Destination: Glory
When Jairus fell at the feet of Jesus pleading with Him to cancel His schedule so that He might come and heal his dying daughter he got more than what he expected. I’m sure he thought a quick trip to the house, a prayer, and all would be well. But on the way there were delays, crowds, others who wanted healing and that resulted in Jairus’ daughter dying before Jesus could get there. The message came simply, “Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher any more?”
Many of us are living in the land of “too late.” Many of have secretly said these words, “why bother Jesus any more? This is over.”
Maybe our marriage is on life support, or our ministry, or something else and we have decided that “even Jesus can’t fix this.” Dead is dead. Unfixable is unfixable.
An interesting thing happens at this point in the story. Jesus invites Jairus into another story. Jesus simply says, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” The story began with Jairus asking Jesus to walk with him, now it’s Jesus asking Jairus to walk with Him. It starts with Jairus asking Jesus to fulfill his agenda, and now it’s Jesus asking Jairus to fulfill His agenda. This is the critical turnabout that we often miss. We want Jesus’ power to be demonstrated, but on OUR terms. Jesus wants to demonstrate His power but on HIS terms. Often He is simply asking us to walk with Him because He is going to do something we can’t imagine.
And what was Jesus asking Jairus to believe anyway? It was undefined. Jesus didn’t say, “believe that I will raise her from the dead…” He simply asked Jairus to believe in HIM. The same faith that drove Jairus to Jesus was the same faith Jesus wanted from Jairus when it got hard to believe. Just believe in Jesus no matter what the outcome may be.
And then we wait. Waiting is hard. Jairus had to walk through a crowd of doubters, through the mourners, through those who thought he was crazy, but this was Jesus’ show now, not Jairus’. Jairus could have pulled the plug anytime he wanted and that is what we are tempted to do during the wait.
Destination: Glory. All Bible readers know how the story ends. Jesus speaks, life returns to the girl, and everybody is completely amazed. The fact is we could have better endings to our tragic stories if we could just keep believing and walking with Jesus. I believe in His miracle power that turns tragedies into triumphs. Jesus power is always about His glory, not ours.
I ask, “why did it happen like this? Why didn’t Jesus just wave his hand and make it better from the start? Why allow Jairus to go through the pain, the wounding, the confusion, and the testing if Jesus was going to heal her anyway?” Because there is great character to be gained in trust. Jesus teaches us through Jairus to never give up too early. He teaches us that there is still resurrection power that undoes what we think is undoable. “Don’t be afraid, just believe.” (Mark 5:21-43)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
The Power of a Bigger Story
I was challenged by Reggie Joiner this week. In his book “Think Orange” he talked about the power of a bigger story.
A father went to his pastor to express his concerns about his daughter going “goth.” The pastor asked what he was doing to handle the change and he said, “yell and make her go to church.” The pastor replied, “I think your daughter is choosing a better story.”
He went on. “We’re all designed to live inside a story. Your daughter was designed to play a role in a story. In this story she has chosen, there is risk, adventure, and pleasure. She is wanted and she is desired. In your story, she’s yelled at, she feels guilty, and she feels unwanted. She’s just choosing a story that is better than the one you’re providing. Plus, in the midst of placing her in an awful story, you make her go to church. So you’re associating a bad, boring story with God, who has a great story. Don’t do that anymore. You have to tell a better story.”
Do you know what that father did? That week he decided to build an orphanage in Mexico that would cost $20,000. He unveiled a plan to his family and asked them to come up with ways they could raise $20,000 within two years. He gave his family a better story. The good news is that his daughter left that lifestyle and her boyfriend within three weeks because now she was living a better story, a story where she was wanted and needed and had risk and adventure.
The bottom line is that everybody needs to experience something bigger than themselves and we need to provide the opportunity for that to happen.
