Real Missions

The Book of Acts is a story about first century Christians who, by today’s popular standards, would be considered brash, judgmental, narrow-minded zealots who were fueled by some sort of spiritual imperialism devoid of any real empathy, care or compassion. That theoretical assessment comes largely from today’s redefinition of “care and compassion”, as well as our monumental misunderstanding of what “biblical missions” is and isn’t. Today we like to talk about “respectfully reaching out in love” or “extending compassion in the name of Christ”; proclamation has given way to “polite conversation” and “preaching” is considered a bad word. A certain modern “evangelical missionary” sought to help me understand missions when she said, “It doesn’t matter what we say to the people, it’s just being there that counts.” These sentiments may sound “gracious”, but they have nothing to do with the grace we are called to herald regarding a crucified and resurrected King of kings. The Acts of the Apostles tell us of Christ’s Ambassadors boldly moving from city to city, resolutely calling people to repudiate their gods, their idols and their self-interests, instructing them to repent and turn to Jesus Christ so that they by faith might be graciously exempted from the coming wrath of God. Understandably this did not “go over well” in many cities. The Acts missionary teams were forcefully ejected from several cities – a response that with today’s mindset would require a “modern care extender” to retool her approach, not to mention her message. But much like firefighters attempting to rouse sleeping tenants in a burning building, true love and real compassion isn’t measured by pleasant inter-ethnic dialogue, amiable “moments” and feel-good photo ops, it is biblically measured by the clarity and urgency with which we proclaim our message of eternal life and death.

-- Pastor Mike

Keeping Grace In View

We are prone to forget, especially as we compare our relative righteousness, that our salvation is all of grace. We must never fail to remember that everything about our lives – our spiritual efforts, our moral resumes and our celebrated accomplishments – are all exchanged for Christ’s. Our salvation is secured in the same way as the “jail cell convert” or “deathbed penitent”. All that we are and all that we have done are substituted for Christ. We must not forget to continually count everything a loss and count our good deeds as rubbish, in order that we may gain Christ and be found in him, not have a righteousness of our own (Philippians 3:8). Our acts of “righteousness” count for nothing; Christ is all that counts! Such a mindset will keep everything in perspective. We will have no room for pride or questioning God’s “fairness”. Keeping the grace of salvation in view will leave us in a place of humble worship and thanksgiving, right where we should be.

Spiritual Endeavors

To the sympathetic reader, the last scene in Acts 15:36-41 appears to be an event brimming with high personal drama and raw emotions. Certainly language such as “sharp disagreement” (Acts 15:39) leads our hearts in that direction. But besides that single phrase, all the other words and phrases in the passage that describe Paul and Barnabas’ parting of ways are calm, thoughtful, dispassionate and strategic. It is impossible for us to know now how much “heat” was actually involved in this serious team breakdown, but the end result should show us that no matter how much there may have been, it didn’t impede their tactical thinking and the God-empowered results that followed. You see, God has always been training his people to approach any important task, not as an “individual conqueror” but as a person with a team (Genesis 2:18; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Proverbs 27:17; et al.). Paul clearly demonstrated this principle when he hit this impasse. Concluding that if God’s important work was to be done, he wouldn’t simply dump his previous ministry partners Barnabas and John-Mark and proceed on his own, rather he would choose a new team to work with him side-by-side. Silas was picked first, and on their first stop in Derbe and Lystra their “third strand” for the work of ministry was added, the young Timothy. So whether it’s a prayer ministry or a missions endeavor, a Sunday School class or leading a church youth program, don’t go it alone. Build a team. If things change and teams collapse over a reasoned yet “sharp” disagreement, then rebuild. Don’t wallow or live in the past. Get your team together and get going. Our time is running out.

-- Pastor Mike

Exalting Evil?

One of the challenges of living a godly life in an ungodly world, is the pressure we face when the world perpetually exalts those who are evil, and expects the rest of us to applaud. As with Isaiah, we live in a culture filled with “those who call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20). Jesus made it clear that “what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke16:15). Making appraisals from a biblical perspective will not be popular, but necessary for those who walk with Christ. God’s heroes are not hailed by society. They never have been. They are those who are “afflicted and mistreated,” and yet Scripture extols them as those “of whom the world is not worthy” (Hebrews 11:37-38). There are many spiritual reasons the world exalts those who defy God’s rules. Not the least of which is their sinful desire to mitigate the pangs of conviction. Members of society can feel better about their transgressions when their heroes are avant-garde sinners. Though they know “that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them” (Romans 1:32). Sin is shameful. We should be remorseful when we fall. And we should certainly never applaud those who defiantly make sinning their habit.

Perseverance

So many Christian virtues orbit around the “stick-to-itiveness” of the biblical word “perseverance”. To be patient or long-suffering, to look to the future with steadfast hope or “wait on the Lord”, to endure trials or persistently pray – these all relate to this fundamental godly trait called perseverance. To exercise biblical perseverance is to “hang in there” with strength and persistence when our flesh, our inclinations or our restlessness are telling us not to. In today’s popular quest to be authentic or “real”, many people are quick to react to their feelings which cry for some kind of change or course correction when biblical wisdom would call for perseverance. Much of this reactionary Christian living is based on the false assumption that every chapter of our lives should be filled with exciting new experiences or fresh challenges. Often the godly challenge is to persevere in “doing good”, even when our feelings are craving an adjustment. Much of the harvest of “good” is lost when our restlessness calls the shots (Galatians 6:9).

Decisions

Our feelings have been entrusted with far too much authority in our decision-making process. While we may live in a culture that wants to “feel led” before they act, Scripture provides us a template wherein God’s people choose to act righteously and “let their feelings catch up”. Consider the countercultural logic of Deuteronomy 7:7-8 where God explains the reason for his loving acts toward the Israelites: “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers”. Why does God love them? Because he chose to love them and promised to keep loving them. We often choose to do this or that, and choose to continue doing this or that if we feel like it. That is not the biblical example set for us by Jehoiada (2 Kings 11:17), Asa (2 Chronicles 15:12) or Ezra and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:29). The Bible leads us to choose to do what is good and right, letting our feelings tag along. Usually good decisions are eventually followed by good feelings, but sometimes not. Either way, we as God’s people should be making godly decisions based on biblical thinking, not on our fluctuating feelings.

I'm For Christ

In his parable of differing “soils” Jesus specifies some of the reasons certain people initially embrace Christianity, often with a great deal of enthusiasm and fervor, but then after a while bail out never to establish a root system which bears genuine and lasting fruit. Those identified as the first to leave do so because of “a time of testing” (Luke 8:13). This is some kind of painful situation or “persecution” (Matthew 13:21) that arises in a person’s life because of his or her new alliance with Christ. This is easy to imagine, knowing the power of social pressures and the unsympathetic “friends” who are quick to disparage and ridicule one’s confession to follow Jesus. When Christ costs friendships, some new “adherents” of Jesus are quick to say “forget it”. The other primary reason is variously described as “the cares of the world” (Matthew 13:22), the “pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14), or simply a “desire for other things” (Mark 4:19). The assortment of worldly attractions will certainly put one’s supposed faith to the test. Time will reveal whether people who claim to “follow Christ” will actually experience a God-given consistency in following Christ, or will instead retreat to following their own cravings for the temporal things of this world. So, without being cynical, we must be cautious knowing that based on Jesus’ teaching, not every “I’m for Christ” is genuine.