How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship? - July 14, 2016

This Sunday, we were preaching from Philippians 2:19-30 on the Harderwyk campuses and spoke to the "transfer of the gospel" that we see between Paul and his co-workers Timothy and Epaphroditus as Paul sends them to minister to the Philippians church in his absence.

On Monday I stumbled across a wonderful post by Aubrey Coleman on the Gospel Coalition website called "How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship in My Church?"  It is set in the context of women discipling women in the local church, so men can change the pronouns where needed, but I found it to be a helpful extension of Sunday, so I've excerpted it below:

How Do I Pursue A Discipling Relationship in My Church?

Aubrey Coleman

Though most of us would acknowledge the importance of discipleship, we often struggle to find and pursue those relationships in our own lives. As we think about someone in our church who might help us walk faithfully, obediently, and humbly with God, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Who Is Faithful?

When considering meeting up with someone, simply ask yourself, Is she faithful? Referencing Titus 2:1–7 is a great foundation for understanding what faithfulness looks like. Is she a member of my church? Does she serve faithfully in her season of life? Does she show up when she says she will? Does she encourage others? Does she love God’s Word?

You should be able to quickly identify faithful men and women in your church. If you’re having trouble discerning, ask your elders and pastors to recommend faithful saints you can reach out to.

Whom Do I Connect Easily With?

Among the many faithful, whom do you connect with? You may have a great connection with someone instantly. In some situations, you will naturally serve alongside other men and women who are already making a spiritual investment in you. Discipleship can certainly happen organically, but we can’t always expect it to happen that way. It may take more time and effort. It might even look a bit like taking someone on a date! Don’t be hesitant. Invite someone out to coffee and get to know her.

Were you encouraged by your conversation? Do you desire to learn from her? Is it easy to share your life with her? Is it easy to have spiritual conversations?

Just Ask

We may try to overcomplicate it, overthink it, or wait around to be sought out, but there’s no need to formulate a paragraph text or come up with an elaborate discipleship proposal. Just ask! If anyone comes to me discouraged about a lack of discipling relationships, I first ask: “Have you initiated with anyone?” More likely than not, when we reach out to others, they are encouraged by our pursuit. It is deeply rewarding and humbling to be asked to disciple someone.

This doesn’t mean everyone will be able to say yes, but that is the beauty of pursuing more than one discipling relationship. Our dependency for accountability shouldn’t rest on one person, but many members. If you’re a member of a church, you have committed yourselves to build up one another in the faith. Therefore, discipleship shouldn’t be an exclusive relationship among a few people but a normal pursuit among all members of the church.

CLICK HERE to read the entire post.

The Best Bosses Are Humble Bosses - June 30, 2019

This Sunday we looked at Philippians 2:1-11; the great hymn to the humility of Christ.  This article from the October 9, 2018 Wall Street Journal was passed on to me by Rod Brandsen who was preaching in our Fusion community.  I mentioned it in passing, but it is a fascinating reminder that the world - in this case the business world - really does value and need things that are a fruit of the work of the Spirit in the People of God.

CLICK HERE for the full article.

Several Excerpts:

• Organizations are making a push to hire and promote workers who lead effectively but don’t seek the spotlight
• Humility is a core quality of leaders who inspire close teamwork, rapid learning and high performance in their teams, according to several studies in the past three years. Humble people tend to be aware of their own weaknesses, eager to improve themselves, appreciative of others’ strengths and focused on goals beyond their own self-interest.
• Among employees, it’s linked to lower turnover and absenteeism. These strengths are often overlooked because humble people tend to fly under the radar, making outsiders think it’s their teams doing all the work.
• Humble leaders can also be highly competitive and ambitious. But they tend to avoid the spotlight and give credit to their teams, Dr. Sherman says. They also ask for help and listen to feedback from others, setting an example that causes subordinates to do the same.
• In interviews, he asks applicants to tell him about a time when they experienced a major failure.  “If they say, ‘Wow, let me think about this, because there are a lot of times when I’ve messed things up,’ that says a lot,” he says. “If they have to pick among a lot of humble learning moments, that’s good.”
• (Humility is) marked by a cluster of attributes that appear consistently in some people, including sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness and unpretentiousness. The same people tend to avoid manipulating others, bending the rules or behaving in greedy or hypocritical ways.
• Teams with humble leaders performed better and did higher-quality work than teams whose leaders exhibited less humility, according to lead researcher Bradley P. Owens, an associate professor of business ethics at Brigham Young University.  The performance gains held up independently of how much team leaders exhibited other positive leadership qualities unrelated to humility.
• Companies with humble chief executives are more likely than others to have upper management teams that work smoothly together, help each other and share decision-making, according to a study of 105 computer hardware and software firms published in the Journal of Management.  Such companies also are likely to have smaller pay gaps between the CEO and other senior executives. These factors predict closer collaboration among all senior executives, which in turn leads to greater company wide efficiency, innovation and profitability, researchers found.

