Growing Strong Giving Glory to God

Laura and I were going over a discipleship lesson on faith and perseverance, and Abraham was the example. You read, "No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God." Interesting that Paul and the Spirit mention this. Abraham and Sarah did waver. They waited long and got lost in the waiting, finally wondering how God would do it. Maybe they misunderstood the "means" by which the promise would be fulfilled. But here is the incredible thing. They never wavered concerning THE PROMISE. They never doubted God's ability or intent to fulfill the promise.

So we have a promise of fruit in the harvest and that the fields are white. Now, we can get lost in waiting and wonder about the means, but we can't give up, because the promise is sure.

Then it says, "but he (Abraham) grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced God was able to do what He had promised." How did he grow strong in faith by giving glory to God? What did Abraham give glory to God in? Being fully convinced in God's ability was one thing, but apparently Abraham secretly and publicly (he was surrounded by a small town of servants) drew attention to and gave thanks for all that God did. He didn't miss the constant provision of God's obvious care and He must have encouraged himself and Sarah and everyone else in God's greatness and presence with them. Abraham grew strong seeing and acknowledging all the grace of God in his waiting for the promise.

Being "fully convinced" is easy to say, but the persistence of faith and the honest appreciation for all of God's kindness separates the men from the boys. It is out of the abundance of this love for God and understanding of His presence that the disciple lives patiently waiting for God to fulfill His purpose in our lives and our working for Him. I think of the scene in "The Hiding Place" where Betsy had just had her head dusted with DDT, and then standing next to one of the concentration camp guards remarks on what a beautiful day God had made. God was kind and great and working even in such confusion and tragedy.

Abraham never gave up. He waited 25 years for God to fulfill His promise. Every day as he woke next to Sarah, in his tent, he revisited where he was and why he was there: God's promise. He was, and always would be a foreigner in Canaan. He lived taking care of the daily tasks, knowing that God would soon do something great. And Abraham never gave up and grew strong.

God has promised us fruit in His harvest as disciples. We are ambassadors. The power of God is in the Gospel. So, we should never give up. Someday the Lord will take us out of the battle, but until then we need to work toward and expect fruit in the harvest, and keep on working, growing strong in our faith.

And what if we have to wait a long time? We need to wait well, like Abraham, giving glory to God, seeing His hand in the day-to-day and shining the light of our lives on Him and His grace. 

So who wants to have faith like Abraham?  I don’t think anyone would want to pay that price.  What would the “training” look like to have faith that would move mountains?  But really, we only needed one Abraham, and I’m not interested in mountains, but to have faith to see thousands trust Christ and to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples…. I’d sign up for that course, but I’m already enrolled.

Abraham did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body which was as good as dead, being about 100 years old or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.  No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced God was able to do what He had promised.

Always Steady in the Harvest

When he wrote Timothy in 2Timothy, Paul was within months of the end of his life. I'm sure for Timothy and those who had only known Paul as their mentor and "hero," it was a hard reality to think of him actually dying. Somehow Paul's death, like his suffering and persecutions, were a part of God's plan, not something gone wrong. It all fit together, but they had to grasp that and not panic.

Some of Paul's final words to Timothy were, "As for you, always be steady (self-controlled, clear-headed, self-possessed), endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5

Always be steady. Something about being trained by God in the reality of following, in the reality of this world, in the reality of His love should make us steady. Paul kind of says this in Romans 8. Especially when you know that Nero was about to "light a fire" under the church, being steady was not going to be easy to do. Yet living in the reality of God's truth is what we are trained in as disciples.  It is crucial if we’re going to work in the harvest making disciples who make disciples who make disciples.

It is no news to us that the world is lost and deceived and that the most powerful force on this planet, besides God, is the power of sin. Far more deadly than aids or hunger and active in everyone.

It is no news to us that the very people we are striving to help will resist us, therefore we need to be merciful even as our Father is merciful.

It is no news to us that we're going to die and that heaven isn't on earth.

But it's still hard to "always be steady." Yet, if we can't depend on God and His ever present love (poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit), we can't and won't suffer. If we won't suffer, we can't and won't do the work of an evangelist (I know, I don't have that gift either), and if we don't do the work of reaching out, we can't and won't fulfill our ministry.

How does God train us to always be steady? Some of us get married. If we don't learn it there, God gives us kids. If we don't learn it there, he gives us teenagers. If we don't learn it there, he puts us into youth ministry. And finally, if we are still spiritually resistant, He makes us pastors and church planters. Or are these the fruits and rewards of learning to be steady? The point is, He trains us in everything (Rom. 5:3-5), so that we can always be steady and endure suffering for Christ, and do the work of evangelists in this dark harvest and fulfill our purpose as disciples.

I'm thankful that I'm 55 and not 20 or 30. But only because of the fruit of His education in His service. I've lived through the lows and the doubts and the tribulations, hanging on by raw endurance. Now I'm much more interested in looking at Him and learning as I follow. We serve and sweat and strain and remain steady and endure suffering and do the work of an evangelist and fulfill our ministry, but the work is the Lord's and His wisdom is amazing and His love never fails.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

He Giveth More Grace in the Harvest

I like motivational slogans. I'm not a junkie but I've got them. One I really like is, "You can't discover new oceans unless you are willing to lose sight of the shore." In a way, this is what makes following Christ so exciting. He leads you into areas and lives that are totally new. But there is risk.

We like to hold on to an ace, a "plan B," something to fall back on just in case "faith" doesn't work and God lets us down. We joke about Peter, but I would have loved to have had that faith even if just for a minute. And hey, Jesus pulled him out. More seriously, Jesus says not to build or fight, as a disciple, before you've considered the cost. The implication here isn't to think it over and say "no," but rather to give everything to Jesus, complete investment, nothing held back.  Jesus and His work are worth it.

So here we are, coming up to our second Thursday evening. So far of the 79 invites we sent out for our four meetings, we have seen no one. We are praying deeply and praying through our next moves, but no one might come tomorrow evening.

So, on Tuesday a friend called and let me know that a local church is looking for a pastor and should he mention my name. I called Jeff, my other partner in crime here, just to pass on the info, but we are both totally convicted that we are following the Lord. This is "spooky." (this is cultural flavor because "you-know-what" is around the corner.) What I mean is that we are both absolutely convinced that the Lord has given us a vision and, actually, a very unique vision. I would have said "no" immediately when I got the call, but I figured I had to take it to the Lord. Then I said no.

But what this means is that we feel that the Lord has led us to lose sight of the shore in wanting to bear fruit in the harvest and make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. We have no people, just a deep conviction and vision. And oddly, we feel the Lord is blessing us.

After reading the Sermon on the Mount, I'm more convinced than ever, that the only discipleship Jesus invited the disciples to was a total commitment to Him and to serving Him in the Harvest. The rewards are only for fools, that is, those who hunger now and worship in secret and see eternity before them as they follow Him in this dark harvest. His promises are for His workers, not for the uncommitted. He bids His disciples to forget the security of this life…that's what the nations seek…and to rest in the Father and seek His kingdom. They are to burn their bridges…or to keep on with the ocean image…to lose sight of the shore, following Him.

A favorite hymn of mine is "He Giveth More Grace." My favorite line is, "When we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed 'ere the day is half done, when we reach the end of our hoarded resources, our Father's full giving is only begun." I love that because I feel in some ways I've had the privilege of living that.  It is implied in the Sermon on the Mount.  You’ve got to get here, before you really begin to see His blessings in the Harvest.

To see His Glory and know the riches of Christ's love, we have to get away from our security in people and stuff and live fully in His care, following Jesus as disciples. What a wonderful way to live, sensing His leading and conviction, stepping out after Him into the Harvest, convinced you are doing something important and unique. Losing sight of the shore. Saying "no" to the call to steer the ship back toward "security." Knowing that only here will we see the wonders of God and the Father's reward as we seek to glorify Him and bear much fruit and so prove to be disciples of our Savior.

Disciples Knock Because They Need

The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus' orientation to His disciples on discipleship. In it He introduces the command/promise to ask, seek and knock. Later, Jesus develops this when He teaches them to pray. The real addition to "asking, seeking and knocking" is persistence and passion.

So, what does a disciple need? Jesus says the Father has food and clothing covered, so what does a disciple really need? In so much of what Jesus says, it is assumed that the heart of the disciple will be for doing His work of reaching the lost and making disciples. The hungering is for Him and His work. The weeping is for Him and His work. The need and what is asked for comes from, "my food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work."

The tragedy of all of this "need" and "hunger" is that in our culture, most of us never really "need" & almost never feel physical "hunger" much less a "hunger" for God and His work. But then, does this "need" and "hunger" for His will, and His work, and following Christ, and the saving of the Lost become so much of a need that we can't live without it, that we will not rest, can't rest, won't be distracted, can't be fulfilled, won't stop, until we see God's answer? That is the real question. Anyone can start. Few finish well.

I'm just saying, if constant "need" and "hunger" and "asking, seeking and knocking" are the marks of a disciple and the Lord develops us accordingly, could this be a reason why the "Christian" culture of the western world looks so superficial? We have the same divorce rate, the same preoccupation with stuff, the same lack of commitment to things that do not immediately fulfill us. And we don't make disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Leading someone to Christ, much less bringing someone from birth to reproducing discipleship is absolutely foreign to the average believer in Jesus. Jesus apparently "means" something else.

Disciples need, they hunger, and so they knock and knock and knock and they know they'll be answered so they keep on knocking. That is biblical, spiritual reality and sound teaching.

Even the secular world identifies the need for perseverance.

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. Helen Keller

Nothing in the World can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. Calvin Coolidge

But we have more than this. We have Romans 5:3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

We have the faith of Abraham Romans 4:17-21…-- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, "So shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

We all agree that God's proving of our character and refining of our faith is important, but we don't endure because we don't really need it. But if our need becomes a hungering as Jesus had in John 4 and taught in Matt. 5, it becomes focused in Christ to know Him and to make Him known, now, in the harvest when it is so important. And nothing else can satisfy us. So, because of our need, we knock and knock and knock until we have our answer.

Thursday evening no one showed and we were talking. I said it would make a good story for us to be able to reflect back in a year at us sitting in Wendy's alone, at our first attempt to reach our area. It would make a good story provided we were actually alone at Wendy's and provided we keep hungering and needing and knocking. Already the Lord is stirring our hearts with deeper prayer and deeper resolve and more ideas and more knocking and more seeking. This is a good and exciting thing. And the part about sitting alone at Wendy's on our first attempt, we’ve already got that behind us!

Pray for tonight at our place at 7pm.

Asking, Seeking, Knocking

So what do you do if you knock and don't get an immediate answer? We all know the answer, but I know from my walk with the Lord, that He often wants to see how badly, truly, deeply we want the answer and are willing to pursue Him. We all know this.

Thursday evening the three of us sat at Wendy's and no one came. Not a problem. Our desire is to serve the Lord and see disciples made, from lost to reproducing disciple makers. The question is: are we really willing to keep pursuing the Lord? Are we willing to keep praying and keep knocking and keep asking and search our hearts and never give up. Truth remains truth? If people were lost yesterday, they are still lost today. If Jesus has told us to look to the harvest yesterday, He wants us to do it today also.

So Laura and I are going out this morning to have breakfast in our target area and walk the streets and pray that the Lord would touch some hearts and send them our way tonight.

I can't understand giving up trying to connect with lost people. If it takes a million tries, it is worth it to be true to Jesus and for their sake. That is the mercy that Jesus trained His disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. Our heavenly Father doesn't give up. We shouldn't either.

We know He wants us to keep asking, to keep seeking, to keep knocking. We know this. But how hungry are we? How deeply do we want what He wants.

Keep praying. More later.

A Potentially Foolish Post for Prayer

I was, and am, on the verge of sending out a prayer request for tonight, the first of our 4 scheduled discussion evenings. We invited about 80 unchurched people we met going door-to-door doing a survey. I'm on the verge of sending out a prayer request….but. But at the risk of sounding foolish…. Foolish, why? Because possibly no one could come. I know that. So who would look foolish? Me. Why, because I bet big on God? So if no one comes and I asked you to pray it would mean that I was silly in thinking that in opposition to conventional wisdom, Barna, and my own fear, I thought someone would come. Better if I just pray before the Lord and keep this quiet and then if someone doesn't come, I don't look like a fool. However, if someone does come, then I can write a "praise" saying how God worked. That would be the safer bet. Better not to risk sounding foolish. What a fearful, self-centered strudel of faithlessness. If this is what God has asked us to do, and it is, I need to ask you to pray for the work He is doing, regardless of the outcome tonight or how it might make "me" look, because this isn't about "me," but about the God of Salvation and some lost people.

So, pray for our meeting tonight and for the other 3 evenings (they're listed on our webpage: http://newsongcommunitychurch.org )

And it gets worse. If I don't ask you to pray and people do come tonight, I'll kick myself for being so timid and afraid of God not coming through. This morning I was reading that the way to destruction is wide and those who find it are many. It doesn't mean Jesus failed and it doesn't mean His disciples standing, trying to stop the travelers and show them the other way have failed. I would rather be a fool like this a million times over, hoping, even foolishly, that He would use this and anything I do, to bring any lost person closer to Himself.

So pray for our meeting tonight and for the other 3 evenings. I could go out and cut the lawn, but I'm going to pray until we leave at 7. I think I could do 20 things that need to be done, but I'm going to pray and ask for your prayer and for His glory and that He would jog, jab, or, otherwise, move the heart of one of those people who we talked to and who got that letter to come tonight or to one of the other nights.

Paul said to the Corinthians, "We are fools, for Christ's sake…" and tonight four of us might be sitting alone at Wendy's © for the sake of Jesus and His harvest.

Hearts for our Father’s Approval and Harvest

This morning I saw some things I hadn’t seen before.

First, in the sermon on the mount, Jesus does a lot of work with the disciples to focus them on a life aimed at receiving God’s approval. Their devotion and seeking after God is supposed to be in secret and authentic before God. Their lives are to be streamlined to exclude earthly distraction and to serve God alone in this great rescue operation. Jesus promises that all things will be added to those who give themselves, first, to fulfilling their work as disciples.

I think of the hungering and thirsting Jesus spoke of and realize that some time before this, the disciples were trying to get Him to eat and Jesus told them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.” They saw Jesus in a moment of "reward", totally overcome with the joy and satisfaction the Father and Spirit had given Him in the harvest. Not only do I want that, but Jesus wants us to want that.

I think of the apostle Paul saying, “Though I am free from all men I have made myself a slave to all. …I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel that I might share in its blessings.” To please Christ and to share these blessings, Paul was willing to discipline his life and desires into submission to Christ and serve Him in the harvest. Paul lived the Sermon on the Mount as a disciple in God’s Field.

But here is the real question. If the commission is really that important and Christ's command to bear fruit in the harvest this pointed, where is this push in the life of every Christian and in every church? Have we already received all we want without having to perform the work of a disciple? What a deal! Already we are filled.

Right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, in a very funny context, is the warning regarding losing your sight, or spiritual ability to see, thinking you are filled with light, but it's really darkness. What if we have lost sight of the real calling and task and cost of discipleship and our desire for comfort and stuff has poked us in the eye and the light we think is in us is really darkness? I'd love to think this could never happen to the saved, but I know better.

Then Jesus gave another warning to his disciples about 2 masters. I think it is far easier for us to do the “swap out Jesus for another master” thing than we think. It makes you wonder if we have fooled ourselves into believing "anything+Jesus" is Ok with God.

If we are not weeping now, hungering now, seeing how the harvest is white and working in it actively, not "in our hearts," mixing it up with the lost, setting an example to other believers of showing mercy to the hell bound, we've gotten poked in the eye. We've bowed down to something else. I don't see an exception clause here.

And then there was Jeremiah this morning, doing what God wanted and getting thrown in the slammer again (he does this every year at this time) as Nebuchadnezzar is working to take Jerusalem (Jer. 32-33). What a reward for obedience and following God. Then you get it. God was protecting Jeremiah, both from the people and from the destruction that was about to take place. And in that context, it keeps saying, “and the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,” while he was in jail. Call after call after call. It was a good thing Jeremiah had unlimited minutes or had God on his “friends” list. What a funny reward. He’s in jail, but protected and God encourages him by speaking to & thru him again and again and again.

Our Father doesn't say what His reward will be when we follow Him as disciples in the Harvest. Maybe we're the only ones who understand how He tailored an event to fill our hearts. Maybe the reward is simply to be with Christ (John 14:21-23). If that’s it, I’ll take it!  Better to be working hard for Him in the harvest, feeling the hunger, hearing His voice with our hearts full of light and rewarded in secret, than to be filled and satisfied by this country's or our church's comforts, having lost our sight and thinking we have Him because we feel a chill when we sing "Mighty to Save."

Flexibility in the Harvest

Our "Oktoberfest" was last night and I'm very impressed with how the Lord did things. It showed us again that we simply work for the Lord and let Him do His thing without our expectations getting in the way.

We had invited people for 6pm and received confirmation, even the offer to bring something. At 6 only one person showed up. Think of a dinner with several things that had to get ready at one time, with one oven and we were ready to go at 6:15….so we did what the Lord would want you to do. We depended on Him and got really, really, really flexible. I eventually went out and asked the girl across the street if she was coming. Sure, in a few minutes (she came over an hour later). I went home and we waited and talked but I went out again about 30 min. later and asked the family who was going to bring something if they were coming. The dad just came back from rugby and arrived about 30 min. later and the wife never showed. Then the first guy's "life partner" came, and then finally the girl across the street.

It was flexible and funny and I keep reading in the Sermon, "Be merciful as your Father is merciful."  I'm finally becoming aware how important the Sermon on the Mount was to those "Jesus called to be with Him, to send them out to preach, and have authority…." Some pretty vital info.

But you know, the Lord never tells us how things will turn out, we are just told that God will use us for "good." We might not see how the "good" becomes "good," but we trust Him and do what He says and the harvest is His.

So, we got to know our neighbors a little better and the girl across the street stayed after everyone left and talked for about another 2-2.5 hours. It was a great time, it was seasoned with salt, and we sense and are praying that the Lord has opened a door here. When she left she said some stuff that I can only say was the Spirit of God affirming us in working with our neighbors.

What a funny event, full of flexibility and mercy and the wonder of seeing God work.

delirious? in the harvest and going deeper.

I just finished printing out 79 letters and envelopes to invite our surveyed people to come and talk. I know it could just be a step in our growth and not make a dent in reaching people, but I know the Lord has led us in this so, actually, I'm not sweating the details. I'm obeying and enjoying it.

It was a sort of déjà vu -ish experience, but joyful. As I was standing there getting my mojo going, working with the printer, signing the letters with my flubby red marker and feeding the envelopes into the printer, I got this feeling and this smile, remembering that for 16 years as a missionary, I did this nearly every month. I used to have a couple days each month where I wrote to our support team to encourage them and show them what the Lord was doing in this acre of His field. What a great feeling. I've forgotten how much I enjoyed that.

So here we are stepping out into the unknown, again as  missionaries, making this invitation for 4 nights to strangers. And to boot, Laura and I have invited our neighbors to an Oktoberfest this Saturday.

You have to laugh. There is a real weight of knowing that lost people are on the verge of judgment, and it isn't pretty. But then this morning I was going over Philippians and Paul tells them in two places to rejoice. The first time, at the beginning of ch. 3 he says rejoice but immediately warns them of  those who would steal the joy from the Christian life, making this a thing of rigid routine and adherence to self-righteousness. Paul kicks them out of that rut by reminding them that they worship God in Spirit…not a denomination or church, that they put no confidence in their ability to get everything right and be self-holy…but I left something out, and this is the greatest thing…we glory in Jesus Christ. Just say that 100 times: We glory in Jesus Christ. If that doesn't shake the crust off of you, what will? That's a reason to be amazingly joyful in spite of working a yard from the gates of hell.

Then in ch. 4 Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance, the Lord is near at hand." I don't think this apocalyptically speaking. I think it is like, "lo, I am with you always…" Do we believe this stuff? In the harvest, as we work with Him, I don't think we get any nearer to Him on earth. And, I think the Lord enjoys showing us His stuff and giving us joy. Would Paul have been the man he was if he had been an arm chair evangelist? Doesn't it seem that his striving and longing and joy in Philippians 3 was the result of a life lived in the harvest, seeing disciples made, who made disciples?

Anyway, I'm enjoying the joy and anticipation and looking forward to the next two weeks, and praying like a trooper in between; joyous with a smile (happy?), listening to "deeper" by delirious? and thankful that the Father, Jesus and the Spirit can make this terribly important mission such fun.

The Disciple’s Work is “Now”

Christians are all for hope. The Bible is full of hope, so so are we. So here is my latest wondering. Can saltiness be restored? If you're like me, your immediate answer is "yes." But I'm wondering.

This last week I was going over and over and over (something you do when you hit 55) the first verses of the sermon on the mount in Matthew and Luke. Jesus is orienting his disciples, not just the 12 but the entire herd. His words at the end seem pretty hard.

13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

I know in Galatians and Hebrews there is a warning that if you add "works" to Jesus, and get your understanding of Him so completely twisted and interwoven with performance and merit and religion, you lose the freedom Christ meant to give you. Grace gets perverted into a force for rigid adherence to rules. The question then, is what will re-free your heart once this happens? Can Christ be crucified for you again? No.

What happens when a disciple (believer) loses their saltiness? Can it be restored? Jesus is describing a serious problem, so it probably isn't a good thing to just say, "null problem." It might ruin a person for the rest of this life.

 

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 21 "Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. : "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. "Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

This is the heart of a disciple, expressed in Luke's "now." It is a choice to hunger "now," to weep "now." We choose for the sake of Christ and this earthly disaster to be poor in spirit "now" and to be in the contention for souls "now" and to be uncomfortable in heart "now." Why? Because we are shocked at our salvation, that we were so lost, so blind, and that this blindness is happening to everyone now. Because we are so amazed at God jolting us and showing us what would have happened, but now we are saved.

If we lose the joy and wonder of our salvation, if we lose the immediacy of giving our help to those dying, I wonder if we can regain the wonder. If we allow comfort and the sub-culture to put us to sleep in the light, what can wake us up? If "church and Jesus and all that stuff" has been used to put us to sleep and we've grown deaf to the cry of the lost, what can restore our saltiness?

We choose now for our spirit and life on earth to be caught in His love, caught in His passion and caught in His commission. And it moves us to action. We choose for His sake and for the sake of the lost to suffer now.

22 "Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets."

So my question here is if all Christians will get this reward. What about believers who live so incognito that they offend no one? Are heaven's rewards and Christ's promise so trivial that we can look at this and say, "who cares, at least I'll be in Heaven?"

24 "But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 "Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. "Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 "Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets."

The trappings of this life can fool His disciples into thinking they can have two or more masters. Living the life of comfort, calling His name in church, dancing to the pretty music. This seems to me to be a choice and a major temptation each day and the neutralizing of Christ's disciples. They attach to the world for their life and the blood of Christ drains out of them and is replaced by formaldehyde. They look nice, but the fire is gone. All speak well of them because they say nothing to hinder the cascade of humanity over the edge.

Can the saltiness be restored? Can we learn to hunger "now" again? Can we learn to be poor of spirit now? Can we not only weep now, but rejoin the harvest and live for men and women and children to learn the mercy of God and the forgiveness of Christ and find peace? God's specialty is resurrection. We have to re-learn to value our salvation more than anything else. We have to be crucified in Christ and live only to Him. We have to turn off the computer and TV and allow the life of Christ and His Word to reenter our veins and pulse through our spirits.

My favorite verses out of the OT. 2 Chronicles 34:27 "Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before Me, tore your clothes and wept before Me, I truly have heard you," declares the LORD.

As disciples, it's time to sit at Jesus' feet and choose for Him and His sake and for those He is wanting to reach, to work now and to live in the harvest. The party is coming, but the work is "now".

No Shoes, No Service, No Harvest

More and more I think of the spiritual protection of having our feet shod with the equipment of the gospel of peace. 

When you look at the armor in Eph. 6 everything is vital and has a function. I think we think we are good on truth and righteousness, and let's say we are. What do those do for you without the readiness to share the gospel? It leads to harmless, self-absorbed, defensive, aloof Christianity. I know there will always be a tendency toward imbalance and there is much more to say regarding abiding in Christ's love, in His Word, being led by the Spirit, but the armor is meant to protect us.  If a piece is missing, that should matter.

As disciples, the warning is against the "wiles" of the devil. The danger is trickery, deception, cunning attacks. Obviously if Satan could kill us, that would leave him unhindered room to work. That isn't an option, so we have to be rendered harmless. Attack our adherence to the truth or righteousness and we have no credibility. How much better to let us have these, as long as we're silent.

At the end of the armor Paul talks about prayer and alertness and  it seems this is just general intercession, but Paul adds himself to the list and asks for continued boldness in proclaiming. The credibility of our witness can be destroyed, but Paul's concern and need was for declaring the gospel. In Philippians, Paul refers to giving the gospel 3 times and twice fear is mentioned. Even Timothy, in Paul's last days, had come into danger of being ashamed to testify to Christ or to identify with Paul.

If we remove "feet" from the armor, we have no problem. Our lives and churches go on for the pastor, the elder, the run-of-the-mill Christian. Take the feet out of this (and we all do mentally) we are still protected and able to please God. But just from the logic and truth of God's word, this has to be impossible. How can we remove one of the first 3 pieces and say we're Ok?

So what does it do for us, that is missing in today's church and in the heart and mind and life of Jesus' disciples, when our feet are shod with the readiness of the Gospel of Peace. (No particular order and you can add to it.)

We live in concern of His coming Judgment on the Lost.
We live with an eternal perspective.
We understand God's working in the world.
We value the heavenly more than the earthly.
We cry out to God for lost people.
We know that only people will be saved from this planet.
We live knowing this life is temporary.
We live knowing we’ve been commissioned with a vital message.
We know we have a tremendous privilege.
We know we have a tremendous responsibility.
We know we have to say something.
We know people need to be told.
We know this life is about the mission, not heaven on earth.
We know sacrifice.
We know His power.
We know His suffering.
We know His heart.
We know His joy.
We abide in Him.

The list goes on….things that can only happen if we are ready with the Gospel.  And we are protected. 

Every other aspect of the armor can be done in the living room, alone, without ever having to talk to another person. Without the readiness with our feet and our lives and our mouths, we are tricked into believing that this is about us living clean lives before God.

Do we believe, John 15:8 "in this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples?" What part of this statement can we ignore? Fruit is defined earlier in context in John 12:24. Now, Jesus says there is sowing and reaping, and Paul adds watering, but still it is a life focused on the harvest, every person ready to share and work.  The fields are still white.  Are we ready?

Without our feet shod with readiness to give the Gospel, our understanding of Jesus is crippled, our lives sag inward into a stagnant, self-absorbed spirituality. The Lost trample us underfoot on their way to hell, and here is Satan's biggest achievement, our Father is not glorified and we do not prove to be Jesus' disciples.

October 2010

In talking to people doing this survey of our "target area" we find the thought of "security" coming up a lot. People are concerned about health, the unknown, and the economy adds a shudder to most lives. People who have questions for God regarding what's up are the people we're looking for to invite to a discussion evening this month. What seems obvious when we talk to the unchurched or de-churched (Christians who stopped going to church) is that there is no answer for their need for security in the church. People don't seem to find enough there to get them close to God; just to music, to social contact and to an inspirational speech, and honestly, if that's all church is, and people have told us this, they can do that at home. It makes you think about the purpose of church.

