Missions and Absentee Fatherhood

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Jeremy Parks. Jeremy is a Texas native with North Carolina roots, works for IMB in South America. His wife and children tolerate his obsession with cooking, woodturning, and new ways to start campfires.  He blogs at SBC Voices.

I suffer from a bit of a phobia.  A phobia, of course, is not simply a fear of something; it is instead an irrational fear.  I will freely admit to having a level of worry and fear that exceeds what is proper for the situation.

I work in international missions and happen to be responsible for a specific people group, roughly 72,000 strong, scattered across a country the size of Colorado.  I have some local partners here and there, but by and large I work alone.  I could probably travel 3 out of 4 weekends in search of people who need the gospel.  This leads to my phobia: absentee fatherhood.

Sociologists, psychologists, and counselors routinely advertise the risks of absentee fathers.  Inaccessible, missing, disconnected fathers often seem to lie at the root of a whole list of identifiable emotional and behavioral problems in teens and adults.  My drive to avoid causing problems in my kids has a pronounced effect on how I approach work-related travel.  Oddly enough, I tend to equate weekends with entire weeks.  That is, if I am gone 3 out of 4 weekends, I somehow convince myself that I've been gone 75% of the time. 

Yes, I know, it is odd; like I said, it's a phobia.

However, a few weeks ago I went out of town for an extended weekend and the family did great.  It was more than fine - it was wonderful.  My wife told me about all the benefits that came from my being temporarily out of pocket.  That's a subject for a different post.  At any rate, I shared the pleasant news with a buddy as we were fishing, a guy who has been a pastor, missionary, leader, and counselor.  His take:
"Dude - I've had years in which I've traveled not at all followed by years in which I was gone 190 days.  I've seen families fall apart when Dad was gone and families grow stronger as Dad traveled more.  I've learned that a father can be inaccessible even if he is in town, so travel isn't the culprit.  The reason travel gets such a bad rap is that the stresses brought on by a traveling father often bring to light other issues.  Those issues are the things that crush a family, not the actual travel."

Hmm...."the stresses brought on by a traveling father often bring to light other issues.  Those are the things that crush a family...."

His comments caused me to evaluate my family and the way in which I am there for them (or not there, as the case may be).  Am I passive?  Overbearing?  Can I listen without interrupting?  Do I respect the choices my wife makes while I am present and while I am absent? 

I think we're doing ok, and I'm probably going to loosen the reins on my travel schedule.  I'll be paying close attention to issues that come along.  The real challenge will be making sure I don't blame travel for some real issue, something festering.  It takes a certain amount of bravery to look past the surface issue (Daddy travels) and see the real problem that travel has brought to light.

Bravery, my friends.  Pray for bravery.

IMPACT:Jasper Week

Last year our church began what we hope to be an annual missions endeavor. We call it IMPACT:Jasper. During the week of IMPACT a portion of our church family acts as a missions team (i.e. staying at the church every night of the week as a normal missions team would do). Another portion of our church family acts as a host church (i.e. providing the missions team with food, volunteers, and other helps).

The schedule this year looks like this:

Monday AM: Prayer Walking
Monday PM: Worship Service at the Riverwalk 
Tuesday AM: Service Project at mobile home area next to the church
Tuesday PM: Free Block Party at mobile home area next to the church
Wednesday AM: Nursing Home Ministry
Wednesday PM: Free Block Party at DuBois County Corrections
Thursday AM: Pampered Escape
Friday Afternoon: Free Community Closet

Two events that we are really targeting this year are our Pampered Escape event and the free Community Closet. For the Pampered Escape we are going to try to bless single moms. We will provide free babysitting services (showing a kids film in our sanctuary) while we give the moms free haircuts, pedicures, makeovers, and a free oil change for their car.

For our Community Closet we will be transforming our church into something similar to a Goodwill and giving away all the items for free. For the last few weeks our church members (and even some of their friends) have donated items to give away. Our church basement is now filled with items to give away.

We are excited for the opportunities that the Lord will be providing throughout this week to share the gospel of Jesus with our neighbors.

Pray for our church this week. Pray that we will continue to be a church united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory. Pray that we will have several opportunities to share the gospel with people—and the boldness to follow through on these chances.

For more info on our IMPACT:Jasper week you can go here.

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This also means that I will not be blogging at Borrowed Light for the next two weeks. Immediately after IMPACT:Jasper my family will be going on vacation. I have asked several gifted writers to step in and fill the void. You will be blessed by their writing.

Do We Need to Wait for the Spirit?

Let’s imagine that you are attempting to do an in-depth study on the book of Acts. Today you are going to tackle Acts 1:1-5. You find yourself studying and applying Acts 1:4;

And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father… –Acts 1:4

Clearly from this text we see that Jesus’ charge to his disciples—prior to his ascension and after his resurrection—was to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Spirit before they took the gospel to the ends of the earth. So how do you apply this passage? What does this mean for the church of the 21st century?

The most obvious lesson for us to learn is that it is vital for us to wait on the Holy Spirit before doing things. The disciples needed the Spirit’s power before they were able to complete the mission of proclaiming the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. We too would be fool-hearted to launch into mission without the Spirit’s powerful presence.

The Problem

The biggest difficulty with the above interpretation is that what Luke has written here is meant to be descriptive and not prescriptive. He’s telling his readers what happened, not what his readers ought to do in response. In fact if you keep reading through Acts you will discover that the apostles did receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. And what is even more astounding is that when Gentiles become followers of Jesus they too receive the gift of the Spirit.

This means that the condition which Jesus mentioned in Acts 1:4 has already been fulfilled—always and forever. Therefore, believers do not need to sit around and wait for the “Spirit to come” before they engage in mission. He already has come.

The way, then, that we apply Acts 1:4 is to realize that the Spirit is vital to our mission. But we do not stop there. We celebrate the fact that Jesus has kept His promise and we have the indwelling Spirit. We have the Spirit that is needed to engage in the mission of Christ.

