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.

Is "RADICAL" all that Radical?

     One of Crosspoint's Sunday morning Adult Bible Studies did a series based on the book by David Platt entitled, "Radical." The series featured a video presentation of Platt as he preached a series of messages that challenges the Americanized Christianity that we've become so comfortable with. I'd read the book and saw the positive results in other people's lives of how this teaching impacted their discipleship. I was very excited about the potential of this teaching being revolutionary to our family of faith.


    I wasn't prepared for the negative reaction that came. In the video's Platt makes his case well for what ought to define a fully devoted follower of Christ. It isn't what we typically think of as the American Dream. Rather it is about sacrifice, simplicity, generosity and just simply care for the poor and broken of this world.

    Where things seemed to have broke down in my expectations was that Platt evidently pretty plainly states that if you're not living this radical discipleship type of lifestyle then you really aren't a Christian and that you are going to hell. That didn't settle well with half the group. The other half were OK with it.

    A number of those who were offended by his stark statements, agreed with the basic premise. We aren't living the style of Christian life that Jesus and the Bible calls us to and the challenge is a right one. What was offensive was the manner in which it was said and the guilt and fear that Platt tried to drive his message on.

    This is a great example of the power of communication and the disaster of miscommunication. I'm not one who is motivated by someone trying to make me feel guilty. There are some that need that sort of leverage. I often wonder though, when the guilt is relieved if the person doesn't revert automatically back to his old ways. When the motivation is external and then removed, then there is not motivation. But when the motivation is internal it has been made a part of our soul and therefore it only needs to be maintained. Only the Holy Spirit can take teaching like the message of Radical and transform us to make it a part of who we are.

     Now here's the punch line of this post. I just read a blog that my daughter Rachel posted a couple of days ago about her first field trip with her third grade class in Jakarta. He experience reveals the powerful way the Holy Spirit can transform us through experiences and teachings that align with God's Word. I encourage you to read it and let it soak in. Click HERE to go to Rachel's blog.



    After reading her post I think you will agree that what we don't need is more guilt-trip sermons ... but field trips to the inner city and to the hurting people in our world. If we could just get the eyes of a third grader and quite trying to rationalize and defend our lifestyle, then maybe the Holy Spirit really could transform us!

The Parable of the BOAT LIFT Rescue

One of our friends posted a link to an incredible video clip on YouTube. Called "BOATLIFT: An Untold Tale of 9/11 Resilience." There is an obvious humanitarian inspirational aspect to this story of the hundreds of boats that drove to lower Manhattan on 9-11 to rescue a half million people trapped at the tip of that island by the collapsing twin towers.
But the story line and quotes in this video provide an incredible parable of the Christian's commission to be part of God's rescue mission of souls for eternity. I'm taken back a month ago to a quote from the movie, "The Great Raid." "It is comforting to know that there is someone who desires my life more than an enemy who desires my death." Check out the video and then record some of your favorite quotes that speak to you!

The Danger of Spiritual Viruses

   Our church has been in pursuit of "helping a friend move one step closer to Jesus." It has been an emphasis to encourage and equip our family of faith in how to build intentional redemptive relationships with those who have yet to put their faith in Christ. The objective is to help them move, even if its just one step closer to a full relationship with Christ.

    We're now encouraging our people to utilize the National Back to Church Sunday as a place to put things into practice. It's time to quit talking about reaching out and actually doing it. National BTC Sunday is September 18. We're then following it up with a series called "GodQuest" that invites people to continue to seek out a relationship with Christ by addressing some of the most significant faith issues that people face.

    But ... isn't it always the case when God's people begin to do God's work in God's ways that there is opposition? Sometimes is obvious and pronounced. But other times the opposition stealth. It isn't obvious and even when it's pointed out many folks still don't recognize it.
 

    In several conversations over the past couple of days a couple of issue keep coming up. A CRITICAL SPIRIT and AN OFFENSE TAKEN. Someone has even been offended that it was suggested to them that they have a critical spirit. This is NOT to say that there are times for evaluation and constructive criticism and evaluation. But there can be a spirit of criticism that takes root and begins to find fault in everyone and everything. The result is destruction and disillusionment.

