The measure of success…

I just love the awkwardness of conversation.  You know it when you encounter it.  The proverbial “How’s the weather” conversation; the superficial stuff.  We do this when we don’t know someone, don’t know what to talk about or what questions we should really ask.

These kind of conversations are interesting among christians, especially leaders.  This is why pastors, church planters, leaders and those observing them ask superficial questions about success.  How many people do you have coming?  How many groups do you have? 

People want measurable and decisive answers.  I’m always tempted to give such answers, but the truth is these days such answers are not impressive if that is how we perceive success.

Let me leave you with two thoughts:

1. It is much easier to describe to you what I’m doing rather than tell you what I’m becoming.

2. Faith will always lead you down paths where you can’t use your eyes.

Unfortunately these two thing are not impressive to those looking to measure success by superficial things.

Going Deep – Pt.2 The Word

In our second week of this series we looked at Going Deep in God’s Word.

“And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching…”   Acts2:42

In Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible, he says “One evidence of conversion is a desire to be instructed in the doctrines and duties of religion, and a willingness to attend on the preaching of the gospel.”  When we come to Jesus there is a desire stirred to know Him and our new life in a deeper way, both in knowledge and experience. 

God, from before time has been a God who reveals Himself and wants to be known, not out of His need but ours.  In this He has not left us without a way to know Him.  He has done so in His Word, both written and incarnate.

“You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness of me…”  John 5:39

In the scriptures we find the revelation of Jesus.  As we behold Him we are transformed. (2 Corinthians 3:18)  For God’s plan has always been to conform us to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)  

The new believers in Acts 2 were responding to this desire by devoting themselves to the Apostle to be taught.  And as a result they were experiencing the change of this new life in Christ.  They were going deeper in the Word through the Apostles’ teaching.  The word for teaching here is also the word doctrine, which is not meant to be a systematic order if information.  It is deeper than just knowledge.  Referring again to Albert Barnes Notes, Barnes says it was not to just hold or believe the doctrine of the Apostles, but to adhere to or attend on those teachings.  This was a new and deepening life in God’s Word.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”   2 Timothy 3:16-17

To understand why and how going deeper in the Word and devoting ourselves to it’s teaching changes us, we can look at 2nd Timothy.  It says “All scripture is breathed out by God…”  In the Greek it literally means by the breath of God the Scriptures were formed.  Peter says it this way:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”   2 Peter 1:16-21

The Greek “carried along” actually means “borne” from the root “to bear.”  Benjamine Warfield says:

“What is “borne” is taken up by the “bearer,” and conveyed by the “bearer’s” power, not its own, to the “bearer’s” goal, not its own.  The men who spoke from God are here declared, therefore, to have been taken up by the Holy Spirit and brought by His power to the goal of His choosing.  The things which they spoke under this operation of the Holy Spirit were, therefore, His things, not theirs.”  Benjamine Warfield

This is why our human words only have power to the degree of our own limited ability and authority, but when we are borne of the Holy Spirit, we are taken up by Him andwhat we then do in Him is by Him through us.  This kindof power is supernatural.  This is the power of the Word given by these men borne of the Spirit.  This makes the Word of God powerful and as we go deeper into it, it works in us powerfully to the end and goal of the Spirit to which the Word belongs.

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”  1 Thessalonians 2:13

In the life of the “borne” again believer, the Word performs powerful and life changing things for those who go deeper into it and put it to practice – obey it.  This is why it says in Ephesians:

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”   Ephesians 4:11-16

No one is going to do it for us.  Our new life is a journey and the change we must experience is a process.  It is a process that is hindered if we do not go deeper in God’s Word.  It is amazing that as much as  we (believers) hold the Apostle Paul up on a pedestal, that we would fine this in his writings:

“The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Acts 17:10-11

Let me invite you to GO DEEPinto God’s Word.  Take advantage of the opportunities you have to devote yourself to Apostolic teaching.  Your pastors and spiritual leaders humbly labor to lead you into a deep and rich encounter the the Word of the Word, Jesus.  God is faithful to bring favor in your life from devotion to the teaching of His Word.

“But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who bear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.”  Mark 4:20

To Change or Not To Change….

For growth to happen there has to be change.  So why do we resist it.  We want to grow but we don’t want to change.

You want to be out of debt but don’t want to change how you spend or sacrifice what’s costing you.  You want to have that body but don’t want to change your eating or exercise habits.  You want to break that habit but won’t change your behavior or admit you need help.  You want to be treated well but won’t change how you treat others.  You know the list could go on and on.

