Leaning Forward

Mid-week LIFT: listen to the applause

Author Max Lucado calls it THE APPLAUSE OF HEAVEN (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville: 1999). His little book is basically a conversational explanation of The Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12. It is the promise of joy everlasting to to those who trust God in the trials of life. These twelve verses are the prospect of  blessedness that is graciously super-imposed over some of the more rigorous tests of life. The clapping says, "Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven..." (Matthew 5:12).

Axioms of a positive thinking seminar? Not quite. The line items of The Beatitudes are spoken to believers, and are applause for those who intentionally live that life. These blessed statements aren't universals applied to everyone desiring to live a good life or to people who are suffering. No, civic clubs hand out citizen of the year awards to honor people who influence others. 

The Beatitudes are God's wish to bless His people! They comprise Jesus' first major teaching and were aimed at those who were already following him. The applause of heaven was promised to committed followers who, because of their faith in Christ, were broken-hearted for the things of God. Jesus called such people "blessed". Lucado equated this with the applause of heaven, God cheering His people on.

The preacher in me wants to take two side-bars here. One is a pet peeve. That is the secularization of the word translated "blessed". Years ago modern translators rendered the word "makarios" as "happy". Ho hum. And, of course, that is not a horrid translation. It does mean fortunate or honored. But, in my book "blessed" is more than "happy". It is associated with "joy" and is what heaven bestows on us even when circumstances make us "unhappy".  "Blessed" has to mean more than the momentary rush we experience when we're elated or things are going our way. The applause of heaven is, well, heavenly.

Two is the way culture has co-opted The Beatitudes as the bliss anybody feels when they are among the down-trodden or oppressed or ridiculed populations of the world. Politicians and feel-good enthusiasts like to hand out these accolades for people we are suffering from their own devices or experiencing what culture may deem as unfairness. Shucks y'all, "blessedness" isn't the state of the ungodly or those whose own actions result in negative responses from others. No, the applause of heaven is aimed at repentent, broken believers whose heart belongs to Christ.

One of The Beatitudes has become clear to me over the past month as we have mourned the death of our son, Brian Holmes. His death has thrown us into grief we never imagined. It is a sadness that is hard to describe because it is covered by grace and hope. Brian was a believer and we are comforted by the promise of heaven. At the same time, this tragedy has broken Harriet and me in a new way heretofor unknown by us. God has opened a window into our hearts and taught us things and showed us things that are "...too wonderful for me to know" (Job 42:3). He has "blessed" us in this horrible hour. We are hearing the applause of heaven.

Listen. It is there with the sirens of the grace ambulances, the applause of heaven. God wants to bless us as we live for him. And, he gives us the applause of heaven to get us through.

What to say? WOW!

 

Some people are going to miss the bus---

Incredibly, many believers don't get the spiritual growth thing, that is, the truth that growth is natural to genuinely changed people.  In ages past church leaders sowed the wind of when they stopped teaching biblical maturity. Today, we are reaping the whirlwind of churches full of infants, people unable to digest the meat of faith. And, this is a trip-wire for many pastors too. You see, if you are leading a congregation in spiritual growth, some people are going to miss the bus. The spiritually growing church will leave them behind. It's explosive because some of the ones left behind are the traditional gate-keepers of the church. BEWARE: DANGER AHEAD. It can be trouble when key people miss the bus! 

Anybody who understands even the basics of group dynamics knows how progress is usually paced by the slowest people in the group. Christian charity and appreciation of others injects empathy into our systems ad we typically refuse to leave anyone behind. Yet, in spiritual considerations, personal growth is a the norm. It is a natural progression of a relationship that paces us forward in our grasp of truth. In the Bible we are seen as infants at re-birth, able to digest only the milk of the Word. Spiritual growth guides us beyond this infancy so that we can desire the "meat" of God's Word and deeper truth. Really, this growth is a life-process. Final maturity occurs when believers move from this life to the next. We use many words to describe the maturing of a believer. The point is, it should be natural, automatic, and normal.

