Officers of the Church (11/27/24-11/28/24)1

[Programming note:  Dates are a bit spotty through to this point due to the exigencies of travel, restoration to my own time zone, and preparations of prior studies completed during travel for publishing to the web.  I am hopeful that things are well enough returned to normal at this juncture.]

I want to begin my thoughts this time with consideration of the offices of the church, of which we encounter three, though Paul does not specifically indicate his Apostolic office.  Elsewhere he does so, because in those cases there is some need to defend and reinforce his official standing.  Here, that was not needed because his position was fully recognized.  There is much noise in the various commentaries as to the nature of the office of bishop as generally seen in Roman Catholicism, and perhaps in Episcopalian practice, with emphasis that any such office, whether appropriate or not, is not to be found in this address.  Here, the term equates to elder, and so we have elders and deacons as the officers of the local church.  The only office we see extending across churches is that of Apostle, those who had the initial assignment, by Christ’s own personal appointment, of establishing the Church as a whole and settling her doctrines on the foundation of His person and His teaching.

Okay, so we have elders and deacons in view.  Let us accept that this is so.  These offices widely continue today, as they should, being the offices established by those Apostles as they fulfilled their own calling.  Somewhere (I seem to have neglected to grab the reference, but it will be amongst the commentaries), it was observed that the elders attend to the inward activities of the church, and deacons attend to the outward.  That is not, I think, the distinction we normally find in practice.  I would set the divide more between the spiritual oversight, and the physical.  This has come of reading the account of that first appointment of deacons, where the Apostles, then being the sole elders, observed the necessity of remaining engaged in prayer and in preaching (Ac 6:4 – But we will devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.)  This was certainly fitting.  It is a large task, an insurmountable task when done in one’s own meager strength, to attend to the spiritual needs of even a small congregation.  Yet, physical needs remain and cannot be neglected.  There is the utterly mundane matter of maintaining the meeting place, seeing to necessary equipment for ministers to minister.  There are the concerns of meeting needs for health and sustenance amongst our less prosperous members, as well as reaching out to those outside the church in need of such support.  And let me specify for this case, in true need, not self-imposed determination to avoid personal responsibility.

But looking at this early example in Acts, we see that the deacons were not solely involved in such physical ministrations, but would also minister the word.  The example we have in Stephen would be particularly apt, as he ‘was performing great wonders and signs among the people’ (Ac 6:8), proclaiming the Gospel to powerful effect.  All this to say that deacons were as capable of preaching as were the elders, and where that office is considered amongst the epistles, the qualifications for either office are largely the same.  One can reasonably expect that those who fill either office ought to be able to teach when called upon, ought to be well established and well versed in the foundational matters of the gospel, and even on other, finer points of doctrine, able to instruct and able to defend the Truth of God against all opposing opinions.

Now, having just returned from my second sojourn in Africa, where we have been seeking to equip the local elders and deacons for just such things, I am particularly keen on perceiving God’s plan here.  I have to wonder how we might describe our own role in this.  We are assuredly not apostles, and would cringe at the suggestion.  If anything, encountering those who claim to be apostles, there is concern as to how to lead such thinking to a clearer understanding of God’s established order without causing unwanted offense.  We are not here to spank and scold, but to present the Truth in as clear a manner as we can, allowing those we are instructing to perceive for themselves such implications as may lead to change.  I suppose in our thinking we just automatically adjust any such claim to that of a lower-case apostle, as I have tended to refer to them.  That label is occasionally applied to other than the Apostles in Scripture, and we must accept that this is so.  But in those cases, I think we are back to what we might better term missionaries:  Individuals commissioned by a specific church to undertake a specific mission and deliver a specific message.  I rather doubt, though, that those who take this title to themselves think of it in such terms.  It would be interesting, at some juncture, to discover just what they suppose that office entails.  But that’s for another time.

Perhaps I could come close to suggesting that very sense of lower-case apostleship to our own task on these trips; the task of equipping, the task of teaching the teachers.  But I would not.  We are not officers with authority over these churches.  We are at best advisors, coming at their request, or equippers.  I suppose we might take up the label of missionary, but I tend to see that somewhat differently, as one going into unreached areas to plant the gospel in the first place.  The churches we are dealing with are already missional in nature.  It’s just that their zeal to see the gospel spread has outpaced their ability to train pastors and elders to oversee the churches they are planting.  And they know it.  They know, too, at least in some degree, that they are being assaulted by myriad false gospels, much as was the early church.  So, we seek to lay the one foundation of Christ Jesus, establishing the primacy of Scripture as our rule of life.  As such, we seek to both lay down the basics in clear, understandable fashion, and to give them tools to properly handle the Word of God.  What does that make us?  I don’t know.  Advisors is good enough, I should think.