This isn’t permission to launch into out own missions, doing so upon a whim. This is permission to boldly engage in Christ-exalting mission because we know the Spirit is always present when Christ is exalted.

A Lesson

This little illustration shows why it is important to always read a text in its context; not only it’s immediate context but also read a text within it’s place in God’s unfolding story or redemption. If we fail to do this we will apply passages wrongly. We will find ourselves praying for things that God has already provided.

You and I don’t need to “wait on the Spirit” in the same way that the early apostles did. So let’s get busy.

How to Defend Your Faith Against Secularism

I’ve got a handful of young men that I have the opportunity to disciple. They are on the frontlines in their school. Every day they are sandwiched between cultural Catholicism and the godless presuppositions of secularism. I’m grateful that the Lord is working in the hearts of these young men. Recently they came to my office and asked if I could help them defend their faith.

How I’m going about doing this might seem counterintuitive. My philosophy comes from Charles Spurgeon:

“Defend the Bible? Would you defend a lion? Loose him; and let him go!”…The way to meet infidelity is to spread the Bible. The answer to every objection against the Bible is the Bible.

Rather than focusing on a host of current issues and answers to tough questions my goal will be to teach these students the Scriptures. I want unleash the lion. If these young men are captivated by the God of the Bible then I don’t need to worry about sticky questions destroying their faith.

Furthermore, if the Scriptures really are the means that God uses to bring about conversion I can have confidence that these young men will be used by God to influence their fellow students. They don’t need to enter into endless arguments that are really no more than a smoke screen for the true issue of human rebellion. I want them to know that the chief problem for scoffers isn’t an intellectual problem but a moral one.

Sure we’ll address issues like evolution, human sexuality, and everything else. But these will not happen with the Bible on defense. This will happen with the Bible on offense—unleashed to shake up our lives and draw us to King Jesus. Then humble young men, captivated by Jesus, will be equipped to share the risen Christ in the face of aggressive secularism.

Friends, we don’t need to spend an inordinate amount of time defending the Bible. Let’s simply have the Scriptures do it’s work in our own hearts and keep digging until the Lord rips to shreds every last remnant of sin and unbelief. And while the Lord is doing this let us humbly engage a culture with the unleashed Lion of the Tribe of Judah that is powerful enough to draw any man or woman to Himself no matter how obstinate.

The Bigness of God and the Vastness of Missions

This is the best sermon that I have ever heard on the sermon text that I touched upon this morning:

I saw this at T4G and it left a profound impact upon me then that reverberates even to that which is called today. You would do well to watch and heed this message.

Suggested Resources on Evangelism and Missions

Our church is beginning a series through Philippians on Advancing the Gospel. Ultimately we learn about evangelism and missions by actually doing evangelism and missions. It’s kind of like fishing—you can read all of the fishing books in the world but until you actually cast a line into the water you’ll never catch a fish. Evangelism is the same way—we can have all of the training in the world and if we never venture out in faith to share the wonders of Jesus, then we’ll never truly be fishers of men.

At the same time there is nothing wrong with being equipped. Here are the best books that I’ve found to equip and inspire believers to do evangelism/missions:

Inspire:

Let the Nations be Glad by John Piper

A Holy Ambition by John Piper

Radical by David Platt

Revival and Revivalism by Iain Murray

The Diary of David Brainerd

Memoirs and Remains of Robert M. McCheyne

Equip:

Tell the Truth by Will Metzger

Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by JI Packer

The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever

The School of Biblical Evangelism by Comfort and Cameron

Evangelism Handbook by Alvin Reid

Speaking of Jesus by Mack Stiles

 

What would be on your list?

How Does a Teenager Share the Gospel with Her Unbelieving Parents?

One of the greatest joys (and at times pains) of working with teenagers is whenever students with unbelieving parents come to know Jesus. After only a short time of becoming followers of Jesus, these dear students begin aching for the lostness of their parents. And so they share the gospel with them.

And it gets really ugly.

The gospel is an offense. Period. But it’s perhaps even more of an offense when your arrogant 15 year old is telling her mom how wrong she is about life, the Bible, and her eternal soul. To her this new found “knowledge” doesn’t feel much different than her daughter trying to set her straight in a million other areas in life.

That’s when I get a teenager at my house at 12:30am because she’s convinced that her mom and dad aregoing to hell because they reject the gospel. My heart is grieved for this student. No matter how hard she tries she cannot get her mom to come to know Jesus. She wants to give eternal life to the one that gave her physical life. And so she weeps because mom and dad only gets angry with her when he shares the gospel.

So, how should a teenager share the gospel with her unbelieving parents?

If I am reading my Bible correctly faithful gospel proclamation includes both our life and our lips. It must be spoken (Romans 10) and it must be lived (1 Timothy 4). But that doesn’t have to mean that those two need to be totally balanced.

If you are on a mission trip to the Honduras and you will only see these people for about 10-15 minutes then it probably needs to look like this:

Your lifespan before these people is about as long as a moth in a refrigerator. It isn’t going to last very long. So while you can do little things in that 10-15 minutes to show the gospel, a larger portion of your time ought to be spent in speaking the gospel.

For a teenager it probably needs to look like this:

That means that you share the gospel more with your life and slide the proclamation in there whenever you can. Joyously doing chores might do more for your parents seeing Christ than you sharing John 3:16. That’s not to demean a teenager sharing Jesus from John 3:16. That is necessary and it needs to be done. But for a teenager your changed life will speak far louder than your new found theological words.

So, how does a teenager share the gospel with her unbelieving parents?

Joyously take out the trash in Jesus’ name.

What to Say to “All-Religions-Are-Basically-the-Same” Dude

“All religions are basically the same” –Captain Humble and Peaceful

When some peace-loving dude “humbly” tells a believer that all religions are basically the same, the believer typically responds with wet pants. That claim scares many of us. It scares us for a couple of reasons. One, we don’t know all religions. This dude seems to have studied even Zoroastrianism. Secondly, this guy seems pretty sure of himself and he also seems like he really loves peace. I don’t want to be seen as some sort of arrogant, war-mongering, and hate-filled meanie pants.

