from Myanmar this past weekend very tired, yet also extremely pleased with the work which God enabled to be accomplished.  Through your generosity, we were able to provide transportation, food, and lodging for 32 church-planters, church-planting assistants, and other church workers so that they could come to Yangon for further training.  Our teaching venue was a rented classroom and lodging facilities owned by a school for the blind in downtown Yangon.  This year’s training focused on the Book of Romans.  I wanted to help our students get a firm grasp of the doctrine of salvation as well as understand God’s process of sanctifying believers.  In addition, I wanted to do this expositionally from one Book of the Bible as much as possible.  With these goals in mind, Romans was our go-to Book.  The course was entitled: Romans-An Expositional & Theological Survey.  

When I asked the students how many had ever preached through or heard the Book of Romans preached through, none raised their hand.  Probing further, I asked if preaching through Books of the Bible was something they were accustomed to and again I received a negative response.  Even the church-planting pastors which made up much of our class were unfamiliar with expositional preaching and the systematic teaching of a whole Book of the Bible.  It took us several hours over three days, in some very uncomfortable stifling heat and humidity, to work our way through Romans 1-12 at what I considered breakneck speed.  It is not optimal to move this fast but it was all the time they had to be away from their bi-vocational jobs and their churches back home.  Many of the students had to travel over 18 hours, one way, by bus as well as by foot to get to the training and then return home.  At the end of the training, the students all expressed their gratitude toward the Lord for being able to further understand and better communicate the Gospel.  Please pray for these students as they use this training in their new church plants.

In addition, to teaching, I was able to visit one of the children’s homes we support.  It was a joy to sit and hear how the Lord has provided for Awn and Cherry as they provide a loving Christian home for 18 abandoned children of all ages.  I was also very thankful to have Awn and Cherry as students.  Their desire in taking the course on Romans was to be able to better teach the Gospel to these children under their care.  While Cherry stays in the home to care for the children’s needs, Awn drives a taxi in Yangon in order to provide for his large family.  However, there is always more month left than money and they often fall behind in their ability to pay rent on their land and provide for all of the kids’ needs.  Please pray for them! 

In talking to our students as well as with Pastor Manaai, who is our on-the-ground liaison, it is apparent that there are many more pastors and church planters, living several hours from Yangon, who are lacking and desiring Bible training.  We’d like to put together a trip either this coming Spring or early next Fall to Chin State in NW Myanmar to teach the doctrine of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit to pastors and church-planters serving there.  This would be a rugged trip as it will entail flying from Yangon to Mandalay and then hopping a bus for several hours to get to a guesthouse in the town where we would be teaching.  If interested let me know and I can begin to give you more details as they are provided to me.  I imagine the cost will be somewhere between $2000 and $2500 each.  I have two openings for this trip.

INDIA OPPORTUNITY

While on the plane heading home from Myanmar, I sat next to a man who is the president of a Bible Seminary in Bhubaneswar Odisha, India.  He was traveling to the U.S. to visit his alma mater, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, ILL., where he had received his Masters  of Theology and Ph.D. degrees.  After we spent several hours getting to know each other, he asked me if I would be willing to come to India and provide some week long extension classes for pastors without formal seminary training and whose life circumstances would not allow for them to go to seminary.  He also inquired as to whether I knew of other American pastors who might be interested in the same as well as teaching two week modules in the seminary itself.  This opportunity is still in the formative stages but if this might interest some of you pastors please let me know.  As far as academic requirements, at least a Masters degree in Theology, Bible, or related field would suffice.  I will be talking further with this Brother and will provide more information as I receive it.  We are only in the formative stages of this right now. 

CAMEROON UPDATE

Not much has changed in the Bamenda/Bambili area where our training school is located.  I am in continual contact each week with Pastor Jude and Pastor Ezekiel.  As of now, there are no definite plans in the works for a trip in the near future due to continued hostilities between government and rebel troops.  When I know more I’ll let you know.  In the meantime, please be in prayer for our students and three church planting pastors in the Region as well as several other pastors working in established churches who we have trained and resourced.

THANK YOU!

Just a final “Thank you” for your prayer and financial support.  It goes without saying that without that, we would not be able to consider the ministry opportunities before us.  

For The Sake of “The NAME”,

Mark, Nancy, Esther & Peter

How To Make Our Churches More Attractive

While trying, unsuccessfully, to fight, a recent and recurring battle, whenever I fly to Asia, with "jet-lag", I tried to pass the wee hours of my sleepless night by reading.  One article that caught my attention, while working hard to find something that might cause me to drift into a fitful sleep, was about how to make our churches more attractive.  It was entitled, Little Ways To Make Church Attractive and it listed things like comfortable lighting and room temperature, quality acoustics, friendly greeters, name brand coffee, and a bunch of other ideas that probably would make a church service attractive to some.

But, there's a huge difference between making a church service attractive and a church, as in a body of believers, attractive.  And this is something we really need to think about and be careful about.  If, by simply adjusting the thermostat or lighting and changing coffee brands, we can attract people to church--maybe we're really not doing anybody any favors.  Now, please don't think I'm against all the little things and especially the good coffee that makes a church service comfortable and thus, attractive.  What I'm struggling with is the whole idea that our purpose as the church seems to have become making the service attractive all the while failing to dress up who's supposed to be attractive which is the church herself.

