ECIPLESHIP for Passionate Christ-Followers

Numbers 14:36-37a,  “And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing up a bad report about the land—the men who brought up a bad report of the land— died by plague before the Lord.” ESV

This is not the warm fuzzy verse to start your day. It’s an important one, however.

Of the 12 spies sent into Canaan, ten returned with a very negative, overly emotional report that turned the entire nation againt God. The statement above gives us a quick synopsis of what happed to those ten. First, however, understand what they did:

• They “made all the congregation to grumble” against the Lord. The word “grumble” in Hebrew means to stop, stay permanently, to be obstinate. The verbal expression of that condition is to complain. This is important to know because the people were not just afraid or lacking some faith. They had an agressive position of stubborness. Their sinful state had positioned them to never enter Canaan. They had no intention at all of ever following hard after God.
• They brought a “bad report about the land.” The Hebrew used here literally means to slander. It reveals that what was spoken by the spies was not a logical assessment of what they had found. This was an emotional, determined negative report trying to make the land look really bad. In fact, the idea is that, as they were giving this report, they were undermining God’s plan for their nation. “Slander” is an agressive sinful assault on a person’s character. This was an intentional report meant to bring dishonor to God.

As I consider this, I can’t help but think that the Israelites failed to care for their souls. Could it be that bitterness, anger, and rage had captured them so deeply that they were incapable of following God no matter how obvious He proved His love for them? Could it be that their distrust of God had grown so deep over the years and through the generations that they were unwilling to change their view of God?

What a powerful reminder that no matter what it takes, we must do the deep honest cleansing work that God wants and needs to work in us. We can never go where God is leading if we are not healthy in our soul.

Let me conclude with a few thoughts from this sobering passage:

1. The stakes are high for leaders. The plague that wiped out the 10 negative spies came quickly and decisively.
2. Negativity is more than just a view, but rather, a dangerous sin often rooted in unresolved issues that have infected the soul.
3. Leading others away from God’s best plan is a dangerous exercise.

Infecting others with disbelief is a losing proposition.

Does God expect or intend every believer to have a heart for the world? How about every church?

I just finished a brief study to answer this question. It’s a fair one, by the way. If the answer is “no”, then we can go about our business without much personal concern for the “remotest parts of the earth.” As a Christian or a church, it’s reasonable to query whether or not God expects me (us) to ALL be engaged with global concerns. We know that God “so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son”, but how does that affect us as individuals? How does that affect my church?

I’m unable to give you the nitty gritty details of the full Bible study, so here are a few highlights:

• God is committed that every people group hear the gospel and respond to it (Matthew 24:14)
• Jesus’ final imperative statement accentuates our responsibility to “disciple the ethne’” (the nations). This, by the way, was not only for those standing there when Jesus spoke these words. He knew these few would never reach the remotest parts in their lifetimes. He was thinking of us… (Matthew 28:19)
• John’s future vision reveals that ALL nations will worship the LORD. Want to get in on what He’s doing? (Revelation 15:4)
• God set apart the great apostle Paul to be the catalyst to reaching the Gentiles — all non-Jews. (Romans 11:3; Galatians 2:8) This is a God-priority.

So let me conclude with three brief, but important challenges:

1. Love who God loves.
2. Pursue what God pursues.
3. Receive God’s FULL favor through FULL obedience.

Yes–I’m convinced that intends every believer and every church to be engaged in reaching the world for Jesus.

Now what?

God listens.

The Psalmist states, “To you I call, O LORD my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit,” Psalm 28:1.

David declares the critical difference that a listening God makes in our lives–it puts us on a totally different tragectory than those who do not follow after God. As stated here, if God doesn’t respond to our “call”, we will be like all the others that “have gone down to the pit.”

There are three parts to the above statement:

1. We call.
2. God listens.
3. God communicates.

This, of course, is not news to us. We know these things! However, what we may have overlooked in the “equation” is how desperately we need to hear God’s voice. If we fail to hear from God, we default to a pathway on which godless people tread. We will “be like those who have gone down to the pit.” So call out to Him, know that He hears you (especially when you feel like He’s absent), and listen closely to how He responds.

God speaks in many ways…

• His Word
• Circumstances
• Whispers–those easily overlooked directives and thoughts He places in your mind
• Through godly people
• Divine appointments
• Unscripted opportunities
• Health or non-health (our bodies tell us things on God’s behalf…)
• An infinite number of other ways, too

So, call to Him, know He hears, and listen very closely to what He speaks in return. It makes ALL the difference.

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I came across an interesting little verse in Luke 6:7: “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched closely to see whether Jesus would heal the man on the Sabbath.”

What I find unique about this statement is that:

• The teachers of law and the Pharisees knew Jesus could heal
• They were intent on finding error even in the good things Jesus did

Fortunately for us, the New Testament gives us a magnified look at what hypocritical religion looks like. The leaders of religious life in Israel were simply religious. They were not righteous.