Humility: The Central Precept of Our Faith - June 30, 2019

I referenced this statement on Sunday.  Humility really must be central when it is affirmed by church leaders from the 5th century and the 16th century!

A saying of Chrysostom’s has always pleased me very much, that the foundation of our philosophy is humility. But that of Augustine pleases me even more: “When a certain rhetorician was asked what was the chief rule in eloquence, he replied, ‘Delivery’; what was the second rule, ‘Delivery’; what was the third rule, ‘Delivery’; so if you ask me concerning the precepts of the Christian religion, first, second, third, and always I would answer, ‘Humility.’ ”

But, as he elsewhere declares, Augustine does not consider it humility when a man, aware that he has some virtues, abstains from pride and arrogance; but when man truly feels that he has no refuge except in humility. “Let no man,” he says, “flatter himself; of himself he is Satan. His blessing comes from God alone. For what do you have of your own but sin? Remove from yourself sin which is your own; for righteousness is of God.” Again: “Why do we presume so much on ability of human nature? It is wounded, battered, troubled, lost. What we need is true confession, not false defense.” 

-- From The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin - Book 2, Chapter 2 Section 11 - True Humility Give God Alone the Honor

Muslim People Coming To Faith in Jesus

I often make reference to the amazing move of the Holy Spirit in recent years by saying: "More Muslims have been baptized and come to faith in Jesus as God and Savior in the past thirteen years than in the previous thirteen centuries combined.:

Here are several recent resources that fill in information on this great work of God:

New Film: Jesus At Work In Athens

From The Gospel Coalition - CLICK HERE for entire post.

What I experienced over the next eight years was remarkable. Refugees were finding Jesus, and Muslims were dreaming about him. Eventually I moved to Athens and wrote a dissertation after doing hundreds of interviews and field research in migrant communities. God was at work in remarkable and undeniable ways. These stories overwhelmed me and led me to recruit Pete Hansen, producer and director of the popular Dispatches from the Front series, to capture them.

CLICK HERE for Trailer

Jesus in Athens is a film that attempts to show some of what God is doing amid one of the largest movements of people in history. It’s a front-row seat to the hidden action of God. Afghans worshiping together. Iranians baptizing thousands of new believers. Greeks planting churches. Americans feeding and clothing refugees. These stories are just a small glimpse of the thousands of ways God is at work.

Why More Muslims Are Turning To Jesus

From Newsweek Magazine online of all places!  Dan Garrision has written and authoritative book called Wind in the House of Islam and has a piece here in Newsweek that includes the following:  CLICK HERE for entire post

By the end of the first decade of the 21st century, reports of large-scale conversions of Muslims to the Christian faith were surfacing in many corners of the "House of Islam." Given the fact that conversion from Islam is a capital offense in many traditional Muslim communities, these reports of substantial movements merited attention.

I determined to investigate these reported phenomena on two fronts. First, I wanted to personally visit as many of these Muslim movements to the Christian faith as possible, guided by a questionnaire that would ferret out the secrets of why these individuals would risk their lives to change their religious allegiance. Second, as a Church historian with University of Chicago training, I knew I would need to explore the historical context of Muslim movements to Christ to see if what was occurring today was truly unique, or merely an oscillation of faith that had occurred from time to time in the 14-century ebb and flow of Islam.

An Imprisoned Chinese Pastor and John Calvin - June 30, 2019

Update: February 27, 2021

Calvinistic Theology in China

Want to blow your mind?  CLICK HERE to read a fascinating post entitled "Why China might have had the largest unknown modern Calvinist revival movement in recent history."  CLICK HERE for a similar - and earlier - post on the same situation from the Gospel Coalition.

Update: January 9, 2020
China Sentences Pastor Wang Yi To Nine Years in Prison
The Gospel Coalition posted this update on Pastor Wang Yi that I referenced in this past Sunday's Sermon.  CLICK HERE for that post and follow the links there to pursue additional news sources.  

