March 31, 2009

Did you see this post from Chris at “Filtering Life through the Cross” called “A Word of Encouragement“?

This past Sunday morning as I was preparing to gather with the church I was standing at the door greeting people as I usually like to do. This day woould be different from the others. A sister in the Lord appraoched me and began to inform me of a group of other sisters in the Lord of which she is a part. They challenged one another to speak a word of encouragement to someone this week. She went on to inform me that she prayed to seek God’s guidance as to who it was that He wanted her to speak a word of encouragement. I was the one who came ot her mind. She proceeded to tell me that I was a blessing to her at a corn-beef and cabbage dinner that was hosted by our women’s ministry a few weeks ago. After the dinner ended I stayed behind and proceeded to help with taking down and puuting away tables and so forth. But what she said next was really the word of encouragement to me. She said, “I was really blessed by you becasue you choose to stay behind and help clean up. It is as if you are one of us, not seperate from us and tht really means a lot to me.” Even though I am called to serve the church, I am no different from the rest of the church. I am no better; I am no holier; I am not more sanctified; I do not have a more direct line to Jesus than any other Christ-follower. I was encouraged and blessed by this sister on that morning. For all the things I do wrong, sometimes I get it right.

I pray that I will grow to reflect more and more the humble servant-leadership that our Lord calls us to exemplify in our day-to-day lifestyle.

I like that prayer.

March 31, 2009

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was going to cover two different aspects of the ways in which God uses people to serve the church. I covered the first aspect in yesterday’s post “Speaking and Serving“. Today, I am covering the second aspect “Local and Itinerant”.

It seems, as we study Scripture, that believers offered two types of service to churches: itinerant service and local service.

When I say “itinerant service”, I’m talking about service offered by those believers who travel from place to place, sometimes staying in one place for an extended period, but never with the intention of remaining in one place. Paul and Barnabas would be included in this group (following the events of Acts 13:1-3. Similarly, many of their travelling companions would be included in this group (i.e. John Mark, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Luke).

“Itinerant service” included many types of giftings, and it would be difficult to distinguish some giftings as only itinerant. However, it seems that the apostolic gift was intended as an itinerant gift. Even as an apostle and even with the desire to go where there was no gospel witness and no church, Paul did return to the same areas many times in order to strengthen the churches there. So, “itinerant service” is not limited to travelling to areas where there are no churches.

Several passages of Scripture refer to this type of “itinerant service” to the church. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 9:1-6, Paul seems to point to a group of people who are travelling from place to place. Similarly, we see that Paul did not intend for Timothy and Titus to remain in Ephesus and Crete, respectively. Finally, John commends Gaius for taking care of those brothers who were travelling through his area.

Besides “itinerant service”, there seems to be another type of service offered to the church as well: “local service”. In this case, I’m using the word “local” as an antonym for “itinerant”. Those who offer “local service” intend to remain in one place, serving the church in that place. In fact, this would probably be the predominant type of service recognized in Scripture.

Before Acts 13:1-3, it seems that both Paul and Barnabas intended to remain in whatever place they were in, serving the church there. Similarly, Paul intended for the elders in Ephesus to remain in Ephesus caring for the people there (Acts 20:28). When John writes his third letter, he distinguishes between those brothers who are travelling, and Gaius, Diotrephes, and Demetrius, who apparently remained in the same location.

However, just because someone offers “local service”, this doesn’t mean that that person never travels to another location. However, it does mean that the person intends to return to their home location. For example, Epaphroditus brought a gift to Paul from the church in Phillipi, but intended to return. Those who travelled for a short time (to help Paul, for instance) would often serve alongside Paul while with him, but they still intended to return to their home location.

Do you think it is legitimate to distinguish between itinerant service and local service? Do you this distinction is helpful? Why or why not?

March 30, 2009

My children gave me beautifully sweet and thoughtful birthday cards today.

From Jeremy:

Dad, you’re amazing. The way you treated me just like a normal kid when you knew I was a genius all along. Happy Birthday

From Miranda:

Dad, you’ve been a great father despite the setbacks, the disasters, the heartbreaks, and the pain! But enough about my brother, Happy Birthday!

