The Puzzle, January 2, 2009
Letting Go Early
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at this words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” Peter began to say to him, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:17-31 (ESV)
“You’re kidding. Right? Is this a reality TV show? All I asked was how to inherit eternal life, Lord—I wasn’t talking about financial suicide! You can’t be serious. I could see you asking me to fork over a pretty generous contribution to your ministry, or to maybe make a big pledge or something, but did I just hear you say ‘Sell all that you have and give to the poor’?! That would make me poor! It’s one thing to give to the poor; it’s quite another to become poor. You’re recalling that in our society there’s no ladder that takes hardworking folks back up the social strata if they fall off (or jump). In our society, people born poor tend to stay that way, and people born rich try to stay that way. So, in asking me to sell everything and become a pauper in order to be a disciple, you’re asking me to move into a different social class than I have ever known, with probably no way back. You’re asking me to basically disregard the expectations of my family, who may well disown me if I follow you. You’re asking me to exchange what is regarded in my culture as a bright future, in exchange for poverty and persecution, and the promise that you will reward my sacrifices, in this life and forever. What kind of a deal is this? I thought you loved me. Why would you ruin my life like this?”
And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Mk 10:21)
How do you put “loved him” and “sell all that you have” in the same sentence? Which one is it? How does Someone who loves you ask you to not just go down the social ladder a few rungs, but to get completely off the ladder? How does a loving God ask a would-be disciple to trash financial security and be willing to become a social outcast, all the while acting as if He were doing us a favor?
He is.
I’ve presided over nearly a hundred funerals. Regardless of their age or how much they had, every single one of those people let go of everything they had. They didn’t leave most of it behind, they left it all. It’s a step we all take when making our exit from this life—letting go. Death is the final shakedown, but some find themselves bereft of cherished treasure earlier, like the millions mauled by the recent bear market. Israel had something a lot worse happen, about the time the rich young ruler would have been an old, established ruler. In A.D. 70, the torqued-off Romans reduced Jerusalem to rubble. Nothing was left. If the rich young ruler who bailed on the discipleship challenge because he couldn’t let go of his stuff were still around in A.D. 71, he would have now been stuffless. If he didn’t live to see the horrible end, then he had let go of his stuff, earlier. Either way, in retrospect, Jesus was doing him a favor that day, asking him to be a disciple, knowing this was a man who would pretty soon be giving it all up, anyway. Chained to his wealth, he plodded away, sad. He could have been a disciple.
Since we’re all one day going to be separated from the treasures of this world, it makes sense to let go, early, if the Master requires it. We’re going to let go, anyway—why not do it in time to receive not only the miracle and blessings of eternal life, but the miracle and blessings of a faith-filled life here on earth? When it comes to letting go of what we can’t keep, anyway, I’m thinking that the earlier we let go, the better off we are. Since we’re going to let go sometime, anyway, letting go early makes a lot of sense, almost as if a God who loves us really was doing us a favor.
The Puzzle, January 5, 2009
The Sin Tax
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (ESV)
It started in the Garden of Eden, where the serpent convinced a perfect couple in a perfect world that what they needed was the addition of one more pleasure to their already-perfect lives. The addition was the knowledge of evil, where before they had only known good. What was promoted as addition turned out to be the ultimate subtraction, as mankind lost innocence, paradise and a personal relationship with the Creator, and in return gained only the curse of the Fall. Some deal!
Every sin since has followed the same pattern. The sales pitch of temptation is that this will add something to our lives, it will multiply our satisfaction or pleasure. There is often a period of time when this seems to be precisely the case—that Satan’s math is working. Then real math kicks in, and the bottom line reveals that every single time we’ve disobeyed God, it has resulted in a loss, not a gain. We’re always worse off, never better, when it’s over. The wages of sin is death.
Why is it, then, that sin always promotes itself as adding or multiplying, when, in fact, it only subtracts and divides? Since when has the devil ever told the truth? People believe what they want to hear; they deal with reality, later.
So, how does this work, again? In real math, sin always subtracts and divides; obedience to God always adds and multiplies. Simple, but you have to see through the sales pitch of Satan.
Here’s how it works. Take some of the Ten Commandments, for an example.
Satan’s math says that if you want more pleasure, more excitement, indulge yourself in extramarital relations, and it will add pleasure and exciting romance to your life. Reality? Even if the initial buzz of adultery might seem thrilling, the pleasure, if any, is short-lived; the emotional and spiritual bills which come due from each episode of immorality result in an astonishing net loss, overall: loss of relationships, loss of integrity, loss of reputation, and on and on. The “plus” categories of “adventure,” “romance,” “pleasure,” etc., may linger in the positive zone temporarily, soon to be overcome by all the other minuses. In a matter of time, even the imagined positives of the affair become ugly, leaving the adulterer in a lose–lose–lose situation. Ultimately, sin subtracts from every good category of life, never adds. Go figure.
Coveting? All we want is to add something beautiful and desirable to our lives, which happens to be in someone else’s possession. This is about more, not less, right? Then the bills come due, and all the perceived increases show up as devastating losses. Real spiritual math is the opposite of Satan’s sales pitch. Sin subtracts from our sense of well-being, never adds to it. It divides, as well. Sin rips through our lives, making us feel isolated and alone, dividing families, marriages, churches. The tempter tells us we are adding to our happiness when we choose sin. Exactly the reverse is true.
Pick a sin, any sin, and real math applies. From the Garden of Eden onward, what is promoted as adding to our life and multiplying our pleasure ends in subtracting from our happiness and dividing our most important relationships. Obedience to God? Often hard, but always with a positive result, in the end. Sin promotes itself as adding or multiplying, when in fact, it is always subtracting and dividing. Obedience to God often seems to be subtracting or dividing, when in fact, it always adds and multiplies. That’s real math.
Why, after all of history, do we continue to believe the lies of the enemy? Whatever the temptation is, the pitch is always the same: Do this, and it will add to your life. The consequence when we choose sin is also always the same: We get ripped off. The bottom line is that we didn’t add a thing to our lives, but a whole lot got subtracted. Sin is stupid. No wonder God hates it. We should, too.
I’ve heard it said that “Gambling is a tax on people who are bad at math.” So is sin. Sin is the tax people pay when they don’t understand (or believe) real math, where every sin subtracts or divides and every act of obedience to God adds or multiplies. It’s all great, until the sin tax kicks in.
Fortunately, we have a Savior who has stepped in, canceled the enormous debt each of us carried due to our sin, and who offers to all who ask, total forgiveness and eternal life. Talk about a bailout plan! Through Jesus Christ, we are freed from the wages of sin, and all we need do is ask and believe. We’re saved, thanks to Jesus!
But, back to those daily temptations to go in a direction which purports to add something wonderful and exciting to our life. It’s always addition or multiplication which is advertised. The reality is that a choice to sin will always take us in a negative direction, not a positive one. Sin ends up subtracting, not adding. It doesn’t multiply, it divides. It would be a good idea the next time we’re faced with a winsome temptation, to just do the math.
The Puzzle, January 6, 2009
Planned Innocence
to you, O LORD, I will make music.
I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.
Psalm 101:1-4 (ESV)
A decision to be innocent and holy. This is important. Until we are willing to disassociate ourselves from evil and evildoers, until we are willing to erect firewall’s around our heart, we are not going to experience much spiritual victory. It’s like trying to coexist with temptation—it’s not going to work! Sure, we need God’s help in order to overcome temptation, but we also need a decision of the mind and heart which says, “I won’t tolerate sin in myself, and I won’t welcome sin or temptation.” This is a mindset which God honors. This is the mindset of an overcomer.
Notice the four “I will’s” given in this psalm:
I will ponder the way that is blameless.
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house;
I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.
I will know nothing of evil.
The lifestyle of holiness God desires (and requires) takes some thought. It’s not automatic for anyone, especially people living in an era and place where sin is promoted as an industry, “a normal way of life,” etc. Evil is celebrated in the U.S., these days! We have a city which gleefully proclaims itself “Sin City,” and others which would like the title! The pagans are becoming increasingly pagan, sins which were formerly illegal are now depicted as noble. This makes sense, for those who don’t know God. What doesn’t make sense is the attitude of so much of the Church toward sin. It’s a philosophy which mirrors the age in which we live, which says, “Tolerance is a lot more important than having some sort of standard of righteousness.” Righteousness just doesn’t seem to be very important in the Church in America, right now. God still cares about it, as evidenced in the chilling verses of Psalm 101:5-8, and many other scriptures.
