Central and Abiding

Tony Payne post:  Ministry Manifesto

Late last year we had a talkfest here in Sydney called "The Festival of Dangerous Ideas," at which participants could experience the frisson of discussing daring and explosive concepts with a soy latte in hand. Most of the ideas were in fact rather conventionally dangerous in a green-left sort of way, although gay activist Dan Savage received special marks for his dangerous idea that abortion should be made mandatory for 30 years to make a dent in the worldwide population problem. (The audience, having escaped the womb safely themselves, felt confident to clap.)

However, at one point in one of the debates, something remarkable happened. In a moment of real courage, Peter Hitchens (brother of Christopher) suggested that the most dangerous idea in the world was that "Jesus Christ was the son of God and rose from the dead." [1]

The audience cheered, thinking that Hitchens was channelling his late brother in a religion-poisons-everything sort of way. But when asked why Jesus' resurrection was dangerous, Hitchens said this:

Because it alters the whole of human behavior and all our responsibilities. It turns the universe from a meaningless chaos into a designed place in which there is justice and there is hope and, therefore, we all have a duty to discover the nature of that justice and work towards that hope. It alters us all. If we reject it, it alters us all as well. It is incredibly dangerous. It's why so many people turn against it.

The audience lapsed into a deathly silence. It was as if someone had just praised Margaret Thatcher.

Daring and Explosive

The whole incident (and festival) was sobering and encouraging at the same time. It showed graphically just how despised and marginal the Christian gospel is, and how far gone our public intellectual conversation has strayed from a biblical worldview. But it also showed, just fleetingly, how daring and explosive the Christian gospel is; how shocking, how confronting, how dangerous.

It's the kind of message that comes with a manifesto.

With the launch of our new online platform GoThereFor.com, we thought it would be an excellent time to issue just such a manifesto—to make a fresh statement about the dangerous, urgent, world-changing task of Christian ministry. It's a task that we all share, and which the GoThereFor.com platform is seeking to promote and facilitate.

Admittedly, ministry and manifesto aren't words that immediately look like they belong together. A manifesto is the clarion call to action of a revolutionary movement or political party; it sets out the ideas that this group stands for, and by which they seek to change society and the world. Ministry on the other hand evokes the mostly harmless set of tasks that a minister does. It conjures up thoughts of church services, pastoral visitation, small group Bible studies, and possibly cucumber sandwiches.

But if the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is indeed the most explosive news in the world—if he has died for sins and risen to be Saving Lord of the world—then the work he has given us to do in his service is a dynamic, world-changing task. And it is not optional.

If Jesus holds all authority in heaven and on earth, then our service is an act of obedience. Ministry in Jesus' name is a joy and privilege that we undertake gladly and gratefully; but it is also an act of submission. Our slavery to him is perfect freedom, but it is slavery all the same. It is a life spent at the bidding of Another.

In the manifesto we pick up the language of the Great Commission to express this truth—but it could have been drawn from numerous other parts of the New Testament, such as Paul's solemn final charge to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 and 4. We've been given a job to do. There is a "work of the Lord" in which we should all be "abounding" (1 Cor 15:58).

What is this work?

The manifesto describes it in a few ways: "to make new disciples and to teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded"; "evangelizing the world and edifying the church"; "to make disciples, to plant new churches and ministries, to revitalize and grow existing churches, to see by God's blessing multitudes of new and growing believers giving glory to his name."

Three Reasons

In one sense what we're saying is uncontroversial. It's what Christians have been working away at for 2,000 years, after all. We might wonder why we need a manifesto to call us to do what most of us agree we should be doing anyway.

For at least three reasons that I can identify.

The first is clarity. In the midst of everything that clamors for our attention, and with multiple gurus giving us the benefit of their advice, it's easy to become vague or muddled about what we're actually supposed to be doing as God's people. Clarity of purpose starts to disappear in a fog of competing voices, competing ministry models, competing interest groups in our churches, not to mention competing needs crying out for attention.

It was interesting (and encouraging) after writing The Trellis and the Vine to be told repeatedly: "Yes, that's exactly what I've always believed about ministry, but you've managed just to say it in a clear, coherent, compelling way." The great strength of that book was in fact its intense ordinariness. In God's kindness, we managed to state the obvious at a time when people needed to hear it.

That's what a manifesto can do. It can clear out the cobwebs and the fuzziness, and provide some bracing, head-clearing clarity about the task at hand.

