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.

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!

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.

Pastors Need Growing Too!

Not too long ago, I came across some old articles I had written for a church newsletter several years ago.  As I reread these memorials to another time and place I was surprised to see they were memorials to another man--another pastor too.  Oh, they were my articles, my thoughts, my name was all over them but in another sense they weren't mine.....not anymore.  I keep them not because I will ever reuse them but to remind myself that God not only grows His people, He grows His pastors too.

One of the first things that caught my eye about what I was writing so many years ago was how focused I was on proving my theological convictions and biases.  Even before I began writing things down, back in my very first church, at the spry young age of 27 I had a dear older saint come to see me about a concern she had.  After, recovering from the shocking fact, that I and my preaching were her concern, I listened as she explained, that I sometimes came across more like a prosecuting attorney than a tender and loving shepherd.  Of course, feeling the compulsory need to defend myself from this assault on "God's man preaching God's truth", I, argued my case with the skill of a good defense attorney.  But, the fact is, she was right.  I just didn't know that then.  You see, I had some growing to do.  Thankfully, she didn't leave, run, hide, or mobilize the church against me.  She just kept loving me and praying for me.

This "defense mechanism" that showed up in my pastoring was really not a new thing for me.  I had a supervisor in the Coast Guard tell me that I'd go a lot further in life and in particular in my job if I weren't so intent on defending myself from correction.  Over time and a lot of hard times, I began to see that he was right.  My problem was that I felt I had something to prove. You see, to be wrong, in my mind, was to be unfit or unqualified to be doing what I was doing.  To be mistaken meant I was not as smart or as prepared as I should be.  To be incorrect about the facts meant I was not conscientious and in fact was neglectful and irresponsible.  So, my goal, back in this days was to make sure I wasn't wrong even if that meant arguing circles around people to somehow prove I wasn't wrong, mistaken, incorrect, or, and let's just be honest about it--a sinner.

Another interesting thing I see in my old stuff, which by-the-way, will not see the light of day again, is how much more focused I was on having an agenda, usually a theological one, for my churches.  It wasn't that I was wrong to desire the people I pastored to grow in the truth of God's Word.  It wasn't wrong and still isn't to want to see your people understand their Faith better.  It was and still is entirely correct and good for pastors to go deep in their teaching of the Word of God so as to help their folks understand and connect theological truths.  But, it was wrong and thus, not healthy to see people as "my theological projects".  They didn't need a pastor who had an agenda for them.  They needed a pastor who was able to be with them and love them without having an agenda for them--a pastor who instead of seeing them as projects, saw them as gifts.  They needed a pastor who accepted them as they came to him just as Christ does.  In addition, they needed a pastor who, through his consistent gospel-centered teaching and Spirit-filled life, gently and patiently guided them into a  more mature, fruitful, and joyful life in Christ.

So, what about me today?  Why did I find those old articles and my road down memory lane so uncomfortable in many ways, yet really exciting in another?  Its because I see growth.  I can see that God, over the years, has been working, in me and on me, to gently and patiently guide me into a more mature, fruitful and joyful life in Christ.  He has helped me to understand that being wrong, incorrect, mistaken, and even a sinner isn't what defines me--Christ is Who defines me.  The Lord, through His Word, has also shown me that because of the gospel I am perfectly accepted by and acceptable to God.  In fact, in Christ, I cannot be more accepted by or acceptable to God than I am right now.  And if I am accepted by God because, in Christ, I am acceptable to God--I have nothing to prove.  This means that I don't need to always be right.  It means that I don't always have to prove my point or defend myself or make myself look better than I am or win every theological argument or, and this may be the best part--try to hide the fact that I am a sinner who having been saved by grace is kept saved by grace too.

I'm a much more relaxed pastor these days than I was back when I began this road march over 30 years ago.  I don't argue so much these days and I'm much more interested in people being impressed with Jesus and the gospel than me, my preaching, and my theological persuasions.  Oh, I still have to deal with my old fleshly pride that wants to argue and defend me at every turn, but I see progress and for that I am glad, as is, I am sure, everyone who has to deal with me.  Some of this progress may be because I'm older and hopefully a little wiser but most of it is because of the Good Shepherd Who never gives up on His sheep.  He Who has promised to get us where we need to go and be, will do exactly that (1 These. 5:23-24).  Aren't you glad too?!

Finally, I am prompted to wonder if churches and we, pastors, quit on each other too soon.  I wonder what might happen if a commitment were made between the two to stick it out for better or worse.  Who knows?  But, maybe after a few years, some painful scraps, crushed pride, perseverance, some tough love on both sides,  open communication, and large doses of gospel-forged humility--the church might finally get the pastor she had hoped for and the pastor--the church he would never leave.   Just wondering!

Today!

The Bible very rarely speaks of tomorrow in terms of making life-changing and in fact eternity-changing decisions.  It most usually speaks in terms of "today".   Preachers in the Bible knew this well, especially Moses.  Moses understood that saving faith is always the response of today, not tomorrow, or even yesterday.  In the conclusion of his final sermon preached to the Hebrews, before he died and before this second generation entered the promised land under Joshua's leadership, Moses called the people to make the decision to "choose life" by believing and following God... not yesterday, not in the future, but today.  And he did it four times! (Deuteronomy 30:15, 16, 18, 19)  Moses' point was certainly not lost on Joshua, who in his last sermon to the Hebrews before he died, at least 25 years later, called upon them to "Choose for yourselves Today, the one you will worship . . ." (Joshua 24:15).

As one has said, "the thing about today is that it is always today".  Psalm 95 makes the point in verses 7 and 8 that when God speaks, through His Word, into our lives that the proper response must be a response of today.  God is not satisfied with our responses of yesterday or of our promises of tomorrow.  He calls for a new response every new day.  If you hear His voice today--you must respond today!