Yet, there is something of the elder or deaconate role in the task, for the charge we have in this ministry is much the same as elders and deacons have.  What is that charge?  To take care that the doctrine being taught in the churches is sound.  For the elder particularly that concern is primarily in the scope of the local body.  In this African milieu, it may expand to encompass several churches that are united under the oversight of a particular bishop.  In Malawi, for example, we know the bishop with whom we are directly involved has some 60 or more church plants throughout Malawi and even into Mozambique under his oversight.  And we know he takes that duty seriously.  That’s why he has called us to come and help.  The story is similar in Zambia, and in Lesotho as well, though perhaps not quite to the same scale as yet.  And so, we seek to impart truth, to equip those leaders we are addressing to more rightly handle the Word of God so as to avoid pitfalls of false interpretation, and so as to withstand the onslaught of such errant teachings as are promoted by false prophets and false teachers throughout the regions of South and Central Africa.  The so-called prosperity gospel is prevalent.  Five-fold ministry teachings are prevalent.  Ministry by emotion is prevalent.  There is ever that perspective that louder is truer, or more powerful, and it needs gentle correction with the heart of a peacemaker.  It needs leading by example.  It needs, as well, firm reliance on the power and insight of the Holy Spirit.  We cannot succeed in this by relying on programs and preparation.  It needs prayer, and it needs openness to allowing God to drive.

It also needs relationship.  That is true of the offices we have in view here.  Elders are not given to lord it over the church, but to serve the church.  And we see that Paul supplies himself as the example of this mindset even in his greeting.  He is close to this church, close to its leaders.  Though his time with them was brief, yet his relationship with them is deep.  More than anything, I think it is this deep relationship that allows Paul to set aside mention of his office.  He does not write to them from the place of apostolic authority, but from the place of friendship, of kinship.  Though they are primarily Gentiles, still they are kin, alike sons and daughters of God even as himself.  So he greets the church not as its master but as its servant, giving particular notice to those who, like himself, have set themselves to serve the church.  I’ll get to that servant aspect more in the next part of this study, but we should see it already as we consider these offices.

Servants, I might note, do not get to appoint themselves to the position.  They are appointed by their master.  It is true of the Apostle.  It is true of the elder, and yes, of the deacon as well.  If they are in office, and rightly so, then it is by God’s appointment.  How that may come about varies.  In this period, it would likely have been by the intermediary step of Apostolic appointment.  That is to say, in the earliest stages, Paul or his representatives made the determination as to who should serve as elder.  I’m not sure about deacons, but it may have applied there as well, given the necessity of them being fit to teach should need arise.  Obviously, in our day Apostolic appointment would be a problem, and would require that we set aside the office of elder as well, were it a requirement.  But this is not the case.  With the passing of the Apostles from the scene, the role of elders and deacons was becoming more important to the welfare of the church.  As the JFB points out, it was coming to be time for a shift.  The Apostles were passing from history, but the church was not.  It was time to look to the pastors, the elders, as the immediate means of direction, instruction, comfort, and correction.  The church was moving from its foundational period of extraordinary providence to the steady state of ordinary providence.  God remains at the helm.  God remains the One who appoints, whether by Apostolic declaration, or by congregational vote, or by the decision of some council or synod.  Whatever the immediate means, it is to be hoped that the decision is made with prayerful consideration, in order that the will of God is served in that appointing.  In any case, the elder continues to serve as subjected to Apostolic authority, committed to teaching and to leading as guided by that which has been written under the authoring of the Holy Spirit of God, that which is enscripturated and sure.

Neither do these leaders, if indeed godly leaders they are, serve as if establishing their own little fiefdom.  As Matthew Henry establishes, ministers are for the church, not churches for the minister.  It’s not about making a living, and it’s not about making a name for oneself.  Observe Paul’s concern for this very thing as he writes to the church in Corinth once more.  “We don’t lord it over your faith.  We work with you for your joy” (2Co 1:24a).  “We don’t preach ourselves, seeking our own glory.  We preach Jesus Christ as Lord, both of you and of ourselves, and proclaim ourselves as your bond-servants for His sake” (2Co 4:5).  Get that.  Those who lead are bond-servants not only to Christ, but to His church.

This was a matter which was brought up by some of the leaders with whom we met in Africa.  There are those, certainly, who take to the pulpit, and to the place of leadership not so much for the kingdom of God as for the kingdom of self.  We are hardly immune from that here in the West.  We see it in excess devotion to a particular denomination, refusing to so much as consider reaching across those boundaries to work together with other churches.  We spoke to a few leaders who had been rejected by their local church for the crime of ministering beyond that church’s boundaries.  They were denounced by their bishop, and not too surprisingly, that hurt.  It left a mark.  Now, it was not immediately evident what the situation was, only that harsh words had come from the top, and the one who felt he had a calling on his life to preach felt dismay over the result.  What to do?   How am I supposed to deal with that?  And let me tell you, standing before this people, without the full facts of the case, I was rather of the same mind as to how I should reply.  But God is good, giving wisdom to those who ask.  Along with a reminder from my pastor as to the reason for having a plurality of elders, which goes far towards preventing such domination by tribalism, there was also some value in what I had been teaching that day, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”  How should that inform the response?  So, we were able to talk further between sessions, and apply that principle to the issue, along with a pursuit of forgiveness on the part of the one thus rejected.

