The following is a modified version of a "talk" I gave in a gathering of BGCT pastors at the Baptist Building in Dallas. The purpose of the meeting was for pastors from the churches contributing the most money to the BGCT Cooperative Program to share dreams and ideas about the future of the BGCT with the executive director, Baptist Building staff, executive director search committee and elected convention officers. Since I am a pastor, I wrote and delivered the following sermon with all the aforementioned in attendance.
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A Vision for the Future of Texas Baptists: A Pastor’s Perspective
Andy Pittman, Pastor of Lufkin’s First Baptist Church
In the presidential campaign of 1980, California governor Ronald Reagan debated President Jimmy Carter in a televised Presidential debate. Governor Reagan asked President Cater a memorable question: “Are you better off today than you were before 1979?”[*]
I suggest that we ask the same question to Texas Baptists: “Are we better off today than we were before 1979?”
In 1979, I was eight years old and an active member of Sunday School and R.A.’s at the West Jackson Street Baptist Church in Tupelo, Mississippi. Despite my young age in 1979, I still have vivid memories that every Wednesday night in R.A.’s I heard about Bold Mission Thrust. I can remember my Sunday School teachers talking about Bold Mission Thrust and my pastor preaching sermons about Bold Mission Thrust. Bold Mission Thrust was the title of the Southern Baptist plan to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every man and woman on the face of the earth by the year 2000.
I have no doubt that in 1979, there was no Christian organization better equipped than the Southern Baptist Convention to accomplish Bold Mission Thrust. However, I have not seen the same kind of passion for evangelism in any Baptist organization since 1979.
Whatever happened to our passion for evangelism? It does not seem to be a priority of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Fundamentalist leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have been more concerned with building walls to identify cooperating churches and to exclude others. The Moderate leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas have been more concerned with maintaining control of the convention and the Texas Baptist institutions.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to define clearly the identity of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Texas Baptists Committed. The BGCT needs to renew the commitment to evangelism which was lost in the Baptist Battles of the twentieth century. The BGCT is very good at describing and maintaining the historic Baptist traditions that were lost in the Fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. However, it is time for the BGCT to champion the Kingdom of God through evangelism and world wide mission. Our current concern for describing Baptist traditions and maintaining Baptist institutions is a myopic vision for our future, at best. At worst, it is symptomatic of the decline and eventual death of our denominational structure.
Therefore, I propose a future Texas Baptist identity which must include the following:
1. A vision for the future that is more Christ focused than the anti-Fundamentalist identity we now have. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT leadership is not Fundamentalist. Most Baptists in Texas know that the BGCT will not be a Fundamentalist convention five years from now. However, the terms Fundamentalist and Moderate have more to do with being Baptist than they do with being Christian. I do not believe the future of the BGCT should be tied to the direction of any national Baptist organization. If we are truly living in a “post denominational age,” then we need to define our future identity in terms of the Kingdom of God and not a denominational structure. Our future does not depend on our relationship with either the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Our future depends on our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. A vision for the future that takes seriously the call to evangelize the lost population of Texas and the world beyond Texas. Evangelism has been the greatest casualty of the battles within the Southern Baptist Convention. The new leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have spent nearly thirty years defining their boundaries. The Moderates who were excluded from the Southern Baptist Convention have failed to engage in authentic evangelism. We have been very successful in social ministry, but we must tell Texas and the world about Jesus. If our future depends on our relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ, then our future also depends on our obedience to his command to “make disciples of all nations.” We cannot be content with maintaining the Baptist distinctives among the Baptist Christians in Texas. We must develop a passion for reaching the non-Christians of Texas and the world in order to lead them to saving faith in Jesus.
3. A vision for the future that sends missionaries and missions money from Texas to all nations. If the future of the BGCT does not depend on our relationship to the Southern Baptist Convention or the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, then we must discover ways to engage Texas churches in worldwide missions. This plan should include men and women from Texas churches responding to God’s call to full time missions work as well as church support through short term mission work. The role of the career missionary is changing from the arrogant and “colonial” approach that seems to suggest American Christians have all the answers into a servant role of equipping indigenous Christians to reach their own people. However, the BGCT must become involved in the sending process. This does not mean that Texas needs our own missions sending agency. It could be accomplished through formal or informal networks of Texas churches cooperating to engage in missions. If this is the role or the intended function of Worldconnex, then this needs to be promoted in ways that Texas churches can participate. As it is now, most of our pastors and churches do not understand what role Worldconnex is intended to fulfill.