This is not to say our salvation in Christ must be renewed on a daily basis.  It is to say that the proof of whether we have salvation in Christ is not based upon decisions, prayers, or commitments we made yesterday but rather upon what is happening in our lives today.  In fact, one of the best tests of whether we did indeed choose Christ, and thus life yesterday, is whether we would make the same choice today.  The best indicator that we trusted Christ for salvation yesterday is that we are still trusting Him for it today.

The Book of Hebrews is a Book emphasizing the importance of today.  Over and over again, it reminds people of the importance--the eternal importance--of responding to God today.  It also commands God's people to be always encouraging each other every day, while it is still called "Today", to not be taken in, fooled, and hardened by the deceitfulness of sin so that we will not "fall away from the Living God".  (Hebrews 3:12-15).  In other words, how you and I are responding today to God, as well as, to the temptation to disregard God, matters today, and thus has great consequence for tomorrow.  Again, the point is not that it is possible for the truly converted to lose their salvation.  The point is, that the truly converted will manifest the true fruit of their conversion to Christ by their responses to God's Word today.

And the fruit of true conversion is a heart that is receptive to God today, that desires to be obedient to His Word today, that fights, always imperfectly, to be obedient today, and that repents when the fight with temptation was not won, so as to get up and fight another day.....when it is called Today!  Perfection is not the objective, not in this life, but trajectory and greater sensitivity toward God certainly are.

There are far too many in our churches today, who--believing they are truly converted because yesterday they walked an aisle, prayed a prayer, made a decision, filled out a card, joined a church or whatever--lack any kind of legitimate spiritual fruit in their lives today.  This is a contradiction in terms because true conversion always results in true spiritual fruit--always!  It may be small.  In fact, the fruit may be only the tiny bud of brand new spiritual affections for Christ--the promise of larger more recognizable fruit to come--but, there will be some proof, some mark, some validation that points to a true saving work of God having been accomplished and the life of God implanted.

So, if there's no fruit and has been no fruit, perhaps it is time to let go of yesterday's religious experience and truly turn to Christ, in faith believing, today--while there is still time--while it is still Today!  As the apostle Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 6:2.

"For He (God) says, 'At the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the Day of Salvation I helped you.  Behold now is the acceptable time.  Behold now is the Day of Salvation.'"




  



   

How Righteous Are You?

So, how righteous are you today?  

Now before you answer that take a good hard look at the question again.  I’m not asking you how righteous you feel today or even how righteously you behaved today.  I want to know if you know just how righteous you are right now, as God sees you, if you are a Christian.  And by "Christian", I mean someone, who, having recognized his or her sinfulness and subsequent condemnation before God, has repented and placed faith in Jesus Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and therefore, is now "in Christ". 

If you are indeed a Christian and thus, are in union with Christ, you are completely righteous, in God's sight, whether you feel righteous or have acted righteously today.  In fact, the Bible teaches that if you are in Christ you have been given and possess, right now and forevermore, a righteousness, not your own and certainly not of your own making, but, rather, a righteousness given to you from God Himself in the person of Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:8-9). 

This righteousness, obtained from God, is the very righteousness of God Himself for the simple reason that it is Christ's righteousness that is credited to you.  This is exactly what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:21.  Paul writes:  “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  Therefore, if you are in Christ, you possess the very righteousness of God Himself.  In other words, in Christ, through Christ, and because of Christ, you are as righteous as God is right now.  Now I know that this sounds radical and some of you are probably wondering if I haven’t gone a bit too far in making the claim that the true child of God, the person who is “in Christ” is as righteous as God.  But, that is exactly what Jesus said was required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven in Matthew 5:48, when He said,  “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  

 If you missed His point—keep reading Jesus’ words until they sink in.  The righteousness required to get into Heaven is perfect righteousness—God’s righteousness.  To be perfectly blunt and clear—you and I need to be as perfect (righteous) as God if we plan on taking up residence in that celestial city some day.  And praise God that the perfect righteousness He demands of us, He provided for us in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, this transaction in which Christ took the believing sinner's sin and gave him or her His perfect righteousness is so real in God's sight that He treats the believer as if he or she really is as righteous as Christ.  In this sense, the believer is as acceptable to God the Father as Christ Himself.  In fact, it is perfectly correct to say that all that is true of Christ in His humanity is true of the believer by virtue of the fact that the believer is in perfect union with Christ.  Wow......what a Gospel!

To be given the perfect righteousness of another because mine is ruined, to be able to use the wonderful name of another because mine is worthless, to be given the perfectly clean, spotless, and unwrinkled raiment of another because mine are torn, soiled, and filthy, to be able to appear before the Father in the Person of Christ Jesus my substitute......that indeed is GOOD NEWS!

But, wait!  There's more.  All that makes Christ precious, dear, beautiful, accepted, and acceptable to the Father has been transferred to you, the believer, so that the Father treats you as though you are Christ.  So, entirely are you, the believer, one with your "sin bearer" and thus, the possessor of His righteousness, that God the Father treats you not merely as though you had never committed any of the evil you have done and still do, but as if you had done all the good which Jesus did.  In essence, God treats you, the believer, as Jesus deserves because He treated Jesus, on the cross, as you deserve.  GOOD NEWS indeed!

The GOOD NEWS of the gospel is not only that your sins are forgiven but that in Christ Jesus you possess God the Son's very own perfect righteousness.  Thus, you are, in Christ, as righteous as God Himself.  And that’s why you’ll be able to go to Heaven when you die.  

So, again, let me ask you, just how righteous are you today?