what would Len say or do?

15 For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I fathered you through the gospel. 16 I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. (1 Corinthians 4.15-16)

I have had 2 "gospel fathers." Last Tuesday, while driving from San Diego to Los Angeles, I learned that one had died. I knew Len was sick: he was diagnosed, almost 5 weeks ago to the day, with stage 4 brain cancer, but doctors assured us there was plenty of time to plan a visit after Christmas. Alas, mortality has a way of disrupting our planning...

So what did this gospel father impart to me that I endeavor to imitate?

First, Len took a risk on the unqualified. When we first met, it was for a job interview at Mount Hermon Association. The position required us to create a "church community" for the 220 staff they hired for 3 months each summer. Carol and I had applied for this position, but I fell short of all the required benchmarks. I was too young, I did not have enough of the desired education, and I had no previous Christian camp/conference center experience. It was a high-profile role with little margin to fail. My failures would reflect poorly on him, but he took a risk. My youth did not deter him; my lack of education did not disqualify me, and my inexperience did not exclude me from his consideration.

Second, Len taught me sacred disciplines. Hospitality, generosity, incarnational engagement, prayer, sabbath, reflective bible reading, and reading as a spiritual discipline. Each of these he would develop in me. How? Simply living in an organic manner that displayed, without arrogance or pretense, the tangible benefit these brought to his soul. If this was true for him, it could be true for me.

Third, Len taught me how to teach the Word of God. He taught me the value of expository Bible teaching/preaching. I learned, through him, that Jesus pastors His people through the expositional preaching of the Scriptures. Expositional preaching will be the gateway to the transformation people long and yearn for. It was never about the authority of Scripture in its own right. It was always about the authority of Scripture-- and the power that authority possessed-- to change and transform lives. We can improve our preaching delivery, but the power remains in the Word preached, not in the person preaching.

Fourth, Len invested in me. He spent time in conversation, invited me to join him in meetings I had no business being in, took me places, and suggested Scripture and books, which we would discuss together. He was artful with his capacity to guide, discipline, course-correct, and encourage without being heavy-handed or condescending. Once, when he observed how out-of-balance and out-of-shape my life and body were, he said to me:

"Mark, everyone wants you to be healthy and live a long life. Carol wants you to be healthy, your children want you to be healthy, the congregation you lead wants you to be healthy, and your team wants you to be healthy. Everyone around you wants you to be healthy. But no one around you wants you to be healthy if it takes away from their time!

I have returned to that observation/admonition many times since he first said that to me in my late 30s.

Fifth, Len modeled a healthy relational work environment for me. It is possible to have a genuine friendship without compromising positional authority, vocational responsibility, or employment accountability. In my second year working under him, he called me into his office. He acknowledged, "Mark, I recognize that we are developing a meaningful friendship, but this friendship cannot be healthy or continue if it compromises my responsibilities as your supervisor or your accountability for your responsibilities as an employee who reports to me. You must be willing to take your lumps and own your decisions; otherwise, we cannot continue." A healthier admonition has never been spoken!

In fact, a few weeks later, the Executive Director asked me to come to his office. As I walked by Len's office, he got up from his chair, winked at me and said, "It's time to take your lumps." ... did I ever!

Finally, Len embraced me with a soul-filling friendship. I learned from him that friendship requires tenacity, time, grace, depth, patience, and remembrance. Friendship does not need to diminish the joy that arises from the many acquaintances we are gifted with... However, most acquaintances are sustained solely by affinity involving some combination of geography, vocation, hobby, and humor. Friendship involves all of these, yet it will ultimately rely on none of these because friendship will, in time, rely on nothing more than love. Once this is recognized, this is the genesis of a life-long friendship.

I don't think Len ever purposed to be a "gospel father, " I don't think anyone does... However, I think I realized Len was a "gospel father" and I, his "gospel son," when I found myself asking, "What would Len do or say?"

He is gone now, but, by the gift and grace of God, I will gratefully still get to ask that question until the day I am where he is...

a thanksgiving epistle

Each year I send out what has now been dubbed, “Slomka’s Thanksgiving epistle” by family and friends…here was this year’s edition… BTW it’s still the season to say, “happy Thanksgiving,” until Sunday when you can joyfully proclaim, “happy Advent!”

Dear family and friends -- domestic and international, 

Give thanks in all circumstances... 

(just a little phrase from the apostle Paul's first letter to believers living in Thessalonica, Greece --  Chapter 5, verse 18)

We rarely share our personal reflections around loss, regret, fear, or anxiety-- especially around Thanksgiving! Yet this Thanksgiving, my gratitude flourishes amidst these realities, which, I suppose, may initially threaten to smother the holiday mood we work so hard to nourish and protect. For me, it magnifies the gratitude I feel. 

At the time I'm writing this draft (17 November), 

•  there are at least 34 global conflicts -- 2 of which impact my world personally, 

•  I have attended 2 memorial gatherings in the last 2 weeks; just learned on Sunday, 19 November another dear friend just died,

•  I have received news that my 2 fathers and life-long mentors in my life have received fatal diagnoses,

•  I have spoken with many leaders who are contending for their own, or family members, mental health,

•  I find myself reflecting on my own apprehension concerning my mortality, capacity, and yearnings... will I have the health, vitality, and clarity to accomplish what I believe God has given me vision for? I am deeply aware that most leaders -- including Jesus-- died with yearnings unfulfilled and Kingdom vision incomplete!

and this is only a small sample of what I could list...

So this year, if you permit me, I would like to share some thoughts regarding the activity of "thanksgiving" so you can understand why Thanksgiving remains my favorite annual holiday.

First, let’s consider for a moment what thanksgiving is not…

Thanksgiving is not synonymous with "relief." -- This can be the reassurance or relaxation we feel when we pass a test, hear the news we have been anxious to receive, or complete something that has preoccupied the commitment of our mind, time, and/or resources.

Thanksgiving is not an exercise in comparative awareness. I suppose this is a  variation of "relief." This would be the expression that usually arises when we try to minimize our disappointment and loss by the thoughtful recognition of someone else's greater misfortune. Phrases like: "At least my children are healthy" or "At least I don't have bombs falling on my house" express our relief, but they also invalidate the loss, concerns, or feelings we are presently navigating.

Thanksgiving cannot be the prisoner of circumstance, ultimately making thanksgiving transactional. Thanksgiving which can only be expressed when opportunity, health, and fortune are going "our way,” is bound to render our thanksgiving shallow and ultimately deprive us of the opportunity to express and experience thanksgiving when we might need it the most. 

Thanksgiving cannot be self-centered.  By its very nature, Thanksgiving is externally focused—  it sees the source of our blessing outside of ourselves. Thanksgiving, which is self-centered, is nothing more than the vain and prideful self-congratulation of a deluded soul. Far from being an act of thanksgiving, it becomes a prideful self-assertion of accomplishment, superiority, and/or rewards and privileges one feels entitled to. I am thinking, here of Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector— “Thank you, God, that I am not like others!“

Thanksgiving is not individualistic. While the occasion for our thanksgiving may be personal, it is not intended to remain private. Thanksgiving is meant to be shared. This does not require full transparency of sensitive details, but a simple narrative of shared praise will strengthen our community.

So, what is the activity of thanksgiving?

First, the activity of thanksgiving is prayerful reflection. I cannot envision an expression of thanksgiving that does not begin with God.  He fashioned me in love, redeemed me by His grace, and He sustains me by his presence. In my darkness, He abides with me, and in my joys, He delights my soul. How can thanksgiving be anything but a conversation of gratitude with our Heavenly Father?

Second, the activity of thanksgiving is the spiritual remembrance of God‘s faithfulness. The activity of thanksgiving is a reflective inventory of God‘s presence amidst the gains we have enjoyed and the losses we have suffered.  It is not merely the recitation of a list. It is the story of His divinity abiding with my broken humanity -- transforming a merely mundane and frail life into a life so filled with meaning that I can exclaim, “Even my losses have become gains.“

Third, the activity of thanksgiving is communal. We contribute to and share in the portfolio of gratitude expressed within the communities we are members of. Another's thanksgiving becomes my opportunity to give thanks regardless of my circumstances. How many times has one person's shared thanksgiving brought hope to the hopeless or stirred me to give thanks? Most significantly, community thanksgiving expresses God's presence in our midst-- can there be a greater cause for giving thanks? 