• Religious people are intent on the details of life but often miss the big and important things. Of these people, Jesus stated, “You tithe mint, dill and cummin, but overlook the weighter things like justice, mercy and faithfulness.”
• Religious people are determined to make themselves look good or feel spiritual, even if it means pulling someone else down.
• Religious people are bound to legalism — a system that measures spirituality by deeds done, laws obeyed, and a right standing with God being earned.

Righteous people know that who they are, what they become, and however they influence their world is all through the grace and power of God alone. They live with a contagious enthusiasm for life, a passion to be the presence of God in their world, and a gratitude that compels them to do what’s right.

• Righteous people live for God’s pleasure and affirmation.
• Righteous people demonstrate unrestrained compassion for people…even on the sabbath.
• Righteous people overlook the judgmental assaults of religious people.

The religious can only become righteous through the miraculous intervention of God. Self must be crucified, the old way of legalism is recognized as filthy (Paul described it as “waste and garbage”), and in humility, they must fall before God seeking His gracious intervention. Only then can the religious become righteous.

I’M REPOSTING A BLOG FROM ONE YEAR AGO. IT WAS THEN THAT I BEGAN MY NEW MINISTRY ROLE OF LEADING OUR CONVERGE WORLDWIDE MISSIONS. AS I REFLECTED ON IT TODAY, I REALIZE THAT I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME ABOUT IT AS I DID ONE YEAR AGO. I’M HUMBLED, GRATEFUL, DEPENDENT…

FROM JANUARY 4, 2012:

I’m on a new adventure! Yesterday was my first day “on the job” as Executive Director of International Ministries for Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference). It was awesome!

I am humbled and grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord in this capacity. I feel God’s blessing and pleasure in so many ways. I am eager to serve Him in a way that honors Him every day.

As I think about this amazing opportunity before me, I’m reminded of Ephesians 3:7-8:

“By God’s grace and mighty power, I have been given the privilege of serving him by spreading this Good News. Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.”

With this passage in mind, allow me to share a few parallel thoughts:

• By God’s grace (unconditional kindness extended to me) and power, He has chosen and “moved” me into this role. The list of God-things that took place to see this happen is incredible. I did not seek this office—God moved me here by His “grace and mighty power.”
• It is a privilege. What a rare opportunity I have to serve a lost world, our missionaries around the world, and our Converge Churches across the world. I GET to do this…
• It’s all about “spreading this Good News” to those who need to hear and be transformed. It will be fun to strategize, plan, partner, and engage in ongoing, new, and creative initiatives to be as effective as possible to see this happen. We certainly don’t want to sow sparingly.
• I feel like the “least deserving” of this privilege. I am humbled and grateful that God has placed me for such a time as this.

The adventure is on! I have a feeling it’s going to be wild, crazy, and terribly exhilarating.

I’m always amazed at how God gets His work done. I’ve heard it said, “God doesn’t need me. He just chooses to involve me.” I don’t completely agree with this statement…or even its sentiment. I’m convinced that God does need me. He works through people. That’s His chosen method. That’s why Jesus said to His disciples, “Pray to the Lord of the harvest that He will send workers into the harvest.” It is the only way the harvest would be brought in. He needs me and He needs you!

He needs us to be broken and usable, too. As 1 Corinthians 1 states, “God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God,” verses 27-29. He also said, through the Apostle Paul, “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me,” 1 Corinthians 12:9.

When we’re dependent upon Him, He unleashes the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. Just yesterday, I met with three other men from across the U.S. to work on a very complex ministry action document–one that has great potential for disaster, but also for significant Kingdom impact. We began the day acknowledging our weakness (and we meant it because we all felt inferior for the task) and seeking God’s intervention. All I can say is that God did it! What was produced from one very hard day of work is amazing. All of us in the group were keenly aware that God had stepped into our meeting–that these ideas, concepts, and strategies were from Him. The results are beautiful. Only time will reveal the long-term impact of God’s intervention upon our huddle.

I’m always amazed at how God gets His work done. Through people–ordinary, weak, dependent people. He somehow breaks into the finite dimensions in which we live–the limited thoughts we can produce–and unleashes His power to accomplish surprising and wonderful things.

2012 has been a year of growth, challenge, and blessing for me.

• Growth because God placed me in a role that requires me to completely depend upon Him.
• Challenge because missions, especially denominational missions, is in the throws of seizmic change. We must learn how to do missions differently or we fade away.
• Blessing because only God could take the tremendous losses we sustained and lavish us with amazing and overwhelming opportunitites for global impact. He has expanded my borders–significantly.

The nation of Israel freed from slavery has been a focus of some study in this past year. I’ve realized a few major truths through this:

• Only obedience based upon trust in the person and character of God enables us to step into the best God has for us.
• Achieving great things with God is only possible if it is truly all about God’s glory.
• It takes as much courage and faith to take the land as it does to enter the land.

