Are We Swimming in the Same Direction? Lessons from “Finding Nemo”

After a recent venture to the Newport Aquarium near Cincinnati, we came home to watch Finding Nemo (Pixar) for some relaxation and for the kids to see if they recognized any of the fish they saw at the aquarium.

In the process, I was struck by one of the last major scenes of the movie. Rather than try to describe the scene, I hope you’ll watch it. It is the portion where the fish are caught in some fishermen’s nets and what they do to escape.

What do we see here? An allegory of sorts. An allegory is “a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another” (Dictionary.com). In other words, most of the items in this story represent something in real life. So here we go.

The fish represent the church!

How? None of us live the same type of lives, do we? Even in my house, though we have the same last name go about our lives in slightly different directions and from different perspectives. When it comes to backgrounds, jobs, mindsets over the temperature of the house, how to wash dishes, what to eat for dinner–we come at life from different perspectives and directions.

Each of the fish in this scene is heading in a similar direction, but clearly they are on their own. In other words, they are together, but they are not together. What gets them together?

They see the net coming (more on what that net means in a moment), so they reverse course in an attempt to save their lives! So they see a common threat. Fear has a way of galvanizing a group–even members of a church. It could be fear of having no money, a fear of becoming obsolete, a fear of change from the traditions developed and held dear, a fear of not being relevant, a fear of having less and less influence, etc. But notice that even this fear does not bring unity–these fish were on their own. They were heading in the same direction for the purpose of escaping the net.

Let’s talk about this net

This net represents a group that is stuck. Groups become ‘stuck’ for various reasons. This group of fish grew this way due to an enemy coming along wishing to capture these fish in order to sell them. From the enemy’s perspective, these fish are an ends to a means.

Yet, these fish recognize that them being ‘stuck’ in this situation will lead to certain death. And in many ways, those fish understand better the dire consequences of being ‘stuck’ in this nature–for it will lead to death. In Boone’s Creek’s case, it may not lead to death by way of extinction, but it will lead to the death of our influence and witness and Kingdom effectiveness.

We must understand that there are ways in which we must be ‘stuck.’

• We must be stuck in our commitment to the Scriptures (Psalm 119:15-16; John 17:17);
• We must be stuck in our commitment to the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) by whom all Christians are to be identified through baptism (Matthew 28:19).
• We must be stuck in our commitment to the Gospel (Mark 1:14-15; John 3:1-21);
• We must be stuck in the “one anothers.”
• We must be stuck in our commitment to the body of Christ that clearly proclaims Christ and His gospel (Col. 2:6-15).

Yet what are ways that we fish may grow stuck?

Music

This is clearly the biggest flashpoint. As one who served as minister of music for ten years, I understand how so many view the music used in the worship service. For many, if the music isn’t their style, they say they ‘haven’t worshiped.’ This is particularly troublesome, because we should worship based upon what Christ has accomplished through his death, burial, and resurrection. Our worship should hinge on this, not on man-made compositions and styles. We must beware that if a style of music affects our ‘worship,’ we will become worshipers of music (and that, dear friends, is the epitome of an idol) (Jeremiah 2:9-11; Romans 1:18-23).

Man-made traditions

I equate some traditions to lint in the lint trap of my dryer. (Now, hang with me on this one.) The more the clothes roll along in the dryer, the more lint accumulates. For many churches, the more time rolls along, the more traditions accumulate until they become as much a part of the church as the furniture in the sanctuary. And as generations inherit these firmly-grasped traditions, they becomemore aware of these traditions than of Christ and the gospel. This is part of the reason why so manySouthern Baptists (SBCers) are sucked into other cults: they know their traditions, and as such they know the terms we evangelicals use (salvation, eternal life, church, Christ, the Bible), but they don’t know the substance of those terms. So when cults come along using the same verbiage yet having a clearly different meaning, SBCers take the bait and become stuck in a false religion with a false gospel giving false assurance. Yet, what they have done is simply exchanged one man-made tradition for another.

