I want to talk to you about our church plant in Oconomowoc. To do that effectively, in my mind, I want to share my heart in regard to what the Lord has shown me about church planting. When Peter spoke to the church, he said the reason he wrote was to “stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance” “though they knew (those things) and were firmly established in the truth.” Many of the things I am writing serve that purpose, I want to stir them up again and bring them to your attention.
Jesus said, “I will build my church…” and yet we also are told from the Scriptures, “God has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” Jesus affirmed this by saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
You see, I believe that Jesus is saying He is with us as we go and make disciples and thus build the church. When we go to build His church, we go with His authority and therefore His blessing. I am writing you because I believe that you also know how important it is for each of us to obey the great commission. Experience has taught the church at large that the most effective way to make disciples is church planting.
Why do many church plant attempts fail if Jesus is involved in building His church? One may blame the faith or skill of the church planter, but I believe no person is called to do the work of ministry on their own. Eph 4:16 tells us that “From Him the whole body… grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” That means we each have a part to do and share responsibility for the work. The Holy Spirit has told us that we cannot say that we do not need each other; each member is essential and necessary not only to the growth of the local church but also to the Church at large.
In the past there have been individual planters whose primary resource from the body of Christ was finances. Because they lacked the other elements of support necessary in planting a church, they failed. This has resulted in a move towards satellite churches where one local church provides almost all the necessary elements.
While these churches are more successful, they still do not reflect the image of the full body of Christ working together for growth and edification. The body of Christ shouldn’t have a sink or swim pragmatic attitude toward church planting success or failure. Rather the Bible says, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Cor 12:26). That tells me that for every church plant that has failed, the whole body has suffered and every success should be shared amongst the whole body (because the whole body contributed in some way toward that success).
What does a successful church plant need? I have grouped the needs into four categories:
1) Prayer – church planting is met with spiritual resistance according to Jesus (Mt 16:18). The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds (2 Cor 10:4).
2) People – The lead pastor is called of God to equip/prepare these people to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:12) and entrusting the same to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others (2 Tim 2:2).
3) Provisions – finances are needed for start up costs, to purchase necessary equipment, and to provide for the lead pastor whom God has ordained or commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel (1 Cor 9:14 KJV/NIV).
4) Peers – these are those individuals and organizations willing to provide supervision, guidance, wisdom, and even accountability for the church plant’s leadership team.
Since you are my friends, I am making my plea to you to join with us to help plant Hope Springs Christian Church in Oconomowoc, WI. Pray seriously about what function God is calling you to do in this work. Friends, we do share responsibility and as such we share the success or failure of this church plant. Each one of us can do something, however great or small, however trivial or significant in our own eyes, the point is to have a good conscience before God that we did something and that something is all that Jesus has told us to do.
I am available to share my vision for Oconomowoc to you and your church if you like. Meanwhile check out our website at www.hopespringschristianchurch.org to see our specific plans and view a needs list.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
God's Duty of Care
As a Christian, often times I have struggled to understand seemingly contradictory concepts in regard to our faith, but because “to whom would I go? I believe and am sure that Jesus has the words of eternal life…”[1] I have held those questions in my heart and continued to pray about them until God gave me some answer that would make sense to me. One such struggle centered on the justice of God and the vicarious or substitutionary death of Jesus for mankind.
As a person who evangelizes fairly often, I came across a tract that illustrates the reason for my struggle. In this tract, a bully grows up to eventually become a murderer. Because there are witnesses, he is arrested, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death. All his life his mother loves him and pleads for him to live right, yet her son continually spews out hatred toward her. Even while in jail, his mother comes with cookies and declares her unconditional love for her son, yet still he rejects her love. Eventually he is told the day of his execution will be the following day and he proclaims, “I’m too young to die!” The next day the guards come to lead him away, but to his surprise he is set free and informed that his mother bore his sentence and died on his behalf. From this tract an analogy is drawn of how Jesus died on our behalf.
I don’t know if you ever thought about it, or if you have just accepted this kind of analogy, but I am asking you to think about it now. Would this truly satisfy the justice of God who is holy? Think about it. If a righteous person approached the bench of a judge in the sentencing portion of a convicted murderer and said, “Judge, you and I know that this man is worthy of death. Since the law demands death as the penalty for his crime and I can prove I am a person of impeccable character, I request that you allow me to die in his place. The death sentence that the law requires will be satisfied so you may set him free.”
