Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
What are Finished Work Values?
“When he had received the drink,
Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’" John 19:30
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work,
just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort
to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their
example of disobedience.” Heb. 4: 9-11
We seek to build upon and rest upon the
solid foundation of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
What exactly do we mean by the finished work?
When Jesus declared “it is finished”, He was saying that through His sacrificial death on the cross, the sins of every man, woman and child were paid for, thus making eternal life possible for every one that would place their trust in what he did for them as the basis of their salvation.
Everyone who places their faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ receives the free gift of eternal life, which is neither earned nor deserved, but which is freely given to us by a gracious God.
Not only is our salvation totally dependent upon the finished work and the grace of God, but our growth as Christians and our enjoyment of the Christian life depends on how well we understand and rest in what Christ has already done for us.
For example, a person who gets saved by grace but who does not understand who they are in Christ or what has been provided for them to live a godly life, will eventually feel condemned and frustrated with their inability to live as they "should". This person will be forever trying to earn God’s love and acceptance, yet feeling that it isn't deserved, because of their failures.
Many Christians burn out, leave their churches, or conclude that they’re just not good enough. This is not God’s plan!
Our Values
People can serve the Lord from a position of rest in who He is and what He has done. Many people have found healing and renewed enthusiasm to serve God as they have discovered who they are in Christ and learned to rest in His finished work.
We love the Word of God, because it sets us free from our wrong thinking. We love our pastors, because they are shepherds after God’s heart and they feed us the words of life. We love to evangelize, because it is a joy to see others come to know the Savior. We love to fellowship together around the Word of God, because we recognize that we are eternally part of God’s family and one day we will be worshipping together around God’s throne. We love people because that is the heart of God.
Finished Work Faith
The idea of faith remains the same in all religions: Faith necessitates an object to focus upon. Faith, by definition, is to put one's trust in the word and/or ability of another. The basic difference between the world religions and true Christianity is that Jesus Christ calls us to trust in His Word and His ability to please God on our behalf.
This is where joyful service begins to break down among believers. Somehow the values of "faith, hope and love" drift away from the foundation of the Finished Work. The person who once received Christ by faith and as a result served Him with joy, has now switched the focus of their faith from Christ to their own ability to maintain joyful service. As a result their service is something less than fulfilling.
Finished Work Hope
Hope in the Bible is far more than wishful thinking. The New Testament idea of hope is a joyful, confident anticipation of future blessings. But, if this joyful confidence is based on my ability to accomplish something for God, then my confidence is destined to fluctuate with every human inconsistency and inadequacy I experience. This will surely have a direct effect on the longevity of my service unto God and my hope of hearing the words "Well done!".
If, however, my hope is firmly based on what Christ has accomplished for me on the cross and what He wants to accomplish through me by His Spirit, then and only then, can I anticipate eternal blessings with joyful confidence. This is Finished Work hope, because this hope is founded in Christ and Christ alone. This is the glorious message of God's grace.
Finished Work Love
Jesus states, "I have this against you that you have left your first love" (Revelation 2:4).
We believe that "first love" is not our love for God but rather God's unconditional love for us as sinners (Rom.5:8). Unless the believer is convinced that God will never reject them, they won't have the confidence to be honest about their sin and to confess it to God on a consistent basis. Once the believer begins to ignore, deny and/or justify areas of sin in their life, they begin, often unconsciously, to neutralize their feelings of guilt through a system of good works i.e. service to God. As a result, their service lacks the joy necessary to endure a lifetime.
(Finished Work Values, written by Pastor Rob Prokop, Vienna, Austria)
Monday, August 23, 2010
God's Grace
The Sea of Forgetfulness
Imagine standing on the top deck of a cruise ship out in the middle of the ocean. It is night, but the moon is bright so that you can see the water. As you look around the horizon, you can see nothing but water in every direction.
You reach into your pocket and pull out a marble and toss it over the side of the ship into the ocean. Ker-plunk. It hits the water and disappears into its depths as the cruise ship moves right along.
Now imagine the next morning, you get up and want to go back to the place where you tossed the marble into the water and retrieve it. Can it be done? Not a chance. It would be absolutely impossible. The ship has moved on. The marble lies somewhere far behind you, on the floor of the ocean. There is no chance it will ever be brought up again.
Think of that marble as your sin. Two thousand years ago, your sins were placed upon Christ. In the dark night of Golgotha, God cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. They were swallowed up by an ocean of grace. They are gone and nothing can ever bring them up again.
“Oh, but my sins were so great,” you might protest. Okay, forget dropping a marble in the ocean. Fill your pockets full of marbles if you want. More marbles change nothing. Drag a fifty-five gallon drum full of marbles onto the deck of that ship and throw it overboard. Even that won’t make any difference.
Your sins can never overwhelm the Father’s expansive ocean of grace. You have sinned? Okay, welcome to humanity. Now, it’s time to get past your sins. Stop trying to bring up something that Christ has thrown away. (He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. See Hebrews 9:26)
Don’t dwell on your sins – neither those of twenty years ago nor not those of yesterday. That ship has sailed. You are forgiven. Relax. Settle in on The Good Ship Grace and enjoy the journey. The captain of your salvation has a wonderful itinerary planned for you as you go. And you won’t believe how wonderful your final destination will be!
