Called To Serve part 4

This is the final part of this subject as far as this little exercise is concerned but I hope it is not the end of you seeking greater revelation on this subject. What we are exploring is how we can avoid in the Church a similar leadership melt down that Israel experienced. It helps us to realize that everything in the Kingdom is volunteer. I am not forced to submit myself to the Spirit, I volunteer to do so. It is for my best interest but it is still a decision I get to make. This is applied to everything : it is my choice to accept or reject Father’s free gift of salvation ; I volunteer to walk in obedience ; I volunteer to worship ; I volunteer to serve ; I volunteer to love. It’s always a choice even if I am compelled by love.

To go forward we need to understand, accept and apply that all instruction that has been written in the past is for our benefit today:

“Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures.” Romans 15:4

Trust me, the leadership we are considering comes at such a high cost that it is impossible without the hope that comes through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. This model is uniquely a kingdom model that is impossible to duplicate without Jesus because without him we can do nothing.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice.” 15:5-6

Because that is the end goal, relationships that are matured into unity where we glorify our Father with one voice. This must be the foundational understanding of any form of leadership within the Body of Christ. It is from this perspective, that we renew daily, that we decide to remain focused on our King and his purpose for us:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” 15:7

Going on 40 years of following Jesus I have yet to see him reject me due to my imperfections, mistakes, blunders, sins. He keeps covering them, keeps lifting me up, keeps perfecting me in my imperfection. So how can I as a leader in the Body do anything other than serve the weak from my position of power. My life is spent for the purpose of seeing them mature in Jesus. I must be like and do like Jesus:

“I’m saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the ancestors, and so that the Gentiles could glorify God for his mercy.” 15:8-9

The servant-leaders in the Body can only avoid the collapse of Israel’s government by refusing to focus on themselves, understand Kingdom leadership and daily renew their submission to the King and their service to the Body. No other form of leadership will benefit the individuals of the Body and no other form of leadership will be rewarded. 

Called To Serve part 3

 I hope you have taken the time to read through part one and part two in order that you may get the most out of part three. We understand that Yahweh had set up a government of checks and balances in Israel which included the High Priest, High Judge, the Prophet and the king. But these offices had failed to retain the understanding that their purpose was the people. Their purpose was to serve the people to maintain a kingdom that was focused on Yahweh and each other. Instead, they put that focus on themselves and everything Yahweh had put in place for a prosperous society could not function due to the improper focus. Now let’s turn the page to where we are today, after the cross.

Jesus came with multiple purposes including the revealing of the depth of Father’s heart. Jesus taught and demonstrated what relationship looks like in the Kingdom, including the servant-leaders, and then he left to send us the Spirit to empower us to live it. In our present age we have the Body of Christ, which we are all part of and the only head is Jesus. He has given us trainers, the five-fold (apostles, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher), to train us in the works that will unite us and grow us into the maturity of Jesus. In this structure we are all part of the royal priesthood, each of us a leader in a broken world. Our focus is on those who Father loves, the lost of this world, not to lord it over them but to serve them so they would be open to Jesus.

The structure of the Body can be scary for those who are looking for a pyramid structure with a boss dictating to everyone else. Instead it is an inverted pyramid. Paul refers to the apostles as being the ones who take the most abuse as they lay it all on the line for the purpose of serving the Body. Paul gives us a wonderful picture of the Body in 1 Corinthians 12 and too often that’s as far as we go. But Paul said that there is a way that allows all the diversity to be united together, functioning together for the same purpose. He follows this with the wonder 1 Corinthians 13. You should pause and refresh yourself on these two chapters.

What Paul is giving us is the manner in which we prevent the failure we see in the government of Israel. The whole Bible is about relationship and Father wants us to understand what right relationship looks like with him and with each other. Understanding this, let’s consider Romans 15. 

Verse one should stop us right in our tracks when we are considering the relationship between the mature and the beginners in the Body:

“We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves.”