So what do I do?

If I say, “no they aren’t” then I’m opening myself up to not only sound like a narrow-minded bigot, but an uninformed one to boot. After all, the most I know about Zoroastrianism is that Antonio Banderas played him in a movie. So how do I respond? Do I just nod my head and pray for the guy?

One of your fears can be calmed. You don’t have to know all religions to respond to this guy. You just have to know the one absolutely unique gospel. And when I say that I don’t mean the watered down hippie-Jesus version. I meant he God-becoming-man, who carried human sin to a Cross, and screamed over it “It is finished”!

Ask this confident chap share the gospel with you. Or ask him what the message of Christ is. Then, when he fumbles it—and he will fumble it, because no one who really knows the gospel will say that it’s like every other religion—then, you have an opportunity to share the unique claims of Jesus with him.

At this point when (if) you are accused of arrogance, you might lovingly point out his hypocrisy. After all isn’t it a tad arrogant to say that you’ve studied all religions, and you’ve gotten to the core of them, and have seen that they are all the same. Especially, when all these religions themselves proclaim, “No, we aren’t the same and that’s why we are fighting”. It’s just not be honest and frankly its demeaning because it is essentially calling every one with any religious spine at all a complete moron.

Your goal in sharing the gospel with this guy is to get him to actually have to deal with the unique claims of Jesus. Don’t let him hide behind the idea that Buddha, Mohammed, Zorro, Tom Cruise, Oprah, and Jesus all have the same claim on his life. Jesus makes a unique claim. Help this person understand that he either has to be willing to call Jesus a wrong-headed false teacher or surrender his life to Him. He can’t have it both ways and still have any shred of honesty.

The Coolest Testimony Ever

Every testimony is “cool”. And it’s kind of silly to talk about the coolest testimony ever. But I do believe there is one testimony—one that is yet to happen—that will be the coolest testimony ever.

If I’m reading by Bible correctly, one of the reasons why Christ has yet to return is because not all of those that are going to be saved have been saved yet. I think we see this in part in Matthew 24:14 when Jesus says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The end cannot come until the gospel has been proclaimed to all peoples and people from every tribe, tongue, nation, and people have come to Jesus.

I also think this is what Peter is speaking of in 2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

It seems to me from the context of 2 Peter that the reason why the Lord has not yet returned is because the Lord is patiently waiting for all that are going to come to repentance to actually come to repentance. If I’m right about this, then I’m picturing in my mind the coolest testimony ever.

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After sharing the gospel with this woman you ask her if she wants to call upon the Lord in faith and repentance. She says, “yes”, prays a little Psalm 51. You rejoice with her and the next thing you know Jesus is sounding a trumpet, riding upon the clouds coming down to be with His bride forever.

That in my mind will be the coolest testimony ever. The very last one. The one in which we can say of the Great Commission, “It is finished”. I might be a little selfish but I kind of want to be the guy that leads that last person to the Lord. Now every time I share the gospel I’m going to start looking up into the clouds to see if he/she was the one. And if the Lord continues to tarry I’ll know that it’s time to get back to work—going, sharing, and making disciples.

One Reason Evangelism & Missions Are Difficult

When I first became a believer I heard a healthy dose of pleas for doing evangelism and missions. Often they came in the form of a skit of some sort that would show the hopeless chap that has not heard the gospel. At the end the speaker would say, “If only someone would take the gospel to them.”

I assumed that most people were not believers simply because they had never heard the gospel. Now don’t hear me wrongly. Those presentations are helpful. Lost people do need to have the gospel proclaimed to them. In fact that is the way that they will come to know Christ. We must take the gospel to lost people. That part is true. What those skits often failed to mention, though, is that a good number of people are not just waiting to hear the good news of Jesus.

Responding in Darkness

When you spend a few minutes in a really dark room your eyes adjust and you get accustomed to the darkness. When some joker throws on the lights…especially after a night of joyous sleep…your first instinct is to kick and scream. You want to tackle the guy that turned on the light. Darkness doesn’t appreciate a light switch being thrown on.

This is what Jesus said in John 3:19,

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

The natural response of darkened and depraved hearts is to kick and scream against the gospel. We do not like it’s exposure. We do not agree with its criticism of us. Nor do we agree with it’s entirely selfless solution. Therefore, we naturally want to kick the dude in the groin who throws on the lights.

This is why we should not be surprised that gospel advancement comes through suffering. People in darkness do not want you to turn the light on. No matter how much that darkness is destroying their humanity. Yet, being in the light is the one thing that they need in order to wake up and to actually enjoy eternal life.

Yet…

There are times when God says “let there be light” into a darkened heart. Only then are the scales removed. Only then is the light treasured. When that takes place their posture towards the messenger is changed. What might have started as a lunge toward us is transformed into the loving embrace of a brother or sister.

As the light of the world we are called to be faithful no matter the response. Whether we are met with a kick to the groin or a loving embrace it is our duty to flip on the switch. That’s hard. But it’s the most loving thing to do to awaken sleeping sinners.

Review of Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours

I have an entire bookcase overflowing with books that were published over one hundred years ago. They have survived the test of time. For some of these books the truth contained within them has served the church for centuries. Sadly these gems are often left to collect dust. In what C.S. Lewis called chronological snubbery most modern readers neglect these classics to our peril.

Part of the reason for dust gathering on these treasures is that at face value some of them no longer seem relevant. Is it really still an issue how we ought to respond to the Guy Fawkes uprising? A host of my readers will not even know who Guy Fawkes was or why he mattered. And because it no longer seems relevant these pages often remain unturned.

One hundred years ago in his book Missionary Methods: Saint Paul’s or Ours?, Roland Allen asked important questions about the missiology of his day. On the centennial anniversary of that work, Plummer and Terry have decided to revisit some of those same questions asked by Allen at the turn of the 20th century. (Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours).