Fourth, the activity of thanksgiving is missional.  The activity of thanksgiving is ultimately a testimony that brings women, men, youth, and children closer to God. Thanksgiving punctures smothering darkness with the Light, futility with promise, and despair with hope. No wonder Scripture extolls "the feet of the one who brings Good News!" Our personal and community thanksgiving narratives are incarnate expressions of the Good News of God's presence. He is neither silent, aloof, or absent. Thanksgiving testifies that He is present in our darkness, and this present darkness cannot quench His faithful light.

Finally (I promise!), the activity of thanksgiving is pastoral. There are seasons in our lives when our soul is constricted by despair or grief, and we become isolated in our darkness. Something powerful occurs when the community around us extends its welcoming embrace and draws us into a wider context that allows for thanksgiving and grief to exist side by side. Thanksgiving, sensitively expressed, with the sorrowful, reminds us that "weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning." 

When we think about the first Thanksgiving, we focus on the meal and forget the context. Remember this: on November 10, 1620, 102 passengers stepped ashore, but only 50 would survive their first winter to assemble 12 months later for the meal we, from history's distance, celebrate as Thanksgiving. They gathered as a community, on a land saturated with their tears, to give thanks and share a common meal.

This is why Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... it invites any and all to a feast where the community gathered can offer thanksgiving while recognizing the personal losses of those gathered. On this day, prayerful reflection, remembrance, community, mission, and the pastoral presence of God are welcome. On this day, the community gathered can have a voice that individuals scattered cannot. We are "better together," and that alone is sufficient reason to lift our voices with gratitude on this Thanksgiving day as we share this meal together.

... with gratitude for you and much love for you,

Happy Thanksgiving!

remember the puritans… why?!

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. (Matthew 5.14)

Thanksgiving is the only national holiday unique to our country whose roots are distinctly Christian. For followers of Jesus, It is an opportunity to give thanks for a people more than a remberance of a distinctly Christian table fellowship that occurred 402 years ago. It can be an opportunity to remember a sincere, yet imperfect, Christian community, their way of life and the vision they dreamed of fulfilling—to build and be the city on the hill that Jesus spoke about. Thanksgiving, therefore, seems an appropriate time to briefly reflect on the larger Christian community called “the Puritans”… a vibrant and prophetic Christian movement that began the 16th century England.

Puritans… mention their name and most minds concoct imagery of the Salem Witch Trials; men in tall black hats with a large belt buckle above the brim; cold, overbearing, and subservient women; and intolerant, narrow-minded, prudish people afraid of the world and embarrassed by their own sexuality. J. I. Packer reminds us that “Puritan” as a name “was, in fact, mud from the start. Coined in the early 1560’s, it was always a satirical smear word implying peevishness, censoriousness, conceit, and a measure of hypocrisy… an odd, furious, and ugly form of Protestant religion.” Most perceive the Puritans as as equal parts comic and pathetic, naïve and superstitious, primitive and gullible, superserious, overscrupulous, majoring in minors, and unable or unwilling to relax. In today’s world they are (wrongfully from my perspective) seen as the the seed and root of the great sins of our nation.

What could these zealots give us that we might possibly need today?

I think the answers can be found in a book written several years ago by the British evangelical scholar and pastor, J. I. Packer (see link below). Let me summarize with you some of his thoughts.

The answer, in one word, is maturity. Maturity is a compound of wisdom, goodwill, resilience, and creativity. The Puritans exemplified maturity; we don’t. We are spiritual dwarfs. The Puritans, by contrast, as a body, were giants. They were great souls serving a great God. In them, clear-headed passion and warm-hearted compassion combined. Visionary and practical, idealistic and realistic too, goal-oriented and methodical, they were great believers, great hopers, great doers, and great sufferers. Through the legacy of their literature, the Puritans can help us today towards the maturity that they knew and that we need.

First there are lessons for us in the integration of their daily lives. There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified—done to the glory of God…

Second, there are lessons for us in the quality of their spiritual experiences. Their faith was an experiential yet rational faith, resolute, passionate piety that was conscientious without becoming obsessive, law-oriented without lapsing into legalism, and expressive of Christian liberty without any shameful lurches into license.

Third, there are lessons for us in their passion for effective action. They had no time for the idleness of the lazy or passive person who leaves it to others to change the world. They were people of action in the pure Reformed mould—crusading activists without a jot of self-reliance; workers for God who depended utterly on God to work in and through them, and who always gave God the praise for anything they did that, in retrospect, seemed to them to have been right.

Fourth, there are lessons for us in their program for family stability. It is hardly too much to say that the Puritans created the Christian family in the English-speaking world. The Puritan ethic of marriage was to look not for a partner whom you do love passionately at this moment, but rather one whom you can love steadily as your best friend for life, and then with God’s help proceed to do just that. Goodwill, patience, consistency, and an encouraging attitude were seen as the essential domestic virtues.

Fifth, there are lessons to be learned from their sense of human worth. Through believing in a great God, they gained a vivid awareness of the greatness of moral issues, of eternity, and of the human soul. All life was valued and received as a gift from God—no matter how brief.

Sixth, there are lessons to be learned form the Puritans’ ideal of church renewal. The essence of this Puritan renewal was the enrichment of understanding of God’s truth, arousal of affections Godward, increase of ardor in one’s devotions, and more love, joy, and firmness of Christian purpose in one’s calling and personal life. The ideal for the church was that the congregation would be brought, by God’s grace, into a state of revival in order to be:

• truly and thoroughly converted,

• theologically orthodox and sound,

• spiritually alert and expectant,

• of wise and steady character,

• ethically enterprising and obedient, and

• humbly but joyously sure of their salvation.

This year when you give thanks, give thanks for the Puritans for they have profoundly shaped our world and our own sense of destiny. Without them

• you would not think about the Scriptures as you do,

• you would not think about the person and work of Jesus as you do,

• you would not think about the power of the Holy Spirit nor the strategic plan of the Father to save us as you do,

• you would not think about education as you do

• you would not think about going to university as you do (did!),

• you would not think about the family as you do,

• you would not think about marriage as you do,

• you would not think about the worth of human life as you do,

• you would not think about money and charity as you do,

• you would not think about heaven as you do,

• you would not think about changing the world as you do…

Dear ones, I don’t have to embrace the entirety of their Reformed theology to be grateful for their contribution to a comprehensive Christian worldview rooted in the redemptive presence of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom come today. This Thanksgiving season, let us give thanks for their legacy…

see you in 2 weeks and please have a blessed and happy Thanksgiving…

A Quest for Godliness: the Puritan vision of the Christian Life by J.I. Packer

See also this article regarding C. S. Lewis’ observations about the Pilgrims.

what does God require from our faith?

Last week we asked the question, "How do we exercise faith?" This week, I want to suggest 3 answers to the question, "What does God require from our faith?"

I think we need to recognize three things God require from us: 

God asks for our trust not understanding. God's ways are not always palatable to reason and logic. This, in fact, is Paul's argument in the opening two chapters of I Corinthians. Abraham did not know where he was going yet God was calling him to trust (Gen 12.1; Heb. 11.8f).

God asks for our obedience not our ability or control. We are not simply called to faith in the areas where we are able. Although this is what we frequently do, it represents little or no exercise of faith. Abraham could not control Lot's choice of real estate (Gen 12.8ff) nor did he have the ability to protect Sarah from the Egyptians (Gen 12.10ff). Yet faith was required in both circumstances.