What do you really think the judge will say? “Hmmm…kill a righteous man so that a criminal can go free to commit the same, or worse, crime again!” You and I both know that a good and just judge would never allow the criminal to go free and a good person take their punishment. How could that ever be considered justice?
So do you now see the dilemma and the contradiction in regard to Jesus’ death being the righteous dying for the ungodly. How could a completely holy, just, and good God accept as payment for our wickedness the death of one righteous? In fact, contrary to popular belief, the more righteous Jesus was the more unjust His substitutionary death would become.
So I prayed, “God I do not understand. It doesn’t make any logical or right sense that just because Jesus was the only one without sin that he could ever legally be accepted as a payment for our sin. Help me to understand.” I prayed over and over till finally the answer came when I was watching a PBS program about tort law.
The word “tort” refers to injury and the dominant action in tort is negligence. The tort of negligence provides a cause of action leading to damages, or to injunctive relief, in each case designed to protect legal rights, including those of personal safety, property, and, in some cases, intangible economic interests. Negligence actions include claims arising primarily from automobile accidents and personal injury accidents of many kinds, including clinical negligence.[2] In tort law, the standard of care is the degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care. A breach of the standard is necessary for a successful action in negligence.[3] What does this all have to do with Jesus and justice you ask?
Well, I think it could be argued to a Trier of fact that God had a breach of the standard and a duty of care in regard to Adam and Eve, who were His sole creation. By reason of God’s ability to foresee the consequences of giving them a free will to choose or reject obedience, by virtue of Him being in all places present and failing to prevent them from eating of the deadly fruit, and allowing another member of His creation to so deceive Eve that it led to her actions that resulted in the spiritual death and subsequent physical death of all mankind, God failed to act with prudence and caution with those individuals who were under His duty of care.
It could be thus argued although God is not held in direct liability for the actions of His creation, but indirectly by virtue of creating Adam and Eve with a manufacturing defect called, “Choice.” Because God allowed Adam and Eve to exercise their choice and did not prevent them from doing so, which resulted in tort to not only themselves but all mankind. Much like the manufacturer of an automobile who is held liable for damages resulting from foreseeable defects that result in injury, so it could be said that God is liable for our injuries resulting from our defects (called our weaknesses or the weakness of our flesh in the Bible). Consider also the fact that God hid from mankind His wisdom - which it was He who came in the flesh, for if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.[4]
This is why the Bible in John chapter one and Colossians chapter one tells us that the one that took responsibility for our sins and redeemed us by paying our sin penalty was the same One who created us.[5] The fact is the only one that could have purchased us back was the Creator because He is the only one who could be held liable for our sin. This is why the Bible teaches that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.[6] God through Christ willingly accepted responsibility for His creation, although it could also be argued that God should not be held liable.
So it could be said that there is a class action lawsuit against God for damages resulting from His tort liability for those under His duty of care. All those who wish to receive compensation must have their names added to the suit and be listed in the Lamb’s book of Life. As a result, all those who do cannot have their sins held against them.
God is both the judge and the defendant. Jesus is both the payment and our attorney. We are the plaintiffs and we truly have an opportunity to benefit for all eternity. Won't you come to God, not only to receive compensation but the fix to our resulting injuries caused by the exercise of our freewill - a new heart and a new Spirit.
“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”[7]
[1] John 6:68-69
[2] Wikipedia etymology of tort
[3] Wikipedia standard of care
[4] 1 Cor. 2:7-8; Acts 3:17
[5] John 1:1-4, 10-14; Col 1:12-20
[6] 2 Cor. 5:19
[7] Rom 3:25-26
As a person who evangelizes fairly often, I came across a tract that illustrates the reason for my struggle. In this tract, a bully grows up to eventually become a murderer. Because there are witnesses, he is arrested, found guilty of murder, and sentenced to death. All his life his mother loves him and pleads for him to live right, yet her son continually spews out hatred toward her. Even while in jail, his mother comes with cookies and declares her unconditional love for her son, yet still he rejects her love. Eventually he is told the day of his execution will be the following day and he proclaims, “I’m too young to die!” The next day the guards come to lead him away, but to his surprise he is set free and informed that his mother bore his sentence and died on his behalf. From this tract an analogy is drawn of how Jesus died on our behalf.
