Seedplots

Whose kingdom are they advancing, mine or Gods?   Sobering, isn’t it.  We who lead God’s people will be judged more strictly — for our words.  Words are the powerful tool we use to minister to others.  Those words have the power to either build others up or tear them down.

This challenging question is from author Paul Trip’s in the forthcoming book, The Power of Words and the Wonder of God. Read the quote and ponder:

I would ask you again to be humbly honest with yourself as you are reading. If I sat with you and I listened to recording of the last month of your words, whose kingdom, what kingdom, would I conclude those words are spoken to serve? Would it be the kingdom of self with its self-focused demandingness, expectancy, and entitlement? Would I hear a person who is quick to criticize, quick to judge, quick to slam, and quick to condemn, because people are always violating the laws of your kingdom? Is the greatest moral offense in your life an offense that someone makes against the laws of your kingdom? When this happens do you use words as a punishment or as a weapon? Do you use words to rein this person back into loyal service of the purposes of your kingdom of one?

Or would I hear you using words of love, honestly, encouragement, and service because your heart is taken up with the big-sky purposes of the kingdom of God. The entire law is summarized by a single command. If you had written that, what would you have written next? I probably would have written, “Love God above all else.” But that is clearly not what Paul writes. He writes, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Why is that an adequate summary of all that God calls me to? Oh, it is important to get this truth. It is only when I love God above all else that I will ever love my neighbor as myself. It’s only when God is in the rightful place in my life that I will treat you with the love that I have received from him. Brothers and sisters, hear this. You don’t fix language problems, you don’t fix communication problems, and you don’t fix word problems horizontally first; you first fix them vertically.  From www.theologica.blogspot.com

In this series of postings, I’m slowly working my way through Charles Bridges’ classic book Christian Ministry.

In Chapters 4-5 Bridges stresses the importance of a “realistic perspective” for those who lead God’s people.

A “realistic perspective” involves a realistic understanding of the trials and difficulties faced in ministry (Chapter 4) as well as the sustaining resources God provides (Chapter 5).

This posting summarizes the “sustaining resources” God provides.

Christian Ministry (Charles Bridges)  – Chapter 5

The trials and difficulties that accompany “Christian ministry” place us “under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure” (2 Corinthians 1:8).  This can end up being for our good if these pressures humble us and crowd us to Christ.  When we turn to him in our weakness, we “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).  Bridges mentions six wonderful provisions Christ provides for the comfort and encouragement of those who lead his people.

1. He empowers us through his almighty Spirit
Sooner or later, everyone involved in leading other Christians is forced to cry out, “Who is equal to such a task?” (2 Corinthians 2:16).  God is the one who makes us adequate to the task and he does this through the provision of his Spirit.  Christian ministry is the “ministry of the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:4-18). He is the one who convicts of sin, who opens blind eyes, who makes what is dead alive.

2. He refreshes us by allowing us to see people converted and grow in Christlikeness
There is no greater joy than when God allows us to see sinners converted and/or believers grow in faith, hope, and love as a result of ministry. This refreshes us and causes us to overflow with thanksgiving and gratitude that God has chosen to use us.  Paul testified, “For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord “(1 Thess. 3:7-8).

3. He encourages us through the affection and sympathy of those we lead
Christian ministers often endure the scorn of unbelievers. When believers whom we lead see us endure difficulties because of our service to Christ, they often respond with affection and sympathy. When they do, it can greatly comfort and encourage us.

4. He cause us to grow spiritually through involvement in ministry to others
One of the side effects to Christian ministry is the opportunities it provides us to grow ourselves. A person working in a factory, for example, focuses his attention throughout the day on things that have nothing to do with God. Those who lead God’s people, in contrast, focus their attention throughout the day on the concerns of eternity. As they spend time in prayer and the ministry of the Word, their minds are preoccupied with God. The natural result of this is personal growth in godliness.

5. He strengthens our faith as we see God’s Word change those we minister to
When we use God’s Word to minister to others and their lives are impacted and changed, our confidence in God’s Word grows.

6. He encourages us with hope of being rewarded in eternity for faithful service
Those who lead God’s people will be rewarded for faithful service. Peter encouraged fellow pastors by reminding them that “When the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4).  Yes, Christian ministry is difficult and costly. But the rewards outweigh the difficulties.

Before he left his disciples, Jesus promised, “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).  Look again at this promise.