But back to security. I'm studying the life of Christ, and go figure, that when He began his ministry he quit his job and roamed the country with some other guys who quit their jobs. It's comical when Mary tells Jesus the wine was gone at the wedding. How do you account for that short interchange and Jesus' answer, "My hour has not yet come."? Maybe she was thinking, "O Weh, 30 years old, no job, no wife, if you're going public with this thing, just do it." When Peter, Andrew, James, John and the others left their jobs, what were they thinking? You could only carry so much money and food, and Jesus was in some isolated places. Yet, we know there was no more secure place on earth for them to be, than with Jesus, even on His boat trips.

Our security or following Jesus into His? How many of your ideas of following Christ have been lost to "reality," you know, "that's just the way it will always be?" You read that the "fields are white" but something tells you, "Calm down, that's idealism, that's for other people. Look at church, we're fine." I don't know all of what holds people back, but I do know what moves them forward: "And the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way." Just believing His Word. "Lift your eyes and see how the fields are already white for harvest." Just believing it, following Jesus and doing it regardless of the cost, equals security.

So here we are planting a church, at a time when we're finally getting senior citizen discounts at most fast food places. No secure salary. No big group. No worship service. Just praying like crazy and following Christ - seeing Him increase our faith and conviction as we do this survey, as we invite people into our homes, as we "practice" making disciples. Believing that church is the most vital thing in the world because Christ died for it, and it is here we equip, strengthen and encourage one another to follow Christ into the harvest and make disciples who make disciples. And we're seeing the Lord work and encourage.

Last week in the parking lot of the Salvation Army, I was sort of shamed by the Spirit of God. This guy is walking into the store with his teen daughter, sees us and is urged toward us. I knew that he would ask for money, but that is precisely why I just got $20 for my wallet as "give away" money. So he asked for money for him and his daughter for supper and was shocked that I went for my wallet so easily. Then I stumbled. All those milli-second thoughts and urges. What would $10 do for him and his daughter for a meal, but I held back and only offered him $10 for some stupid reason, some innate 'locked-up-ness.' The Holy Spirit knew I had 20 bucks and had moved me to put it my wallet and once again Kachikis was having a minor malfunction. I was rebuked and He was right. And then, the Spirit moved the guy and I saw it coming. He asked, "How about $20?" Again, I was so quick with the other $10 that I'll bet it scared him. Good that he stopped there, I was broke. As he walked away thanking me, he asked me to pray for him for a job and I have and will. I was glad that I was ready to give, but mad at me for being such a tight-wad, and truly impressed at how the Spirit guided the whole thing. The Spirit and I know we are working on me being more perceptive and ready to respond to Him.

Now, I'm not kidding or writing this for drama, but five minutes later, the pastor of a local church called, and in the course of the conversation, asked me if I had money for our mortgage. In keeping with my "locked-up-ness" I told him the mail hadn't come in yet. He had to get another call and we left it there. Still, it was a very surprising call. The next day he called again and asked if we had the money, and I told him we didn't and, now for the third month, the Lord has found an unexpected way to pay our mortgage.

So, as senior citizens we are growing in faith, taking risks, finding that there is no safer, more secure place to be than following Jesus into the harvest. And we're doing this because we believe His Word, that the fields are white, that the church must make disciples who make disciples, and that our Father is glorified in that we bear much fruit and so prove to be Christ's disciples. That's worth living and dying for, and you get the thrill of standing in the field with Jesus saying, "Hey Lord, what's for supper tonight."

Pray for Mike, a new believer

Pray for Jeff, Michelle and kids as they reach out to their neighbors.

Pray for us as we host an Oktoberfest at our house

Pray for New Song as we begin inviting unchurched people to come out and talk.

Learning in the Harvest

Saying we want to make disciples who make disciples is easy. In fact, it's easy to "say" anything. But we really want the Lord to show us how to see reproduction and to orient people to the harvest from the beginning. We think that the only way for a Christian to be oriented, after birth, is to follow Christ back into the harvest. Orienting people toward the academic and toward church seems to produce, my observation, Christians who think they have fulfilled their duty if they have gone to church and learned something. Doing the survey, we meet Christians all the time now who don't attend church anymore. It seems that their needs are better met at home. So what does that have to do with discipleship or the assembly of disciples who briefly come out of their fields on Sunday to meet and strengthen and encourage one another to go back into the harvest, to labor for their Lord? Who defined church for "me." Who invented this organization that meets my needs, rather than the one I love that equips Christ's disciples for Christ's mission?

New believers must be oriented to Christ and His mission from the beginning. I think, this has to be in the first talk. You see Jesus send the man who had had the legion back to his family and he influenced the entire region of the Decapolis. The woman at the well influenced her city knowing far less than the average Christian (but Barna says that's changing). Matthew and Zacchaeus had an immediate ministry to their friends and partners. Jesus involved His disciples in ministry knowing less than most of us know.

So I met with Mike last week, who at 70, has prayed to receive Christ. It is easy to say "make disciples who make disciples," but now I'm on. I made up my own lesson, not knowing what lesson 2 would be. Now, in talking with Mike I know what the next lesson will look like, but like the first, it will be directed to being a follower of Christ in Christ's mission, in His harvest.

I'm a seminary grad yet I'm a new learner. I wonder why all of our teaching isn't connected to following Christ in His mission. Could it be that if we persist to teach stuff as detached from following Christ in His mission, that our knowledge only becomes trivial pursuit on a masters or doctoral level. And then in our churches, discipleship becomes the acquiring of knowledge and piety in the comfort of suburbia, rather that following Christ into the harvest. I'm just wondering if we let a person sit removed from the harvest, teaching him stuff that is not intentionally connecting him to and equipping him for the harvest,  and we do this 12 months a year, what good does it do to send him on a missionary trip as a missionary tourist for 2 weeks in the summer?

So I'm meeting with Mike and it's stretching us both. It's not an easy matter to follow Christ into the harvest, making disciples who make disciples. But who would want to do anything else?

Remembering the End of the Harvest

In my daily reading I finished Isaiah last week. I never “realized“ what the final words of the book are. I do now.

The Lord is talking about the restoration of the Jews and the completion of His promises for them. This passage actually talks about a new heaven and new earth. His final words however, bring reality home.

Isaiah 66:24 "And they shall go forth and look on the dead bodies of the men that have rebelled against me; for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh."

The eternal torment of all who die in their sins without receiving Christ is still "front and center" biblical reality. The “snide” among us crack jokes about hellfire and brimstone preachers, but in spite of their imbalance they were conveying something important, which we, in our imbalance, have forgotten. There is a coming judgment. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him." "His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor, to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. So with many other exhortations (John the Baptist) preached good news to the people."  It’s part of the Good News.

As I'm knocking on doors doing this survey, bothering people, getting "that look," watching some people immediately turn away when they know it has to do with "religion," I know that even in this step there is something very important at stake. Inwardly it does me good to see someone who appears to be seeking God, who has questions. Mostly, people are busy and distracted and even the thought of having a question for God seems like a radical thought. The Gospel is hidden by Satan, their hearts are in rebellion from sin, yet God is patiently showing love, making contact and working. The Lord knows the stakes and hasn't given up. Do we? Have we?

As we're out in the fields looking for those who the Lord is urging toward Him, and while we are planting seeds, you can't help but feel sorry for people who don't care. Obviously this survey isn't the way to reach people. But I'm praying that someone close to them comes to Christ and reaches out. They don't know how much danger they are in. They also don't know how close they are to love, forgiveness, security and a reason for living each day in Jesus Christ, and to boot, you get eternal life. “You don’t enter into judgment but pass from death to life.”  That’s good news.

Giving and Receiving His Blessings in the Harvest

Yesterday in the parking lot of the Salvation army I was sort of shamed by the Spirit of God. This guy is walking into the store with his teen daughter, sees us and is apparently urged toward us. I knew immediately that he would ask for money, but that is precisely why I carry cash and I just got $20 for my wallet as "give away" money. So he asked for money and he was immediately shocked that I went for my wallet so easily. Then I stumbled. All those milli-second thoughts and urges. What would $10 do for him and his daughter for a meal, but still I held back and only offered him $10 for some stupid reason, some innate "locked-up-ness. "

The Holy Spirit knew I had 20 bucks. He himself had moved me to put it in my wallet, and once again Kachikis was having a minor malfunction. I was rebuked as I was handing him the 10 and the Spirit was right. And then, the Spirit moved him and I saw it coming. He asked,  "How about $20," and again I was so quick with the other 10 that I'll bet it scared him. Good that he stopped there, I was broke. As he walked away thanking me, he asked me to pray for a job and I have and will. I was glad that I was ready to give, but mad at me for being such a tight-wad, and truly impressed at how the Spirit guided the whole thing. The Spirit and I know we are working on me being more perceptive and ready to respond to Him and the needs He shows me.

So now, I am not kidding and not writing this for any drama, five minutes later, the pastor of a local church called, and in the course of the conversation, asked me if I had money for the mortgage. In keeping with my "locked-up-ness" I told him the mail hadn't come in yet so I didn’t know. He had to answer  another call and we left it there. Still, it was a very surprising call and he didn't call back. This afternoon he called again and asked if we had the money and I told him we didn't and ……..now it's in the mail.

So as senior citizens we are growing in faith, taking risks, crawling out on the limb, finding that there is no safer, more secure place to be if God has called you there.