Longing for change while others are fine with the way things are
Over the weekend, after I wrote my previous post linking to a great comment by Arlan, Bettie left another comment that I would like to highlight so that more people read it and think about it.
As with the previous post, Bettie is actually introducing himself to me and my readers. However, her comment touches on an issue that I often struggle with as well. What do you do when you have a longing to change the way you live among the church (in whatever aspect), but others around you are “fine with the way things are”?
Here is Bettie’s comment:
I’ve been enjoying your posts for a while now, and sharing them from time to time. I guess when you say something that I’ve been thinking the same way about, it feels safer to let you say it than for it to be just my opinion… You have a nice way of challenging our thinking from a perspective of humility.
I have been a missionary in Guatemala for 14 years now, involved in different forms of ministry, and attending a megachurch. For the last three years or so I have been feeling more and more restless with that situation, studying both on my own and with the help of others like you, and coming to some disturbing conclusions about the current state of church in general.
My challenge here is that Guatemala is highly evangelized. Sometimes I wonder why I stay here when the Gospel has been so widely preached, but in reality Christ-followers are difficult to find. There is a church on almost every block but mostly full of religion, legalism and man’s traditions. I feel that with the religious freedom here we have a wonderful opportunity to be a greenhouse, so to speak, to raise up missionaries to go to places where the need is greater but North Americans wouldn’t be so welcome.
So when I read of missional communities, house church, simple church, organic church, etc. etc. I feel a longing for something like that but the culture here hasn’t seemed to be conducive to that sort of movement. People seem to be just fine with the way things are but I just can’t go on this way. So I feel like I’m longing for a home that I’ve never seen, and wrestling with the thoughts of whether I am to start something, keep looking for something already existing, or what. Somehow I know that I’m not the only one around here that feels this way.
So, I’ll ask you the same question that I asked Bettie in response to her comment: Why do you think you feel a restlessness about “the way things are” while others seem to be fine with it? How does someone move forward in this situation?
Replay: 23 Years with a Missional Wife
Three years ago, I wrote a post called “20 Years with a Missional Wife.” It was part of a series that I did called “Stories.”
Well, as of today, January 14, 2012, Margaret has now been my wife for 23 years. It’s so hard to believe that we have been married for 23 years.
God has taught me so many things through her. Primarily, he has used Margaret to help me understand how to focus on people, how to find out what they need, and then how to serve those needs. I “replay” this post so that you will understand a little bit about what a special wife I have.
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“20 Years with a Missional Wife”
This post is part of my “stories” series. In this series, I share stories of how people live their lives in response to the gospel and as a demonstration of God’s love in order to teach us and to provide an example to provoke us to love and good works. (See “stories: A New Series” for more information about this series.)
Since today is my twentieth wedding anniversary, I thought I would start my “stories” series by talking about my wife. (Yes, I know that its hard to believe that someone would stay married to me for 20 years, but I promise that its true.)
I met Margaret when we were both 10 years old, so we’ve known each other for more than 30 years. In that time, I’ve never heard her use the term “missional”, not even recently when that word seems to be everywhere. But, I have learned more about missional living from her than from anyone else.
She has always been a caring person; the type of person that is deeply affected by other people’s circumstances and emotions. She truly rejoices when others rejoice and weeps when other weep. People notice this about her too, and people love to talk to her – to share their struggles with her.
Another reason that people like to talk to Margaret is that she is very accepting and not judgmental at all. In fact, she finds it easier to accept other people’s faults than to accept her own faults.
These two traits (empathy and acceptance) work together in Margaret to drive her to action. When someone tells her their problems, she wants to serve, comfort, and help. She cannot sit idly by while other people struggle alone. She wants to be part of their struggle. But, she goes beyond “wanting” to help; she actually helps people, giving of herself over and over again.
I’ve seen her comfort someone for hours. She’s made more meals for people than I can count. She’s taken care of people’s children and houses and pets when they could not do it for themselves. She’s given money to people in need – money that she had saved to buy something for herself.
Last fall, Margaret was talking with one of the elderly ladies who lives in government assisted housing development. The lady told Margaret that the housing authority does not rake their leaves. Within a week, Margaret had asked her friends to help her rake leaves. We raked leaves for 6 housing units.
Another time, Margaret was talking with one of the elderly ladies who had been sick. The lady said that she was resting so that she could wash her dishes, because she had not felt like washing them for a few days. Without asking or being asked, Margaret immediately went into the lady’s kitchen and washed her dishes.
