Monthly Archives: April 2022
The Cure for Spiritual Tantrums…
Thoughts to encourage running to Jesus!
But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the LORD his God and heal me! 12 Aren’t the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar, better than any of the rivers of Israel? Why shouldn’t I wash in them and be healed?” So Naaman turned and went away in a rage.
13 But his officers tried to reason with him and said, “Sir,* if the prophet had told you to do something very difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? 2 Kings 5:11-13 NLT
Liberal Protestant theology understood this in a fundamental way when it expressed Jesus of Nazareth as the pure face of the eternal Father’s love beyond the Old Testament’s teaching of the Father who shows two faces, the face of wrath and the face of love.
Step by step, materially then spiritually, as you see from the text, especially as we read on, he is left with only one thread of consolation: the fact that God is God, the Creator who can do whatever he likes; and nobody can say to him, “You can’t do that to me.”
….nevertheless do not know what his attitude is toward them. They cannot be confident of his love and blessing, and therefore they remain in eternal wrath and condemnation. For they do not have the LORD Christ, and, besides, they are not illuminated and blessed by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
Why We Throw Spiritual Tantrums….
He was a grown man, a leader of leaders, appreciated and loved by his king.
Nevertheless, he stomped around and threw a tantrum that would make any 3-year-old proud! Arrogant, proud, and unwilling to admit his need, he was ready to give up his healing. Pride and arrogance are a deadly combination. If not for some of his men’s bravery, he would have spent his life cursed…
At least once a month – usually once a week, I find myself falling into the same trap. Be honest, you do as well. We want what we want when we want it, how we want it, acquired in the manner we planned!
Like Liberal Theology, we want to strip Jesus of his role as judge and only recognize him as the face of what we consider love to be. As He works to heal our brokenness, we tell Him to stop – and say the unthinkable, “you can’t do that to me!” We see it all around us; we’ve learned it well from society! We hear, “you can’t charge us that much for gasoline!”, “you can’t give me a bad grade,” “You can’t let my health fail,” and “you can’t tell me my coping mechanism is a sinful addiction,” “you can’t tell me this behavior, lifestyle, choice are wrong!” The list grows, and we throw more and more tantrums…
The officers that called Naaman to stop whining took a chance. They confronted him because the prophet was speaking for God, who didn’t have to heal him but provided a way he could be healed. They led him to take the step of acknowledging God didn’t have to heal him. He realized God could do it, and God was the one who set the terms.
In our case, the terms are particularly nasty.
“Take and eat; this is my body, broken for you!”
“Take and drink; this is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sin!”
Hearing those words, we know what Luther wanted us to know about Jesus. That is, His mindset toward us – which leaves us confident of His love and the blessing He poured out upon us! He united us with His death and His resurrection.
I know this, and I think you do too… yet we will throw a tantrum today, no later than tomorrow. I pray someone will be there to remind us of the heart of God, and His attitude toward us, which is necessary to facilitate our healing. Tomorrow, the same challenge appears, and the only way out of such sin… is through the cross.
It is difficult to go there, but it is more exhausting not to run there! We actually sometimes need those tantrums, to remember why God is in charge… to know we can hear and recognize His voice, His invitation, His desire to comfort us.
So come, and know you are welcome at the altar.
So stop the tantrum… and drag your Naaman with you…
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Love Alone Is Credible, trans. D. C. Schindler (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004), 148.
Thomas Keating, The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings, ed. S. Stephanie Iachetta (New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury, 2009), 117.
Robert Kolb, Timothy J. Wengert, and Charles P. Arand, The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2000), 440.