I’m not sure where they get their sense of humor from…

March 30, 2009

Our weekend was filled with church service. No, not that kind of church service. In fact, we did not attend our church’s weekly meeting yesterday. And, while we missed seeing and spending time with everyone, there are some things that are more important than meeting.

Saturday morning we helped a family move (actually, other friends finished packing the truck before we got there, so we just spent some time with everyone before they had to leave). After that, we spend some time in the neighborhood and in the nursing home. After that, we helped some other friends work on their house. (I have a great story about this. I hope to share it later this week.)

Sunday morning, as we were getting ready to meet with the church, Margaret got a phone call from one of our closest friends. Her father is dying of brain cancer, and she had had a rough night. We decided to drive down to South Carolina where he is in the hospital and spend some time with them.

So… alot of church service this weekend… and alot of meeting with the church at various homes and even in a hospital… but we didn’t attend the “church meeting”.

Oh… and today is my birthday.

March 30, 2009

Last week, I had several very good conversations with people concerning various ways in which God uses people to serve the church. Some of these discussion were triggered by the “Developing a Biblical Ecclesiology” seminar from several days ago. So, if you talked with me last week, you may see bits and pieces of our conversation here.

I’m going to cover these discussions in two different posts. The first – this post – will cover two fundamental categories of how God uses his people – through speaking and through serving. The next post – tomorrow – will cover how God uses some people in one locality or community, while he uses others across different localities or communities.

Friday night before the seminar, part of our discussion centered around the topic of spiritual gifts. As we know, there are several spiritual gift lists in Scripture (Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 4:11). As Dave Black pointed out, though, while some are supernaturally gifted to do certain things (i.e. teaching), all followers of Jesus are responsible for doing these same things (i.e. teaching).

Thus, all are responsible for giving, while the Spirit uses some people’s giving in supernatural ways. All are responsible for helping, while the Spirit uses some people’s helping in supernatural ways. All are responsible for teaching, while the Spirit uses some people’s teaching in supernatural ways. Those whom the Spirit normally supernaturally gifts for teaching (for example), we can call “teachers” (or “prophets” or “shepherds” or “encouragers” or “givers” etc). But, this doesn’t remove the responsibility of all to teach (or prophesy or shepherd or encourage or give etc).

Thus, when I think about gifting and serving other people, I like to use the broad categories that we find in 1 Peter 4:10-11:

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies – in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10-11 ESV)

In this passage, Peter takes the emphasis off of the individual gifts, and divides all types of work among people into two different categories: speaking and serving. (In this case, since we know that “speaking” is a way to serve, we can understand “serving” as “non-speaking”.) Furthermore, Peter indicates that when we speak or serve from love (4:8-9), as directed and enabled by God, then we bring glory to God.

The reason that I like these broad categories is that I do not have to be concerned about which particular gift I am exercising. In fact, when I speak, I am not supposed to be concerned about which gift I am exercising, because I do not know how the Spirit is going to use my words. Similarly, when I serve someone, I do not know how the Spirit is going to use that either.

My focus should simply be on speaking to or serving one another and allowing the Spirit to choose how to use my words or actions. In this way, we take the focus off of the one doing the speaking or serving and we even take the focus off of the specific “gift” being exercised as if we could choose which “gift” to exercise. No, our focus is on speaking and/or serving as directed by God and allowing the Spirit to use our speaking and/or service as he chooses.

Also, these broad categories remind us that both speaking and serving remain the responsibility to ALL followers of Jesus Christ. If the Spirit normally uses my speaking as teaching, this does not remove my responsibility to serve. If the Spirit normally uses my serving as giving, this does not remove my responsibility to speak.

However, recognizing these broad categories and the responsibility of all believers to speak or to serve does not change the fact that the Spirit does choose to use some people more in one manner than in another manner. Thus, we can recognize “teachers” and “prophets” and “givers” and “helpers” etc. Also, recognizing how God generally chooses to use our own speaking and serving can help us understand how he wishes us to work among the church. Certainly, there can be times that the Spirit chooses to work in different ways, and we should also be ready for that as well.

