Thursday, August 27, 2020
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
Religion killed my friend
Steve McVey writes:
Such shocking news. And sad beyond words. I was told that a pastor friend I knew years ago walked into the woods, pulled out a gun and killed himself. The man was known in his community as a busy, sincere and hard working pastor, but behind the scenes he had struggled with self-doubts, emotional and mental fatigue. They said that a big part of the reason for that was the demands he felt on himself by the people around him.
Sometimes it's just a short step between spiritual commitment and a religious prison and that short step makes all the difference. Love motivates actions coming from desire while religious rules become the bars in a religious cell. Desire leads to one and dead duty leads to the other. It’s the difference between a tiring sense of “ought-to” and thrilling sense of “want-to.”
Which one describes where you are? If you're trapped in dead religion, get out. You don't have to stay there. God certainly doesn't expect it of you. You may have done it for so long that to leave it seems like you're leaving God but that's not true at all. Driven religious duty is the furtherest thing from what God wants for you. In fact, He knows it can kill you.
Christ offers you much more than that. He wants you to experience Life as a soothing rhythm of grace. To know that kind of lifestyle, you may have to leave the lifestyle where you are and start again. God doesn’t need you to break the three-minute mile for Him. He just wants you to enjoy Him, knowing that everything else in your life will flow out of that
Religious prisons are filled with ticks that slowly sucks the lifeblood out of intimacy with God. He didn’t ask you to be His maid, but His bride. Of course you will be involved in spiritual activity, but it is to be the natural expression of your love for Him. Otherwise, it becomes a nothing more than a prison of performance.
Sincere people often find themselves in a place that can be compared to the man lost at sea in a life raft. Because he is dying of thirst, he begins to drink the seawater around him. The salt water causes him to become increasingly thirsty and his thirst causes him to drink more seawater. This vicious cycle will ultimately kill him.
This will be the fate of anybody who believes that doing more is the remedy for spiritual thirst. Sometimes the answer to our deepest need is met when we understand that the best way to move ahead may be to retreat.
Don’t let yourself to be pressured by the religious system that often dominates in modern Christian culture. It’s not that you are to become spiritually passive. Christ within you will see to it that doesn't happen. On the other hand, you are free to step away from any demand to do more than you feel in your heart you are intended to do.
Don’t let other people manipulate you into doing what they think you need to do. That’s not their call but yours. To stand on this fact sometimes requires be willing to accept the disapproval of others who try to pressure you into doing what they think is right for you.
Jesus didn’t come to help us be religious. Humanity already had that down pat. Far from it, He came to deliver us from empty religion, even orthodox, time honored religion. Jesus came to bring us into intimacy with God through Himself. In His earthly days, as in our day, those most offended by Him have been the religionists who have built their reputation around keeping their golden idols polished to a brighter shine than anybody else in town.
The idols are their own particular rules of the religious prison that must be observed. Those rules are the ones that most easily fit their own personality and temperament. They judge everybody else by whether or not they live up to their own personal standards. People are incidental. What matters is how you are behaving.
The fact is that even Jesus wasn’t a good churchman by the standards of the religionists of His day. He didn’t live up to what they thought He ought to be. To them, He had no convictions. He appeared to compromise the purity and integrity of their values by doing things like healing people on the Sabbath, by eating with the crooks (Publicans) and party-animals (sinners) of His day. He was a friend of the hookers and homeless. He didn’t separate Himself far enough from the riffraff, as every good churchman knew one should do. Consequently, He lost His reputation with the Pharisees, an incidental matter which didn’t seem to bother him at all. Jesus cared more about relationships than reputation. He still does.
A legitimate grace walk gently flows like water along a riverbank, refreshing everybody who happens to stumble upon our banks. It isn’t a flash flood of activity that honors God. He doesn’t lead us that way, but instead He has chosen to make “[us] lie down in green pastures. He leads [us] beside the still waters [where] He restores [our] soul” (Psalm 23).
Don't stay in a religious prison. Walk out. Otherwise, it can kill you. I know one man who proved it.
Sunday, August 23, 2020
The Song Beneath the Virus
Wayne Jacobsen writes:
Can you hear it? It’s the Song of the Ages, still playing beneath the virus and all that’s changed in our world. It is fresh from your Father’s heart, inviting you into his reality.
It’s not the loudest song in the wind. Fears of the virus and daily body counts will ring louder. The rancor of social hatred will drown it out, and it can easily be swallowed up by the discordant strains of fear and anger that dominate these troubled times.
But beneath it all, his song still plays, as certain as the rising sun, more triumphant than the most exquisite symphony.
You won’t be able to focus on it arguing about masks, or fretting over the next election. You won’t hear it speculating about conspiracies or putting your hope in yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies about a coming revival. You won’t find it groping for certainty in your imagined future.
You have no idea what is to come, and neither do all those voices. The honest ones will tell you that. Your certainty now has to be in Jesus and him alone. All others are mere illusions. They may comfort for the moment, but when they fail you, how deep will that pain be? Circumstances, both favorable and unfavorable, will come and go. The only refuge is to abandon yourself to the amazing love of a gracious Father and seeing his divine purpose unfolding around you. He will never let you down.
Come away, my beloved!
There! Did you hear it?
Maybe it was just a few notes, but even a bit of it will begin to breathe hope into your exhausted heart. You’ll recognize it as the soothing melody inviting you beside his quiet waters where peace and tranquility will wash over your fear and grief. Linger there, leaning lean away from anxious thoughts and angry voices, both internal and external.
His song carries a different rhythm. He is enough. You are deeply loved. All of Creation is still in his hands.
There’s no fear or frustration in his song. Its soft and lilting tones draw you more deeply to his heart, where fear no longer thrives. It allows you to embrace a reality far more consequential than anything we see with your eyes or hear with our ears. It calms your heart with the confidence that God is big enough for this, too.
None of this has caught Jesus by surprise. He has not abandoned you to your own devices. His deliverance does not await some future day. Jesus reassured us that his Father is always working. That includes in you… today. He has a way through this for you, even if someone you love gets the virus. Even if your business does not survive. Even if, our culture comes crashing down around you. Even if this is your time to join him in a kingdom that knows no end. Even if all this goes away in the next few months.
He has plans you haven’t begun to consider.
Come away, my beloved.
His melody is an invitation, not a compulsion. You’ll find it more clearly in that quiet place in your soul where Jesus makes himself known. It may take a while to tune your ears again to his melody and hold it in your heart. It’s worth the time. You’ll know you’ve found it when your heart takes a deep breath and begins to find its rest in the unforced rhythms of his grace.