In order to live anything close to a holy life, we’ll have to make some difficult decisions on a frequent basis. What will we set before our eyes? Evil should definitely be off the list, but this scripture mentions “worthless.” That broadens it, considerably! In order to maintain any semblance of innocence, we need a plan. Otherwise, we’ll be much more familiar with evil than we need be or want to be. Integrity needs to be an adopted standard within our lives, since it will certainly not come about by accident, nor by social pressure.
As a whole, the Church is engaging the culture in all the wrong places. When it comes to the newest sins, we seem to be right there, looking with longing at the pleasures we’re missing because we’re Christians. We make some sort of line of conviction which eliminates the worst of it, then live right up against that line. For example, if we like movies but as Christians feel that R is not O.K. for us, we bring home dozens of PG-13 movies, and secretly wish they were worse, but feel spiritually justified, since they weren’t rated R. That’s what I mean by living up against the line. What is the overall effect on us? I’m not sure it’s much better than if we just watched whatever they put out there, irregardless of rating. Why? Because it’s not just the camera angle which counts, but the whole philosophy of the film. When it comes to R and PG-13, generally the underlying message of the film is the same, regardless of rating: sex is good, regardless; God is non-existent or irrelevant; Christianity is stupid; etc.
How would “I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” work out, applied to movie viewing? I’m not sure I want to know! But I know it doesn’t work very well, when we just suck up whatever the culture is dishing out, without bothering to try to filter it, first.
“I will ponder the way that is blameless.” Good plan! How am I going to get through this minefield of temptation and worthless clutter without being dragged down by the tentacles of evil? “Lord, help me come up with a plan.”
Bottom line: Are we willing to live a holy life by thinking it through, and purposely eliminating from our lives not only the obviously evil, but also what we have found to be worthless? There is a holy God who wants to help us. But we must be a willing participant in the venture.
The Puzzle, January 7, 2009
Four Alarm Persecution
And Saul approved of his execution.
And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Acts 8:1-4 (ESV)
Well, that’s one way to get them out of town! It’s hard to get folks motivated to leave a place where everything’s perfect, but a little persecution is pretty good motivation. Suddenly, instead of one city being infected with the Gospel, now there are many. Saul ended up benefitting the Church even before he became a Christian! That was certainly not his intention, but God manages to use everything that happens in a way that moves the Kingdom forward.
The worst thing that can happen to the Church is not persecution; the worst thing that can happen is lethargy, when people settle down into their comfort zone and focus their energy on complaining or in fighting each other, since there’s no pressure on them to rely on God and hang onto each other. I don’t want to call persecution a gift, but God makes it work like one when it’s around.
I don’t want to say we’re in need of persecution in America, but I don’t think it would hurt us if it came! I don’t want it to come, but if that’s the only way the Church will wake up in time for us to fulfill our purpose, God may be doing us an awesome favor by allowing enough of it to awaken millions of believers who seem to be caught in freedom’s stupor! I’m still hoping that we’ll be able to get spiritual transformation without catastrophe or persecution or both; I think God would prefer that instead of needing the fire alarm to wake us, we would just set an alarm clock. But I think He loves us enough to awaken us, and if a whisper and a gentle nudge isn’t enough to rouse us, well.... whatever it takes! When the house is on fire, it’s no time to worry about talking too loudly. The options at the Judgment include everlasting consequences more devastating than that!
Regardless of what God does, or allows, our place is to trust Him. The martyrdom of Stephen could have knocked a few believers off track: “How could a loving God let one of His saints die while praising Him? If He can’t do better than this at protecting His children from harm, how can He be good? How can we trust Him? To just let him die like that?”
The first century folks had a different mentality than most of us, though, when it came to the cost of discipleship; I’m a believer that there has been a recent increase in global whining over the past few decades, in my homeland. We don’t know of a single believer who stopped trusting Christ because of what happened to Stephen. They did, however, take the situation seriously; they got out of town and took the Gospel with them. Leaving Jerusalem had gotten easier!
Had the Church been scattered, but silent, they wouldn’t have enjoyed the same results of societal change ultimately experienced. The key is that when God allowed them to be scattered, they remained the Church. Telling people about Jesus was not something they had left to the apostles when they were in Jerusalem; now, they continued doing what they had been doing all along—talking about the goodness of Jesus Christ, except in a new location. Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. (Ac 8:4) Who is doing the preaching? Everybody, except the apostles! They’re still in Jerusalem! (v. 1) They’re the only ones who weren’t scattered; they’re still preaching in Jerusalem, everyone else is preaching wherever they’ve landed. And now the Gospel is no longer limited to Jerusalem—the fire has been flung across Judea and Samaria. Next will be spreading the flame to the Roman world, and who will get the torch but the man who scattered the evangelists through his persecution in the first place? “Life changing” doesn’t begin to describe what happened to Saul of Tarsus.
Had it been left to the lonely apostles, persecution would have done in the Early Church. Thankfully, primitive followers of Christ knew it was the duty and privilege of every believer to testify about Jesus. It was just part of being a disciple.
What if? What if all Christians considered it a privilege to preach Christ to whomever would listen? What if they would talk about Jesus, even if it meant risking their lives to do it? What if they used the knowledge that they had about Him, but didn’t wait until someone ordained them or handed them a degree before they would boldly speak about God’s goodness to another person? What would Satan do with a Church like that?! If you persecute them and they scatter, it only gets worse. Now they’re everywhere.
Our God loves us enough to wake us up. It may be gentle or it may be four alarm persecution—whatever it takes. And what we might think is the worst thing that could happen to us may just be His way of moving us into the position where we’ll be most effective.
The Puzzle, January 8, 2009
Ordained Sports Evangelists
Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city. Acts 8:4-8 (ESV)
Due to persecution, Philip had become an unemployed table waiter. No more need to oversee the distribution of food, when the Church had scattered. Philip scattered, too, and went to Samaria, where he preached and did miracles. I can see the headlines in the local Samaritan Herald: “Unemployed Table Waiter Begins Revival!” True transformation brings joy, not just to those who get baptized, but to whole cities.
The reason this worked was because the Church was not relying on the apostles back in Jerusalem, either to do all the preaching or to bark out orders for what everyone else was to do, in cities the apostles had never seen. This revival (and all the genuine revivals I’ve ever heard of) was Spirit led. God is calling the shots, not man. What’s interesting is the particular mouthpiece He uses to get this one started. With genuine apostles not that far away, why entrust it to an untrained novice? Because it’s everyone’s privilege to preach the Gospel.
Our problem is that we confuse sharing about God’s latest exploits in our lives with putting together a three-point sermon to try to coax an “A” out of a homiletics professor in seminary. I can guarantee you not everyone is called of God to endure seminary, but it appears that we all get to brag on God whenever the chance pops up, and we don’t even need a license. That’s all Philip was doing—bragging on God. The end result was in changed lives, and a lot of joy. I’m sure Philip was having the time of his life! I’ll bet we would have a lot more fun in our Christian experience if we weren’t quite so cautious about bragging on God.
When the Early Church was scattered, they preached the Gospel everywhere. That would be a good plan for us, too. But we need to not make it so complicated. If we approached talk about sports like we do talking about Jesus, we’d never say anything.
For instance, what if we applied the same “rules” to our sports conversations which are often applied to spiritual conversations?
Only talk sports at sports arenas.
Even then, only do it at scheduled times.
To talk about sports, you need to be something of an expert, because there’s so much to know, and you might get it wrong.
When you go to one of the scheduled meetings, you aren’t expected to talk about sports, yourself; you listen to a professional talk about sports. Once in a while, he might let you talk to the other sports fans, if you get some training and you get on the schedule.
Don’t talk about sports in public, because there are people out there who like different teams than you do. There are sometimes people who can’t stand your team, or even sports in general—you don’t want to offend them.
Don’t identify yourself as any kind of fan by wearing team logo clothing, flying a team flag, putting a bumper sticker on your car, etc. Sports should be a private matter. It should only be talked about by trained professionals.
Fun, huh? No wonder interest in sports is in such decline! Oh, it isn’t? It would be if we used the same rules and rationale we do regarding talking about the God of the Universe.