In this view, we can see how the authors of Scripture recognize that all believers are responsible for teaching, exhorting, serving, giving, prophecy, etc., while they also recognize that some are teachers, some are exhorters, some are givers, some are prophets, etc. While it can be beneficial to both ourselves and the church to know how the Spirit generally uses our speaking/serving, it is also beneficial to recognize that we are all responsible to speak/serve.

March 29, 2009

Here is the 47th installment of “Scripture… As We Live It“:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for to do the work of ministry, and for building up the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12 re-mix)

March 28, 2009

We take every opportunity we get to fellowship with the church. Last Wednesday, Matthew, one of our friends, participated in a Guitar Hero tournament put on by the local Chick-fil-A. Unfortunately, Matthew lost in the first round. But, several people showed up to support him – in fact, about 14 people from the church were there.

After Matthew lost, we sat around the tables and talked about our week and ecclesiology, recent travels and worship, work situations and baptism and the Lord’s Supper… just another time to get together and talk about whatever is going on in our lives.

I’ve said before that we take every opportunity to fellowship. It’s true. We honestly love one another and enjoy being around one another. Sometimes we disagree, but we continue to love one another.

I think we’re beginning to understand what it means to be family. We talk to one another about our struggles and our successes. We ask for one another’s advice and listen to one another. We like to spend time together and to serve others together.

So, last week, we got together at Chick-fil-A. Today, we’re planning to get together at a friend’s house to help him do some work on the house. I wonder where we’ll get together next week.

March 27, 2009

In his article “The Ministry of Encouragement” (in God Who is Rich in Mercy, Eds. Peter T. O’Brien and David G. Peterson; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1986) David Peterson writes about the use of the verb “to encourage” and the noun “encouragement” in Paul’s letters and in the Book of Hebrews. Concerning the book of Hebrews, he writes:

One of the features of Hebrews is its emphasis on the care that members of the church should have for each other. They should take care lest there be in any of their number (3:12) an evil, unbelieving heart, and exhort one another lest any should be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (3:13). The writer’s desire for each one of them to show “the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope until the end” (6:11) leads him to challenge them to minister to one another again in 10:24-25 and in 12:12-17. The last passage echoes particularly the sentiment of 3:12-13 by challenging them to “take care” lest anyone “fail to obtain the grace of God” and any “‘root of bitterness’ spring up and cause trouble, and by it the many become defiled”… (244; italics in original)

In this connection it is interesting to recall the writer’s statement about his readers in Heb 5:12. Sufficient time has elapsed since their conversion to Christ for him to say “you ought to be teachers”… [T]he wider context of Hebrews would suggest that the writer is not simply concerned about their professing and propagating the faith to unbelievers but about their teaching one another by means of mutual exhortation to hold fast the confession of their hope without wavering… (244-45; italics in original)

At the conclusion of the central doctrinal section of Hebrews the exhortations of 10:19-25 draw out the practical arguments of the writer’s teaching about the death of Jesus and his heavenly session. The third hortatory subjunctive [command] in the sequence urges the readers: “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”. The appeal to “consider one another” implies thoughtful reflection and recalls the use of the same verb in 3:1 (“consider Jesus”) and the challenge in 3:12 to “take care” with respect to the spiritual health of the congregation. The expression “to stir up one another to love and good works” indicates the need for Christians to be constantly roused or provoked by one another to godly living, no matter how much they have demonstrated “love and good works” in the past… The concept is not that of self-protection by staying in the fold but of a positive responsibility to minister to other Christians. (245)

And his conclusion:

Hebrews teaches that mutual exhortation in a congregation is essential as a means of dealing with problems of unbelief and temptations to apostasy. It is the divinely appointed means of encouraging believers to persevere in the faith. (249-50)

I am enjoying my study of the “Theology of Encouragement in Hebrews“!

March 27, 2009

Last weekend, during our seminar, I made the statement that we should study the church by beginning with Scripture, not by beginning with our current beliefs and practices. This is still an important distinction for me, just as it was three years ago when I started this blog. Here are two posts that I wrote during my first month of blogging that deal with this issue.

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How should we study the church?

This is one definition of ecclesology: the branch of theology concerned with the nature and the constitution and the functions of a church.

How should someone begin studying the nature, constitution, and functions of a church? I have found two distinct paths toward developing a biblical ecclesiology.

The first path begins with the contemporary church along with its nature and practices. The theologian then uses Scripture to justify the various roles, functions, and practices of the contemporary church. This method allows various theologians to justify different and divergent practices.

The second path begins with Scripture. The theologian examines the nature and practices of the NT church as recorded in the Bible. These “descriptions” are then used as “prescriptions” for comparisons to the contemporary church.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul encourages the church in Corinth to compare their practices to the practices of other churches (1 Cor 7:17; 11:16; 14:33-34; 16:1). We should compare our practices to those of the NT churches as well. We should not begin with our practices, then justify them with Scripture. We must begin with Scripture when we are developing our ecclesiology.

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Called into full-time ministry…

Yesterday, in discussing ecclesiology, I made the following statement:

We should not begin with our practices, then justify them with Scripture. We must begin with Scripture when we are developing our ecclesiology.

Today, someone mentioned being “called into full-time ministry.” From the context, I know that he did not mean that God has called him to serve others (minister) full-time, just as God has called all believers to serve and not to be served. Instead, he meant that God had called him to find a vocational position in a local church (probably other than his own local church) in order to earn a living. This is a normal understanding of what it means to be a preacher / pastor / minister – at least among the people that I know.

Did this understanding come from Scripture? Will reading Scripture lead someone to understand that God specially calls some people to stop working a “secular” job in order to be part of a paid staff at a local church? Does Scripture describe the pastor as someone hired from outside the body?

If this idea does not come from Scripture, then from where does it come? And, more importantly, why is this the “normal” practice in our churches today?

March 26, 2009

Dave Black (Thursday, March 26, at 12:36 p.m.) gave us a glimpse into the content of his newest book, which he has recently sent to the publisher. The book is called The Downward Path of Jesus. This is what he says:

I argue in The Downward Path of Jesus that New Testament ecclesiology is much more than “doing church right.” If we are to be true to the New Testament vision of the church as a family, then we must insist upon a more costly and participatory manifestation of the unity and diversity of Christ’s Body. The patterns that I read in the New Testament lead me to conclude that a successful church is much more than an organization with a hard-working paid staff, a large and expanding membership, a growing budget, and a multiplicity of programs. The church, to me, is simply a group of radical Jesus-followers ministering to each other sacrificially and reaching the community about them with the Gospel in word and deed. This kind of radical discipleship as taught by Jesus and modeled for us by the early church is, in my thinking, the great need of the hour. Being a citizen of Christ’s kingdom involves a commitment to a radical way of living that both rejects the corrosive influences of Christendom and embraces a citizenship status quite apart from political or official church structures in any given time or place. Christian discipleship means trading everything for the privilege of gathering voluntarily around the person and example of Christ and giving all for the cause of Christ’s mission in the world. That’s why I argue that restoration, not reformation, ought to be the goal of church renewal today. As I mentioned to my publisher yesterday, nobody will really be happy with my book. It will please neither traditionalists nor emergents, neither red Christians nor blue Christians, neither age-integrationists nor age-segregationists (or any other -ists), neither those on the left nor those on the right. I hope, however, that it will appeal to anyone who is prepared to pay any price necessary to develop churches dedicated exclusively to life and faith under Jesus’ authority. The Jesus way of life is a consistent lifestyle of sacrificial service rather than occasional acts of solidarity with people who cannot give us anything. We are called to be revolutionaries by acting (and not only thinking) like Jesus. Our only loyalty should be to Him and the Kingdom He is building. We cannot have two allegiances. We cannot serve two kingdoms.

It doesn’t get much better than that.