God asks for our weaknesses not merely our strength. It is easy to have faith in God when we are operating out of a context of competence and ability. The danger is that we retreat to our human ingenuity and resourcefulness when the going gets tough rather than confess mg our weakness, inabilities, and fear to God We also tend to disparage options that appear 'weak" and opt to consider only those alternatives that we perceive match our strengths Paul's reminder to the Corinthians is a sober reflection for us: 'For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength" (I Corinthians 1.25).

A. W. Tozer writes,

Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications. We arrange things so that we can get on well enough without divine aid, while at the same time ostensibly seeking it. We boast in the Lord but watch carefully that we never get caught depending on Him... Pseudo faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either God or total collapse. 'And not since Adam first stood up on the earth has God failed a single man or woman who trusted Him. The man of pseudo-faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly to allow himself to get into a predicament where his future must depend on that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of escape so he will have a way out if the roof caves in.

Summary observation…

According to the Scriptures, faith is vital.

We are justified by faith
We have access into God's presence through faith
We receive the Holy Spirit by faith
We are adopted as sons and daughters of God through faith
We have victory over temptation by faith
We are healed by faith
We saved by faith
We discover that all things are possible through faith.

As we prepare to enter the upcoming Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas season, may we step forward with a renewed commitment to live by faith as we willingly obey, trust, and surrender our weaknesses to Him.

How do we exercise faith?

NOTE: This week is longer and will be broken up in 2 parts… courtesy of time to reflect at 30k feet and a long transatlantic flight! I hope you find this helpful…

 HEBREWS 11.1, 6: What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see... So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. (New Living Translation)

This week I want to ask the simple question: "How do we exercise faith?" 

FIRST, WE MUST BE IN TOUCH WITH GOD'S PROMISES TO US. God's call always carries His promises. In Genesis 12.1ff, we see this very clearly. In the opening verse, God's call is clear.

The lord had said to Abram, "leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land i will show you."

The promises immediately follow in verses 2-4:

I will make you into a great nation and i will bless you; i will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you i will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." so abram left as the lord had told him.

We must have a sure awareness of God's call and therefore we must be in touch with God's promises. This is absolutely critical. For there lies a prophetic side to God's promises that make vision and ministry come alive when they are personally grasped and appropriated. There are many promises captured in the Scriptures. But what has God promised us; individually, and collectively as a community? What do we specifically believe Him for? God has given birth to our Church and called her to ministry and I believe He promises to fulfill the needs that His call creates.

SECOND, LIKE ANY 'LIVING" EXERCISE, FAITH MUST BE NURTURED AND ENCOURAGED. H. F. Bosworth once said, 'Most Christians feed their bodies three square meals each day but only feed their spirits one cold snack each week. Then they wonder why they are so weak in faith." I am convinced that faith needs to be fed by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, prayer, and Christian fellowship. The Holy Spirit will make our hearts receptive to God's Word and make His Word clear and relevant to us. The Scriptures will bring us a growing understanding of God's promises and His surprising enterprises. Through prayer our hearts can cry out to the Lord of promise and be sweetened by His faithfulness. When we pray, God's faithfulness calls forth our faith and strengthens it to maintain expectancy until the day of fulfillment. And faith will grow infectiously as we gather with other believers.

THIRD, WE MUST LEARN THE VOCABULARY OF FAITH THAT CAN BE EXPRESSED IN TWO WORDS: “though” AND “yet”. Job was able to say, 'Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him (Job 13.15). Can we learn to say, 'Though his may happen, yet will I hope in Him?" "Though my prayer seems unanswered, yet I will trust Him?” “Though I face huge disappointments, yet will I trust Him?” Faith is not anxious living between the “though” and the “yet.”

CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE VOCABULARY OF FAITH IS THE HABIT OF PRAISE. Once we have received God's promise, we begin taking Him at His word and begin praising Him. Our praise indicates the faith we embrace and express comes before sight. This is not a denial of reality. It is our expression of faith through the shadows which life often confronts us with.

FIFTH, OUR DECISIONS MUST BE MADE OUT OF THE PRIORITY OF GOD'S CALL AS WE TRUST IN HIS PROMISES AMIDST AN AWARENESS OF HIS PRESENCE. What God proclaims He will provide for. The challenge is not IF He will fulfill His promise — it is a matter of WHEN. It is God’s calendar, not His commitment that challenges our faith. 'All God's giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on his being with them. They counted on God's faithfulness" (Hudson Taylor)

SIXTH, WE MUST LEARN TO MAINTAIN A LIFE STYLE OF FAITH THAT IS NOT HARASSED OR HURRIED BY THE TYRANNY OF THE URGENT BUT PACED BY OUR PERSEVERING AND PATIENT EXPECTATION OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS. True faith is never alone. It is always accompanied with expectation. The person who believes the promises of God also expects to see them fulfilled. Where there is no expectation, there is no faith. As someone once observed: “Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed!”

Faith and expectation secure the Christian life from being continually plundered by fear, fad, or fancy. Yet, the challenge with our expectation is it frequently creates- with the best of intentions— timetables and vision tied to our own yearning, urgency, and/or planning… While each of these are catalyzed by our sincere faith, they may create disappointment when God doesn’t act in the manner we anticipated within the timetable we envisioned.

I think expectancy is rooted in simplicity. We simply (not simplistically) expect. This expectancy will lead us to surrender, live, love, serve, and lead in alignment with what we expect. Consider Abraham! God said that he would show him a land, therefore he could no longer stay home. God promised a son so Abraham and Sarah, therefore had to get “busy” at the ripe old age of 90! There was no timetable — just promises. But those promises defined their lives and established the context for exercising their faith.

Dear ones, the exercise of our faith is never merely invisible. It is the outward expression of an invisible reality. Therefore, it will be sacramentally present in everything we pray and everything we give thanks for, do, imagine, say, and esteem. It will be in alignment with the One we confess; the One whose return we anticipate, and the One who promises to be present with us in the valleys of shadows and the mountaintops of delight.

In light of this let me suggest a definition of “faith:”

Faith is the personal trust in God that

   is truly satisfied with His Person,

fully embraces God’s promises,

      exclusively relies on God’s power and

   is completely assured of God’s presence & provision,

and wholly surrenders to God’s purpose.

If God intends our faith to be exercised, then we must ask, “Does God require anything from the faith we exercise?”

… to be continued!

an open door…

NOTE: this week’s entry is a letter I wrote in anticipation of our denomination’s pastors gathering 2 week’s ago… However, I think it might contain a word for any leader — pastoral or marketplace— who senses this moment as an opportunity to multiply God’s Kingdom presence wherever we are… to that end, I hope you might allow this entry to encourage you…

These are the words of the Holy One, the True One,
who has the key of David,
who opens and no one will shut,
who shuts and no one opens... 

I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door that no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3.7-8)

While I was praying for our gathering here in Carlsbad, this passage came to my mind and has captured my imagination. This prophetic imagery concerning the "open door" speaks to me of a momentous Gospel opportunity being set before us.

This opportunity is

not based on our own power...

not secured by our own resources...

not compromised by the adversities and challenges around us.

God opens this door of opportunity to a people who

have stewarded his mission through good works of grace

have been resilient in the face of adversity

and have been faithful to confess the Name which is above every name -- Jesus!

Western District [1], the open door before us cannot be closed -- the world can't close it, and the devil can't close it... but it is up to us to choose to walk through it.

100 years ago, a widowed single mom from Canada chose to walk through that "door," and thousands followed in her footsteps to birth a Gospel movement.[2] I am praying that during these few days, here in Carlsbad, we will embrace this Spirit-created moment, choose to walk through the door Christ is setting before us and create a new missional pathway for future generations to follow that our 4 states and the world might experience the presence, power, and promise of Jesus Christ.

... in your community and throughout the Western District as it is in heaven,

Mark

#WeAreWesternDistrict


#WeBringTheKingdom

____________________

[1] The Western District is the area I serve. It is comprised of 4 states: Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah.

[2] This is a reference to Aimee Semple McPherson, the founder of an interdenominational movement that eventually became the Foursquare Church. If you are interested in reading more about her, here is a great read that was actually written by a Jewish biographer!

all giants start small

But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" He said, "I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain." (Exodus 3.11-12).