This point leads to a second and related reason for a manifesto: focus. Even if we are clear in our own minds about the work that God has given us to do, it's extraordinarily easy to still not get around to actually doing it. We get distracted. Like the disciples, our eyelids become heavy. The bright lights beckon, and we meander into worldliness.

But it's not just laziness or our sinful frailty. It's also possible to lose our focus simply by focusing somewhere else. There are so many sorts of good works that we will (and should) do as Christ's people—in our families, in our neighbourhoods, in our church relationships, in our workplaces, in our society. These godly works show forth the fruit of the Spirit, adorn the gospel, and bless our communities. The ongoing fruit of repentance and faith in Christ is that we become a new kind of person—with new thoughts, instincts, and attitudes—and we carry this new "self" with us into every sphere and situation of life.

However, within the framework of these many and varied "good works," there is a particular "work of the Lord" for us to be abounding in. This is the work that has been entrusted to us, and that we are commissioned and commanded to be doing; a work for which we have a mandate and a responsibility, and which draws its overriding importance from the purposes of God for our world.

This is why the manifesto says "our involvement in this work of God should be the central priority of our lives as disciples of Jesus and of our churches as loving fellowships of disciple-making disciples."

Among the many competing activities and priorities of our lives and churches, and among the many good causes and ventures we can be part of, we cannot neglect what is central and abiding—the work of making disciples.

Among the many competing activities and priorities of our lives and churches, and among the many good causes and ventures we can be part of, we cannot neglect what is central and abiding.

The third reason for a manifesto follows. If we can find clarity and focus, then this is an excellent basis for unity. Christians will never agree on everything. You only have to belong to a church for more than five minutes to experience as much. But if we can agree together on the basic and essential nature of the ministry that the Lord has given us to do, then our disagreements and differing views on secondary matters can be put in their rightful place.

There is nothing like a common task to bring people together—especially when that life-and-death task challenges and stretches us, uses our various strengths and different gifts, and demands that we work at together, shoulder to shoulder, in the strength God provides.

Root Problem

These three reasons for a manifesto in the end devolve back to one root problem, which is sin. Because of sin—in the world, in our hearts, in our churches, in our families—we are constantly drawn away from obedience to the ministry our Lord has given us, just as we lapse from praying and from putting to death what is earthly in our lives, and so much more. Because of sin, there is constant slippage in our lives and churches—away from the ministry that God wants us to do. We see this degradation in multiple ways—in distractions, alternatives, opposition, quarrels about priorities, worldliness, laziness, entropy, personal insecurity, incompetence, the hunger for novelty, or just forgetfulness. At many times and in various ways, our participation in the work of the Lord diminishes rather than abounds. It ceases to be the central unifying priority and becomes one priority among many.

This Ministry Manifesto, then, aims to draw us back to the main game by clearly restating the "first things that our ministries should focus on but from which we are easily diverted."

Feel free to make use of the manifesto in your church or fellowship. Read and discuss it in your Bible study group, your church leadership group, or around the dinner table. Does it reflect your own manifesto of essential Christian ministry? Does it provide the kind of clarity your group or church or fellowship could use to re-focus and reboot what you're doing together?

And if it does reflect the heart of what you believe about ministry, are those beliefs being reflected in what actually happens? What is distracting or stopping or hindering you? What needs to change?

We hope and pray this manifesto, and the GoThereFor.com site in general, will help to stimulate, build, and encourage a fellowship of disciple-makers from churches all over God's world.

Burdens

Cast your burden on the Lord,
    and he will sustain you;

Ps 55: 22a

Making All Things New

Jon Bloom post:  New Every Morning, New Every Moment

So many of us love these words written by Jeremiah, the lamenting prophet, which have sustained us in dark days:

The steadfast love of the Lᴏʀᴅ never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23)

Have you ever wondered why Jeremiah says that God’s steadfast love and mercies never cease and yet they are new every morning? How is something that never ceases, new?

Every Single Moment Is New

We might say that Jeremiah is simply speaking phenomenologically, meaning itappears like God’s love and mercies are new with each new day, even though it’s not really new. But I don’t think that’s true. Jeremiah is not merely being more than poetic (which he is). I think there is a very real sense in which God’s enduring love and constant mercies are not only new every morning, but new every moment.

