I did NOT expect God to do THAT
As I’ve mentioned a few times, we’re studying 1-2 Samuel together with the church on Sunday mornings. Last Sunday, February 12, 2012, we discussed 1 Samuel 2. This chapter begins with Hannah’s prayer after she leaves Samuel at the tabernacle.
There is another “prayer of Hannah” in 1 Samuel 1:11 that is more popular and familiar. But, when we studied her prayer from 1 Samuel 2:1-10, I found something extremely encouraging. In the long central section of the prayer (1 Samuel 2:4-8), she reminds herself (and those listening/reading) that God often works in ways that we do not expect.
We expect the strong to do mighty works, not the feeble. (1 Samuel 2:4) We expect the poor to beg for food, not the rich. (1 Samuel 2:5) We expect the dead to stay dead. (1 Samuel 2:6) And, it continues. In other words, God often chooses to work in ways and through people that we would not choose ourselves.
When I read through this prayer, I was reminded of something that Paul wrote:
For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being(1 )might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:25-29 ESV)
Of course, Paul was probably referring back to another Old Testament passage. (Jeremy 9:23-24) But, the point is similar: God often works through the weak, the unknown, the “foolish” in a way that confounds those who are witnesses of this work. Why? So that no one can boast in themselves. So that we can only boast in the Lord.
Is this just an interesting point to notice in Scripture? No, I don’t think so. Instead, I think these passages – and a multitude of passages that teach a similar point – should help us understand how God often chooses to work and should affect the way that we expect God to work through one another and others.
Are we only expecting God to work through the “expected” channels? Are we giving opportunities for God to work through other people, or only those we “expect” God to work through? Do we need to change our expectations?
It’s amazing, really, what happens when we begin expecting God to work in unexpected ways and through unexpected means… even when we expect God to work through “unexpected” people.
If we embrace the fact that God actually works in ways that we would not expect (and that would seem contrary to normal wisdom) then this would affect how we meet with one another as the church. I’ll share more about that in tomorrow’s post.
Have you ever seen God work through someone in an unexpected way? Are you giving God opportunities to work through unexpected people in unexpected ways? How?
Guest Blogger: Simple Church (TM)
Last year, I invited several people to write “guest blog posts” for this blog. There are several reasons for this: 1) To offer different perspectives. 2) To generate even more discussion and conversation between blogs. 3) To introduce other bloggers to my readers.
(While I may continue to invite people to write guest posts, I would be willing to publish *almost* any post related to the church. If you are interested in writing a guest blog post, please contact me at aknox[at]sebts[dot]com.)
Today’s post was written by Joe (JR) Miller. J.R. Miller is a former church planter and now professor living in San Diego, California with his wife and three sons. He is an author and avid blogger. You can reach him at either www.MoreThanCake.org or www.EmergingLife.org.
————————————
“Simple Church ™”
Inspired by my friend Alan’s post “Just Make Disciples ™“, I am convinced that church is meant to be simple. All the institutional stuff has really hurt our Faith. Here is my new motto:
Church–So Simple That Anyone Who Follows Me Can Do It!
Why do we hold men above Christ?
Seminary trained pastors set themselves up as experts by writing books that teach us all kind of pagan things about leadership and community when all we truly need is the Bible. I am so convinced that the Bible is ALL we need, that I am commissioning a team of writers with no seminary training and who have never lead anything to write a book that everyone should read. This team of experts (with names you are sure to recognize) well give everyone all they need to know about how not to be a leader and how to avoid training so you can start a Simple Church. Oh, and we will have a magazine too!!
Why do we need all those conferences for “professional” clergy?
Those conferences are corrupting the church and taking away the priesthood of all believers. To counter this spiritual-tragedy, I would like to invite everyone to a new conference starting next year. The conference will be titled, “No More Conferences“. We will feature worship bands (unprofessionally led of course) and lecturers who will teach us how sermons are bad because they feature just one guy talking with everyone in chairs facing forward. Our conference will be held in a theatre where everyone will have nice chairs facing the stage so they can enjoy our featured experts. Come to the conference and you will get trained by our totally uneducated and fully untrained experts on how to be a Simple Church leader.
Why do we make paid preaching/teaching the center of our faith?
I think it is terrible that we listen to sermons and download them and sell them when the Gospel should be free. If you want to learn more, check back tomorrow and I will have a recorded talk you can download for a small fee or you can always order the CD. The Apostle Paul never sold his letters to the church and next year I will also have a new copyrighted book out on Amazon that will tell you all about it for just $9.99. These teachings will explain how we are destroying the church by trusting preachers who sell stuff all the time. (BTW, since I am not a paid preacher, I am allowed by the New Testament to sell this stuff… besides, my motives are pure unlike those other guys.)