Hudson Taylor wrote: “All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on his being with them. They counted on God’s faithfulness.” The whole history of God working through his people illustrates this.

Moses was a most reluctant missionary. David seemed pathetically young and inexperienced to be God’s champion against Goliath. Nehemiah and friends were dubbed “those feeble Jews” by their enemies. Jeremiah was frightened and overawed by God’s call. The disciples were a motley band of ordinary folk— nervous and fearful. Even Jesus was “despised and rejected by men.” All these, with the exception of Jesus, were men with rather obvious weaknesses who sometimes fell into serious sin of one sort or another.

Yet God used Moses to rescue two million people from Egypt, David to slay a giant, Nehemiah to rebuild a city, Jeremiah to prophesy to a nation, the disciples to bring about the greatest revolution the world has ever known, and Jesus to procure the world’s salvation.

J. B. Phillips wrote a book a number of years ago whose title is still apt for many of us— Your God Is Too Small! Because our vision of God’s greatness and faithfulness is so infinitesimally small, we see only a little of his power and glory.

Would you take a moment to join me in praying, “Lord, I am available for you today. I understand that I am never too weak, ill-equipped, or impoverished in resources or talents because You are with me. Please use me in the way you want and give me a gift of faith to believe that you want to use me to make a difference in the lives of people around me.”

Remember, all giants start off small…

look 4 ways before entering in…

(On October 12-14, our denomination's pastors will be gathering for our annual Fall Leaders Conference. This week's entry is written with this in mind.)

In anticipation of our Fall Leaders Conference in Carlsbad, I thought I would share a few words that may help us prepare for our time together around the Lord's Table.

A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. (1Corinthians 11.28)*

As we come to Communion, we need to use our spiritual eyes to look in four directions.

First, we look back to the finished work of Jesus on the cross. Jesus commanded us to have Communion in remembrance of Him (Luke 22.19). Forgiveness is full and final through the cross of Christ. There is absolutely nothing we have done or suffered which cannot be carried by the suffering of Christ on the cross. As we look back, we can be assured of our complete forgiveness through Christ.

Next, we need to look in. On the night that he was betrayed, Jesus knew that “the hand of him who is going to betray Me is with mine on the table.” (Luke 22.21) We must examine our lives to see if they are right with God and others. It would be better not to participate in Communion than to do so consciously harboring unforgiveness towards another — relationships must be sorted out first.

Third, we need to look around. After taking the cup, Jesus gave thanks and said, "Take this and divide it among you. (Luke 22.17) Communion speaks dramatically and vividly of our oneness in Christ. We have more in common through the death of Jesus Christ than vocations, hobbies, nationality, or ethnicity could ever achieve. Blood is thicker than water— and when that blood is Christ’s, we have grounds for a unity that will ultimately overcome every threat and human division ( Ephesians 2.11-22).

Finally, we need to look forward. Jesus said, “I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God." (Luke 22.16) All our blessings here and now are only a foretaste of what is to come when we shall stand before Him face to face. Most of us do not live with the urgency or the freedom the second coming of Christ is intended to impart to us. While we do not know the date of His return, this is certain: He shall either come to meet us, or we shall go to meet Him! There is no other alternative!

As we head to Carlsbad, I need to ask Jesus to show me what I am not seeing— not simply my failures, but also my opportunities, not simply my sin, but also His mercy. I look forward to worshiping with you next Thursday...

“that they may be one…”

I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one... as We are one.
– John 17.20-22

"As We are one." Simple, profound, and world-changing. At the heart of the Gospel is a unity that is organic, relational, and life-changing. Without Their oneness -- Their "unity"-- we would never personally experience the love of God in and through the person of Jesus Christ. Without Their unity, there would be no cross, no outpouring of the Holy Spirit, no Pentecostal explosion in the upper room, and no compelling witness in the Book of Acts that transcends culture and time, and catalyzes our aspirations today.

Local churches and denominations struggle with unity because we have reduced it to a transactional understanding of doctrine -- if we believe the same things, we are united. As essential as it may be, Orthodoxy has yet to secure the unity Jesus prayed for and died for. I live in San Diego, where if you go on the websites of most churches, you will find very little to distinguish one evangelical/charismatic community from another. Nevertheless, each stands "alone" in her identity as an independent or denominational congregation. Furthermore, COVID-19 and recent elections have proven that doctrinal agreement is insufficient to secure the unity that Jesus intercedes for.

Neither can unity be secured by programs, curriculum, or just gathering people together in the same room. In my denomination, we are having ongoing face-to-face conversations to secure an organic and relational unity that might prepare and propel us into a fresh season of Kingdom ministries as a Church. These conversations have caused me to reflect on this theme.

Let me suggest a simple framework for what might secure the unity in Christ and the Father Jesus prayed for, and for which I hope we all long and live.

First, Unity already exists in and through the person of Jesus. In Christ, we already share in it. It is not a goal it is a present reality. You cannot be in Christ yet separate from the unity They already live in. We can, however, choose to live out of alignment with this fundamental reality. This can only compromise our lives in Christ personally, communally, and missionally.

Second, unity is cruciform -- cross-shaped. The Cross shapes our perceptions towards one another. The Cross makes equals of all of us. Who is present whose sins have not been forgiven? Who is present who is not looking to Jesus to cover their shame or address their duplicity? There is no seniority, favorites, experts, or prodigies at the Cross. The fellowship around the Cross is marked by a single reality -- a desire to die so that in doing so, we might live sacrificially, joyfully, missionally, and triumphantly in and through the One who died for us.

Third, unity is prayerful. In Acts, it is recorded: "They raised their voices together in prayer to God." We need to take united prayer far more seriously than we do. Prayer brings us together in the presence of God, not to do the "business of intercession" but to be formed and shaped in His presence. In prayer, we experience the Holy Spirit shaping, directing, and focusing our prayers together. In prayer, our common relationship with God is celebrated, and our fundamental unity is consecrated afresh by the Holy Spirit, Who is the conductor of our gathering. Even while we are absent from one another, we can be "present in the Spirit" as we pray in common.

Fourth, unity is missional. We all share a common call -- follow Jesus. This call is not simply to follow, it is to work together with Him in revealing His redemptive Kingdom presence, making disciples, and inviting women, men, youth, and children into a life-giving community. There, together, we will discover salvation, healing, deliverance, and a shared calling to be the Good News in the life of our world.

Finally, unity is messy. It is inevitable because it involves us -- it involves me. As C. K. Chesterton observed years ago: "Dear sirs, I have met the problem, and it is me." As Oswald J. Smith observed, The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. Friends, there is no silver bullet to living in the unity that already exists in Christ. I know I must be willing to stop ascribing motives amidst disagreement. I must engage in conversations as a listener and learner first. I must learn to relate to others as a servant who comes under rather than standing over. I must repent of my need to be right, heard, in control, respected, and/or agreed with. I must recognize that different may just be different and nothing more. I must let go of my cynicism, speaking negatively of fellow believers and my inherent need for others to do things my way. Yes! Unity is messy, and I have and continue to contribute my fair share to the mess.

Nevertheless, I believe that unity is within our grasp if we align ourselves with the unity that already exists in Jesus, humble ourselves together at the Cross, pray together, share mission together, and recognize that we can all labor to foster unity despite the mess we have made of it...

Can we do that? Do you want to do that?

Crucified…

I have been crucified with Christ, 20 and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me... (Galatians 2.19-20)

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5.24)

What does the way of the cross mean for us today when the majority of us will probably not be faced with crucifixion or any other form of martyrdom? What does it mean for us to be “crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2.20) in 2023?

First, the women and men crucified with Christ are facing only one direction; they are not looking back. The call of Jesus is to follow Him— this means forward, out, away from the lifestyle, patterns, and pursuits that do not have the honor of God as their goal. The way of the cross is the way towards the Father. It liberates us from the tyranny of our sinful past and present and brings us into the wide-open places of God’s kingdom. We can no more follow Jesus while looking back than you can drive a car (for long) while looking in the rearview mirror! (I’ve tried it!)