“God’s enduring love and constant mercies are not only new every morning, but new every moment.”Tweet

Every single moment is new. Every moment is a completely unique creation by God the Father through God the Son who is upholding the universe at that moment by the word of his power (Hebrews 1:2–3). Never is a moment neglected. Never is a moment repeated. Each moment is a new, infinitely powerful and complex word spoken by the Word with deliberate intention (John 1:1). Every moment God makes he decides to be utterly faithful to his character and his purposes. Every new moment God commits to fulfill what he says he will do.

“Old” Is the Real Illusion

When it comes to experiencing things as new or old, I think we tend to interpret our phenomenological experience backwards. The real illusion is not that old things appear new to us (like God’s mercies or a sunrise), but that new things ever appear old. We think of things as new or old mainly because of our mortality. We, and all terrestrial life in this age, die. So we observe creation as it changes and life as it progresses toward death and call it aging. But that’s phenomenological; that’s how it appears. In reality, every thing is new every moment.

God is not old. God is. He calls himself the Ancient of Days to help us time-bound creatures grasp something of the vastness of his eternal nature (Daniel 7:9). But time itself is a creation of God. He is not defined by age.

Neither are you in essence young or old. You are. Young and old are phenomenological terms we use to describe our experience of time in this age and where we think we are on the progression toward physical death. But that’s a relative measurement. Measured against God or the created universe we are extremely new. But in reality, we exist in each brand new moment and each momentary experience is new. And everything we do is new. Whatever you are doing, no matter how many times you have done something similar before, you are not doing the same old thing. You are doing something new, something that has never been done before and will never be done again. We always exist in the new and always do what’s new.

“Behold, I Am Making All Things New”

In the age to come, I doubt very much that we will speak of things being old. All things will always be new because we will live with a far greater, unfiltered awareness and wonder of the continual creation of God without the time constriction of impending death. I think we will find that a world of wonderful mystery is packed into the promise, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5). And I think we will find that there was more than we’ve ever imagined packed into the statement, “the old has passed away” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God’s steadfast love and mercies for you are indeed new every morning. In fact, they are new with every new moment as he commits with a continually fresh resolve to keep his great faithfulness working for you.

Enjoy the gift of this new moment, whatever it brings, knowing that he who is “making all things new” for you is working all things together for your eternal, ageless good (Romans 8:28).

Wash Me, Savior, or I Die

Gratitude Not Presumption

Bethany post:  843 Acres: The Rejection of Offerings

Offerings: Employing a courtroom image, the Psalmist envisions God as prosecutor, witness, and judge. He has indicted Israel: “I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” [1]. What is wrong with their offerings? Doesn’t he want us to make offerings?

Presumption: Yes, he calls us to offer our gifts—even our lives—to him as offerings. [2] The problem with the offerings of Israel, though, was that they were being presented to God with presumptuous and arrogant hearts, as if God needed their sacrifices. As if he was the dependent and needy one, not them. Yet as Paul tells those in Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” [3].

Abundance: Why is God so insistent that we understand his independence? One reason is that he wants us to rest in his abundance, sovereignty, and generosity. Also, though, he wants us to see Christ. When we see that we bring nothing and he offers—indeed, in Christ, has offered—everything, our hearts offer gifts to him in gratitude, not presumption. As Thomas Brooks explains, “The only ground of God’s love is his love. The ground of God’s love is only and wholly in himself. There is neither portion nor proportion in us to draw his love.”

Prayer: Lord, Every day, we wake up with the hope that we will offer our lives to you. That we will contribute to the common good in our work, that we will seek your face in the morning, that we will love others to life in the gospel. Yet sometimes we act as though you need our work to accomplish your plans. Forgive us for our presumptuous hearts, as we increasingly know that “the one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me” [4]. Give us hearts of thanks. Amen.

Not I. Yet I. By Faith.

John Piper post:  How to Find Strength in the Strength of God

How do you do a task in the strength of another? How do you exert your will to do something in such a way that you are relying on the will of another to make it happen?

Here are some passages from the Bible that press this question on us:

• “By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). So we are to do the sin-killing, but we are to do it by the Spirit. How?
• “Work out your own salvation . . . for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12–13). We are to work. But the willing and the working is God’s willing and God’s work. How do we experience that?
• “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul did work hard. But his effort was in some way not his. How did he do that?
• “I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29). We toil. We struggle. We expend effort and energy. But there is a way to do it so that it is God’s energy and God’s doing. How do we do that?
• “Whoever serves, let him serve as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (1 Peter 4:11). We serve. We exert strength. But there is a way that our serving is the effect of God’s gracious power. What is that way?

