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.

Too much on "suffering?"

I’ve been wondering if this series on 1 Peter isn’t a little morbid. We’ve been stuck on suffering for quite a long while. The whole purpose of the book is helping people be ready for times of intense persecution and suffering, just for being Christ-followers.

My bother-in-law, Ralph Trainer is the director of Beulah Beach near Vermillion, Last we he told me that his son, Joel had decided last spring that he wanted to study the book of 1 Peter during the staff worship and devotional times during the summer. What’s with a 20-something wanting to dive into the subject of preparing to suffer? Is God pointing his church to these critical passages to study as a means of readying us for some difficult days ahead? I’ve found a number of preachers and themes related to this issue of dealing with trials, suffering and afflictions.

Here is video excerpt of Tullian Tchividjian (grandson of Billy Graham speaking about suffering. His basic thesis is that suffering itself doesn’t rob us of joy. It’s when suffering begins to take away from us things that were more valuable than God. Idolatry he states is in reality what robs us of joy and peace.  Check it out:

  

The Center Piece of Worship Service

When I've gone to Blossom for the 4th of July concert there is really only one piece that I've got to hear. They play lots of good stuff and it is generally a good time. But I'm waiting for the best. For lots of reason's I'll not go into here, I've come to Blossom to hear the 1812 Overture. If they came towards the end of the concert and announced that they were going to skip over that and go right to the fireworks, I would be infuriated. The other music and sing-a-longs are fine. I like the fireworks at the end. But the main course for me is always, Tchaikovsky's most famous piece.

I heard Jim Cymbal say in one of his most famous sermons, "My House will be Called a House of Prayer," that the main thing in a genuine worship service is not the sermon. Being a preacher, I took some offense to that ... and felt a bit guilty at the same time.

When I think of what we have been transitioning too at CrossPoint, I think that Cymbala's point is really at the heart of our desire for change. The focal point of our worship together is not fellowship, good music, or even engaging preaching. When I dream of what I want to be the main thing about our worship I see people taking the time to meet with God in a deeper more personal way. The Personal Minsitry Time at the end of the service is meant to give people the time to get to the main thing. Everything before that is preparing them to enter into a sancturary where they encounter God and respond to His presence.

I'm sure that for some the main point of coming to church is to see friends and be encouraged. For others they may be lookign for an emotional boost from the music and singing. Peronally, I hope that there are some people who are looking forward to a good sermon. But what would our church be like if the main thing that people came to church for ... the item listed on the worship folder for which they couldn't wait was the ministry time. Now that would really be church!

On blogging, preaching and salvation!

I tried a long time ago to get a blog going. I think it was 2007. I'm still trying to keep up with my daughters in IT and I never thought I would have to do that. I was always showing them how to do things on the computer. I'm not sure where it was that they passed me up ... but all they do is look at me and roll their eyes when I ask a simple question about how Facebook works.

But more and more I think of things that I would love to share with others. There are times when I wish that we still had a Sunday night church service. (They are few and far between but I still do have them!) There is so much that God puts on my heart that I could never get across in a 40 minute sermon on Sunday. There are Sunday afternoons when I think of all the other things that I wish I had said.

And on top of that there is so many other things on which I would love to get insight from others on. Preaching is SO one way! There are times when I'm preaching and there is in some back room closet of my mind this nagging thought of "I wonder how so and so is taking this?"

My message for tomorrow is one huge case in point. "Are You Saved?" sounds like a pretty standard and evangelical message about salvation. But I would love to have loved to have had a collection of stories and others insights about what makes them think they are saved. The point of my message is that way too often we depend on lesser things to bring us our assurance of salvation. It actually is going to be pretty controversial since I'm guessing that most people have a pretty narrow idea of what God means when he talks about salvation in His Word. We'll see.

Hopefully, this blog will open up some discussion and interaction on the subject and we can all wrestle with these priciples and ideas so that we indeed do become all that God wants us to be!