Why have we made it so difficult to be the Spirit-led Church?
Men have put themselves out as leaders and make us think that unless we read what they write, we cannot be a valid church. That is just not how God works. So I am announcing the launch of a new blog that will feature all my books and all my recorded messages from conferences and weekly posts. My site will teach you how not to follow after the teachings of men. Trust only the Holy Spirit and follow me.
Why do we follow denominations?
Simple church will be all about rejecting denominations and seeing everyone as our brother and sister in Christ. To help you figure out which churches are truly simple, and not heretical like those institutional ones, we will set up a network of Simple Churches. We will have memberships and everything and promote our approved network of churches from our website.
Why do we meet in big buildings?
Anyone who reads the New Testament, or church history, knows that aside from meeting in public buildings or in Synagogues or caves, the church only ever met in homes. If your church is meeting anywhere but a house, you are corrupting God’s simple church because the house is God’s designated place for church meetings. A house is the only place that does not restrict the moving of the Spirit and A house is the only place where people won’t get corrupted by all the bad stuff. (You will learn more about this at next years’ big conference)
Church is Simple and anyone can do it!! So keep reading. listening, conferencing, networking, meeting in homes and downloading my stuff and I will teach you all the things you need to know about how to keep church simple and avoid the institution.
Oh, and don’t forget, if you don’t read all my stuff and listen to all my messages and go to my conferences, you will never know what stuff is forbidden by the New Testament and you will never be free from all the institutional stuff that holds you back.
I have decided that I do not like making decisions
A few days ago, I entered the title of this post as my Facebook status: I have decided that I do not like making decisions.
Many of my Facebook friends know that I like to enter humorous quips like this as my status, so we had a great time bantering about this one.
Many of my real life friends knew that I was actually facing a major decision. In fact, many knew that this was the cause of the stress in my life that I wrote about a few weeks ago.
In fact, this was a major decision that I wanted to make. I had been praying for this decision in general for a few years now and praying for this decision specifically for a few months. Many of my friends knew about this and had been praying with me.
Since last fall, I had been working towards this decision and fighting for the opportunity. I knew which decision I wanted to make, even though it would mean a huge life change for myself and my family and probably many of my friends as well.
But, when the decision actually presented itself, it was not as cut and dry as I had hoped. And, I was given a deadline. I had to make a final decision in less than 48 hours.
I weighed both options. There were pros and cons to each direction. Unfortunately, the decision that I had been working toward – the decision that I wanted to make – was not as obvious to me as I had hoped it would be.
I began to wonder, “Is this a difficulty that I should continue walking through – like a test of faith – or is it a road block that God is using to stop me from going in this direction?”
I had no direct revelation from God about this decision (although I believe that he could have directly told me which decision to make if he had wanted to). Of course, it was also possible that God was trying to tell me which decision to make but I was not paying attention to him.
So, I talked with my friends. All of these people knew me and knew my family. They knew how God had been working in our lives. They knew our struggles, and they knew why I had been working up to the point of making this decision.
Some of my friends offered additional information that I had not considered. Others offered new perspectives. Some simply allowed me to voice my issues with each decision… listening is a powerful gift. They also gave me advice. I’m so glad that God has placed people like this in my life.
I made a decision. Did I make the “right” decision? I don’t know if there was a “right” decision in this case, although, like I said, it was a huge potentially life-changing decision. I know that I and my family are at peace with this decision. I knew that I trust God in making this decision, and I would have trusted God is making the opposite decision. I know that he is with me – regardless of which decision I had made.
Decisions. Sometimes God makes it clear which decision he wants us to make. That doesn’t mean that decision is easy, though.
Sometimes, God does not make it clear which decision he wants us to make. What do we do when we have to make a decision anyway? Well, in my case, I continue to seek God, and I seek the counsel of the godly men and women who God has placed in my life… real life people who know me and my family and my struggles and my victories and my strengths and my weaknesses.
God often communicates through these people who truly are brothers and sisters to me and my family.
What do you do when you are forced to make a decision, but God has not directly made the direction clear?
Don’t start a movement; start caring for those around you sacrificially.
The title of this post comes from another post by Dave Black. Yes, after not linking to his site for some time, I’m now linking to him twice in only a matter of days.