Introducing A.P.T.A.T.

In 1983 I gave my answer in a sermon, and to this day I have not been able to improve on these five steps summed up in the acronym, A.P.T.A.T. (rhymes with Cap That).

In 1984 J.I. Packer published Keep in Step with the Spirit, and gave the very same steps on pages 125–126. He calls it “Augustinian holiness teaching.” It calls for “intense activity” but this activity “is not in the least self-reliant in spirit.” Instead, he says, “It follows this four-stage sequence”:

First, as one who wants to do all the good you can, you observe what tasks, opportunities, and responsibilities face you. Second, you pray for help in these, acknowledging that without Christ you can do nothing—nothing fruitful, that is (John 15:5). Third, you go to work with a good will and a high heart, expecting to be helped as you asked to be. Fourth, you thank God for help given, ask pardon for your own failures en route, and request more help for the next task. Augustinian holiness is hard working holiness, based on endless repetitions of this sequence.

My five steps omit his first one (“note what tasks are in front of you”). I divide his second step into two: A. Admit (his word, “acknowledge”) that you can do nothing.P. Pray for God’s help for the task at hand. Then I break his third step into two. He says “expect to get the help you asked for.” Then with that expectation, “go to work with a good will.” I say, T. Trust a particular promise of God’s help. Then, in that faith, Act (A). Finally, we both say, T. Thank God for the help received.

1. Admit
2. Pray
3. Trust
4. Act
5. Thank

Trust God’s Promises

I think the middle T is all important. Trust a promise. This is the step I think is missing in most Christians’ attempt to live the Christian life. It is certainly my most common mistake.

Most of us face a difficult task and remember to say, “Help me, God. I need you.” But then we move straight from P to A — Pray to Act. We pray and then we act. But this robs us of a very powerful step.

After we pray for God’s help, we should remind ourselves of a specific promise that God has made. And fix our minds on it. And put our faith in it. And say to God: “I believe you, help my unbelief. Increase my faith in this promise. I’m trusting you, Lord, here I go.” Then act.

Paul says we “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7) and “live by faith” (Galatians 2:20). But for most of us this remains vague. Hour by hour how do we do this? We do it by reminding ourselves of specific, concrete promises that God has made and Jesus has bought with his blood (2 Corinthians 1:20). Then we don’t just pray for help hour by hour, we trust those specific promises hour by hour.

When Peter says, “Let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies,” we do this not only by praying for that supply, but by trusting in the promise of the supply in specific situations. Paul says that God “supplies the Spirit to you by hearing with faith” (Galatians 3:5). That is, we hear a promise and we believe it for a particular need, and the Holy Spirit comes to help us through that believed promise.

10 Promises to Memorize

So here is my suggestion for how to do this. Memorize a few promises that are so universally applicable they will serve you in almost every situation where you face a task to be done “in the strength that God supplies.” Then as those tasks come, Admit you can’t do that on your own. Pray for the help you need. Then call to mind one of your memorized promises, and trust it — put your faith in it. Then act — believing that God is acting in your acting! Finally, when you are done,thank him.

Here are ten such promises to help you get started. Of these, the one I have used most often is Isaiah 41:10.

1. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)
2. “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19)
3. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:8)
4. “‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5–6)
5. “The Lᴏʀᴅ God is a sun and shield; the Lᴏʀᴅ bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalms 84:11)
6. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
7. “Surely goodness and mercy shall pursue me all the days of my life.” (Psalms 23:6)
8. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
9. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
10. “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalms 50:15)

Never cease to ponder Paul’s words: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Not I. Yet I. By faith.

Full of Wonders

Jon Bloom post:  The Antidepressant of Wonder

Living in this world tends to make us feel thin. We feel, with Bilbo Baggins, “like butter scraped over too much bread.” Another beheading, another disease epidemic, another leader’s adultery exposed, another day struggling within and without against unrelenting evil. We feel world-weary.

But it’s not really the world we’re weary of; we’re futility-weary, evil-weary. We’re weary of the curse under which we groan in hope (Romans 8:20). But the world is not only infused with futility, it is also infused with glorious wonders that, if we will look, direct our attention away from evil to the God of hope (Romans 15:13) — who made the world (John 1:3), who rules it (Philippians 2:11), and who is redeeming it (Romans 8:21). Yes, evil must be faced and fought. But if the devil can, he will keep us focused on evil to tempt us to succumb to all kinds of evil ourselves and drive us into depressive neuroses that make us feel thin on hope and long to escape.

But all around us reality is dense with wonders, layer upon layer. These are antidepressants that God has provided in abundance, surrounding us on every side, and they are there for the taking, even in the most mundane things. Let me give you an example.

Seeing the Phenomenal with a Football

Autumn is descending on America. And when autumn comes, it brings football (the American variety where a foot rarely touches the ball). On most afternoons in most neighborhoods after school’s let out you will find in some yard or field a couple boys tossing a football (with their hands). Next time you see this, stop and watch for a few minutes. If you really look you will see wonders.

In fact, all the glory converging upon you in that moment might be overwhelming! There may be a breeze carrying scents of an evening meal sizzling on a grill, the light from a nearby star giving the leaf gold of deciduous trees turning dormant a molten glow as it drops toward the edge of this spinning ball on which you live, the green life bursting from the ground beneath boys’ pounding feet, the miracle of human laughter and language. And the mind-blowing phenomenon of a football being thrown — and caught! Let’s just think about that for a moment.

“If you really look you will see wonders.”Tweet

As you watch these two, say, 11 year-old athletes play, you’re also watching them perform very advanced mathematics and physics equations. You hear the boy holding the ball say to the other, “Run a post!” The other takes off at full sprint for about ten yards, then angles to his left and looks over his left shoulder. Meanwhile, the boy with the ball drops back three or four steps while watching his receiver, stops, cocks his right arm, steps forward and heaves the ball into the air. The ball travels about 18 yards. It’s a decent spiral but it’s a little high and ahead of his target. So the receiver increases his speed, jumps off his left foot, stretches out his right arm, tips the ball into the air with his right hand, lands on his feet off-balance while twisting to his right, still adjusting his speed, and catches the ball with both hands while falling onto the green life that cushions him and rolls over a couple times while maintaining possession. You can’t help yourself shout, “Nice catch!”

Nice catch, indeed! And so much more! It is also incredibly good math — for both boys! The first boy, in about three seconds, calculated distance, velocity, thrust, and trajectory in order to hit a moving target. His calculations were very close. The second boy, in about two seconds, calculated the velocity and trajectory of the approaching object, made split-second recalculations to his original estimate, adjusted his speed, height, and extension and then recalculated again, adding a right-hand rotation, a grasp, a tuck, and a roll.

How did they do that? If you were to work out on paper the equations that took these boys five seconds to complete, how long would it take you? Could you do it at all? I couldn’t. Neither could these boys. But they did it in their heads nonetheless, all the while imagining themselves as Peyton Manning and Wes Welker.

Or ponder it in a whole different light. What was happening anatomically to make those movements possible? Or muse on the marvel of the human hand. Or contemplate the complex consciousness that processes such math and such imagination at the same time.

Recapture the Wonder

Now draw those wonders up into the question, Who made that mind or those members or that math? Take a deep breath, dive into ocean of wonder right where you are and explore new depths of Psalm 92:5–6:

How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this.

Read the whole of Psalm 92 and listen to the psalmist glean spiritual truths from natural phenomena. “God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1). And he gave it to us, not to ignore but to imbibe. Even in its fallen state the world pulses with hopeful health.

“God’s world is full of wonders and these are wonderful antidepressants.”Tweet

So if you’re feeling thin, if that depressive burden of curse-weariness is weighing on you, don’t turn on the TV or pop in a DVD. Rarely will you ever find soul-reviving wonder there. Take your Bible, a tablet, and pen and go for a walk or sit somewhere and watch. Maybe look for a couple of boys throwing a football. Watch deeply and prove the truth that G.K. Chesterton wrote,

There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person. (Heretics, opening sentence of Chapter 3)

God’s world is full of wonders and these are wonderful antidepressants. Biblical wonder does not deny the horrors of the world. But bumblebees can remind us that there is a gracious power to fear far mightier than ISIS beheadings, sunsets can remind us that there will be a glorious end to sex trafficking, and a football can remind us that there is always more going on than meets the eye and that God’s calculations are perfect.