But let us focus on these offices a bit more.  We have established that, whatever the most immediate mechanisms, officers of the church are officers by God’s appointment, and they serve for the benefit of the church, not for self-interest.  As such, as Ironside points out, those who serve will not demand obedience to their dictates, but will instead seek to lead by godly example.  I think often of Paul’s repeated urgings to, ‘imitate me.’  I wonder how many of us would be comfortable in advising our fellow believers to imitate our examples.  It should be the case that we could do so without concern.  But the flesh is what it is.  We are none of us perfect, and there are certainly those aspects of self that we would not have anybody emulate.  In whatever role we may play, whether in the home or in the body of the church, I think we can maintain that this same principle applies.  We serve in that role by God’s appointment, and we are called to do so for the benefit of those we serve, the whole family, the whole church.  We cannot be such as seek their own glory, their own power, their own comfort and benefit.  Let him who would be first become servant to all (Mk 9:35).  There, I think, are your poor in spirit, serving others even at the expense of self, because in serving others they are able to serve God.  And let it be that we recognize that as we serve, it’s not simply at His will, but as He wills.  In this doing, we have the great benefit of having His own example to follow.  If we will examine the Gospels and see our Lord serving His people, we will have a fine model for our own service in His service.

There is still the question of why Paul gives particular greeting to these officers.  Yes, the church as a whole is greeted first, but then, this added notice, “including her overseers and deacons.”  Why?  Was there doubt as to their leadership, such that Paul felt the need to acknowledge their appointment in this fashion?  Perhaps, though there’s little in the body of this epistle to suggest any such concern.  The most we have is that disagreement between Euodia and Syntyche, but that would appear to have been something below the level of leadership.  I think I must concur with Calvin that this is simply doing honor to their offices, as fellow workers in Christ, just as he honors Timothy with mention as his partner in greeting this church.  Several writes note that this by no means indicates that Timothy was co-author, nor even, necessarily amanuensis.  But he was there, and partner to Paul in ministry, and the elder minister gladly associated himself with this, his younger coworker.  Ironside observes how this demonstrates Paul’s care for the development of those coming after.  He didn’t call for their submission.  He didn’t account them beneath his notice.  He made special note of their involvement in this ministry, and no doubt, as we see in his pastoral letters, he took particular care to help them develop and mature.

Here is a good lesson for us in our various churches.  In our church, for example, we have had some four or five associate pastors in the time I’ve been here.  These have been good men, with great potential to serve God’s kingdom.  Yet, how effective were our efforts to support and develop them in their ministry, and to what degree did we more or less assume their maturity and look instead to our needs rather than their growth?  Of the four I can think of immediately, one has, at least at last check, left ministry, another set it aside for a season, but I believe has come back into service, and one is seeking direction.  The fourth had perhaps mistaken his call, at least that was the determination of the elders in that case, though he is still active elsewhere and on a more focused basis.  But still the question lingers.  Should more have been done to nurture and develop, rather than looking at the immediate need of the church as the driving factor?  Yes, they serve the church and not the other way round, but if, by serving the church they are effectively ceasing from service and cast out into the wilderness, has God’s kingdom been well served?

This is rather a difficult place to end this portion of study, but it’s where I’ve landed.  I don’t have the answers.  Nor am I currently in leadership such that I have need of knowing the answers.  But I pray that should another opportunity arise for some developing minister to be with us, we would take greater care to help them develop and mature.  I pray as well that we ourselves would be looking to develop and mature, and to lay ourselves open to whatever it is that God may be calling us to do.  I’ll tell you, some of the experiences on this latest trip could readily convince me that there are things to which I am called.  But I also recognize that even if this is the case, there is much in me that needs to mature more if ever that is to be the case.  To see such a response to what God is doing through my meager efforts is heady stuff.  It’s intoxicating.  It leaves me wanting more of the same.  But it’s not about my satisfaction.  It’s about His purpose, His will, His working.  And for that, I give thanks indeed, that I was able, I think, to keep myself out of the way and let Him do as He pleased.  And yes, all the glory to Him. 

Lord, indeed, You have done great things.  Thank You for allowing me some small part in that work, and may I be found likewise prepared for Your use when next the opportunity arises.  May I be just as ready and willing to what You would do here in this, my home church.  And just as ready and willing as well in my own home.  Let me learn what I need to learn from these experiences of being Your vessel, and let me not suppose that’s only for foreign fields.  Even here, even today, I am Yours.  I form my plans.  I have my thoughts about what needs doing today.  But You are my Lord.  You drive, and let it be that I heed Your direction.  Amen.

Bond-servants of Christ (11/29/24-11/30/24)

Given the history of humanity generally, the idea of slavery or servitude is bound to produce a very negative response in us.  It’s difficult for us to accept, for example, some of Paul’s teaching in regard to those who were slaves.  How could he not be a vocal supporter of liberation?  Well, in fact, he was, just not by means of revolt.  Slavery in that era had its means of liberty for most.  Certainly, in the Jewish setting, there was the year of Jubilee, set to ensure that no servitude was unavoidably lifelong.  And in Roman society as well, it was possible, if not entirely likely, that a slave could earn his freedom.  Now we must recognize as well that not all servitude was involuntary.  Yes, there were those enslaved as spoils of war, or those become slaves as a result of their poverty.  But then, there were those who chose this life for themselves.  They may have begun involuntarily, but they voluntarily elected to continue.  Jewish law, for example, made provision for this, for those who, despite the year of Jubilee, would opt to continue their service as lifelong slaves to their master.