Imagine standing on the top deck of a cruise ship out in the middle of the ocean. It is night, but the moon is bright so that you can see the water. As you look around the horizon, you can see nothing but water in every direction.
You reach into your pocket and pull out a marble and toss it over the side of the ship into the ocean. Ker-plunk. It hits the water and disappears into its depths as the cruise ship moves right along.
Now imagine the next morning, you get up and want to go back to the place where you tossed the marble into the water and retrieve it. Can it be done? Not a chance. It would be absolutely impossible. The ship has moved on. The marble lies somewhere far behind you, on the floor of the ocean. There is no chance it will ever be brought up again.
Think of that marble as your sin. Two thousand years ago, your sins were placed upon Christ. In the dark night of Golgotha, God cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. They were swallowed up by an ocean of grace. They are gone and nothing can ever bring them up again.
“Oh, but my sins were so great,” you might protest. Okay, forget dropping a marble in the ocean. Fill your pockets full of marbles if you want. More marbles change nothing. Drag a fifty-five gallon drum full of marbles onto the deck of that ship and throw it overboard. Even that won’t make any difference.
Your sins can never overwhelm the Father’s expansive ocean of grace. You have sinned? Okay, welcome to humanity. Now, it’s time to get past your sins. Stop trying to bring up something that Christ has thrown away. (He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. See Hebrews 9:26)
Don’t dwell on your sins – neither those of twenty years ago nor not those of yesterday. That ship has sailed. You are forgiven. Relax. Settle in on The Good Ship Grace and enjoy the journey. The captain of your salvation has a wonderful itinerary planned for you as you go. And you won’t believe how wonderful your final destination will be!
Lord Teach Us to Play ??
Lord Teach Us To Play
In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray.” It's a good request from a believer and one that many modern Christians have asked. However, I think there is another prayer that believers in the modern church might do well to ask too. It is that our Lord might teach us to play.
Jesus once said that unless a person becomes like a little child, he’ll miss the kingdom of God altogether. Kids play. It’s what they do, fundamental to who they are. At its core, God’s kingdom is a celebration. The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost . That’s the Bible description of what it is to live in God’s kingdom. Many Christians, however, have become so uptight with life that they wouldn’t know fun if it laughed in their face.
I imagine that there’s a lot of laughing in heaven. In fact, there’s good reason to believe from Scripture that God, Himself, is a good-natured, fun-loving sort of Person. Not the uptight, grouchy, impossible-to-please kind of false gods that man creates. When Jesus Christ said, It is finished, I imagine a smile coming to the face of the Father that hasn’t faded since then.
I once heard someone say, “God is happiest when His children are at play.” I’m inclined to agree with that statement. Too many Christians have been robbed of child-likeness and have been led into a pseudo-maturity that demands that we be serious, as evidenced by eradicating all fun in our lives.
The Bible teaches that a merry heart has the effect of a dose of medicine. It’s like a vitamin that adds vitality to life. Laughter has been proven to shut down the "stress" hormones like cortisol, dopamine, adrenaline, and growth hormone, keeping them at lower healthier levels. These hormones are released when we are uptight, worried, or afraid.
Dr. Patrick Dixon, an English doctor well respected for his creative research wrote:
In the 1992 Journal of the American Medical Association #267, Dr. W. Fry notes that the endorphin protein, a natural morphine-like substance in our bodies, seems to remain constant in laughter, even as the stress hormones are being shut down. Virtually all of us learn to laugh at four months of age, something which requires the action of fifteen facial muscles and changes in breathing. When we laugh, at first the heart rate increases as does our rate of breathing. After our laughter ceases, there is a period of relaxation, easing muscle tension and useful in breaking the muscle spasm in some neuralgias and rheumatism. It has been estimated that 100 good laughs are equivalent to 10 minutes of rowing.
Dr. James Walsh, in his book Laughter & Health, described laughter as a massaging of all the organs within the body. Cumulative laughter throughout the day, says Dr. Fry, may be significantly greater than that of an average marathon. He describes laughter physiologically as an aerobic experience, an internal stationary jogging!
Do you want to have a greater overall sense of well being? One factor that might help is to learn to play. Laugh a lot. Why not? After all, your Abba is in control of every detail in life. He has planned to lead you “from glory to glory” now (2 Corinthians 3:18) and then bring you home later. So, in the meantime, determine to enjoy the journey. Lord, teach us to play!
In Luke 11, the disciples asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray.” It's a good request from a believer and one that many modern Christians have asked. However, I think there is another prayer that believers in the modern church might do well to ask too. It is that our Lord might teach us to play.
Jesus once said that unless a person becomes like a little child, he’ll miss the kingdom of God altogether. Kids play. It’s what they do, fundamental to who they are. At its core, God’s kingdom is a celebration. The kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost . That’s the Bible description of what it is to live in God’s kingdom. Many Christians, however, have become so uptight with life that they wouldn’t know fun if it laughed in their face.
