Moving Where I Am

Now when they had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (Acts 17:1 NASB)

The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. (Acts 17:10 NASB)

Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there.
Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left. (Acts 17:14-15 NASB)

After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. (Acts 18:1 NASB)

One of my least favorite things to do is move.  I hate it.  Partly because we have too much stuff, but mostly because it's so unsettling (duh, that's part of the point of moving).  I don't like uprooting, and I don't like getting resettled.  Recently (in the last few years), air travel has become another thing I don't like to do.  But for all these forms or types of travel, I do like to travel.

I like to drive long distances.  I like to see stuff, especially local stuff that tells the story of the place.  I like hearing people's story of why they're there or what happened way back when.  When I started college, everything I had for my dorm room fit in my truck; all of it.  It was actually a lot of stuff, but I was very proud that it all fit in one trip, books, rack stereo, computer (before laptops) and all.   It made it really easy to travel, pick up and go, I felt like I could be a gypsy.  I just have never had that mentality, but I had the truck.

Paul moved about a lot.  In fact, in the next chapter of Acts, 18, he doesn't even stay home long before heading out again for the northern regions of Asia Minor.  He didn't have a truck, all his stuff fit in his bag, on his back.  And he walked.  It couldn't have been easy in those days.  Sure merchants did it all the time, but they traveled in caravans, on wagons, and so on.  There was no "bus" to the interior regions of Anatolia, he had to hoof it; and do so with all his "gear".

Paul seems to love this sort of thing.  He goes to churches, strengthening them, and moving on to the next.  I'm not so wild about it.  It may fit some people just right, and they may love the very idea.  We're not all the same, and we're not all that different, but I believe that God has prepared and gifted some for this sort of Christian Road Show.  I read a book about a pastor from China, who moved about a lot.  He had a home, wife, children, but he also moved around to various churches.  It was a hard life, on him and his family, yet he felt compelled, and God used him tremendously because of his willingness to be a Christian Road Show. 

I don't feel so compelled.  I don't believe this is my "gifting" from my Master.  On the other hand, I wonder if I'm just too comfortable.  What if it is my "calling", but I'm too much in love with the "setup" I enjoy in this place?  That never lasts long.  I know something about myself.  I don't have a "road show" to take.  I have a gospel to proclaim, God is reconciling the world to Himself through His Son, Jesus.  But my "audience" is here.  I'm not one to take this message on the road.  At lest, not so far.  I have no "audience" beyond my neighborhood.

I suppose what I'm saying is that I'm not out there in front as much as back here in the background.  I'm okay with that.  I'll travel for vacation and family events, but my Master has planted me here, for these people.  I need to be about what my Master has for me rather than looking outward for 'the next big thing'.  Paul was not my model for method, but he is for attitude.  He submitted to the Master and went.  I need to submit to the same Master and stay.  There are others my Master has who are destined for Paul's model of method.  They need my prayer support and financial support.  And so I give of both.  But I also need to be about the work here around me.  There's plenty to do here.

The Commission Flanked with Power and Presence

The “Great Commission” has been used to the point it has faded into familiarity for many believers.  In some ways it has for me simply because so many have miss used it, calling themselves “Great Commission Churches” but seeming to leave out the foundation of the “sending”; that all power was given to Jesus.  It’s as if they are saying, “we have the commission, so let’s go, we got this!”  The commission is not “power” but direction, and not even complete direction.

One element of the commission discussed ad nausem is the grammatical structure. It’s a difficult structure to disentangle.  But the meaning is fairly straight forward, regardless of how the grammatical structure is understood.  It seems like a procedural command, laying out the process used to reach the world.  In Luke Jesus gave the geographical picture, here He gives the procedural.  Regardless of how the grammar is understood, one element not open for debate is the foundation that all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus.  That much is crystal clear.

So, when I read the procedures, I see procedures that stem from the power of my Master.  It’s not my ability or talent for making disciples (or even going), but His power.  It’s not my knack for teaching or communicating that transmits what I have been taught, but the power of my Master.  And it is not my presence in the lives of others that tips the scales of their heart toward Jesus, but the powerful presence  of Jesus; right up to the completion of this age.