    That is really bad for the unity of the Body of Christ! Jesus said that his disciples would be known by the manner in which they loved one another. Evangelism and outreach are closely tied to the level of unity and harmony there is in the Church.

    With that in mind I began to think about relevant passages of scripture that the Lord would want to say to me and to my CrossPoint family of faith. Here they are ...

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 (ESV)

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,  and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ESV)

¹⁴ Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. ¹⁵ Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.
Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many.

Hebrews 12:14-15 (NLT)

In our strategy to help our friends take one step closer to Jesus we must recognize that there is a tremendous spiritual battle raging. This is an act of war against the Kingdom of Darkness and we must confront the enemy if we are to rescue souls from His prison.

There is, admittingly, an “external” spiritual battle taking place. Those who we are attempting to reach out to, will have thoughts and schedules that conflict with what God is directing us to do. We also have our own issues of time, opportunity and fears that keep us from being what these folks need us to be. Lord willing we’ll focus on that next week.

But the greater threat to being all that God wants us to be are spiritual strongholds within – spiritual viruses that make us spiritually weak and ineffective. One of the greatest spiritual viruses is the stronghold of a critical spirit. Consider what a critical spirit does to us …

(1)    It breaks down spiritual unity of the Body of Christ.

(2)    It diverts incredible amounts of mental and emotional energy away from eternal matters.

(3)    It is a path of increasing passivity.

(4)    It gives our ego a place of worship in our souls.

(5)    It leads us down into the dark valley of discouragement and discontentment.

Short Weeks!

I didn't get to dig into my "Sunday Night Reflections" even though I did have some reflections. I was doing something far more valuable ... taking Rachel to school. Interesting to me that I dropped my blog right after taking her to Indiana Wesleyan University a year ago. I get the feeling that it is always going to be a bitter-sweet experience. Its so tough to let go and see her flourish ... and yet how rewarding is it to see her becoming more and more a woman of God. Thank you, Lord!

I was SO encouraged by the two full glass jars at the end of Sunday's service. That people are taking so seriously the call to be the relational bridge by which others can come to meet Jesus is so critical! We are the Church and we are a vital link between those without Christ and Christ.

As I studied for last week's message on spiritual leadership it seemed to me to be so critical that EVERY believer have a burden to help lead others to Christ. On Tuesday I was in the book of Job and came across Job's yearning for someone to come along and mediate his case before God.

If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together. There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. Job 9:30-33 (ESV)

Job had a conflict. He looked to his "friends" to help lead him out of that conflict, but they weren't of much use. He longed for an arbitrator, someone to negotiate some peace between him and God. But at that time he found no one - the arbitrator that he so longed for and needed to mediate the conflict would come to earth thousands of years later - Jesus Christ!
Now, thousands of years after the coming of this Arbitrator, people still have the same need. And they need someone to lead them to the Arbitrator! That's where THE CHURCH comes it! We who have been recipients of the Arbitrator's grace and peacemaking work through His own blood now have the incredible privilege of leading others to know the divine and eternal Arbitrator.
That is in large measure what Back to Church Sunday is all about - An opportunity for one beggar to tell another where they can find bread for their soul and peace before an Almighty God.
When I talked about the characteristics of a good leader of people's souls on Sunday I wonder if I did an adequate job of applying it to leading people to Christ. Think about the qualities of leadership that are essential for leading people to know and experience the fullness of Christ in their lives:

Reputation for Peacemaking - Ask God to help you display the peace of God in your life to those around you that they would wonder "What's up with the person?"

Filled with the Holy Spirit - Seek the Spirit's fruitfulness to a higher degree than ever. Keep in mind that the fruits of the Spirit (from Galatians 5:20) are best on display in the midst of conflict and stress. When you feel the pressure coming on - trust in the Lord for his supply of grace!

Filled with Wisdom - Be open and aware of things that the Lord would put in your mind that would lead you to someone who you'd never expect to be led toward to invite to church and that He will give you the words to say that will prompt the Holy Spirit's work in someone.

Filled with Faith - As God to fill you with the wonder of His ability to do beyond what we could think of or imagine. May he show himself to be VERY big in our eyes this week.

Filled with the love of Christ - May those to whom the Lord is leading us become objects of our affection because the love of Christ has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.