Original Blog Posting
This past Sunday (June 30, 2019), several of you asked for links and details related to a news story I included as a sermon illustration: the story of Imprisoned Chinese Pastor Wang Yi and John Calvin.

I first read about Chinese Pastor Wang Yi in this post on TheGospelCoalition.org site: Persecuted Chinese Pastor Issues a ‘Declaration of Faithful Disobedience’.  CLICK HERE

In his "Declaration of Faithful Disobedience" Pastor Yi makes this fascinating statement: As the Lord’s servant John Calvin said, wicked rulers are the judgment of God on a wicked people, the goal being to urge God’s people to repent and turn again toward him. For this reason, I am joyfully willing to submit myself to their enforcement of the law as though submitting to the discipline and training of the Lord.  

With some research, I was able to track this down to Calvin's Institutes (McNeil edition) - Book Four, Chapter 20 Section 25 which you see below (emphasis mine):

25. The wicked ruler a judgement of God.  But if we look to God’s Word, it will lead us farther. We are not only subject to the authority of princes who perform their office toward us uprightly and faithfully as they ought, but also to the authority of all who, by whatever means, have got control of affairs, even though they perform not a whit of the princes’ office. For despite the Lord’s testimony that the magistrate’s office is the highest gift of his beneficence to preserve the safety of men, and despite his appointment of bounds to the magistrates he still declares at the same time that whoever they may be, they have their authority solely from him. Indeed, he says that those who rule for the public benefit are true patterns and evidences of this beneficence of his; that they who rule unjustly and incompetently have been raised up by him to punish the wickedness of the people; that all equally have been endowed with that holy majesty with which he has invested lawful power. I shall proceed no farther until I have added some sure testimonies of this thing. Yet, we need not labor to prove that a wicked king is the Lord’s wrath upon the earth [Job 34:30, Vg.; Hos. 13:11; Isa. 3:4; 10:5; Deut. 28:29], for I believe no man will contradict me; and thus nothing more would be said of a king than of a robber who seizes your possessions, of an adulterer who pollutes your marriage bed, or of a murderer who seeks to kill you. For Scripture reckons all such calamities among God’s curses. But let us, rather, pause here to prove this, which does not so easily settle in men’s minds. In a very wicked man utterly unworthy of all honor, provided he has the public power in his hands, that noble and divine power resides which the Lord has by his Word given to the ministers of his justice and judgment. Accordingly, he should be held in the same reverence and esteem by his subjects, in so far as public obedience is concerned, in which they would hold the best of kings if he were given to them.

So as Paul writes Philippians from jail centuries ago, so this brother Pastor Yi now languishes in jail for his faith in our day.  CLICK HERE for a 6/12/19 update on Pastor Yi's situation from the NY Times.

The "So-Called Curse of Ham" - June 16, 2019

One of our Three Questions from June 16, 2019 was this:

Another Southern justification for slavery was the so-called "Curse of Ham" in the book of Genesis.  How would you respond to that?

For this, I'll point to an excerpt from a sermon entitled Racial Reconciliation on 1/14/1996 by John Piper.  It provides a concise definition, background and response of this mistaken idea.   CLICK HERE for the transcript of the entire John Piper sermon.

From John Piper:

Over the centuries some people have tried to prove that the black race is destined to be subservient because of Noah's words over his son Ham who was the father of the African peoples. Let's look at the actual text of Scripture and then I will give three reasons why it does not prescribe how the peoples of Africa are to be viewed and treated. Recall that Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Genesis 9:21–25:

And [Noah] drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent. ²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³ But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were turned away, so that they did not see their father's nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵ So he said, "Cursed be [or: "will be"] Canaan; a servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."

Now notice three things:

Noah's Curse Falls upon Canaan

First, Noah takes this occasion of the sin of his son Ham, and uses it to make a prediction about the posterity of Ham's youngest son, Canaan. Basically the prediction is that the Canaanites will eventually be overpowered by the descendants of Shem and Japheth.

Now there are many questions to ask here. But I only have time to point out a few things relevant to our main point. Ham had four sons, according to Genesis 10:6. "The sons of Ham were Cush and Mizraim and Put and Canaan." Now broadly speaking Cush is probably the ancestor of the peoples of Ethiopia; Mizraim is the ancestor of the Egyptians; and Put is the ancestor of the peoples of northern Africa, the Libyans. But Canaan is the one son of the four who is the not the ancestor of African peoples. Genesis 10:15–18 names the descendants of Canaan: "And Canaan became the father of Sidon, his first-born, and Heth 16 and the Jebusite and the Amorite and the Girgashite 17 and the Hivite and the Arkite and the Sinite 18 and the Arvadite and the Zemarite and the Hamathite." All those peoples were the inhabitants of Canaan and its vicinity, not Africa. And the prediction of Noah came true when the Canaanite nations were driven out by the Israelites because of their wickedness (Deuteronomy 9:4–5). So the curse doesn't fall on the African peoples but on the Canaanites.