The power wielded by Jesus sends me out, enables all peoples to become disciples, emboldens all peoples to be baptized, opens hearts and minds to learn, and awakens souls to the presence of my Master.  I have little to do with it.  I am a spectator of the power at work around and through me.  It is and always has been Jesus saving the world; including my community.  The question is not “can He” or “will He”, but will I join Him obediently, will I submit to His sending me out into the community.  It is when I go obediently that I witness the power of my Master at work in the lives around me, and in my own.

The going, the discipling, the baptizing, the teaching all enables me to behold that Jesus is with me all the way; that it is Him at work all throughout.  Without His power and presence there would be very little of the discipling, baptizing, teaching and no witnessing of the power of my Master.  It can’t be about me, my church, my pastor, or my small group.  It must be about my Master and stem from my connection to Him; that my name is written in the book of life.

So, when the Great Commission is again pulled out and examined, let me start with the power of my Master, and end with His presence.  The stuff in the middle is encompassed in those two things.  Very little else is important.  Jesus is Master and King, let me be the servant introducing others to an audience with Him, bowing out and shutting the door, allowing them to speak together in peace.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 27

Praying The Harvest In? Sort of

I know a few missionaries, and prayer is constantly what they ask for.  What they see in the lives of the people in their assigned countries are addressed by prayer.  But in the denomination I followed, missionaries are becoming scarce.  The money to send them is not as plentiful as it was.  The work is being scaled back.

Part of that is the economy is the continued  problems in the American economy.  Part of that is also a shift in priorities of people, and that one is caused by fear replacing faith.  But there may be other factors involved.  I am no longer with that denomination, so I don’t contribute as I once did.  However many times that happened with others leaving the denomination, there was a hole left each time.

But the answer is not money, as the missionaries I know don’t ask for money, they ask for prayer.  But they also pray.  I don’t know how often, how fervently, or when in any given day they pray, but I know that they know it’s an integral piece of what they do.  And that is not just true for missionaries, but for all believers.

I can do whatever work I want for my King, but until I do the work He wants, I’m not serving, not really.  It’s like when my daughter helps me do a job, but only the way she wants.  It sometimes makes my job harder.  I let her do it because I want her to want to help others.  But somewhere down the line, there is a lesson that she will need to learn that help is help when I do what’s needed, not what I want. 

As a servant to the King, this is especially important to me.  I have a responsibility to serve my King in what He directs.  I’m not unique in this, I’m just acknowledging that I recognize the responsibility.  I would like to be directed at dramatic things, big things for my Master.  But right now, it’s small things, like prayer.  What I see is that my Master, like Chambers says, wants me, not my work.

In Matthew 9:38, Jesus is just going on about His ministering, and seeing the crowds, He says to His disciples, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers lack.  Therefore ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers into His Harvest.”  The solution is prayer.  Perhaps the disciples would the be ones sent (i.e. Matthew 10), but the sending is preceded by prayer.  And the sending of the Twelve was temporary; break during the ministry they normally followed.  But for some it was not.  The Gegaderene Demoniac was sent to the Decapolis to tell of the things that God had done for him.  He was given that task instead of being allowed to follow Jesus around (Mark 5).

My sense of reality is a dangerous thing.  When my Master directs, calls, and sends me, I can’t evaluate it on the grounds of what makes sense to me.  I’m not here in North Nevada because of what makes sense to me.  I decided to obey, and then things began to be arranged on my behalf without my control.  But obedience was preceded by prayer.  I prayed for direction and direction came.  It came in stages, and I moved ahead only in those stages given that timing.  This is an example of doing it right; one among a throng of examples of doing it wrong.

Prayer is where my Master wants me to spend my effort.  Once in His hand, tuned to His voice, then the actions I take in this community will reflect His will.  Without prayer, it is my own wisdom and ability that I work with, and the results will definitely show it.  That’s not what I want, not really.  Although, my human self-centered soul would love to have my Master’s results come out of my effort.  It doesn’t work that way, and thankfully it doesn’t.  The results my Master brings about come out of His work and my obedience leads me to the background.

That may sound odd in our culture of seeking that 15 minutes of fame spoken of so much.  But I can’t save anyone from hell.  Why would I want attention from others?  The attention needs to be on my Master who does save people from hell.  If I distract anyone from Him, I will be removed by my Master.  The life of those distracted people around me depends on Him removing me, the distraction.

So, I point to my Master.  I direct praise I get toward Him, but I do so in a way that removes me from center stage and pulls me into the background setting where I belong.  I can’t just willy-nilly praise Him when I am praised, that only tries to intensify the attention I get with false humility (which is really obvious, and usually turns me off of personality-based ministries).  I have a responsibility to others to magnify my Master to my exclusion.

One important way I do that is to own publicly my weaknesses.  When I am clearly weak and imperfect, then any praise for what is accomplished through me has to go to my Master, there’s no other explanation.  This is one of the important reasons for the accountability I have through this blog.  I own my weaknesses here on the world-wide web so it will be blatantly obvious to even the most casual observer that I can do nothing and my Master does everything.

Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will send out workers into His Harvest.  More workers are needed, so I must pray.  By the way, so the power of prayer is understood, my daughter is now doing dishes; right now.  She protested, but I just went on with the blog.  She got up, went into the kitchen and started doing them.  That was not me, I left it in my Masters hands.  Now, if He would just get her to put the dry ones away first (one step at a time, one step at a time).

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 16

A Philosophical Theology of the Necessity of Missionary Work: Being a Catalyst of Life

There is a question in the discussion of religious thought about what happens to those who have never heard of the saving message of Jesus.  The answer is critical to any missionary enterprise.  Chambers hits it obliquely and seems to create a defense of not sending missionaries at all.  He doesn’t because his discussion isn’t complete, but his discussion of sin is very interesting.

In Romans, Paul addresses this question head-on.  As a missionary, he has a vested interest in defending what has become the enterprise of his whole life. Chambers refers to a portion of this discussion in Romans 5:12.  Paul is using a compare and contrast between Jesus and Adam to make his point about the problem with humanity and the solution Jesus provides. 

So, how does Chambers define sin? He says, “The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of self-realization - I am my own god.”  Once upon a time in my not-so-distant past, I was all excited about what I believe is the central theme of all of Scripture.  I believe that all of Scripture (and therefore all of this life) is “School” and we are all being educated on the difference between life and death.  The definitions seem easy, except that I don’t believe they are physical events. I believe life and death only have meaning on a relational level, and especially in the relationship with my Master.

So, what?  Well I think that Chambers and I are together on one point, though my describe it differently.  I believe that it is theoretically possible for someone to seek the Creator of the cosmos without having heard of Jesus.  And that someone like that would be saved.  I say “theoretically” because it’s an argument from silence, and is impossible to test, and, therefore prove (nice argument to have until someone point that out).  Paul says people are without excuse precisely because the cosmos declares the existence of the Creator, but he also says that no one seeks the Creator and people are satisfied worshipping the creation instead. 

But if Chambers is right in his definition, then his definition supports a “theoretical” situation like mine.  In fact, Chambers says that God does not hold us guilty of the disposition toward sin (self-realization), but of rejecting Jesus as the solution.  That would mean telling others of Jesus would suddenly make them culpable before the Creator.  There is more to the belief, I assure you.  Yes, at the point the specific choice is presented, the choice, once made, decides eternity.  But the opportunity only provides a new option where before there was only one.  Without the missionary effort, the cosmos will only descend into deeper darkness swallowing any potential random isolated lights.

So, when I keep my life (my relationship with my Master) to myself claiming that is is my business, I rob my community.  I rob my community of faith, and I rob my community of those without such a relationship.  When I claim that my relationship with my Master is my business I sin by claiming that self-realization that puts me on the throne reserved for my Master.  I refuse to obey and serve when I do that.  My relationship with my Master is not my business precisely because it is not mine, but His.  He started it, He reached out to me, He chose me, and He is the One making it possible to maintain.  How can that be my business?  I deny my Master’s claim on my life when I refuse to disclose that relationship to my community.

I know where I need to change.  I need to develop the practice of referring to my Master in conversation.  I need to become known for that.  My references to Him should become just the normal way I refer to elements of my life.  Right now that would sound forced and canned.  It would take time for such a practice to become natural.  I need to spend that time, and adopt that practice.  If I am not a sign pointing to my Master, then my life and my relationship with Him is a waste.  Remember, I claim to believe that life is defined by relationship, especially with my Master.  So then why would I not want others around me to live as well?  Why would I let a community remain dead?  All it would take is a change in my normal behavior, and then I could be a catalyst for others to have life.  Right now, I have little to no effect what so ever.

Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, October 5