Sadly, many congregational leaders are stuck in their infancy. They are leaders not because of their spiritual depth, wisdom, or maturity, but because of (1) longevity, (2) being born into the right family, (3) personality that dominates the church, (4) giving patterns that earn them the right, (5) they hang out at the church all the time and keep watch ver the staff,  or just about any other human factor that elevates them in the eyes of others.

Here's the trip wire! When God grows a church spiritually, some people are going to miss the bus! They will choose not to participate in the growth processes---whether in discipleship classes, small groups,  mission assignments, conferences and seminars, denominational training, prayer ministry, outreach, or anything that advances the cause of Christ. They will be left behind, of their own choice. What is more, their leadership will be threatened because God will raise up vibrantly growing leaders.

This is where wisdom, discernment, and maturity are required of the leader, most often the pastor. Out in the secular world, dead wood can be jettisoned. Most world class leaders will not stand silent as one or two people impede the progress of their company. Of course, this is more difficult at church. Many pastors and church leaders permit one or two individuals to stall the spiritual progress of the entire church because one infant is crying about missing the bus.

When leadership comes to church, there is spiritual growth. God will honor His Word and produce fruit within that growing body of believers. Some will miss the bus. This is when the wise and discerning leader can move the body forward, speak the truth in love, and pray for spiritual maturity.

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow (Colossians 2:18-19).

R U prepared...?

Once again we are reminded that we cannot predict what will happen tomorrow. The future is hidden from us and forecasting future events is beyond the human pay-grade. This is the reason planning models fail in positioning us for what will come in the new day. It is also the reason the BIble counsels preparation as the only adequate means of moving us into the newness that waits on the other side of right now.

Tomorrow is an interesting concept. With great regularity the digits of time click off our devices that measure and monitor time. All to quickly the moments and events of now yield to the  cadence of the clock and bring us screaming and fighting into tomorrow. One of the comical images of life is the way some people fight this thing, the clock. We really desire that it would stand still or learn to move counter-clockwise so we could retard or reverse the effects of it's movement over us. Perhaps this is one of the reasons we are so resistant to change. It is a sure and certain companion of the advancing clock. Nothing stands still. Everything is in a state of flux. And, for us humans that means this jar of clay thing in happening all the more quickly, with every beat of the clock. If we could only hold it back for a while. Things would stay the same an we would be at ease.

Yet, the clock doesn't hear our pleas for a day off. So, tomorrow is coming, and all the surprises and actons with it. Beyond some generalizations promised in Scripture---the rising and setting of the sun, the rotation of the earth, the heartbeat in a living soul---we can't know the bulleted moments of each new day. So, planning is out. We must prepare. I mean, emergency workers and disaster teams don't know when calamity will make headlines around us, or when tragedy will strike. So, they don't plan for them. Instead, they prepare for whatever will happen. It's an age-old strategy, to be prepared. It relieves us of the burden of trying to plot every move.

The church is mostly unprepared for tomorrow. Yet, it is coming, unless the Lord advances his time-table for the end of all things. Even more, it is apparent that what works in one epoch may not actually be a viable means of mission in another. There are signal events in history when everything is altered so drastically by a cataclysmic, seismic happening that what was operative before the event is rendered invalid or unoperational afterward. Like 9/11 for instance. That day changed everything in the USA. Our anticipation of tomorrow is forever changed by the events that grabbed our attention that day.

So, for the next month our church family is going to deal with the realities of tomorrow, the things we know about it, the things we don't, and how we must be positioned to encounter it. Today it is apparent that many well-meaning people in the spiritual community---leaders, churches, denominations---are disconnected from their world. It can be the only reason for the declines in our statistics. And just as often, it is because we haven't prepared for the future, that is, for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is coming. Only God can stop it. R U prepared...? 

Upside down, right-side up...?