I don’t know if you ever thought about it, or if you have just accepted this kind of analogy, but I am asking you to think about it now. Would this truly satisfy the justice of God who is holy? Think about it. If a righteous person approached the bench of a judge in the sentencing portion of a convicted murderer and said, “Judge, you and I know that this man is worthy of death. Since the law demands death as the penalty for his crime and I can prove I am a person of impeccable character, I request that you allow me to die in his place. The death sentence that the law requires will be satisfied so you may set him free.”
What do you really think the judge will say? “Hmmm…kill a righteous man so that a criminal can go free to commit the same, or worse, crime again!” You and I both know that a good and just judge would never allow the criminal to go free and a good person take their punishment. How could that ever be considered justice?
So do you now see the dilemma and the contradiction in regard to Jesus’ death being the righteous dying for the ungodly. How could a completely holy, just, and good God accept as payment for our wickedness the death of one righteous? In fact, contrary to popular belief, the more righteous Jesus was the more unjust His substitutionary death would become.
So I prayed, “God I do not understand. It doesn’t make any logical or right sense that just because Jesus was the only one without sin that he could ever legally be accepted as a payment for our sin. Help me to understand.” I prayed over and over till finally the answer came when I was watching a PBS program about tort law.
The word “tort” refers to injury and the dominant action in tort is negligence. The tort of negligence provides a cause of action leading to damages, or to injunctive relief, in each case designed to protect legal rights, including those of personal safety, property, and, in some cases, intangible economic interests. Negligence actions include claims arising primarily from automobile accidents and personal injury accidents of many kinds, including clinical negligence.[2] In tort law, the standard of care is the degree of prudence and caution required of an individual who is under a duty of care. A breach of the standard is necessary for a successful action in negligence.[3] What does this all have to do with Jesus and justice you ask?
Well, I think it could be argued to a Trier of fact that God had a breach of the standard and a duty of care in regard to Adam and Eve, who were His sole creation. By reason of God’s ability to foresee the consequences of giving them a free will to choose or reject obedience, by virtue of Him being in all places present and failing to prevent them from eating of the deadly fruit, and allowing another member of His creation to so deceive Eve that it led to her actions that resulted in the spiritual death and subsequent physical death of all mankind, God failed to act with prudence and caution with those individuals who were under His duty of care.
It could be thus argued although God is not held in direct liability for the actions of His creation, but indirectly by virtue of creating Adam and Eve with a manufacturing defect called, “Choice.” Because God allowed Adam and Eve to exercise their choice and did not prevent them from doing so, which resulted in tort to not only themselves but all mankind. Much like the manufacturer of an automobile who is held liable for damages resulting from foreseeable defects that result in injury, so it could be said that God is liable for our injuries resulting from our defects (called our weaknesses or the weakness of our flesh in the Bible). Consider also the fact that God hid from mankind His wisdom - which it was He who came in the flesh, for if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.[4]
This is why the Bible in John chapter one and Colossians chapter one tells us that the one that took responsibility for our sins and redeemed us by paying our sin penalty was the same One who created us.[5] The fact is the only one that could have purchased us back was the Creator because He is the only one who could be held liable for our sin. This is why the Bible teaches that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.[6] God through Christ willingly accepted responsibility for His creation, although it could also be argued that God should not be held liable.
So it could be said that there is a class action lawsuit against God for damages resulting from His tort liability for those under His duty of care. All those who wish to receive compensation must have their names added to the suit and be listed in the Lamb’s book of Life. As a result, all those who do cannot have their sins held against them.
God is both the judge and the defendant. Jesus is both the payment and our attorney. We are the plaintiffs and we truly have an opportunity to benefit for all eternity. Won't you come to God, not only to receive compensation but the fix to our resulting injuries caused by the exercise of our freewill - a new heart and a new Spirit.