You can’t see that, you say? Well, you don’t have to. You only need to see him. Take his hand and follow his lead the best you sense him today. Wake up tomorrow and find that song again.
Everything else in this world will seek to knock you off this melody, drawing you back into its clamor. You don’t have to go. You can keep coming back to the quiet waters and bathe yourself there. That’s where you’ll have the wisdom to live through each day’s challenges without fear of your imagined future. You’ll know how to respond prudently to the virus’ presence in our world, and find compassion for others around you.
When you’re at peace in turmoil, his song will flow through you, too, amplifying it in your corner of the world. Then others will find it easier to hear and perhaps find their way to his peace as well.
Perfectly in Progress
Wayne Jacobsen writes:
Remember that song I wrote about a few weeks ago, that uplifting melody playing softly in the background of the chaos going on around us? I hope you’re still listening, leaning into its rhythm, and letting its lyrics soften your soul? The more I give place to that song in my heart, the more easily the lies and illusions that prey on my anxiety or fears dissolve into nothingness.
One of those lies I hear people often struggle with is, “I should be further along by now.”
The enemy has so many ways to accuse us, and he is most despicable when he uses our best hungers against us. Of course, we all want to be further along than we are. Don’t you wish that your motives were pure, that you always know how to respond in any situation, that your thoughts and actions were always laced with grace, and that you knew the answers to all the questions banging around your head? I know I do.
But none of that is more critical than being settled in his love and letting it have its work in you. Notice how that one little lie will immediately draw you out of that love and focus on your failures and struggles. To fall for it is to submit yourself to the law again and to feel the crushing defeat of your inability to perform to whosever expectations you hold for yourself.
His song invites us into the moment to celebrate the process of transformation he is working in each of us. Jesus had no expectations that you would be flawless today. You’re not. I’m not. Flawless is still out beyond the horizon somewhere, but that doesn’t mean you’re not perfectly in process. He already sees you as his beloved son or daughter, knowing who you are in him and what you will yet become in his love. He knows the weaknesses that still entangle you, the lies you can’t yet see through, and the choices that still draw you into the darkness. He loves you nonetheless. He looks at this day as another opportunity to walk with you into a bit more of the light of his freedom and glory.
This was always going to be a process because he delights in reshaping your heart and renewing your mind. That process unfolds best when we celebrate it, rather than give in to the frustration of battles not yet won, hopes not yet fulfilled, or brokenness not yet mended. He is already healing. He is already opening the eyes of your heart, and he is pouring his strength into you.
So your words, thoughts, and actions will not be perfect today. You’ll be weak at times, and have those awkward moments where you hunger for wisdom you don’t yet have and for justice you can’t see. But you can see him, and yourself perfectly in his process of winning you into his love and teaching you how to ride its currents through the circumstances you’re in.
“But can’t I mess up this process?” some ask. Of course. We all can and have. But Jesus is bigger than our mistakes, our delays, and even our stubbornness. If he isn’t stronger than those things, what hope have we? He understands our fits and starts, and each day is willing to begin afresh, drawing us ever more into his glory. As the saying goes, “The best time to plant an oak tree was twenty-five years ago; the next best time is to plant one today.”
Regardless of where you’ve gotten lost in days gone by, today you can quiet your heart, tune into his glorious melody, and let your life fall into its rhythms.
Rather than berating yourself for not being further along, rejoice in how far you’ve come. Instead of being frustrated with your weakness, put your hope in his strength at work in you. Instead of regretting where you’ve missed him, be grateful for what he has shown you and what he has transformed in you.
Relax in the process, and you’ll find yourself making better progress.
Roger writes - I wrote this a few years ago......
Ministry Transformation through Ill Health
The whole of the Christian life is a life of transformation. As the apostle Paul wrote,
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just
as by the Spirit of the Lord (2nd Corinthians 3.18 ESV)
However, at times there are special moments, events and even crises, that bring dramatic change and growth in our life with God. Indeed, God uses these situations to catch our attention and redirect our emphasis and mode of operation in any given Christian calling. In using the title ‘Ministry Transformation’ I am specifically referring to in my case, Pastoring a Presbyterian Congregation.
I intend by testimony, reflection and the resulting applied lessons, to detail my journey under the following headings.
1 Call of God.
2 Early ministry.
3 Sickness and crises.
4 Dawning revelation.
5 New ministry.
1) Call of God.
I have recognised that since the age of five I believed that there is a living God. At that stage I understood that God was creator of all things. Later at a secondary boarding school, life was so traumatic that I was often found in the school chapel praying to creator God. It wasn’t until the age of 28 after a number of years farming and its accompanying difficulties that I came to a personal faith in Jesus Christ. This happened after I joined a Bible study group and had the gospel of Jesus Christ explained to me.
For me it was a one of those moments where my direction and focus in life took a dramatic turn. I was consumed by a desire to, in some way serve my Lord. I embarked immediately on evangelism, and the hosting of Bible studies in different homes. I preached as a lay person in the local Church and sought to enter ordained ministry early in my Christian journey. Right from the start I sensed a call to pastoral ministry, but it would be thirty years before such an opportunity would open up as a Lay Pastor.
The thirty years were packed with many experiences and trials that can only be explained as God’s blueprint for my life. Selling my farm, completing theological training being just a part of that blueprint. I really had no idea where I was ultimately going to end up. The only explanation that I could give enquirers was “things are progressively developing” and “I’m trying to follow the blueprint, not write it”.
Through a number of interesting circumstances I found myself being asked to preach and carry out pastoral care at the local Presbyterian Church in the interim between ordained ministry. Carrying out this task for nine months, the Session and Congregation asked if I would consider being their minister. This then developed to a three year contract as Lay Pastor. As most of my life had been spent till that point as a pig farmer, I coined the phrase “from the pigpen to the pulpit”.
Looking back over the past thirty years as a Christian and observing all the twists and turns of life, one can only stand in awe at the incredible way in which God had brought me to ministry in His Church. Where there appeared to be no way forward, God has made a way. My taking up the position of Lay Pastor in a Presbyterian Church only bears testimony to the grace, mercy and power of God over a long period of time. It is a simple fact, that I am where I am because God willed it. Working against incredible odds and what appeared impossible to man, God accomplished. It just echoes Matthew 19:26 ESV,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
God’s demonstrated power and faithfulness is a tremendous encouragement as I move on into the future with Him.
2) Early Ministry.