Second, the women and men crucified with Christ have said goodbye to the world: they are not going back. Jesus commands us to live as resident aliens who live not to serve our self-interests nor the interests of our resident nation. We live to serve God’s kingdom interests. What does this look like? It looks like Jesus. He was not enmeshed in the ways of the world, legalistic, or aloof to the needs and joys of life. His citizenship gave Him the freedom to love, befriend, laugh, weep, serve, take action, have courage — and die because He knew where He was from and where He was going.

Third, the women and men crucified with Christ have no further plans: they are not taking back control of their own lives. We recognize that we are not little sovereigns; we are servants. Like Jesus, our sense of fulfillment and gratification will come from praying, “Not our will but Yours…” God has a plan for our lives — to abide in His love, live for His honor and multiply His Kingdom presence. The crucified soul endeavors to embrace a "single love" that leads to personal freedom rather than an enslaving "double love" -- a divided love for God and love for money, sex, and/or power.

A. W. Tozer observed:

Many of us Christians have become extremely skillful in arranging our lives so as to admit the truth of Christianity without being embarrassed by its implications... We boast in the Lord yet carefully watch out that we never get caught depending solely upon Him. The man who is crucified with Christ makes daily decisions to affirm the reality of God’s leadership by denying his right to live like the “rest of the world.”

"I have been crucified with Christ" is the startling and graphic language of a soul whose prior life has been ruined by grace and radically transformed by Jesus. I am challenged by the recognition that it is one thing to be "born again," but it is quite another to be "crucified."

I wonder what impact a generation of disciples with cruciform souls might have upon our communities, nation and world? But before I can reflect on this question, I must answer a far more personal one: what needs to die in my life that I might testify: "I have been crucified with Christ?"

What do YOU think?

"What do you think of the Messiah? (Matthew 22.42)

This is the crucial question, as William Haslan discovered on October 19, 1851, when he went into his pulpit and started to preach. Suddenly he realized for the first time who Jesus really was and “felt a wonderful light and joy coming into my soul.” A moment later, a man in the congregation leaped up and shouted, “The parson’s converted! The parson’s converted! Hallelujah!” The whole congregation and the pastor joined in an outburst of praise.

Today people are hungry for Jesus, even when they are disillusioned about Christians. Yet secular book markets, video rentals, TV and movie ratings all indicate that there continues to be an enormous interest in Jesus. When people turn their eyes on Jesus, they are amazed, challenged, and/or enthralled.

The history of Western civilization reflects this hunger and fascination with the person and work of Jesus Christ. Dostoevsky wrote: “I believe that there is no one lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic, and more perfect than Jesus. I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him but there could never be anyone else like Him.” Tennyson noted: “His character was more wonderful than the greatest miracle.” Napoleon stated: “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have found great empires. But upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Force. Jesus alone founded an Empire upon love, and to this day, millions follow Him… I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ was no mere man: Between Him and whoever else in the world, there is no possible comparison.”

As we step forward into this coming Fall season with its challenges, opportunities, decisions, and relationships, would you take a moment to honestly ask yourself, “What do think of Jesus?” Let me encourage you to write your answer in the form of a reflection… If we answer that He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord God in the flesh— then let us make a commitment to give the Fall season to Him that our lives might honor Him. If we truly believe, then may it never be said of us: “For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened.” (Romans 1.21)

Carnegie Simpson observed: “Instinctively, we do not class him with others. When we read His name in a list, we feel it is an offense... Jesus is not one of the world's great. Talk about Alexander the Great, Charles, Napoleon, if you will. Jesus is not Jesus the Great. He is the only. He is simply Jesus. Nothing could add to that.”

Fellow saints, what we think about Jesus will define how we think about others. A high Christology will always inspire and drive the Kingdom mission we were made to embrace -- on earth as it is in heaven.

What do you think when you think of Jesus?

Do you have a “Hall of Fame” faith?

By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. (Hebrews 11.4)

Baseball fans must travel to Cooperstown, New York to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. Enthusiasts of Rock music make their way to Cleveland in order to tour the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. However, you will not have to travel to Israel to visit the Bible’s Old Testament Hall of Fame. You will find it located in Hebrews 11. There you can revisit the exploits of: Abraham, Sarah, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Rehab Gideon, Samson, David, Samuel, and Abel.

At first sight, the “first entry” into Faith’s Hall of Fame is a curious choice. Abel is mentioned in only three Old Testament verses and he is the victim of the first murder recorded in Scripture. His name means “vanity” or “mere breath.” He led no armies, wrote no books, left no wisdom, and had no disciples. He is a “nobody” when compared to other giants of Scripture—but then God delights to make nobodies into “somebodies” in His sight where there is even a kernel of authentic faith.

There are three important things to notice about Abel.

First by faith he worshiped— he “offered God... a sacrifice.” Worship is more important than work, ministry, family, or our witness for Christ. Workers can devote themselves to their labor for numerous reasons— money, success, power, prestige, influence, love, or pleasing others— yet rarely is worship at the top of their motivational list. A worshiper works to exalt God— her labors are a response to God’s call. People sometimes say, “I went to such and such a church but I didn’t get anything out of it.” The question is, “What did you put into it?” First, we worship, then we receive; that’s the proper order of things in the Kingdom of God.

Secondly, by faith Abel was accepted by God— “God spoke well of his offerings.” The story of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices (Genesis 4.3-5) seems unfair at first sight. Yet if we study this passage in its context we soon realize that God had previously shown Cain and Abel what offerings would be acceptable to Him. Faith’s “hall of fame” in Hebrews 11, is comprised of men and women who, by faith, obeyed God’s word to them. So it must have been that Abel, by faith, obeyed while Cain gave the sacrifice he, himself, deemed adequate and good enough.

Some women and men struggle in their walk with God because they don’t feel accepted by him. But perhaps it is because what we offer Him through our worship is unacceptable... God unconditional grace will forgive our sin and God will always save sinners. But God’s grace does not obligate God to accept pretense, rationalized sin, and half-hearted devotion even when it is offered, like Cain, as an act of worship. Can God really accept 2% when he has called us to worship with 10%? Can he accept compromise when he has called us to integrity? Will God accept our double-minded lust when he has called us to single-minded purity? This is not an issue of grace by faith alone, it is an issue of indifference, carelessness, and thoughtlessness masquerading as worship. Worship is not a “bone” we throw to satisfy God. King David understood it well when he exclaimed, “I will not offer up to my God sacrifices that cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24.24)

Thirdly, by faith Abel still speaks. Whatever is done by faith, in obedience to God’s word, has the stamp of eternity on it. Our legacy will not be our fortunes. Our ultimate legacy will be our faith that will speak to and guide the generations that will follow our own. They may not remember our name, as we do Abel’s, but God promises that our faithfulness will preach to the generations to come.

Our faith will not be in vain…

Guard and grow…

We hope that your faith will grow and that our work among you will be greatly enlarged. (2 Corinthians 10.15)

We must guard and grow the activity and exercise of our faith in God and beware that we do not take it for granted. We must care for and nourish it, or we may discover (already?!) that it will grow stale, stagnant, and second-hand. That is why there is no Biblical or historical evidence of vibrant faith in Christ that is not committed to personal spiritual growth. How does faith grow?

First, faith comes through the Word of God (Romans 10.17). Show me a woman or man who does not consistently, prayerfully, and thoughtfully study the Bible, and I will show you a person whose faith is going through the motions but whose soul is standing still. This “counterfeit soul” may tickle our spiritual ear, but it will lack the power to transform our hearts and minds so that we think God’s thoughts, perceive God’s presence, and fulfill God’s purposes.

Martin Neimoller, a German pastor imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp because of his faith, wrote: “The Bible: what did this book mean to me during the long and weary years of solitary confinement… The Word of God was simply everything to me— comfort and strength, guidance and hope, master of my days and companion of my nights, the Bread that kept me from starvation, and the water of life that refreshed my soul. And even more: ‘solitary confinement’ ceased to be solitary.”