This time, he’s talking about “archy” and specifically “Christian archy” – both his book by that title and submission to God’s reign.
This is what he says (on Monday, February 6, 2012 at 7:57 a.m.):
Any Christian movement or ideology that takes the place of the cross has absolutely no biblical or theological foundation for its existence.
This is one reason I am reticent to identify myself with the “homeschool” movement or the “agrarian” movement or the “church growth” movement or other similar movements. Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated a beautiful spiritual truth when he wrote, “The person who loves their dream of community will destroy community, but the person who loves those around them will create community.” Many modern evangelical “causes” or “movements” are, frankly, in love with their causes and movements. We are tempted to enshrine our programs in golden calves and “Christian” bureaucracies. Indeed, once you start a 501(c)3 you feel obligated to do all you can to perpetuate your organization. You fight for the limited resources that are out there while forgetting that God is bigger than our petty organizations. Bonhoeffer was right. When we love our “dream” or “vision” more than the reality, we end up destroying both.
I want to make a modest suggestion: Our goal should not be to establish our majestic mega-church models but to embrace a “movement-less” kingdom that grows by simply caring for those around us sacrificially.
Yep. That’s it. When we submit to God as our one and only king, he leads us to follow his son, Jesus Christ. And, what did Jesus say about his own life on earth: “I did not come to be served, but to serve.”
That’s our calling as well: serve!
I’m not interested in any kind of movement, other than the way God moves in my life and in the lives of the people around me to serve and care for others.
But, I’ve found that’s the most difficult movement to take part in… I keep getting in the way.
Science Fiction, Space Travel, and Trusting God
Have you ever heard of Frederik Pohl? He’s a science fiction writer. When I was in high school, I read a couple of his books: Gateway and Beyond the Blue Event Horizon. I recently ran across these two books (and two other books in this same series) in a used bookstore, so I picked them up and read them (again).
The books revolve around an asteroid that had been turned into a space station by an alien race that had since disappeared. This station included hundred (thousands?) of space ships. The humans learned how to start the space ships and found out that the ships went to predetermined locations. They would then return to the space station when started up again.
People would pay to take trips on these space ships. Why? Because a corporation would pay good money for any alien artifacts that are found and returned by people who take this space ships.
But, there was a huge catch. You see, they did not know where the ships were going or how long it would take to get there. Once they started the ships, they could not control them. So, they were stuck on the ship until it stopped. And, what if their supplies ran out before it stopped? Well, then they would die. It was as simple as that.
However, many, many people were willing to take these space ships to unknown location – with the possibility of dying on the trip – for one simple reason: to make big bucks.
As I read through these books again, I realized that this is the life that God has called us to. Who is “us”? All of those who are his children. If we are God’s children, then we are called to follow him wherever he might lead us… even if we never actually get “there” – wherever there is.
Of course, those space travelers had one goal in mind: to make money. It didn’t matter where their space ship took them, they wanted to find alien artifacts and bring them back to sell them to the corporation to make huge profits. In fact, they considered their trip to be a failure if they did not find artifacts.
As God’s children, we should have a similar attitude – not to find alien artifacts and make money. Instead, our goal is to help people grow in their understanding of Jesus Christ and in following him – wherever we are or wherever we go or whoever we are around.
Interestingly, I almost think it would be easier to convince people to board a spaceship to an unknown destination with the promise of lots of money than to convince Christians to follow God wherever he sends them in order to help others follow Jesus.
You can hold their attention with a sermon/lesson, but do they learn from your way of life?
This is a comment from Vincent. According to his comment, he is a new reader here. But, this week, he left an awesome comment on my post “What is teaching from the perspective of Scripture?”
In his comment, he expressed many of the same ideas that I was trying to get across in the post. Plus, he expressed it in a much more personal manner than I did.
I hope you enjoy his comment as much as I did. (Thanks, Vincent!)
Just this year I have really struggled with being the example of all I’ve taught. Years ago, the Lord called me to teach and I’ve always found myself in settings where I was teaching and often those older than me or in different life settings. For example, one of my first classes I was called to teach, was a married couples class and I was single. Now today, as a married man, I teach a class containing many of the elders in my church. From seminary, I too learned “explanation, illustration, application.” Because I often received comments on my teaching style and people enjoyed my teaching I believed I was often doing all the Lord had called me to. I was always only concerned my lessons were biblically based, which is important of course.
But recently I was really struggling with “doing all the Lord had called me to.” I say this because I realized (or it was probably more like the H.S. showed me) I was not living out all I was teaching. When I hear K.P. Yohannan speak for example, I can’t help but stop in my tracks to hear him, because I know he is speaking from all he has lived and experienced. The words of scripture come alive because he is living proof of all he is teaching. Even in the elder class I teach, there is a couple in there that are Wycliffe translators who, when they’re not traveling, are in our class. When they raise their hand to speak I hold on to all they say and think they should be teaching not me. It is because they are living examples, again, of what scripture is. I am a Voice of the Martyrs representative in Tucson, AZ. I often struggle to be their voice because I see a huge gulf between their way of life and mine (but his is a whole other topic.) But even when I would pick up a book by Richard Wurmbrand, the found of the Voice of the Martyrs, I cling to every word because he teaches from the life of a man who endured suffering for Christ.
I am truly learning and have been learning that right believing does not always translate into right living. I must be living right. Again, I must confess, while I might be able to hold a class’ attention to my lesson, I don’t see these same people flocking after me during the week to follow my way of life! Shame on me right? Your article seemed to be written at just the right time as I have been thinking about the fact that teaching is more than the transfer and discussion of knowledge. I find I have always been attracted to those whose lives are living examples of the faith and I want to be around them. Yes, teaching is more than just information, it is a way of life!
Replay: Looking forward to a Super Bowl party
Ironically, two years ago, I wrote a post called “Looking forward to a Super Bowl party.” And, guess what I’m doing this weekend? I’m looking forward to a Super Bowl party again! I think I know which teams are playing this year, but I’m not certain enough to type it here without looking it up. I love football – mainly college football. I don’t watch much professional football. But, I love Super Bowl parties!
Are you looking forward to a Super Bowl party? Why?
——————————————-
Looking forward to a Super Bowl party
I understand that we’ve been invited to a Super Bowl Party by some good friends this Sunday night. I’m really looking forward to this party. Actually, I look forward to any party involving our friends and family.
Yes, the Super Bowl will be on the television, and we’ll laugh at some of the commercials.
But, my main purpose in going to the Super Bowl Party has nothing to do with the football game or the commercials. Instead, I’m looking forward to building and deepening with relationships with people who are at the party.
I never know what will be discussed during a party like this… but there are always discipling relationships… both for me to help someone else grow in maturity in Christ and for someone else to help me grow. This is what I’m looking forward to the most!
Teaching through shared life experiences? But what about books, articles, and blog posts?
So, I’ve written two posts recently about the importance of teaching through shared life experiences (i.e., demonstrating what it means to follow Jesus Christ) and about the implications of this kind of teaching for the gathering of the church.
But, there’s another form of “teaching” that the modern church relies on heavily. And, unfortunately, this kind of teaching is even more removed from a shared life than the teaching that goes on when the church gathers.
What teaching am I talking about? The “teaching” that is available through books, articles, essays, and even blog posts! Yes, I’m including my own blog posts in this category.
As little as we sometimes know about the life of the person who teaches when the church gathers, we usually know even less about the person who wrote the book, article, essay, or blog post that we are reading. (Yes, I know that there are a few fortunate readers here who actually know me in real life…)
However, think about how often we drift toward this kind of teaching… What do we do when a couple is struggling in their marriage? Recommend a book. What do we do when someone wonders which Bible translation they should read? Point them to a magazine article that lists the pros and cons of each translation. What do we do when someone disagrees with us? Point them to a blog post that explains our position.
Obviously, books, essays, articles, blog posts, etc. can be effective means of communicating information. But, remember, we’ve already discovered that in Scripture teaching goes far beyond communicating information. If that information is separated from shared life experiences, then very little teaching is actually taking place. (By the way, you can also include podcasts – audio and video – in this category as well.)
So, what can we do? We live in an information age. We are inundated with information, including information about God, people, the church, etc. Why, there is more information on this blog alone than I care to read or could possibly process…
It would be completely impossible to try to separate ourselves completely from this kind of information transfer. Instead of attempting to stop the flow of information, we should seek to live it in community with others. That’s right… live it. When we are confronted with new information, bring it into the community and decide whether to and how to live accordingly together.
Remember, if you can’t live it together, then you are not learning it anyway.
When you begin to live it together, don’t put the emphasis on what “so-and-so” said or how “such-and-such” explained it. Put the focus where it belongs: what God is doing in and through his children – including in and through you. This is the power of teaching in lives that are shared with one another in Jesus Christ.
The power is not in the books, articles, or blog posts – even wonderfully crafted and completely true blog posts such as those you read here. The power is in the work of Holy Spirit in his children as you share your lives with one another.
Teaching and Positional Authority among the Church
My last few posts about teaching – and especially teaching when the church gathers – flies in the face of common church tradition and practice. In the normal view, teaching is tied to authority which is tied to position. If you have the right position, then you teach with authority.
Of course, this leads to huge problems. The primary problem – at least from my perspective – is that teaching from a position of authority is not really teaching as we find it in Scripture. Instead, in Scripture, teaching is from a position of service as we share our lives together.
There is another problem though. You see, if we focus on teaching and authority associated with position, then what happens when someone comes along with a “higher” position.
Skye recognizes this problem in his post “The Platform Principle.” He writes:
This radio show had more authority in Stacy’s life than I did. What authority I possessed had been built through years of sound teaching and the vetting of denominational leaders. But it was no match for the authority granted by Stacy to a speaker she heard on the radio.
In marketing lingo it’s called platform. The logic is simple—the magnitude of your platform determines the scope of your authority. Someone with an audience of one million has more authority than someone with an audience of one hundred. The assumption: the larger platform is a result of the person’s competency, intelligence, or character. That, of course, is not always the case.
Today authority is granted to those who have simply proven they can build a platform.
From the quote (and from the remainder of the article), the author is concerned that someone who should be under his authority (because of his position) has decided to rely on another person’s authority based on their position (as demonstrated by their larger platform). In fact, the author’s practice of teaching from his own position of authority leads his audience to understand that authority and teaching come from positions… and, of course, the bigger the position (such as a radio personality with a huge audience) the bigger the authority.
But, what if our ability to impact another person’s life was not based on our position at all? What if our ability to teach someone else resulted from our shared life experiences – the good, the bad, and the ugly – and demonstrated ability to live the truths of God – not our ability to speak the truths of God?
I think things would be quite different… for everyone involved… even the “teacher.”
The place of teaching when the church gathers
When you talk with someone about church today, it’s hard to keep the conversation from shifting to the church gathering (i.e., “worship service”). This is true even among people who admit that the church is people (that is, people who are following Jesus). Still, people often equate (or at least closely associate) church with a specific gathering of people.
Similarly, when discussing gathering with the church, it’s hard to keep the conversation from shifting to some form of teaching (usually in a lecture form called “sermon” or “homily”). In fact, just as church is often associated with a specific gathering, the gathering itself is often closely associated with a sermon or another form of teaching.
However, in my post “What is teaching from the perspective of Scripture,” I said that teaching in Scripture is not about sharing information but about demonstrating how to live for Christ and helping others live that way of life. Obviously, very little can be demonstrated while teaching during church gatherings. (Like I said in the post above, “application” is not the same as demonstration.)
So, what is the place of teaching when the church gathers?
First, we should recognize that in Scripture teaching is only one form of interaction between people when the church gathers. And, beyond it being only one form of interaction, it is not given a prominent place. One of the only places in Scripture where teaching (“instruction”) is specifically mentioned in the context of church gatherings is in 1 Corinthians 14. However, even in this case, teaching is only one among a list of activities, and it is not one of the activities that Paul chose to focus on. (There may be a reason that Paul chose to focus on “prophecy” and “tongues,” but he doesn’t tell us that reason in his letter.)
Second, whether we teaching using lecture, dialog, discussion, case studies, or some other method, we should recognize that these kinds of teaching are only the beginning of teaching in the perspective of Scipture – and only a small step at that. If someone only interacts with others through these kinds of teaching methods, then that person is not teaching by demonstration (like we see in Scripture). (Yes, I believe that some forms of teaching are better for sharing information than others forms. But, any of those forms are still types of sharing information, not methods to help people walk in Christ as a way of life.)
Finally, we should recognize that if we truly desire to teach one another, then we must also grow to know one another more and more and share our lives with one another. Real life is the context for teaching in the perspective of Scripture. Anything that is shared while the church gathers only becomes “teaching” when it demonstrated in the context of real life and others are helped to live accordingly.
I understand that it is popular to closely associate caring about Scripture or learning from Scripture with certain forms of teaching (sermons, for example) or certain contexts for teaching (during the church gathering or worship service, for example). However, this is not a valid (or at least a unique) association. It is much more “scriptural” to associate caring about Scripture with helping others live according to what we find in Scripture.
What would you add to my discussion of teaching while the church gathers? Have you experienced this kind of teaching before?