Summary

The book is divided into two sections. The first section, “Paul’s Message” is edited by Plummer. The second section, “Paul’s Missiology”, is edited by Terry. Each chapter is written by a different scholar that is well-respected in the field of which he is tasked with interacting.

Allen’s central aim was to present the missional principles of the apostle Paul and urge his readers to imitate Paul’s approach. In the last one hundred years there has been a great amount of work done in the area of Pauline missiology. Would Allen’s work stand the test of time? Does contemporary scholarship negate Allen’s points? Would “Paul’s answers” to the missiological questions of the early 1900’s be the same as “Paul’s answers” to the missiological questions of the early 2000’s?

Each chapter of the book addresses a different concern. There are questions of ecclesiology, suffering, and spiritual warfare. The chapter written by Dr. Plummer attempts to answer the much debated question of our day: what is Paul’s gospel. There are questions of missional strategy including issues related to church planting, indigenous missions, and contextualization.

If you have spent any time reading books about missiology you know the hot button questions of our day. The book is really a modernization of Allen’s major concern; namely, to take the contemporary issues and answer them in light of the approach of the apostle Paul. These scholars do that same thing in Paul’s Missionary Methods: In His Time and Ours.

My Take

I have never had the opportunity to read Roland Allen’s classic work. This book makes me want to—or at least makes me feel like I need to. I appreciate his (and their) central concern that the Spirit-inspired Scriptures dictate the way we do missions. I love books that ask contemporary questions and then set about to show how the Scriptures answer them.

I found Ben Merkle’s chapter on Ecclesiology to be particularly helpful. As our church looks at issues related to rewriting our constitution we continued to go back to the early church and ask what did they do. Merkle helps with that. For me this proved the effectiveness of the book. At present I am not asking questions about indigenous missions—but some are. And I assume that this chapter would be just as helpful to them as the chapter on ecclesiology was for me.

On another note I hope that more writers follow in the footsteps of Plummer and Terry. There are many classic works that would benefit from undergoing such a thorough look. It’s one thing to modernize the language of Calvin’s Institutes. It’s quite another to attempt to get in the mind of Calvin (as the authors have done with Allen here) and say, “what would Calvin say of this issue, and is he biblically accurate”. Many books would benefit from being modernized in such a way as these scholars have done with Allen’s work.

Should You Buy It?

This book is not going to be for everyone. If you aren’t prone to ask questions of missiology then I doubt you will have a desire to pick up this book. But for those that are pastors, church planters, etc. this is a very helpful book.

Also, everyone that reads this review that is a believer is a missionary and as such might benefit from thinking through some of the concerns raised in the book. I’m not sure that it will necessarily inspire mission but it will certainly inform it. If you are passionate about doing missions but wondering how it ought to be biblically done this book will be a helpful tool.

Such terms like missiology can be daunting. Especially when you see that the book is written by a group of scholars and then published by IVP. I assure the casual reader, though, that while this book is scholarly it is not poorly written. These men are good scholars which means that they can take that which is very difficult and make it sound somewhat simple (not simplistic). This book is well written and is not a drudgery to read. If you are interested in a theology of missions you will enjoy this book.

You can buy a copy today.

Does Metro-Focused Missions Square with the Way Jesus Did Ministry?

“Cities are the centers of political power, economic activity, communications, scientific research, academic instruction, and moral and religious influence.  Whatever happens in cities affects entire nations.”  Cities are at the very center of where worldviews are created.  To neglect the cities would be to miss an incredible opportunity to be a redemptive voice in our world today.

That is a quote from missiologist Roger Greenway, with a little commentary from the staff of Kaleo. I agree that we should not neglect the cities. I appreciate the renewed emphasis on reaching the cities. There are many people there that are broken and in need of the gospel. It is imperative that we take the gospel to them. So in what I am about to say please do not think that I am in anyway anti-city missions. I am arguing for a both/and.

My problem is that those who say “do not neglect” the cities very quickly morph into saying, “we must focus on the cities”. Mark Driscoll argues that “cities are of greater strategic importance”. That’s a step up from saying, “don’t neglect the cities”. It’s almost saying “let’s funnel a majority of our resources and efforts towards the cities even if it means at times neglecting the rural areas”.

I understand the logic. There are more people in cities, cities affect entire nations, therefore to maximize our influence we ought to focus on the centers of “political power, economic activity, communications, scientific research, academic instruction, and moral and religious influence.” If we focus on these strategic centers then it will influence places like rural America too.

My Question

The logic of the metro-evangelicals* makes sense, but it leaves me with a question. Did Jesus do ministry this way? Did he focus on the seats of power and expend his energy on transforming the world by transforming the cities?

Jesus spent most of his time with three fishermen. He also spent time with a tax collector and a batch of other no-names. He did minister to the Pharisees and other religious leaders, but he spent more time with prostitutes and other “untouchables” from his culture. He spent even less time trying to win over Rome, which was the culture-shaper of His day. Jesus did ministry the exact opposite of focusing on the cultural transformers of His day.

Again, I’m not saying that the Lord Jesus does not call some people to strategically minister in the larger cities. I believe you can see this in part in the ministry of the apostle Paul. We need to be careful not to neglect the cities. But at the same time let us not pretend that ministering to the cultural elite with the hopes of a trickle-down effect is the biblical way to do ministry.

Arrogance?

In actuality it probably betrays a bit of arrogance to assume that the cities trickle “down” to the rural communities. Are we so confident that rural areas aren’t just as faithfully living out the kingdom of Christ? I know that few people would outright say that people not living in the cities are sub-standard believers/missionaries but such is often implied in some of the more recent material on doing ministry to the city. Why should we assume that more people would be won to Christ and the kingdom more faithfully ushered in if a cultural elite came to Christ than if a rural farmer gets excited about Jesus?

Let us not pretend that the rural communities have already been reached with the gospel. Furthermore, let us not assume that rural communities will eventually be won to Christ when the big-city cultural is won to Christ. There is a great disparity between the two cultures.