Noah's Curse Is Not About Individuals

Second, the predicted curse of Noah does not dictate how God's people should treat individual Canaanites. For example, five chapters later in Genesis 14:18, Abraham, the descendant of Seth, meets a native Canaanite, named Melchizedek, who was a righteous man and "priest of God Most High" and who blessed Abraham. Abraham gave him a tenth of his spoils. So not even the fact that God ordains to bring judgment on evil nations dictates for us how we are to treat individuals in those nations.

God Plans Redemption for All Nations

Third, in Genesis 12 God sets in motion a great plan of redemption for all the nations to rescue them from this and every other curse of sin and judgment. He calls Abram from all the nations and makes a covenant with him and promises, "I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." "All the families of the earth" include the Canaanite families.

So what we see is that with Abraham God is setting in motion a plan of redemption that overturns every curse for everyone who receives the blessing of Abraham, namely, the forgiveness and acceptance of God that come through Jesus Christ, the seed of Abraham (Galatians 3:13–14).

Three Questions - What Is This About?

We are doing something new at Celebration worship services each Sunday for at least the summer.  After the sermon and before we sing a closing hymn, I'm stepping down from the platform and giving opportunity for people to ask questions.  I'm hoping to get at least three each Sunday, so you will see this in our bulletin as "Three Questions."

Why Do This?

We want Celebration to include an interactive segment where I can listen as well as speak.  This embodies three things we want to be clear about:

First, It's Okay To Have Questions

Asking questions and finding answers is a great way to learn, and we want Celebration to be a safe place for people of all sorts to come, listen, ask and learn about the Gospel of God's Grace.

Second, It's Okay to Disagree With the Pastor

I will do the best I can each week to present God's truth in a clear and compelling manner for you.  But don't think you have to agree with everything I say for me to pray for you, treat you with respect and listen to your questions.  Disagreeing while maintaining a mutual respect seems to be a lost practice these days.  Let's work together to get back to it.

Third, Your Questions Help Me Learn

I want to know the questions that you bring with your life to our worship.  Your questions can help me gauge if what I intend to say is what you are hearing.  As I have a better sense of your questions, I can pray and study with those in mind.

I'll do the best I can to give an answer to those questions, even if I don't do that right then and there in the service.  I may not have a solid answer assembled and at the tip of my tongue.  Your question may deserve more time than we have.  Perhaps we take that question to our "Pastor's Q & A" following the service, or I post an answer to this blog, or we meet for coffee or we look into a class or seminar for all of our community.  We'll see.  But know that your questions are welcome, and they help me learn how to share the Gospel better on Sundays
.

Some Details

• Time is limited for this, so each Sunday I will ask for your questions, but we won't linger.  If you are planning lunch with someone after worship, you should be able to keep that commitment.
• As mentioned, don't expect me to answer every question right then and there.  I'll look for the best time and place to respond.  And I may want to do some further study or reflection before opening my mouth!
• Typically, I meet in another location after the service with anyone who has time and interest in pursuing the sermon.  We can often start that "Pastor's Q & A" session with these questions.

The Backstory

Here are some of the steps that brought me to this experiment:

• Teaching - I've taught for years in a variety of settings - in church settings, in university settings, public forums, profession training - and learned the importance of questions and answers for engaging listeners.
• Rev. Tim Keller - Years ago, I heard Tim Keller mention that Question & Answer gatherings after his preaching were important in the planting of Redeemer Church in New York.  These interactive times helped him better understand the lives of his listeners and the perceptions of his sermons.
• Bill Senyard is a fellow pastor in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with particular background and passion for church revitalization and reaching Millenials.  We have talked often about cultivating interaction with preaching, and I've seen him do it in several settings.  He has taught me and encouraged me in this step for Celebration - even doing it in Celebration when he preached here on June 9.

So, there you have it.  Let's pray and converse this summer with our "Three Questions" opportunity and new blog.  I've even opened up comments on this posit, so let me know what you think, or leave me any suggestions that would make this time more effective.

Grace Abounding!,
Pastor Bill