These are not out of the ordinary occurrences. She does these kinds of things all the time.
Little things? Yes, these are little things. But, I believe that “missional living” is found more in the little things – the everyday things – the ordinary things – than in the great things. God has taught me how to care for people, how to love them, and how to serve them by watching and imitating Margaret.
I thank God for 20 years with my missional wife. I look forward to many more years.
(Update: I wrote this article several weeks ago. After I wrote it, Margaret’s father had heart problems and underwent bypass surgery. He’s doing well, but he will have a long recovery ahead of him. Margaret once again demonstrated that she’s a servant by staying with her parents for 2-3 weeks to help them through his recovery process. I miss her greatly, but I’m so proud of her decision to serve them.)
Send out your… wait, did you say “dead” or “best”?
Felicity at “Simply Church” is at it again in her post “They dirty secret of missions.”
Most of the post is a quote from Rick Wood, editor of Missions Frontier magazine. In the quote, Wood laments that many of the “missionaries” who are sent out by churches and organizations have very little (or no) experience actually discipling other people.
But, then, Felicity asks two pointed questions and makes an astute observation:
Will we in the simple/organic church do any better? The church in Antioch sent out their best when they sent out Paul and Barnabus. Are we training up people who can make disciples and start churches in our own context before we send them out onto the mission field?
We’ll never know whether or not Paul and Barnabas were “the best” in Antioch. However, we do know this: Paul and Barnabas were already serving others in Jesus name when God and the church in Antioch sent them out. (See Acts 13:1.)
I especially like Felicity’s second question. We begin by recognizing that God is sending all of his children out – whether across the street or across the globe.
We keep singing… as the hungry roam the streets
Joel at “The Double Edged Sword” wrote a post called “Leave the Walls Behind.” Like I told him in a comment, I still have decided if I’m glad that he wrote this post at all.
Most of the post (all except for two short sentences at the top) is the lyrics to a song by Leeland called “While We Sing.” (I don’t keep up with the music industry that much, so I don’t know if Leeland or the song “While We Sin” is or was popular.
Regardless of the popularity, I thought the lyrics were worth contemplating.
Here’s a video of the song (with lyrics):
By the way, before you point out that God desires for us to praise him – even with our singing – I want to remind you of this passage from Isaiah:
Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations – I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:10-17 ESV)
It’s clear that God desired for the children of Israel to bring sacrifices to him, but he didn’t want them in this passage. It’s clear that God wanted his children to pray to him – but not in this passage. God had told people how to honor the Sabbath and to hold special feasts, but in this passage he said he had grown weary of them.
What was missing? Why had God grown tired of these displays of affection and worship that he hod told people to bring to him? Perhaps the reason similar to the lyrics of the Leeland song “While We Sing” above…
What if God is tired of hearing all of our songs of praise for the same reason?
An inspirational light display
God cares about light displays. But, I’ll get back to that in another 200 words.
Last weekend, our friend Jared helped us string white icicle lights along our roof line. Many of our neighbors have decorated their houses, porches, trees, and yard ornaments with lights: white or multi-colored; twinkling, blinking, or steady.
Of course, there’s nothing in our neighborhood to compare to Mr. Grizwald’s light display. There are a few families in our town or the towns around us who seem to be attempting to give Clark a run for his money. And, then, there was the TV show about the houses around the country that have been decorated with hundreds of thounsands – even one million – lights.
So, are you thinking about a light display this Christmas? You should. Seriously.
Why? Because God enjoys a good light display. Jesus talked about this in the Sermon on the Mount:
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others… (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)
Apparently, according to Jesus, God enjoys light displays that light up an entire hillside… and entire city. He wants a light display that cannot be hidden. Of course, this passage is not only about Christmas light displays, but certainly Christmas lights fall into this category.
I’m thinking that the early church’s emphasis on light displays (especially at Christmas-time) was one of the reasons (perhaps the main reason) that Paul told followers of Jesus let their lights shine in the world. Their light displays were so spectacular that their pagan neighbors could not help but notice.
So, we can see that light displays – including Christmas light displays – were important to Jesus, and they were important to Paul and the early church. If light displays were that important, then certainly they should be important to us as well. We’re not told whether we should choose white or multi-colored lights, or whether the lights should blink, twinkle, or remain on steadily. Perhaps that doesn’t matter as long as there is an awesome and inspirational light display.