Wherever we go, we preach the Gospel—all of us. I think that’s pretty much the plan, isn’t it? We really ought to be the kind of folks God can place anywhere, and we’ll just do our witnessing thing and people will be added to the Kingdom. Plus, there will be joy, a deeper-seated joy than when our favorite sports team finally pulled off a big win. But hey, we can’t talk about that unless we’re fully ordained sports evangelists, in the proper place and time for that sort of thing. Right? If we broke a few of our own silly rules, we’d have a lot more fun, and a lot more people would come to know Jesus, too. Who’s stopping us from bragging on God?
January 9, 2009
Some People’s Samaria
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. Acts 8:14-17,25
Conversion is seldom a solo process. In this case, God used Philip, then followed up with a couple apostles to finish the job. The persecution in Jerusalem was used to get the Church out of town and into some needy areas. God even uses the people who aren’t on His side to accomplish His purposes.
Also in Acts 8, we get the story of Simon the Sorcerer, a weasely local magician who goes from pride to envy to greed to remorse in nineteen verses. Simon is on a track which is not unfamiliar, even in our day. He thinks the Gospel is just a way to make money, and that spiritual gifts are secret knowledge which can be bought and sold. The first idea is very much in evidence, these days, particularly in the realm of television ministries and the like; the other is more subtle, but still present, basically the product of some of these same ministry philosophies (i.e., “Send me a donation and I’ll send you a magic prayer shawl,” “Pray the Prayer of Jabez for 30 days and God will bless you with riches.”).
Another point in this chapter is that God does stuff in “breakthrough’s.” He allows persecution to be the propellant which gets the Church out of their cluster in Jerusalem, then uses a non-apostle to start ministry among non-Jews. He confirms His presence by doing miracles through Philip, yet doesn’t give the Samaritans the Holy Spirit until a couple apostles arrive. He manifests Himself sufficiently at this Samaritan Pentecost to totally impress a magician, but we never hear of a subsequent visible manifestation in Samaria (or it’s become so routine it isn’t mentioned). It was the big Samaritan breakthrough, followed by breakthroughs to the Gentiles. On the way home from Samaria, Peter and John feel free to preach in other Samaritan villages, too. There are no longer any barriers or missing pieces—the Gospel has spread to Samaria.
When I think of Samaria, the inner cities of the U.S. come to mind. They seem so different from suburbia! The mindset, the environment, the values—all different. It’s as if we were in separate countries. I’m among those who have been repulsed by the Inner City, a country boy who likes the wide open spaces and conservative values. I don’t understand the city, don’t enjoy it, don’t fit—or at least don’t think I do. I went through a guilt trip for awhile, in college and seminary, because they were pleading with people to go to the Inner City, and I wanted to go to Alaska. I finally figured out that not everyone dreamt of starting a home mission church in Alaska like I did, so it might make better sense to believe that God was calling me to a place I absolutely loved, instead of somewhere which repulsed me. “Glad I went!” doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about Alaska. It was an unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime, God-driven adventure, for ten years. My friends and family thought I was heading to Samaria (or Siberia) for sure, that first trip to The Great Land. I came back thinking I’d been in heaven. To some people it was Samaria; I never wanted to leave!
Like Philip, God moved us. The city in which we now reside (Kelso-Longview, Washington) is one I used to despise from the road as we sped up to get past it on I-5. “Thank you, God, that we don’t have to live there!” Twenty years ago, it was as Samaritan as it gets, for me. We’ve now lived here for fifteen. It’s gone from being “Samaria” to being “home.” I’m so glad to live here! The best place on earth to be is where God has placed you.
Where do we fit? Somewhere. But it’s not always the same place, and it’s not usually forever. Philip was having the time of his life, but he was soon to be leaving, to accomplish another special job God had for him. He would always have Samaria to treasure as a special memory of how the Lord took him to what others considered a God-forsaken place, then showed him a bit of heaven. That’s what God did for me, too, more than once!
Lessons from Samaria? Don’t be taken in by the crass commercialism we sometimes see in religion. Keep the heart pure. Be open to new challenges and new people. Be willing to go among the unlovely and love them in Jesus’ name—it might turn out to be the greatest experience of our life. Be willing to work as a team. God almost always uses triangulation to accomplish His purposes, with prophets predicting, then various people coming along to fulfill assignments they may not even comprehend, but which are all being managed from above. In God’s book, assists seem to count as much as scoring. And don’t avoid Samaria—the experience may prove to be one of the great highlights of a lifetime.
The Puzzle, January 12, 2009
The Road to Gaza
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him....
Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Acts 8:26-31,35-40 (ESV)
I guess the road to Gaza has never been too popular, and certainly not when you’re having the time of your life leading a breakthrough revival, only to be interrupted by a message from God to leave it and head for the desert! But Philip was a disciple, willing to obey God’s instructions, whether or not they were logical or desirable. Philip’s prompt, complete obedience meant it only took God one man to introduce the Gospel to the continent of Africa! This wouldn’t have worked, had Philip balked or been too shy. As it turned out, everything worked perfectly, and God decided to just “poof” Philip to Azotus, rather than making him walk. Obedience to God has many, many rewards! What was this whole episode about? Obedience. And evangelism. One results in the other.
So what about strategy? Should we never make plans? I wouldn’t go that far, but I do think we spend too much time developing strategies which ultimately only get in the way of what God wants done. How many times have I witnessed a conference or meeting really going somewhere, only to be shut down by the bulletin? Someone was scheduled to do something, and bless God, they were going to do it! So they took up the offering, delivered their stump speech, sold their book or whatever, and the spirit of the service went down like a grounded hot air balloon. No more soaring, today; the agenda! Can we agree that the Holy Spirit knows what He’s doing? Why not follow Him, then, when He says to change plans?
I’m of the opinion that we should be consulting God before we even make any plans, then be sure to check with Him throughout the process, and more than willing to abandon the whole thing at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. If we follow this “strategy,” I’m thinking we’ll see at least occasional miracles, plus have the thrill of knowing without a doubt that God arranged them. If we don’t want to trust God with our plans, He will probably let us keep our control, and we’ll read about people being led of the Holy Spirit, instead of being that person.
It makes me think of a long-ago kids camp I helped staff, in Alaska. As we divided the camp into two teams for a massive game of “Capture the Flag,” Scotty, a little space cadet known very personally to me, determined that his contribution to the game would be to wade the lake with his clothes on, clambering around the shallows, Rambo-style, in an effort to sneak up on the flag, fifty yards from water. People were captured and freed, the flag changed hands several times, and a good time was had by all, including Scotty, who never even got out of the mud until all was done and we were headed for the next activity. Nobody chased him, he never got close to anyone else nor the flag, he was pretty much in his own world. Come to think of it, that was also true when we weren’t playing “Capture the Flag.” He’s the only ten-year-old I’ve ever known who hit up a pastor for salt, to tan his mole-hide. Back to my point. When it comes to helping God in this mission to save the world from hell, we church folks are too often taking the Scotty approach, plotting a course of action we’re determined to take, based on our own ideas. It’s supposed to help the cause. Meanwhile, we’re oblivious to the fact that we’re in our own world, completely irrelevant to what’s going on in the real game. The Master uses people who pay attention and follow orders, sometimes giving them a free ride to their next assignment; the self-styled revolutionaries seldom get out of the swamp. Their main contribution to the cause is to leave their team one person short. God loves ‘em, anyway, but when it comes time to hand out Most Valuable Player, they may as well lean back and relax (and find some dry clothes).
Let’s be the kind of people God can pull out of the best time of our life, send out on a road to nowhere, have us cheerfully grab the opportunity for world-changing evangelism on the first try, then spend the rest of our lives smiling about the whole deal when it’s over.
The Puzzle, January 13, 2009
Spirit-led People
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” Acts 8:26-29 (ESV)
Even for a Spirit-led follower of Christ, this had to have been out of Philip’s comfort zone. First of all, he is summoned away from the revival he had the privilege of starting, sent out into the desert alone, then urged by the Holy Spirit to run up alongside the chariot of a perfect stranger. Before it’s over, he will have baptized a high official returning from Jerusalem to Ethiopia, and a significant inroad will have been made into spreading the Gospel to Africa. None of it would have happened, had Philip not been willing to be pulled off one assignment in order to complete another.
You know, it’s one thing to be diverted from your own plan by God; this time, Philip was asked to stop doing something which had started out as God’s plan! The revival in Samaria was a wonderful thing, obviously orchestrated by the Holy Spirit. How could it be God’s will to leave it when the fires were still burning? Obviously, it was, and the clear direction was all it took for Philip to be out the door and on his way to his next “God-assignment.” Would that we would all be so responsive. One of the very hardest things to leave behind is yesterday’s miracle or method, particularly when it had God’s blessing on it!