4. A vision for the future that identifies and trains ministers to serve in Texas churches. I moved from Mississippi to Texas in 1994 to attend Truett Seminary at Baylor University. I am a pastor in Texas today, because of my desire to be a part of the BGCT. I have tremendous confidence in both Truett Seminary and the BGCT. However, if we do not have intentional plans for the future of our state, then we will face a shortage of ministers in the near future. Even in 2007, there seems to be a shortage of trained ministers of music—or worship leaders—in our state. We need to develop strategies for our churches to identify young men and women who feel called by God to serve in our churches in the future. Without intentional strategies to direct our young men and women toward ministry, we could begin to face shortages among all ministry callings, including pastors.
5. A vision for the future that engenders trust among Texas Baptists. The church starting scandal in the Texas Valley was not the beginning of our mistrust. However, it did cause our mistrust to surface in a public forum. Pastors and churches within our convention feel isolated from the “Baptist Building,” and the restructuring has created confusion. In addition, the “single candidate” approach to elect convention officers feels like our leaders have been predetermined in a “smoke-filled room” or at the Moderate equivalent of the Café Du Monde. If we truly value the Baptist distinctives of the Priesthood of All Believers and congregational polity, then we will demonstrate that through our convention processes. I am grateful for the effort to represent ethnic and gender diversity in our recent convention officers, and I encourage the BGCT to elect Joy Fenner as our next president. However, I believe it is a good thing for David Lowrie to be nominated as a candidate for BGCT president. It is time to return leadership decisions to the grassroots of our convention.
6. A vision for the future that includes a new role for Texas Baptists Committed. Thanks to the work of Texas Baptists Committed, the BGCT has maintained our Baptist identity free from Fundamentalist control. The creation of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention has provided the Texas Fundamentalists a convention home of their own and has led to the decline of Fundamentalist participation in the BGCT annual meetings. This leads me to dream about a future Texas Baptists Committed organization which is more educational and less political—yet able to rally politically to combat a future, hypothetical Fundamentalist threat. Texas Baptists Committed could educate through mentoring relationships for younger pastors; regional networks of churches; and high quality, church-friendly materials to educate future generations about Baptist history and distinctives. These educational materials could be financed through contributions made by charitable foundations, or they could be published on the internet. The educational process could be accomplished through networks of regional “teaching churches” across Texas.
The future of Texas Baptists depends on our willingness to navigate a transition in generational leadership. This is the same challenge facing most of our established churches. Our churches are being led by a generation of respected, long-term leaders who are often willing to allow a new generation of leaders to step forward and lead. However, this transition in leadership is only possible if the current leaders believe the new leaders understand and appreciate the heritage and tradition of the church. The future of Texas Baptists depends on a new generation of leaders who understand Baptist distinctives and are willing to apply those distinctives to fulfill our missional calling to reach Texas and the world.
[*] Fisher Humphreys, The Way We Were: How Southern Baptist Theology Has Changed and What It Means to Us All. (Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing Incorporated, 2002), p. 143.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The One Who Called You also Sent You
The One Who Called You Has also Sent You
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Mark 3: 14 – 15 and Mark 6: 7 – 13
I. Introduction
Read Mark 1: 1.
This one verse captures the entire theme of the Gospel of Mark. Mark tells his reader in this one verse what the characters throughout the rest of the story have to experience and discover for themselves. Some New Testament scholars think this verse is a kind of title or introduction to the rest of the book. Like Mark is saying to his readers, “This is the one thing I want to show you if you stick with it and read my entire book.” And I think this is a good understanding.
The Gospel.
Common expression to announce that a new emperor had been selected…But Mark’s “good news” is really “good news.”
Mark is probably the first Gospel written…So, beginning with this book, there is a new genre of Christian literature…
Jesus Is the Christ.
The people of Israel were waiting for the Messiah. Christ is the Greek word that means the same as the Hebrew word Messiah. Jesus is the Anointed One…The Chosen One of Israel to complete God’s plan of salvation for Israel and the world.
But Jesus redefined the meaning of Christ with the way he intentionally lived his life. The disciples expected someone to reestablish the Temple in Jerusalem and to set up a Davidic kingdom with the seat of government and religion located in Jerusalem. Jesus shattered that notion by establishing Jerusalem as the place of suffering and death.