As scores of dollars and church planters flock to the cities I want to plead with some that we need focused ministry to both the rural communities and the big cities. We need the gospel to reach places that Starbucks won’t touch. It might be harder for some of us caffeine addicted young-uns to do ministry around a plate of grits instead of a cup of mocha, but the gospel demands that we go wherever lostness is found. I know ministering in the big city is sexier at this stage of missions but there are men and women that spend their day wading in cow manure that need the powerful gospel as well.

Will you consider giving your life to ministering in a community surrounded by cows instead of city lights?

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*Keith Miller does a tremendous job of explaining the “Metro-Evangelicals” and then asks the question of whether or not they are right.

I also appreciate a recent article by Matthew Spandler-Davison who argues that “as long as there are people in rural communities not being reached by the gospel, we need to revitalize and plant healthy gospel-centered churches there.”

Back Door Greed

“90% of your finances with God's blessing will always go further than 100% without it.”

A popular pastor tweeted that statement yesterday. It’s not the first time that I have heard those statements. I have probably even said similar things myself. And that’s okay because there is a good amount of truth to the statement. I just wonder if maybe it’s a wrong focus. Giving to God shouldn’t be a way to slip our dreams for prosperity in through the back door. What if giving 10% of my income really is a sacrifice and it doesn’t “go further” than 100% of it would? What if it causes me pain to give?

I am not saying that God does not and will not take care of our needs. He will. But if we are not careful we will use faithful giving as a means to strengthen our idol of money. Give God 10% and he’ll make your 90% bigger. Sometimes it sounds like we are saying, If you give Santa Claus cookies and milk and Rudolph a carrot he will make sure that you get sweet presents.

I simply wonder if we are neutering the gospel of it’s “come and die” call as it regards our finances. What if we said, “Giving this percentage of your income is going to hurt. It is going to be a sacrifice. It will mean that you cannot get that new truck you want. It might mean that you need to buy the off brand Pop-Tarts that taste like cardboard. But you know what the cause of the gospel is worth it”.

Consider the poor widow in Luke 21:1-4. Her giving was truly sacrificial. It hurt. She wasn’t giving two copper coins because she figured that somehow the Lord would bless her and give her six copper coins back. She was sacrificing. That means that she’s giving and not expecting a return on her investment. Shouldn’t our giving be less of a financial investment plan and more of a sacrifice for the kingdom?

Church Planters Need Curmudgeons

Last Thursday, Dave Miller asked a provocative question to his SBC Voices audience; namely, are we entering a post-cooperative program era in SBC life? It is an interesting piece that is worth reading. In the comment section Matt Svoboda asks a question that I have heard quite a few times. It is also a question that I share a good amount of agreement with:

When the older generation in the SBC wants to spend all of our time dealing with Driscoll books in Lifeway, keeping an anti-alcohol stance, crying about the growth of Calvinism and how its hurting the SBC, and has no desire to even have the missional conversation the rest of the country is having- why in the world would the younger generation want to have a strong identity in the SBC?

Matt goes on to note that “the SBC has a whole lot of unnecessary baggage that a lot of young pastors don’t want to have to deal with”. I responded to Matt, but honestly this article (and even my response to Matt at Voices) is not directed towards Matt.

Before I make my point allow me to explain how you could misread my point. If you think this is a defense of the SBC or the Cooperative Program you have missed it. If you think this is a response to Matt’s comment, you’ve missed it. If you develop the impression that I am against church planting then perhaps my point has not been clear enough. It is not my desire to paint with a broad brush or even to give an opinion about the SBC, the CP, and church plants. My aim is singular. I want to address the pastor’s heart. I want to humbly say, “Pastor, check your heart is it possible that what I am saying here is true.” If it not then move on.

Buzzwords

I am excited about the Jesus-centered/gospel-centered movement within the church. I am happy that many are giving themselves to planting churches and communicating the gospel in places where it seldom is communicated. I am thankful for the faithful gospel proclamation that is happening all throughout our cities, thanks to the renewed emphasis that NAMB is placing on church planting in our major metropolitan areas. It is wonderful that gospel advancement is being heralded as far more important than petty bickering. That is a good thing.

When guys say things like “what do we gain from being in the SBC” with all of the “baggage” that comes with it, I hear what they are saying. Believe me. As young pastor that happens to be a Calvinist I have dealt with my fair share of “baggage”. So I hear you. And I understand the pull to say, “why stay in the SBC when it is only slowing us down missionally”?  Why put up the fight any more? I have asked that question myself.

And that is a fair question for you to ask. And at the end of the day you may find that your church does not benefit from being affiliated with the SBC. That’s not my concern. What I am concerned about is the pastor’s heart. I know my own delusional heart and I know that sometimes I can use gospely sounding buzzwords to mask a love of comfort and a fear of conflict.

Saying, “I want to be free to advance the gospel and not have to deal with all of the SBC baggage” might be code for, “I haven’t the stomach or the faith to faithfully plod through conflict. It’s easier to plant a church because I can set things up the way that I want—the way I believe the Bible teaches—from the beginning, and I do not have to be bothered with all of the baggage of people that disagree with me theologically. So we can get on with gospel advancement much sooner”. (By the way I’m not saying this is what Matt is saying in his comments—remember the part about missing the point if you think it’s about Matt’s comment).

Ten Years from Now

Fair enough. But it seems to me that pastors are often crafted in the kiln of suffering and conflict. I have to wonder what a church and this pastor will look like in twenty years if this pastor’s heart continues to build his kingdom without baggage. Because the truth is, these believers—even the ones prone to being curmudgeonly—are God’s grace to us pastors. We need them.

Is it possible that our passion for gospel advancement extends to applying the gospel to the curmudgeon? Isn’t that one of the things that we say in the gospel-centered movement, “The gospel is not the ABC’s of salvation it is the A-Z”. “We need the gospel for the whole of the Christian life”.  Isn’t this true even if the chap in the pew thinks he doesn’t need the gospel from A-Z and he wishes those young whippersnappers would just join the Axe29 network with all their free body spray? Might gospel advancement make this “unnecessary baggage” necessary?