Check out the life of any saint, and there are bound to be a few shrines or plaques commemorating God’s great exploits in their past. There is also probably a saint who has spent some time trying to recreate the thrilling days of yesteryear, by retracing each step they took prior to the great event, trying to make it happen again. Usually, it’s in vain. And woe to the person who wants to erase the blackboard containing the equation from God, or who, without even asking, hauls the plaque commemorating “the miracle” to the storage room or the dump.
God jerked Philip out of Samaria before he even had a chance to get the plaque up! I guess when you invented time, you don’t get preoccupied with the past.
Sometimes, when it comes to new things God wants to do in our lives, the biggest obstacles are the old things He has done in our lives, and our reluctance to let go of them. At other times, an obstacle to the new or the spontaneous can be our leadership. I’ve been in that role quite a bit, myself, and I’ve gotten in the way of people who were being led to follow God a certain direction, but they butted up against their pastor, who didn’t see it that way, and who didn’t have it on his schedule. I’ve preached sermons I shouldn’t have preached, because I thought it was expected of me, even though the Spirit was moving the service in a different direction, and I should have just gotten out of the way. (A few times I’ve gotten it right, which makes the failures stand out even more).
Maybe the most regrettable failure to catch the Spirit’s leading has been in times of routine crisis, such as board meetings headed for the ditch, when, instead of the good strategy of “Stop, drop and pray—and if necessary, send everyone home,” I’ve attempted to plow through on my own leadership ability, then apologized to God all the way home for the disaster over which I presided. I’ve blown some of the big crises, too, but mostly routine ones I thought I could handle, alone. God tells me, over and over, “I’ll help you, if you ask me. If you want to do it on your own, go right ahead. I’ll be here when you get back.”
We need leaders, but those leaders need God. So does everyone else. Sometimes, God would actually like us to brainstorm and write down some plans, which shows we’re at least giving our task some thought. But the less Spirit-led we are and the more human-led, the less miracles we’re going to see, the less true success, the less joy. And the more board meetings, conferences and services when we’ll go home with our tail between our legs. God really does have a better plan—much better.
His plan is that we would be Spirit-led. It’s fun! It’s infinitely more successful than the humanistic approach, too. That doesn’t mean we never make plans or strategy, just that we never do it without God’s permission and His guidance. Being Spirit-led is not that hard. It’s just a matter of paying attention to the Holy Spirit, listening and obeying. Keep a good attitude, even when you don’t understand, and you’re there! If the Lord could use a table waiter to spark revivals in a new country, then a new continent, what would He do with an available, resource-laden disciple like us, willing to be led by His Spirit?
The Puzzle, January 14, 2009
Names and Addresses
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. Acts 9:10-19
Saul, the fire-breathing persecutor, abruptly meets his match on the road to Damascus. Most of the time, Jesus uses the gentle approach, and other people; for Saul, He makes an exception! This disciple He calls personally, and audibly. Add to that knocking Saul down, blinding him for three days, rebuking him from the sky, then giving him a vision with details like the name of the man who will come to help Saul and what he will do when he gets there. There’s not a lot left to chance—or free will, for that matter! It’s just a reminder that God can do anything He wants, with or without our help, but He lets us play a part as a favor to us.
It certainly didn’t feel like a favor when Ananias got the vision, which he would have interpreted as just a nightmare had God not been dropping names and addresses. “By the way, I told Saul you were coming. Yes, this is the same one you’ve heard about, but it’s O.K., now—in the past three days he’s changed his mind about a lot of things! I’ve picked him to carry my name to the Gentiles. So, go over to Straight Street, to Judas’ house, and you’ll find him there. He’s praying, and I told him in a vision that it would be a man named Ananias who would lay hands on him and give him back his sight. Any questions? Good. Have fun!”
Wouldn’t you know it? It worked out precisely as God had said—all of it.
The Christian life is only boring for those who haven’t tried much of it. For those like Ananias, disciples so faithful, daring and obedient that God can tell someone they’re coming before He even informs the disciple, there’s always a thrill around the next corner. As nation after nation was opened to the Gospel through Saul of Tarsus, and a great portion of the New Testament was written by the same man, who again and again told of his conversion, including the name of the man God sent to him, Ananias the disciple must have felt a huge sense of satisfaction. Pinpoint obedience. It had started out as the scariest night of his life. Now it was his favorite memory.
Obedience is like that. Discipleship is like that. Christianity is supposed to be like that, if we don’t settle for the domesticated version which would have us roll over and go back to sleep, even after a vision so clear we got names, addresses and a check-list. I wonder what we miss. We could be daring disciples, too. It all just starts with obedience. We don’t even have to come up with our own adventures! Just listen, and obey. You’ll not be disappointed. Or bored.
The Puzzle, January 15, 2009
Getting Grace on Them
And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Acts 9:26-31
It’s so nice to know that persecution is not always required before the Church will grow! Here, the Church was multiplying, while living in peace. I’d like to see a time like that! I’d love to see the Church in America growing like crazy, showing grace and compassion to the outside world, and particularly to the recently converted, and not having to endure bitter persecution at the same time. My second choice would be to see the Church multiplying, despite persecution. I don’t want persecution, but the Church desperately needs to grow, whatever it takes. If we could have revival without extreme hardship, it would be so great! But if the only way we can experience salvation for these lost generations is through trials, I would rather have the trials than to see people wind up in hell. The guy I talked to, today, is an example—only depending upon himself. He’s not really looking for answers, yet, because he hasn’t come to the end of himself, yet.
The conversion of Saul represented an epic event. It shook up the religious establishment, to lose their number one zealot to the opposition, it shook up the Church, to be confronted with the transformational power of their Savior again and to have their grace tested in such a way, and it provided the Church with some breathing room, to have her chief persecutor now become one of her key spokesmen. They put their peace to good use. I wish we would do the same.
There’s a phrase I came across in 1 Peter 4:10: “good stewards of God’s varied grace.” To me, that means we are entrusted with God’s grace in much the same way we are entrusted with financial resources or talents. We are placed in the position of being “dispensers” of God’s grace, and we need not be stingy with it—there’s plenty! The story of Saul is an episode which highlights God’s grace, flowing through the lives of disciples.
It was a powerful encounter with Jesus Himself which brought Saul to a spiritual crisis, but prior to this and subsequent to it were encounters with God’s grace, exemplified in the lives of disciples. First was Stephen. How would a person holding the coats of the executioners not be moved, then haunted, by the plaintive words of a young man being killed for being good: “Father, do not lay this sin to their charge”? Such grace!
Then, there was the disciple sent to Saul to help him regain his sight. A person who had systematically destroyed families for the crime of loving Jesus would, I think, have expected a different reception from one of their group, now that he was helpless and blind. Saul was the man who had dragged mothers and fathers away from their children and thrown them in prison for refusing to deny Christ. What are the first words he hears from a Christian, a complete stranger? “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus... sent me...” Brother Saul? Already? No test, no inquisition? Talk about acceptance! That’s what it looks like to be a good steward of God’s grace. We do it best when we apply it liberally, letting it splash onto the bystanders. Ananias was a good steward of God’s grace.
Another gracious person God put in Saul’s life was Barnabas. Barnabas, which wasn’t even his real name—it was a nickname meaning “Son of Encouragement”, became so many things to Saul. First of all, he was an advocate, when no one else was willing to take the chance on him. What better way to polish off the Christians in Jerusalem but by faking a conversion and joining the Inner Circle? Barnabas vouched for Saul’s authenticity and went to bat for him.
Barnabas accompanied Saul (now called Paul) on his first missionary journey. They endured a myriad of trials, together. Barnabas proved such a loyal friend that he was willing to sever his partnership with Paul in order to try to redeem his nephew, John Mark, when the two missionaries disagreed over whether to take another chance on him. Barnabas sidelined his own career, to restore Mark’s ministry. The first of the Gospels written is because someone was such a careful steward of God’s grace!
How are we doing in this area? When the world peeks through the hole in the church door, are they seeing grace, inside? If they become converted, is God’s grace the first thing they’ll bump into, when they encounter the Church? Last of all, does the unconverted world around us get any grace on them when they rub up against us? They should. We’re supposed to be good stewards of it.