Then, too, there are those who set themselves as servants to the king, or to some other authority.  These are every bit as obliged to submit to the dictates of the one they serve, yet their servitude is no source of shame.  It can in fact be viewed as an honor to have been allowed to serve in this capacity.  We might look at Daniel for an example, or Nehemiah, who served the king of Babylon.  Yes, he was a spoil of war.  Yes, he was a son of a subjugated people.  But he served willingly, faithfully, and earned the regard of his master, such that when he felt the need to return to Jerusalem and see that city restored, his king, his master, not only granted his request, but backed him in his efforts.  That seems unimaginable to us because our perceptions of slavery are so very different than what applied then.  But I could readily envision a household servant in earlier eras even in this country being entrusted with a good deal of responsibility and even liberty to act according to their best judgment on behalf of their master.  It was not always so awful as we tend to think, though to be sure, it often was every bit so awful.

All of this to say that what is before us in this passage is no badge of shame, no inhuman and inhumane relationship.  Far from it!  Consider Paul’s other greetings in his letters, and the satisfaction he found in his position.  I would say pride, but it’s hard to mention that word without feeling its more negative aspects.  But yes, there was cause to take pride in his position as Apostle, though not as making something of himself.  There was cause for pride in that Jesus had seen fit to entrust such an office to him.  That same pride and its same source apply here.  There is great honor in being one whom Jesus Christ has chosen as His bond-servant.  And note well that this choice position applies not only to our Apostle, but also to Timothy.  Timothy, at this juncture, holds no office, is member of no church.  He is but a side-man to Paul, a coworker.  He is an apt pupil and an apt teacher, to be sure, but he has no special standing apart from this:  He is a bond-servant of Christ Jesus.

For those to whom Paul is writing, much the same can be said.  Those who were in office as overseers and deacons could take pride in their office, but not as being anything in which they could boast of themselves and their great worth.  No!  The grounds for boasting remain simply this:  They are bond-servants of Christ Jesus.  And, I could extend farther and say that the same holds true for every single believer, every last one of us who have been called by the Father and entered into His household.  This has got to flavor how we view ourselves, and how we interact with our fellow believers.  For all that, it has got to flavor how we interact with those outside the church.  Wherever I am, whatever my immediate occupation or activity, this fact remains.  I am a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, and as such, I must set myself to attend to His wishes, His business, not just first and foremost, but exclusively.

Once, in his earlier years, Paul had thought himself committed to God.  He thought he was doing God’s business, even has he undertook to persecute the nascent church to the uttermost.  He thought he had it figured out.  He thought himself as near to perfectly righteous as a man could be, far more righteous, no doubt, than reality would admit.  He was a man with a mission, a man with a plan, and he had the backing of his church authorities at the highest human levels.  But he was wrong, so very wrong.  And when once he encountered the living God, there on the road to Damascus, as Easton’s says, “The whole purpose of his life was now permanently changed.”  How clearly that shows as he writes this epistle!  He’s not about persecuting the church, but establishing it.  He’s not about wielding his authority like a cudgel, he’s about building up others, about showing one and all that we stand on equal footing before the King of kings.

He takes his office seriously, and expects those officers he has appointed to do likewise.  But he also recognizes the truth that Matthew Henry observes here.  “The highest honor of the greatest apostle, and most eminent ministers, is to be the servants of Jesus Christ; not the masters of the churches, but the servants of Christ.”  As I believe I already observed, the minister is set to serve the church, not the church to serve its ministers.  This is not an occasion to seek wealth or fame.  It is a condition of servitude to the only One worthy of fame.  It’s not about making a name for myself, but about making His name known.  Let me just say that in those last few days of this latest trip, when God was moving and people responding, it would have been all too easy to make it an occasion to think myself really somebody.  Honestly, to see so many hands raised when asked by pastor if they had felt the shackles dropping off, wow!  I mean, quite apart from the overwhelming feeling of having been an instrument in this result, knowing that God was quite evidently working through me, and had lifted me far and away beyond my own meager capacities, there’s an intoxicating quality to the whole thing.  Having tasted and seen, there is a hunger that arises to taste it more, see more, and it would be so easy for that to twist out of shape and become a hunger for acclaim of my own person.

You know, in other settings on this journey, we ministered amongst a people much impressed with titles.  And I could look to the embarrassingly large poster behind us and see that we had a pastor, a reverend, a doctor, each carefully indicated by the appropriate honorific.  And then, there was me.  And in some degree, I expect that hurt my ability to reach those we taught.  Who is this guy to tell pastors how to study?  Okay.  So be it.  And I could have made it a point of pride that in spite of this lack of official collegiate training, yet here I was.  But that would have been as wrong as having so much made of titles in the first place.  But it weighs.  You know how these people value titles and honors, and you know that at some level, you are being discounted for having none to show.  And the flesh wants to make a defense or something.  But the Spirit says, no.  Just minister.  Just continue as God has directed you, even if it seems fruitless.  You don’t know what seeds are being planted.  You don’t know what may grow of it.  You are My bond-servant.  Just be faithful.

Sorry.  There’s still a lot to process in regard to this trip, and the timing was such that I was in preparation phase in these studies, or in flight and unable to pursue them, or simply exhausted.  Take your pick.  Even now, I feel I am still in process of returning to my more usual life, hopefully not unchanged, but I still wake at odd hours, still reflect on these events, still long, in some fashion, to be back with those who were really receiving that which God had chosen to deliver through me.

But here’s something that came up along the way.  Talking to my lovely wife of an evening, excited by events of the day, and she observed that all these years doing these studies, during which time I have often had cause to wonder why so much effort, what was this all for – all of this had been preparing for just such a time.  I mean, I teach this very point, that by study we are filling our storehouse that when the occasion arises, we have that from which we can draw to feed those to whom we minister.  And here it was happening, and boy was that storehouse full!  And being reminded to pray more earnestly, and having set myself before my Lord, willing to set my agenda aside and let Him do as He would, things happened.  The Spirit moved, not in signs and wonders, other than that my voice could actually be heard in the back of the room, but God was moving and I was, as I desired to be, functioning as a well-crafted instrument in His hands.  I did not craft this instrument, nor did I play it.  But God who has been crafting me lo, these many years, played with utmost skill to utmost effect.  And may all the glory go to Him Who alone is worthy!

Paul is in a similar place as he ministers.  Those earlier years, misguided as they may have been, had served to shape and prepare him for what his ministry would be.  From birth, we might say he was being prepared.  His upbringing in Tarsus exposed him to varied cultures and varied education, and that clearly served him well as he became a minister of the Gospel to the Gentiles.  He understood them, knew how they thought and lived, and so, he was somewhat uniquely equipped to make the Gospel clear to them.  He was also a proper citizen, by birth, of the empire, and could use that to his advantage when occasion required, as is yet the case as he writes from this prison cell.  He is here because he appealed to his rights as a citizen, to have his case heard by Caesar.  As I was reading in Table Talk this morning, those who heard his case back in Caesarea Philippi recognized his innocence, even noted that had he not made this appeal to Caeser, he could have been released.  But then, Paul was intended to testify before kings and emperors, and so he would.  God had prepared him for just such a time, just such a mission.

And he, bond-servant of Christ, knows himself to belong entirely to Christ, and to belong to Him gladly.  Here is another aspect that ought to be recognized by all who know themselves called of Christ, elect by His choosing.  We call ourselves Christians.  We have been baptized into His name.  All of this points to being indeed His bond-servants, His property, and gladly so.  We have, as it were, taken His mark upon us, to be known henceforth as part of His household, in service to Him by our own glad choice.  We are servants, not in abject resentment for our servitude, but as those who know a ‘cheerful abandon’ in the service of Him to whom we belong.  I thank the Wycliffe translators for that phrase.  Cheerful abandon.  If our efforts are but a drudgery, a duty for which we feel no relish, that’s going to show.  And it’s going to destroy our effectiveness.  How can we offer such resentful service to our Lord who loves us?  No!  But we belong ‘entirely and gladly’ to Christ, as Ironside describes it.  This is not just for the officers of the church, but for every believer.  This is what we have confessed, and it is what we are coming to be.   So, when sin entices, when the world distracts, when the flesh rises up, let us remind ourselves of who we are, servants, ‘wholly bound to Christ forever, His property.’  I take that from the JFB.  I could as readily take it from Paul.  “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who indwells you?  You have this Spirit from God Himself!  You are not your own!” (1Co 6:19-20).  “You have been bought with a price, so glorify God in your body.”  And glorify Him in your obedience, your joyful, willing service in cheerful abandon to Him whose property you are.

Now, then.  If we are bond-servants, then certain realities must apply to us.  First, as this has been a voluntary undertaking of service, and that, of the permanent sort, we have need to recognize that having signed on, we are now and ever more committed.  There is no provision made for backing out of this contract.  The mark of our service has been set upon us and cannot be removed.  I’m drawing heavily from the rules set for those who would become lifelong servants to their master’s household.  The awl was driven through their earlobe, a permanent mark which none, neither slave nor master, could alter henceforth.  Observe, then, that this is a mutual agreement and a mutual obligation.  You cannot withdraw your services, and He who owns you will not dismiss you from serving Him.  It’s interesting, isn’t it, how these seemingly lesser relationships prove more binding than those we consider grander?  Marriages might undergo divorce, but this relationship admits of no severance.  Children by birth might yet be disowned or disinherited, but the child by adoption cannot be.  There are binding agreements in place.  And in these cases, though our relationship to God may be the lesser category, yet it is the more certain.  What a marvel!

But it’s a commitment on our part.  It’s an agreement to serve, and to serve whole-heartedly.  We live in a compartmentalized world.  Whether or not this is more the case for men I don’t know as I could say.  I have heard that this is the case, but I think the issue is more general.  Certainly, for the employed, those hours in which we are employed are distinct and distinctly allocated.  In those hours, I am not my own.  I belong to my employer.  That may sound over the top by today’s thinking, but it really isn’t.  I have contracted to make this portion of my time yours, to pursue your ends and your benefit.  You have contracted to pay me in such fashion as makes this loss of my time and energy acceptable and worthwhile to me.  I may, God willing, be entered into a sort of work that I find engaging and otherwise satisfying.  I may not.  There is no guarantee that we shall enjoy our employments.  But then, that’s not the point, is it?  No, the point is to have the means to provide for ourselves, for our families, for our churches and our interests.  We might have another compartment set aside for raising our children.  There is that idea of finding quality time with them, but the accompanying supposition is that this comes as an alternative to quantity time.  We want them in their compartment, and we want, truth be told, to be able to leave them there when we shift our attention to something else.  We have compartments for bill-paying, for home maintenance, for maintaining friendships, and maybe, just maybe, a small compartment somewhere in which we can simply do as we please and pursue our own enjoyments.

But here’s the problem.  However compartmentalized our lives, there is no compartment in which we are entirely our own, even if we have that coveted window of time for self.  Even then, we are His.  Even at work, we are His.  We cannot look at our lives as being divided into periods where we are His and periods where we are not.  Now, I rather doubt we think of it that way if indeed we account ourselves Christians.  But if I replace that last clause with periods where we are our own?  Oh.  Now, that sounds kind of familiar.  My, how I hunger for my me time!  And isn’t that the hunger of the age?  Even in our relationships, we are carving out those periods when we can set relationship aside and just be our own person for our own enjoyment.  Be careful!  This is not the reality of our condition.  The reality is that we are bond-servants of Christ Jesus, sold gladly into His service, purchased at too great a price to suppose we have still the liberty to disregard Him from time to time.  Again, hear that reminder to Corinth.  “You are not your own!  You are the temple of the Holy Spirit.”  The living God of all creation has claimed you, made you His own.  And you, in your turn, have said, “Yes, Lord.”  If He is Lord, and you are His bond-servant as well as His child, then certainly you are doubly bound to set yourself at His disposal, for He has full right of your services at every moment, every hour.

This is not burdensome.  It may sound so to those who reject the Lord.  It may sound so to those yet young in their faith, and still inclined to reserve that me space to themselves.  But hear our Lord.  “Take My yoke upon you for My burden is light.  My yoke is easy” (Mt 11:29-30).  And hear the promise of it.  Having taken up His yoke, “you shall find rest for your souls.”  This is not some burdensome labor.  This is working from a place of rest, knowing that it is God who is at work in you (Php 2:13).  And as such, we hear the instruction of our Savior to His closest disciples.  “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all” (Mk 9:35).  This is our calling.  I won’t say it’s an easy calling, because our flesh tends to make it hard.  We strive to serve, but we do so from our own meager supply of strength, and then we scratch our heads in wonderment when exhaustion sets in and resentment grows, and that inner voice whispers to us, “When is it my turn?  When will somebody serve me?”  Don’t tell me you’ve never felt this way.  It happens.  But it happens primarily because we’re doing it wrong.  We’re trying to act on our own, rather than in submission to our Lord.  We’re taking up His yoke, but then trying to pull it according to our own ideas.  He’s driving left, but we’re pulling right.  And then we wonder that the burden seems heavier, and we wonder why we’re feeling out of sorts, why these painful annoyances when we’re seeking to do the Lord’s work?  But we’re not seeking to do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way.  We’re seeking to do our own works and hoping maybe He’ll lay claim to them.  It doesn’t work that way.

I see that back in my first pass through this greeting I was very much in that frame of mind, of wearing myself out with serving, and then resenting the drain on my time and energy, wondering if anybody was ever going to get around to serving me.  And already, in that mindset, there is trouble, isn’t there?  I mean, we know the instruction.  We know we ought to set ourselves to serve rather than to be served.  But if our mind wanders off to wondering why our brothers aren’t doing the same (I mean, how could they be, if I’m not being served?) then we are far from the obedience we are trying to convince ourselves we are supplying.  We are not working from that place of rest under the yoke of Christ.  We are, like the world’s worst Pharisee, tying burdens upon ourselves that we are entirely unequipped to bear, and then wondering why we can’t bear them. 

I wrote, in my musings at that time, that there surely is a means of truly giving of oneself with a servant heart and not burning out, not playing the martyr.  I assured myself that this is possible somehow, though at the time, I could not see it.  I’m not sure I do yet, but I do think I’ve seen some hints of it in these last few weeks abroad.  I experienced something of a low point, feeling like I was wasting my time trying to teach what I was teaching.  There was no response, no signs of life.  Perhaps I’d prepared the wrong thing for this group.  Perhaps I just wasn’t cut out for this job.  Or perhaps it was just hot, or maybe it was the lack of credentials.  Who knows?  But the fundamental issue, I think, was that I was relying on my preparation, sticking to the script, as it were.  Determined to plow through.  But then there was the contrasting experience at the next stop.  I could write it off to far more clement weather, perhaps a more intimate setting, or simply a more receptive people.  But the reality is that I was more inclined to pray early in the morning when I awoke, or late in the night when I was restless, however it happened to work out.  And the prayers were not complaints about sleeplessness, but rather, the expressed desire to truly be an instrument in God’s hands, delivering what He wanted delivered in the fashion He wanted it delivered.  If that happened to align with my preparations, great.  If it did not?  Well, as I was teaching others, it seems I needed once more to teach myself.  These mornings have been years of filling my storehouse with God’s truth, with understanding of His ways and His message, and yes, the Holy Spirit abides in me, reminding me of all that my Jesus said and did, and yes, that does involve drawing from those stores to meet the moment.

Let me tell you.  There is something that happens when you allow God to drive.  There is an energy that is inexplicable.  I could have happily ministered to these folks for hours on end, were there not a schedule, and others who were likewise set to minister.  And when I sat down I felt at once fully spent and fully lifted, fully energized and ready to do it again.  I don’t know if I can rightly explain the feeling.  It’s incomparable, in my experience.  Even those brief moments in worship when I have felt God playing through me don’t compare.  As I told pastor, it’s intoxicating when you find God working like that.  I could even say it’s addictive.  I want more of that!  And oh, how the self tries to wiggle its way in and spoil the whole thing.  But God.  God abides, and He reminds that yes, this is His doing, and yes, you are His instrument, but that instrument doesn’t play itself any more than it made itself.  “It is God Who is at work in you, both to will and to work.”  How often have I quoted that?  How often have I looked at it solely as applied to personal sanctification?  But it holds here, in this place of ministry as well.  And so, we see wonders in the results.  No, there were no flashes of light, no gold dust motes dropping on the congregation.  But there was something far better.  There was understanding, a new, wider recognition of just what it means that God loves you. 

And that response when pastor asked them if they had felt the shackles dropping off!  It about had me in tears again, just for the wonder of it.  Wow, God!  You did this through me?  You did this with such an instrument?  You are amazing.  And as for me, I have a choice.  How am I going to react?  Do I take it as a point of pride at how well I did?  No.  I dare not.  I could never do what just happened.  The power is in the gospel, and in God Who speaks through His servants.  And so, instead of pride, there comes a deep humility.  I don’t like to speak of it, really, because it still seems to me that humility has no need to advertise.  But I’m not looking to advertise my humility.  I am simply going to say that to see this outcome was utterly humbling, a cause for great thanksgiving to God whom I serve.  And it was cause for a bit more prayer that I might keep myself thus submitted, thus open to His direction, thus ready to speak as He gives utterance.

Oh Lord, how wonderful!  How I could have gone on, I think, for days, had You so desired.  And yet, here I am at home, and it is so hard even to speak.  How is that?  Yet, let me make that same plea, Father, that I would indeed set myself to speak as You give utterance.  Help me to know how to be an effective minister in my own home.  Help me to be more fully and completely Yours now that I’m back in this compartmentalized life of familiarity.  Let me continue here as I have been there, for You have not changed, and I remain wholly Yours.  For life.  For eternity.  Make me an instrument, my God, responsive to Your every leading.

Life in Christ (12/01/24)

I come to the greeting itself:  Grace and peace.  Matthew Henry observes the inseparable nature of these two blessings.  Pece, real peace, cannot be had apart from grace, for that peace flows from the fount of divine grace, it rests, as Ironside says, on the work of the cross, the ultimate act of divine grace.  The enormity of this ought to reduce us to tears at every consideration of it.  God, the Creator of heaven and earth, graciously stooped down to us sinners, saw our need and our inability, and took upon Himself to resolve the issue, to provide the means of His own propitiation in His own blood.  More, He knew this would be necessary, intrinsically necessary, to the whole project of Creation.  Indeed, that moment of profoundest grace was the whole point of Creation!  God, against whom His own creation had been at war, stepped into that battle zone and established not domination, but peace.  This did not have to be.  He could have terminated the project back at the Flood and remained perfectly Just, perfectly Holy.  But He chose a better way.  He chose restoration, renewal, and reconciliation.

Is there repentance involved on our part?  Oh, yes.  For we still sin.  The old man still troubles our every attempt at righteousness, still dangles temptations before us, or draws our attention to those already set out on display.  So, we are ever in need of repentance, ever mindful of a hunger for forgiveness.  And so, as reason returns, as faith regains the parapets, we look to our Lord in repentance, trusting in His forgiveness, hopeful of a more faithful devotion to Him going forward.  And all this we can do because grace has been poured out upon us, and in it, we know peace.  “My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27).  My peace.  Not that worldly simulacrum of peace, but the real thing, the real place of rest found in knowing holy unity, knowing the warm welcome of our God and King.

We, like the prodigal son, have come as willing to be satisfied being but servants in His household, knowing our unworthiness, knowing our many betrayals.  But this grace and peace give evidence that even withal, the focus of faith is not on repentance, but on that reception that awaits.  Look at how that parable concludes.  “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him” (Lk 15:20).  Now, to be sure, there has been repentance in that son’s heart already, else he would not even approach.  But there has been no opportunity yet to express contrition, no chance to make amends, no occasion to suggest reparations so as to make it feasible to allow him back into the fold.  No!  The Father is already making him welcome, already accepting a contrition unexpressed, already receiving, indeed, even shushing any attempt to beg forgiveness.  He comes with embraces and welcome.  “My peace I give to you.”  This is our story, every one of us.  God, our Father, in spite of our long insistence on squandering our heritage, yet welcomes us into harmonious unity with Himself!

Can you imagine?  Can you really?  God, Who has perfect, harmonious unity within Himself, fellowship in perfection amongst the Persons of His being, and love such as lacks no affirmation or expression, says to you and me, “Come.  Join Us.  Abide in Us, and We shall make our abode in you.”  Unbelievable, yet true!  It is this, and this alone, that makes for peace.  It is this, and this alone, that will make for a like harmonious peace in the Church which is His body.  Harmonious union with Christ must flower into harmonious unity one with another.  How could it not?  We have been made one with God Who is One.  We remain our unique selves, as do our brothers and sisters, and yes, as we remain in this flesh, that can cause difficulties and disagreements.  You may have your emphasis and I have mine.  You may have your taste and style, and I have mine.  Yet, we are one.  Yet we can produce harmony together.  We share these foundations.  We are like recipients of grace undeserved.  We are like children by the choice of our shared Father.  We are united as we rest upon the work of the cross, take up the yoke of that cross, held by the hand of our loving Lord, and follow Him as best we may.  And our best is beyond our best because He who leads also indwells.  He who calls, also wills and works within us, that we might indeed be both willing and able to obey.