Pastor, your heart is prone to being deceived, just like mine. You have enough theological learning to make shameful fear sound holy and wise. “Good stewardship” can be a great mask for greed and fear. If you are striking out to make a difference and become a church planter, I just ask you to check your heart. Is it possible that you’re just wanting to start a new church because you love comfort and don’t want to do the hard thing of being used by God to revitalize a dying church? Or to be “boring” and faithful plod and proclaim the gospel in an average setting for twenty plus years? Is it possible that in your pride you think you have ecclesiology all figured out (of course, you and all the dudes you hang with) and don’t want to have to be chiseled by different opinions?

If that is the case and you get what you want, I feel for you. It will be to your peril to pastor a church that looks just like you. You needed sharpening even by those that might be theologically wrong. I can’t help but wonder what will happen when the perfect church that you built (with the sovereign Lord’s help of course) starts going a way that you did not envision. Will you leave? Will you plant another church—referring to yourself as “just a pioneer”? Will you continue spiritualizing your love for comfort and fear of conflict? Or will you finally stay and be chiseled?

Don’t leave because of fear or comfort. But don’t stay for those reasons either. 

Gospel-Colored Katsak For Sale

Last Tuesday I posted a video and invited you to make an illustration using the video. Once again you responded in vast numbers. I have been sifting through these illustrations for an entire week and now today I will post mine. By “sifting through” I mean “waiting for”. Like a naughty boy on Christmas morning my stocking was empty. So, I figured that today I’d share my illustration:

Here is the video:

It is pretty obvious from this video that Mike Rowe is not sold on the glory of a Katsak. People probably still bought the things but only cat lovers and people addicted to QVC. I seriously doubt that anyone was won over by Mike Rowe’s selling of the Katsak. Rowe isn’t sold on the product and so he is unable to sell it.

As I listen to Rowe I can’t help but think about gospel proclamation. Not that the gospel is something that we have to “sell” like a Katsak. But I can’t help but wonder if our confidence in the gospel pales even in comparison to Rowe’s passion in the Katsak.

Thomas Boston once said, “If you believe the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God, you can not speak to them as if you were telling a story”. I do not think that Boston is talking against storytelling. The Puritans were actually quite good at telling stories and applying the Scriptures to everyday life. What Boston is referring to is a blood-earnestness in our gospel proclamation. 

Rowe is basically saying, “Here is a katsak. I am going to do my best to convince you that it is something worth spending 25 bucks on. Personally, I think it is moronic but it is my job to convince you that it’s not. So look at all these amazing uses for a katsak…”

We had better be more convinced of the power of the gospel than that. We cannot afford to share the gospel like it’s “our job”. You don’t share good news like you sell a katsak. In fact, I very seriously doubt that you will share the news if you value it like Rowe does the katsak. Persecution will shut you up. But if it is truly good news and it has rocked your world then you share it in such a way that far more than QVC addicts are confronted with what you are proclaiming.

Rowe give evidence that convincing and passionate proclamation is not something that you can conjure up on your own. You have to really be convinced of its value. Do you value the gospel? Or is your proclamation similar to Mike Rowe trying to sell a katsak.

Fear-Mongering and Kingdom Loyalties

I read this article today: Texas Megachurch Pastor Says Obama Will ‘Pave Way’ for Antichrist. The money quote for me in that article is this one:

"President Obama is not the Antichrist. But what I am saying is this: the course he is choosing to lead our nation is paving the way for the future reign of the Antichrist."

Jeffress would go on to say that "it is time for Christians to stand up and to push back against this evil that is overtaking our nation" and to do so via "the ballot box

After reading that article on Jeffress I read through Isaiah 8. It’s amazing how fitting this passage of Scripture is to our current political unrest.

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”

My point in this article is not really even political. I care little about a discussion on Obama, Romney, or any third-party candidate. What I do care about are those professing to be believers being swept up in worldly fear. The “they” in Isaiah 8 is not talking about Gentiles that are not part of the covenant. The “they” in Isaiah 8 is talking about people like the king of Judah that is wringing his hands in fear because two powerhouse nations are now in cahoots and seeking to terrify Judah.

That would be a scary thing. I do not want to minimize that. Nor do I want to minimize the reality of some of the fear that people have for our nation. There are real issues that ought to cause people real concern. The problem is not with the presence of concern. The problem is with what type of fear and concern is present.

Fear-Mongering Reveals Kingdom Loyalties

What Jeffress said is fear-mongering plain and simple. It is the Christianized version of the fear-mongering that takes place on much talk radio. If A happens then B is going to happen and then we’re all in big trouble. Christians get swept up into this and we start to fear the same thing that the world fears.

Is it wrong that I do not fear the Antichrist? Of course I would prefer that I never have to live during the reign of the Antichrist. I would prefer that my children and grandchildren do not either. But I do not fear his mock reign. Because that is all it is—a mock reign. Jesus will never lose His throne. It is to his kingdom that I am aligned. You can take away my American dream, my American economy, my American freedom and comforts, but you cannot take away Jesus. You cannot boot him out of the schools. You cannot boot him out of our nation. He’s not going anywhere.

Such fear-mongering reveals kingdom loyalties. When we “fight for America” through worldly fear-mongering we subtly reveal where our kingdom loyalties lie. The kingdom that we ought to be “fighting for” through loving proclamation is one that is not built by fear. It is built by love. And it is a kingdom in which such fear is not only wrong headed it is called idolatry. Our fear is reserved for our King alone.

Such thinking misunderstands evil as well. The “evil” in our nation is not the result of dirty politics. The “evil” that we are pushing back against isn’t found on the other side of the aisle. It is found in our hearts. Evil cares less about destroying America than it cares about destroying Americans. In the same way Christ did not come to rescue America; he came to rescue Americans…and people from every tribe, people, nation, and tongue.