The Puzzle, January 16, 2009
Standing on a Wing and a Prayer
The man’s name and face are all over the news; yesterday morning, no one knew who he was, except his family and friends. What did he do to skyrocket to instant, worldwide fame? He saved the lives of 155 people (including his own) by landing an Airbus jetliner on the Hudson River, yesterday. He did it cooly, perfectly, and thoroughly, without the loss of a single passenger. He gave one of them the shirt off his back—literally—so they would be warm. He walked the length of the aircraft, twice, checking to make sure nobody was left behind. Nobody was. They were all standing on the wings of the sinking aircraft. The first help arrived in three minutes; an alert ferry boat captain had already spotted them. He took on sixty people, as ferry passengers threw lifelines to complete strangers. Other boats arrived, including a fire boat which had practiced emergency procedures that day. Emergency divers got there, and brought necessary help to a couple passengers who were in need of more immediate assistance. They’re calling it “Miracle on the Hudson.” There were numerous miracles taking place at the same time; perhaps the biggest miracle of all was the simultaneous presence of all the right people—the ones who would respond immediately and correctly, in what could have been a horrific tragedy, but which instead is the sort of news story which makes us proud, grateful and a little giddy.
Yes, Captain Chesley Sullenberger (“Sully”) is the hero of the hour, but he didn’t act alone. Bird strikes are common in aviation, but a double bird strike took out both his engines simultaneously, rendering the huge aircraft powerless, only moments after take-off. Instructions were given to land the plane in New Jersey, but the former F-4 fighter pilot quickly concluded that his Airbus turned glider wouldn’t make the airport. The Hudson River? That he could make. And, wouldn’t you know it? When Sully is not flying commercial airliners, he likes to fly glider planes. Oh, and he has a company which does safety consulting. They probably could have scoured the country, and not come up with a better person to have in the cockpit for this sort of emergency.
Preparation and training isn’t everything, though; it still must all be properly executed. This was no drill, and there was no second chance. Everything would have to be done perfectly, or they would probably all perish. The impact of the huge Airbus hitting the water sheared off both engines, but the pilot had guided his craft at precisely the right angle and attitude to avoid serious injuries to anyone on board. They got out, without panic, wading through water up to their chests. The passengers made their way out onto the giant wings, already slightly submerged. It looked like a crowd of people standing on the water, on each side of the fuselage. Help was already on the way, from every direction. Had Sully attempted to make the New Jersey airport and failed, how many lives might have been lost, on the plane and on the ground? Sometimes, it just all goes right. So, we have a new hero, surrounded by a bunch of other heroes, just doing their job, being at the right place at the right time, using that training and knowledge in perfect teamwork, supported from underneath by the hand of a God who heard every one of those frantic prayers onboard and elsewhere. It could easily have been the greatest tragedy of 2009; instead, it’s the best story so far. Thank you, God! And Sully? Great job! Ditto to all the others who did their part.
Now, to the Church. What we’re seeing on television that happened yesterday on the Hudson is what should be happening, non-stop in the Church. What I’m talking about are people who have been trained by the Holy Spirit, responding to life as it comes at them, with grace and effectiveness, calm, thorough and loving. All we have to do to see what that looks like is to take a peek at Acts, any chapter. I especially like the last few chapters when Paul, bound for Rome as a prisoner, gets in a storm he predicted, then proceeds to take over the ship, not through force but by his relationship with God. He gets up, tells them what God told him, and the beleaguered shipmates let God rescue them from death by listening to the prisoner who knows God. Shipwrecked off Malta, Paul’s helpfulness earns him a poisonous snakebite; he just shakes the thing off into the fire. He starts a healing ministry on the island, which doesn’t hurt their PR any.
When the Church comes together, it’s amazing. When we train ourselves in godliness, through constant obedience, when we keep our faith in practice, when we’re ready and waiting for the slightest instructions from the Holy Spirit, God pulls off major rescues all the time. They’re not all dramatic, like the news-making events yesterday, but some of the best ones are pulled off by praying parents, caring teachers, concerned pastors and a friend or two, who spend a couple decades investing in the life of someone whose life would otherwise have gone nowhere, but who, instead loves and follows Jesus Christ and is headed for heaven. Teamwork is fun. It’s exciting, inspirational, awe-inspiring. There’s no greater rush than to know you have been used of God to pull off something life-changing, and you weren’t alone. There’s a world all around us who need the Church. Let’s be ready, when the time comes. There will most likely be something we can do, tomorrow.
The Puzzle, January 19, 2009
Leading with Love
Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner. Acts 9:32-43
Peter didn’t just stay in headquarters (Jerusalem) and wait for people to come to him; he did some traveling. One of the places he visited was Lydda. When he healed a man who had been paralyzed for eight years, all the residents of two towns turned to the Lord. This is power evangelism! First, meet the needs only God can meet, with miraculous power. Then, people want to embrace Jesus. Why are we always doing it the opposite way? “You need Jesus. He died for your sins. You need to be sorry for your sins, and accept Him. Then start to live like we do.” Meanwhile, the people are still paralyzed, hungry, sick, etc., and the only message they’re getting from our well-meaning plea is that we think we’re better than they are. And why, when I went to the flooded property of an evangelical church member, yesterday, did I find the Mormons there and no one else? Her entire business and home had been turned into a disaster area; I didn’t know if she had been contacted by her own church. The Latter Day Saints were outside, en mass, in rubber boots, hauling out smelly garbage. Their efforts were appreciated. Those who drive by and are glad it wasn’t them, not so much.
The Church in Joppa took a real hit when Dorcas died. She was highly respected as a woman “full of good works, and acts of charity.” This kind of lifestyle was more revered in those days than now, when anyone not holding a microphone or a book contract isn’t likely to be overly noticed in the Church. Dorcas was the worker bee type, churning out articles of clothing for people behind the scenes as a ministry, in an era when clothes were scarce and valuable. Her love came through her labor, much as Mother Teresa reached out to the discarded and lonely in Calcutta, and captured the attention of the world without seeking it. This is what it is to lead with love. It can be done in a great variety of ways, with one unifying characteristic: None of them are self-seeking.
How do we lead with love? We just take whatever tools and gifts the good Lord has entrusted to us, find someone to serve, and serve them, without expecting anything in return. That’s it. It’s none too complicated, yet far too uncommon. Dorcas loved with a needle and thread; Peter loved by telling people all about Jesus and doing powerful works in His name; the disciples at Joppa loved by calling 911 (sending for Peter), instead of being too proud or faithless to ask for help. Because everyone did their part, not only did Dorcas regain her seamstress ministry; many believed in Jesus! The Early Church was leading in love, accompanied by power. The end result was large-scale evangelism.
If the Church will just lead with love, we’ll do fine. The power of God is first of all, a display of mercy. This is not fire and signs, but healing and life. It’s followed by people flocking to Jesus. If we’re demonstrating the love of God, it often doesn’t even require a miracle, in order to result in spiritual transformation.
The Church needs to lead with love. Power would be O.K., but I think our tendency has been to misuse power whenever we’ve had it, anyway, and the world (especially America) seems to mistrust it, even when it’s real. Love is more effective. Lead with love, and anticipate God’s power showing up whenever needed.
We need to be what God has made us to be, and pursue what He has given us to do, unashamedly and with passion. Peter preached and healed, and didn’t let it go to his head. Dorcas was a “beaver” type of servant, who ministered through making clothes. The disciples at Joppa knew to send for Peter, rather than planning a funeral, and they didn’t seem to be embarrassed that they weren’t the ones who raised Dorcas from the dead—sort of like someone who calls 911 as their contribution to the rescue effort.
Leading with love—it’s a way to utilize every spiritual gift, and touch every life.
The Puzzle, January 20, 2009
God’s Breakthrough’s
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Acts 10:34-35
On this historic day, a breakthrough of monumental proportions is occurring. The first African-American president is being inaugurated. Whether his presidency is successful or not (and I hope that it is, in the ways God regards success), Barack Obama has already fulfilled the long-held dreams of many Americans, to see an African-American break the barriers which, not that long ago, prevented many from even having a vote, much less the prospect of holding the highest office in the land. It’s an historic occasion.
Acts 10 may not seem that big of a deal, centuries after the fact, but it was an historic occasion, too. That’s when the Gentiles got in. To what? The Gospel. For the first time, Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit, and shown to be on the same level as Jewish believers in Christ. Samaritans had already been brought into the Kingdom, but they were at least partly Jewish in their heritage; the inclusion of Gentiles as full-fledged believers showed a God who was willing to take people without even a pretense of Israelite heritage.