Prayer is like a jacuzzi…
Thoughts to Encourage Your Devotion to Jesus…
But when you pray, go into your own room, shut your door and pray to your Father privately. Your Father who sees all private things will reward you.” Matthew 6:5 (Phillips NT)
The habit of breaking off our prayers before we have truly prayed is as common as it is unfortunate. Often the last ten minutes may mean more to us than the first half hour, because we must spend a long time getting into the proper mood to pray effectively. We may need to struggle with our thoughts to draw them in from where they have been scattered through the multitude of distractions that result from the task of living in a disordered world.…
First he invites Christians to pray his very own prayer along with him, joining their prayers to his. “Our Father,” he invokes, by these words implying that any Father of his is our Father too. Since we pray in and through Jesus to the almighty Maker of heaven and earth, we have the privilege of approaching him as beloved children
From God’s point of view, it is not accomplishments but efforts that count. If we accept our poverty and limitations, but still go on trying, we will rate higher than everybody else in God’s book, just as the poor widow did.… If we make the effort and receive that one precious point for trying, God can take his pencil and start adding zeros after it.
As I was confronted by Tozer this morning, I struggled with his honesty. I don’t know how often I start to pray or read the scriptures and find my mind wandering off into space. I find myself checking a text, answering an email, or thinking of someone I need to call. Many things demand my attention, and I don’t even struggle to fight them off. I try to justify it by saying I am growing old, and my concentration isn’t what it once was… but that is just a poor excuse.
We need to sink into prayer like we do when we go into a jacuzzi. It requires great patience and the acceptance that it takes a little while to get used to it. But when we do, the comfort it gives, the stress it relieves, and the benefit it brings us are beyond belief. So it is with prayer, the first five to ten minutes are tough. Still, eventually, Satan will tire, and the distractions will dissipate. You will find yourself welcome in this conversation with God.
We need to realize that we belong in that moment. There is a point in entering a jacuzzi when you know you can take the final step in, when the heat has moved up your legs as blood returns to the heart, and you are internally ready. We can boldly enter the water then, and in the same way, as we pray, we get to the point where it just becomes a bold move. We are up to our necks….dwelling deeply – nothing else but our Lord, listening, comforting, directing, healing, empowering.
It takes effort because we are, as Keating notes, poor and limited. What we have to offer doesn’t seem enough. We go on trying, encouraged by the Father of Jesus, our Father, who loves us. And as we struggle, we learn to keep praying, knowing we will find ourselves in a moment with Him. Then we learn it was not about us straining to reach Him but realizing that He came to us.
Distracted as you are praying? Find a quiet place – keep praying… even if it is simply savoring the Lord’s Prayer or personalizing Psalm 8, 23, 139. Keep trying to pray, seek His face, His voice, and His care. You will get there… and then the feeling is incredible…for He is your God, and you are His.
Lord, help us to be patient while we enter the waters of prayer. Help us to keep praying until the distractions pass, and all we know is You and Your love. AMEN!
Tozer, A. W. 2015. Tozer for the Christian Leader. Chicago: Moody Publishers.
Senkbeil, Harold L. 2019. The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Keating, Thomas. 2009. The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings. Edited by S. Stephanie Iachetta. New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury.
This sermon is written…for the same reason as the Scriptures: A sermon on John 20:30-31
a sermon by Deacon Robert Foutz, delievered at Concordia Lutheran Church 4/24/2022
This sermon is written…for the same reason as the Scriptures
John 20:30-31
Every night I would read my daughters a bedtime story. First I read them a Bible story and then a regular story. One of their favorites was Dr Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham. It’s a very simple story with only two characters; the first is a guy named Sam and his friend, Sam’s friend has no name, I will just call him Sam’s Friend.
Sam only has one goal in the story that is to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham. He says, “taste my green eggs and ham . . . just try them and you’ll see they taste good.”
But his friend does not want to try green eggs and ham.
And on and on it goes, until Sam I am says, “You do not like them, so you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and we will see.”
Spoiler Alert! Sam’s friend does finally try them and does like them! And he likes them!
Say! I like green eggs and ham! I do! I like them, Sam!
Thank you, Sam.
As a parent, I’ve read that story to my daughters hundreds of times. They never seemed to grow tired of it.