This is why it is good to evaluate and clean out the lint traps frequently before the lint gets into the machinery. Isaiah 29:13 says:

And the Lord said:”Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”

Memories

Like music, memories are powerful in churches. While God provides this function of ‘memory’ as a great gift, the flesh and the devil use this as a net in which we may be stuck. Like the changes in music or moving away from traditions, changes in the church may come about because of a memory some may have. For instance:

• We cannot change the baptistry. My granddaughter and daughter were baptized in that baptistry.
• We cannot change the color of the walls. Why, Sister Sue painted this in this manner years ago! She put so much effort into it!
• We cannot tear down our old sanctuary! I was married in that building, as was my parents! I came to faith in Christ in that sanctuary. It would be unbearable to tear it down.

Could I go on? While these examples are not real (at least, I’ve never come across them), I know some from other churches who have. And maybe some in our church have certain things in our church that really effects them if they are moved, changed, redirected, or reset.

So as we must not make an idol of our musical preference, or our man-made traditions, we must not bow down to the idol our memories. One person once said, The past is meant to be learned from, not lived in. It is good to look back on our memories, but we must glean out the lessons from them as we move forward.

How Did The Fish Become… “Unstuck”?

In the movie, Dory is caught in the net with the rest of the fish. Nemo remembers how they escaped in the fishtank earlier in the movie: each of the fish in the net swam down. Their collective power and energy helped them break away. So Nemo instructs the fish to do the same thing. Eventually, they break out of that net and are free.

Those fish had to receive outside instruction on what to do. This is the same with us as followers of Christ. In our own fearful state, we can cling to music, traditions, memories, etc. to find that much-coveted stability.

Or …

We receive outside instruction from the Word and the Spirit and we all move in the same direction with the same purpose for the same glory of God.

Preaching and teaching and read the Word of God is that outside instruction. And as the Spirit begins to apply that Word to our hearts at Boone’s Creek, we will soon be heading in the same direction.

Those fish had to act on those instructions given. Receiving the Word so that the Word grips you is so key. Now, it’s time to bear that fruit. The Spirit regenerates our hearts, causing us to be born again. Through the Spirit, God gives us the faith to believe in His Son (something we could not do on our own). Then the Spirit sanctifies our hearts as His will becomes more prominent. In other words, the flesh has less and less influence as the Spirit has more and more. Our actions which come from these instructions are not actions in hope of salvation, but are actions which give evidence to that salvation.

Closing Thoughts

Some churches, like many businesses, are about mission statements and vision statements. We have ours as well: We aim to spread the glory of God from our neighbors to the nations. Yet, we failed to be dialed in to the fact that every sermon preached, every lesson taught, every hymn sung–all these things are used by the Holy Spirit to craft a vision into the hearts of all Christians at your church.

We must come into our times of worship with this understanding: God’s Word is his revelation, his vision, for his people. We don’t wait for something to be “relevant” (a very self-serving word) before we’ll listen. We listen and prayerfully absorb even if it doesn’t seem to be personally relevant to us. It’s in His Word, and God has given preachers and teachers to help us understand that He put these things in His Word for a purpose.

Christ brought the fish into the boat (salvation), and he brought His fish together here at your church (membership)–now what will our fish look like? A me-first attitude, a fearful attitude, or a faithful attitude as we all swim together in the same direction toward the same Christ for the same purpose?

All this from a kids’ movie! Isn’t God amazing?

Why Are Small Groups Important?

Think getting together for prayer and Bible study isn’t important? And are you thinking that our young people are not interested in this? They are—and they need a sense of Gospel-centered community to make this happen. Did you know that…

More than two-thirds of churchgoing young adults drop out between the ages of 18 and 22!

Why do they dropout? Here are the top ten reasons church dropouts Stopped attending church[1]

1. Simply wanted a break from church.

2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.

3. Moved to college and stopped attending church.

4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending.

5. Moved too far away from church to continue attending.

6. Became too busy though still wanted to attend.

7. Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church.

8. Disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social issues.

9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside church.

10. Was only going to church to please others.

What is most important to the people in the church? Without question, the sense of community in community groups/small groups. Check out these statistics!