So, what is it that makes the Body of Christ on earth, the Church, and specifically, those local fellowships or assemblies, if you will, scattered all over the earth, attractive?  I think its grace.  Yes, I do. Churches who have experienced God's grace because those making up the church have experienced God's grace are very attractive.

I mean, can you imagine what a church would look and be like if it was filled with people who truly understood, realized, and believed they, like the guilty adulterous woman in John 8, had been spared the death and damnation they deserved because they were being treated as Jesus deserved?  Can you envision this kind of church filled with forgiven, broken, being restored, and thus, humbled sinners?  Do you even have a category in your mind for this kind of church?  Can you begin to imagine what a business meeting might look in this kind of church?  How people would treat each other?  Speak to each other?  Love each other?  Disagree with each other?  Well, I can tell you one thing--it would be an attractive church.  And it would be attractive because of grace.  Even more specific than that, it would be attractive because the Gospel of grace is being preached in that church.

You see, for churches to be attractive because they are filled with people who truly understand God's grace toward them and others, they must be churches filled with people who are being shaped by grace as they are hearing the Gospel of grace proclaimed as a steady diet.  As Christopher Ash, writes in his book, The Priority of Preaching:

When Christ builds his church . . . he must first humble pride.  Nothing so humbles pride as the word of his grace, which makes us debtors to mercy alone.  We enter the church with nothing in our hands, but simply clinging to the cross.  Only the word of his grace will do that in us, by the power and mercy of God.  Supremely that is done by the public proclamation of that word in preaching.  What the preaching of grace does is to gather a people who join their assemblies humbled under grace.  Our identity is defined not by our achievement but by redemption, not by what we have done, but by what was done for us, just as Israel was defined as those who were slaves in Egypt and had been redeemed with a strong hand and a mighty arm. . . .Only the preached word of Christ, the word of grace preached again and again, pressed home with passion and engagement, only that word will create God's assembly . . .

Churches characterized by this kind of proclamation of the Word in which God's grace to sinners, is preached, taught, sung, talked about, reveled in, enjoyed, prayed, and applied are deeply attractive gatherings.  A group of people gathered by and humbled by grace would have to be attractive for the simple reason that people saved and then gathered by grace are people who while manifesting the joy that comes from being forgiven, redeemed, restored are also humbled by that same grace.  And I can't imagine anything more attractive than a bunch of gathered joyful and humble people who all love Jesus and because of that really love others too.

And that's why we need our pastors to preach grace, which is just another way of saying we need them to preach the Gospel even to us who know it well.  And if they're preaching the Gospel from the whole of Scripture we will find ourselves being shaped, forged, and recreated, if you will, into the people of God--a people saved, sanctified, and one day, glorified by grace.  This is the feast of grace we need to feed upon Sunday after Sunday as we are transformed only by grace.  We need to be reminded that we truly are sinners who have been completely and totally forgiven, declared righteous, and thus accepted by our Heavenly Father through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.  We need to be reminded that the record of our sin has been cancelled and removed by Christ.  We need to be assured that the sins we still remember, God doesn't.

And again, the reason we need to be reminded regularly of this amazing grace--this amazing Gospel, is because it is this Gospel of Grace that, upon saving us, shapes us into joyful, gracious, loving, forgiving, accepting, and attractive people who when gathered together become intensely more attractive as those who are, together, being conformed to the image of Him Who is Grace Incarnate.

So, maybe we shouldn't worry so much about the lights, temperature, acoustics, and the coffee.  Maybe, instead, we should focus on grace, which is to focus on the Gospel of God's Grace, given to us in Christ Jesus, if we really want to be an attractive kind of church.

We Can't Love Sin And God At The Same Time!

In reading 1 John 2:15-17, I got as far as verse 15 and had to stop. In considering John’s remarks, I came to the conclusion that it is not possible for the believer to love the world and love God at the same time. We simply were not created with the capacity to love both at the same time nor were we created with the capacity to experience the love of God while our heart is filled with love for and of the world. Thus, John’s statement: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

And what John has in mind in using the term "world" in this passage has to do primarily with the sinful cravings of sinful human beings.  What sinful people, obsessed with sin, crave and fight and claw to enjoy, belongs to and is promised by the world.  Therefore, to love the world is to love sin.  And to love sin is to love what God hates.

To the casual observer, John is simply making the point that if you love the world (sin), you cannot love God at the same time. However, I think he is doing more than that. You see, if it is impossible to love God while you are in love with the world then the reciprocal truth would be that it is impossible to love the world while you are in love with God. Thus, John is doing more than stating a fact about the impossibility of loving both the world and God at the same time. He is, essentially, giving us the key to how we are to overcome the world’s sinful encroachments into our lives. If we are in love with the Lord, that is, we love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul we will not be tempted to love the world and the inferior sinful pleasures it offers us.

The battle, then for the Christian, is one of, to what degree do we love the Lord? To love Him with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul leaves very little room for which to love the world and its sinful allurements. Perhaps this is why it is the greatest commandment.

Now, lest you think that this is not such a hard thing to do. Keep in mind, that this is the battle of your life and for your life—to be so in love with the Lord, so satisfied with the Lord, so captivated by Him that sin’s “fruitless joys” as Augustine referred to them, have no power over you. And it is essentially the battle of faith. What I mean by this is that the battle to love the Lord more than sin and the battle to prefer holiness to sin’s immediate gratification is a battle to believe the Word of God and its promises of an exceedingly far superior joy and happiness that is to be had and experienced through obedience and lost through disobedience. Thus, in the truest sense, in spite of how it seems, to sin is to lose the opportunity for pleasure.

So, where does one begin in his quest to prefer holiness to sin? In Romans 6:17, Paul, in commending the believers for an obedience from the heart made the point to thank God for it. Thus, the best place to start in preferring holiness is with God in that the believer turns to God, in faith, for faith and then to God’s Word for the promises that motivate us to obedience. As one has well said, “It takes God to love God.” In other words, “we love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19).   In practical terms, this means we cry out to God for the faith that will take Him at His Word and believe that He is by far our greatest treasure and pleasure in this life and the life to come. As Psalm 16:11 so aptly states about God, “In your presence is fullness of joy; In your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

No Little People . . . No Little Places!

I picked, out of my library, one of Francis Schaeffer’s books to read a couple days ago.  Its one he wrote back in 1974 and one that I read in the early eighties.  Opening it up again was like getting together with an old friend.  It’s a book of sixteen sermons he preached in the chapel services of L`Abri Fellowship in Switzerland.  The book is named after the very first sermon in it, which Schaeffer entitled No Little People, No Little Places.  I smiled as I read that first sermon because I identify with the concept Schaeffer raised, which is that many in God’s family, including me, struggle with their significance as God’s servants as well the importance of their service.

We sometimes, perhaps oftentimes, fall into the trap, as Christians, of believing there are little people and little places in God’s economy.  However, as Schaeffer points out and as I have had to learn and relearn over the years, often the hard way, there are no little or big people or places in God’s work.  There are only consecrated or unconsecrated people and places.  You see, when God is our point of reference in life, and we are fully "set apart", which is what "consecration" means, to Christ, then our abilities, talents, and service are quite significant regardless of whether our ministry is large or small.  The idea that the size of one’s ministry or even the results of a ministry indicate spiritual success or significance is more a reflection of our western Americanized “big business” and market oriented culture than it is a reflection of biblical teaching.  This should not be taken to mean that large ministries are not spiritual ones.  It simply means that the size, perceived impact, and results of anyone’s ministry is not the ultimate final nor necessarily accurate barometer of whether that ministry is a success story to God.

You see, if you are fully consecrated to the Lord, in other words, fully His, you will be involved in significant and successful ministry.  Your ministry is important not because of its results but because of your consecration and devotion to Christ.  Thus, in Christ, there are no little people and because of that there are no little places. Rockholds, Kentucky, (where I live), with its population of 292 people is no less important, when God is your point of reference, than Los Angeles is.  God desires to accomplish a work in towns of 100 as well as cities of ten million.  Where the child of God lives and serves the Lord is the most important place in the world for him or her to be.

With this in mind, I hope we will all see the importance of a life fully consecrated to God through Christ.  One example from the Bible of God taking something that really was insignificant and making it significant was a simple piece of wood.  Do you remember Moses’ rod?  The story of Moses’ rod begins when God tells Moses to go and challenge the greatest power of his day—the nation of Egypt and specifically, the Pharaoh of Egypt.  Moses raised several objections as to him being God’s choice for such an important assignment.  Finally in Exodus 4:1, God asked him, “What is that in your hand? And Moses said, ‘A rod’”.  Note that God focused Moses’ attention on the simplest and plainest thing imaginable—something Moses already possessed—his own shepherd’s staff.

To Moses, his shepherd’s staff was nothing special, just a piece of wood about four to six feet long used for some very simple and basic tasks, one of which was to prod unruly sheep.  And now God was telling him to go to Egypt and confront the most powerful man on earth with his rod.  Well, to make a long story short, Moses did finally go to Egypt, with rod in hand, to confront and prod a most unruly Pharaoh into letting God’s people go.  And despite the odds, Moses’ ministry was successful, because as Exodus 4:20 tells us, the rod of Moses became the rod of God.

You see, when we and our gifts, talents, abilities, and resources become God’s as we consecrate and devote ourselves to Him anew, each and every day, there is no limit to what He can do through us or with us.  If God can use a stick, wholly consecrated to Him, what can he do with you and me when we are fully giving ourselves to Him?  What will He accomplish through His people, who will renew their spirits toward the Lord and seek afresh to be wholly His, presenting their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, to the Lord?  There's simply no telling! 

  

So, remember, there really are no little people or little places in God’s Kingdom—only consecrated, set apart, renewed in their spirits, living sacrifice, fighting sin, looking to and loving Jesus kinds of people being used by God to produce consecrated places.