The beginning of any new venture brings with it blessings and curses. It’s true that to begin a three year term as Lay Pastor had its moment of thrill, and that finally a sense of calling was finding a means of expression. But certain personalities, and in my case a perfectionist, make the way forward fraught with danger. At the age of fifty five this was my one and only chance to serve God whole heartedly. Let me make it clear that I am definitely not suggesting that full time pastoral ministry is ‘real ministry’. Far from it, all life and its activities are to be ministry unto the Lord. As a Christian farmer, I was in ‘full time’ ministry for years.
For me however, at the age of fifty five this was my real chance. Like Samson I was prepared to die in the work. I would push those pillars till they fell down. And if they fell on me, so be it. This thought of dying in the work, was to be somewhat prophetic as time unfolded.
And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it.
(Judges 16:29-30 ESV)
Real sincerity and consecration to a position or service in the kingdom of God may never be in question. The difficulty that has to be understood and overcome are the complications that can develop in the carrying out of that calling. Our personalities and lack of practical understanding of many procedural and people related issues, can mitigate against an effective and relatively restful advancement in service to the Lord and in my case, the Church congregation entrusted to my care.
For me a number of things began to build a subtle subconscious gnawing weight and pressure. When people would ask me, “Are you enjoying the ministry?”, I would reply, “Enjoying is not quite the right word”. I gave that response because I was aware not only of the responsibility of my calling, but also because of other issues that lay beneath the surface of everyday activities, issues that were taking their toll on my overall rest and peace in the Lord, and health. Eventually, these internal subconscious issues would manifest their presence externally in my body.
As human beings we are mind, soul and body. And although we may intellectually determine that we are getting on fine, our soul and body may be responding in a different way. We can in all sincerity, faithfully and diligently carry out our Christian duties with great love for our Lord, and yet be unaware of the other voices of our soul and body which are struggling and tortured by subconscious undercurrents that our mind refuses to acknowledge. In a stoic way we say, “I’m trusting the Lord, all is well!” But is it?
I have come to see some of the ways that this insidious creeping pressure can mount in our lives when we are in positions of responsibility and accountability. If a person is diligent, conscientious and passionate about the things of God, he is a sitting duck for trouble if he doesn’t understand and monitor his temperament and personality.
Pushing at Samson’s pillars with all ones strength continuously without time out is just the beginning of woes. You may not rust out, but you will wear out. And a person worn out or burnt out, isn’t going to be able to help anyone, which was the prime reason for the call to ministry in the first place. Again, let me just make mention that the very first reason for every Christian call is primarily to worship our Lord, and out of that comes ministry to family, work and Church.
Therefore, time management becomes a good thing to master early on.
Style of leadership is also going to bring certain pressures. Corporate leadership, where the decisions and responsibilities are shared, or pyramid leadership where the captain gets and shares the parish vision, and carries all the burdens and responsibilities.
Because I inherited a difficult situation it seemed necessary to take hold of the helm and re-establish sound structural and spiritual practices. The older age makeup of those who attended Church regularly required any changes that I made to structure and liturgy to be carried out slowly and gently. Even with the best intentions change is always painful for some. And if you are the captain then the buck stops with you.
If you are the captain and have no other helpers sharing your vision, then you will have to execute the necessary actions. My farming background made this easier for me, for a farmer has to rely on himself. If ‘he’ doesn’t do it, then it won’t get done. At least that’s what it used to be like many years ago. Although times have changed in the modern farming context.
Carrying out new initiatives meant that I had to implement them and encourage others to join the vision. This was again fraught with danger as others didn’t always have the passion or commitment and consequently I would be hugely frustrated with some folks ‘lack of commitment to the Lord’.
Yet another pressure to cope with is the age old performance mentality. This is a pressure that is very unsettling and generates a tremendous loss of confidence in ones own ability and the ability of the people of God entrusted to your care. It is so easy to begin to compare ourselves as leaders with other leaders, or our congregation with other congregations and make comparisons. If another Church is doing well, what are they doing so that we can do the same? Or “Isn’t he a gifted preacher! I wish I could preach like that.” And then another scenario, “Gosh, look at the number of people coming to this funeral, I had better do as well as they said I did last time.” All these pressures to perform.
If all of this isn’t enough I discovered that for a number of years I was alone in a spiritual sense. That is, I didn’t have another person who I could relate to within the parish on the same level as myself. The parish was well blessed with wonderful people of all ages, but it isn’t quite the same as being able to relate with folk who understand your passion and hopes for the congregation in a spiritual sense. One needs to have spiritual contemporaries with common ground to share with and receive support from.
All of these issues were the underlying insidious pressures that began to take their toll over a period of three years upon my health. Despite the creeping emergence of ill health, God richly blessed the parish in a dozen ways. We have seen tremendous growth in the worshipping congregation, with home groups and men’s breakfast flourishing. A new sound system and many other initiatives have enhanced worship and community life in the parish. It has been a blessed, rich time on many fronts. Our God is faithful.
3) Sickness and Crises.
Ill health in any form is never something that we appreciate. Age and genetics often play a part in the natural breakdown of our health in the normal course of events with life and its complications often mitigating to aid this process. The complications in my situation weren’t obvious, they were just quietly eating away at my immune system and resilience.
One particular morning as I attempted to rise out of bed, my head spun and I flopped back for a minute or two before attempting to rise again. This time successfully. This was the dawning of a journey that would take months to fathom out and apply remedial principles to life. Initially I denied that anything particular was wrong, hoping it would just go away. But, as time passed I discovered that whatever my condition, it was affecting my daily ministry. It became obvious that any extra stress exacerbated the condition I had.
Symptoms included tiredness, loss of weight, vertigo, nausea and extremely sore eyes. A visit to the doctor resulted in my going to an eye specialist for treatment of Iritis (inflammation and infection of the Iris). This was followed by further tests that revealed that I had Sarcoidosis (an attack on my immune system). It was the Sarcoidosis that was producing all these symptoms and would take months to recover from. But it was stress that was ‘exacerbating’ the Sarcoidosis. Things got so difficult e.g. almost fainting each time I took a funeral, that Session decided to give me a month sick leave. It was during this period that a theological reformation in theory and practice began to take place.
When suddenly struck down with sickness with the early assessments looking like possible lymphoma and an aneurism on the brain, lying in bed on sick leave produces lots of questions. Thirty years coming to ministry and now after two years all coming to an end begs the question, “What is God doing in all this? Is this some cruel joke?” Things looked serious.