Over and over, night after night I read Sam’s request as he repetitively asked his friend to try his green eggs and ham. You get the idea.
Sam I Am has one simple message. “Try my greens eggs and ham. They are good.”
So what does Sam’s green eggs and ham have to do with the passage in John, and what I am doing here today?
John has only has one simple message try my Jesus! You will like him, just try and see. And Pastor Parker needs a day off so it’s my turn to be like Sam tell you about Jesus.
So why am I up here?
What is Pastor Parker’s goal for me being up here? What is Pastors goal when he sends me off to other churches? What am I supposed to do – just tell jokes and tell you about some interesting facts about a book that was written 2000 years ago to people who don’t speak our language?
Or is my purpose to preach what Pastor taught me in my deacon class on Worship?
That the chief purpose of all worship services is to give you what you need to know about Jesus?
There was only one question on the final exam: What is the chief purpose of all worship services?
Answer: To tell the people what they need to know about Jesus.
Kind of like how Sam had only one message, one goal: To get his friend to try green egg and ham. I have one message, one goal: To tell you about Jesus.
That’s pretty close to what the Apostle John says here – in verse 30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book.
John 21:25 — Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.
I would like to know all about these miracles but then the Bible would probably be about a foot thick. Think about it for a minute, Jesus’ ministry lasted about 3 years and if Jesus performed one miracle a day, the disciples saw 1,095 miracles. Writing all that down would take all the paper in Jerusalem.
It also tells me the disciples only recorded the miracles they thought were the most important miracles, the most amazing miracles, the miracles that proved Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.
So my job is to help you experience Jesus, depend on Jesus, to know without a doubt that Jesus is your Savior and then help you see the life you have as you grow to trust Him.
And not be like doubting Thomas.
Verse 26 says “Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
Thomas the Apostle—often referred to as “Doubting Thomas”—was one of the twelve main disciples of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, Thomas famously doubted Jesus’ resurrection, telling the other disciples, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
All Christians suffer doubt at one time or another, why does God let us suffer? And a hundred other questions I have for him.
But that doubt does not mean disbelief, they are not the same thing, I have questioned God, I have doubted why God did things many times but never, never ever lost my faith in God. Big difference!
The example of doubting Thomas provides both a teachable moment and encouraging one. After His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus appeared alive and glorified to His disciples to comfort them and proclaim to them the good news of His victory over death.
I doubt (it wasn’t only Thomas), but all of us from time to time doubt. It was 33 days after Thomas’s proclamation, that according to Matthew 28:16, some of the disciples still doubted – they still didn’t get it all.
Last week Pastor told us about the men on the road to Emmaus, how an unrecognized Jesus explained the entire Old Testament to them.
Now let’s look at verse 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
We can depend on Jesus, he is the one Anointed by the Father. All the miracles, all the scriptures point to this simple fact: Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the Son of God.
And when we depend on Jesus, we have life, life here on earth and life in heaven. How does this happen? It is simply because Jesus has claimed us as His own.
He bought and paid for us, sins and all, on the cross.
Two of my favorite phrases are “pay to the order of”
and “paid in full.”
To me nothing feels better feeling than getting a paycheck and then sitting down and paying all your bills. But sadly, next month all the same bills show up again.
But there is a true feeling of freedom on peace when you make the last payment on something like your last car payment. Mark it paid in full! Done! I never have to pay that bill again!
That what Jesus did on the cross my sins are paid in full! Done! I never have to pay that bill again!
That is what John is telling in this passage of scriptures to depend on Jesus because of everything He has promised us. Everything he has paid for us!
And when we experience Christ and know what he’s done, then when God tells us His peace is ours, we get it, because we know Him and His promises.
I remember the day after my father died, a friend came over and told about when his mother died. He told me “it well get easier.” He said “the pain will never go away but it will get easier. I promise.” I thought he was nuts, this hurt, this loss, this emptiness will never end.
Well, he was right. Over the years it has gotten easier. Like all of us, we miss our loved ones at big events, family gatherings, Christmas, birthdays, am I right?
But you know when I really miss my dad, the day that make me cry every year? Easter. The promise of the resurrection!
Some versions of the Bible use the word “Hope.” They use phrases like the hope of Christ, the hope of the resurrection.
NO No no!
I hope the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl. I hope I catch a lot of fish next weekend.
I don’t hope that my dad is in heaven, I have a promise from Jesus
You see my dad, stood on the promise of Jesus Christ the Son of the most, high God. And Jesus promised to take him home to be with him.
I am up here this morning to remind you of my nine favorite words.
The Lord is with you . . . and also with you.
Followed by my favorite 13 words.
He is risen, he is risen indeed.
And therefore, we are risen indeed.
Amen
The meaning of the empty tomb…
8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed—9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home. John 20:8-10 NLT
This changes the conversation on problems in the ministry immensely. Yet most of us still don’t get it. We keep focusing on visible things and neglect the spiritual. Ironic, isn’t it? You and I both know that most of our work involves things that are invisible, yet very real. No one has ever seen God, after all, and yet you and I daily teach and preach about him to others. We console, comfort, rebuke, and exhort the faithful using the invisible power of the Holy Spirit mediated through the word and sacraments. Forgiveness, peace, holiness, joy, consolation—all these are intangible and beyond the range of the senses, and yet our work revolves almost totally around these invisible things. It’s strange, then, that when confronted with roadblocks and obstacles in ministry we address only things we can see, touch, and measure externally.
But if we view creation with the eyes of love, then we will understand it, despite all the evidence that seems to point to the absence of love in the world. We will understand the ultimate purpose of creation: not only the purpose of its essence, which we seem to make some sense of through the various intelligible relationships among individual natures, but the purpose of its existence in general, for which no philosophy can otherwise find a sufficient reason.
The disciples had a lot to learn, as does every Christian.
But it is not just something discovered in the classroom or found by reading blogs or listening to podcasts. Like the sermons preached every Sunday in a million churches, lectures, lessons, and the ubiquitous podcasts and blogs are heard by the intellect. The “aha” moment that struck up such a passionate response in praise on Sunday is gone by Tuesday, or perhaps Wednesday.
This was true of the disciples – they heard Jesus speak of his death and resurrection. They heard that the seed needs to fall to the ground and die, then life is given to a multitude. They heard all the parables. The Apostle John said that until the moment they entered the tomb… they still didn’t understand the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead.
They had to encounter and experience the incredible love of God, at work at the cross, and then, only then, in the darkest spiritual despair, find the living Lord. The impossible had to happen – they would never understand it until it was experienced. The word of God simply points to that experience, where forgiveness, peace, holiness, joy, consolation – all these things Senkbeil points to and more, flood the life of one who knows Jesus died and rose… for them.
As we encounter Jesus, risen from the dead, life can make sense. Existence is no longer an ordeal to be navigated. It is about God’s love for us and the ability to love He enables in us. That is the ultimate purpose of Creation seen in the empty tomb… we need to know the power of His resurrection – for it is at work in us.
This was done…
for us!
The scriptures reveal this; this is what the sacraments help us experience.
We need to look in the tomb… we need to experience the death and resurrection of Jesus. We need to finally understand…He is Risen, and therefore we are risen indeed! All praise and glory to our Lord! Amen!
Senkbeil, Harold L. 2019. The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. 2004. Love Alone Is Credible. Translated by D. C. Schindler. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
God is Making You… His People. A sermon for the celebration of the Lord’s Supper
God is Making you… His People
Jeremiah 31:31-33
† In Jesus’ Name †
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ convince you that you are the people of God!
- Missing at the Feast…
It was a card table, probably purchased back in the 1950s. It came out for every Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, with 4 folding chairs that were far sturdier than they looked.
