A Ministry of Presence

Being part of an authentic community requires presence!  Presence means we show up, contribute, and participate.  To be present is to allow ourselves to be held accountable as we hold others accountable.  It means that we genuinely care about the group, team, organization, or community, and we take our part seriously.  Significant lapses in community usually translate:

• A lack of perceived need for/benefit from being in community
•  Ignorance of the importance of community and how it works
•  Apathy/general disinterest
•  Selfishness-“What’s in this for me?”
• A commitment of convenience
• Perceived problems with the community, or someone within it

I notice something about the new community in Acts that Jesus birthed, commissioned and blessed before he ascended to heaven.  There was an incredible and profound sense of presence:

·      All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer (1:14)

·      ….they were all together in one place (2:1)

·      And at this sound the multitude came together (2:6)

·      And all who believed were together and had all things in common (2:44)

·      And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes (2:46)

·      ….the place in which they were gathered together was shaken…(4:31)

·      Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and one soul (4:32)

·      And they were all together in Solomon’s portico.. (5:12b)

      

      Presence was practiced and valued by the Early Church.  It was less about individual needs and personal schedules (no time for God this week) and more about what God was doing in and through the body at large. 

Biblical community requires commitment.  We commit to the Body of Christ because we realize it is based on God’s grace-gift and commitment to us through Jesus Christ.  Active participation in the Body enables us to grow, mature, serve, and minister to others in the name of Christ.  We realize we are called to be part of something that’s bigger than ourselves.  The byproduct of our presence and participation is comfort, support (physical and spiritual), unconditional love, and the joy of being part of something so important to God.

Unfortunately, many practice the ministry of disappearance, until they need something from God, or His church.  Their level of participation is based solely on their “what have you done for me lately?” meter.  They don’t participate to give and grow.  They participate to get.  Pretty soon their participation is not viewed through the lens of gratitude for what God has done and obedience to His call.  It is based solely on feelings.  Aren’t you glad Jesus didn’t quit at Calvary because He was tired, had a full schedule, or just didn’t feel like it?  I’m glad His ministry of presence was marked by faithfulness to God’s desire.  May it be so, may it be so for us! 

Four Group/Organization Personality Killers

• The Gossip
• The Negative
• The Know It All
• The Thespian

Here are four personality types that suck the life out of leaders, organizations and groups.  They tend to be high maintenance.  You do not leave them feeling energized.  They are a drain.

The gossip is one of the most divisive personalities in any organization.  The gossip repeats whatever he/she hears to whomever will listen without ever considering potential fallout.  The gossip never bothers to validate what has been said.  Truth is not important to the gossip.  Gossips thrive on repeating information without ever stopping to consider whether or not it needs to be repeated, or how it will impact others. He/she thrives on idle chatter and conversation.   Listening is only a means to gain information to pass along to others. Gossips rarely consider themselves an organizational hazard and most have no idea the damage they inflict on others until it’s too late. 

The negative is among the most draining personality types.  No one likes being around the negative, which is why they rarely experience in-depth conversations or meaningful relationships beyond obligatory comments about the weather, or sports.  The negative makes pejorative comments about every one and every thing.  She is not an optimistic person.  There is no such thing as an opportunity to the negative, only problems.  The negative tends to complain and whine a lot.  This is another reason why he has no substantial relationships in life.  People scatter like ants on the run from a can of Raid whenever a negative enters the room.  Negatives wear people out.  Few people stand up to the negative because they don’t want to engage them.  The negative can kill organizational momentum.  If they attract other negatives you’ve got a major problem on your hands.  It’s like cancer attacking a major organ.  Instead of engaging, or countering their negativity with positives people just quit coming, or participating in the organization to avoid the negative.   Negatives kill group dynamics.  Most negatives are bitter about life and blame everyone but himself or herself.  They are never responsible.

The know-it-all really does, just ask her.  Know-it-alls tend to be experts in everything.  It’s amazing how much they know, even areas in which they have little, or no experience.  Know-it-alls have an innate obligation to tell others what is wrong with them, or the organization.  Know-it-alls make you wonder how you ever survived before their arrival.   Know-it-alls are like the Wizard of Oz thundering commands and solutions without ever stepping from behind the curtain to roll up his sleeves and help.  Doing the actual work is not in their job description. They are simply there to point out what’s wrong and tell you how to fix it.  In fact you can make a know-it-all disappear quickly by asking him to take the lead on whatever it is he is analyzing.  And you should thank them for lending their expertise when others are more deserving.  Know-it-alls like to manage, or coach before they even join the team. 