• Those who are coming to worship and Sunday School/small groups, after five years: 83% stick around. And they must be side-by-side, either SS-to-worship, or worship-to-Sunday School.
• From 1990-2004, the United States population expanded by more than 18 percent.[2] Yet the percentage of people attending church declined about 3 percent.
• Eight out of 10 are open if you invite them to come to church.

Do you have a small group setting where you can dig deeper into the Word and help one another to deeper maturity and greater accountability? You must take advantage of that opportunity.

---

[1]Thom S. Rainer and Sam Rainer III, Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2008), 3-4.

[2]http://www.census.gov

What Will You Do With Spirit-Led Leaders? Lessons from Eliashib

When revival takes place and reform hits, one of the first places it hits is looking at how we look at our leadership. As I mentioned to you about the Protestant Reformation, the Gospel as proclaimed in the Word of God took center stage once again. Once this happened, a great crisis arose within the Reformers — the need to train leaders in the Word (since the Word has, just prior, just been translated into their mother language). What was just as important as finding those who could preach and teach were finding those servants who were Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.

Once those Spirit-led, Word-driven leaders were found, the congregation had the responsibility of following their direction — not because of they themselves as capable leaders, but because of the one leading them.

Someone forgot to send that memo to one particular leader named Eliashib. Ezra and Nehemiah were understood to be the leaders of the people of Judah. Yet, in verse 6, we read that Nehemiah was not in town, but actually went back to Babylon in service to the king. And notice too in verse 13 that it is not Ezra the scribe who is mentioned, but “Zadok the scribe.” Where is Ezra? Ezra may have retired or may have died and thus gave his duty to Zadok. Either way — the two main leaders were not around.

Eliashib had a choice to make, did he not? He could have continued in that spirit-led leadership or he could have chosen another path. He chose the other path. He allowed Tobiah — remember Tobiah who constantly stood as an enemy of the progress the people of God were making. Yet Tobiah was a relative of Eliashib — so it was all in the family, I suppose. With Nehemiah and Ezra gone, Eliashib may have tried to make nice and smooth things over with Tobiah by giving him a room in the Temple. One problem: this was against God’s law.

The other problem was the fact that, as Nehemiah noted, “the house of God was forsaken.” Why was it forsaken? The Levites who worked and ministered in the Temple had an issue of “the portions … had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.” In Genesis 49, we see that while the other eleven tribes were apportioned land, the Levites were not because they were the priestly tribe and, thus, “God was their inheritance.” God had set it up to where the Levites would receive their “portions” from the offerings the people gave as sacrifices.

Nehemiah dealt with each issue accordingly. While some leaders in our time worry about offending someone or hurting their feelings — and some even use a more spiritual tone of stalling by simply saying, “Let’s pray about it.” We need to pray for leaders who are strong and have a good spiritual backbone to lead in every way. Now, am I saying it is bad for a leader to pray? No, because does not Paul tell young Timothy, “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people” (1 Timothy 2:1, ESV). We pray to seek out what God’s will is.

Yet when God has already made it will quite clear in his Word, we don’t need to pray about what God would have us to do (we already know what it is!) — we just pray that God would inform, reform, and transform our hearts to desire to follow his path.

Hebrews 13:17 tells us:

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Praying for Servant Leaders

[This was preached at Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, KY.  You can listen to the mp3 here.]

When I first came into the ministry, I remember my mentor (Pastor Chris) telling me something that used to happen quit often among his friends. Each Wednesday, he and his friends would go out to the local Pizza Hut for pizza. One of these men had a certain trick he would do when the pizza arrive. He would spot the biggest piece of the pie—and spit on it! You heard me correctly! This went on for weeks.

One day, one of them had an idea. They went to the Pizza Hut again. Again the pizza came. Again, this man marked his territory and said, “Dibs on that one!” To his surprise, another one at the table spit on that same piece of pizza and said, “It’s all yours!”

There is something in human nature that wants to have what we want when we want it—to have the biggest slice of the pie, to get there first, to be the best. No matter how well our intentions or how well we may tell ourselves and others the contrary, we have to fight our human nature to be #1.

That’s why we need to pray for our church to have servant leaders. To many in our world, those seem like opposites. You can’t be a servant and be a leader—and you can’t be a leader if you’re a servant. Someone forgot to notify Jesus of this when he told his disciples this:

You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:42-45).

