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The struggle to not allow ministry to be your god!

NOTE - this whole blog entry is really a comment that got a little long to my friend Mark Van Steenwyk's blog entry on October 28th titled "It's not a Both/And, often it is an Either/Or".

Success... What is it in ministry? Seriously… do we really know just how incredibly huge this question is?

I have met many people in my days who are totally codependent on how well their ministry is going. In fact, it is a daily struggle for me, and I am pretty self-depricating. What happens is they begin to replace the God of the Bible with the god of "here's-what-I-can-and-have-done-for-you, God". It is a serious trap. It is downright idolatry! I often hear of pastors who only read church growth books, seeking the latest greatest to have a larger church. The last thing a pastor needs to read is another church growth book if they are struggling with this! it just flat out needs to be repented from!

I say this so strongly because in my experience, I have seen more and more pastors and Christian workers eat this blue pill of unreality. It eats their lunch! Why? Because, just like any false god or idol, there is no life there! No matter how big your work is, no matter how many you have won to Jesus, no matter how many poor you have fed, how many people you have prayed for...it simply is never enough.

Please don't hear me as saying that churches shouldn't try to grow. The vision of our church is to honor God by helping as many people as possible become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Go get a large church for His glory! However, ministry is a SERIOUS trap for anyone who wants to get "life" from it. No wonder there are so many cults. No wonder there are so many false teachers. No wonder there is so much competition between churches. I mean, my very life is at stake, isn't it? I get my value and worth from that fact that I am such a big shot in the kingdom, eh?

The Christian minister of the gospel is to be first and foremost a CHRISTIAN!! In other words, "you shall have no other gods before me" applies seriously, and perhaps most clearly, to those who are Christ's ambassadors here on the earth.

I know this is strong language, and I've gotten a bit huffy here, but if you are in ministry, any kind of ministry, I ask you, no, I beg you...Get your life from Jesus! Leave the false religion of numbers and money and buildings and programs and amount of staff and budgets. Come to Jesus! Worship the Almighty God! Make the focus of your ministry to gain as many worshippers for Jesus NOT FOR YOU!!! Daily remind yourself of this. Root out mercilessly any hint of this creeping into your life. And then, use your numbers and money and buildings and programs and staff and budgets to build as many worshippers of Jesus that you possibly can!

Rule number one has always been and continues to be no matter what your format of church or ministry is - It ain't about you...OR positively spoken...It is all about God and his Glory.

If you take yourself too seriously, if you can't just stop and flat out laugh histarically at yourself and how God uses you IN SPITE of yourself...you are in deep trouble.

God has blessed me by letting me know that I am incredibly ordinary. Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2:1-13 have really moved me lately:

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”-- but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no-one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.”
1 Corinthians 2:1-13, NIV.

Paul, my hero Paul, the man outside of Jesus that I admire more than anyone for his intellect and ministry skill, is basically saying that even with all of his smarts, his immense ministry capabilities and sufferings, even with all of that he is convinced that success in ministry really only means that he has relied on the Holy Spirit, not on his own wisdom, to reach people.

Paul is convinced that really cool arguments, or really cool powerpoint, or candles and guitars or worship bands, or slick talks or anything else is not what changes people's lives. It is only when we use words that are the Spirit's - the "spiritual truths in spiritual words" in verse 13. To me, that means - go ahead, use that stuff (in fact, we do at Hope!) But never, and here's where the absolute war takes place in the heart of the pastor, never allow yourself to rely on ANY of it to do the trick in people's lives. God uses us to communicate his truth to the absolute center of another human being in spiritual words - not slick, or even necessary well thought out - just his words. He works in us, and through us, to others. It is about God from start to finish.

Those who wish to only do ministry if they are "successful by church growth standards" will need to daily repent to allow God to work. Otherwise, their ministry will be about them, and only allow their deity to grow or shrink by whatever measure they apply to it.

I will build my church...
~Jesus

Elliott Charles Frash (1929-2004)

Taking a nap after reading the Word

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."
~ The apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1, NIV.

Around 4:30am last Saturday morning (October 16th, 2004), in his Arizona home, Elliott Charles Frash went to his eternal home with Jesus. Elliott was my father in law, my friend, a grandfather to my 3 boys, and a great role model for what it means to work hard and provide for your family. Carole (my wife) was one of his two daughters, thus giving her the role of one of "daddy's little girls."

Carole had the opportunity to visit her father 2 times after he was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of brain cancer. During her first visit she had a great conversation with her father about where he stood in his relationship with Jesus. On a walk the last day she was visiting, he told her, "I'm ready to become a Christian." These were words that she has been waiting to hear for over 30 years! Right there, on a bench in Green Valley, Arizona, Carole had the privilege of leading her 75 year old father to surrender his life, and take Jesus as his Savior.

We've just come back from a week of family, friends, and lots of FOOD as we went to be with the surviving family members. Thanks for all of you who were praying for us and for Carole's family during this time, especially for Carole as she shared her dad's spiritual journey at his funeral. She did marvelously, and was able to clearly communicate her love for her dad, as well as the promise of Jesus he was banking his eternal soul upon.

Elliott during a visit by Carole on Oct. 6th, 2004

Hope for the City

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
~ Luke 4:16-21, NIV.

On Wednesday our pastoral staff went to a meeting at Bethlehem Baptist Church that featured Bob Lupton as the main presenter. He shared his views on how to bring life, vitality and economic stability to the poorest regions of our city. It was good, but it leaves me with a whole slew of questions.

First off, what is the primary concern of the church? Isn't it the 'soul work' of saving, discipling and training people to live lives worthy of God? I firmly believe this. This can NEVER be replaced with a well-meaning, yet ultimately temporal solution of having people become financially stable.

However, the Bible is CLEAR that we are to be among the poor (James 2:2-6), we are to give to the poor (Exodus 23:11), and we are not to show favoritsm, either positively (Exodus 23:3) or negatively (Exodus 23:6).

Also, we are to stand up for the poor, as so many people are actively trying to take advantage of them:

A poor man’s field may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away. [Proverbs 13:23]
The wicked draw the sword and bend the bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose ways are upright. [Psalm 37:14]

God has a huge heart for the poor. Now, my big question (BQ) is this:

How do we (as a body at HCC) and I (as an individual, and as senior pastor at Hope) become involved in the plight of the poor? Being a church on the edge of downtown Minneapolis, being right next to the county hospital, and within a stones throw of subsidized housing has brought new challenges and opportunities to us as a church. What do we do? How can we be involved with the justice and mercy the Lord asks of us, while at the same time investing heavily on the spiritual aspect of our ministry to more and more people as Hope is growing?

Quite honestly, I'm not sure right now. I would love prayer for me and our overseers and for our staff as we wrestle with this. One of the things I hope to dive into during my sabbatical (May-July 2005) will be this issue. I would also love any feedback here or in person from many of you at Hope (or out there in the internetville!). May God lead us to bring his hope to the city of Minneapolis!