Jesus Is the Son of God.
Mark’s readers know from the very beginning that Jesus is the Son of God. The disciples have at least two opportunities to figure this out. As Jesus stepped out of the Jordan River following his baptism, a voice from heaven said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.” When Peter, James and John accompanied Jesus to the mountain of transfiguration, a voice from a cloud said, “This is my son whom I love. Listen to him.” But they didn’t understand.
There were demons who saw Jesus and started proclaiming, “I know who you are. You are the Son of the Most High God.” But Jesus quieted the demons. Why? There was no conspiracy! This is something that people have to discover for themselves. No one can convince you that Jesus is the Son of God.
There is only one human character in the Gospel of Mark who makes the connection that Jesus is the Son of God. Do you want to guess?
It was the Roman Centurion at the cross! When Jesus had taken his last breath, the Roman guard said, “Surely, this man was the Son of God.”
Mark makes an important point by putting these words on this man’s lips at this very moment. Just as this is a decision we can only make for ourselves…There is only one way we can figure out who Jesus really is. Humans can only recognize that Jesus is the Son of God by acknowledging his suffering and death on the cross. Jesus cannot be the Son of God without the cross. And no human can acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God without acknowledging the cross.
Mark tells us this is Gospel…Or Good News. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Christ…The promised Messiah that all Israel had been looking for. Mark tells us that Jesus is the Son of God…This Jesus was not like any other human being who had ever lived…Jesus is special…Jesus is the One and Only, Unique Son of God. But Mark also told us that his Gospel is only the beginning. In other words, this Gospel is something that began with Jesus in the first century, but the Gospel did not end when we are finished reading the 16 chapters of this book.
If this introductory verse tells us everything we need to know about the Gospel of Mark before we start reading, then I think it is safe to say that this book is a book about Jesus. “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God.” But, if we read this story about Jesus we are going to discover something unusual. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus is rarely alone.
There are only a couple of places in Mark where Jesus woke up earlier than his disciples and went to a remote place to pray. In the rest of the book, Jesus is surrounded by people. Sometimes, it is just Jesus and John the Baptist. Sometimes, it is Jesus and the twelve disciples. And sometimes, it is Jesus and the disciples with a crowd of believers and nonbelievers watching Jesus’ every move. It is a story about Jesus…But a story in which Jesus is almost never alone.
I think we can gain some insight into this by reading the story when Jesus commissioned the first twelve Apostles.
Read Mark 3: 13 – 17.
Mark 3 is very early in the story of the Good News about Jesus, but a lot has already happened.
Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist…
Jesus called his first five disciples…
Jesus has preached about repentance and the Kingdom of God…
Jesus has cast out demons and healed people of leprosy and pronounced the forgiveness of sins as he healed a paralyzed man…
Three Things Followers of Jesus Do.
In Mark 3, Jesus expanded his circle of followers from five to twelve. AND, Jesus gave his followers a purpose. The twelve men who followed Jesus became Apostles.
Do you know the difference between the two Greek words “Disciple” and “Apostle?”
Disciple = A student, learner, apprentice…In every use of the word “disciple” outside the New Testament, the disciple was a man or woman who was closely associated with one teacher. The disciple did everything in his or her power to learn from their teacher by imitating the teacher’s methods. Some disciples learned philosophy and therefore imitated the teachings and arguments of their master. Some disciples learned music by imitating the musical style of their master. Other disciples learned a craft—such as carpentry—and practiced building things that looked like the things their master had built. Disciple is a good word for Jesus’ followers as long as we don’t think Jesus was trying to teach us a religious system or a new way of thinking about the world. NO! Jesus wants us to imitate the way he lived his life.
Apostle = A noun form of the Greek word apostelw, which means “to send.” Typically, an apostle was an emissary who was sent by someone with greater authority to perform acts in the same authority. A modern-day example might be when President Bush sends Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice to represent the United States on matters of foreign relations. She is not there on her own authority. She has the authority of the President of the United States and whatever authority our nation might have in other parts of the world.
And that is what Jesus did in Mark 3. Jesus took twelve men who had been following him as disciples and gave them the authority to do the same kinds of work Jesus had been demonstrating for them.