Hold on one second… Are you sure? You really don’t think Matthew 5 is about Christmas lights? You think I should read further? Let me see…
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16 ESV)
Ah. I see. But, what about Paul telling Christians to shine their lights? That’s about light displays, including Christmas lights, right? No? We’ll see about that…
Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Philippians 2:14-16 ESV)
hmm…. hmph.
Well, readers, I apologize. Apparently, someone – who shall remain nameless, but his initials are HS – wants to ruin a perfectly good inspirational Christmas message by demanding that I consider what Jesus and Paul were actually saying. Someone thinks these passages are about living our lives in a way that demonstrates our trust in God and that they have nothing to do with Christmas lights.
But, I’ll leave that up to you – my loyal readers – to decide for yourselves. If you think Jesus and Paul are talking about Christmas light displays, then I hope your house is the brightest on the block.
But, if you think they’re talking about living your life in a way that others notice and in a way that points others toward God through Jesus Christ, well, I guess that’s fine, too.
Just don’t expect to win the best decorations or tackiest lights awards this year!
Because we feel like we’re not doing anything important
I’ve had several conversations over the last few weeks – really stretching back a few months – and, if I really tried, I could probably think of conversations over the last few years – about the difference between doing things officially as “church” and simply doing things with other brothers and sisters in Christ. From what I can tell, it boils down to this: When we do things sponsored by “the church,” it makes us feel like we’re doing something more important, more holy, more eternal, more official.
Now, don’t get me wrong… when I stop and talk to people about this, they admit that comforting a sister who is mourning over a cup of coffee is extremely important discipleship type stuff. But, it’s not quite as… something… as doing an activity or attending a meeting that is sponsored by “the church.” “Yes,” I’ve heard people say, “the friends were sisters in Christ,” and, “yes,” they would continue, “they were gathered in Jesus’ name,” and, “of course,” they insist, “they were encouraging and comforting her and helping her to respond to her problems in a godly manner,” and, “it’s true,” they might even conclude, “that time together with one another was more similar to the examples we read about in the New Testament”… but, still, that was just friends having coffee together. It wasn’t really a “church” thing.
So, what is it about having something sanctioned by the church that makes it seem more important, more holy, more official? Is it simply something that people have been brought up to think? A group of co-workers meeting for prayer during lunch is great, but it’s not quite the same thing as a prayer meeting at church. A few friends gathering to study the Bible is awesome, but wouldn’t it be even better if it was a church sponsored “Bible Fellowship Club Meeting”? You’re taking some food to a family in need? That’s amazing! But, why not take part in the church’s benevolence program? The committee meets every fourth Tuesday.
I know these questions sound sarcastic, and there is obviously tongue-in-cheek to my examples above. But, the point is serious.
I’ve talked with so many people who are loving their neighbors and serving their communities and proclaiming the gospel and discipling friends and praying for others, but they feel like their activities are somehow LESS because they are not church-sponsored activities. I’m assuming that their church leaders would be ecstatic that these people are actually living out what we read about in Scripture, and perhaps they are. But, for some reason, the people I’ve talked to are made to feel as if they are not actually loving, serving, evangelizing, or discipling people because the things they are doing are not part of the official programs of the church.
“Yes,” they have been told, “Please continue to do those things. But, you should also take part in these events that we sponsor.”
Again, I’m hoping that this is unintentional. And, thus, the point of this post. Are you a church leader, either recognized or not, either official or not, either paid or not, either professional or no? Consider what you’ve said to people. Are you encouraging them to serving God by loving him and loving others in any opportunity that God brings into their lives? Or, are you somehow – even unintentionally – communicating that it only “counts” if what they are doing is part of the officially sanctioned and recognized programs and activities of your church organization?
Trust me, these people are serving God. You’re not helping if that’s what you’re doing… even if it’s unintentional.
Concentrating on things that seem hard
If you’ve been following my blog over the last two weeks, then you know that I just wrote a series called “Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God.” In the series, I suggested that the mission of God includes proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least. The mission includes ALL of these things integrated into the life of a follower of Jesus Christ and the life of a community of believers.
However, most followers of Jesus do not find in natural (or even super-natural) to function in all of these different ways. Thus, we tend to focus on only one (or perhaps two) of the aspects of the mission of God. In spite of this, we must ensure that we do not neglect any aspects of God’s mission even if we occasionally emphasize one or more aspects.