So, what exactly did the ethical and spiritual teaching of the Sermon on the Mount do? Did Jesus turn things upside-down or make them right-side up again? Regardless, there is little doubt that his teaching challenged the very entrenched nature of first century culture. He especially redefined many of the distortions of Jewish legalism. So, in a sense, he was setting things right, that is, emphasizing standards that had been lost in the fall and further twisted by traditionalism. He set the religionists on their ears. It is powerful teaching.

A seminary mentor told our class that, at some point, all human standards fail because, they are human on the one hand, and they are devised in a sinful world on the other. When Jesus spoke to the crowds, and specifically to his disciples, he was no doubt introducing them to the radically new standards of the Kingdom. They would have been juxtaposed against the rigid precept of Jewish law. Religious leaders of the day would have been challenged and offended by (1) his boldness in presenting them, and (2) the reversals which characterized the Lord's teaching.

Underneath the sermon would have been the raised standards which Jesus expounded, that which exists beyond the letter of the law. His listeners would have heard grace and love and mercy oozing from his illustrations. They would have sensed bold challenge in some of the teaching. But, super-imposed over the message would have been heart standards not visible in the mandates and rules of their practices. He ould have pictured for them the Kingdom of Heaven.

Today, the sixth and final message in the DID¹ series, we'll take a broad swipe at the Sermon on the Mount to discover how Jesus turned everything up-side down and established the rule of the Kingdom on the earth, as it is in heaven.

Blessed are...

How to lift a broken heart

Words and gestures, cards and letters, emails and text messages, all transmit loving care to people who are grieving. But, nothing soothes a troubled soul like holding a baby or playing with a child. More specifically, nothing under the sun calms the storms like being near your grand-children. These little ones are reminders that God has a plan and we're part of it. In times of sorrow they are the grace ambulance that this thing called life goes on.

There's more to it than that, though, a good bit more. Since Brian's death I have had the need to have our daughter Elizabeth close too. She has a way of bringing Harriet and me comfort that no one else can accomplish. Maybe it's a quality of sharing something so much deeper than anything before, the sense of loss that only people in our tight circle can experience. The knowing looks and understanding she brings telegraphs the message that we're going to be okay. Never the same but okay. Even more, it's probably the transference thing. She has been transformed by this tragedy into our care-taker. Like they say, the parent becomes the child. That's most likely the reason our Elizabeth is so good for us. She understands and cares. And, she will care even more as we progress through the next few years. It's is comforting.

So, they're all here for the weekend, Scott, Elizabeth, John Lewis, and Laura Elizabeth. The fam. It's a source of deep inner peace too, to know that our daughter is so loved and that Scott is a good father and husband. Maybe its some geezer melancholy that having them close is such a blessing. In our unrest there is continuity and peace, normalcy on the horizon.

So, we're going to hang out, go out to eat, chase or be chased by JL, and oogle over the baby. A piece of us is missing. We will remember, laugh, most likely cry, and let these dear ones speak to us the language of the generations. This family goes on beyond our years.

And heaven is all the more precious in our thoughts.

What isn't always the question

World class leaders rarely struggle with what they are doing. Usually the organization they are leading has a well defined mission statement or another mandated purpose that drives the machinery of the company. The leader then is charged with accomplishing that mission. His work is to answer the other subsidiary questions that make the company effective, and profitable.

Secular leaders proficient at the why, where, when, and how of the corporate mission are said to be savy, to possess a fine corporate touch, to display finese, be intuitive, have good business sense. It is a rare quality, to feel the pulse of the company and move to the rhythm of the markets.

When leadership comes to church spiritual graces define these pursuits. The what of church mission is clearly delineated in Scripture, the mandates of the Great Commission---making disciples, teaching, declaring the Good News. The leader must determine the why, where, when, how, and who questions through spiritual discernment. This is more than observing the markets, tracking the trends, or even doing all the right things. Here the leader must listen to an inner voice of the spirit to know all of the other elements of making the what question happen.

Over the years I have known many church leaders who did the right things but encountered resistance or mission failure or squandered infuence because they lacked discernment. In this regard leaders can be right and wrong at the same time. They can do the right thing at the wrong time, or with the wrong people, or in the wrong venue, or in the wrong way, and experience mission melt-down. Discernment is the spiruitual grace of listening and bending our will to His. When we are discerning, He guides us to fulfill His mission or task or objective His way.

Why would a spiritual leader lack spiritual discernment, this heavenly means of fine-tuning the pursuit of God's purpose? Where to start? Prayerlessness. Biblical illiteracy. Pride. Arrogance. Defiance. Lack of submission. Worldiness. Immaturity. And, a long roster of other diversions, things that distract the leader from hearing that still small voice. Whatever the cause, the leader is then tempted to listen to other voices to make those important determinations---his own preferences or urges usually the loudest, then the people around him, the culture, colleagues, books, seminars, and more. Of course, they can mean the leader does a good thing and it turns out all wrong.

Paul wrote about discernement in a prayer to the Philippians---

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. Philippians 1:9-11

Solomon included discernment in the many Proverbs about wisdom. In the economy of heaven it is a spiritual grace that guides and blesses leaders. When leadership goes to church there is discernment.

I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes (Psalm 119:125).

 

 

Forum on Biblical Literacy

Americans are biblically illiterate. No, that's too broad. We are biblically illiterate, that is, us Baptists, a denomination claiming to be people of the Book. Many evidences confirm this claim. But, you don't have to quote statistics to support it. A simple look at the direction of culture and even the health of the local church nationwide is sufficient to verify the chasm between our words and actions. Affirming the veracity of Scripture is certainly central to our declaration of faith. Yet, knowing the Word, hiding it is our hearts, and living out it's precepts is our challenge.

Dr. George Guthrie, a noted member of the faculty at Union University, and author of Read the Bible for Life ( B and H Publishing Group, Nashville: 2011), will speak at the Forum on Biblical Literacy, September 26, 2011. This forum is being sponsored by igniteUS and will be held at SouthEast Community Church, 1540 Elmtreee, in Columbia, S.C. The author will trace the decline in biblical literacy and provide tools to raise out awareness of Scripture and study methods to assist our grasp of God's Word.

The cost of the session is $20 but $15 if you register before September 1, 2011. You can register through the uniteUS web site located here. You can also read an announccement and article about the meeting at www.baptistcourier.com.

 

Is the house divided?

Negative people usually try to frighten everyone that the sky is falling and it is their fault. This is true because the messages of negativism rarely resonate with people. Scare tactics are usually needed to draw attention to agendas that run to the dark side. So, today, even in the Christian world some voices want to frighten us about the boogie man because their ideas won't fly. It's no more than Human Nature 101.

Scripture, even with commandments and moral absolutes, leans in a distinctly positive direction. Jesus is "yes" to all of God's promises. God has given us all we need for life and Godliness. His grace is sufficient, we can do all things through him who strengthens us, and dozens of other powerful affirmations of faith. Biblical leaders taught their people about what God could do, human limitations notwithstanding. Jesus never had to go negative with anyone, well, except maybe the Pharisees. You know, religious people never get-it anyway.

The scare tactic today involves, (1) we're divided as a denomination at the state and national level, and, (2) we're going to be doomed to ineffectiveness if we make positive steps forward to pursue our Kingdom assignment. Ho hum. Sounds familiar to me, a veteran of the Bible debate a few years ago. The prophets of doom then predicted bankrupt seminaries, empty mission coffers, diminished missionaries, and loss of standing among the religious communities. All bogus claims to be sure.

Baptists aren't divided. Well, yes, we are Baptists and have our opinions. We're pretty vocal too, willing to share our opinions with anyone who doesn't ask. It's our nature. And, we do cluster in a few camps--- large church and small church, rural and urban and suburban and exurban congregations, traditional and contemporary, locally focused and internationally focused, King James Version and all the others, cowboy churches, motorcycle churches, campus churches, community churches, and a hundred other varieties. Today,we run the gamut of opinions about the Great Commission Resurgences Task Force Report, the infamous GCRTF we'll be voting on in November. The other day a pastor in our state asked, "What is the Great Commission Resurgence thing I've been hearing about?" Go figure.