He did start with someone who had the respect of the Jewish community, a man named Cornelius, a God-fearer, devout in every way—just not Jewish. The person God brought in on the other side of the equation was not only Jewish, he was one of the most prominent of the apostles. Simon Peter was an insider even before the crucifixion! He remained the ultimate insider, even as he awaited lunch on the rooftop of Simon the Tanner’s house, in Joppa.
To show this was no fluke, God carefully orchestrated both sides of a meeting between strangers, by giving each one specific instructions, via visions. Cornelius was praying when he was told to send for Peter. God was kind enough to give Cornelius Peter’s name, and where he happened to be staying at the time. Messengers were sent off, the same day.
God had to work a different angle with Peter. Although definitely not sinless, Peter did pride himself on his Jewish heritage, which included sticking to the Levitical dietary laws. There was a pretty long list of non-foods Peter had always avoided, as had the rest of the Jews who cared about being kosher. That’s what was on the lowered tablecloth Peter saw in a trance. Not only is God specific; He’s persistent. Peter got the same vision three times in a row, along with the admonition each time to “kill and eat,” and the rebuttal to Peter’s concern about eating “unclean” food: “what God has made clean, do not call common.” The added insertion to the vision was God’s announcement that there were three men at the gate looking for him, that he should go, etc. It was all coming together.
Peter’s arrival at Caesarea was greeted by Cornelius trying to worship him, which Peter promptly (and wisely) averted. God interrupted Peter’s sermon to the gathered crowd by just dumping the Holy Spirit on them in such an obvious way that there was no question: The Gentiles were now included in the Kingdom, too! And they hadn’t even been baptized, yet! (That was soon remedied).
Is God still doing breakthrough’s? Oh, yes! And we are every bit as reluctant as Peter (or more so) to barge through barriers long venerated, especially if it was a spiritual triumph to erect them in the first place. I’m talking about those personal convictions, cultural convictions, denominational standards or whatever, which have sometimes been quite useful in shielding us from temptation, or vital in keeping us within the good graces of our fellow believers. At times they may have become a sort of idol, where an otherwise flagging Christian life is reduced to the victory of “not smoking” or something else which might not have ever even been a temptation to us. As regarding outsiders to the faith, it’s a two-edged sword. Sometimes they were impressed, sometimes repulsed by our convictions, whether teetotaling our way through life or refusing to run on Sunday (aka Eric Liddell, “Chariots of Fire”).
Convictions have their place, and I am definitely not for displacing them, particularly for the sake of rationalizing an easier, more hedonistic lifestyle or just trying to blend in. On rare occasions, though, it’s not the world which is asking us to cross the barriers we’ve erected, but God Himself. When it’s Him, He always follows the same pattern: It’s specific, not vague; He makes sure we know it’s Him; He repeats the message, if necessary.
Are we the kind of people God could use to engineer a breakthrough? Pretty much all we have to do is be faithful and pay attention, and it could be any one of us. What do we need to do? We need to listen to God! That’s what! He may be giving us visions, with clear, specific directions, but if we prize our personal convictions above specific orders from the Lord, we’re going to miss out on breakthroughs which would have helped us all. There’s a place for both convictions and breakthrough’s—and it’s all at God’s direction, not ours. Keep alert! Whether the world notices or not, historic breakthrough’s will be yours.
The Puzzle, January 21, 2009
PICK A DUCK AND SHOOT IT
—Wayne Gretzky
A MEAL TO REMEMBER
The pastor sagged into the cushy seat offered him across the table from his wife, at the upscale restaurant. He painfully perused the eight-page menu by candlelight, as his bride did the same. So many choices. Some of them he didn’t even understand, but they all looked good. Each entree seemed to call out his name. He was wishing he hadn’t come to this place so hungry. Everything sounded wonderful. How could he choose? What if he ordered something and was disappointed? Afraid to make a wrong choice, he at last reached his decision.
The waiter checked with him three times to make sure he was hearing correctly: “You wish for everything on the menu, sir? Do you realize how much food this would be? Do you understand how long it will take to prepare it? Do you know there is very little difference between some of these entrees? Are you sure? This could get rather expensive, too.” The waiter did a quick calculation of what his tip might be on this order, and decided to forego that last statement.
“I’m sure. I want one of everything. That’s the only way to make sure I’m not disappointed. I want the very best.”
Due to the special circumstances, they took the pastor’s credit card at the time of the order rather than after the meal, as the head chef called for backup in the kitchen. More than an hour later, cart after cart of delicious food was wheeled out in the direction of the pastor’s table. It all looked fabulous.
The pastor got through one entree. No one remembers which one it was. He did sample a few others. There were a lot of doggie bags—more than would fit in their car on the way home, more than would fit in their chest freezer.
It was definitely a meal to remember! And though the pastor has been gone for years, now, his children still remember it each month, whenever the credit card bill comes. They hope to some day get it paid off. For some reason, none of them ever go to restaurants.
There’s fiction, and then there’s absurd! This is both, especially the part about the wife timidly sitting there while her husband spends them into oblivion, for no other reason than indecision and a little hunger!
The reason for including this far-fetched and rather grotesque story is the painful reality that for so many of us, it represents painful reality—maybe the indecisions leading us to where we are now were not as extreme or as unwarranted as the pastor’s, but the end results are nearly as agonizing. Failing to arrive at a decision and unwilling to live with the consequences of saying “Yes” to one thing and “No” to everything else, we said “Yes” to everything and “No” to nothing, and now we’re living with the consequences.
We see evidences all around us of those who thought it would be smarter to just order the whole menu, than to have to confine themselves to one choice and live with it.
For some, it was the area of finances, where their wants and “needs” overwhelmed their income, putting them in a position of near-bankruptcy. The lack of self-restraint back then has now pushed them into a place with few, if any, choices to make. A crushing load of debt, or guilt, is the lingering reminder that self-denial would have been a much better choice than self-indulgence, and ironically, would have brought them a great deal more pleasure in the end.
It might be in the area of career, where they are like college students who graduate with a degree in “general studies,” having failed to choose a major even by the senior year. They’re paying the same school bills as their peers who picked medicine, or law, or elementary education. The focus on a certain area has rewarded others with a career and an income to match; the people who never got around to picking a major are mostly qualified for minimum wage and pity.
It might be in the area of relationships, where fear of commitment to one person has systematically been evidenced by lack of commitment. They have the scars to show for their serial relationships, but have never yet been to a place of God-blessed, long-term mutual commitment which was satisfying. The reason? They would have had to let all the other relationship options go. What if they chose wrong? “Better to hedge my bets,” they say. They’ll just try the relationship for a while to see how it goes. This miserable excuse for “wisdom” has haunted their lives and resulted in indescribable pain, all in the name of avoiding it. Better to just choose one person, and commit to them for life. Who would have known that God’s way would also turn out to be the safest?
For me, failure to “order off the menu” has most often shown up in ministry. It all looks so good! I like doing nearly all of these things. They all say they need me! How could I say “No” to such a worthy cause?
Because if I don’t, and I try to say “Yes” to everything, there’s no way I can manage it, much less enjoy it, and the “bill” for ordering all of this is going to be something I’ll still be trying to pay off, years from now. There are a lot of good reasons to just order something and choose to either enjoy it or learn from my mistake. If I don’t order anything, I’ll go hungry; if I order too many things, I can’t pay for it all or enjoy it all.
I need to order off the menu. So what if it’s not perfect? There’s always next time. Enjoy what I’ve chosen, or take note and learn from my mistake. Not choosing anything at all, or ordering too many choices will both prove to be much more disappointing than any single choice I could make. Better to close my eyes and let my finger fall on the menu than to borrow from the pleasure to be received and spend it on agony in making the decision! In so many cases, the only wrong decision is the decision not to choose.
In ministry, “choose” usually means “focus.” Concentrate energy and resources in one area, and pretty much ignore the rest for the time being. That’s much easier said than done, especially if your position is pastor, which makes you fair game for every good idea anybody has ever casually mentioned to you. I think it was Rick Warren who said, “God loves you, and everybody else has a wonderful plan for your life!” How true.