• Christ says “always.” In any and every difficult the Christian minister faces, this promises applies.
• Christ says “I am with you.” He comforts us by his presence and his Spirit. He defends us in troubles, even when everyone else forsakes us. Since he is there with us, there is not just cause for fear or cowardness. As Paul testified, “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18).
• Christ says “to the end of the age.” This promises applies to us as much as it did to the first apostles.

Such a promise encourages us to not give up but to work all the harder in the midst of the trials and difficulties that accompany Christian ministry.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Matt. 6:10

Jesus, in the “Lord’s prayer,” gave His disciples a pattern for daily fellowship with God in prayer.

Our tendency is to be preoccupied with our needs and concerns instead of God and his plans. Jesus turns this around and begins with God and his concerns:

• Hallowed by your name.
• Your kingdom come
• Your will be done

After praying for God’s glory, i.e. for His name to be hallowed, we turn our attention to God’s kingdom.  May it come, O Lord! we pray.

This prayer has a two-fold sense.  It is, of course, a prayer for Jesus’ return and the establishment of God’s kingdom in all its glory.  When that happens, the Father’s will actually will be “done on earth as it is in heaven.”

But the prayer also has a present dimension.  It is a prayer of submission to God and His will. Jesus is my king. His kingdom or rule is present in my life. Lord, we pray, Let your will be done in my life today. This requires a giving up my will and submitting to God’s will for us.

Each day, when we meet with God, we begin with Worship and Praise.  Then we submit our will to His.

“Heavenly Father,” we can say, “in my life, in what happens today, I want you to be praised. I want people to see who you are and how great you are.” “In my life today, and in the lives of people I come into contact with today, I want your reign to come, to be made manifest.” “In my life, in all I do today, I want your will to be done, not mine. Whatever you wish, let it happen, just as it happens in heaven.”

Day after day come to God in submission, lay down your will and submit yourself to Him.  “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33)

An influential Christian leader was recently asked, “What single bit of counsel has made the most significant difference in your effective use of time?”  He answered,

A great tree will fall with many small chops.
Pray for daily grace to keep chopping.

I’m learning the wisdom of this advice in the small things of my life.

For years I’ve I’ve had on my “Things to Do” – Someday/Maybe list the entry “Catalog my library”. I’m managed to group my library into categories tailored to my ministry focus but haven’t succeeded in actually getting around to entering the books into a database and preparing the corresponding book spine labels.  It always seemed like too big a project.

Now I’ve started the project using “small chops.”  Using an internet service called the LibraryThing I’m entering 5 or 6 books a day.  The site is working well for me – I just enter the ISBN number and up pops the book, with all the bibliographic date and even a photo of the book.  Amazing!

I’ve put this in my list of daily routines and I’m finding it takes less than 10 minutes a day.  It’s working!  If I keep it up eventually I’ll have the books entered and catalogued and the web site will give me an exportable listing of my library that I can import into Excel, EndNotes and Zotero.

In 1 Corinthians 2, Paul described his determination to avoid the “lofty speech and wisdom” so popular in the Corinth of his day.

In the book The Cross and Christian Ministry, D.A. Carson comments,

Such oratory made Paul nervous.  It affords far too many temptations to pride to be safe for anyone interesting in preaching the gospel of the crucified Messiah.  So Paul made a choice.  He “resolved” to adopt a more restrictive course, even though he was cutting across the stream of cultural expectations.  When the pressure to ‘contextualize’ the gospel jeopardizes the message of the cross… the cultural pressures must be ignored (pg 34).

In this book, Carson, in a wonderful section on “The Preacher of the Cross” (2:1-5) draws four conclusions that are worth pondering:

1.  Proclaim the testimony about God
“There is nothing wrong with sharing.  But something important is lost if we never speak or think of preaching and proclamation… if we focus on the powerful proclamation of the gospel, we shall be less likely to be seduced by siren calls to soften the sheer non-negotiability inhered in preaching.”

2.  Focus on Christ crucified
“What he means is that all he does and teaches is tied to the cross.  He cannot long talk about Christian joy, or Christian ethics, or Christian fellowship, or the Christian doctrine of God, or anything else, without finally tying it to the cross.  Paul is gospel-centered; he is cross centered.”

3.  Do not fear weakness, illness, or a sense of being overwhelmed
“Such experiences are often the occasions when God most greatly displays his power.  As long as people are impressed by your powerful personality and impressive gifts, there is very little room for you to impress them with a crucified Savior.”

4.  Strenuously avoid manipulating people
“[Paul] avoids persuasion that is manipulative… It is the truth and power of the gospel that must change people’s lives… Deal straightforwardly with the gospel.”

5.  Recognize that a cross-centered ministry is characterized by the Spirit’s power and is vindicated in transformed lives
“That is what we need: unction, the anointing of the Spirit, the demonstration of the Spirit’s power.  Where that power is present, people cannot help but know it, and the faith of those who turn to Christ is safely anchored in God himself.”

Current reading  . . .

In an effort to encourage others to read, I share
what I’m currently reading.

Patterns of Discipleship in the New Testament
ed. Richard N. Longenecker, 1996, Eerdmans
This is a helpful and unique book. I’m reading it in preparation for a class I’ll be teaching in May.

All God’s People: A Theology of the Church
David L. Smith, 1996/2004, Victor Books/ Wipf & Stock
Professor Smith surveys the doctrine of the Church from four perspectives:  Historical Theology, Biblical Theology, Systematic Theology and Practical Theology.

For the Love of Preaching: The Life Story of Howard F. Sugden,
Don Denyes, 2004, Wellington House
Pastor Sugden was my pastor during my Grade School and High School years, and later on when I served as a ministry intern in the church, so this book has special meaning for me.

Recently finished  . . .

An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach
Bruce Waltke, 2007, Zondervan – Selected Sections

Psalm 5, in the view of some commentators, continues in poetic form the description of David’s flight from his son Absalom.  If this is correct, he’s now spent two nights in the desert.

David is awake and ready to begin another day.  He’s still on the run and still in danger.

The Psalm alternates between paragraphs about those who seek God, morning by morning, and those who reject God.  It’s almost an application of Psalm 1 (the “two ways”) to David’s situation.  The Psalm can be diagrammed like this:

David,  in his “groaning” (lit. sighing), cries out to God in prayer at the start of the day (vs 1-2).  Then he waits and watches, expectantly, to see how God will answer his prayer (vs 3).

I love the vivid, descriptive way David prays at the end of the Psalm (vv 11-12).  He speaks of God as our “refuge” (Ps 5:11) or “place of shelter.”   The term “take refuge” used here occurs 35x in Scripture and refers to:

A place where one will find safety, rest, or comfort, implying the place of refuge is a place to be trusted to keep one safe (Jdg 9:15; 2Sa 22:3) (Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages).

As we enter another day, not knowing what is ahead, we begin the day with prayer, crying out to him.  David’s “morning prayer” is a great pattern for us.

1. We begin the day knowing that God “hears our cry.
2. We pray, laying our needs before him.
3. We watch, and wait, as we begin the day, looking to see what God will do.
4. As we go through the day, we continually ask God to “lead us and “make our paths straight.”
5. We turn to God during the day our refuge, our shelter and our trusted place of rest.
6. Experiences of God’s favor and blessing during the day cause us to respond with joyful praise and singing

Last week I wrote a short post on Jesus’ teaching us to pray “Hallowed by your name.” It ended with a challenge to make this prayer an important part of our own daily prayer life.

Today I noticed a great posting on the same verse by John Piper.  I reproduce it here…
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“The most important prayer is that the most important person in the universe do the most important act in the universe.  That’s why Jesus put this request at the beginning of the Lord’s prayer: “Hallowed be your name.”

God is the most important person in the universe. More important than all others put together.

All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness” (Isaiah 40:17).

The whole-souled act of hallowing God’s name is the most important act in the universe.

To “hallow” means to “sanctify” which in God’s case means to set apart in your mind and heart as supremely great and beautiful and valuable. “Hallowed be your name” means,

“See to it that your name is hallowed. Use your infinite power and wisdom and love to stir up billions of hearts and minds to admire you and prize you above all things.”

We ask him to fulfill this promise:

I will sanctify [hallow] my great name, which was profaned among the nations…. And the nations shall know that I am the Lord…when I shall be sanctified [hallowed] in you before their eyes.” (Ezekiel 36:23)

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Isaiah 48:11)

Ask the Lord to help you make the most important prayer your most common prayer.  And the one you desire most to see answered.”

(Here’s the link: The Most Important Prayer Request in the World)

Here’s a simple checklist that can help a person use their time well.  Paste it up near your desk or in your planner and use on a daily basis!

1. Rise early
2. Start with the most important tasks
3. Do not multi-task (unless the nature of the task is to multi-task)
4. Prevent interruptions (but make time for people)
5. Organize your time into the largest continuous blocks possible
6. Actually do what you need to do

From Matt Perman’s blog, What’s Best Next

J. Robert Clinton, in his helpful writings on Finishing Well as a spiritual leader, observes that one of the dangers leaders face that keep them from finishing well is that of Spiritual Plateaus.