But, to say we're divided is to jump to conclusions and declare something that is simply not true. It reminds me of what GCRTF member and friend Curt Bradford said at the first GCRTF meeting---"Herschel Hobbs once said you don't have to be twins to be brothers.". We've had our differences, no doubt. The GCRTF puts some light on them, maybe brings them to the forefront. We're not alike. But, we're not seriously divided either.    

I'm praying for God to draw this odd family together like never before! He did it on the GCRTF over the past seven months, that is, worked in us to overcome our differences so we could bring a fine report to the annual meeting this November. This very diverse group considered every angle on every issue, fussed a little along the way, talked a lot, ranted some, and developed a report that can impact the nations for many years to come. We all had our differences, staked out our ground, and found the higher ground of collaboration. We didn't use scare tactics though. The Kingdom is too precious for that!

"The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:12).

Don't just watch, listen---

Yesterday, as Titan and Viper and Doppler started preparing us for Hurricane Irene, I was surprised to learn the multiple disciplines of the storm.  Thy are sensory for sure---sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch---the ways clouds and winds and rain and phenomena in the heavens communicate with us when they are flashing His glory. We stand in awe.

There are emotional and spiritual storms too.  They sweep over us more suddenly that those detected by Super Doppler or Viper systems. Even though we know how fierce they can be and the ways our personal landscapes can be changed by them, we cannot predict their paths or landfall. 

So, we watch and wait for them, grow enough through the skirmishes to prepare for the more difficult ones we know will assault us. When they come our senses are quickened and we watch the more closely. Something in our inner wiring makes us alert to things happening ever so closely around us. We are made all the more watchful when the storm clouds hover over us. It is instinctive. 

Poor Job experienced a rush of storms that overwhelmed his sensory equipment. So-called friends ran to his side with verbal band-aids and salves to help bind his wounds. They were physical, emotional, and even spiritual, storms that darkened his understanding, challenged his manly powers, and put his faith to the test. His friends didn't help all that much. Though they rallied around their comfort came only from accusations, shallow explanations, and mere humanity. When they all failed him, Job faced a storm of another type. God thundered and shook the earth with His counsel. Suddenly, "... the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm..." (Job 40:6).

Watchful, yes. Alert, no doubt. But, in the storm ww must not just be observant to see His hand in the storm, we must listen to His voice as well. What a lesson, and how true. Over the last four weeks Harriet and I have been learning to detect His voice out of the storm, to discern how He calls to us from the the horrible events that comprise this dark hour. One day we were humming hymns all day and one melody kept drifting over the rest, and old hymn from childhood---Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea; day by day his sweet voice soundeth, saying, "Christian, follow me!" It was like the ah-ha moment of the week, His voice booming to us through the storm---Christian, follow me!

How simply profound, the basic invitation issued to every believer: follow me! How immature for us to miss or ignore the summons that marks the starting line of faith. And, disoriented in the storm, how much sense it makes. You see, these crashing waves and thunderous sounds and flashing lighting strike fear and uncertainty in us, often riveting our eyes and vision downward to the elements of the storm. Like Simon Peter, we are prone to take our eyes off of the one who guides us---watchful and alert, yes, even afraid. Al the while he is calling to us to fix our eyes on Him---the author and finisher of our faith, the one who will take us through the storm. 

Someone posted a note on Twitter the other day that truly raised our auditory senses. He wrote, "in the storm we usually ask, how do I get out of this? The real question is, what do i get out of this?". That almost knocked me down. I cannot forget it. It is the note to listen up---God is speaking to us out of the storm. And, at some point, we want to make note of what His voice is saying to us.

Now, Christian, follow me is enough. So, we watch, and listen.

Cut through the rhetoric and ask

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