Encouraging words from God through prayer and meditation? No! Heaven was as brass, nothing! But this produces some real reflection. What is important? Can I praise God for the sickness? Can I accept this as His will? To the last two questions the answer was yes. He is sovereign in all things.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2nd Corinthians 12:8-10). ESV)
God would finally speak in the fourth week after a silent period of three weeks. This gap allowed sufficient time to separate my life from the past and whatever the future would hold. God’s words are sometimes very few but nonetheless sufficient to convey enough information for reflection and action. Months later tests would show that I had Sarcoidosis, and that time alone would possibly produce a ‘burning out’ of the condition. But the revolution had begun in theological development.
4) Dawning Revelation.
This revolution would begin in the final week of sick leave with three words. ‘Separation’, ‘detachment’ and ‘abandonment’. What was being said here by the Lord? “I’m separating you from the work.” In other words, “The work has become you, and you the work. You are so passionate and driven that there is no distinction between you and the ministry. You are operating with sincerity in faith and diligence, trusting me, but it is going to kill you if you keep that up.”
Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)
‘Detachment’ became obvious when I returned to preach and carry out pastoral duties. The Church had gone on in my absence and I felt separated, detached from the whole of Church life. What would I preach? What would I do? How would I do it? All these questions became very real.
Experiencing this feeling of detachment and the accompanying questions produce the third word, ‘abandonment’ as the answer. It was if the Lord was saying, “You will not have great plans, you will not have an agenda, you will not worry ahead what to preach, you will be abandoned to me moment by moment, day by day. It will be given to you in the moment. For there will be a different life source within you. I will live through you. Abandon yourself and your agenda to me.” As Derek Wills, the Psychoanalysis counsellor in Christchurch intimated, during my LOM assessment, “this is the dawn of a new man.” This new man would in the next few months begin to get theological and practical legs to move with.
Galatians 2.19-20 has become my theme verse.
………I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ESV.
We know this verse intellectually/theologically, but somehow it doesn’t register as a fact/reality. It takes what Norman Grubb calls the second crisis. Concerning Romans 6.6a
We know that our old self was crucified with him………
he writes,
“There is for most of us a second work of grace, if we like to call it that. There is a day, a season, usually prefaced by many agonizing days, when at last our straining self, stretched and taut like an elastic, gives way. We were crucified with Christ all along, but now faith enters into this intelligently as fact. If we were crucified with Him, we also rose with Him, and now at last we can see that that means the New One within is living His life in us.”
The old self had died with Christ and now the new man is a vessel/container of our Lord Jesus. This is what scripture calls the New Man. The apostle Paul writes,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
(2nd Corinthians 5.17)
And,
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
(1st Corinthians 6.17)
I realised that I died the day Christ died, was buried with Him, and rose to resurrection life with Him. And now according to Galatians 2.20, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I am a vessel in whom lives another. The beauty of this truth is that although I am one spirit with him, yet, it is unity with distinction. Christ is the source and substance of my life.
It is best explained this way by asking the question, does a branch produce fruit or bear fruit. It bears fruit. Sap flowing through the vine into the branch produces fruit. Jesus said,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
(John 15.5 ESV)
Christ is the source of my life (not the old self and accompanying inputs), and it is He who produces the substance, that is fruit (in any given situation that I’m open and yielded to Him) otherwise called abiding. Union as of a branch grafted into the vine.
Every time we participate in the Lord’s Table we become conscious of the symbols, wine and bread, that represent the blood and body of Christ. The Church has been very good at telling us about the blood of Christ and the forgiveness and the covering it provides for our total salvation. We had come to see that Christ died and rose ‘for’ us, not that we died and rose ‘with’ Christ. A totally different view. And so we heard endless sermons on Christ dying for us and therefore when we receive Him we are born again. Then when we stood up we were told endlessly by sermons and formulas that ‘you ought to do this, must, should do this, this and this’. So in effect, now that you’re saved, “Get on with it until you die and then you will experience resurrection life.” Little is preached or taught on the bread/body side of the cross. The resurrection side of the cross that begins the moment you receive Christ, are born again, become a new creature, are a son/daughter of God by new birth.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 ESV)
This is what has been called the double cross. The blood and body, death and resurrection sides of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What had been an intellectual knowing had begun to dawn and gradually, progressively became an inner knowing. At first by confession of certain scriptures this truth became an inner knowing that progressed to a settled, peaceful, and spontaneous unconscious knowing. I had died with Christ and now He lived in me. My life was as a vessel that contained priceless treasure, Jesus Christ Himself. And He lives in and through me. Glory! This revelation was the beginning of a completely transformed way of personal living, and ministering within the Church and community.
There are so many things that could be said about this dawning of new life that came as a result of ill health. But more importantly for us, how did this new awareness of union with Jesus Christ manifest itself in parish ministry. What were the practical outcomes that made it so different from pre ill-health life and ministry.
5) New Ministry
As one begins to pick up life after a period of ill health it is important to remember the lessons that the Lord has taught us. This is no easy task as we soon are consumed with life and ministry and all it demands. But, for me the one thought that stuck in my mind was “stay at the source”. Stay at the source of my new life, Jesus Christ. He now was the source of my life.
This had implications for example in my theological thinking and in the way that I expressed that. It took some time to rephrase my new theology. Firstly, I came to understand that I had a new identity. I was a son of God, one of God’s family, by the new birth. Of course that happened at conversion, but now it materialized in my full consciousness. Therefore, as a son of God I got my identity from God Himself. He was my Father and I his son/child. I no longer got my identity from my contemporaries, my parents, the world and more importantly my performance. The Father loves me because I am His son, not because of what I do. This made my public ministry much easier. I wasn’t out to please others, but be faithful to my God. What this meant in another practical way was the increasing inner peace and the dropping of stress levels. Performance pressure adds huge stress, but with this new identity and relaxed relationship with my Heavenly Father there came new peace and freedom. I let the Lord Jesus live his life in and through me as a vessel. I was a container of another. Very like a hand in a glove. Christ in me motivating and living in me, and yet it was my mouth that moved, my hand that touched, my brain that thought. Union with distinction. It made the scripture come alive from Matthew 11.29-30 ESV
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I mentioned a change in the rephrasing of my theology. I began to confess the scriptures at first in order to get my theology established. The renewing of the mind that the apostle Paul speaks about in Romans 12.2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I began declaring “I am one spirit with Him”, and “I’m a new creation.” Then “You are my peace, you are my wisdom, you are my ability, you are my love.” This also made an impact on the way that I prayed. I had been used to asking God to ‘help’ me in any given situation. But I came to see that it wasn’t a matter of the Lord helping ‘me’, but of He in me doing all that He wanted in any given situation. This way of praying brought further peace as it depended on the Lord to pull off what ever was happening. Jesus had already said,
……….apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 ESV)
In a word, the burden of ministry and living was off me, and resting on the Lord. I was to abide, remain at the source of new life, and that flow of new life within me would accomplish all that was needed or required for each day. This of course required what I call a practising. New theology in the intellect and spirit, does still require a turning to confession of faith, and learning of new ways of living and speaking. It is to be practised as it doesn’t just go from revelation to reality just like that. Revelation comes and then is worked out in everyday life, commonly known as ongoing sanctification. That’s what Paul meant when he said in Galatians 2.20 ESV,
……..And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.
He is saying, having understood clearly and experientially the first part of Galatians 2:19-20 that we are dead, buried and resurrected in Christ we now live our lives believing that reality and living it out in practice.
In terms of parish life my preaching has changed from just getting people saved, and almost attempting to get the saved, saved again, to pointing out to our folk who they are. What their new identity is. And, then as children of God, sons/daughters of God, how they can live a new life with a new life source and outworking. Christ in them, living in them. Jesus said,
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38 ESV)
This has been exciting because in the home groups folk are saying, “we haven’t heard it put this way. Why weren’t we taught this?” Instead of the endless round of attempting to live for Christ, then failing, and then confession, ultimately wearing them down into failure and the attitude, ‘well I guess this is the way it is till we die and get to heaven where all will be well,’ however they are coming to see there is another way. Resurrection life now! Christ in them the hope of glory.
When one finds himself unable to carry out normal duties that have always been his responsibilities even if they are at times self imposed, delegation becomes a new requirement. This was a positive development as it relieved me of pressure, but also encouraged the development of gifts in others. This had a follow through in the leadership of session. Five new elders of like mind to myself meant that I had contemporaries who are a wonderful prayerful and practical support. Folk who were willing to help in any way they could.
Moving from a pyramid style of leadership is still under progress. Rather than the pastor presenting a vision and asking for support, we are going to listen to the voice of the Spirit in the elders who are in touch with the worshipping congregation, and then together formulate vision for the parish in its given context. Who are our worshippers? What is our God given context? What would the Lord have us do in the situation we find ourselves in with the people of God already on board? As a session we hope to have a retreat to build relationships and seek God’s vision for us in particular.
This new way for us will ensure safety for me and a united leadership to present to the congregation which will give them confidence. In the past I may have been the one who presented any new initiatives and therefore was the one seen as the instigator. Now the congregation will have to respond to 14 of their leaders if there are any queries. Safety for all.
The journey over the last couple of years has been very traumatic in terms of the spiritual and physical aspects of life. Yet for progress in the Christian journey, times of upheaval and crisis are often the catalyst for new directions and growth in ministry, and the way in which ministry and life itself are lived. We are apt to shun the opportunity for change and growth, yet our Lord isn’t deterred. He will continue His work in us regardless. The end is always such a blessing. Two scriptures stand out in this context and there I will leave off.
………for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 ESV)
……..that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
(Deuteronomy 8:16 ESV)
Bibliography
Dan Stone and Greg Smith, The Rest of the Gospel (One Press, 2000)
Norman Grubb, Who I Am? (Christian Literature Crusade, 1974)
Norman Grubb, Summit Living, (Christian Literature Crusade, 1985)
The whole of the Christian life is a life of transformation. As the apostle Paul wrote,
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just
as by the Spirit of the Lord (2nd Corinthians 3.18 ESV)
However, at times there are special moments, events and even crises, that bring dramatic change and growth in our life with God. Indeed, God uses these situations to catch our attention and redirect our emphasis and mode of operation in any given Christian calling. In using the title ‘Ministry Transformation’ I am specifically referring to in my case, Pastoring a Presbyterian Congregation.
I intend by testimony, reflection and the resulting applied lessons, to detail my journey under the following headings.
1 Call of God.
2 Early ministry.
3 Sickness and crises.
4 Dawning revelation.
5 New ministry.
1) Call of God.
I have recognised that since the age of five I believed that there is a living God. At that stage I understood that God was creator of all things. Later at a secondary boarding school, life was so traumatic that I was often found in the school chapel praying to creator God. It wasn’t until the age of 28 after a number of years farming and its accompanying difficulties that I came to a personal faith in Jesus Christ. This happened after I joined a Bible study group and had the gospel of Jesus Christ explained to me.
For me it was a one of those moments where my direction and focus in life took a dramatic turn. I was consumed by a desire to, in some way serve my Lord. I embarked immediately on evangelism, and the hosting of Bible studies in different homes. I preached as a lay person in the local Church and sought to enter ordained ministry early in my Christian journey. Right from the start I sensed a call to pastoral ministry, but it would be thirty years before such an opportunity would open up as a Lay Pastor.
The thirty years were packed with many experiences and trials that can only be explained as God’s blueprint for my life. Selling my farm, completing theological training being just a part of that blueprint. I really had no idea where I was ultimately going to end up. The only explanation that I could give enquirers was “things are progressively developing” and “I’m trying to follow the blueprint, not write it”.
Through a number of interesting circumstances I found myself being asked to preach and carry out pastoral care at the local Presbyterian Church in the interim between ordained ministry. Carrying out this task for nine months, the Session and Congregation asked if I would consider being their minister. This then developed to a three year contract as Lay Pastor. As most of my life had been spent till that point as a pig farmer, I coined the phrase “from the pigpen to the pulpit”.
Looking back over the past thirty years as a Christian and observing all the twists and turns of life, one can only stand in awe at the incredible way in which God had brought me to ministry in His Church. Where there appeared to be no way forward, God has made a way. My taking up the position of Lay Pastor in a Presbyterian Church only bears testimony to the grace, mercy and power of God over a long period of time. It is a simple fact, that I am where I am because God willed it. Working against incredible odds and what appeared impossible to man, God accomplished. It just echoes Matthew 19:26 ESV,
“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
God’s demonstrated power and faithfulness is a tremendous encouragement as I move on into the future with Him.
2) Early Ministry.
The beginning of any new venture brings with it blessings and curses. It’s true that to begin a three year term as Lay Pastor had its moment of thrill, and that finally a sense of calling was finding a means of expression. But certain personalities, and in my case a perfectionist, make the way forward fraught with danger. At the age of fifty five this was my one and only chance to serve God whole heartedly. Let me make it clear that I am definitely not suggesting that full time pastoral ministry is ‘real ministry’. Far from it, all life and its activities are to be ministry unto the Lord. As a Christian farmer, I was in ‘full time’ ministry for years.
For me however, at the age of fifty five this was my real chance. Like Samson I was prepared to die in the work. I would push those pillars till they fell down. And if they fell on me, so be it. This thought of dying in the work, was to be somewhat prophetic as time unfolded.
And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it.
(Judges 16:29-30 ESV)
Real sincerity and consecration to a position or service in the kingdom of God may never be in question. The difficulty that has to be understood and overcome are the complications that can develop in the carrying out of that calling. Our personalities and lack of practical understanding of many procedural and people related issues, can mitigate against an effective and relatively restful advancement in service to the Lord and in my case, the Church congregation entrusted to my care.
For me a number of things began to build a subtle subconscious gnawing weight and pressure. When people would ask me, “Are you enjoying the ministry?”, I would reply, “Enjoying is not quite the right word”. I gave that response because I was aware not only of the responsibility of my calling, but also because of other issues that lay beneath the surface of everyday activities, issues that were taking their toll on my overall rest and peace in the Lord, and health. Eventually, these internal subconscious issues would manifest their presence externally in my body.
As human beings we are mind, soul and body. And although we may intellectually determine that we are getting on fine, our soul and body may be responding in a different way. We can in all sincerity, faithfully and diligently carry out our Christian duties with great love for our Lord, and yet be unaware of the other voices of our soul and body which are struggling and tortured by subconscious undercurrents that our mind refuses to acknowledge. In a stoic way we say, “I’m trusting the Lord, all is well!” But is it?
I have come to see some of the ways that this insidious creeping pressure can mount in our lives when we are in positions of responsibility and accountability. If a person is diligent, conscientious and passionate about the things of God, he is a sitting duck for trouble if he doesn’t understand and monitor his temperament and personality.
Pushing at Samson’s pillars with all ones strength continuously without time out is just the beginning of woes. You may not rust out, but you will wear out. And a person worn out or burnt out, isn’t going to be able to help anyone, which was the prime reason for the call to ministry in the first place. Again, let me just make mention that the very first reason for every Christian call is primarily to worship our Lord, and out of that comes ministry to family, work and Church.
Therefore, time management becomes a good thing to master early on.
Style of leadership is also going to bring certain pressures. Corporate leadership, where the decisions and responsibilities are shared, or pyramid leadership where the captain gets and shares the parish vision, and carries all the burdens and responsibilities.
Because I inherited a difficult situation it seemed necessary to take hold of the helm and re-establish sound structural and spiritual practices. The older age makeup of those who attended Church regularly required any changes that I made to structure and liturgy to be carried out slowly and gently. Even with the best intentions change is always painful for some. And if you are the captain then the buck stops with you.
If you are the captain and have no other helpers sharing your vision, then you will have to execute the necessary actions. My farming background made this easier for me, for a farmer has to rely on himself. If ‘he’ doesn’t do it, then it won’t get done. At least that’s what it used to be like many years ago. Although times have changed in the modern farming context.
Carrying out new initiatives meant that I had to implement them and encourage others to join the vision. This was again fraught with danger as others didn’t always have the passion or commitment and consequently I would be hugely frustrated with some folks ‘lack of commitment to the Lord’.
Yet another pressure to cope with is the age old performance mentality. This is a pressure that is very unsettling and generates a tremendous loss of confidence in ones own ability and the ability of the people of God entrusted to your care. It is so easy to begin to compare ourselves as leaders with other leaders, or our congregation with other congregations and make comparisons. If another Church is doing well, what are they doing so that we can do the same? Or “Isn’t he a gifted preacher! I wish I could preach like that.” And then another scenario, “Gosh, look at the number of people coming to this funeral, I had better do as well as they said I did last time.” All these pressures to perform.
If all of this isn’t enough I discovered that for a number of years I was alone in a spiritual sense. That is, I didn’t have another person who I could relate to within the parish on the same level as myself. The parish was well blessed with wonderful people of all ages, but it isn’t quite the same as being able to relate with folk who understand your passion and hopes for the congregation in a spiritual sense. One needs to have spiritual contemporaries with common ground to share with and receive support from.
All of these issues were the underlying insidious pressures that began to take their toll over a period of three years upon my health. Despite the creeping emergence of ill health, God richly blessed the parish in a dozen ways. We have seen tremendous growth in the worshipping congregation, with home groups and men’s breakfast flourishing. A new sound system and many other initiatives have enhanced worship and community life in the parish. It has been a blessed, rich time on many fronts. Our God is faithful.
3) Sickness and Crises.
Ill health in any form is never something that we appreciate. Age and genetics often play a part in the natural breakdown of our health in the normal course of events with life and its complications often mitigating to aid this process. The complications in my situation weren’t obvious, they were just quietly eating away at my immune system and resilience.
One particular morning as I attempted to rise out of bed, my head spun and I flopped back for a minute or two before attempting to rise again. This time successfully. This was the dawning of a journey that would take months to fathom out and apply remedial principles to life. Initially I denied that anything particular was wrong, hoping it would just go away. But, as time passed I discovered that whatever my condition, it was affecting my daily ministry. It became obvious that any extra stress exacerbated the condition I had.
Symptoms included tiredness, loss of weight, vertigo, nausea and extremely sore eyes. A visit to the doctor resulted in my going to an eye specialist for treatment of Iritis (inflammation and infection of the Iris). This was followed by further tests that revealed that I had Sarcoidosis (an attack on my immune system). It was the Sarcoidosis that was producing all these symptoms and would take months to recover from. But it was stress that was ‘exacerbating’ the Sarcoidosis. Things got so difficult e.g. almost fainting each time I took a funeral, that Session decided to give me a month sick leave. It was during this period that a theological reformation in theory and practice began to take place.
When suddenly struck down with sickness with the early assessments looking like possible lymphoma and an aneurism on the brain, lying in bed on sick leave produces lots of questions. Thirty years coming to ministry and now after two years all coming to an end begs the question, “What is God doing in all this? Is this some cruel joke?” Things looked serious.
Encouraging words from God through prayer and meditation? No! Heaven was as brass, nothing! But this produces some real reflection. What is important? Can I praise God for the sickness? Can I accept this as His will? To the last two questions the answer was yes. He is sovereign in all things.
Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
(2nd Corinthians 12:8-10). ESV)
God would finally speak in the fourth week after a silent period of three weeks. This gap allowed sufficient time to separate my life from the past and whatever the future would hold. God’s words are sometimes very few but nonetheless sufficient to convey enough information for reflection and action. Months later tests would show that I had Sarcoidosis, and that time alone would possibly produce a ‘burning out’ of the condition. But the revolution had begun in theological development.
4) Dawning Revelation.