As a leader and a teacher you have a great opportunity to make this happen. If church is just a boring, hour-long lack of drama every Sunday it’s no wonder people drift off to other areas of adventure and risk. But what if you could give them a bigger story? What if the story of your group contained more than just teaching and sitting in a circle, what if it contained adventure? What if your group decided to change a local school by serving there? What if the youth group decided to go on a mission trip? What if you decided to take your kids and their parents on a whitewater rafting trip? What if you challenged your students and your group to live out a bigger story – one with adventure and risk and the need of God to come through or nothing happens?
It’s not enough to dream of that story we also need to strategize how we can accomplish it and move together as one people with one mind to the mission we have envisioned.
So let me ask: what is the big story that your group is all about? What adventure can your group be on? Can we give our people a better story to live out than the one the world is telling?
A father went to his pastor to express his concerns about his daughter going “goth.” The pastor asked what he was doing to handle the change and he said, “yell and make her go to church.” The pastor replied, “I think your daughter is choosing a better story.”
He went on. “We’re all designed to live inside a story. Your daughter was designed to play a role in a story. In this story she has chosen, there is risk, adventure, and pleasure. She is wanted and she is desired. In your story, she’s yelled at, she feels guilty, and she feels unwanted. She’s just choosing a story that is better than the one you’re providing. Plus, in the midst of placing her in an awful story, you make her go to church. So you’re associating a bad, boring story with God, who has a great story. Don’t do that anymore. You have to tell a better story.”
Do you know what that father did? That week he decided to build an orphanage in Mexico that would cost $20,000. He unveiled a plan to his family and asked them to come up with ways they could raise $20,000 within two years. He gave his family a better story. The good news is that his daughter left that lifestyle and her boyfriend within three weeks because now she was living a better story, a story where she was wanted and needed and had risk and adventure.
The bottom line is that everybody needs to experience something bigger than themselves and we need to provide the opportunity for that to happen.
As a leader and a teacher you have a great opportunity to make this happen. If church is just a boring, hour-long lack of drama every Sunday it’s no wonder people drift off to other areas of adventure and risk. But what if you could give them a bigger story? What if the story of your group contained more than just teaching and sitting in a circle, what if it contained adventure? What if your group decided to change a local school by serving there? What if the youth group decided to go on a mission trip? What if you decided to take your kids and their parents on a whitewater rafting trip? What if you challenged your students and your group to live out a bigger story – one with adventure and risk and the need of God to come through or nothing happens?
It’s not enough to dream of that story we also need to strategize how we can accomplish it and move together as one people with one mind to the mission we have envisioned.
So let me ask: what is the big story that your group is all about? What adventure can your group be on? Can we give our people a better story to live out than the one the world is telling?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Jealous...maybe that's what I am!!
I have given up ever being asked to speak at any significant event for the rest of my life. The Senior Citizens Thanksgiving gathering is about as good as it is going to get for me. I am not expecting any invites from Mr. Megachurch pastor, the denominational annual convention, some church needing a revival, state youth convention or even children’s camp. Maybe, just maybe, if I play my cards right, I may get to chair a service during state campmeeting but otherwise I will never see my name in lights or on a printed bulletin again.
And why? Is it because after 25 years in ministry I have nothing to say? Is it because I am bald? Is it because I spit while I preach? Is it because I’m in West Virginia?
No…it’s because I am not a mega church pastor or TV evangelist. Everyone knows that only the guy with the big church has important things to say. It is only the phenom who just got 200 people from the church split down the road which doubled their attendance, “yes doubled!” that has wisdom. We all know that only those guys with generational preacher pedigrees in their family can preach it. The message is loud and clear that those who deserve to be heard and put on the stage are those with 1000+ in attendance in church and lift weights. The rest of us should be taking notes when the big boys climb the stage.
So desperate are we who want to part of that number that attendance numbers are fudged, consultants are hired, money is spent, buildings are built so that someone will notice! We all know that there are only a few important names in that hat and we desperately want to be one of those names.