This works for relationships in the Body but also with those who have yet to come to Jesus. We can have a terrible attitude toward those who are still controlled by their sins, new believers and pre-believers. We make a mistake when we try to control their sin instead of demonstrating Father’s love, patience and kindness. We are not responsible for conviction, that is the Spirit’s job. We have enough on our hands to stay within our anointing, demonstrating the power of Father’s love to heal and forgive.

When we see this as our primary purpose, to demonstrate Father’s love, they will soon recognize Jesus’ love demonstrated on the cross and love will compel them to forsake sin in the same way it compels us to serve as servants. There is no fast track. Everything takes time to learn and respond to. We love and we make sure we are prepared to give the reason for our hope, to new believers and pre-believers. We are all learning. There will always be those more mature and less mature than us. So we serve with humility. Consider :

“Each of us should please our neighbours for their good in order to build them up. Christ didn’t please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me.” (Romans 15:2-3)

That’s a pretty powerful picture, absorbing what is intended to destroy your neighbour. How do we do that? The enemy is out to destroy your neighbour but instead we cover those moments by grace. Sounds poetic but when you have been raised in an environment of calling out every sin, every offense, every mistake, it can be hard to shift gears into proper kingdom leadership.

I am going to give you some time to seek Father’s heart on this. If you have questions, take them to him and wait on the answers. I pray that he will show you his heart on the matter. We will come back to finish this off with part 4.

Called To Serve part 2

 I am not going to re-cap part 1. It is available to you to look over quickly. We are going to jump right into this by me asking you to put this aside until you read Jeremiah 23. Don’t pretend you read it. It’s going to take you three minutes and you will get much more out of this by laying the foundation of Scripture.

Okay, I am going to assume you have read it, and I hope you did. It’s pretty heavy in the category of correction. The government that Yahweh had set up for Israel had completely bottomed out and to understand this we need to lean heavily on the first part. Remember what Jesus said about leadership in the Kingdom: not to rule but to serve.

In this chapter, the shepherds that are being referred to are all those who have any role in the four offices of government including those who assisted these offices. These are the officials, the assistants, the clerks who are all in place to help the four offices serve the people so that the people can succeed in life. Remember, the goal is a right relationship with Yahweh and each other because this is the foundation to success in Yahweh. It is from right relationship that all the blessings of Yahweh flow. Now of these officials Yahweh states:

“You are the ones who have scattered my flock and driven them away. You haven’t attended to their needs, so I will take revenge on you for the terrible things you have done to them, declares the LORD.”

He says that he will replace them with shepherds who will fulfill their duties:

“I will place over them shepherds who care for them. Then they will no longer be afraid or dread harm, nor will any be missing, declares the LORD.”

Look how important those leaders are to the welfare of the people : no fear, no dread, no harm, and no one missing. The LORD is placing the current poor condition of the people squarely on the shepherds.

The king has been another failure in this government. The solution is simple : replace him with a righteous king. “The LORD Is Our Righteousness” cannot describe any human representative. No human could be considered righteous outside of Yahweh making it so. It had to be Jesus. Simple enough.

It is the prophet that was the greatest disappointment because the prophet was the most intimate part of the government. The prophet had to have an intimate relationship with Yahweh in order to hear him and repeat the message. He was often in the secret place, having set aside his life to live as Yahweh’s voice to the nations. It was dangerous, difficult and required a complete surrender of will and thought.

“Because the country teems

with adulterers,

because of them,

yes, because their might is not right

and their way is evil,

the land dries up,

and the grazing areas in the wilderness wither.”

The shepherds’ neglect impacted the people but the prophet’s corruption impacted the people and the land. There was no voice of correction. No one was calling the officials to repentance. No one was delivering the truth needed. They were all about sunny days and sunny ways. They spoke from their own desires and not from the intimate position of the prophet. In this mess we hear Yahweh state something very important:

“Let the prophet who has a dream declare it, but let the one who has my word proclaim it faithfully.”