Isaiah 8 calls us to fear the Lord. Let’s leave the fear-mongering to worldly politicians and ideologues and use our pastorates for proclaiming a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

From Woe to Go

“Woe is me! For I am lost…”

I had a very embarrassing “date” one time. I went with a group of friends to a bowling alley. No, the fact that I went to a bowling alley wasn’t the embarrassing part. What shamed me was the presence of black lights.

When I left my dorm room I looked pretty fly in my black shirt and Levi’s. However, by the time that I got to the bowling alley and found myself under the hateful glare of those black lights I had somehow developed a horrible case of psoriasis, spilled bleach on my pants, and had a stain on my shirt that looked like Gary Coleman leg wrestling an ostrich.

Black lights have a way of exposing flaws that are hidden in regular lights. Every blemish on my clothes screamed out at the crowd to laugh at me. Now I know that only idiots wear black clothes to an event featuring a black light.

Isaiah the prophet had a similar experience (though intensely magnified) in Isaiah 6. Upon his vision of the “King, the LORD of hosts” Isaiah says “Woe is me! For I am lost”. Before this vision Isaiah probably felt himself to be a pretty good chap with a pretty wholesome tongue. But when he finds himself in the penetrating holiness of Yahweh his sinfulness and inadequacy to be in the presence of the Lord is glaringly obvious. Isaiah feels as if he is being ripped asunder. He cannot get low enough. It seems as if everything within him wants to hide but there is no place to go and so he does the only fitting thing—he pronounces a curse upon himself.

When a sinner, like Isaiah, has a true vision of the splendor and majesty of Yahweh his only one fitting response is brokenness and contrition at the ugliness of his sin.

Thankfully, for Isaiah and us, the story does not end there. The Lord in His grace touches Isaiah’s mouth and says, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for”. Isaiah is clean. Somehow this sinful prophet is able to now stand in the presence of Yahweh. Isaiah is not only confronted with God’s majesty and splendor and terrifying holiness. He is also confronted with God’s life-changing grace.

“Here am I! Send me”

One verse after Isaiah’s cleansing is his commissioning. Notice that in verse 5 when confronted by the Lord’s holiness Isaiah is groveling upon the floor trying to find some portal to escape. He is undone. He does not want to be seen. He wants to be come nothing, to be annihilated if that is possible.

Now notice Isaiah in verse 8. It seems as if he is like the kid in fourth grade that kept raising her hand saying, “pick me, pick me, pick me”! He wants to be noticed. He wants to be used. That is what grace does. It turns brokenness into bold missional fervor.

Yet, I wonder how many of us act as if we are still living in Isaiah 6:5, “woe is me”. There are at least two reasons why we would not have scores of people in our churches saying “here am I! send me”. One is that our God is not big enough. Missional fervor comes after brokenness before the Lord’s presence. It seems to me that God seldom uses people in mighty ways until people become utterly convinced that there is no way that God could possibly use someone as vile and dirty as them.

The second reason why people aren’t shouting out “Here am I! send me” is because we see sin where God sees grace. Some people are convinced that they are vile and dirty and there is no way that God can use them. And so they sit there saying “woe is me”. But if God has taken away your guilt and your sin has been atoned for, you had better not be saying “woe is me”. You aren’t vile and dirty and unable to be used by God. You are redeemed. Therefore, our only fitting response is “Here am I! Send me”. 

God’s powerful grace turns woe into go.

Should Churches Dream Like Steve Jobs?

Yesterday, I listened to a talk from Steve Jobs from 1983.  I’d encourage you to at least play it in the background or give it a skim listen at some point:

Did I mention that he gave this talk in 1983?!?!  In this hour he predicted the world that we live in today.  And he did it with passion and confidence.  It felt as if Steve Jobs had time travelled to the year 2000 and then went back to 1983 to tell people what he witnessed.  Amazing! 

As I listened to Jobs I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not churches ought to dream like Steve Jobs?  Jobs stood before these people and said, “This is what the world is going to look like in 10-15 years because of what we are doing at Apple”.  This got me wondering, should pastors stand before their churches and say, “this is what the world will look like in 10 years because of the impact of our church”? 

Maybe Not

My first instinct is to balk at the idea of a pastor or church speaking in this way about the work of God in their community.  There are several things that are different about what Jobs is doing and what a church is tasked with doing. 

For one, there is very little that is offensive about an Apple Computer (apart from maybe the price).  The gospel on the other hand is offensive.  Convincing someone of buying an Apple isn’t the same as convincing someone of the beauty of Jesus.  One requires the work of the Spirit the other is something that man can do. 

Secondly, the folks at Apple hand-picked the people that worked for them.  They only took the greatest of people.  The church is much different.  Christ does not look for the best and the brightest.  The church is not structured like Apple nor should it be.

Third, after I listen to this presentation from Steve Jobs I cannot help but marvel at the amazing Steve Jobs.  That seems opposite of what a Christian preacher ought to do.  James Denney was correct when he said, “No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time.  No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save". 

For these reasons and more I do not think it is wise to uncritically latch onto Steve Jobs’ passion and say, “church we ought to dream like this”.  People can build computers, only Christ can build His Church. 

At the same time, I do not think we ought to dismiss the passion of Steve Jobs.  There is something here that ought to be emulated. 

Maybe

There is something about Steve Jobs that ought to humble churches.  He had a vision, albeit one created in his mind, to change the world.  He believed that dream so much that he “gambled everything on it”.  He gave his life to the vision of Apple.  He could talk about 10-15 years down the road because he knew that he was going to still be at Apple.  The average pastor in the SBC barely stays for two years in one place—so how can he dream about 10 years down the road? 

There is also something to be said about the fact that Jobs would not settle for something that did not fit his vision.  If it was not ready he was not going to roll it out and sell people garbage.  He had a dream and rather than settling for what could be done today he kept plodding until his vision became reality.  There is certainly a sub-biblical way to follow Jobs in this way.  Yet, there is also something to be said for not comfortably camping out in a world that doesn’t yet reflect the heart and mission of Jesus. 