The thespian is total drama.  Thespians think the world and your group or organization revolves around them.  Everything is magnified and internalized by the thespian.  He/she injects drama into every situation.  Thespians also hear what they want to hear so you have to constantly seek clarification when speaking with them.  Their perception is skewed.  Okay, it’s more than skewed it’s usually way off.  Thespians thrive on chaos, confusion, and emotion.  They tend to go from extreme highs to extreme lows.  If they can accomplish what they want by crying, yelling, or pouting they will.  You must remember that it’s all about them and no one else, not even the purpose/mission of the organization.  They filter everything they hear through a myopic lens.   Not all, but most thespians were either over disciplined, or under disciplined as children.  Balance is not in the thespians hard wiring.  Living with thespians can be like walking on a glass floor while wearing lead boots.  It’s not a matter of if you are going to crack the glass it’s just a matter of when.  Some thespians borrow and internalize the personal crisis of others in order to maintain their usual level of drama because they don’t know how to function without drama in their life. 

All four of these personality types can kill leaders and organizations.  Most of them aren’t even aware they behave this way.  Nearly all of them are insecure, or have a dim view of themselves even though they may outwardly appear to be anything but.  When confronted by their behavior (even constructively and in love) they are often shocked and hurt.  Typically such a confrontation only exposes them and they move on to a new group, or organization instead of seeking help to change.  You have to communicate clearly and draw boundaries with them because every one of them will push you to the limit.   

Sin is like this black hole in the Milky Way.  Get close to it and it sucks you in.  It’s enticing.  It calls us.  It knows exactly how to appeal to our fragile egos and pleasure centers.  It convinces us that pleasing self, even temporary pleasure is worth selling the whole family home place.  The allure of sin is like honeysuckle, it’s fragrance is overwhelming.  Paul had lots to say about sin.  He captured mankind's epic struggle with sin in Romans 7.  Paul, the Jew of all Jews, the scholar, missionary and author puts skin on our struggle in terms we can understand:

                                                                                             

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For dI delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members fanother law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from gthis body of death?

I resonate with David’s brutally honest confession in Psalm 51:  For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.   I hear you David.  No one, no one knows, understands and sees my sin like me, except God, and while He gives me free reign to choose sin and go against His will, it breaks His heart.   While I’d rather focus on the sins of others, I don’t have to go beyond my bathroom mirror to see the biggest sinner of all.  How can I offer commentary or critique on the sins of others when mine is glaring and ever present?

Sins of jealousy, envy, judgment, gossip, cynicism, flesh, pride, and spiritual arrogance are easily ignored when the sins of others catch the headlines.  Former Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino and the recent Secret Service Columbian Sex Scandal are just two examples of how we rationalize or justify our sin.  We reason, “I’m bad, but I’m not that bad!”  Yes I am.  And so are you!  We are ALL flawed, fallen and broken.  And without Christ we have no hope in this battle that is as old as Eden.  Back to Paul at the end of Romans 7 and into Romans 8:

                                                                                                                               24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from gthis body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.  8:9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact xthe Spirit of God dwells in you. yAnyone who does not have zthe Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of ahim who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus4 from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies bthrough his Spirit who dwells in you.

Did you catch it?  The life-giving, grace-drenching, accomplished work of Christ means we no longer have to live under the eternal assassination of the soul.   And that gives us direction, purpose, guidance power, resolve and hope as we face our daily (sometimes hourly) struggle with sin.   Confession and repentance are the result of the convicting work of the Spirit.  This is the gateway to daily self-denial and cross-bearing as we attempt to follow Jesus.  

I'm not worried about the sins of others, or those who are confessing and trying.   I’m more concerned about my own and those who have trouble acknowledging their sin and revel in the sins of others.  God help us to be more like the beggar in Jesus' story of the two men who stood to pray in the temple:  Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.  

Suffering

I’ve never heard anyone say the really deep lessons of life have come in times of ease and comfort. But, I have heard many saints say, "every significant advance I’ve ever made in grasping in the depth of God’s love and growing deep with Him, have come through suffering.”