We are a prophetic people and Father communicates with us prophetically. But the measuring rod for this is the word of God. The Spirit will never speak to us outside of this foundation. He will give us revelation but that is simply a deepening of our understanding of what has already been given to us in the word. He will help us understand Kingdom systems but they are all found in the word. Every prophetic word is only viable if it is measured by the word of God. This is for our safety.

Everything Jesus taught us can be found in scriptures except that he brought us to Father’s heart with it. He took the word and he brought us to the place where it was intended to live, in great richness, power and intimacy. He showed us the true depth of relationship, “love your neighbour as you love yourself” went to the deeper place of “love your enemy”.

However, the focus here is on leadership in the Kingdom. In part 3 we are going to consider how this service to others is supposed to look on this side of the cross so that failure of shepherds can be avoided.

Called To Serve part 1

 Leadership is considered a key matter in the Church today. We have hundreds of conferences, online classes and hundreds of books published every year focusing on this subject. It is for this reason that we must insist that leadership in the Church remain biblically based. I am in no way qualified to teach on leadership but I have recently received some revelation for myself that I would like to share with you. We will start in the Hebrew texts and move into the Christian texts.

I enjoy every part of the Bible and appreciate each writer for their distinct purpose and revelation. Some of these writers I feel more partial to than others. Jeremiah is one of these writers. Born in the royal line of David, he comes across as an everyday man, called out from a regular life, into the role of prophet during a very troubling time. The Lord told him that he knew him before he was born and had set him aside at that time to be his prophet.

Let’s remind ourselves of the government that the Lord had set up in Israel. People can be mistaken in thinking that the government is the king and his officials. That is only one part of the government. No, what the Lord had set up can be compared to the government of the United States, with its three parts balancing each other and acting as accountability partners so no one person could become too powerful.

In Israel there was the High Priest who had lots of responsibilities but the big one was maintaining the law and sacrifices, everything that had been set down on paper from Yahweh through Moses. He gave oversight to the priesthood and the Levitical workers.

There was also the High Judge who normally came from the priesthood. We can see that there were periods of Israel’s history when the king would take on this office but it was supposed to be a separate person who would act as the high court, especially in doctrinal matters. He was responsible for oversight of the entire judicial system and was responsible for applying Yahweh’s justice, which was often about responsibility in relationship.

There was also the prophet or prophets. These were a unique group of people who enjoyed a relationship with Yahweh like no other. The High Priest was required to enter into the presence of Yahweh once a year but the prophet experienced him many times over. Prophets were set aside according to Yahweh’s will and came from every walk of life, regardless of position, rank or condition. But once called, everything from the past was canceled and complete obedience was required. These people, male and female, were called upon to do weird and dangerous things. Many were killed. But the prophet was Yahweh’s voice today, for this current situation, giving direction or bringing correction.

The king was the last position to be put in place. He represented Yahweh in terms of power. This power was for protection and provision. It was his responsibility to maintain an army to protect the borders. He was responsible for trade so that God’s people would be equipped to be prosperous. He had his own specific set of rules to prevent him from becoming too powerful and overpowering the other positions of government.

All of these people, including their officials and staff who assisted them were there for the purpose of the people, to build them up, to see them succeed in life. They were not there for their own agenda, to become wealthy off the people, to stack the deck in their favour. They were servants to the people, representing different aspects of Yahweh in their lives. It was a beautiful system, until it wasn’t.

David’s time was probably the best period to look at if you want to see this system at work. David protected the function of the other positions. There was justice in the land because the High Judge was permitted to carry out his role. The sacrifices were maintained and there was constant worship going up because the High Priest carried out his responsibilities. The majority of the land was experiencing peace as the king drove back their enemies and demonstrated the power of Yahweh to protect his own. And when the king thought he could do whatever he wanted, the prophet showed up to tell David that what he did was seen and to bring correction. 

In order for this system to work everything had to be focused on Yahweh. The benefit of the Law needed to be understood. The importance of each position for the prosperity and success of the nation, the people, needed to be held on to. It was not a successful nation when the rich became richer and the poor became poorer. Everyone needed to function within a fear of the Lord, out of utter respect for the instruction and a desire to be faithful to the Lord and his people. But not every king was like David and the system would fail.

In part two we are going to consider Yahweh’s heart when his servant’s failed to serve his people.

1 Timothy 1: Commanded By Jesus

It's time for me to get back to what I do best: instruct on the Word of God. I may throw in some extra blogs from time to time but I must get back to expounding on the Word in a systematic manner. Considering the craziness that is going on, I am led to once again go through Paul's letters to Timothy. There is a lot of excellent instruction for us in this current age included in these letters.

From Paul.

God our Savior and Christ Jesus commanded me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, who gives us hope. (1 Timothy 1:1)

Do you know who you are in Jesus and what you have been appointed to? Do you know your place in the Body of Christ? Your gifting from the Spirit? Without knowing these things how can you serve?

We don't get to do whatever we want to do or whatever we feel like doing. Our calling and place in the Body has nothing to do with talents, personality or our preference. It should never be a matter of filling out a volunteer form or us being asked what we would like to do. All of these things are divinely appointed by God. Don't think so?

The Spirit has given each of us a special way of serving others. (1 Corinthians 12:7)

But it is the Spirit who does all this and decides which gifts to give to each of us. (v. 11)

But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best. (v. 18)

Not our decision. That is why apostle Paul says with great clarity and boldness, "Jesus commanded me to be an apostle". Not Paul's decision but God's. It is the only way that he was able to run the race to completion, knowing he was appointed by Jesus for the task. It is this knowledge that causes us to go the distance.

If at any point you think that what you are doing in the Body was your choice you will also eventually believe you have the choice to walk away. Service is not easy. Carrying your cross will take everything you have to give and beyond. With it being so hard, if you believe you have a choice, you will walk away. It is only when you are "compelled" that you are willing to die in your calling. Can you express the urgency of your calling in the same manner as Paul?

I don’t have any reason to brag about preaching the good news. Preaching is something God told me to do, and if I don’t do it, I am doomed. (1 Corinthians 9:16)

In seminary I remember filling out a missions survey which was filled with questions about by likes and interests. This was suppose to tell me where I was suited to serve. Wrong! Unless I am called by God I will not serve with the power or conviction of God and I will do only a tolerable job in my flesh, which might, at the end of the day, kill me. The Body is filled with people filling positions halfheartedly, without passion because passion comes from conviction and conviction comes from knowing you are appointed to your task by Jesus.

Until we can say in truth "Jesus commanded me" we will not serve with all our passion. We will not serve with conviction. We will not serve with authority and power. When Paul spoke he knew he spoke with the authority that came with his office. We need to accept the truth:

Not everyone is an apostle. Not everyone is a prophet. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can work miracles. Not everyone can heal the sick. Not everyone can speak different kinds of languages. Not everyone can tell what these languages mean. (1 Corinthians 12:29-30)

But everyone is appointed to something. It means that some ARE apostles; some ARE prophets; some CAN work miracles; some CAN heal; some CAN speak different kinds of languages. The Word clearly says:

Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body. (v. 27)

Every part has a function and purpose as appointed by Jesus and you are one of those parts. But which one?

That is the question that you need answered. Ask the Lord to reveal your purpose, calling and then wait on his response. He will put it on your heart, confirm it through the Word and confirm it again by what people receive in the Spirit for you. You may not like what you have been appointed to but you will feel compelled and your joy will be found in your obedience.

Are you convinced you are commanded by Jesus today?

Discouragement Comes When We Forget

Is it possible for a Christian to become discouraged? Absolutely, when we forget. There are a lot of things we can forget that would lead us to discouragement, even depression. We can forget God's promises, presence, love, forgiveness, mercy, grace. We can even forget that we did not choose him but he chose us.