This leads me to ask, why can’t we take God’s story and His mission and dream like Steve Jobs?  If God is working to fill the world with his glory by rooting out of his kingdom all sin and unbelief and replacing it with passionate worshippers then why can’t we be like Steve Jobs in seeing this “dream” come to fruition?  We might not be able to say, “in 10-15 years” but we can certainly say with confidence “this is the world that God is creating”.  And let’s be like Steve Jobs and not rest until God’s vision for the earth is accomplished. 

If a man can be this passionate and confident about a dream of computers why can’t believers be that confident and passionate about the sure promise of God’s redemption? 

What If Toto IS in Kansas?

I am in the wonderful position of receiving a ton of free books from publishers in exchange for a review.  Lately I have read, or at least skimmed, a good number of books on missions in a “post-Christian” world.  Many of these books are written by guys that are ministering in a bigger city.  They are encouraging us to stop trying to do ministry as if we still live in a “Christian” world.  Just as Dorothy woke up in Oz and discovered that she wasn’t in Kansas anymore, so also churches need to wake up and realize “we aren’t in Kansas anymore”. 

That is really good advice.  Helpful.  Mostly…

Unless you actually do live in Kansas*.  If that is the case such advice is really not helpful because you are being taught how to do ministry for postmodern people living in New York City and not a dairy farmer mending fences.  “Stop doing ministry like you live in Kansas”, is bad advice to some guy that is actually living in Kansas. 

Honestly, this is why I have found many of the modern books on missiology mostly unhelpful.  Very rarely do they offer even a paradigm that I am able to grab and say, “yep, that’d work in my city…I mean town…I mean village”.  If I really want to make use of the ideas I have to do some serious work to adapt them.  Of course this is okay, but if I’m doing so much work perhaps I should cross their name off the front cover and pencil in my own. 

The best of these books will acknowledge that they are not intended to be cookie-cutter solutions but to give principles to apply to your own setting.  The very best of these books will go one step further and actually help you figure out principles to apply in your own setting.  (Ed Stetzer’s Breaking the Missional Code is helpful in this regard).  Unfortunately, a vast majority of them do not offer such encouragement. 

A Black and White Kansas or a Colored Oz

The town in which I minister is weird.  It is largely German Catholic.  Yet those numbers are diminishing.  This is brought on not only by the growing ecumenical Protestant influence but also the growing atheistic population.  Jasper is beginning to feel a little more like a city.  Yet, even still it is surrounded not by suburbs but farmland and other rural communities. 

Jasper, Indiana is not largely a post-Christian community.  It is mostly a culture inundated with what Christian Smith calls a moralistic therapeutic deism.  It is a sentimental, almost folkish, version of Christianity.  But for the most part people still have their address as “Kansas”.  In other words if I went knocking on every door in our neighborhood most people would self-identify as Catholic/Christian. 

Therefore, if our church began treating Jasper, IN like Seattle, WA we would miss the boat.  Seattle, WA is probably rightly labeled “post-Christian”.  The Jasper, Indiana’s of the world are not quite there yet.  (Certainly not the New London, Missouri’s where I ministered before).  This is not to deny that the lure of the city is not present.  The city influences television, music, and many other things that rural people devour on a daily basis.  We are not immune to the post-Christian world of the city.  Yet, we are not there yet nor can we begin ministering as if we are. 

Therein lies my main concern.  Many ministers are being told “you are doing it all wrong by thinking you still live in Kansas”.  They are told that they need to start ministering to the post-Christian world in which they live.  And indeed they need to be prepared for that and that ministry to the city needs to be in their repertoire.  But if they are still living in Kansas then they need to minister like they are in Kansas. 

Listen, if we devote our times to studying the human heart through doing battle with our own we’ll be equipped to exegete any culture.  If we devote our time to knowing the Christ that transcends all cultures we will learn to lovingly proclaim him to people of any culture.  This is not to say there is no value in really attempting to understand the perspective that our neighbors are coming from.  But isn’t that just being a good neighbor and a good listener? 

This may seem overly simplistic but I am increasingly convinced that if we simply concern ourselves with truly loving people and being enamored with Jesus we’ll be able to minister in the black and white world of Kansas and the technicolored world of Oz. 

--

*If you really do live in Kansas I’d offer my condolences. But I will not, because you’d never read them, since I doubt you have the internet yet. 

How a Subtle Dualism Robs the Church of Missionaries

D.A. Carson explains a dualistic view of suffering well when he says:

If evil and suffering take place, it is because someone or something else did it.  God not only did not do it, he could not stop it; for if he could have stopped it, and did not, then he is still party to it.

Most Christians would not outright deny God’s omnipotence and theologically resort to dualism.  Yet in the throes of suffering and evil many succumb to a subtle and comfortable dualism.  Every bad thing in your life and every ounce of suffering is attributed to Satan.  And if it’s his fault and his “plan” then the believer is not only correct in resisting but he is commanded to do so.

Therefore, suffering is never part of God’s will.  If given the choice between suffering and peace it becomes a no-brainer that God’s will is the path that is marked by peace and comfort.  Of course it is not quite that black and white.  For many at first we’ll say things like, “Satan’s trying to stop us from following the Lord’s will”, and so we’ll press on for awhile.  But when the suffering plods on and our hearts become ravaged by pain and we begin to give up hope, we begin to wonder if maybe all of this suffering is a sign that we ought to go a different direction.

Such a view will never stare the darkness of a lost world straight in the face and say, “I’ll go” even if the only means of taking the gospel to them is profound suffering.  This subtle dualism that seems to be pervasive here in America is robbing the Church of many missionaries.  May pastors prepare their people and new disciples to expect suffering.  Even to, at times, choose suffering for the cause of Christ.  And may we pastors also be people that will choose suffering instead of resorting to a comfortable dualism.

Here’s a powerful 10 minute message from John Piper: