For The Thrill Of The Hunt

Each year a delight of many young children is an Easter egg hunt.  Finding each egg brings great excitement!

Similarly, God has hidden His elect, those chosen for salvation, all around the world for the Church to find by going out and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Election and Effort

It is popular today to think of the doctrine of election as contrary to evangelistic effort.  If God has already determined whom He will save, then why should we share the Gospel, what difference will it make?  Yet, at the beginning of the modern mission movement, it was those who cherished these doctrines of God’s sovereignty in salvation who so often led the way in pioneering mission.

The Apostle Paul spoke and wrote very strongly about God’s sovereignty in salvation in many places in Scripture.  At the same time he was the most zealous and successful of all missionaries.  Such ideas are often combined closely as a good fit.

For example, he summarized his life and ministry, and his motivation with these words in 2 Timothy 2:10, “Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

Guaranteed Success

We have a guaranteed success.  We know that God will save His chosen ones and that He will do it by means of the Gospel.  So, when we speak about Christ, people will get saved!

There is a great sense of freedom when we understand that our faithfulness extends to proclamation only.  God does the converting.  We should ask ourselves therefore, if we are preaching enough?

It is easy to become preoccupied with building comfortable Christian lives and churches.  And then, one day it dawns on us that when we talk about evangelistic efforts, our best stories are further in the past than we realized.

We need to regain the vision, the courage and the sacrifice.  We need to get out there and re-experience the thrill of the hunt.  This can be done any day we choose to do it—whether it is in our own communities, or in less reached communities nearby.  Better yet, just get on a plane and go to the places where no one has yet heard!

The thrill of the hunt can be experienced as pleasant and fun as children on an Easter egg hunt.  The thrill can also be experienced as wild as a safari hunting expedition filled with real dangers.  Which adventure would you like to try?

Knowing The Gospel Better Than Jesus

How is this possible?!

Jesus Christ is the Lord God who came from heaven proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom.  Obviously, He knows it best. It is His Gospel. He preached it. He lived it. He Himself is it!

No one actually claims to know the Gospel better than Jesus, of course. Yet, Christians sometimes take these three approaches to the Bible and life that make it look like they do.

Some Add to the Gospel

One approach is to add information or requirements to the message Jesus preached.  But, what He actually preached is infallibly preserved in the four accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  Listen and make careful comparison.

Many people like to read between the lines and add information that is not in the biblical text.  They often assume certain motivations on the part of biblical characters in order to reach a particular pre-conceived conclusion about a matter.

But even more often, people read their own experiences and desires into the Bible.  They find their own guidelines that they think should be in the Bible in order to generate greater holiness among God’s people.  Such impositions are one form of legalism.

Some Subtract from the Gospel

The second approach is the opposite.  Sometimes people overlook or conveniently leave out the uncomfortable parts of the Gospel message, because it is personally difficult or it is embarrassing to have to put forth in their society.

But even more often, people seek to reinterpret passages in order to keep certain parts of their lives untouched, even though the Holy Spirit is convicting them otherwise.  One tell-tale sign is the length of time and amount of reasoning it takes to persuade other Christians of their view.  Such detractions are one form of libertinism.

We can trust God with His Word.  God didn’t leave anything out, nor add anything unnecessary.  It is perfect exactly the way it is.

Some Distort the Gospel

This is either great arrogance or even greater stupidity.  That is to think that the message and will of the Lord Jesus Christ is only contained in those four books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  This is a more serious form or subtraction.

Some want to pit the Bible against itself and discount anything and everything Jesus isn’t recorded as saying, denoted by red letters.  This is to throw away God’s Word and its clarity and authority in our lives.

Jesus Christ is the eternal God, the second person of the One Triune God.  The will and intent of God is unified.  And so the Holy Spirit wrote it all in concurrence with the Father and the Son.  In a very real sense Jesus wrote the whole Bible.

Cherish the Word

It is disappointing to say the least, to hear Christians reason in ways that exalt themselves above God and His Word, thinking they actually know the Gospel better than Jesus.  It is not that difficult to understand.

These words of Moses to the Israelites are later quoted by the Apostle Paul about the Gospel in his letter to the Christians in Rome:

Deuteronomy 30:11–14 ESV ““For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.”

We cannot improve upon the Gospel, upon the Bible.  Instead, we ought to cherish the Word as God’s holy Word to us, for true knowledge of Him and true instruction for our lives.

The Last Thing The World Needs Is Another Church Like Yours

Churches are expected to do certain things, church things.  But, one of the worst things a church can do is to just do church, in general terms.