The Word of God is the “sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6.17). We who want to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit must first give Him something to grasp and brandish. Not even God can wield a soft noodle!


Second, faith comes from the Spirit of God (John 14.16f). It is impossible to be genuine, alive, and growing in Christ without knowing the new birth and new life the Holy Spirit brings. All that we esteem and treasure about the Christian life is cultivated within us by the Holy Spirit as we depend on Him daily for our spiritual life and health. The Holy Spirit brings the tangible manifestation of God the Father and God the Son into our lives as He steadily transforms us into the likeness of Jesus— full of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control” (Galatians 5.22ff).

There is nothing more frightening to me than a “spiritless” Christianity that has denuded itself of the very power, grace, and love of God and for others that He desires to confer upon us through His Holy Spirit. The “Spiritless Christian”— in truth, an oxymoron— exchanges a relationship for a religion, makes the Church an institution rather than a living Body and treats the Bible as a rulebook and doctrinal encyclopedia rather than the Book of Life. May God spare us from this twisted orthodoxy!

It doesn’t take much for the devil to compromise a Christian. He needs to do little more than to sow apathy towards the Holy Spirit. We say we depend on the Holy Spirit, but if there is no sound of a rushing mighty wind in our lives, then I wonder if the furnace of our soul is set to simply blow hot air instead. May God save us from a synthetic Pentecost!

It is the nature of the Christian to be a woman or man whose growth reflects both the light of God’s revelation and the water of His Holy Spirit… a plant needs both to survive and grow—and we do too.

“Peace”… need I say more?

He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;

He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. (Psalm 23.2,3).

A true, deep peace of mind, heart, and consciousness is desperately rare today. Every year over 200 million working days are lost due to depression and mental illness alone cost employers anywhere from $17-44 billion. The bill for tranquilizing medication is up to $16 billion each year.

These verses breathe a glorious atmosphere of peace. Lying down suggests contentment and rest. Green pastures speak of the tender, sweet grasses which are always rich, fresh, and satisfying. There is nothing stagnant about the quiet waters mentioned here; they’re refreshing and peaceful. Restoring makes one think of something broken being mended. Today we see all around us broken hearts, homes, marriages, lives, and health.

Only Jesus can make these magnificent promises come true for us. The New Testament is full of references to the peace He offers. The gospel is called the “gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6.15). Six times God is called the “God of peace” (e.g. Philippians 4.9). The fruit of the Holy Spirit includes peace (Galatians 5.22). The most common greeting in the New Testament letters is “grace and peace” (e.g. Colossians 1.2). Jesus promised peace to His disciples (John 14.27; 16.33), and Paul prayed that the Christians in Rome and Colossae would be filled with peace (Romans 14.17; Colossians 3.15)

Peace is an essential attribute of the godly woman or man. Without it our thoughts, speech, and actions will reflect fear, selfishness, greed, suspicion, and/or restlessness. Peace cultivates compassion, self-sacrifice, fortitude, and risk. It allows us to exercise strength beneficially rather than destructively. Peace brings freedom to love beyond the boundaries of our current circumstances.

On the night in which Jesus was betrayed, John records, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.” (John 13.3-6). Here is a picture of a man at peace!

Would you take a moment right now to ask the Lord to give you peace for any area that is fraught with turbulence. And then look around you this week— at home, at play, and at work— I think you will see that you are surrounded by people who are looking for peace. Do you realize that you can make a difference in their lives? You know the One who gives peace unconditionally.

Run! …Don’t drift!

Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air… Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.

1 Corinthians 9:24-26; Hebrews 12:1, NRSV

Last week we defined “drifting” as the motion of women and men who have lost touch with their God, their relationships, their vision, their convictions, and their priorities. The good news is that drifting does not possess terminal velocity! It can be overcome— but to do so, a “drifter” must become a “runner.” In the New Testament, Paul uses the word, “run” (Gk. trecho) to describe how the Christian life is directed towards a goal which mandates that a runner apply all one’s strength. Runners must keep pace and fix their eyes on the finish line because the race, Paul describes, will last a lifetime.

Here is a sobering discovery I have learned about myself: if I stop running, I will start drifting. Therefore I must cultivate a life which can maintain the pace for faith’s marathon.

Here are seven critical needs I have discovered that are essential to my long run…

1. Runners need vision and understanding of the course set before them. Vision comes through prayer and bible study. This is fundamental and there are no substitutes. Scripture and prayer define my course, my pacing, and the standards of victory. Their absence is the first sign that I am at risk.

2. Runners need strength. How can I possibly expect to run a race like this without fatigue? Its duration is a sure sign that the demands are inhuman. I need the empowering of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes He comes like a mighty torrent and at other times as indiscernible as the oxygen I breathe. But at all times His presence in and through me will be tangibly evident by visible signs of His activity in me (i.e. assurance of my salvation, my adoption in Jesus as my Father’s son, the deluge of grace, a Spirit-release language of prayer — just to name a few).

3. Runners need heroes. I learn from those who have won and/or are further along than I am. The problem is that most women and men lack heroes who are Christian. Relationships with older Christians has had a profound impact on my life. Now I am discovering as an older man that my heroes can be much younger and still further along than me. All of this might simply mean that I am a painfully slow learner that is easily lapped by any age group!

Also devotional reading is strategic— get your hands on a copy of My Utmost For His Highest (Oswald Chambers), Morning and Evening (C. H. Spurgeon), anything by Tozer.

4. Runners need camaraderie. Show me anyone without good friends and I will show you a person who is most likely drifting. I have found that nights out (movies, sports, etc..) as well as honest and sharing relationships are critical to my race. It is easy to have many acquaintances, but few friends. The race is not intended to be lonely.

5. Runners need healthy diversions, learning opportunities, and creative outlets. For me this includes playing sports, working out, photography, night walks with the dog, a good film, trip to the museum, reading, and music. Leisure and creativity steadies my pace, increases focus, and mitigates burn out.

6. Runners need rest. Sleep, rest, quiet … without these I will suffer fatigue and I will drift. I cannot run this race without sabbath.

7. Married runners need emotionally fulfilling marriages whose covenant fidelity prohibits misplacing our desire in diversions, distractions, and/or detours that will certainly induce drift. Misplaced desires will set us adrift as we are blown about from one diversion to another.

As I age, I have become painfully self-aware that “It only takes two!” If any two from the above list are missing on a consistent basis, I am perilously close to drifting— make it three and the drifting will have already commenced.

Years ago a close friend and mentor challenged me to take the steps I needed to run a good race. To highlight the challenge before me he said, “Mark, everyone wants you to enjoy a long life and to be fruitful. You will need to be more disciplined than you are. Take exercise for example. Carol wants you to be in shape but she will not want you to take the time away from her. Your children will want you to live a long time and remain fit— but not on the family’s time. Your congregation will not want an out-of-shape pastor, nor will they want you to take the time. And I know you… In your desire to honor God, Carol, your children, and the congregation you won’t give yourself permission to exercise. What are you going to do?!” This question remains before me as I seek to run the race…

Fellow saint, if this note finds you drifting, please don’t let condemnation, regret, or fatigue persuade you that you are disqualified.

Fellow saints!

You were reborn to run…

Why do you say, “My way is hidden from the LORD…” Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:27-31, NRSV).

I hope this has been helpful…

Drifting… “it takes you away from where you want to be.”

Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. (Hebrews 2.1)

The dictionary defines “drifting” as

“1. an act or instance of being driven or carried along, as by a current of air or water or by circumstances. 2. a) a gradual shifting in position b) a random course, variation, or deviation.”

Drifting is also the movement of women and men who have lost touch with their God, their relationships, their vision, their convictions, and their priorities. It is a malaise that afflicts everyone when we continually allow circumstances, urgency, convenience, desires, pride, and disappointment to carry us along. Drifting is tantamount to abdication or surrender because drifters are consigned to “go with the flow.” When we drift we maintain the illusion of authority and responsibility, but in reality, we are simply dismantling our vision, values, priorities, hopes, and dreams to accommodate the current which carries us away. As we drift worship become a mere habit, devotions an empty obligation, inpiration and mission erode and become status quo and mediocrity.