But, how did I want people to respond to this series? Well, my new friend Linda gave a perfect example of a response in a comment on Facebook. She said:
I guess service comes easiest for me so this is a great reminder that I should concentrate on the things that come hard. There must be a reason that I think that they are hard.
Yes! Some things come easiest for us, perhaps because we’re gifted in that area, or because we’ve seen God work through us in that way, or because we’re passionate about that aspect of the mission. However, if we recognize that God desires to work through us in an integrated way as we follow him in his mission, then we can open ourselves up to new and different opportunities. These opportunities may fall in areas that seem to “come hard.” But, that’s just another opportunity for us to rely on God, his strength, and his grace!
Like Linda, I want to follow God, even if it means doing things that seem hard.
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: What to do and when
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission.
After looking at those three aspects of the mission of God, I started putting it all together. Then, I began to consider emphasizing certain aspects without neglecting any of them. Finally, I talked about how we tend to emphasize certain extremes when it comes to the mission of God.
So, the mission of God is proclaiming the gospel AND strengthening believers AND caring for the least all integrated together. This integration should be seen within the life of a follower of Jesus Christ, and it should be seen among a community of believers.
However, there may be times when one aspect or another is emphasized (even though the others should never be neglected). How do we know when to emphasize one aspect or another?
There are times when Jesus is among a crowd of people that he speaks to the entire crowd. At other times, he is in a crowd of people but he pulls only a few of his followers aside to talk with them. At still other times when he is among a large crowd, he stops to speak with one person. How did Jesus know when to speak to the crowd, the disciples, or a single individual?
Sometimes, Jesus proclaims the gospel. Other times, he teaching his disciples. At still other times, he heals people. How did Jesus know when to evangelize, when to disciple, and when to heal?
Jesus gives us the answer to this question, but it may not be the cut-and-dry type of answer that we would like: “The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19 ESV)
So, Jesus was, in fact, joining God the Father in his ongoing mission.
How did Jesus know what to do and when? He did whatever he saw the Father doing. Simple.
But, unlike the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Father, our connection with God is not a perfect connection. Even though we have been indwelled by the Spirit of God, we still do not always know exactly what God is doing.
Paul is a good example of this imperfect type of connection. Like us, Paul is indwelled by the Spirit of God, and, like us, Paul does not have a perfect connection to God. Paul himself tells us that he doesn’t always do the right thing, even when he knows what the right thing is.
Thus, we seek to understand what God is doing through any means necessary: through the indwelling Spirit, through the opportunities that God brings into our lives, through the counsel and passions of our brothers and sisters in Christ, through reading and meditating on Scripture, through reason and wisdom. Then, we trust that God will redirect us if we begin heading in the wrong direction. (Again, Paul is a great example of this, especially in Acts 16:6-10.)
But, while we are seeking to understand how God wants us to join him in his mission, we must begin by understanding what is included in that mission. This brings us back to the purpose of this series: God’s mission is the integration of proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least.
We should expect God to be working in all of these areas, and we should expect to join him in all of these aspects of his mission.
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: Extreme emphases
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission.
After looking at those three aspects of the mission of God, I started putting it all together. Then, I began to consider emphasizing certain aspects without neglecting any of them.
As I’ve suggested (and argued) throughout this series, the mission of God is composed of several aspects, specifically proclaiming the gospel, strengthening the church, and caring for the least. The mission of God is all of these things together, not just one or the other. Thus, if we are going to be missional people (that is, living out the mission of God) then we will be doing all of these things: proclaiming the gospel, strengthening the church, and caring for the least.
I’ve followed the missions of Jesus and Paul (certainly two great scriptural examples of living out the mission of God). In both cases, we see them carrying out all aspects of that mission.
Consider for a moment that even though there were people around them who had never heard the gospel, they still took time to teach disciples and to care for the least. Even though the disciples struggled to understand, they often stopped teaching them to evangelize and serve. Even though there were poor and needy people nearby, they stopped taking care of them to share the gospel and to strengthen believers.
From Scripture, it is difficult to make the case that all believers should be involved in one aspect (even evangelism) all the time. However, this case is often made, especially when it comes to evangelism. However, this type of extremism warps the mission of God. We do not see Jesus or Paul spending all of their time evangelizing. There is no indication in Scripture that we should spend all of our time evangelizing. Is proclaiming the gospel important? Absolutely! But, not to the exclusion of strengthening believers or caring for the least. (This same argument can be made about discipling and serving.)
At any time among any group of Jesus’ followers, there may be situations in which one or another aspect of the mission of God should be emphasized. However, we must ensure that we do not emphasize one aspect to the neglect of the others. If a group needs to emphasize evangelism, then by all means we should exhort and model proclaiming the gospel, and at the same time we should continue to exhort and model discipleship and service. The same is true of strengthening believers and caring for the least.
All aspects of the mission of God must remain integrated into the life of a follower of Jesus and into the life of a community of believers.
So, how do we know when to evangelize, when to disciple, and when to serve? That’s the question that I’ll tackle in the last post in this series.
Do you agree that there are dangers in emphasizing one aspect of the mission of God (i.e., proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, or caring for the least) to the neglect of the other aspects?
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series:
Decompartmentalizing the Mission: Emphasizing without Neglecting
In the introduction to this series, I explained how I thought that people today tend to compartmentalize their lives. Because of this, we often compartmentalize what we consider the mission of God as well. In a previous post, I considered proclamation of the gospel as part of the mission of God as demonstrated and taught by Jesus and Paul. Next, I looked at their example of strengthening believers as part of their mission. Then I considered whether or not caring for the least was part of Jesus’ and Paul’s mission. In the previous post, I started putting it all together.
In this post, I want to think about how to emphasize one aspect of the mission of God without neglecting the integrated mission of God.
Let’s be honest… as far as I can tell, every follower of Jesus Christ tends to serve in one or two ways naturally. Someone may naturally tend to proclaim the gospel. Someone else may naturally tend to build up the church. Another person may naturally tend to serve and care for people.
These natural tendencies are probably super-natural (Holy Spirit inspired and gifted) tendencies, and they are not a bad thing. However, these tendencies can lead us to emphasize one aspect of the mission of God while neglecting other aspects.
The person who is supernaturally gifted in the area of evangelism and who is passionate about proclaiming the gospel will be drawn to passages such as 2 Timothy 4:1-5 –
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;… As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5 ESV)
Someone who is supernaturally gifted in the areas of teaching or encouragement and who is passionate about helping people grow in maturity in Jesus Christ will immediately notice passages such as 2 Timothy 2:1-2 –
You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:1-2 ESV)
The follower of Christ who is supernaturally gifted in the areas of helping and serving and healing and who is passionate about caring for those who are in need will notice passages such as 2 Timothy 4:11-13 –
Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. (2 Timothy 4:11-13 ESV)
We must recognize that Paul wrote these instructions and encouragements to the same person. (And, from my perspective, Paul also wanted Timothy to share these instructions and encouragements with others.)
It is not wrong to participate in God’s mission primarily in one of the aspects of that mission. In fact, God has designed and gifted us and given us opportunities in ways that allow us to work within one of those aspects. However, this does not mean that we can neglect the other aspects of God’s mission. To participate in God’s mission, we should work within all of the aspects of that mission – proclaiming the gospel, strengthening believers, and caring for the least.
Let me give you another example. A person who is gifted in evangelism and naturally (even super-naturally) cares primarily about proclaiming the gospel, will jump at the following statement written by Paul:
I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation… (Romans 15:20 ESV)
If we take this at face value, then we might think that Paul was only concerned with proclaiming the gospel, and that he was not interested in working where the gospel had already been proclaimed. However, this would miss the fact that Paul was writing this very statement to a group of people who had already received the gospel and who he planned to visit. In fact, he told them earlier in the letter,
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you — that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. (Romans 1:11-12 ESV)
Was Paul concerned about proclaiming the gospel to those who had not yet heard or received the message? Yes, absolutely! Was Paul concerned with helping those who had already received the gospel to grow in their understanding of and life in Jesus Christ? Yes, absolutely! Was Paul concerned about serving and caring for those who were hungry, thirsty, or otherwise in need? Yes, absolutely!
Why was Paul concerned about all of these things? Because Jesus is concerned about all of these things, and all of these things are different aspects of the same mission: the mission of God.
In the next post in this series, I’m going to look into some extremes in emphasis and neglect of different aspects of the mission of God.
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Decompartmentalizing the Mission of God Series: