Grace and sovereignty

Posted on September 1, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

It’s a big world

As I am flying on a business trip I am struck by how big the world is and how many people there are in it. So far today I have been in two airports on my way to a third and I have seen thousands of people. Seeing all the lights of the city reminds me of how many millions of people are going about the business of life below me.

I suppose it is normal for each of us to want to make his mark on the world. We want to leave a positive legacy. Yet, few of us really get to influence large numbers of people.

As church leaders this is no less so. Setting aside the danger of pride in accomplishment, there is something positive about wanting to reach large numbers of people with the Gospel. Jesus wants us to do this.

The task is too big

But, even in a small town, this task can be overwhelming. We cannot reach everyone. We cannot exert as much influence as we would like. Not everyone responds to the message. Unless you live in a very, very small town, it is physically impossible to reach everyone with the good news.

So how do we keep from getting burned out or overwhelmed with the enormity of the task? This is where a proper understanding of the sovereignty of God comes into play. We are not called to do more than God gives us to do.

According to their ability

In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells us the story of a man who called his servants to him and gave them talents with which to do business until he returned. Matthew 25:14 tells us that he gave the first five talents, the second servant two and the third servant received one talent. Jesus further tells us that these were distributed according to their ability.

The story illustrates that we can only do what we’ve been given to do. The expectation of profit for the servant with five talents was much higher than the servant with one. So it is in real life. God gives some a greater sphere of influence.

But, too often those of us with one talent compare ourselves to the one with five and succumb to feelings of inferiority and failure. We have to keep in mind, that the standard of judgment is faithfulness in what we’ve been given to do, not the numerical result.

Rest in God’s sovereignty

So, if you are a pastor of a small flock, enjoy the flock that God has given you and remain faithful in your call. If you are a small group leader, Sunday School teacher, youth worker, nursery attendant or parking coordinator, serve and be confident of God’s approval if you are being faithful to your calling.

Yet, in that confidence, we also need to be open to God’s leading us into something bigger and more challenging. But, for us to achieve the desired result, the bigger challenge must come at God’s prompting and not our own grand design.

It is a big world, but God has not lost track of all the billions of people in it. We can be confident that his plan for humanity will not be thwarted and all we have to do is be faithful where we are while being open to the idea that he may choose to use us in a bigger way than we ever thought possible.

Where preaching goes awry

Posted on August 28, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

This morning as I was reading through Ezekiel this phrase struck me, “. . . then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders.” (Ezekiel 7:26, NASB) The priests had turned away from the Law of God and could no longer bring any advice that was helpful to the people as they sought a word from God.

It’s all about relationship

Inside a religious system, there is a danger that we can miss the intent of Scripture. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is about the beginning, breaking and restoration of our relationship with God. It is about relationship first. Jesus supports this understanding in Matthew 22:36-40 when he identifies love of God and love of neighbor as the two great commands.

If the intent of Scripture is to restore and deepen relationship with God, then it seems obvious to me that the intent of preaching should be to restore and deepen relationship with God. The preaching should be geared toward encouraging transformation, but too often we settle for information.

In Matthew 15:8, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29:13 when he says: “‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.” (NASB) The point is that we can be heavily involved in the teaching and reading of Scripture and not have our hearts changed. We can say and do all the right things but have hearts that are far away from God.

A means to an end

Ravi Zacharias has properly said, “Jesus did not come to make bad men good, he came to make dead men live.” Preaching which imparts knowledge may be helpful, but the impartation of knowledge is a means to an end (relationship) not the end in itself. Proper preaching must present Christ as the means of making dead people live.

I have been in many church services where the sermon gave me a lot of information and did not spur me on to a deeper relationship with God. Proper preaching should challenge me to see the parts of my life that have yet to be yielded in submission to God. Part of proclaiming the good news is to help me to see the need for that good news and my inability to provide it for myself.

It is only through relationship with Jesus Christ that we can become spiritually alive. This truth is at the heart of the gospel and if preaching is not calling dead men to live in Jesus, it is doing nothing of eternal value. Even if the teaching causes men to do good works or religious practice but does not cause men to come into relationship with Jesus, it is of no eternal value.

The final exam

We need to keep in mind that there is no theology test to get into Heaven. Jesus reminds us that the test has only two questions (See Matthew 7:21-23). The two questions are: am I in relationship with Jesus and on the basis of that relationship have I been obedient?

To prepare people for that test is the only proper goal of preaching.

New news, old news

Posted on August 19, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

New news

Malcolm Muggeridge is attributed as saying, “new news is old news happening to new people.” The writer of Ecclesiastes declares:

“Is there anything of which one might say, “See this, it is new”? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.” (Ecclesiastes 1:10, NASB)

Humans seem to repeatedly fall into the same traps.

Old news

This morning in my Bible reading, I find the words of Jeremiah 5:31 anticipate what I’ve observed happening in the church at large. Rather than submitting to the word of God, many pastors and theologians stand in judgment of Scripture.

“The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?” (Jeremiah 5:31, NASB)

Through Jeremiah, God warned the nation of Israel that many of the prophets were providing a false security. They predicted peace and security, contradicting what the true prophets were saying. Rather than calling the nation to repentance and submission, they validated what the people wanted to hear.

Jeremiah tells us that when they do this, they are operating under their own authority though they claim to speak for God. Does this sound familiar? It should.

Today, we have pastors and theologians who are willing to set aside 2000 years of church tradition and the clear teaching of Scripture on issues such as marriage, family, morality and what it means to be a follower of Christ. When they do this, they are like rogue ambassadors misrepresenting the king who sent them.

Why do these pastors and theologians distort Scripture? Jeremiah tells us that in his day they did it to please the people. These prophets gained popularity and all the social and economic benefits that come with it. One can assume that the motives are similar today.

Judge or submit

We have two options with regard to Scripture. We can either stand in judgment of it or we can submit to it. In the end it comes down to a decision as to where the authority lies. I can assume that authority or I can submit to God’s authority. The one thing that is certain is that we cannot share it. A decision has to be made as to who is in charge.

The modern false prophets, like their predecessors, reap the social and economic benefits of reshaping their message to meet the expectations of the society. The problem is that those expectations cannot change what is really true and what is really false.

The real question

At issue what really is true as opposed to what we want to be true. I want to say that all behaviors are acceptable and that it doesn’t matter how one lives. But that is in contradiction to the truth. Behavior does matter. God has spoken and we ignore his speech to our peril.

The prophets of tolerance and acceptance are those who offer a band-aid as a cure to cancer.It may make it look better but it doesn’t cure the core problem.

Addressing doubt and disappointment

Posted on August 16, 2012 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Doubt is not sin

An interaction with a man who claimed belief in the past but walked away from Christianity got me thinking about doubt and how to respond to it.

In a Sunday School class when I was young, a zealous Bible School student confidently told me that it is a sin to doubt. I cannot recall if he supported this claim with any Scripture.

I suppose you could find some support in James 1:6 where we are told that the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea. But I have not found any other support for calling doubt a sin.

An example from John the Baptist

All his adult life, John knew that he was the forerunner for the Messiah. He did not fail in this mission. John went out into the desert with his message of repentance and cleansing. He challenged the religious leaders of the day and pointed the hears of the people toward the coming Messiah.

But something went terribly wrong. John got on the wrong side of Herod and was thrown in prison as a result. In Matthew 11, we find John the Baptist in prison even though he faithfully proclaimed the message he was sent to preach. John did exactly what he was commissioned to do and it did not turn out so well.

It can be inferred that as a result of his imprisonment, John was working through some doubts about his calling and whether he has misunderstood who Jesus was. Matthew 11:3 records that John sends a delegation to Jesus to ask, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” In other words, did I misunderstand that you are the long-expected Messiah? Are you who I thought you to be? Also implied in this question is, if you are the Messiah, why am I in prison right now?

Responding like Jesus

I think that Jesus’ response is instructive.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. “And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” As these men were going away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?” (Matthew 11:4–7, NASB)

Notice that Jesus does not rebuke John for his doubt and questions. Instead he offers evidence that John was correct in his understanding. He addressed the doubt by offering affirmation and evidence.

Provide a forum for doubts to be addressed

In every church, in every service, there are people who are struggling with doubts. Some are big doubts and some are small, but those doubts need to be addressed. The church has often failed to provide a forum for these doubts to be expressed and discussed.

Here are a few ideas that church leaders could employ to address doubts:

Provide an email address so that people in your church can send in questions and receive answers
Post answers to the question on the church web site so that all who look there can benefit
Take a Sunday night or midweek service to do a Q & A instead of a teaching time
Provide a class on the foundational truths of Christianity and provide time at the end for Q & A.
Encourage small group leaders to draw out doubts and questions so that they can be addressed

If you are a church leader and none of these work for you, find something that does work. This is especially important for the teens in your church. A recent survey shows that 60% of our kids walk away from faith; we certainly cannot argue that we’ve done this well.

Remember the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Let’s do something different and move toward sanity.

Question

What has been done in your church that has proven effective in addressing doubt?