I imagine that there’s a lot of laughing in heaven. In fact, there’s good reason to believe from Scripture that God, Himself, is a good-natured, fun-loving sort of Person. Not the uptight, grouchy, impossible-to-please kind of false gods that man creates. When Jesus Christ said, It is finished, I imagine a smile coming to the face of the Father that hasn’t faded since then.
I once heard someone say, “God is happiest when His children are at play.” I’m inclined to agree with that statement. Too many Christians have been robbed of child-likeness and have been led into a pseudo-maturity that demands that we be serious, as evidenced by eradicating all fun in our lives.
The Bible teaches that a merry heart has the effect of a dose of medicine. It’s like a vitamin that adds vitality to life. Laughter has been proven to shut down the "stress" hormones like cortisol, dopamine, adrenaline, and growth hormone, keeping them at lower healthier levels. These hormones are released when we are uptight, worried, or afraid.
Dr. Patrick Dixon, an English doctor well respected for his creative research wrote:
In the 1992 Journal of the American Medical Association #267, Dr. W. Fry notes that the endorphin protein, a natural morphine-like substance in our bodies, seems to remain constant in laughter, even as the stress hormones are being shut down. Virtually all of us learn to laugh at four months of age, something which requires the action of fifteen facial muscles and changes in breathing. When we laugh, at first the heart rate increases as does our rate of breathing. After our laughter ceases, there is a period of relaxation, easing muscle tension and useful in breaking the muscle spasm in some neuralgias and rheumatism. It has been estimated that 100 good laughs are equivalent to 10 minutes of rowing.
Dr. James Walsh, in his book Laughter & Health, described laughter as a massaging of all the organs within the body. Cumulative laughter throughout the day, says Dr. Fry, may be significantly greater than that of an average marathon. He describes laughter physiologically as an aerobic experience, an internal stationary jogging!
Do you want to have a greater overall sense of well being? One factor that might help is to learn to play. Laugh a lot. Why not? After all, your Abba is in control of every detail in life. He has planned to lead you “from glory to glory” now (2 Corinthians 3:18) and then bring you home later. So, in the meantime, determine to enjoy the journey. Lord, teach us to play!
A Busy Mind
“Often I can’t even go to sleep because of all the thoughts running through my mind,” someone once said to me. “I’m thinking about all that happened during the day. I’m thinking about my plans for tomorrow. I’m thinking about my children, my finances, my past mistakes, my future plans. I’m even having imaginary conversations with people, picturing what I’ll say if this happens or if that happens. It drives me nuts!”
Have you ever found yourself in this situation? You aren’t alone. Jesus told His disciples on more than one occasion, “Take no thought” (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34, 10:19, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11, 12:22). The command literally means “Don’t take on the least bit of anxiety.” A hyperactive mind is enough to drive a sense of peace completely away!
The step that facilitates obedience to Jesus’ command is the belief that our loving Father really is in control of our lives. We can lay aside our fretting over life and know that He has already worked out all the details of our time on earth in eternity.
A busy mind is the result of divided loyalties. It is important that we nurture ourselves with the constant affirmation and realization of our Father’s love and care for us in every area of life. Relentless reasoning about our circumstances are fleshly ways of trying to understand how to control our own lives. As we grow in an understanding of Abba’s love and grace our minds will learn to rest in contentment.
The mind must be brought in subjection to the Spirit at each moment. It isn’t controlled by our own determination, but by a calm yielding to His Spirit. He will bring growth to us and we will find rest for our busy minds in Him alone.
There will always be outside influences which seek to inhabit your thoughts and shift your focus away from Christ. The key to victory in this area is to bring every thought into the captivity of His all encompassing love and His never ending embrace.
As long as you live in this world, there will be things you don’t understand – things you can’t control. When your mind runs wild, will you submit it all to Him? When you don’t understand your Father’s ways, rest in the reality of His loving heart toward you. He will not tell you the answers to every single question you have now, but will give you increasing revelation and light about your questions as you journey together with Him toward your complete maturity.
Eventually, everything will be answered. Until then, rest in His goodness and grace and know that He is for you. He will always act in the way that works for your benefit and blessing. Trust Him and relax.
“Often I can’t even go to sleep because of all the thoughts running through my mind,” someone once said to me. “I’m thinking about all that happened during the day. I’m thinking about my plans for tomorrow. I’m thinking about my children, my finances, my past mistakes, my future plans. I’m even having imaginary conversations with people, picturing what I’ll say if this happens or if that happens. It drives me nuts!”
Have you ever found yourself in this situation? You aren’t alone. Jesus told His disciples on more than one occasion, “Take no thought” (Matthew 6:25, 31, 34, 10:19, Mark 13:11, Luke 12:11, 12:22). The command literally means “Don’t take on the least bit of anxiety.” A hyperactive mind is enough to drive a sense of peace completely away!
The step that facilitates obedience to Jesus’ command is the belief that our loving Father really is in control of our lives. We can lay aside our fretting over life and know that He has already worked out all the details of our time on earth in eternity.