The dirty secret of ministry is that like pro basketball, there are only a few who get to “the top.” You better be playing because you love the game, not the fame. You better be doing ministry because you love people and not because you want an invitation to unfurl your ego – I mean – wisdom - before adoring crowds. Better face up to the fact that your greatest impact will be in the lives of those few who you invest your life in.
For 120 years Noah built an Ark, preached, prayed, and pleaded with people to get saved from the judgment of God that was coming. And the end result? He lived his whole life to save 8 people. 8 people. We would consider him a failure. We would never let him preach the big meetings. He would never be considered for a leadership role. But there he is in the Bible, a hero. Maybe you are living your life for the 8, or 80 people. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t count yourself a failure. Don’t devalue your ministry. You’re never going to get the big invite but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have something to say and it doesn’t mean that you are a failure. Maybe it just means that God, in His infinite and sovereign plan, put you here for 8 people and not for 8,000. Accept His plan. Love His plan.
And why? Is it because after 25 years in ministry I have nothing to say? Is it because I am bald? Is it because I spit while I preach? Is it because I’m in West Virginia?
No…it’s because I am not a mega church pastor or TV evangelist. Everyone knows that only the guy with the big church has important things to say. It is only the phenom who just got 200 people from the church split down the road which doubled their attendance, “yes doubled!” that has wisdom. We all know that only those guys with generational preacher pedigrees in their family can preach it. The message is loud and clear that those who deserve to be heard and put on the stage are those with 1000+ in attendance in church and lift weights. The rest of us should be taking notes when the big boys climb the stage.
So desperate are we who want to part of that number that attendance numbers are fudged, consultants are hired, money is spent, buildings are built so that someone will notice! We all know that there are only a few important names in that hat and we desperately want to be one of those names.
The dirty secret of ministry is that like pro basketball, there are only a few who get to “the top.” You better be playing because you love the game, not the fame. You better be doing ministry because you love people and not because you want an invitation to unfurl your ego – I mean – wisdom - before adoring crowds. Better face up to the fact that your greatest impact will be in the lives of those few who you invest your life in.
For 120 years Noah built an Ark, preached, prayed, and pleaded with people to get saved from the judgment of God that was coming. And the end result? He lived his whole life to save 8 people. 8 people. We would consider him a failure. We would never let him preach the big meetings. He would never be considered for a leadership role. But there he is in the Bible, a hero. Maybe you are living your life for the 8, or 80 people. Don’t be ashamed. Don’t count yourself a failure. Don’t devalue your ministry. You’re never going to get the big invite but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have something to say and it doesn’t mean that you are a failure. Maybe it just means that God, in His infinite and sovereign plan, put you here for 8 people and not for 8,000. Accept His plan. Love His plan.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Ticker Tape or Ticky Tack
Do you remember ticker tape parades? I’m not even sure what ticker tape was (probably tape that came out of a ticker!) but I do remember parades where streams of paper and confetti were showering down from tall buildings upon athletes and other celebrities. It would look like a snowstorm in August! Always felt sorry for the street cleaners though!
I even remember a few high school football games where I created my own confetti and would throw it on people after a touchdown. And more than once I would empty out the bathroom cabinet of toilet paper rolls because that was another favorite thing to toss at sporting events. When you sit up a real high in the stands, then hold one end of the toilet paper, and then hurl the other end it was pretty cool until it hit somebody in the head was bigger than you.
Ticker tape parades were celebrations of victories and great events. For a moment in time we could hitch our wagon and our identity to our beloved sports team and celebrate like we were part of the victory.
From ticker tape to ticky-tack. My word processor doesn’t even recognize ticky- tack. Ticky-tack are those small annoyances that we let get under our skin that have the power to change our whole of disposition and our whole attitude toward something or someone. Ticker tape celebrates someone else. Ticky-tack is all about us. It’s all about our issue. It’s all about the unresolved feeling. It’s all about our assumptions of why others did or said what they did or said. Ticky-tack celebrates our hurt feelings.
One thing I’ve learned from Jesus is that we need a thick skin when it comes to ministry- and serving others.
Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately
Matthew 24:9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
That’s a tough environment to work in. Targeted for persecution, hated for no other reason than you follow Jesus Christ. People you once worshiped with turning away from you, betraying you, and even hating you.
Our response might or might not be found in verse 12, “and the love of many will grow cold.” We could come to the point of giving up on people, giving up on ministry, and giving up on the world. We might throw up our hands and say, “I’ve had enough! I’ve been stabbed in the back one too many times, I’m tired of being the topic of conversation for little blue haired ladies. I’m tired of swimming upstream so I’ll spin my cocoon, crawl inside, wake me up when it’s over!”
The trouble with this verse is that I have seen the love of many grow cold for a lot less trouble than these verses talk about. Thin skinned Christians are those who can’t deal with crabby people, or less than expected programs, or disappointment from leadership, or expect too much of people, or can’t stand being challenged from the pulpit. Ticky-tack Christians are those who seem more than eager to take offense at whatever doesn’t live up to their expectations. Christian professional victims.
Jesus has a word for us; “he who endures to the end will be saved.”
Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat the brutalities of ministry.. Sometimes ministry has to be “endured.” Jesus is raising up thick skinned, tough, battle hardened believers who are not easily swayed by the riff raff hanging around churches. Jesus is raising up those who know how to take a punch and keep on going.
Are you one of those? Are you one of those who still preach the good news even in the midst of all the bad news? That’s the kind of church I want!
I even remember a few high school football games where I created my own confetti and would throw it on people after a touchdown. And more than once I would empty out the bathroom cabinet of toilet paper rolls because that was another favorite thing to toss at sporting events. When you sit up a real high in the stands, then hold one end of the toilet paper, and then hurl the other end it was pretty cool until it hit somebody in the head was bigger than you.
Ticker tape parades were celebrations of victories and great events. For a moment in time we could hitch our wagon and our identity to our beloved sports team and celebrate like we were part of the victory.
From ticker tape to ticky-tack. My word processor doesn’t even recognize ticky- tack. Ticky-tack are those small annoyances that we let get under our skin that have the power to change our whole of disposition and our whole attitude toward something or someone. Ticker tape celebrates someone else. Ticky-tack is all about us. It’s all about our issue. It’s all about the unresolved feeling. It’s all about our assumptions of why others did or said what they did or said. Ticky-tack celebrates our hurt feelings.
One thing I’ve learned from Jesus is that we need a thick skin when it comes to ministry- and serving others.
Matthew 24:6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately
Matthew 24:9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers.10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
That’s a tough environment to work in. Targeted for persecution, hated for no other reason than you follow Jesus Christ. People you once worshiped with turning away from you, betraying you, and even hating you.
Our response might or might not be found in verse 12, “and the love of many will grow cold.” We could come to the point of giving up on people, giving up on ministry, and giving up on the world. We might throw up our hands and say, “I’ve had enough! I’ve been stabbed in the back one too many times, I’m tired of being the topic of conversation for little blue haired ladies. I’m tired of swimming upstream so I’ll spin my cocoon, crawl inside, wake me up when it’s over!”
The trouble with this verse is that I have seen the love of many grow cold for a lot less trouble than these verses talk about. Thin skinned Christians are those who can’t deal with crabby people, or less than expected programs, or disappointment from leadership, or expect too much of people, or can’t stand being challenged from the pulpit. Ticky-tack Christians are those who seem more than eager to take offense at whatever doesn’t live up to their expectations. Christian professional victims.
Jesus has a word for us; “he who endures to the end will be saved.”
Jesus doesn’t sugarcoat the brutalities of ministry.. Sometimes ministry has to be “endured.” Jesus is raising up thick skinned, tough, battle hardened believers who are not easily swayed by the riff raff hanging around churches. Jesus is raising up those who know how to take a punch and keep on going.
Are you one of those? Are you one of those who still preach the good news even in the midst of all the bad news? That’s the kind of church I want!
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