The truth is; you cannot stop change.  You can embrace it and you will grow.  You can resist it and you will still change but for the worse.

To not change your eating and exercise will decline your health.  To not forgive will make you angry and bitter.  To not be punctual will get you fired.  To not change how you manage your finances will lead to crisis.

We resist change because we are afraid of letting go.  We become comfortable where we are.  We fear letting go of what we know to embrace what is not fully known.  We fear the pain of change.  The steps we have to take to change sometimes are painful.

The truth is, to change takes letting go of what I have come to control and exercise faith.  If I let go of what, where or who I am holding on to, will God protect me and sustain me.  Do I trust that where He is taking me is better than where I am.

Paul entrusted his entire life to God to do whatever He asked because he fully trusted Him.  Whatever change was necessary.
“…for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.” 2 Timothy 1:12

Do you trust God that much, to embrace whatever changes He wants to bring in you?

Do you trust Him to carry you through?

Trust Him today and embrace the change.

Feed me…

For about 230 US dollars you don’t ever have to leave your high chair.  Theoretically, you’d never have to leave the chair – just keep adjusting it to fit you.

That sounds ridiculous doesn’t it.

My point is, there comes a time when you move from the high chair to the table.  And, there is a time when you move from being dependant on someone to feed you to being able to take responsibility for yourself and become a self-feeder.

Is the Church learning this lesson?  Are we as leaders and those in ministry being effective at teaching our people to take responsibility for their own spiritual lives?  Are we giving them the right tools?  Or are we caught up in building our churches and ministry trying to keep up with providing something new to be digested, while we miss the fact that they should be taking some of the responsibility for themselves?  Are we perpetuating the expectation of being fed?

I am finding that people will allow you to do for them what they can and should do for themselves as long as you will do it.  They will do for themselves when they have to.  The biggest issue we as ministers have caused by supplanting our peoples responsibility is the developed expectation that we should do for them.  Many ministers I talk to battle with this expectation placed on them and know it’s pressure or frustration. 

Everything seems fine and people are growing and seem to be maturing to fully devoted followers of Christ until you hear that all familiar phrase, “I’m not being fed.”  It’s difficult to watch people you love and serve move from church to church looking for what they expect and never permanently finding it. 

The truth is, they won’t find it and we do them and ourselves a disservice if we don’t teach them to feed themselves.  If they don’t learn this then they will become disillusioned by unmet expectation and blame those who are serving and feeding them. 

Here is how Willow Creek Association is addressing this issue in their Churches.

Do you recognize a dependency on others where you should be doing for yourself?

If you are a leader, How are you addressing these issues in ministry? 

 

I’m dying…

The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4 that he carried around in his body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal body.  He said there is a treasure in our body (that is if we belong to Him.)  That treasure is Jesus Himself. 

How is this treasure revealed in our life?

In the Gospel of John 12:24, John tells us that unless a seed falls to the ground and die it will produce no fruit.  It’s still just a seed.When the seeds of Jesus’ Words fall into the soil of my life I have realized that there is a death that has to take place.  If I allow the seed to take good root in me then the Word encounters areas that are contrary and resistant to the Word.  A death must take place where the seed lands in my life.  If it does it will bring forth life and fruit.

In Matthew chapter 5-7 we find the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus tells us if we look at a woman to lust we commit adultery; bless people who insult us or talk bad about us; we can’t give our offerings if we are not in right relationship with others; we must go the extra mile; turn the other cheek; love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, and the list goes on and on.  At first we look at these things and religiously say, “OK, no big deal, I do that.”  But do we?  Do we show up early for work and stay late with out complaining?  Or do we go the extra mile on our jobs or in our relationships?  Do we give more than we are asked of?  Do we think of kind words to say to those who say unkind or insensitive things to us? 

When the seed of Jesus’ Word truly fall into the broken up soil of our life we see this kind of life is impossible.  Our flesh rises up and say no, it’s my human right.  Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.”  This means dying daily.  This means denying self.  As you see when we really allow the Word to penetrate us it causes a dying in us.  Our flesh resists death.  It wants to preserve the life it has. But dying is necessary if we want the life of Jesus (the treasure) to produce life and fruit.  It is an impossible task to follow Jesus with our old life.  It is impossible to embrace the new life the way Jesus commands.  When we recognize the truth of His Word and can admit we cannot do it, we are at the dying place.

Let the Word offend your flesh.  Embrace it.  Die to it.  The result will be life and peace.  It means the manifest presence of God.  When you truly discover the Shepherd in Psalm 23, you will want for nothing else and you will find everything you ever needed.

I’m Dying…but not dead yet…