Those whom God has placed in leadership in the church must recognize they are called to be servants in the church. It’s not about position, it’s about a passion for God and His people. It’s about a passion for the gospel, for Jesus gave His life as a ransom for many, leading the way in service.

The coming two Sundays, our congregation has agreed to and has codified this in our Constitution and By-Laws to nominate men to serve as deacons. These are men who have already been demonstrating service—in fact, the word ‘deacon’ comes from the Greek word meaning ‘servant’ and this word is used in other places as a key attribute to Christian living. These men must members at our church for three years or more, and abide by the qualifications of 1 Timothy 3:8-13 (which I will read through later). But the first ‘deacons’ came about here in Acts 6 that arose out of a practical need. Let read about that need and how they responded:

6:1 Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2 And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5 And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6 These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.

7 And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

Servant leaders in the church meet the physical and spiritual needs of God’s people!

The Problem: The Need That Arose

The disciples had an interesting issue that many of us would love to face: they were “increasing in number” (v. 1). That’s good! The power of the Word of God as reinforced by signs and wonders were drawing many in to saving faith in Jesus Christ. They were turning from their sins and turning to the only true Savior! They had been marked by unity, being of one accord.

But a practical, physical need arose that threatened this unity. This is the first issue to arise on a large scale within the Christian community. “ … a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (v. 1b).

Some wrongly say that complaining is bad. Some complaining is bad, when it comes from a selfish motive. That was not the case here. It’s important for leaders to sift through the complaining and prioritize. Some leaders dismiss any complaints, and thus isolate their people. Some leaders listen to every single complaint as if it’s all of equally valid, and thus lack discernment and fail to lead. One person can hijack the entire thing!

The apostles were wise, discerning, and Spirit-filled leaders! They heard the complaint, saw that it was necessary to address that issue immediately. In the process, something wonderful arose that would show the nature of the church of Jesus Christ!

Yet, there are three ways to deal with a complaint!  To be clear, I don’t have any particular episode in mind, just some general reflections from 20 years of ministry and 40 years (come October) of living.

Ignore it.  Just don’t address it at all.  Say to yourself that any complainer must be carnal and move on to those who don’t complain because non-complainers are Spirit-filled and love Jesus.  That’s not only bad leadership, that just plain silly.  (Of course, one has to take into consideration if this is coming from a Son-of-Diotrephes effect, of which Joe McKeever deals with beautifully.)

Internalize it.  Here is the polar opposite of ignoring it.  Take every complaint to heart, because regardless of what happens at a church or any business, if you’re the leader, it’s always a reflection on you and therefore your fault.  Another way to internalize it is personally:  every complaint you hear is equally valid.  One complaint about a program or a direction in the church grinds everything to a halt.  This is especially true if the aim of the church is to make everyone happy, forgetting that the aim of the church is to glorify God and produce Christ-like, Spirit-filled disciples. 

Investigate it.  Yes!  This one!  No blanket categorizing need apply here!  See the nature of the complaint—it may teach you something!  I shudder at times when I have not listened to a complaint when I should have!  Sort through the complaint and see if it’s just a personal preference or if it’s a significant issue that could effect the spiritual direction of the body of Christ.  This is what the apostles did—and what we as leaders must do! What did they do?

First, they saw the need to take care of the widows. With widows in that culture, when their husbands died, by virtue of the men being the ones who provided the livelihood and by virture of them being old and being women—they did not have much of a place in that society. They were overlooked and were outcast. As we saw from Luke 18 with the persistent widow and how she continually asked that judge for justice until he finally wore her down. Judges didn’t help those who couldn’t provide some benefit to them.

Secondly, they saw that more than one group of people would make up the body of Christ. Consider that the “Hellenists” were involved. On my first trip to Trinidad while in seminary, we spent two weeks doing music missions. One week was in San Fernando, much like where we have gone as a church. The second week was in the city in Port of Spain—one of the more difficult weeks I’ve had doing missions. It was Saturday and we were in the city. We had split up our team of about five or six to go and do some shopping, but we were to meet around 2 at the church. Within 10 minutes, I found myself alone in downtown Port of Spain in a country I’d never been in having a hard time understanding the Trinidadian/Caribbean English. So you know what I did?