In my 23 years in pastoral ministry, if I could do one thing over, it would be to focus more. So much time, energy and resources were spilled in the vain pursuit of entire pages of the ministry menu, all at once. It just never worked well to go in too many directions at once. I guess a few multi-tasking ministers carry sufficient management gifts to pull it off; I never did. If I had it all to do over again, I would pray and ask God to show me one area on which to focus, then devote as much time and energy as possible in that one direction. I would do that personally, and I would do that for the whole church. I’ve actually known the principle for years; it’s applying it which gets to be the problem.
PICK A DUCK AND SHOOT IT
Years ago, as a high school kid, one of my favorite sports was duck hunting. Growing up on a South Dakota farm with five lakes, I only needed fifteen minutes of available time in order to go hunting. When it came to bagging ducks, I had ample access, plus the necessary time and equipment, but two main problems kept me from consistent success.The first was poor marksmanship. Ducks fly fast, presenting a difficult target, and I was still a novice with a shotgun. I missed a lot.
The second problem was a mental one. Ducks not only fly fast; they also tend to fly together. The usual scenario was to be surprised by a flock zipping overhead, barely in range, and moving out in a hurry. I often had only a second or two to get my gun up and fire, from first sighting to last chance. Therein lay my problem.
I’ve never been one to make decisions easily, or quickly. I like to ponder stuff, consider all the possibilities, procrastinate a little to avoid making hasty mistakes. This tendency was making our farm a safe place for ducks. When a flock of mallards buzzed my blind, unannounced, I had to figure out what to shoot at. Should I aim at the one in front? The biggest one? Should I try to make sure I shot at only drakes? Sometimes I would start aiming at one, then change my mind and switch to another. Sometimes I would get greedy and start plotting how to get more than one. Sometimes I would get really greedy and point my gun in the direction of the whole flock, thinking I’d have to get a bunch—after all, it was a shotgun!
I usually did actually fire my gun, but seldom did anything fall. While I was deciding, they were flying. I never did bring one down with a confused look.
Eventually, I nagged myself into a concept that made my 20 gauge a bit more intimidating to waterfowl. First of all, I kept at it and gradually improved some in shooting ability. Even more importantly, I learned to pick a duck and shoot it (or at least at it). Rather than gazing at a big flock with a bewildered stare, trying to compute the angles and attributes of each possibility, I forced myself to just pick one(!), and totally ignore the rest. When the flock had passed, I couldn’t tell you how many there had been. All I knew was that I had chosen one, aimed, fired, and followed through. It was all I could manage in two second’s time.
Once I got the knack, I started making a few connections! Even when I missed, I at least knew what my target had been, and I tried to apply whatever I learned to “next time.” There were a lot of next times, until I became successful enough at it to realize how little I liked to eat the ducks I had risen at 4 A.M. to shoot, and went on to other rewarding hobbies, like sleep.
In life, as in duck hunting, one of my persistent mistakes has been to not make a decision. I’ve been so afraid of making a wrong choice that I made no choice at all. I’ve fired parting shots at so many good ideas! More often than not, I’ve either deliberated on the wise choice sufficiently long that there were no choices left by the time I was ready to pull the trigger, or I’ve “flock-shot” at a whole host of ideas, determined to not let a single one get away, and managing not to hit any at all.
Time and time again, I’ve dragged home, empty-handed, muttering to myself, “Pick a duck and shoot it!” It doesn’t have to be the biggest idea or the most attractive or the most popular or the most cost-effective or the latest idea----just pick one, please!
I’ve tried all the different ways of not choosing: Analysis, followed by more analysis. I’ve even tried prayer, followed by more prayer (careful to never commit to making a decision after prayer). I’ve often gone the route of not wanting to leave anyone or their idea out in the cold, so we’ve just all stayed inside together, doing nothing but occasionally further brainstorming to add to the compost pile of good ideas fermenting in the board room.
A lot of times, I’ve shot up my ammunition at ideas going over the horizon. At least I came home with a warm barrel, like everybody else.
Still other times, to my shame, I’ve walked up and blasted away at already dead ideas, simply to try to get my name associated with what looked like a sure success, even if it was yesteryear’s and nobody would ever want to eat it.
I’ve tried it all, and if there was one single theme I would try to follow, if I had to do it all over again, it could be summed up in the phrase, “Pick a duck and shoot it!”
Yes, pray. But then, pick!
Analyze? Do research? O.K., if you don’t make a career out of it (You get an exemption if God has told you to make a career out of it). Set a deadline and at that point, you stop doing research and gathering information, and you pull the trigger at something!
Quit trying to bring down the whole flock, this year, and just pray, pick a duck, and shoot it! Who knows? There may be time for more than one shot. But you don’t have forever to decide. Ducks and ideas fly fast. Kids grow up at 60 mph, or better. If you don’t figure out what to do with your time and energy, it will be decided for you, by someone with less than your best interests in mind.
Focus! Ask God to guide you to select one thing that will happen, regardless of what else happens, and concentrate on it like a laser beam. Quit counting the rest of the ducks, or looking around at bigger flocks or happier hunting grounds. Pick one and bring it down! If you focus, even in failure there is success. If you don’t, charity ducks don’t allay the frustration you feel for having never even pulled the trigger.
Like the famous hockey player Wayne Gretzky has said, “You miss 100% of the shots you never take.” Sure, you’ll miss some, even when you do your best. But you always miss when you never even shoot. Pick a duck and shoot it.
“But I don’t believe in shooting ducks.” Before I ever considered this chapter, I was flinching from the perceived ire of anti-hunters who would be offended by my illustration, particularly since it was based upon real waterfowl with whom I’ve been briefly acquainted, and some of whom became part of me. For those of you with an aspersion to firearms or pointing them at living things, I want you to know that no ducks were harmed in the making of this book. I probably couldn’t say the same for trees.
Seriously, now... I love hunting, but I love God a lot more. I also love my family more than hunting, so when it started to siphon off the precious little time I had to spend with them, I put it on hold for a couple decades. For someone who used to live for the sport, that represented an unbelievable change. It also represented one of the wisest decisions I’ve ever made. (Don’t hear me say that “giving up hunting was one of the wisest decisions I’ve ever made,” because I’m not saying that at all). The wise part of the decision was that when I realized I couldn’t do justice to hunting and raising a family at the same time, I chose one, rather than trying to hang on to both. As I look around at a couple kids with whom I have a wonderful relationship, I know for sure that I chose right! And this year when my son took hunter safety and got his license, he and I went duck hunting together, and had fun, even if he hasn’t gotten a duck, yet.
You needn’t be a hunter or even sympathetic to them in order to benefit from this extremely important principle: Pick a duck and shoot it. Focus! Pick a duck and shoot it—or they’ll all get away, again.
DECIDE THAT “HUNTING” IS O.K.
First, you must decide that “hunting” is O.K. I’m not talking about the smell of gunpowder, here: I’m talking about the idea of focusing on one specific idea with the intention of doing something about it, beyond thinking or talking. Decide that it’s O.K. to go after an idea and fixate on it, focus on it to the point where you shoot something and bring it home, rather than just sitting around talking about what a beautiful world it would be, “if”..... It really is O.K. to concentrate on something to the point of action. Check the Book. Faith shouldn’t even be called “faith” if it never results in action. Faith with no accompanying works is in reality just disobedience, covered up with religious-sounding excuses.HOW COULD I PICK JUST ONE?
I know that some of us are either so tenderhearted or so indoctrinated in the idea of liberalism that the idea of leaving some needs unmet is anathema to us. “But if we choose just one thing, what about all of the other worthy needs and projects and people?”.....What happens if we don’t choose one thing? Well, we don’t have to feel that we’re discriminating, because none of the many needs got met. We didn’t discriminate; we made everybody equal—now they’re all equally miserable!
It’s not just “O.K.” to pick a duck, to focus on just one need or one ministry; it’s vital to seeing anything happen! Yes, there are way more good causes than there is time, energy or resources for them—all the more reason to focus on just one good cause and make a difference, since you can’t possibly accommodate all of the available options, anyway. Pick one!
Each one of us needs to pick a duck and shoot it. It might not be the biggest duck or the most important duck, or the easiest one to hit, but at least we pulled the trigger!