So, let’s look at the three things Jesus told his Apostles they would do with Jesus’ authority…
v. 15…Sent with authority to drive out demons…Don’t let this scare you, we are not about to start a new ministry of casting out demons. This is an important characteristic of Jesus’ ministry in the world. When sin entered into creation through Adam and Eve, the world lost its original order. The proper order of creation is that it would exist and function under God’s dominion and the dominion God assigned to the first human beings, created in God’s image. By the time Jesus was born and lived his life on earth, things were out of their proper order. Sin and evil had free reign over all creation, and as a result humanity was suffering under the control of sin and evil. The same is true today. The only way things can be arranged in their proper order is through the Kingdom of God. One person at a time, we enter into God’s sovereign reign. And through our faith and God’s rule in our lives, the world will one day be redeemed.
Jesus demonstrated this same kind of work by casting demons out of people throughout the Gospel of Mark. Most notably, we remember the man who was possessed by a whole legion of demons in Mark 5.
v. 14…Sent to preach…We don’t have very many of Jesus’ sermons in the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, Mark showed Jesus in action, not in word or teaching. But this is the very first thing Jesus did after his baptism. Jesus preached the same message John the Baptist preached…Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and become a part of what God is doing in the world around you.
Our message should be the same as Jesus’ message. We should confront sin face-to-face and call men and women to enter into God’s Kingdom…To be a part of what God is doing to redeem the created order…
v. 14…Appointed to be with Jesus…This is the first thing Jesus called his Apostles to do. It is impossible to go out in the name of Jesus, unless we have first spent time with Jesus. It is wrong for us to go out into the world preaching without first being in relationship with Jesus. It is wrong for us to think we have the same kind of authority over the evil order if we have not been with Jesus.
It is significant that this is the first thing Jesus told his disciples to do! How do we know it is significant? Because, even though the disciples were first known as Apostles in Mark 3, Jesus did not SEND them out until Mark 6.
Read Mark 6: 7 – 13.
In other words, Jesus demonstrated the importance of relationship over “calling” by making the disciples wait! They had to spend time with Jesus BEFORE they could be effective Apostles.
People Who Encounter Jesus Want to Be with Jesus.
Now for some of us, it is rather difficult to wait before Jesus sends us out on a mission to the world. I know I am rather impatient, and I want to get started as soon as possible. But Jesus made the disciples wait.
There is an interesting thing in Mark that I believe speaks to our impatience. It is found in most of the healing stories in Mark. Every person that Jesus healed had an intense desire to spend more time with Jesus.
Read Mark 16: 1 – 8.
Notice that Jesus did not tell the women and disciples to “get to work.” He didn’t say, “Now ya’ll know what you need to be doing, so go do it.” NO! Jesus said, “Meet me in Galilee, the place where we spent the most time together.”
Jerusalem was the place where Jesus and the disciples were separated. Galilee was the place where they were together. So, by sending the disciples to Galilee and by promising that Jesus would go before them, Jesus was calling his followers to relationship and THEN to mission.
II. Conclusion
I recently came across a modern-day parable by Leonard Sweet that I believe states this best…Forgive me as I read this parable…
"One day after dinner, while finishing dessert, a father sent his boy out to cut the lawn. Smiling broadly, the son said, “No, Father, I just want to stay here experiencing your presence, expressing my love for you, my dear Father.”
The father frowned and said, more firmly this time, “Actually, Son, I would rather you go out and cut the lawn.” But the boy acted as if he didn’t even hear his father, and he replied, “Dad! Guess what? I just wrote a song expressing my love for you!”
The son began to sing, his eyes closed in sincerity and intense emotion, and the father left the table to go watch TV. The boy didn’t notice, but kept singing, with tears streaming down his face.
At that point the father wanted the boy to experience obedience (which may entail heat, sweat, thirst, sunburn, strained muscles, hunger, endurance and fatigue) even more than the warmth of his presence.[1]"
[1] Leonard I Sweet, Brian D. McLaren and Jerry Haselmayer, A Is for Abductive: The Language of the Emerging Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 122.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Constancy of Prayer
Constancy of Prayer
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
Luke 18: 1 – 8.
I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.
Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.
He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.
One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.
Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?
Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.
Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.
When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.
Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.
This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).
The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”
This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.
Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.
The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.
We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.
The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.
But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.
In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.
If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.
Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.
This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.
II. Conclusion.
Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.
One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.
Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.
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