Last week I spent time with a couple of pastors who are drifting. In both cases, they are feeling distant from God (who they believe in) and their wives (whom they love). Some of the tell-tale symptoms of “drifting” were prevalent:

• distance from God (“God seems so distant… prayer feels empty… ministry feels pointless… I am leading on auto-pilot”)

• distance from their wives and friends: (“My wife and I are not communicating… I feel closer to the people that I work with… Our love life is non-existent… my friendships feel shallow… I don’t connect with anyoneI am starting to go out with coworkers before going home…”

• distance from themself: (“I feel so out-of-shape… I need to work out… I feel restless… nothing much seems to satisfy me… I don’t read anymore… nothing inspires me… I never thought I would hear myself say these kinds of things.”)

When I was twelve, my Uncle and I “put out to sea.” After about two hours our engine went dead and we started to drift. He tried everything but to no avail. There were only two things to do: drop anchor and call for help..

When we are drifting, God promises to answer our call (cry?) with His living hope – a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul. His hope will secure us and then, like a lifeline, He will pull us into His very presence where Jesus, running ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post (Hebrews 6.19-20).

We all go through seasons when we drift— anyone who tells you she or he hasn’t is lying or dead! You are not alone. You need not drift any farther. Friend, if you are drifting, why not take a moment now to drop your anchor and call out to the Lord to embrace and strengthen you with His living hope.

[Next week I’ll share some insights that have helped this drifter (me) stay on course.]

3 lessons & a hazard

The Bible, the Holy Scriptures, is a spiritual book. Its many writers, spanning at least 1600 years, were inspired by the Spirit of God to give us His word— a word for all people everywhere and throughout all time. And because it is a spiritual book, we need the Holy Spirit to help us understand it. Nevertheless, we have a part to play— and the people of Berea (Acts 17) set us a good example:

These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Many of them, therefore, believed, including not a few Greek women and men of high standing. (Acts 17.11,12).

Let me share with you three basic lessons we can learn from the Bereans in Acts 17 and conclude with one occupational hazard we are uniquely susceptible to as teachers and preachers of God’s Word.

3 Lessons
First, they were willing to learn: “They welcomed the message.“ Clearly, they were open to God. Before we read the Bible, we need to be quiet in God’s presence and welcome God’s voice to speak His Word in a penetrating way that overcomes any resistance to the message He will bring to us. Welcoming His message will require a daily willingness to surrender.

Second, they were disciplined: they “examined the Scriptures every day.“ This is where scheduled Bible reading guides (The Lectio, Life Journal, Lectionary, Chronological Bible, etc.) may prove helpful. Don’t compare your Bible reading schedule with anyone else’s. Some read through the Bible in a year. Others choose the First Testament or the Second Testament to read through in a year. Still, others focus on a single book. What matters is the daily devotion, not the annual bragging rights for the quantity covered.

Third, they were obedient: “Many of them believed.“ This book is not for the merely curious. God uses it to change lives. When God speaks, we must act. Bonhoeffer, in his masterpiece, The Cost of Discipleship observed: “It is so hard to believe because it is so hard to obey... only the one who believes obeys and only the one who obeys believes.“ We are wasting our time when we read the Word without a readiness to obey the Word. Perhaps, even worse than wasting our time is the fact that reading the Scriptures without a willingness to submit to the Scriptures will cultivate a hardened heart and a resistant spirit that is indifferent to the Word we read.

This leads me to an occuptational hazard particularly common to pastors…

Our Occupational Hazard
Forgive me if I am projecting my own experience, but I think sermon-mining is an occupational hazard facing every pastor who conscientiously endeavors to fulfill their sacred responsibility to teach and preach God’s Word. It is the well-intentioned, but compromised, habit of daily Bible reading with one eye and ear open on behalf of the congregations we serve. The “eureka“ of sermon-mining is the verse and accompanying insight that elicits a “that will preach!“ I found, in my life, it quickly took over as my reason for reading the Scriptures daily and frequently led to disappointment when my efforts produced nothing.

Semon-mining eventually makes our Bible reading a surrogate experience where we actually end up reading the Bible — mining God’s word on behalf of others. Ultimately, this will misdirect our attention, stunt our spiritual growth, and foster a gentle yet pastoral legalism that is better equipped to spot the splinter in our congregants‘ eyes rather than the plank in our own.

So if this is a hazard, how do we avoid it? Let me share what liberated me.

Several years ago, while I thought I was engaged in my daily Scripture reflection, I felt the Spirit of God convict me, saying: “Don’t bother with your reading. Come back when you are wanting me to speak with you and for you.“ That morning, God’s convicting word was like an intervention. For all of my daily discipline, I had fallen into the very dangerous space of reading the Bible for the purpose of telling others. When I asked God for a solution, He inspired me to put a “firewall“ around my daily Bible reading. Nothing I would read and/or write down was allowed to be “sermonized“ for a minimum of one year! This remains true to this day. This simple practice transformed the meaning and restored the value of welcoming God’s word to me daily with fresh expectancy.

In Conclusion
Jerome, the 4th-century translator of  the Scriptures into Latin, observed, “The bulwark of the Church is that person who is well grounded in Scripture.“ What would the communities we pastor look like if we were benefiting from minds and hearts that were filled with life-giving and life-shaping knowledge of God’s Word? Jesus promises that anyone alive to the Word of God-- whether pastor or congregant--  will be the one who holds it fast in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patient endurance. (see Luke 8.15)

Let me conclude with this confession of DietrichBonhoeffer — a 20th-Century Berean::

I read the Bible in the morning and the evening and often during the day as well.  And every day I consider a text which I have chosen for the whole week and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying.  I know that without this I could not live properly any longer.  And I certainly could not believe.

Patience… really?!

“I had my patience tested. It was negative” Unknown

“Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.” Guy Kawasaki

“I wish I was as thin as my patience.” Unknown

I am not a patient person… I thought I might be until the shelter-in-place of 2020 disrupted my serene life by telling me all the things I could not do — even if I wanted to! Such is the reality of human nature… that is why I enjoy the cartoon above!

Confession: I think I have learned to wear the facade of patience, but I realize on many occasions, there is little behind the mask. I fear the “gown of patience” is little more than the “emperor’s new clothes” on me.

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently… (Romans 8.25)

But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. (1Timothy 1.16)

There are two Greek words in the New Testament that are translated as “patience.” One is upomeno which is comprised of two words meaning to “remain under.” The other word is makrothumia which again is made up of two words meaning “long temper.” While they appear, on the surface, to be used interchangeably in the New Testament, they actually have distinct meanings. Upomeno means patience in relation to difficult circumstances, and makrothumia means patience in relation to difficult people. The King James Bible translates the latter by the English phrase, “long-suffering,” which generally means a forbearing, patient spirit before those who do things that irritate, agitate, or generally “bug” us. Paul frequently uses this word in counsel with the leaders and fellowships he corresponded with.

Here is the challenge that confronts me: I can be a patient leader when it comes to endurance and perseverance (upomeno) amidst obstacles and circumstances. Yet, at the same time, I can be a leader completely lacking in patience (makrothumia) with the very people God is calling me to serve. Upomeno will be tested by circumstances; makrothumia will be tested in community.

Makrothumia patience is not the passive tolerance of another’s irritating behaviors or opinions. It is not the quiet endurance of irregular personalities, and neither should it be confused with the capacity to remain silent in the presence of people whose words and ways you may find outrageous. Do not confuse patience for self-discipline — the latter does not define the former.

A quick reading of the New Testament passages containing this word (see below) indicates that patience involves intentional personal engagement that endures resistance, indifference, or offense in the hope of engaging lives with Jesus. In this light, patience is the tangible expression of the grace of Christ meeting us where we are and abiding with us despite who we are so that we may grow in the likeness of Him.