A busy mind is the result of divided loyalties. It is important that we nurture ourselves with the constant affirmation and realization of our Father’s love and care for us in every area of life. Relentless reasoning about our circumstances are fleshly ways of trying to understand how to control our own lives. As we grow in an understanding of Abba’s love and grace our minds will learn to rest in contentment.
The mind must be brought in subjection to the Spirit at each moment. It isn’t controlled by our own determination, but by a calm yielding to His Spirit. He will bring growth to us and we will find rest for our busy minds in Him alone.
There will always be outside influences which seek to inhabit your thoughts and shift your focus away from Christ. The key to victory in this area is to bring every thought into the captivity of His all encompassing love and His never ending embrace.
As long as you live in this world, there will be things you don’t understand – things you can’t control. When your mind runs wild, will you submit it all to Him? When you don’t understand your Father’s ways, rest in the reality of His loving heart toward you. He will not tell you the answers to every single question you have now, but will give you increasing revelation and light about your questions as you journey together with Him toward your complete maturity.
Eventually, everything will be answered. Until then, rest in His goodness and grace and know that He is for you. He will always act in the way that works for your benefit and blessing. Trust Him and relax.
How to have a Grace-filled Ministry
When I was a local church pastor, I used to dread the approaching start of a new church year. I could predict with exact precision what was going to happen in our church. In twenty years as a pastor there was never an exception. The same thing always happened; well actually it didn¡¯t happen. And I didn¡¯t know how to solve the problem.
It was at the end of each year that we began to seek out church leadership for the coming year. There was a set number of slots to staff and there were never enough willing people to fill those positions. I wondered every year why there weren¡¯t enough members who were motivated to become involved in ministry leadership. Was there something wrong with them because they didn¡¯t seem to care? Was there something wrong with me that I couldn¡¯t motivate them? Why couldn¡¯t we, just one time, find enough people who were willing to serve without having to do all but beg to get people to work? Didn¡¯t they care about our youth, our children¡¯s ministry, our outreach program, or any of the other valuable ministries of the church? Although I knew in advance what was going to happen, I always hoped that we could motivate people to assume ownership and take leadership in the ministry. But it never happened without great effort.
Becoming A Grace Filled Pastor
While I constantly tried to keep my own congregation motivated, the truth was that I sometimes found it hard to stay motivated myself. I sincerely loved the Lord and loved the churches I served, but I sometimes grew weary of promoting this program, then another one to try to fan the flame of interest among our members. Over a period of years, I did discover what worked and what didn¡¯t, so I learned to rely on the programs and plans that worked. Until. . .
1989 ¡ª I had moved to a new pastorate in Atlanta. I came with great enthusiasm and optimism about the future of this church. Upon arriving on the church field, I immediately jumped into the work with great zeal. I pulled out all the stops, preaching my best sermons and skillfully executing my best programs. But to my dismay, none of my efforts yielded fruit. The church, which had been declining for five years prior to my arrival, continued to decline during my first year as pastor.
The ongoing decline of the church gradually drove me to the place of despair. In the middle of the night on October 6, 1990 I laid on my face in my office crying. God, why did you bring me here? Nothing I do works in this church! What do you want from me? I had been sincere in leading my programs and plans. I loved the Lord and genuinely wanted to reach people. But I had become so discouraged that I didn¡¯t think I could go on with ministry.
As is God¡¯s customary way of working, He began to show His answers when I came to the end of myself. I had wanted Him to show me how to motivate the people. He had other plans. He had been wanting to do a deeper work in me which would transform first my own life, then my ministry. This night of despair became the doorway through which God brought me to bring me into an arena of grace like I had never known. In the days to follow the Lord began to reveal truths to me about walking in grace which radically changed the way I understood and did ministry. Before my church became a grace filled ministry, it was necessary for God to cause me to become a grace filled pastor. That began to happen as a couple of truths were deposited deeply into me by the Holy Spirit.
¡ö Christ is life, not ministry. For 17 years, if you had asked me who I am I would have answered, ¡°I am a preacher.¡± My sense of identity came from my role. In reality, that isn¡¯t who I am but is only what I do. Who I am is a child of God who shares the very life of Jesus Christ. This may sound like a minor distinction, but beginning to see myself first and foremost as a man consumed with Jesus caused ministry to flow from me in a way I had never known. Focusing on ministry produces religious activity, but understanding our union with Christ will cause one to experience an outflow of divine life.
¡ö Success comes through a Person, not a performance. I believed that success in ministry meant measurable progress. While there is certainly nothing wrong with results which are measurable, I have come to believe that real success comes as we abide in Jesus Christ and allow Him to continually express His life through us. That may or may not always produce results which look impressive. Was John successful on Patmos? Was Paul successful while in the Philippian jail? Was Jesus successful when he hung dying on a cross? God measures success differently from contemporary society.
Grace Filled Churches
As God continued to work the truths of this new grace walk deep into me, I began to see a change in the life of my church. As I changed, they began to change too. It wasn¡¯t unlike what happens in a marriage when God begins to do a deep work in the husband and the wife responds as she sees the Holy Spirit work in him. Church life began to be different in two ways.
