Invite Them To The Table

Finding more leaders for our ministries and churches is a common goal.  Yet, there is a common problem of not seeing that they are right in front of our eyes.

Unfounded Complaints

This is the situation in numerous churches all around the globe.  The complaint is that hardly anyone is qualified or ready to lead as elders or ministry leaders in the church.  Larger ministry organizations make similar complaints.  There are not enough leaders with the experience to move into higher levels of leadership.  

Those at fault are the senior leaders themselves.  Either they haven’t developed the leaders they need, or they have unrealistic expectations for those who might join in the leadership.  It is a lack of leadership to complain about a lack of leaders.

The future leaders will always be the younger leaders.  And emerging leaders need to identified, valued, developed, trusted and given real leadership.  They need to be invited to the table.

Unfair Despising

It is because many of them are too young, we think.  They don’t know as much as we know.  They don’t have the experience we have.  They don’t understand the organizational history we understand.  The list of deficiencies can go on and on, and sadly it actually does in some churches and ministries.  

This is unfair.  And besides, this is actually a positive list, not a negative one, if a church or ministry is looking to the future for greater and growing Kingdom impact.  Those who are overly conservative in sharing leadership will find that they are primarily working with their close friends and are given more to cronyism than they perhaps realize.

We often forget that Timothy was only about 30 years of age when he led the Ephesus church and its church planting mission to the interior of Asia.  The Apostle Paul instructed Timothy, and by extension those older than he, on this matter.

1 Timothy 4:12 ESV “Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

There is little to fear and a whole lot to be gained by entrusting leadership to others.  Who might you be overlooking as having great potential for the Kingdom of God, for your church or ministry?  What do you think about inviting them to the leadership table?

While Waiting For Justice

What do you tend to do when you get anxious, or eager, for wrongs to be righted, but, you do not see it happening fast enough, or even at all?  

Hopefully, we maintain our trust in God, and peace, and hope, to a strong degree, even though we still might mix in various forms of doubt or despair.  

Some of us might act out for justice on our own without faithfully consulting God.  Some of us might begin to wonder about God’s commitment to justice, or even His power and wisdom.  

Some of us might give up and give in, not knowing really what to do or not to do, what to think or what not to think about God, justice and faith.  Some of us might get stuck in a state of shock and bewilderment whether for a brief time or very long time.

Yahweh Will Deliver

Proverbs 20:22 ESV “Do not say, “I will repay evil”; wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.”

When faced with personal injustice we are not to tell ourselves, “I will repay.”  Nor, are we to tell this to others, boasting of our new holy crusade.  And the last person we should tell it to is God Himself, even if it is to offer Him a share of spoils. 

The admonition here is doubly emphasized in the Hebrew.  This is really important:  DO NOT seek revenge and DO wait upon the Lord.  He has His purposes, and at the right time, in the right way, He will deliver you.

This is a promise from Him.  He will protect, He will vindicate, and He will compensate.  This is what we need to keep saying to ourselves, so we will not say, “I will repay.”

It is so tempting to take matters of justice into our own hands.  But, God wants us to look to Him.   He is perfect and all-powerful and impartial.  We will mess it up with our prejudicial wrath, lack of knowledge, and we won’t really be able to get it done anyway, since we have such limited powers.  His purposes and wisdom and power are beyond our understanding, and trustworthy.

Can We Wait?

We need to “wait.”  And this might mean until Christ’s Return for full justice.  Can you wait?  And in the meantime can we even bless our enemies who curse us?  Can we have such faith?

There are so many of the Psalms that can help us pray for such faith. Here is one of them.

Psalms 25:1-3 ESV “To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame; they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.”

Also helpful is Jesus’ teaching from a famous parable.

Luke 18:7-8 ESV “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?””

There is much to be learned about waiting for God’s justice.  God lets things go for a while as He works out in mystery a glory to be revealed.  He asks His People, “Can you wait?  It is okay to have both faith mixed with some consternation.  But, can we wait with an increasing confidence, peace, and patience?

Sam, Our Bodyguard

He picked us up each morning at our hotel, and returned us safely each evening.  Most mission trips don’t include bodyguards, but this one did.  And Sam was our favorite.

Tough Job from Day One

A number of years ago, our church partnered with a local Christian congregation in a Muslim-dominated country.  The goal of our national partners was that together we would establish about a dozen cell churches in a series of apartment buildings by the end of the week.

On the first day we held a large church meeting before heading out to do mission work.  When the meeting ended the fifteen teams scattered in all directions.  Sam, our government-assigned bodyguard, was distraught.  There was no way he could keep track of all the crazy Americans going every which way.

So I took Sam aside and told him it would be okay.  I bought a couple of Cokes and we sat together on plastic chairs in the dusty alley and talked for a while.  I assured him that the people would be wise and that God would protect them.  He said he believed in God.

I told him to relax and stay cool, we would all be back in a few hours.  And then I left.  Since we all returned as promised, he was much at ease the following days.

Friendship Beyond Religion

Sam’s job was to protect us each day as we traveled.  He was even ready and willing to shoot others for our safety.  Sam was a Muslim man, but by God’s design, ironically ended up making a way for our team to share the Gospel more freely.  Apparently, ensuring national tourism dollars was more important than religion in this religious land.

Sam really had no choice but to listen to our Christian messages and meetings.  And we would share Christ with him, and share stories from our lives with one another.  He enjoyed being with us and our national partners, and we enjoyed having him with us.  We all learned a lot from one another.

After three days with us, Sam was transferred to a different detail, and our group was assigned another bodyguard.  Maybe Sam was listening too sympathetically to Gospel.  Or, maybe it was simply a routine change.  We never saw Sam again on that trip, but many of us still pray for him and what he heard.

God’s Glory in Hard Places

Much progress was made toward the goal of starting apartment-based call groups.  Our partner church put a lot of the line to make this happen.  This is because they firmly believed that the Lord wanted them to reach out more boldly and share hope with their community.

It would cost them a lot in the coming years.  The loss of a building and property by unethical means.  And even one of their leaders would be martyred.  This is a difficult place to be a Christian, and moreso to spread the faith.

Their courage and risk-taking was inspiring, humbling and empowering.  They assumed the cost without reservation, even when it came time to pay it.

Hebrews 10:32–39 ESV “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, “Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”

God sets up our relationships, those with partner congregations and mission opportunities, and those with bodyguards such as Sam.  We need to be ready for whomever and whatever God brings our way.  We must be intent on bringing glory to Him by our faithful Gospel witness, by our our honorable actions and in pursuing the relationships in front of us, without fear.

Our Spirituality And Our Happiness

We are used to finding good practical life instructions from the Proverbs.  But, we are less familiar with the Book of Proverb’s advice on true spirituality.  These three verses in Proverbs 15 show the connection between our spirituality and our happiness.

Knowledge Leads to Gladness

Proverbs 15:13–14 ESV “A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed. The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.”

The condition of the heart will show itself in one’s looks and the way one carries oneself.  One’s spiritual state can be fairly well surmised from one’s face, smile, eyes, and mood.  We all know this and experience this, and it is what helps care for one another in spiritual struggles and growth, leading to conversations and prayers.

The discerning heart, that is the one who understands, sets himself to seek knowledge because knowledge of God and His Word will affect his soul and bring spiritual vitality into his life.  We all know the feeling after reading our Bibles, meditating, prayer, group study, sermons, worship, etc.

The fool on the other hand doesn’t bother with such things like seeking knowledge; the result is that he becomes so spiritually starved that that his appetite for knowledge of God and His Word is small, and when he does nibble at it, it is only to promote his own foolishness.  Such a person is often sorrowful and just can’t get joy, and easily gets crushed in spirit by life.

The cheerful heart comes from knowledge, feeding upon knowledge.  The cheerful heart is sustained by God.  He causes the hunger for knowledge and He gives the satisfaction, and the desire for more and more.

A Heart Filled with Continual Joy and Satisfaction

Proverbs 15:15 ESV “All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”

We often say that “attitude is everything.”  This is true and fits well here, as long as we realize that in v.15 we are not talking about manufacturing such an attitude from within ourselves.  The point is having a perspective that comes from God, His Word and Spirit at work within us.

The first part of this verse might reference our lives when they are less than pleasant; and so, how we are able to overcome this through spiritual vitality.  Or, it might point out that those with an afflicted heart are always in pain and have no escape.  The depressed, who are not spiritually vibrant will tend to stay that way throughout their lives, day after day.

Either way, the spiritually vibrant of heart see beyond their life circumstances even when they are not in perfect alignment with what they will be one day in glory.  Such persons even rejoice and still find much grace upon which to feast and enjoy their lives.  I think we all know people like this—maybe you are one.

The Proverb Points to Christ

We know our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to give us this kind of abundant life and we have it flowing to us and through us from His work on His Cross and in His Resurrection. 

John 4:10–14 ESV “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” 

John 7:37–39 ESV “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

We experience the reality that “the cheerful heart has a continual feast” in even greater ways than the people of God under the old covenant did.  Simply put, being filled with gratitude and happiness will help us become more spiritual.