I went to McDonald’s. Why? Two reasons: one, it was familiar, even if the meat there was a little suspect. And two, I knew that I would see another white face from our team soon. Within 15 minutes I did.

You see, these Hellenistic widow had a double whammy in their lives. They were widows, and they spoke a different language than did the Apostles who spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic. By nature, we gravitate toward those who share our language, our speaking habits, our slang, and our cultural tendencies. They may not have intended to exclude them, but one can understand how this happened.

The Solution: Servant Leaders Serving Differently

“Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering” (Acts 6:3-4a).

Here we see something beautiful. We see the leadership of the apostles who had a clear understanding of their calling! Their calling was ‘prayer and … the ministry of the word.” Please understand, this is not saying that this is all that church leaders do. But with pastors, this is the primary calling! Not the only thing pastors are to do, but the primary task!

Also, notice that these seven men had their calling as well—to take care of the physical duties of the members of the church. This was their ministry. Their calling!

But understand something: the ministry and service of these seven men in waiting tables and making sure the widows were fed; and the word ‘ministry’ of the word both come from the same root in the Greek. Both serve! Both minister! Both sought the glory of God, both sought to strengthen the people of God, both sought to share the gospel of God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Yet both serve in different ways. The apostles serve as the overseers and leaders of the church, the undershepherds of the church of Christ. The deacons serve as servants to the physical needs of the church.

Consider the story of Jethro and Moses in Exodus 18.

13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be able to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And they judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went away to his own country.

No doubt this parallels and influenced how the disciples felt and structured how they dealt with these issues. These men were ones who had already shown their faithfulness. Just Jethro advised Moses to look for men who fear God.

Dear friends, when you nominate a deacon, look for one already faithful in service. Read 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Look at their faithfulness to the Word of God, their faithfulness to service of the church, their dignity, see how they manage their household and whether they exert spiritual authority in service to their families. Look at their wives, because the wives are not only along for the ride but are key in ministry. A spiritual maturity is needed on both the husbands and the wives. Pray they are ones who tithe, for how hypocritical would that be if a deacon would use money tithed to the Lord’s service and have a say-so in how it was spent, and yet didn’t contribute to that storehouse tithe to begin with! Don’t look at how well they do the business of the world (although that can help), look at how well they do the business of the Kingdom. Because mark my word, if a deacon is nominated and voted upon based upon popularity rather than service already demonstrated, his nomination and election will not change his level of service, it will only reinforce what is already there.

Conclusion

His name is Bill. He has wild hair, wears a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans and no shoes. This was literally his wardrobe for his entire four years of college. He is intelligent. Kind of esoteric and very, very bright.
He became a Christian while attending college. Across the street from the campus is a well-dressed, very conservative church. They want to develop a ministry to the students, but are not sure how to go about it.

One day Bill decides to go there. He walks in with no shoes, jeans, his T-shirt, and wild hair. The service has already started, so Bill starts down the aisle looking for a seat. The church is completely packed and he can’t find a seat. By now people are really looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one says anything. Bill gets closer to the pulpit, and when he realizes there are no seats, he just squats down right on the carpet. (Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church before!)

By now the people are really uptight, and the tension in the air is thick.
About this time, the minister realizes that from way at the back of the church, a deacon is slowly making his way toward Bill. Now the deacon is in his eighties, has silver-gray hair, and a three-piece suit. A godly man, very elegant, very dignified, very courtly. He walks with a cane and, as he starts walking toward this young man, everyone is saying to themselves that you can’t blame him for what he’s going to do. How can you expect a man of his age and of his background to understand some college kid on the floor?
It takes a long time for the deacon to reach the young man. What would he do? He walked up to the young man, and sat down beside him. He introduced himself and let him know that he wouldn’t be sitting alone.

This right here is an example of taking one’s theology out for a test drive.  We can be as conservative and Bible-believing as possible, but if we’re not using this to serve others, then no one will know or care about our beliefs.