We forget this because we think that the decision we made meant that we chose him. We forget who created us in the first place and we forget he created us for friendship with him. We forget that he has pursued us throughout time and he laid down his plans to rescue us. We forget that he chose the cross. We forget he sent the Spirit. We forget that he decided for us before the beginning of time. We forget that Jesus even told us:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. (John 15:16)

I think Paul often reminded himself and his readers that he had not chosen this relationship and calling himself but he had been chosen:

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. (Colossians 1:1)

This was important to remember because Paul had been a persecutor of the Church and there were many people in the world who did not want Paul to forget. I am sure there are many people in your life who do not want you to forget what you were or what you have done. The great accuser certainly doesn't want you to forget. He wants you to remain weak, pitiful and useless to God. Between yourself, other people, and the great accuser it is hard to forget. But you must forget in order to remember who chose you.

You are not a freak chance of nature; you were purposefully designed and given life. You have been called to greatness in the Kingdom of God of which you are a citizen. You are a constant companion of God, called friend by Jesus and filled by God himself. You have been pursued by Jesus who does not want to lose you. You are cherished, loved and protected.

There are other choices you can make yourself. You can chose to ignore God. You can chose to stay miserable in the darkness of your soul. You can chose to hide under the blanket of tormenting emotions. You can chose to hide behind the frailty of man's logic. You can chose to remain enslaved to things you do not even realize exist. You can make these other choices or you can accept the fact that you are chosen.

Jesus is reminding you today, to encourage you, to lift you up, that you did not choose him but he chose you. Live in that knowledge today, accepting the fact that you never face anything alone but are always in the presence of the great overcomer. He said he will never leave you or forsake you. You will never be abandoned or forgotten. You are precious. Despite how you feel, what you think, how you act, God is always pursuing your friendship. He has chosen you, and his forgiveness, mercy and grace are enough to preserve you until the day of Jesus' return. Relax, forget about everything else, enjoy the journey and enjoy Jesus.

An Uneducated Pastor

Can you imagine volunteering for your job instead of getting paid? Imagine walking into your boss and telling him you don't need the company computer, you are going to provide your own. Or a bus driver telling the city he's going to provide his own bus? Silly, right? Yet so many of us do that with God. He doesn't want anything from us except our friendship, love, emptiness and availability  For everything he calls us to he equips. Yet, most of us turn down his provision and try to resource the tasks ourselves.

How many things do you do in God's name that actually come from you? How many times have you spoken from your wisdom, served in your strength, reacted by your conviction, given from your riches? We can do a fair job in our own ability but God intends for us to go beyond fair to supernatural, beyond anything we could have ever imagined. When we do things in his anointing everything changes. He doesn't need anything we have to offer, he pours it out on us. Wow! do we ever have it backwards.

This is what the great apostle Paul requested the Ephesians to pray for him:

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:19-20)

"Words may be given me", he writes. Paul did not speak from his own great knowledge and training. Paul did not speak from his own opinion or speculation. Paul did not study for four years to come up with the gospel of grace. Paul was in-filled by the Spirit. equipped, enabled and empowered to be the apostle to the Gentiles. He was given the revelation of the gospel of grace through the Spirit of God.

We've gone crazy with education. Knowledge is great. All minds should be expanded to the best of our capacity but God is not dependent on our education. We do not have to go off and be trained according to the methods of man before we can preach, teach and evangelize. A pastor does not need letters after his name and neither do apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers. There is nothing wrong with Bible colleges but God doesn't require them. We need to have Paul's understanding of God's equipping.

Style and methods do not mean anything compared to the anointing of God. We need more servants who are dependent on God for all things than we need educated men and women filling the positions in the Church. We need men and women who say to God "here am I send me" and desire their lips to be touched by the burning coal. We need men and women who understand that their power to serve comes from the Holy Spirit not seminary courses. We need men and women of God who are more interested in the anointing than in man's recognition of their studies.

I would rather sit under the training of an uneducated former alcoholic, saved by grace, empowered by the Holy Spirit than the best trained and educated seminary graduate. The anointing of God is all that we need to serve him to the full potential to which he has called us. Do not let anyone tell you any different. God's training school is all you need. Put your confidence in Jesus and you will be amazed how he uses you for his glory.