PICK A DUCK AND SHOOT IT
Focus! Focus on something, almost anything! Pray through about what it is that you believe God would have you to do as a missionary of the Gospel, and focus your energies on doing the best you can do on that pursuit.FOLLOW THROUGH
One more thing about “pick a duck and shoot it”: Follow-through is key. If you interrupt your motion while shooting, in order to check for results, you’ll probably miss. A smooth follow-through completes the shot. Likewise, with ideas, if you give up too soon, or stop your follow-through in order to check for results, you’ll have few results for which to check. Pick a duck. Shoot. Follow through. Enjoy the results!WELL-ROUNDED OR HALL OF FAME?
Have you ever noticed that athletes who reach the top levels of their sport only have one sport? They don’t excel in both football and figure skating. (Even the football players who do well on “Dancing with the Stars” are former football players). If an athlete makes it to a Hall of Fame, it’ll be in one sport, and even within that one sport, it will probably be playing one kind of position.Shouldn’t a good athlete be well-rounded? If you’re good at sports shouldn’t you participate in many different sports?
You’re thinking P.E., not professional. Extreme athletic excellence is not attained by learning to be a duffer in a dozen different arenas; it comes to those who pick a sport and pursue it with all their heart, to the virtual exclusion of all the other sports. For those who show promise in so many different areas, and could reasonably pursue any one of several sports with a good chance of success, it must be nearly heartbreaking to have to choose just one, yet choose they must, if they are ever to hope to attain greatness.
Why then would we think that somehow greatness will be attained in other areas of life by dabbling in a dozen different pursuits at the same time? The most we could hope for would be mediocrity and we intuitively know it, but it’s hard to say goodbye to things we like, in order to go to the next level of what we love. So we hang on. We call it being “balanced,” but what it often boils down to is failure to commit. Unless we’re willing to choose, to focus, to say “No” to everything else in order to say “Yes” to what’s most important, we know we’ll never have to worry about getting into those levels of excellence that stretch us to the utmost and produce what only intensity and focused, committed desire achieve. We’re safe—from greatness.
Didn’t Jesus say that greatness was through servanthood, anyway? Yes, but even servanthood can’t be accomplished without focus. The Good Samaritan chose to concentrate on his fallen neighbor, rather than go home and write a paper about the rising crime rate in Judea.
If we don’t focus on anything, we don’t do much of anything. If we try to focus on everything, we still don’t do much of anything, because it’s overwhelming.
Pray, but then make your choice. Choose your sport, pursue it, and let the other ones go. Order off the menu—only what you can afford—and choose to enjoy what you get, or at least learn from the experience. Pick a duck and shoot it. Otherwise, they’ll all be gone, again. Focus. Pick a person, pick a ministry, pick something. Don’t worry about “Should I pick a duck in each category of my life?” Sure, if there’s time—but first you need to choose one, zero in on it, and be sure you’re on target, before going on to others. Remember why you miss in the first place—trying to aim at too many things at once. One duck at a time. Just choose one. Prayerfully focus on something—anything! If it’s wrong, you can change it later. If you never focus, life will be over before you know it. It’s time to stop talking about it and reading about it and just do it. So what if you miss! You miss 100% of the shots you never take.
Before you turn this next page, pick a duck. Write it down. Write it in pencil if it makes you feel better, because you can change it later, if it turns out to be a poor choice. But you realize, don’t you, that the worst choice you can make is no choice at all? The real disappointment in life does not come to the one who didn’t reach his goal, but to the one who never even had a goal.
Pray. God wants to help you. But then, pick. You won’t be sorry.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Lord, I’m asking you to show me what you would have me to focus on, at this point in my life. What I’m talking about is devoting the best of my time and energy to this goal or this relationship, and following through until I’ve done what I believe you want me to do. I humbly ask for your Spirit’s guidance, right now. I also ask for your correction, if I get off track, somehow. I want to follow your will for my life. I want to please you.
I’m listening for your leading right now, Lord. I believe the time has come for me to make this choice, and I ask for and anticipate your guidance. I read in your Word that when I ask you for wisdom, I’ll receive it (James 1:5), and that when I acknowledge you, you will direct my paths (Proverbs 3:5-6). Thank you for your promises.
I’m writing down this focus now, in faith that it’s from you—and if it’s not, you’ll let me know.
Your servant
I believe my Lord would have me to focus on:__________________________________________________
Good shot.
The Puzzle, January 31, 2009
Claim the Name
And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11:26
They were all first called Christians at Antioch. This was not a term of endearment, nor did it originate among the believers—it was intended as an insult; it ended up being “term of choice” for the Early Church.
We’ve come full circle. In many places on the globe, to be called a “Christian” is to be insulted, since great is the hatred toward our Savior and anyone associated with Him or His words. We have a similar choice as the believers in Antioch: We can dodge the name, and just lay low, in hopes that the world will forget about us and leave us alone. We can say, “No, I’m not a Christian—at least not a fanatic. Sure, I believe in God and everything, but I’m just a regular person.” (This response stinks, evangelistically, and for whatever level the persecution meter might go down when we wimp out, the number on the respect meter follows).
Or, we can claim the name. “Yes! I’m a Christian. I’m a follower of Jesus Christ. He’s my Best Friend! The best thing that ever happened to me was when I asked Him to come into my life. He forgave me for all my sins, He gave me a new life, He’s promised me a place with Him in heaven....” The respect meter is whirling, the National Enquirer version of Jesus and all Christians is fading a little, and the non-believer is thinking he has found a rare specimen of the Christian genus—one who is not embarrassed about his faith, who seems to be actually enjoying it. Calling him a Christian doesn’t shut him up; instead, it’s like turning on a light switch! If you’re going to insult this guy, better come up with something else!
There’s a power which comes when we embrace the Name, particularly if we’re willing to live the life that accompanies it. And if that life is humbly focused on asking God to help us show grace to others, it’s a power that draws people toward Jesus. Even those who have yet to trust Christ might start talking about us the way they spoke of Barnabas: “That’s a good person. I like their spirit. And I wish I had faith like that!”
“Christian” is a good name, because it aligns us with Jesus Christ. It is painfully true that the term has been tarnished by the actions of various imperfect folks throughout the ages who have claimed to be Christian but acted in ways antagonistic to everything Jesus taught. At times, it may seem like the only people who want to be known as “Christians” are those who refuse to act like one. It’s still a good name! In light of the present misunderstandings of what it means to be a Christian, it might be good to elaborate a little on what the term means to us, to help dispel innocent assumptions. Example? I once had a stranger at the church door demanding money. He informed me that we were obligated to give him what he wanted because he, too, was a “Christian.” When I pressed him to tell me more about his faith, his explanation was, “What I mean by being a ‘Christian’ is that I’m not engaging in any criminal activity at the moment.”
Oh, so that’s what it means to be a Christian! (He didn’t want my alternative explanation or any spiritual help, only the money; he left disappointed).
There are a bunch of folks out there who have been indoctrinated with all kinds of aberrant ideas concerning what Christianity really is. In their minds, Christianity can be all sorts of things: Scary, simplistic, greedy, mean-spirited, hypocritical, hateful, deceitful. Some of the folks they encounter who use the name “Christian” reinforce these negative opinions. Here’s where the spotlight is on us who bear the name of Christ, who are trying to bring glory to Him. Will we, by our silence, allow the reputation of Christ to continue to be disparaged among unbelievers because those who love Jesus most are reluctant to be identified with Him? Or will we counter the trend by demonstrating the humility and love of Christ at the same time as we publicly embrace His name? We could rescue the word “Christian,” in America. It’s easy. Let people know you love Jesus, then live like it. They’re smart enough to pick out the difference, once they’ve met a real Christian. Claim the Name. Don’t run down others who give Christianity a bad reputation; just live out the kind of Christianity you know Jesus wants you to, humbly, but with boldness to give Him credit when those opportunities arise.
Here’s another example. With the Super Bowl coming up tomorrow, I already know what’s going to happen. No, I don’t know which team will win, the Steelers or the Cardinals. But I’m confident that if the Arizona Cardinals win, the quarterback, Kurt Warner, will give honor to Jesus. Why? Because he always does, and the media know it and expect it. And when you win the Super Bowl, you can say pretty much whatever you want. Before an audience of hundreds of millions, he’ll in some way give glory to his Savior, if they win. What’s more, he’ll give glory to Jesus Christ, and live for Jesus Christ, if they lose. That’s the mark of a true Christian. I hope they win. It’ll be another chance for the world to hear from a real Christian.
It’s a good name. Claim it. It’s a good life. Live it.
September Puzzle Archives
October Puzzle Archives
November Puzzle Archives
December Puzzle Archives
Servant Connection
Journal