This revolution would begin in the final week of sick leave with three words. ‘Separation’, ‘detachment’ and ‘abandonment’. What was being said here by the Lord? “I’m separating you from the work.” In other words, “The work has become you, and you the work. You are so passionate and driven that there is no distinction between you and the ministry. You are operating with sincerity in faith and diligence, trusting me, but it is going to kill you if you keep that up.”
Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)
‘Detachment’ became obvious when I returned to preach and carry out pastoral duties. The Church had gone on in my absence and I felt separated, detached from the whole of Church life. What would I preach? What would I do? How would I do it? All these questions became very real.
Experiencing this feeling of detachment and the accompanying questions produce the third word, ‘abandonment’ as the answer. It was if the Lord was saying, “You will not have great plans, you will not have an agenda, you will not worry ahead what to preach, you will be abandoned to me moment by moment, day by day. It will be given to you in the moment. For there will be a different life source within you. I will live through you. Abandon yourself and your agenda to me.” As Derek Wills, the Psychoanalysis counsellor in Christchurch intimated, during my LOM assessment, “this is the dawn of a new man.” This new man would in the next few months begin to get theological and practical legs to move with.
Galatians 2.19-20 has become my theme verse.
………I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ESV.
We know this verse intellectually/theologically, but somehow it doesn’t register as a fact/reality. It takes what Norman Grubb calls the second crisis. Concerning Romans 6.6a
We know that our old self was crucified with him………
he writes,
“There is for most of us a second work of grace, if we like to call it that. There is a day, a season, usually prefaced by many agonizing days, when at last our straining self, stretched and taut like an elastic, gives way. We were crucified with Christ all along, but now faith enters into this intelligently as fact. If we were crucified with Him, we also rose with Him, and now at last we can see that that means the New One within is living His life in us.”
The old self had died with Christ and now the new man is a vessel/container of our Lord Jesus. This is what scripture calls the New Man. The apostle Paul writes,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
(2nd Corinthians 5.17)
And,
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
(1st Corinthians 6.17)
I realised that I died the day Christ died, was buried with Him, and rose to resurrection life with Him. And now according to Galatians 2.20, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. I am a vessel in whom lives another. The beauty of this truth is that although I am one spirit with him, yet, it is unity with distinction. Christ is the source and substance of my life.
It is best explained this way by asking the question, does a branch produce fruit or bear fruit. It bears fruit. Sap flowing through the vine into the branch produces fruit. Jesus said,
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him,
he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
(John 15.5 ESV)
Christ is the source of my life (not the old self and accompanying inputs), and it is He who produces the substance, that is fruit (in any given situation that I’m open and yielded to Him) otherwise called abiding. Union as of a branch grafted into the vine.
Every time we participate in the Lord’s Table we become conscious of the symbols, wine and bread, that represent the blood and body of Christ. The Church has been very good at telling us about the blood of Christ and the forgiveness and the covering it provides for our total salvation. We had come to see that Christ died and rose ‘for’ us, not that we died and rose ‘with’ Christ. A totally different view. And so we heard endless sermons on Christ dying for us and therefore when we receive Him we are born again. Then when we stood up we were told endlessly by sermons and formulas that ‘you ought to do this, must, should do this, this and this’. So in effect, now that you’re saved, “Get on with it until you die and then you will experience resurrection life.” Little is preached or taught on the bread/body side of the cross. The resurrection side of the cross that begins the moment you receive Christ, are born again, become a new creature, are a son/daughter of God by new birth.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 ESV)
This is what has been called the double cross. The blood and body, death and resurrection sides of the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What had been an intellectual knowing had begun to dawn and gradually, progressively became an inner knowing. At first by confession of certain scriptures this truth became an inner knowing that progressed to a settled, peaceful, and spontaneous unconscious knowing. I had died with Christ and now He lived in me. My life was as a vessel that contained priceless treasure, Jesus Christ Himself. And He lives in and through me. Glory! This revelation was the beginning of a completely transformed way of personal living, and ministering within the Church and community.
There are so many things that could be said about this dawning of new life that came as a result of ill health. But more importantly for us, how did this new awareness of union with Jesus Christ manifest itself in parish ministry. What were the practical outcomes that made it so different from pre ill-health life and ministry.
5) New Ministry
As one begins to pick up life after a period of ill health it is important to remember the lessons that the Lord has taught us. This is no easy task as we soon are consumed with life and ministry and all it demands. But, for me the one thought that stuck in my mind was “stay at the source”. Stay at the source of my new life, Jesus Christ. He now was the source of my life.
This had implications for example in my theological thinking and in the way that I expressed that. It took some time to rephrase my new theology. Firstly, I came to understand that I had a new identity. I was a son of God, one of God’s family, by the new birth. Of course that happened at conversion, but now it materialized in my full consciousness. Therefore, as a son of God I got my identity from God Himself. He was my Father and I his son/child. I no longer got my identity from my contemporaries, my parents, the world and more importantly my performance. The Father loves me because I am His son, not because of what I do. This made my public ministry much easier. I wasn’t out to please others, but be faithful to my God. What this meant in another practical way was the increasing inner peace and the dropping of stress levels. Performance pressure adds huge stress, but with this new identity and relaxed relationship with my Heavenly Father there came new peace and freedom. I let the Lord Jesus live his life in and through me as a vessel. I was a container of another. Very like a hand in a glove. Christ in me motivating and living in me, and yet it was my mouth that moved, my hand that touched, my brain that thought. Union with distinction. It made the scripture come alive from Matthew 11.29-30 ESV
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
I mentioned a change in the rephrasing of my theology. I began to confess the scriptures at first in order to get my theology established. The renewing of the mind that the apostle Paul speaks about in Romans 12.2 ESV
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
I began declaring “I am one spirit with Him”, and “I’m a new creation.” Then “You are my peace, you are my wisdom, you are my ability, you are my love.” This also made an impact on the way that I prayed. I had been used to asking God to ‘help’ me in any given situation. But I came to see that it wasn’t a matter of the Lord helping ‘me’, but of He in me doing all that He wanted in any given situation. This way of praying brought further peace as it depended on the Lord to pull off what ever was happening. Jesus had already said,
……….apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 ESV)
In a word, the burden of ministry and living was off me, and resting on the Lord. I was to abide, remain at the source of new life, and that flow of new life within me would accomplish all that was needed or required for each day. This of course required what I call a practising. New theology in the intellect and spirit, does still require a turning to confession of faith, and learning of new ways of living and speaking. It is to be practised as it doesn’t just go from revelation to reality just like that. Revelation comes and then is worked out in everyday life, commonly known as ongoing sanctification. That’s what Paul meant when he said in Galatians 2.20 ESV,
……..And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.