At 18 to 19, just starting to date Kay, I understood that I would be sitting there with her 5 and 7-year-old nephews, Kay’s 14-year-old niece, and Kay.
It was the kiddie table, and we were the younger folk there.
I did think that there would be a time when I could move to the adult table; I just didn’t think it would take until I was in my fifties.
As we share in the Lord’s Supper, we are in the present moment, and yet we are also part of that great feast when Jesus returns. It is what we are looking towards, yet we are a part of it as well, as with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, we praise God, our heavenly Father.
There is no kiddie table at that feast, for we all have matured and become complete in Christ.
And we see that promise in the passage read earlier from Jeremiah.
- The Difference Between the Covenants
Jeremiah describes how people related to God in the reading. “I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them…
It sounds more like Israel acted like a toddler rather than a partner of God’s. I picture Israel as a toddler having to be brought to the table, seated, then getting up to see what’s happening everywhere else. What’s on their plate? Is their chair better than mine? And, of course, causing all sorts of spills and breakage, left behind as something else catches their eye.
The world is not different today, and neither are many of us in the church. We want what we want when we want it! We often “unintentionally” redesign Christianity to be more consistent with what we wish… rather than allowing God to conform us to the image of Jesus.
It’s easy to throw a tantrum against God, demand what we want…that we cry and howl and tell Him to get lost. Heck, even at the last supper, the disciples fought over who was better…
And Jesus bows down… and takes a towel and washes their feet….
- Preparing them for the new covenant…
And in doing so, shows them a new way…
We often talk about foot-washing as an example – this is how we should serve others. But Peter had to learn something first – to let Jesus wash his feet, for boy, they needed to be cleaned….
We need to be drawn into this relationship, this covenant with God. We need God to do what He’s promised to do, the promises we’ve been looking at – God’s work.
And that is seen easily this night. Everything about the Passover points to his sacrifice in the morning – a sacrifice he looked forward to – because of the joy of Jeremiahs’s promise being fulfilled.
- How God puts His instructions inside us…
Here it again…
“But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
That is why Jesus says this is His blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. The Body and Blood shed for you that all your sins, including those tantrums, are forgiven.
This is why we are here… this is what it is all about… God with us.
A new relationship that goes beyond anything we can think or imagine.
A relationship where God comes to us feeds us, and makes us know we are home… for we are His people.
So let’s celebrate – with the feast that is the foretaste of the feast to come…
Visionary Servant Leadership
Thoughts helping us focus on Jesus…
Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, 5 and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. John 13:3-5 NLT
Leadership requires vision, and whence will vision come except from hours spent in the presence of God in humble and fervent prayer?
God remains the center, and man is drawn beyond himself toward the absolute as it manifests itself. He “possesses” love only insofar as love possesses him, which means that he never possesses love in such a way that he could describe it as one of his powers, which lies at his own disposal. To be sure, this does not mean that love remains external to him, but if it does not, it is only because love itself takes possession of him in his innermost heart—interius intimo meo.
Nevertheless, as a spiritual physician I’m treating the whole person, not just their emotions. When the soul is at rest in God, emotions will stabilize.
There are a lot of books out there that one could read to learn about Visionary Leadership. That includes those written by pastors, former pastors, corporate CEOs, former military leaders, and sports figures like John Wooden.
Rarely do I find that there is a spiritual component in these books or the seminars they spawn. If so, spirituality made be motioned as an afterthought. Even though we have generations of servant leaders, and the example of the prophets and Jesus of such incredible leadership.
We think such leadership is a gifted ability, something innate in that person but missing in this person. In thinking so, we make a mistake. Authentic leadership is not a gift as much as it is a side effect. (Note – leadership in Romans 12:8 is closer to administration than leading and guiding people. )
A side effect of time with God.
That time with God results in a deeper dependence, a deeper trust. Theologians call this faith, but that overused word rarely is thought of as the desperation that results in our clinging to God, knowing there is no other answer.
And the side effect of that dependence is the leadership Jesus shows as he washes the disciples’ feet and dies for them and the world the next day. Tozer talks of leadership coming from hours spent in the presence of God. Balthasar speaks of being drawn to God and possessed by God’s love – even to the most interior, intimate part of being. God is there; that is what conversion is, as our hearts and minds- cold, dead, broken by sin are replaced by the Spirit with Christ’s heart and mind. It all comes down to dwelling in HIs presence, and being sure of the promises, as Chirst was, as he washed the feet of the apostles… even of Judas…
Ultimately, this kind of leadership is focused on drawing people into the heart of God. That is where we must lead them, for that is where we find out who we are. We have to be confident of God’s presence and His work – then leadership is simply part of the response. This is the work Senkbeil speaks of – the healing that takes place as we wash feet, go and pray, or take the time to explain what the scripture means.
That is visionary servant leadership… which is the kind that makes an actual difference in the lives of people… both not and eternally. AMEN!
Tozer, A. W. 2015. Tozer for the Christian Leader. Chicago: Moody Publishers.
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. 2004. Love Alone Is Credible. Translated by D. C. Schindler. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Senkbeil, Harold L. 2019. The Care of Souls: Cultivating a Pastor’s Heart. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.d
The Church Desperately Needs Fools and Madmen – if we are to survive.
Thoughts to help us run to Jesus…
Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time,* said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about! 50 You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” John 11:49-50 NLT
They say, “God has abandoned him. Let’s go and get him, for no one will help him now.” 12 O God, don’t stay away. My God, please hurry to help me. Psalm 71:11-12 (NLT2)
Scripture’s commandment to turn the other cheek does not contain a primarily ethical meaning—to overcome oneself, or to give the other an example of one’s self-mastery or enlightenment—but the meaning of love, which “demands that one suffer humiliation with the humiliated Christ rather than receive honor, to be seen as a fool and madman for Christ’s sake, who himself was seen primarily as such, rather than to be esteemed as wise and clever in this world” (Ignatius of Loyola)
Now note that deliverance from evil is the very last thing that we do and ought to pray for. Under this heading we count strife, famine, war, pestilence, plagues, even hell and purgatory, in short, everything that is painful to body and soul. Though we ask for release from all of this, it should be done in a proper manner and at the very last.
Why? There are some, perhaps many, who honor and implore God and his saints solely for the sake of deliverance from evil. They have no other interest and do not ever think of the first petitions which stress God’s honor, his name, and his will. Instead, they seek their own will and completely reverse the order of this prayer. They begin at the end and never get to the first petitions. They are set on being rid of their evil, whether this redounds to God’s honor or not, whether it conforms to his will or not.
The Canaanite woman had the kind of faith which penetrates the clouds. She would not take any kind of refusal as a real refusal, as a real “no.” She kept on praying with faith. The more she was tried, the more she placed her trust in Jesus, until she finally achieved her goal and got all she wanted. This is the disposition God waits for in the crisis of faith: trust in his mercy no matter what kind of treatment he gives you. Only great faith can penetrate those apparent rebuffs, comprehend the love which inspires them, and totally surrender to it.
Barely a day goes by without ads or advice about how to save the church. Here is how to make your preaching more relevant, how to do outreach online, and how to grow this ministry, that ministry. If only you had a program like Alpha or Rooted or follow Purpose Driven Church theory or…
For someone who doesn’t even know what a box is, never mind think out of it, my answer for what the church needs to do is described well in the devotional readings I encountered this morning.
The answer to survival is that we again need the church to be considered fools and madmen/women.
The phrase comes from the reading of Balthasar – and refers to people who are willing to be humiliated for no other reason than we do so with Jesus. The world would say we are nuts; we are fools. We embrace the suffering we encounter, whatever God allows, to seek Him and find Him and be with Him.