These are times in a leader’s life when he or she stops growing spiritually and just “coasts.”  A spiritually plateaued leader often is able to fulfill his or her job responsibilities and “keep the program going”

From the outside, everything may appear normal.  But inside, the leader is no longer growing.  He or she needs a time of spiritual renewal; of meeting God in a fresh way.  If this does not happen, that leader will not “finish well,” warns Dr. Clinton.

The following list, from Neil Cole’s book Organic Leadership (pg 22-25), can help us recognize some of the signs of this problem.  A spiritually plateaued leader…

1. Avoids relationships of personal accountability
2. Rarely applies the truths of God’s Word to himself personally
3. Has replaced his joy, peace, and love with envy and resentment
4. Frequently looks for greener pastures in other places
5. Finds faults in others more often than in self
6. Is burned out with busyness that has been substituted for simply intimacy with Christ
7. Compromises on ethical principles once held dear
8. Stays within safe areas of expertise rather than new learning endeavors
9. Is unable to acknowledge the wisdom of others
10. Has reduced the Christian life to a routine

(Here’s the link this was taken from)

In this series of postings, I’m slowly working my way through Charles Bridges’ classic book Christian Ministry.

In Chapters 4-5 Bridges stresses the importance of a “realistic perspective” for those who lead God’s people.

A “realistic perspective” involves a realistic understanding of the trials and difficulties faced in ministry (Chapter 4) as well as the sustaining resources God provides (Chapter 5).

This posting summarizes the “trials and difficulties” leaders face.

Christian Ministry (Charles Bridges)  – Chapter 4

Bridges discusses the “trials and difficulties” faced by those who lead God’s people in Chapter 4.   These are part and parcel of their calling.  Unless leaders are aware of this in advance, they will not be prepared to face the powerful temptation to give up that comes when they face these problems.

These trials and difficulties are due to the restless and subtle activity of the tempter, Satan.  We meet them in three primarily arenas – in the world around us, in the churches we lead, and within ourselves.   Satan’s aim is to reduce our effectiveness as servants of God.  He succeeds when he gets us to divert our focus our time and energy on things (often good things) other than what God has called us to, or by paralyzing us through unbelief and causing us to stop trusting God and his Word.

A)  Trials and Difficulties faced “in the world”

“If they persecuted me,” Jesus reminded his “leaders in training,” they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).  Ministry done in Jesus’ name provokes a reaction from non-believers.   When we tell people the truth, Bridges warns, we can quickly become “the enemy instead of the friend.”  This opens us up to the temptation to be unfaithful to our master.  Resisting this temptation demands much prayer and faith.

B)  Trials and Difficulties faced “in the church”

Bridges explains this trial vividly,

It is not easy to oversee a congregation of volunteers, to feed their souls, to win their children and neighbors, and do it with patience.  It is not easy to “watch and pray” over them and to value them as those God has purchased with his blood, remembering all the while that we will be judged for the quality of our service.  To do so, we will need to be prepared to suffer, just as our Lord suffering in his ministry.  This requires creativity, diligence, discernment and a large portion of the “gentleness and meekness of Christ.

All of this causes a person to sink into despondency unless a high estimation of the Church, the constraining influence of Jesus’ love, and the upholding prop of God’s grace bears us up.  We end up, Bridges writes, exclaiming, “Who is adequate for these things!”

C) Trials and Difficulties from within

Finally, those who lead God’s people face trials and difficulties from within.  The greatest difficulties faced by leaders come from within, due to our corrupt nature.  When things go well in our service, we face the danger of becoming proud and self-confident, attributing our success to ourselves.  When things don’t go well, we face the opposite danger of becoming become impatient or despondent.  We can easily end up “going through the motions,” but “loosing our zeal our work, excusing ourselves from ministry that is difficult and requires sacrifice, and eventually falling into depression.”

Bridges address God’s more than adequate provision of sustaining resources for those who lead God’s people in Chapter 5.  I’ll summarize these in a posting next week.

The Bible is a marvelous book. God’s message to us is right there, plainly visible on the surface of its stories, letters and written down sermons. As we read it or hear it read, we see God in action, working to bring glory to himself and salvation to the nations and to individuals.

When one gets below the surface of the text and digs down deeper, the wonderful structure and fabric of the Bible begins to emerge. The interconnecting themes that hold the Bible together are amazing.

When we follow them forward, or backward, they all end up at the same place – Jesus.

This week I studied in more detail 1 Samuel 1-2. The books of Samuel are important because they introduce kingship, David the model king, and the promise of a great king, the son of David, whose rule will be eternal. The stage is being set for the kingdom of God and the coming of Jesus, the true King.

What struck me was how this all began with crisis and prayer. Crisis in the nation and crisis in one woman’s life. A cry of desperation to God for a king, and a cry of desperation from a hurting woman for a child.

That should encourage us in our context and our need, shouldn’t it? God is a God who hears prayer and acts. When he acts, his mission goes forward … in spite of desperate circumstances.

In fact, we could almost say because of desperate circumstances God’s mission goes forward.  Those circumstances and our need drive us to God in prayer.  And then, and only then, God begins to act.

“… hallowed be your name” Matt. 6:9

Jesus, in the “Lord’s prayer,” gave his disciples a pattern for daily fellowship with God in prayer.

This pattern, as I understand it, includes five types of prayer:

1) Worship and Praise
2) Submission to God and His will
3) Petition, i.e. requests for our daily needs
4) Repentance and forgiveness
5) Prayer for spiritual victory.

Notice that Daily Prayer begins with a Godward focus.  Even though He is my loving Father, even though he cares about meeting my needs – my initial focus is not be on me, but Him.

We begin our daily prayer, Jesus teaches us, by focusing on God’s interests. What God is most concerned about is that He receives glory from his creation, i.e. that His name be hallowed. Hallowed means to be regarded as special, separate from all else, exalted.  Are you praying for this daily?

We begin our time of daily fellowship with God in prayer by “Hallowing His name” ourselves.  We tell Him how great, awesome and majestic He is. We praise Him for who He is and for what he has done. Then we pray that others would come to see Him for who He really is; that others would praise and worship Him too.
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Today, as we think about what Jesus did for us on the cross, the following exhortation from John Piper seems especially appropriate.

He challenges us to “never let the gospel get small.” We do this by seeking “to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.”

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

• grace gets bigger;
• Christ gets greater;
• his death gets more wonderful;
• his resurrection gets more astonishing;
• the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
• the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
• its global extent gets wider;
• your own sin gets uglier;
• the devil gets more evil;
• the gospel’s roots in eternity go deeper;
• its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
• and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.

Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.

Here’s the original link.

Godly character is crucial for those who lead God’s people because our lives are an “example” or “model” to those we lead.  They become like us!

But how is godly character developed?

Character develops out of our response to trouble and tribulation.  The way we respond and the decisions we make while under stress shapes the kind of people we become.

Accepting responsibility, making decisions that please God, speaking the truth in love and trusting God in impossible situations, over time, leads to growth in godly character.  This cannot occur without the training of our conscious by the Word of God to discern right and wrong.

As part of his training program, God allows trouble and difficulty to flow into our lives.  These times of “suffering” are for our good.  In 2 Corinthians 1:3-11, Scripture gives us several truths that help us through these difficult times:

When we suffer, God comforts us
The word “comfort” occurs 10 times in vv. 3-7. The Greek word means “standing beside a person to encourage him when he is undergoing severe testing.” Here it is in the present tense – God comforts us constantly and unfailingly – in our afflictions. Comfort in the New Testament is more than just sympathy. It is the comfort which brings courage and enables a peson to cope with life’s problems.

Our experience of God’s comfort equips us to give comfort to others
We have to pass through suffering to be equipped to comfort others.

The proper response to suffering is patient endurance
Greek word is here is hupomone. The word means, not bleak, grim acceptance, but triumph in times of trouble. We are not simply to accept suffering but to triumph over it. It literally means to “remain under the pressure.”  If we “get out from under it the trouble”  then we will face this lesson all over again in God’s curriculum.

Suffering teaches us to rely on God
Something happened to Paul in Ephesus which was almost beyond bearing. Our human tendency is to advertise the fact that we are suffering. Paul didn’t do this. In this section he doesn’t even tell us what the suffering was!  Instead the focus of the text is on what resulted from Paul’s troubles – it taught him, Paul says, to rely on God.

Suffering causes us to depend on the prayers of others
The other extreme is to avoid even mentioning our troubles.  This is not the right approach either.  Paul shared his problems so that people would pray. It often is our pride that keeps us from doing this.  The end result, says Paul, is that God is robbed of the glory and thanksgiving that he would otherwise receive had people prayed for us in our need and seen God answer those prayers.