He is saying, having understood clearly and experientially the first part of Galatians 2:19-20 that we are dead, buried and resurrected in Christ we now live our lives believing that reality and living it out in practice.
In terms of parish life my preaching has changed from just getting people saved, and almost attempting to get the saved, saved again, to pointing out to our folk who they are. What their new identity is. And, then as children of God, sons/daughters of God, how they can live a new life with a new life source and outworking. Christ in them, living in them. Jesus said,
“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38 ESV)
This has been exciting because in the home groups folk are saying, “we haven’t heard it put this way. Why weren’t we taught this?” Instead of the endless round of attempting to live for Christ, then failing, and then confession, ultimately wearing them down into failure and the attitude, ‘well I guess this is the way it is till we die and get to heaven where all will be well,’ however they are coming to see there is another way. Resurrection life now! Christ in them the hope of glory.
When one finds himself unable to carry out normal duties that have always been his responsibilities even if they are at times self imposed, delegation becomes a new requirement. This was a positive development as it relieved me of pressure, but also encouraged the development of gifts in others. This had a follow through in the leadership of session. Five new elders of like mind to myself meant that I had contemporaries who are a wonderful prayerful and practical support. Folk who were willing to help in any way they could.
Moving from a pyramid style of leadership is still under progress. Rather than the pastor presenting a vision and asking for support, we are going to listen to the voice of the Spirit in the elders who are in touch with the worshipping congregation, and then together formulate vision for the parish in its given context. Who are our worshippers? What is our God given context? What would the Lord have us do in the situation we find ourselves in with the people of God already on board? As a session we hope to have a retreat to build relationships and seek God’s vision for us in particular.
This new way for us will ensure safety for me and a united leadership to present to the congregation which will give them confidence. In the past I may have been the one who presented any new initiatives and therefore was the one seen as the instigator. Now the congregation will have to respond to 14 of their leaders if there are any queries. Safety for all.
The journey over the last couple of years has been very traumatic in terms of the spiritual and physical aspects of life. Yet for progress in the Christian journey, times of upheaval and crisis are often the catalyst for new directions and growth in ministry, and the way in which ministry and life itself are lived. We are apt to shun the opportunity for change and growth, yet our Lord isn’t deterred. He will continue His work in us regardless. The end is always such a blessing. Two scriptures stand out in this context and there I will leave off.
………for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:13 ESV)
……..that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
(Deuteronomy 8:16 ESV)
Bibliography
Dan Stone and Greg Smith, The Rest of the Gospel (One Press, 2000)
Norman Grubb, Who I Am? (Christian Literature Crusade, 1974)
Norman Grubb, Summit Living, (Christian Literature Crusade, 1985)
Tuesday, August 11, 2020
Promises - Steve McVey
I spent many years with my life revolving around promises. Half the time I was making promises to God and the other half I was trying to “stand on the promises of God” by appropriating His promises to my situations and trying my best to believe that He would indeed keep them.
Do you find yourself doing that too? It’s not an uncommon thing for people to do, but as I look at the many years I was either claiming God’s promises or making my own to Him, I wish I’d known something. I thought that making promises to Him and standing on the promises He had made to me was a vital part of my daily walk, but I was wrong.
If I had only understood then what the Bible says about the whole matter of promise making and promise believing, I could have saved myself a lot of stress and strain. We're never told in the New Testament to promise anything to God. It’s not there. The Bible is, however, full of promises that God has made to us. That's the part of grace that people find so hard to accept - it's one sided. He gives and we get. We have nothing to offer in return nor is there anything He wants or needs from us. Our only role is to receive all He has promised, but even that doesn’t come from our own effort.
Even understanding that God made promises to us isn’t enough, because if we don’t understand the whole story we will think we have to try to muster the faith to believe He will keep His promises. The truth of the matter is this: God has already fulfilled every promise He has made to us! He has done it in Christ.
Paul said that the promises of God are all "Yes!" in Jesus Christ. That means He is the embodiment of God's promises. God’s promises to us have been already fulfilled in Jesus! What's our part now? Paul says it is simply to say "Amen!" Through the life of Jesus Christ in us, we experience the realization of God’s fulfilled promises as we trust Christ every moment. Claiming the promises of God is nothing less or more than simply resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
In other words, whatever God has promised us, we already have it in Christ. We are "children of the promise" (Romans 9:8) and as "heirs of the promise" (Hebrews 6:17) we can relax and know we don't have to do anything to gain God's blessings in our lives. Everything He has ever promised to do on our behalf has been accomplished and given to us in Christ.
No wonder the Apostle Paul praised God by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3). Notice that he didn’t say that God will bless us with spiritual blessings but that in Christ we have already been “blessed” with every spiritual blessing. The fulfillment to every divine promise will be realized in your life as you simply trust Christ to be who He is in and through you.
When God got ready to enter into covenant with Abraham as the beneficiary, Abraham went to work to prepare for the ratification ceremony. (See Genesis 15) He assumed that He and could were about to enter into covenant together.
He prepared the sacrificial animals by filleting them and laying the halves on two sides with a bloody path down the middle. Normally, when two people entered into covenant together they would walk arm in arm down that bloody pathway together. In so doing, they were promising that they would each keep their part of the covenant, even if it meant shedding their last drop of blood to do it.
But when the time came for the covenant to be ratified with Abraham, God caused him to fall into a deep sleep and God walked alone down the bloody pathway. It was a flaming fire and a smoking wick that passed through that bloody pathway produced by the sacrifice.
What did that mean? It meant that there was no need for Abraham to make any promises. The covenant was between the Father (fire), the Spirit (smoke) and the Son (blood). Abraham had no part as far as having to keep up his end of the covenant. He didn’t have an end. Keep promises to God? The only thing he would have ended up doing was breaking them anyway. So our Triune God walked the path and entered covenant together, and in so doing, proved that He would keep the terms of the covenant. The only thing Abraham had to do was trust Him by realizing that he was the beneficiary. When it was all said and done, Abraham did believe it and "it was counted to him for righteousness." (Romans 4:3)
That's all you have to do too. Just believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to you in every situation. You don’t have to make anything happen. You don’t have an end to hold up in this matter. Legalism insists that we "do our part" by working up enough faith to believe His promises or by making promises to Him about how we'll do better and try harder, but grace tells us that He has done it all. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. We aren’t standing on the promises. We are seated on the premises with Him! So just rest in what He has done and give a loud and hearty “Amen!” to Jesus. That and that alone is what brings the highest glory to God.
Saturday, August 8, 2020
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