John Piper

Friend of the Wounded Heart

What do you do when people you love are hurting? I’m talking about friends who are hurting, not family. Sometimes they are hurt because of a health issue, a divorce, job loss, addictions, the death of a loved one, a relationship issue, depression, or unresolved stuff from their formative years and family of origin. Sometimes the pain is self-inflicted from poor decisions and other times it’s not because of anything they have, or haven’t done.

Whether the pain is caused by others, or self doesn’t make it any easier on those of us who love them unconditionally. Would to God we could miraculously make the pain, or hurt disappear. That would be too easy wouldn’t it? And it would deny our friend(s) the opportunity:

• · To grow spiritually and personally from the experience
• · To learn something about themselves and the world
• · To model grace despite the hurt/pain
• · To exercise their faith
• · To hear truth spoken in love
• · To face the wound and seek help
• · To begin the process of forgiveness
• · To make peace with themselves, the world and others
• · To be loved unconditionally by us
• · To accept God’s unconditional love despite the pain
• · To be prayed over by us

I have two friends who are hurting this week. One has been hurting a long time. He’s got family of origin baggage that’s preventing him from resolving his chronic anger. Until he comes to term with it and admits it, he’s just going to grow even bitterer. I ache for him because he has so much potential, and many who love him have been praying for peace in his life for a long time. I pray resolution comes soon in his life and more than anything that he will know peace.

My other friend is the victim of Satan’s lies and cultural myths. He is convinced his life is worthless, and that he is making little difference in the world and he wants to throw in the towel and change jobs. The job isn’t the problem. The cultural myth is the belief that things are better on the other side of the mountain in his life. Yep his perspective will change if he makes the move, but the same issues will eventually resurface in the new location and surroundings. He has made a HUGE difference in his career and life. He has made a major impact on my life. He has a beautiful family, reasonably good health, a wonderful home and people who love him dearly. He is a very wealthy man and doesn’t realize it. He has bought into the lie that ultimate peace and contentment is circumstantial, not attitudinal. Now he says otherwise when offering counsel to others, but at the end of the day he is restless and refuses to apply this truth in his own life. I pray God reveals to him just how wonderful his life is and how much he is valued, loved and treasured by me, not for what he has done, but for who he is!

To both of these men whom I love Paul’s words come to mind:

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵ Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶ do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus

¹¹ Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. ¹² I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. ¹³ I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:4-7, 11-13 ESV)

Now What?

Lent, Holy Week and Easter have come and gone. So how do we live in a post-Easter world? The end of Luke’s story of Jesus gives us a clue:

50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. 51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Did you catch it? There’s our answer. We worship with great joy! After receiving the blessing of Jesus, the disciples worshiped with great joy. Years ago pastor Rick Warren said, “Worship is a lifestyle.” While corporate worship (“...continually in the temple blessing God.”) is necessary and wonderful, it is only one aspect of living the Christ-centered life. Our corporate or “temple” worship should be the culmination of our life worship. In corporate worship we bring an offering of praise to God. How are we bringing our offering of praise to God in every day life? How are we taking the Easter blessing (the redemption of our souls) of God through Christ to our normal routine?

The only way the world is going to know, or experience the eternal blessing of God is if those of us who follow Him live out that blessing in the world. And the best way to do that is it to worship with great joy. Live your life with great joy (that doesn’t mean the absence of pain) and people will be drawn to it. They will want to know the source of your joy. The Westminster Confession asks: What is man’s chief aim? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

What a great place to start. Live your life with joy-filled worship. God gives us permission to enjoy life as we bring Him glory. That’s how we live in a post-Easter world!

God Said YES!

He is risen! Resurrection Sunday and God said, YES! Happy Easter!

Holy Thursday Reflection

13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, ³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸ I am not speaking of all of you; I knowwhom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

(John 13 ESV)

Holy Wednesday Thoughts

“We are not as Christ-centered and cross-cherishing as we should be, because we do not ponder the truth that everything good, and everything bad that God turns for the good, was purchased by the sufferings of Christ.”
― John Piper, Passion of Jesus Christ

Holy Tuesday Reflection

“And though every day a man lives may rightly be a day of repentance, yet is it in these days more becoming, more appropriate, to confess our sins, to fast, and to give alms to the poor; since in these days you may wash clean the sins of the whole year.” - St. John Chrysostom

Holy Week Thought for Monday

Quotes for Holy Week, Monday, April 2nd:

"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor... Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting." -Mother Teresa of Calcutta