On that last point, I find some affinity with Israel. It took active faith and courage for Susan and me to change our entire lives just because God told us to. It will take at least as much for us to bring great glory to God in this role. And with that in mind, I will apply bullets one and two of truths learned above.

To God be the glory!

FAITHLESSNESS is something I never want to be known for. The first generation of  freed Israelites are characterized as being faithless. Numbers 14:33 states, “…they (your children) will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.”

What did faithlessness look like for the generation of Israelites who chose to turn away from the Promised Land?

• They did not believe that God was good — especially after their Egyptian slavery of 400 years.
• They overlooked the promises God had made to them years before, such as those to Abraham and his descendants, “I will make you a great nation” and “I will give you this land.”
• They were suspect of the miracles God had performed on their behalf (the 10 plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, water in the wilderness, etc.).
• They chose to continue life as the victims they were rather than the victors God intended to make them.
• They chose a familiar bondage over an unfamiliar freedom.
• They wouldn’t believe that they could have a life as good as what God told them they would have.
• They lived by human intuition rather than by divine guidance.

As I was jotting down this non-exaustive list, I was humbled by the fact that these “bullet points” are a part of my life way too often. How I long to live every day in the arena of faith rather than faithlessness. After all, “without faith, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God.”

God is moving in such amazing and unique ways around the world right now. Thom Wolf, with his finger on the pulse of what God is doing in the world, believes that the 21st century will be most ever like the 1st century — especially in India. Three trends stand out that led him to this conclusion:

• The ministry is given back to the common Christians, not the highly educated or social elites.
• The Holy Spirit is igniting and empowering movements way beyond human manufacturing.
• Persecution is prevalent and purifies the church to do great things for the glory of God. Persecution always makes the church stronger, by the way…

I have been fascinated by the church planting movments (CPMs) around the world. If you want to be inspired and challenged, read “Church Planting Movements” by David Garrison and “Miraculous Movements” by Jerry Trousdale. You will find that, even though as Americans our Christianity is fairly stable and consistent, many places in the world are seeing mind-blowing Holy Spirit-led multiplication of disciples and churches — the kind that have been rare in the history of the church. God is up to something. Take notice, people.

In a recent round-table discussion of denominational mission leaders, we talked about our deep desire to see God do a new thing among our churches in the U.S. too. It led to some great conversations and valuable insights. For me, the crux of the issue is the following:

• In our American Christianity, we have a knowlege-based spirituality. Learning leads to spiritual maturity in our motif of belief.
• In many places in the world, there is an obedience-based spirituality. Obedience leads to spiritual maturity–simply doing what God’s word tells us to do.

What does the Bible say? Of course, so much. However, those that were the least mature in Jesus’ eyes were the Pharisees — those that had the most knowledge and information. The Scriptures tell us that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” In contrast to this, Jesus told us that “if you love me, you will obey my commandents.”

Back to movements in the world: Movements happen where obedience rather than knowledge aquisition leads the way. This doesn’t mean information is bad, it simply means that the believers in Holy Spirit-led movements understand that obedience to what they know is essential–and they do it. In our American motif of knowledge-based spirituality, we take years to learn what we’re “supposed” to know about the Christian life…and by then we’re stale and stagnant.

As James reminds us, “For him who knows what to do and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.”

Can we change the American spirituality motif? Of course not — only God could do that. But each of us can choose to begin a movement in our own hearts…one of complete and immediate obedience to God.

I’m always amazed at the church–most of the time in wonderful ways. This weekend is a case in point…

Susan and I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Vietnamese Baptist Church of Orlando. It was a delightful cross-cultural experience for us. I preached with an interpreter, was introduced to some new customs and ways of worship, engaged with church members of all ages, and found myself worshiping with all my heart with these amazing people. The moment we drove onto the property, we were warmly greeted and honored. We immediately felt the Spirit of God in this place oozing out of all of the people. Though we had never met these folks before, we felt like family…and they treated us like long-lost siblings. The pastor and his leaders honored us more than we deserve.

Not many people have heard of the Vietnamese Baptist Church of Orlando. They haven’t garnered any headline news, don’t have large masses of people attending, and lack the attractive facilities that we Americans often demand. But God is at work in and through this congregation. With a heart for their homeland, they have links “back home” that are impacting their nation. Even with few resources, they are partnering in an effort to train pastors in Vietnam (in some creative ways, I might add) and are supporting a halfway house in Hanoi for women coming out of prison. I was impressed with their commitment to Christ and how they’re living it out in practical and relevant ways.

This is the church! We often get the idea that the church needs to be a certain way — the American way — to be blessed by God. I was

The Youth Group

reminded again this weekend that the Church of Christ is alive and well, even in places and congregations we often overlook.

Pastor Be' and Me