This has two immediate implications for me:

1. We can only bring the Kingdom when we welcome the Spirit-filled endowment for patience. Impatient grace is an oxymoron — a contradiction in terms. Hostility, judgmentalism, and intolerance will sabotage God’s gracious patience (see Romans 2.3-4) and, therefore, undermine our mission and our missional effectiveness. It will be the undeserved and unconditional constancy and consistency of God’s grace expressed through intentionally patient engagement that will persuade lives to surrender to Jesus.

2. A united covenant community can only be secured with patience. Community is messy. Whether that community be a small group, a local congregation, an online congregation, a Western District, or a Foursquare denomination. Communities without patience suffer anxiety because there is no confidence that we are in this together for the long haul. Fragile is the community that fears it is one disagreement away from disintegration. It is makrothumia, not agreement, that secures the covenant unity that I believe God longs for on our behalf. It relentlessly persists despite disagreement, it will not retreat in the wake of gossip or backbiting, nor will it give up contending for the unity we are commanded to embrace.

Without patience, our unity will be unobtainable and our mission will be unfruitful.

This summer, Carol and I will celebrate 45 years of marriage. Our marriage has not been secured by our mutual agreements, the expressions of kindness, or our fidelity. Ultimately, it has been secured by makrothumia patience — this patience assures each other that we will be committed to one another despite our disagreements, unkind words, or seasons of “distance.” We will persist and cover one another with patience until that day when Christ is fully formed in both of us.

Western District, will you join me in praying for patience to multiply among us?

---

Scriptures with makrothumia - what do you learn when you read these verses?

Rom. 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Rom. 9:22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction,

2Cor. 6:6 in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,

Gal. 5:22    By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,

Eph. 4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Col. 1:11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully

Col. 3:12    Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.

1Tim. 1:16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.

2Tim. 3:10    Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,

2Tim. 4:2 proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage with the utmost patience in teaching.

Heb. 6:12 so that you may not become sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

James 5:10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

1Pet. 3:20 who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water.

2Pet. 3:15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

Jesus dull?! Give me a break!

Last Saturday, I flew from San Diego to Oakland to speak at The Rock in Danville, Ca. I was sitting next to a woman who asked me the proverbial question, “What do you do?” I did not give her my usual answer (more on this another time), which usually creates conversation. I wanted to discourage conversation, so I simply answered, “I’m a pastor.” She clicked her tongue patronizingly and said, “Christianity? No thanks… too dull for me.”

That was the last answer I expected… honestly, I was momentarily speechless before I responded: “Your answer really caught me off guard. In the first-century world that witnessed the birth of Christianity, friend and foe alike had many descriptive words for Christianity, but I can assure you that “dull” was not on the list! Please forgive us if we have given you that impression. In fact, today, around the world, people are discovering a fullness of life they had only dreamed of before meeting Jesus.”

We proceeded to have a great discussion that ended in my inviting her to the church… But it did cause me to reflect on what I wish I had been prepared to say. If God ever gives me a “do-over” with this conversation, I would want to answer with the following.

For we cannot stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard. (Acts 4.20)

There is nothing dull about Jesus. Jesus is the most compelling personality in history. In His day, some may have thought Him subversive, others radical, and still others considered Him dangerous. The one word no one would have considered using was dull. More books have been written about Him, more music composed to honor Him, and more art directed towards Him than any other figure in history. Go to nearly any country today, and you will meet people who vividly describe their personal encounters with Him. In fact, no minute of the day passes without men, women, youth, and children singing His praise and extolling His majesty. The sun never sets on the praises of His people.

There is nothing dull about His teaching. No boring dos and don’ts. No long sermons filled with empty and esoteric jargon. No theological abstractions or spiritual elitism. His teaching was memorable and powerful. Nearly all of His most revered teachings were spoken outdoors. Women and children, as well as men, were invited to listen— and listen, they did! On one occasion, over 5,000 gathered to listen to this teacher from Nazareth. He spoke about money, sex, power, forgiveness, anger, peace, apocalyptic futures, heaven, hell, marriage, divorce, lust, and greed. His perspective was frequently revolutionary but never dull!

There is nothing dull about the claims of Jesus. He claimed to teach the truth with the final authority of God Himself. He claimed to be able to forgive sins— something only God can do! He claimed that He would judge the world. He claimed that He was able to satisfy the deepest longing of the human heart. He claimed to be God’s Son. He claimed the right to receive worship. C.S. Lewis says it best when he comments:

The really foolish thing that people say about Him is that “I’m ready to accept Him as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.” A man who is merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—  on a level with a man who says he is a poached egg—  or else He would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse.

There is nothing dull about His challenge. Jesus did not send people away to write books, sequester themselves in monasteries, require celibacy, or offer good advice. He did not mince words when He said: “Come to me,” “Follow me,” “Sell all you have,” “Lay down your life for me,” or “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do what I tell you?” He challenged his followers to pay their taxes, to love their enemies, to bless their oppressors, to become servants, to rejoice in their sufferings, to love one another as He had loved them, and to take up their own cross and follow Him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer summarized Christ’s challenge this way: “When Christ calls people, He bids them come and die.”

Anyone who finds Him dull has not found Him. That person may have seized the counterfeit clone that religion can create, but she or he does not know Jesus! The Jesus I know will love you, surprise you, convict you, empower you, send you, free you, purify you, fill you, lead you, discipline you, forgive you, save you, deliver you, and bless you. There is no boredom in His presence. Even silence and stillness become alive with the fullness of His presence.

No, there is nothing dull about Jesus… My prayer is that our life, leadership, and witness in Christ will be a living repudiation of this lie… and I pray that next time I will be more prepared!

what is your greatest challenge?

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” And the captain of the Lord’s  host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. (Joshua 5.13-15)

That was then… this is now…

Then Joshua was forty years younger…
Then Moses was in charge…
Then God seemed to work miracles daily…
Then there was so much momentum, but…

Then common sense supplanted faith…
Then the people abandoned their future to fear…
Then the nation wandered for forty years…
Then Joshua witnessed the death
of his generation…

But that was then, and this is now…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Jericho’s walls are no smaller…
Now Jericho’s streets are no less populated…
Now Jericho’s might has not diminished…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now he stands before a fortified city…
Now he has no battle plans…
Now the risks of defeat are real…

Now Joshua is forty years older—and the underdog.
Now his troops are young and inexperienced…
Now he does not hold a strategic position…
Now he lacks the element of surprise…
Now he needs a miracle…

That was then… this is now…

Then it was the eve of a great battle…
Then behold! A man was standing opposite him…
Then the man’s sword was drawn…
Then Joshua lifted up his eyes and looked…

Now Joshua is still forty years older…
Now he is not the warrior he once was…
Now Joshua is still a man of vision;
Now there is still hope…
Now Joshua still sees...

Jericho is not just a city to conquer…
Jericho is not merely the enemy…
Jericho is not simply an obstacle to overcome…
Jericho is not a racial issue (Jew vs. Gentile)…
Jericho is not solely the execution of divine wrath…

Now Joshua is forty years older…
Now Joshua is a man of vision and
Now Joshua sees the truth…

Before Jericho falls…
Joshua must bow…
Before Jericho is defeated…
Joshua must surrender…

Loved ones, you stand at the threshold of a strategic season full of our Father’s opportunities for you. Yet vision without surrender is thinly disguised vanity. Your greatest challenge for this season will not be cultural trends, social indifference, or shallow commitments. Your greatest challenge will not be acquisitions, growth, change, loss, sorrow or your age.

Your greatest challenge will be to bow fully and surrender daily to Jesus Christ. This means surrendering to Him everything in your life that you are currently withholding. It even requires surrendering our limiting ideas of what surrendering to Jesus means. It means yielding to a surrender that will daily disrupt our lives. Past surrenders do not give you a pass from daily surrender. Surrender is similar to manna… it dissolves each day the moment our head hits the pillow. It must be summoned daily and deliberately engaged.

Joshua learned that God does not take sides but calls us to surrender to His…