“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”[7]
[1] John 6:68-69
[2] Wikipedia etymology of tort
[3] Wikipedia standard of care
[4] 1 Cor. 2:7-8; Acts 3:17
[5] John 1:1-4, 10-14; Col 1:12-20
[6] 2 Cor. 5:19
[7] Rom 3:25-26
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Misunderstood Worship
Rom 11:36b-12:1 To him be the glory forever! Amen. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.
As a young Christian, I met many individuals who had a profound impact on me - some for good and many by virtue of them being so wrong. One such individual, told me the story of how they went to a pentecostal service that the praise and worship was so exuberant that many were "dancing in the spirit" along with the praise music. Their group was led by a self-proclaimed judge of the move of the Spirit. When this man saw a woman praising God in a red dress (because they believed that wearing red was sinful like the whore in the book of Revelation), he proclaimed, "That woman's praise is unacceptable!" He believed that God did indeed look at the outward and refused her praise on the basis the color of her dress!!
It is interesting to me that, in both the Old and Testaments, the words used that are translated "worship" mean to bow or to prostrate one's self in the presence of another. In this definition I see what Paul mentioned as our spiritual act of worship. It is first ascribing glory to another and second to sacrifice ourselves.
The Greek word translated "glory" means to "make very apparent." The idea is that whatever we glory gets bigger in our eyes. In other words, whatever we esteem, value, or focus more attention on we ascribe glory to. Paul, in the passage above, tells us that to Jesus should be the glory. He must increase in our eyes. He should be the focus of our lives.
The second aspect of worship is that of prostrating or sacrificing. John the baptist said of Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease." Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." The idea is that we sacrifice other things for whatever we worship. We lay down our wills and deny ourself. We humble ourselves with contrite and broken hearts.
You can see that THIS is the reason Jesus so hottly rebuked the Pharisees, they refused to prostrate their hearts and humble themselves. Whenever we refuse to humble ourselves and decrease in God's presence we are not worshiping in the literal sense.
So often in church during the "praise and worship" portion of the service we stand or are told to stand. It is not often we are told to bow or to fall to our knees. Yet this is what the figure or analogy is for worship. Let us bow our hearts, let us deny ourselves next time we praise Jesus and glorify Him, remembering that if we fail to humble ourselves we fail to worship. And MOST importantly...let us not judge others as they worship!! As the song says, "Down at Your feet, oh Lord, is the most high praise."
As a young Christian, I met many individuals who had a profound impact on me - some for good and many by virtue of them being so wrong. One such individual, told me the story of how they went to a pentecostal service that the praise and worship was so exuberant that many were "dancing in the spirit" along with the praise music. Their group was led by a self-proclaimed judge of the move of the Spirit. When this man saw a woman praising God in a red dress (because they believed that wearing red was sinful like the whore in the book of Revelation), he proclaimed, "That woman's praise is unacceptable!" He believed that God did indeed look at the outward and refused her praise on the basis the color of her dress!!
It is interesting to me that, in both the Old and Testaments, the words used that are translated "worship" mean to bow or to prostrate one's self in the presence of another. In this definition I see what Paul mentioned as our spiritual act of worship. It is first ascribing glory to another and second to sacrifice ourselves.
The Greek word translated "glory" means to "make very apparent." The idea is that whatever we glory gets bigger in our eyes. In other words, whatever we esteem, value, or focus more attention on we ascribe glory to. Paul, in the passage above, tells us that to Jesus should be the glory. He must increase in our eyes. He should be the focus of our lives.
The second aspect of worship is that of prostrating or sacrificing. John the baptist said of Jesus, "He must increase and I must decrease." Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." The idea is that we sacrifice other things for whatever we worship. We lay down our wills and deny ourself. We humble ourselves with contrite and broken hearts.
You can see that THIS is the reason Jesus so hottly rebuked the Pharisees, they refused to prostrate their hearts and humble themselves. Whenever we refuse to humble ourselves and decrease in God's presence we are not worshiping in the literal sense.
So often in church during the "praise and worship" portion of the service we stand or are told to stand. It is not often we are told to bow or to fall to our knees. Yet this is what the figure or analogy is for worship. Let us bow our hearts, let us deny ourselves next time we praise Jesus and glorify Him, remembering that if we fail to humble ourselves we fail to worship. And MOST importantly...let us not judge others as they worship!! As the song says, "Down at Your feet, oh Lord, is the most high praise."
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