We need servant leaders.  Pray for the leaders of your church!

Harmony in the Church At All Costs (Tozer)

[Taken from Tozer Daily Devotional by Literature Ministries International.]

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. --1 Peter 5:8

Some misguided Christian leaders feel that they must preserve harmony at any cost, so they do everything possible to reduce friction. They should remember that there is no friction in a machine that has been shut down for the night. Turn off the power, and you will have no problem with moving parts. Also remember that there is a human society where there are no problems--the cemetery. The dead have no differences of opinion. They generate no heat, because they have no energy and no motion. But their penalty is sterility and complete lack of achievement.

What then is the conclusion of the matter? That problems are the price of progress, that friction is the concomitant of motion, that a live and expanding church will have a certain quota of difficulties as a result of its life and activity.

A Spirit-filled church will invite the anger of the enemy. This World: Playground or Battleground?, 112-113.

"Lord, thank You for the many signs that we are alive! Satan must see real life, and I guess that's a good sign. Give us victory though, that we might not succomb to his attacks. Amen."

Churches Need Servants, Not Celebrities

When Jesus told His disciples, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), he told them this in a specific context. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, had followed Jesus for three years. Yet, they approached Jesus and asked him for positions of importance. When Jesus established his kingdom, they desired to sit on his right and left hand. They wanted a choice spot when Jesus set up his political rule. Jesus made it clear that being a part of his kingdom would regard service and sacrifice, as Jesus himself would endure the baptism of suffering and death in service to His Father and His people.

Paul wrote to Titus a distillation of what he wrote in his first letter to young pastor Timothy. Titus had been a disciple of Paul, assisting him on his missionary journeys. In 2 Corinthians, Titus played a crucial role in relaying how the Corinthians church was in their walk with Christ. He was refreshed by their obedience (2 Cor 7:13), and also demonstrated great pastoral care among the church so dear to Paul (2 Cor 8:16). Paul saw great value in Titus, calling him “my partner and fellow worker for your benefit” (8:23). We see in his opening to his letter to Titus that he was “my true child in the common faith” (Titus 1:4).

Paul planted a number of churches on the isle of Crete and, seeing Titus’ pastoral heart and care to the churches of Macedonia, placed him as pastor and overseer of these churches. He invested in Titus due to the prevalence of false teachers and the need for qualified, Spirit-led, God-ordained servants in the church who would willingly sacrifice their all for the truth—truth taught, truth taught, and truth lived out.

In their book The Trellis and the Vine, Colin Marshall and Tony Payne have a wonderful insight regarding church membership.

In our society, when you join as a ‘member’ of something, it can have connotations of passivity and consumerism. I join a club, and expect certain benefits. The ‘partnership’ language, on the other hand, communicates immediately that we are signing up for active involvement—for being partners together in a great enterprise: the gospel mission of Jesus Christ.”[i]

Paul wanted to instill in Titus, who would instill in other faithful men (2 Tim 2:1-2) this stewardship of the gospel. Paul did this by example. Rather than Paul starting off with the church being a smorgasbord of therapeutic, self-help, five-step understandings, he began his letter, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” Paul demonstrated the correct perspective of a Christian specifically, and of a person in general: who we are before God is all that matters, and what God demands of us is all that should matter to us.

How Paul Could Have Described Himself!

You see, in his letter to the church in Philippi, Paul gave an example of how he could have described himself:

³For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴ though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless (Phil 3:3-6).

This is an impressive resume! And we are impressed with those types of resumes. We look at the resumes of University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, the singer Beyonce, the acting of Sir Laurence Olivier (considered the greatest actor of the past 100 years), the director Steven Spielberg—when we see the list of their work and accomplishments, we are impressed! In the circles of first-century Judaism, Paul was that impressive!

He came from great pedigree (“circumcised on the eighth day”—after all, Paul was in no position to do that himself!); from a great heritage, even from the tribe that brought about Saul, Israel’s first king (“of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews”); and an enthusiastic, obedient, and intelligent Pharisee (“as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless”). Paul could have used all of these descriptions at the beginning of his letter to Titus—and young Titus certainly would have been impressed and even intimidated.

How do we describe ourselves? Husband? Wife? Parent? Do we brag on our denomination? Flaunt our job title? Identify with our sports teams? Let slip in conversation how much we tithe? Too often, we allow temporary items to define us in ultimate, eternal terms. Sadly, even Christians find themselves

Paul had been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whereas once he was a “persecutor of the church,” he is now a servant of God and His church. Here, he is keeping with the custom of the times in how he crafts his greeting. In our time, we would begin our letter by addressing the one to whom we are writing, then our name would be in the closing. Yet, an epistle began with the name of the one writing it. Since scrolls were in use, the sender needed to have his name right at the beginning of the letter so the reader(s) could easily identify the author as well as the author’s credentials.

How Paul Ultimately Described Himself

A servant of God. Paul stated his credentials as a “servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.” This is the ‘what’ of Paul. By the world’s standards, this designation was minimal and menial. He uses the word doulos which many translations render as ‘servant.’[ii] This translation, while technically correct, does not go far enough to paint the most accurate picture. The New Living Translation and the Message (translations not known for a strict word-for-word translation) are one of the few translations to translate this in the truest form: a slave. Strong’s defines doulos as “a slave, bondman, man of servile condition.”[iii] We must not miss this distinction.

As Westerners, when we think of a servant, we may think of a man or woman who waits on those with considerable means with dignity and distinction, even with a tuxedo and tails. The notion of slavery in the manner in which Paul described himself is disturbing. The 200+ years of slavery in this country from colonial times until the end of the Civil War is a big hypocritical blight on a country whose theme from the beginning was to be the land of the free. The fact that slaves were taken from their homeland in chains to serve at the beckoned call of a master, thus surrendering all that they were and all that they had for they had against their will is reprehensible by our current sensibilities—as it was in Roman times as well!

And yet, Paul used this very moniker to describe his work before the true and living God. He was sought and bought by God himself. God told Ananias moments after Paul’s encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16).

An apostle of Jesus Christ. He was also an “apostle of Jesus Christ.” What is an apostle?  In general terms, an apostle is one who is sent by another to give a message. In the case of God’s economy, an apostle is also a foundational office that a select few held. In the terms of the New Testament, an apostle was one called by Christ Himself who personally witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry.

By Paul being called an apostle at all was all of grace. Paul did not seek out Christ—but Christ sought him on the Damascus Road. Paul’s servanthood before God and his apostleship were given by Christ Himself.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God (1 Cor 15:1-8, emphasis added).

Paul did not chase after God, but God had to manifest himself to Paul. “Paul commends his ministry by rehearsing the evidence of God’s work in him as he recounts the many difficulties he experienced in the course of his ministry. His ministry is due to God’s grace, and that grace provides the impetus for his work.”[iv] He knew what being a servant of God entailed.

Consider that Stephen was stoned to death (with the apostle Paul holding the cloaks of those who stoned him). The apostle Philip suffered martyrdom in Phrygia, being scourged, thrown into prison, and crucified in A.D. 54. The apostle Matthew was slain with a halberd in his ministry in Ethiopia in A.D. 60. James, the writer of the epistle, had his brains bashed out at the age of 94. Andrew was crucified. Mark was dragged to pieces in Alexandria, Egypt, in sacrifice to their god. Peter was crucified upside down, because he could not bear to be crucified as Christ was. Jude was crucified. Thomas was run through with a spear. The apostle John was put in a cauldron of boiling oil, but escaped without injury—after which, he was banished to Patmos.[v]

Paul understood that his ministry entailed service and sacrifice—and Titus needed to understand this as well.

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[i]Colin Marshall and Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything(Kingsford, Australia: Matthias Media, 2009), 66-7.

[ii]Translations of doulos : ‘servant’ (CEV, ESV, KJV, NCV, NIV, NJB), ‘bondservant’ (NAS, NKJV).

[iii]Strong’s Dictionary. From BibleWorks

[iv]Thomas R. Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2001), 43.

[v]John Fox, Fox’s Book of Martyrs, ed. William Byron Forbush, accessed 2 Jan 2010, available athttp://www.ccel.org/f/foxe/martyrs/fox101.htm [on-line]; Internet.

Gospel-Gripped Leadership: Three Ways to Deal with a Complaint

I am preaching through Acts at my church (Boone’s Creek Baptist Church, Lexington, KY) and have come to Acts 6:1-7, which I will preach this coming Sunday (July 31, 2011).  In verse 1, we read that, in the midst of the blossoming of the church, “a complaint arose from the Hellenists.”  What was the complaint?  You’ll have to read up on that—and come on Sunday!

Yet, there are three ways to deal with a complaint!  To be clear, I don’t have any particular episode in mind, just some general reflections from 20 years of ministry and 40 years (come October) of living.

Ignore it.  Just don’t address it at all.  Say to yourself that any complainer must be carnal and move on to those who don’t complain because non-complainers are Spirit-filled and love Jesus.  That’s not only bad leadership, that just plain silly.  (Of course, one has to take into consideration if this is coming from a Son-of-Diotrephes effect, of which Joe McKeever deals with beautifully.)

Internalize it.  Here is the polar opposite of ignoring it.  Take every complaint to heart, because regardless of what happens at a church or any business, if you’re the leader, it’s always a reflection on you and therefore your fault.  Another way to internalize it is personally:  every complaint you hear is equally valid.  One complaint about a program or a direction in the church grinds everything to a halt.  This is especially true if the aim of the church is to make everyone happy, forgetting that the aim of the church is to glorify God and produce Christ-like, Spirit-filled disciples. 

Investigate it.  Yes!  This one!  No blanket categorizing need apply here!  See the nature of the complaint—it may teach you something!  I shudder at times when I have not listened to a complaint when I should have!  Sort through the complaint and see if it’s just a personal preference or if it’s a significant issue that could effect the spiritual direction of the body of Christ.  This is what the apostles did—and what we as leaders must do!

Ultimately, we serve Jesus Christ!  And the role of a God-called leader in the church is to meet folks where they are and take them where Christ is, and there are may ways this can be (see Jude 21-24).  If complaints arise because some expect leaders to serve their personal preferences, then one can go from serving Jesus to serving people very quickly.  Pray for God-called leaders to serve Jesus first, having in mind the things of God rather than the things of men (Matthew 16:20-28). 

What think ye?

A Deadly Example of Cultural Christianity: Lessons From Ananias and Sapphira

Everyone at some point in their lives wants to fit in and contribute—or at least having others think just as much.  When baseball players take steroids, they do so so they will heal more quickly to return to the field or court to contribute to the team’s success (and not lose their jobs in the process).  Those in business may risk stealing ideas from a co-worker and taking credit for something that brings them many accolades.

The same temptation happens in church world—especially in the South.  For the longest time, the culture in the South was, “If it’s Sunday, you should be in church.”  It was the thing to do!  In other parts of the country, it is not culturally acceptable to be in church.  So many respond to what is culturally acceptable, depending on the region of the country.

Ananias and Sapphira fell into this trap.  In Acts 4:32-37, we see that the majority of those in the early church did not consider what they had as something that belonged to them.  This was not a precursor to Communism, because Communism is mandated by the government and therefore involuntary.  This giving was fueled by all that Christ had given them as outlined in His Word.  Great power and grace was on the church. 

Ananias and Sapphira, however, felt they needed to give a pretense of this same type of self-sacrifice, but secretly they plotted to keep some of it back.

5:1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things (ESV).

Peter makes the point that they did not have to give everything, but they had said they would, and thus they lied to God and to the church.  This reminds one of the story of Achan in Joshua 7 when he stole some of the devoted things and hid them in his tent.  His theft caused sin to come into the camp and it affected everything, even as they went into battle against an inferior enemy.  Achan, Ananias, and Sapphira were dealt with strongly—executed even—to keep sin out of the community and causing great fear to come upon those inside and outside the church!

Take inventory of your lives!  Are you associating with those whom you are because you just want to fit it, or because it’s the right and true thing to do?  No one is immune to this temptation!  Otherwise, we’re not just lying to God or to our group of people we fellowship with, but we are lying to ourselves as well.