So, here we are.  Bond-servants in the house of God, joyfully given into the service of Him who joyfully undertook the Way of the Cross so as to make it all possible, so as to resolve the problem of our sin, end the enmity between the Father and us, and restore that peace which is His alone to give.  We have become such as gladly pray, “Thy will be done on earth, here in me, this day, right now, as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).  We set ourselves to this willingness, giving our days, our nights, our dreams and desires, over to Him.  Lord, here I am.  Speak, for Your servant listens.  Call for what You will, and find me ready, willing, and able to do as You ask.  Oh, I know too well how often it may seem that the ability is not there, even if the willing is.  I know how often I may, like Moses, suggest that no, really, I’m not ready.  I’m the wrong tool for the job, and would advise You to seek elsewhere.  But who am I to advise You?  What tool every suggested to the craftsman that it ought not to be used for the job at hand?  The craftsman is a craftsman for a reason.  He knows his craft.  And You, the most masterful of master craftsmen, assuredly know Yours.  I am but that tool in Your hands, chosen by Your choosing to do Your will.  So be it.  May I prove useable, even useful in Your hands, and may I ever remain mindful that it is Your hands, not mine that make the work worthy.

I come back to that which was bothering me back last March, as I came to the start of this letter.  How do I set myself to serve without coming to resent the serving?  I don’t know as I have it resolved entirely.  I’m quite sure this flesh is still quite capable of rising up if my guard is down.  But God has done much in these intervening months.  I have seen the change in perspective, and its concomitant change in attitude in my workplace experience.  Count something an annoyance, and you can be pretty sure it will annoy you.  Count that same something as an opportunity for grace, and you might just surprise yourself with graciousness.

Yet, I could look at my reaction when trying to engage the class before church in Zambia, facing a room steadfastly determined, as it seemed, to offer no thought.  Oh!  The frustration!  Really guys?  A roomful of leaders, and nobody, not one of you has any idea to offer on the meaning of grace?  Nobody in here is willing to read a passage of Scripture?  Perhaps it’s the exposure of standing up there on the platform.  Perhaps it’s the flesh rising up.  Well, yeh, no perhaps there.  But honestly, had that been the last day of this trip, I would have been ready and more to make our way back home.

Oh, but God!  Yes, You reminded me of my need.  You reminded me to pay attention to what Tom was teaching, and to put it into practice as I ought.  I prayed, and You answered.  I set my agenda aside and welcomed You into the driver’s seat, and my, but how You drove!  Oh!  But the heights to which You lifted me up, not that I might show my competence, but that I might, as I have so often prayed and taught, be an instrument finely made, finely tuned, and utterly responsive to Your playing.  I don’t know as I could claim perfection, but I do know that I let go in a fashion I don’t recall having done before, or if I have, it’s been so very long that I don’t remember anymore.  And You moved!  You did wonders in the hearts of these people, and You did wonders in me.  How is it that I could sit down so thoroughly drained and yet so thoroughly ready to keep going?  Well, I know how!  More the marvel to me is that I managed to keep myself out of Your way.  All I can say is thank You.  All I can ask is that You grant that I may have learned a more permanent lesson from this.  All I desire is to be used by You in like fashion as we proceed.  Even this day, Lord, fill me, speak through me, have Your way.

Let me come back briefly to that prayer which closed my previous study.  “Show me what needs changing, and grant that I might prove both willing and able to the change, as You work within me.”  Yes, and You have.  Oh, how You have!  May that change, that work expand in me, to encompass every aspect of life.  May I not just have experiences, but learn and grow.  May my mindset come to be, in all things, “Thy will be done.”  Speak, for Your servant listens.  How great a peace I have come to with these passing months.  The message of contentment and rest, of being truly a servant, joyfully rather than resentfully, seems to have got through.  Thank You.  And now, as I proceed to consider that prayer I ought to offer on behalf of our congregation this morning, I make the same request.  Play through me.  Speak through me.  Let not my preparations hinder Your workmanship, nor let my laziness render Your work more onerous.

And I would add, as we give our brief report on all that You have done with this ministry the last few weeks, please keep me free of seeking honors for myself, or even for those bishops who have welcomed us, who have welcomed those from churches outside their circle, who have desired only that such training as will make them and their fellow believers more effective might have its widest effect.  No, there have been no star players in this work.  There can be only One.  And I thank You that indeed, You shone through all of our efforts, all of our teaching.  And I pray that You continue to shine through the fruit which may grow of those efforts.  Enrich the soil of those hearts who received.  Break up any stony soil that might have hindered.  And, my God, provide their every need.  There is so much need there, so much about everyday life in these places that could readily crush the likes of me.  And yet, they thrive.  And yet, they hold fast.  Grant them opportunity to truly delve into Your word with understanding.  Grant them the willpower to resist the myriad false gospels that press in on them.  Grant them the wisdom to speak truly in Your name.  And bless them with the joy of seeing Your kingdom grow before them.  Let all things be done to Your glory, and given into Your hands.  Amen.