Entrusted to do God's Business

 

The parable of the ten servants who had been entrusted with a mina each to "engage in business" until the nobleman returned is preceded by the story of the conversion of Zacchaeus (the wee little man). The "punchline" of the story is Jesus' declaration that "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10) That is the business venture that Jesus wanted to urge his disciples to engage in when we returned to the Father.

Inherent in that verse is sense of "going." "Seeking" implies going out and searching. The Son of Man didn't come to "invite" and save the lost. He came to go out into a lost world seeking souls to save.

One of the primary points of our vision at CrossPoint is that we are about helping people make bold crossings from here to there. The very tough reality for the church today is that for too many the church is viewed as irrelevant and an extremest element in society. It is more important than ever that we use what God has entrusted to us to go out and do his business in the world.

As I've been putting together the current series of messages entitled, "Entrusted," I've become more and more aware of how what God has entrusted to us must be focused and invested in moving us into the lives and situations where people need Christ.

Rather than a 30 voice choir at church (which would be great!), maybe those 30 voices could do more to reach the world being a part of the Summit County Choral Society and being light and hope there. In our packed tight lives we often can't do both. Where then do we best engage in the business of seeking and saving the lost?

When we think of the value of relationships (which is one of our core values) we, in the church, often prioritize our church friendships. The Bible clearly teaches and encourages us in the "one another" passages of scripture to connect with each other on a deep level But we also need to realize that God has placed us into relationships with unsaved people that need the investments of time and love to engage in the Kingdom business of seeking and saving the lost.

God has entrusted us with some incredible blessings! How are we engaged in doing the Kings' business? This is where we are going to be headed for the next several weeks. Seek the Lord and his wisdom for your life.

When a Church Wrestles with Discontentment

The title of this blog might lead someone to think that it is about addressing some controversy in the church. Let me say first and most importantly, there is NO big controversy or issue that people are agitated about at CrossPoint … at least that I know of.  At lunch the other day a young man asked me what he could be praying for at CrossPoint. My mind went to about two dozen issues that are on my “worry” list. Some are minor, two or three major, but probably a majority are not worth worrying about.

As I quickly processed that question I sensed the Lord pointing me to a deeper understanding of all these issues that in many ways seem disconnected and arbitrary. As I processed my thoughts with him I came to a reality that out of all that I long to see God do accomplish CrossPoint the most fundamental need is to see people come to Christ and be transformed by the power of Christ. There is nothing like realizing new life and stories of lives being changed.

We’ve experienced this some over the past couple of months as we witnessed the testimony and baptism of a couple of young men who God has divinely changed. When you have a standing ovation for a baptism that tells you something about the heart of people.

In talking this out with my friend, a reality of church life came into sharp focus. When a church is experiencing new life and life change in its people there just doesn’t seem to be much to complain about. God is at work. What more could we want?

There is something in the heart of every believer that longs for new spiritual life to be born out of their own life. It’s something that the Holy Spirit does when he comes to make Jesus real in our souls. When it isn’t happening there is a sense of irritation that rises. We don’t necessarily know what irritation is that we’re disgruntled about … we’re just discontented. We often target our dissatisfaction at something that really doesn’t matter. But we’ve got to do something to let off the “steam.”

So as I’m understanding it, when churches go through a season of discontent it’s an indication that God is at work in our hearts. We’re bored with the routine of ministry service. We get tired easily and begin to wander about looking for something more “fulfilling” in church life. We may look for a new ministry, look for a new small group, maybe even look for a whole new church. We long to be an agent of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life to lead them to Christ and the fullness of life that He brings. It’s not enough for us to just hear testimonies of others, we want to be spiritual parents ourselves.

Two of the most often cited excuses for not being a witness for Christ are “I’m not an evangelist,” and “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” But Christ’s commission in Acts 1:8 is not directed just to those who are uniquely gifted or have a salesperson personality. It is something that every Christ follower must consider as primary in their lives.

⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NLT)

When we fail to live this out, we are disobeying the Lord’s calling on our lives. In my personal devotions the other day I read this …

¹⁷  This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. ¹⁸ Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a gentle river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea. ¹⁹ Your descendants would have been like the sands along the seashore— too many to count! Isaiah 48:17-19 (NLT)

I wonder how many churches are submerged in discontentment and discord, having no peace, all because they have failed to fulfill the command of Jesus to be witnesses to all people. We might try to blame the lack of growth on a thousand different reasons, but the bottom line each individual must ask of themselves is how have they lived out the command to witness in the power of the Holy Spirit?

I put forth three areas that I sensed the Lord wanted us to pray for in regards to Five-day Clubs. God answered our prayers in wonderful and meaningful ways. As I’ve thought about moving forward, the Lord clearly indicated to me that these three issues need to be given priority in our whole church life. God’s answering these three things are absolutes to resolving any and every other aspect of our life and work together.

HOPE - ¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13 (ESV)

This is not wishful thinking hope. This is expectant hope that comes from deep within our souls from the Holy Spirit. It flies in the face of discontentment and grumbling. It puts us into an offensive posture where we expect to see opportunities to witness.