No Church Needs to be a Generic Church

Many churches spend all their time, energy and resources on only fundamental church activities.  These include preaching, teaching, praying, counseling, programming, worshipping, supporting missionaries, outreaching and fellowshipping to name a few.

A lot of pastors and people think church should just be about doing church and the basic things the Bible says.  This sounds noble and spiritual, but the more you think about it, it sounds lazy.

Even if it works, it could work so much better if we put serious effort into crafting a specific vision for the future.

For example, although the Bible teaches about marriage, no one wants to live out marriage in general terms, just doing marriage.  The same goes for our jobs and recreation.  We long for uniqueness, passion and purpose!

Push your leaders.  Leaders need to do the hard work of leading, not simply managing ministry.  No one should have to suffer a generic church.

Each Church is a Unique Church

It is so invigorating to discover God’s specific calling for your specific church!

Analyze your community and other locations where you are doing ministry or would like to be doing ministry, even globally.  What makes the society the way it is, and the people the way they are?  Do you need to do more research?  Make a long list.

Evaluate your currently available resources.  What knowledge, skills and ministry desires do people in the congregation have?  Who are your leaders?  What assets might you have that no other church nearby has?  Do you need to acquire anything?

Identify opportunities.  What does the community need that is not currently being addressed?  Who else cares about this that might be a potential partner?  Who has the connections?  Many amazing opportunities are hidden and it is going to require effort to search them out.  Create a team to do this, perhaps.

By now there should be a lot of ideas, almost too many.  Select a few and develop them into big broad goals to work on for 5-10 years.  Soon you will realize that these need to be broken down into 2-3 key strategic initiatives for each major goal.  And leaders are going to be needed for all these new initiatives.  You get the idea.

By a lot of serious prayer and strategic analysis, think about what God might accomplish through your church in ten years, if He directs and blesses all these plans of yours?

Embrace your context, resources, opportunities and think, pray and dream big!

Every Church Can be a Great Church

Some churches need to realize that they are not as great as they think they are, or as great as others say they are.

And even if it is true that they are great, it might not be the case given a different social and ministry context.  We shouldn’t cheat in doing ministry by copying one another.  The last thing a community needs is a ministry approach that doesn’t fit it well.

It is not that hard to craft a vision unique to your church and truly relevant to your ministry communities.  In fact, you might be the ones that know best how to make a significant Gospel impact!

We should be encouraging growth, creativity, and development of all sizes and all types of churches to fulfill their God designed potential and accomplish the goals put before them using the array of gifts granted to them at the present time.  And celebrate it all!

When Your Enemy Falls

We teach our children to be good winners in sports.  We teach them not to gloat, to be humble and show respect for others.

Similarly, this approach works in all areas of life, as this Proverb instructs.

Proverbs 24:17–18 ESV “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles, lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn away his anger from him.”

Don’t Rejoice

This is a great temptation—to gloat in victory over our enemy’s loss.

We all have personal enemies, people who don’t like us.  Some will take every opportunity to disparage us.  Others may directly oppose us, even to the point of violence.

It is challenging to rejoice in God and His victory for us over our enemies, which we should and must do, and then not rejoice in the wrong things.  We must not give ourselves glory for the victory, or think we are on equal moral standing as God Himself, or turn justice into torturous vengeance, or play the Judge in a twisted delight at the pain of others even though it is deserved.

We are to be concerned for people, even our enemies, because even they are made by God in His image.  As the Lord Jesus taught us, “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

We might even hope for their salvation, or simply ask God for mercy for them in their misery.  Have you ever known compassion for your enemies in their troubles?  What do you think such compassion might accomplish in your own soul?

Yahweh Sees It All

We don’t want to displease God by our improper delight in His victory on our behalf.  Yahweh is perfectly holy in all His dealings.  He is also perfectly holy in His delight in His own justice and wrath.  But, we are not so holy.

Supporting His People’s unholy attitudes is almost worse than the injustices of the enemies themselves, because we then pervert His perfect justice, and the way it will be viewed by others.

We would then make Him look bad, and as the Proverb says, He would recoil from us and our cause, at least for the time being.  Eventually, He would accomplish all His purposes.  This Proverb is drawing our attention to His holiness and our lack of it.  God Himself, warns us, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay!” (Deuteronomy 32:35)

Have you ever seen God do this:  support the cause of His people, then when they pervert what He is doing He withdraws?

Dealing uprightly with our enemies is a lifelong challenge that brings about greater maturity in Christ.  When your enemy falls, be a good winner.  You will be winning quite often with God on your side.  May we please God in our response to His works of righteousness, rejoicing in Him and remaining humble.

(See related blog:  O Lord, Smite My Enemies, But In A Loving Sort Of Way.)