That is what Luther was getting at as well, as he explored the phrase, “deliver us from evil.” It is not the first plea in the Lord’s prayer but the last. It is not the most important thing – in fact, the most important thing is that we use God’s name to address Him. We need to set it apart for those deeply intimate conversations. We ask to ask for a lot, but only last do we ask for delivery from evil. If we believe all else is answered and delivered, where is the power of evil? It has already been broken and shattered.
Take a moment and think about it – what has Satan left if we are sure God’s Kingdom has come, and God’s will has been done?
This is what servant-leadership truly is in the church, being willing to embrace the suffering and remind people of God’s presence in the most broken parts of their lives. It requires tenacity, not to endure, but to pursue God like the Samaritan woman Keating praises! Jesus praised her, for she trusted that Jesus loved her and her daughter. We need to seek that experience of His love and His mercy, counting on Him to reveal Himself there.
That is why we endure… to depend on Christ – to dwell in Him… and as we do, we serve amid brokenness. We embrace it, knowing that God rules, and therefore it works. and if the world things we are fools and madman… that’s okay.
Balthasar, Hans Urs von. 2004. Love Alone Is Credible. Translated by D. C. Schindler. San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Luther, Martin. 1999. Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I. Edited by Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann. Vol. 42. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
Keating, Thomas. 2009. The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings. Edited by S. Stephanie Iachetta. New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury.
Lord, turn me over and inside out…please!
Thoughts to encourage us to run to Jesus
“Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: 19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. 20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. 21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. 22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. 23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!” Matthew 13:18-23 (NLT2)
Today the Christian emphasis falls heavily on the “active” life.… The favorite brand of Christianity is that sparked by the man in a hurry, hard hitting, aggressive and ready with the neat quip. We are neglecting the top side of our souls. The light in the tower burns dimly while we hurry about the grounds below, making a great racket and giving the impression of wonderful devotion to our task.
But why does God let man be thus assailed by sin? Answer: So that man may learn to know himself and God; to know himself is to learn that all he is capable of is sinning and doing evil; to know God is to learn that God’s grace is stronger than all creatures. Thus he learns to despise himself and to laud and praise God’s mercy.
I am not a farmer, and I am not good with plants.
But as I read the Parable of the Sower/Soil, I wonder why something wasn’t done about the soil before tossing the seed out onto the ground in such a random manner. Even I know you must break up the ground and turn it over. That is one of the primary uses of a farm tractor or a team of oxen pulling a huge plow back in the day.
Christ’s intended parallel to our lives is accurate today and when those words were spoken. Satan still tromps all over us, hardening the soil or lives. There are still rocks in our soil that need to be broken up or removed, the rocks that prevent God’s word from taking deep roots that sustain life. There are still thorns that cause so much anxiety that the message of God gets choked out. So pressures from outside us (the thorns), deep inside us (the rocks), and our hardness at the surface work against us hearing and God’s word impacting us.
Tozer echoes this with words from 60 years ago. (he died in 1963) talking about a shallow but active Christian life. It is too easy to remember a few catchphrases… and not see how they impact you personally. Christ must dig deep within us to reach what we are trying to protect and get that we don’t even know how to talk about.
We need to learn to be silent, let the truth of the gospel sink in, and take root. We need to let it calm us down to help us learn to live in peace. But that means we need to let God penetrate our lives. Which is what Luther was getting at. We need to realize that only God can transform us – that only He has the wisdom and the power to reach deep within us. This action means that He allows us to sin and fail so that He can restore us as we learn to depend on Him. So we have to slow down – and let the law convict and the gospel restore and give us the hope we need. He has to let us see the seed bouncing off the path, or getting choked out… or running up against a boulder… then He can show us how the cross removes the obstacles… while we sit in awe…meditating on His peace, His mercy, His love.
So we are back to the Sower, who breaks up the path at the cross and in the resurrection, removes the stones and the weeds and thistles. Let’s sit in His presence a while… and let His love and mercy do what the Father sent Jesus us to do…
Tozer, A. W. 2015. Tozer for the Christian Leader. Chicago: Moody Publishers.