POWER & BOLDNESS TO PROCLAIM – Acts 1:8 calls us to rely solely on the power of God to do this. I’ve been looking for three months for the perfect program to help us be a more evangelistic congregation. Programs and strategies are useful. But they are not powerful. We are in a spiritual battle for souls and human ingenuity is ineffective. We must be empowered by the fire of God in our souls.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – We have got to be cultivating the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. The first three listed in Gal 5:22 ought to be our priority: Love, Joy, Peace. These qualities can be faked. They must come from a deeper work of the Holy Spirit within.

Let me remind you that the power of the Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force of some kind. The essence of His power is the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. (Hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5) Read Eph 3:14-21 to understand more of the correlation between the power of God and the power of His love.

Dealing with Moral Failure

My wife and I watched the video recorded at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana’s Wednesday night service as the Deacons reported on the dismissal of their pastor, Jack Schaap for inappropriate behavior with a minor. I’ve read that a Deacon picked up the pastor’s cell phone from the pulpit and noticed a picture of the pastor and a young teen kissing. That lead him and others to investigate and it turned out that last Monday night the Deacons met with the Pastor to confront him with the evidence to which the head Deacon indicated he made full confession.

That’s a church of some 15,000 members. The spiritual damage is incredible. And sneer of the unbelieving world grows towards the whole Body of Christ.

As I’ve served on our district denomination’s discipline committee, I can resonate with the pain and heartache that the Deacon Board and church is feeling. My own church suffered the loss of some precious ministers because of inappropriate relationships. And so as I watched that video, there were a lot of emotions that resurfaced. It’s caused me to think again about how God would have us handle and deal with sin like this.

I applaud the Deacon board for the swiftness with which they dealt with the issue. The rumor mill didn’t get a chance to get turned on. I hope that they did their homework and their decision was not based on hearsay or conjecture. I also hope that behind the scenes there is a lot of love and concern being poured out to the Pastor Schaap and his family as well as the affected teen and her family.

That is one aspect that I would have like to have seen more of. Those who spoke in the video talked a great deal about how their actions were all about their love for and concern for the church. But there was a missing element of their love for the Pastor and his family. It wasn’t quite that “throw him under the bus” feeling, but I would have appreciated a bit of humility and brokenness from the leaders for their now former pastor.

This morning in my devotional readings I was in Psalm 143. Verse 2 says, “Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” One of the things that I’ve come to expect when I’ve been involved in a discipline case or just hear about horrendous happenings like this is that I begin to examine my own heart, mind and life. When I went running and was mediating on the verse I thought about Jesus’ words in the sermon on the mount … “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:28.

And then with the woman caught in adultery Jesus challenges the throngs that the person who is without sin can cast the first stone. To which they all turn away.

The ramifications of a pastor’s moral failure are especially devastating and Paul admonishes Timothy: “Do not entertain an accusation against an elder unless it is brought by two or three witnesses. ²⁰ Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly, so that the others may take warning. 1 Timothy 5:19-20. So the actions of the First Baptist Church’s Deacons is appropriate.

Dr Schaap should be embracing a long season of repentance to deal with all that led him to this sin. But may we always rebuke in love and not wrath.

Expectant Churches Gather Together

In the message that I presented on Sunday regarding the blessed hope of the believer (The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!), I made a point that churches that are made up of believers who are actively looking forward to the Lord’s return will passionately gather together regularly. This point was based on Hebrews 10:24-25 … “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

In brief, the points I made on Sunday included:
· Every time we gather together it is to be a dress rehearsal for Heaven. It is supposed to be a “foretaste” of glory.
· Our culture of the individual makes this sort of perspective difficult to comprehend or assimilate. We make fun of “it takes a village” sort of talk, but when we give up that value to our cultural norms, we find ourselves separated from the whole and hopelessly drift according to the prevailing currents.
· We are way too casual about church attendance. If there is nothing else to do, we go to church.

But what I didn’t say on Sunday has to do more with our level of commitment and devotion to the local church. In the early church this aspect of gathering together dictated their lives. Their devotion to the other believers in their local church governed their schedules. In essence, in the waiting church – the expectant church – the church came first.

We see it in the book of Acts as they gathered together daily and broke bread together. The apostles seem to assume this priority as they write their letters. This passage from the book of Hebrews indicates that there must have been some believers even back then who were not as devoted to gathering together as they had been and the call was to not let that happen.

There are a couple of factors in our day and age that make it tough for us to even imagine this sort of lifestyle.
· There were no other churches down the street. We’ve become consumer oriented in our church shopping and this leads to superficial commitment. “As long as my needs are being met by this fellowship … I’m committed.”
· Our lives are so full and there are so many competing priorities that to say that my life is centered in the gathered church is nuts! But keep in mind that while life was simple in Bible times, it was hard. The most mundane and simple tasks took so much longer than they do today.
· We live in a world that says, “You’re too heavenly minded to be earthly good.” The whole notion of living in expectation of the second coming says that “You no earthly good unless you are heavenly minded!”

I just finished a conversation with someone who told me of another pastor who, after a similar study on the Second Coming, would wake up every morning look over at his wife and say “This may be the day!” O that I would live that way! O that my family of faith would live in that context. O that He might come TODAY!!!