¡ö People began to be motivated by desire, not duty. As I taught our congregation their identity in Christ, the Lord began to ignite a desire in the members to serve Him. Once I released them from the ¡°ought to¡± laws of the Christian life, the Holy Spirit began to instill His divine ¡°want to¡± inside them. I discovered that the best way to motivate people is to lead them to fall head over heels in love with Jesus! As we shifted the focus of the church from our plans and programs to the Person of Jesus Christ, life exploded in the congregation. It¡¯s like I had finally stopped trying to start a fire with wet wood and allowed God to cause a spiritual combustible explosion that only He could do.
¡ö God began to shape our ministry. When I released people from the obligation of ¡°filling slots¡± in leadership, some ministries died. Now I know, they needed to die. They were sacred cows which had no life in them anyway. As I relinquished control of the church and let God be God, He caused some aspects of ministry to fold while other types of ministry emerged. In other words, He created His own pattern instead of fitting into ours. A grace filled church is one in which God is the Chief Shepherd and the pastor serves as the under shepherd under Him.
A grace filled ministry occurs when a pastor is consumed with Jesus above everything else. As he rests in intimacy with the indwelling Christ, ministry will flow out of him. As the life of Christ flows from him, the individual lives of those he leads will be impacted. They will again find their own first love for Jesus and motivation won¡¯t be a problem. Jesus is the great Motivator. He did it 2000 years ago and He still does it today.
It was at the end of each year that we began to seek out church leadership for the coming year. There was a set number of slots to staff and there were never enough willing people to fill those positions. I wondered every year why there weren¡¯t enough members who were motivated to become involved in ministry leadership. Was there something wrong with them because they didn¡¯t seem to care? Was there something wrong with me that I couldn¡¯t motivate them? Why couldn¡¯t we, just one time, find enough people who were willing to serve without having to do all but beg to get people to work? Didn¡¯t they care about our youth, our children¡¯s ministry, our outreach program, or any of the other valuable ministries of the church? Although I knew in advance what was going to happen, I always hoped that we could motivate people to assume ownership and take leadership in the ministry. But it never happened without great effort.
Becoming A Grace Filled Pastor
While I constantly tried to keep my own congregation motivated, the truth was that I sometimes found it hard to stay motivated myself. I sincerely loved the Lord and loved the churches I served, but I sometimes grew weary of promoting this program, then another one to try to fan the flame of interest among our members. Over a period of years, I did discover what worked and what didn¡¯t, so I learned to rely on the programs and plans that worked. Until. . .
1989 ¡ª I had moved to a new pastorate in Atlanta. I came with great enthusiasm and optimism about the future of this church. Upon arriving on the church field, I immediately jumped into the work with great zeal. I pulled out all the stops, preaching my best sermons and skillfully executing my best programs. But to my dismay, none of my efforts yielded fruit. The church, which had been declining for five years prior to my arrival, continued to decline during my first year as pastor.
The ongoing decline of the church gradually drove me to the place of despair. In the middle of the night on October 6, 1990 I laid on my face in my office crying. God, why did you bring me here? Nothing I do works in this church! What do you want from me? I had been sincere in leading my programs and plans. I loved the Lord and genuinely wanted to reach people. But I had become so discouraged that I didn¡¯t think I could go on with ministry.
As is God¡¯s customary way of working, He began to show His answers when I came to the end of myself. I had wanted Him to show me how to motivate the people. He had other plans. He had been wanting to do a deeper work in me which would transform first my own life, then my ministry. This night of despair became the doorway through which God brought me to bring me into an arena of grace like I had never known. In the days to follow the Lord began to reveal truths to me about walking in grace which radically changed the way I understood and did ministry. Before my church became a grace filled ministry, it was necessary for God to cause me to become a grace filled pastor. That began to happen as a couple of truths were deposited deeply into me by the Holy Spirit.
¡ö Christ is life, not ministry. For 17 years, if you had asked me who I am I would have answered, ¡°I am a preacher.¡± My sense of identity came from my role. In reality, that isn¡¯t who I am but is only what I do. Who I am is a child of God who shares the very life of Jesus Christ. This may sound like a minor distinction, but beginning to see myself first and foremost as a man consumed with Jesus caused ministry to flow from me in a way I had never known. Focusing on ministry produces religious activity, but understanding our union with Christ will cause one to experience an outflow of divine life.
¡ö Success comes through a Person, not a performance. I believed that success in ministry meant measurable progress. While there is certainly nothing wrong with results which are measurable, I have come to believe that real success comes as we abide in Jesus Christ and allow Him to continually express His life through us. That may or may not always produce results which look impressive. Was John successful on Patmos? Was Paul successful while in the Philippian jail? Was Jesus successful when he hung dying on a cross? God measures success differently from contemporary society.
Grace Filled Churches
As God continued to work the truths of this new grace walk deep into me, I began to see a change in the life of my church. As I changed, they began to change too. It wasn¡¯t unlike what happens in a marriage when God begins to do a deep work in the husband and the wife responds as she sees the Holy Spirit work in him. Church life began to be different in two ways.
¡ö People began to be motivated by desire, not duty. As I taught our congregation their identity in Christ, the Lord began to ignite a desire in the members to serve Him. Once I released them from the ¡°ought to¡± laws of the Christian life, the Holy Spirit began to instill His divine ¡°want to¡± inside them. I discovered that the best way to motivate people is to lead them to fall head over heels in love with Jesus! As we shifted the focus of the church from our plans and programs to the Person of Jesus Christ, life exploded in the congregation. It¡¯s like I had finally stopped trying to start a fire with wet wood and allowed God to cause a spiritual combustible explosion that only He could do.
¡ö God began to shape our ministry. When I released people from the obligation of ¡°filling slots¡± in leadership, some ministries died. Now I know, they needed to die. They were sacred cows which had no life in them anyway. As I relinquished control of the church and let God be God, He caused some aspects of ministry to fold while other types of ministry emerged. In other words, He created His own pattern instead of fitting into ours. A grace filled church is one in which God is the Chief Shepherd and the pastor serves as the under shepherd under Him.
A grace filled ministry occurs when a pastor is consumed with Jesus above everything else. As he rests in intimacy with the indwelling Christ, ministry will flow out of him. As the life of Christ flows from him, the individual lives of those he leads will be impacted. They will again find their own first love for Jesus and motivation won¡¯t be a problem. Jesus is the great Motivator. He did it 2000 years ago and He still does it today.
Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus
Keeping Our Eyes On The Captain
The boat was heeling over until water rushed over the rail. I braced myself to capsize at any second as the howling wind and rain beat into my face. Visions from the movie White Squall (one in which almost everybody drowned in a storm at sea) ran through my mind. I wasn’t nervous. I had passed that state ten minutes ago. I was afraid.
The incident happened a few years ago when Melanie and I were taking sailing lessons. We were in the middle of Sir Francis Drake Channel when our instructor pointed toward the horizon and said, “See that squall in the distance?” “Yes,” we answered, expecting him to tell us how we would sail around it.
“We’re going to sail right into the middle of it,” he said. “Take compass bearings, because you won’t be able to see land when we reach the middle of it.” I assumed he knew what he was doing. We soon learned that his purpose was to teach us how to maneuver the boat in adverse conditions so that we would be prepared in the event that someone ever fell overboard.
“There’s no better place to do a man-overboard drill than in a storm. That’s where people are most likely to fall overboard,” he explained. “That makes sense,” I thought. It only made sense until we sailed into the storm. I wasn’t prepared for its intensity.
He had thrown the life preserver overboard several times and we had rehearsed making a sudden stop, turning around to retrieve it, as we would do if it were a person in the water. Things had gone fairly smooth the first few times. But this last time was different. As I trimmed the sail to bring it closer to the center of the boat, Melanie began to turn the boat to make our tack.
Suddenly, in one quick instant, the wind caught the sail and the boat heeled over on its side so that the mast almost touched the water. That’s when the panic hit me. It was at that point that I braced myself to capsize. I didn’t know what mistake we had made, but I thought it was a big one.
Instantly, I turned to look at our instructor for help. As I looked toward him, I saw him standing there – calmly. He had one foot on the rail, where water was rushing over into the boat and the other on the deck of the boat. And in the midst of all this, there was an expression of perfect calm on his face.
I immediately thought to myself, “Things must be okay. He understands sailing better than us and he is perfectly calm.” I held on, the boat soon righted itself and everything was fine.
When the situation was all over, I remarked to our instructor, “You seemed calm through the whole ordeal. I was scared to death until I saw your expression. Then I assumed everything must be okay.”
“I knew the boat would turn up into the wind and everything would be alright,” he answered. “That’s why I wasn’t worried.”
I thought about what he said later and realized that life is like sailing the boat on that day. Sometimes, we’re going along with smooth sailing when suddenly we find ourselves in a storm. We may be doing our best to navigate through it when a gust of adversity blows into our lives and threatens to capsize everything we hold dear.
What do we do in those moments? We turn our attention to Jesus. We intentionally look into His face and when we do, we will see the same expression I saw on our instructors face that day at sea – one of complete peace.
Jesus isn’t worrying about the storms of this world because He already knows how it will all turn out in the end. After all, He is the one who controls the wind and the waves (see Mark 4:41). He has everything under control.
Are you going through a storm in your life? Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has His way in whirling winds and storms and the clouds are the dust of His feet. (Nahum 1:3) You aren’t going to drown. The captain of your salvation is in control of your destiny and He will see to it that you arrive safely at the destination He has planned for you. Don’t watch the waves. Watch Him and know that regardless of any evidence to the contrary, everything is going to be alright.
The boat was heeling over until water rushed over the rail. I braced myself to capsize at any second as the howling wind and rain beat into my face. Visions from the movie White Squall (one in which almost everybody drowned in a storm at sea) ran through my mind. I wasn’t nervous. I had passed that state ten minutes ago. I was afraid.
The incident happened a few years ago when Melanie and I were taking sailing lessons. We were in the middle of Sir Francis Drake Channel when our instructor pointed toward the horizon and said, “See that squall in the distance?” “Yes,” we answered, expecting him to tell us how we would sail around it.
“We’re going to sail right into the middle of it,” he said. “Take compass bearings, because you won’t be able to see land when we reach the middle of it.” I assumed he knew what he was doing. We soon learned that his purpose was to teach us how to maneuver the boat in adverse conditions so that we would be prepared in the event that someone ever fell overboard.
“There’s no better place to do a man-overboard drill than in a storm. That’s where people are most likely to fall overboard,” he explained. “That makes sense,” I thought. It only made sense until we sailed into the storm. I wasn’t prepared for its intensity.
He had thrown the life preserver overboard several times and we had rehearsed making a sudden stop, turning around to retrieve it, as we would do if it were a person in the water. Things had gone fairly smooth the first few times. But this last time was different. As I trimmed the sail to bring it closer to the center of the boat, Melanie began to turn the boat to make our tack.
Suddenly, in one quick instant, the wind caught the sail and the boat heeled over on its side so that the mast almost touched the water. That’s when the panic hit me. It was at that point that I braced myself to capsize. I didn’t know what mistake we had made, but I thought it was a big one.
Instantly, I turned to look at our instructor for help. As I looked toward him, I saw him standing there – calmly. He had one foot on the rail, where water was rushing over into the boat and the other on the deck of the boat. And in the midst of all this, there was an expression of perfect calm on his face.
I immediately thought to myself, “Things must be okay. He understands sailing better than us and he is perfectly calm.” I held on, the boat soon righted itself and everything was fine.
When the situation was all over, I remarked to our instructor, “You seemed calm through the whole ordeal. I was scared to death until I saw your expression. Then I assumed everything must be okay.”
“I knew the boat would turn up into the wind and everything would be alright,” he answered. “That’s why I wasn’t worried.”
I thought about what he said later and realized that life is like sailing the boat on that day. Sometimes, we’re going along with smooth sailing when suddenly we find ourselves in a storm. We may be doing our best to navigate through it when a gust of adversity blows into our lives and threatens to capsize everything we hold dear.
What do we do in those moments? We turn our attention to Jesus. We intentionally look into His face and when we do, we will see the same expression I saw on our instructors face that day at sea – one of complete peace.
Jesus isn’t worrying about the storms of this world because He already knows how it will all turn out in the end. After all, He is the one who controls the wind and the waves (see Mark 4:41). He has everything under control.
Are you going through a storm in your life? Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has His way in whirling winds and storms and the clouds are the dust of His feet. (Nahum 1:3) You aren’t going to drown. The captain of your salvation is in control of your destiny and He will see to it that you arrive safely at the destination He has planned for you. Don’t watch the waves. Watch Him and know that regardless of any evidence to the contrary, everything is going to be alright.
The Key To Victory
If Jesus promised victory, why are so many Christians experiencing defeat in their own lives? In his book, Victory in Christ, Charles Trumball expresses the sad circumstances of many people:
There were great fluctuations in my spiritual life, in my conscious closeness of fellowship with God. Sometimes I would be on the heights spiritually; sometimes I would be in the depths. A strong, arousing conviction, a stirring, searching address from some consecrated, victorious Christian leader of men; a searching Spirit filled book, or the obligation to do a difficult piece of Christian service myself, with the preparation in prayer that it involved, would lift me up; and I would stay up - for a while - and God would seem very close and my spiritual life deep. But it wouldn't last. Sometimes by some single failure before temptation, sometimes by a gradual downhill process, my best experiences would be lost, and I would find myself back on the lower levels. And a lower level is a perilous place for a Christian to be, as the Devil showed me over and over again.
The cycle Trumbull described may be typical, but it isn't the kind of Christian life described in the New Testament. The problem for many believers is that they try instead of trust.We live in a culture that commends effort. From childhood each of us learned that we shouldn't give up. Don't be a quitter. Keep trying until you accomplish your goal. One company even advertised a motto which said, "We try harder!" In the natural world, trying harder is commendable and often effective. Yet God's ways really aren't our ways. Sometimes they seem to be opposite from ours. In the spiritual world, trying harder is detrimental. That's right. Trying will defeat you every time, regardless of how sincere you might be.
No Christian has a problem with the previous paragraph as it relates to salvation.If an unsaved person were to suggest to you that he is trying hard to become a Christian, what would you tell him? You would probably make it clear to him that a person is not saved by trying, but becomes a child of God by trusting.You would tell him that there is absolutely nothing he can do to gain salvation. It has all already been done. Salvation is a gift to be received, not a reward for hard work.
Yet many Christians who understand that trying is detrimental to becoming a Christian somehow think that it is essential to walking in victory after salvation. Not so! 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "but thanks be unto God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The Bible clearly says here that victory is a gift that comes through Jesus. If we have the Lord Jesus Christ, victory is already ours!
Do you get the picture? We don't experience victory by fighting, instead we enjoy it by resting. As we abide in Christ and allow Him to live His life through us we live in victory. 1 John 5:4 says,"And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." The key to victory is to simply allow Christ to live through us. The Bible calls it "walking in the Spirit". Many people try to stop sinning in order to walk in the Spirit, but Galatians 5:16 says, Walk in the Spirit and [then] you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Victory is a Person and His name is Jesus! It isn't necessary to walk in defeat. The victory was won at the cross and became ours the moment we received Christ!
If Jesus promised victory, why are so many Christians experiencing defeat in their own lives? In his book, Victory in Christ, Charles Trumball expresses the sad circumstances of many people:
There were great fluctuations in my spiritual life, in my conscious closeness of fellowship with God. Sometimes I would be on the heights spiritually; sometimes I would be in the depths. A strong, arousing conviction, a stirring, searching address from some consecrated, victorious Christian leader of men; a searching Spirit filled book, or the obligation to do a difficult piece of Christian service myself, with the preparation in prayer that it involved, would lift me up; and I would stay up - for a while - and God would seem very close and my spiritual life deep. But it wouldn't last. Sometimes by some single failure before temptation, sometimes by a gradual downhill process, my best experiences would be lost, and I would find myself back on the lower levels. And a lower level is a perilous place for a Christian to be, as the Devil showed me over and over again.
The cycle Trumbull described may be typical, but it isn't the kind of Christian life described in the New Testament. The problem for many believers is that they try instead of trust.We live in a culture that commends effort. From childhood each of us learned that we shouldn't give up. Don't be a quitter. Keep trying until you accomplish your goal. One company even advertised a motto which said, "We try harder!" In the natural world, trying harder is commendable and often effective. Yet God's ways really aren't our ways. Sometimes they seem to be opposite from ours. In the spiritual world, trying harder is detrimental. That's right. Trying will defeat you every time, regardless of how sincere you might be.
No Christian has a problem with the previous paragraph as it relates to salvation.If an unsaved person were to suggest to you that he is trying hard to become a Christian, what would you tell him? You would probably make it clear to him that a person is not saved by trying, but becomes a child of God by trusting.You would tell him that there is absolutely nothing he can do to gain salvation. It has all already been done. Salvation is a gift to be received, not a reward for hard work.
Yet many Christians who understand that trying is detrimental to becoming a Christian somehow think that it is essential to walking in victory after salvation. Not so! 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "but thanks be unto God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." The Bible clearly says here that victory is a gift that comes through Jesus. If we have the Lord Jesus Christ, victory is already ours!
Do you get the picture? We don't experience victory by fighting, instead we enjoy it by resting. As we abide in Christ and allow Him to live His life through us we live in victory. 1 John 5:4 says,"And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith." The key to victory is to simply allow Christ to live through us. The Bible calls it "walking in the Spirit". Many people try to stop sinning in order to walk in the Spirit, but Galatians 5:16 says, Walk in the Spirit and [then] you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
Victory is a Person and His name is Jesus! It isn't necessary to walk in defeat. The victory was won at the cross and became ours the moment we received Christ!
Heavenly Father, I Am Your Child
Heavenly Father,
I am Your child. (See John 1:12) You love me with an intensity that refuses to be diminished. (Song of Solomon 8:7) Your plans for me are good. (See Jeremiah 29:11) You love me because you have chosen to and not because of what I do or don’t do. (See Ephesians 1:4) Your goodness and favor will chase me down every day I live. (See Psalms 23:6)
Every blessing in Christ Jesus is already mine. (See Ephesians 1:3) By faith, I will enter in to the grace-filled walk that you have prepared for me. (See Romans 5:2) I am everything you say I am. (See1 Corinthians 15:10) I can do everything you have called me to do. (See Philippians 4:13) I can have all that you have called me to have. (See Psalm 84:11)
My days will only grow brighter.(See Proverbs 4:18) Your favor is upon me and will never leave me.(See Lamentations 3:22-23) Nothing that comes my way can harm me. (See Isaiah 54:17) You orchestrate my circumstances so that everything works out for my good. (See Romans 8:28) Without wavering, I will hold tightly to the hope I say I have, because You can be trusted to keep your Promise. (See Hebrews 3:23)
Amen
Heavenly Father,
I am Your child. (See John 1:12) You love me with an intensity that refuses to be diminished. (Song of Solomon 8:7) Your plans for me are good. (See Jeremiah 29:11) You love me because you have chosen to and not because of what I do or don’t do. (See Ephesians 1:4) Your goodness and favor will chase me down every day I live. (See Psalms 23:6)
Every blessing in Christ Jesus is already mine. (See Ephesians 1:3) By faith, I will enter in to the grace-filled walk that you have prepared for me. (See Romans 5:2) I am everything you say I am. (See1 Corinthians 15:10) I can do everything you have called me to do. (See Philippians 4:13) I can have all that you have called me to have. (See Psalm 84:11)
My days will only grow brighter.(See Proverbs 4:18) Your favor is upon me and will never leave me.(See Lamentations 3:22-23) Nothing that comes my way can harm me. (See Isaiah 54:17) You orchestrate my circumstances so that everything works out for my good. (See Romans 8:28) Without wavering, I will hold tightly to the hope I say I have, because You can be trusted to keep your Promise. (See Hebrews 3:23)
Amen
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