Luther, Martin. 1999. Luther’s Works, Vol. 42: Devotional Writings I. Edited by Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Hilton C. Oswald, and Helmut T. Lehmann. Vol. 42. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
The Ministry Isn’t Rocket Science…but
Thoughts to drive us to Jesus side…..
Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck. 2 Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me. 3 I am exhausted from crying for help; my throat is parched. My eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me. Psalm 69:1-3 (NLT2)
Almost anything associated with the ministry may be learned with an average amount of intelligent application. It is not hard to preach or manage church affairs or pay a social call; weddings and funerals may be conducted smoothly with a little help from Emily Post and the Minister’s Manual. Sermon making can be learned as easily as shoemaking—introduction, conclusion and all. And so with the whole work of the ministry as it is carried on in the average church today.
But prayer—that is another matter. There Mrs. Post is helpless and the Minister’s Manual can offer no assistance. There the lonely man of God must wrestle it out alone, sometimes in fastings and tears and weariness untold. There every man must be an original, for true prayer cannot be imitated nor can it be learned from someone else.
There is an analogy between growing up spiritually and the growing up that takes place in the normal course of human life. In approaching adolescence and adulthood, everyone seems to have to pass through a crisis.… God has great sympathy for those who are going through this crisis in their spiritual life. They do not know what is happening to them and tend to concentrate on the disintegration of what they love, rather than on the real spiritual growth of which they are becoming capable.… If we look on the bright side and are firmly convinced that it is normal to have to forge new relationships, our crisis of faith will appear as a great invitation to go deeper into the heart of Christ. The very transition makes it impossible for the former people we counted on to help us. Part of growing up is to become independent—not of everybody, but of those on whom we are too dependent—so that we may depend completely on the Holy Spirit. That is what spiritual maturity is.
Tozer is correct…. the actual day-to-day tasks of being a pastor or one of those who help him are not that difficult. They don’t take the mind of a rocket scientist or incredible skills in management and business. That’s why people are getting “self-ordained” or getting one-day licenses to do weddings or just doing memorials on their own.
But a real pastor, a real elder, a real Sunday School teacher, or worship leader is not just a combination o talent and academic preparation. They have to be someone who wrestles with themselves and God – much as Jacob did. As each man’s gifts are different, so are the battles. The temptations, the anxieties, and the circumstances that they dwell in are different, making each battle unique – and therefore, the healing from battle damage is never the same.
Those battles are irreplaceable in one’s growth as a believer. Keating’s comparison to the challenges of the transition from childhood to adulthood is perfect. During that time, physically, mentally, spiritually, everything is challenged. Some demean it, having forgotten those long nights and empty feelings. As we enter Christ, everything changes, as idols and those who could become idols are removed. And while we have their words and often their examples, we are bereft of the comfort and the fact that someone is listening.
And that makes the brokenness echo throughout our hearts and minds, and yes, our souls. As we come on the other side of it, what disintegrated is replaced (much as Job’s family and fortune were!) Life becomes different, and we look at it with eyes that have grown weary as spiritual maturity is forced upon us. Every thing is stripped away, and we find everything is found as the Holy Spirit grants us the faith we need.
The place where the Psalmist was, is more important for a pastor or any other servant leader or believer in the church to experience. It is out of such times we God’s hand clearly, and the brokenness gives way to grace.
Ministry isn’t rocket science – it is more complicated. Still, as we see the breakthroughs and see the miracles, it is more rewarding…for it is walking with God… each step.
Tozer, A. W. 2015. Tozer for the Christian Leader. Chicago: Moody Publishers.
Keating, Thomas. 2009. The Daily Reader for Contemplative Living: Excerpts from the Works of Father Thomas Keating, O.C.S.O., Sacred Scripture, and Other Spiritual Writings. Edited by S. Stephanie Iachetta. New York; London; New Delhi; Sydney: Bloomsbury.