Pray And Get Over It

I have received a lot of grief over the years for using the statement, “pray and get over it.” 

I don’t remember where this saying came from.  Perhaps I said it on a mission trip.  Or, maybe it was in a sermon somewhere, and I was in the moment and it just came out of my mouth.  Regardless, it stuck, and has been used against me many times.

Knowing What is Meant

Context is everything.  The congregation knew what I meant.  But, they teased me relentlessly, and still do.  Yet, because we all love one another and know that the saying is true I believe that it has been helpful to all of us.

We are prone to exaggerate concerns in our lives, or concerns for our own church.  And we too easily focus upon matters that are trivial in light of the grand mission of God in front of us.  It was such situations that gave rise to this mildly famous saying of mine.

Certainly, isolated from context such a saying appears insensitive, simplistic, overly concise.  Praying through difficult and emotional circumstances all the way to the end is a process, not given to a momentary solution.

However, sometimes we do need the simple truth simply put in our face.  And it works best coming from those who care for us, people we love and trust.  Though even coming from others, such a truth has immediate benefit.  

Our Reality

When we are under fear, suffering pain or trudging through disappointment, the reality is that so often we don’t go first to prayer.  We go to other things, such as the advice of friends, resources, reasoning, or other distractions and pleasures.  These may all be good things in themselves, but they can not accomplish what prayer does.

Philippians 4:6–7 ESV “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

All I meant by the saying was that if we pray, then we will get over it, just as this Scripture informs us.  God will minister to our souls through prayer.  

So, I don’t really regret saying what I said.  And for those who still don’t like it, maybe you should just pray and get over it.

Plead With God For Men, Plead With Men For God

Is the controlling passion and vision of our lives to fulfill Jesus’ plan of reaching the world with the Gospel?

If it is, we will not hold grandiose dreams of future service to the Lord without a present reality.  We will never become great soldiers of the faith somewhere down the road unless we actively evangelize and disciple now.  If we cannot do it now, then we will not do it later.  

Charles H. Spurgeon once described the Christian life as “pleading with God for men, and pleading with men for God.”

Our Daily Prayers

First, this means that our day should begin with prayer, entreating God for the salvation of people through us, the Lord’s humble servants.  The Apostle Paul expressed his intense concern for the salvation of his fellow Jews in his letter to the Romans 10:1 ESV, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

Paul asked God for their salvation because salvation is only God’s to grant, just as our Lord Christ taught in John 6:44 ESV, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.  And I will raise him up on the last day.”  And so, a desire for people’s salvation should lead us to fervent prayer, knowing that only God can cause people to be born again.

Growing in our desire and concern for people’s salvation is interactive with praying for their salvation.  Paul’s prayer intensified according to his concern for people, and the concern grew during, and as a result of, his prayers.  Without both prayer and personal concern in our hearts and lives, we will not plead for men.

Our Daily Conversations

Second, as the spiritual battle rages during the day, this desire and concern for people’s salvation should continue to be our inward prayer as we assault, through the power of the Holy Spirit, the work of the evil one who blinds the eyes of the unbelieving, by begging people to be reconciled to God.  We will plead with men for God.

The Apostle Paul entreats men and women everywhere, along with all our fellow ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”.  The Lord will accept all those who come to Him, for He Himself declared in John 6:37 ESV “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.”  God’s success is guaranteed!

If God’s success is guaranteed, then why do we at times seem to resign from our ambassadorship?  It seems to be some fear that overtakes us:  fear of looking, feeling and being thought of as foolish; fear of not knowing what to say or how to answer questions; fear of losing friendships; fear of personal injury or loss of earthly security; fear or confrontation and discomfort; fear of personal involvement; fear of ridicule; or fear or whatever.  

But, it is in going forth with the results entrusted to God that God’s glory is put on display.  Observe Paul relying on the Spirit:

2 Corinthians 2:1–5 ESV “For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you. Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you.”

If we do not speak can we truly say that we are convinced that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation?  How can we then assure ourselves that we are truly concerned for people’s needs and faithfully loving them?  Without first pleading with God for men, we will not be able to trust the Lord when we plead with men for God.

Our Life’s Labors

The work does not end with fruits of evangelism, rather the process of perfection just begins.  Disciples must be established, equipped and built up to continue the work of Christ in saving and perfecting the saints.  This is the mission of the church and the final goal is nothing less than perfection in Christ.  

Our Apostle Paul defined his ministry in this manner, in Colossians 1:28–29 ESV “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”

May our lives be lived for Christ, and not for ourselves, by pleading with God for men, then pleading with men for God!

Acts 20:24–27 ESV “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. . . . Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”