The Magic Word

If you read this letter beginning to end, the contents found here, will change your life.  I know you may be skeptical, but trust me, life changing stuff is found here.  This amazing biblical principal can be boiled down to a single key word that illustrates this entire principle – NO.

How many of the struggles and issues that we deal with each day could look different if tapped the power of no?  Many families are struggling financially right now with crippling credit card debt and underwater mortgages.  How did we get to this point?  We refused to say no.  We didn’t say no to spending beyond our means, no to buying a home that was a little ambitious based on our incomes and budgets.  We see more and more people reporting stress related disorders; we are burned out and stretched thin, too busy and there is just not enough time for what really matters.  Often because we didn’t say no when the school asked for volunteers to help with the play, no when we were asked to lead a third ministry, no to a healthy balance between work and our personal lives.

Grab a Bible and open it to Acts 16.  Paul is off on his missionary journeys to preach the Good News all over the world.  In verses 6-8 we learn a bit about their itinerary for the trip, “And they went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. So, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.” (Acts 16:6-8, ESV)  Paul sets off to do God’s work, to share the Good News, and God says, “No.”  Twice in this short passage God told them no to the mission they felt called to be on.  Is anyone else shocked by this?  Wait a second God, they are doing good Christian work and you tell them no, what’s up with that?  We are reminded here that just because there are many good ministries and opportunities, it does not mean that we should always say yes to them.

Kids are really important to our church.  Should we spend every dollar we have on it; stripping all other ministries from their funding?  Not so much.  What about missions, that is such important work; should we focus 99% of our money to that ministry, to the point it cripples our entire ministry?  No again.  You get the call.  A women’s group is without a leader and unless you lead, the group will have to disband.  You don’t have the skills or the passion to lead the group, and you don’t want that on your conscience.  The appropriate answer is NO, thanks for thinking of me, but NO.

As I said earlier, life changing stuff.  God sets a precedent for us in scripture to say no, even if what is before us is a godly ministry, a good cause or a great need.  As humans we are finite, we have limitations, time constraints and budgets, all of which God gave us as a humble reminder that we are not God.  So maybe next time you will think of responding no, a little differently.  Perhaps next time you will remember that no is less about hurting someone’s feelings and more about following God, not trying to be God in every area of our lives and churches.

Discussion Questions

1. What is most important in your life, faith, church?  Does your time and financial management reflect that?
2. What is one area of life that you are stretched too thin (time, money, family, work)?
3. What is one place that you need to say no?
4. What challenges do you have to saying no?

No More Excuses

I can be a bit of a perfectionist, or as my wife likes to tell me, I am just little impatient.  When I begin something I want to be good at it quickly, to excel, and if it does not appear that I am getting better quickly, I get quite discouraged, and sometimes I will even quit trying or move onto something else (except golf, I have played for almost 13 years and am still not real good).  This is a natural and pretty normal reaction from most people.  If we approach a task that we are not good at, or there is someone with more training or skill than ourselves available, we will often not engage it.  This does not exclude our faith and church life.  When we run into areas of ministry that are unfamiliar or that we don’t feel gifted in, we often will simply not learn more about it, we will leave the work to the gifted, to the trained, maybe even to the pastor.

Yet Jesus disciples, the future leaders of the church, were nothing short of the C team.  They were not religiously educated or trained and they struggled in their faith even after being around Jesus for three years.  Yet this is the group that Jesus identified as the future leaders of the church.  But the poorly educated disciples were some of the strongest most powerful evangelists and pastors ever.  So how did this rag tag bunch become the A team for Christianity?  Did they read some books, take some classes?  In John 14 Jesus disciples are wondering how they can continue their work, and Jesus tells them this, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” (John 14:16, 26, TNIV)

We don’t get involved because we feel unworthy, unable, or untrained.  The disciples felt the same way, unworthy, untrained, unable.  But when God sent them the Holy Spirit, Jesus told them, no more excuses, your ministry is not going to be controlled by your gifts and skills, but instead by your willingness to be used by God.  Your ministry is going to be driven and empowered by the Spirit from now on.

Is there some ministry or task that you have been avoiding because you don’t feel skilled or gifted to do?  How could I invite my neighbor, what would I say, maybe I need a class in evangelism before I can even talk to them.  I can’t be a KIDS HOPE mentor unless I have a background working with kids.  The list of reasons can be endless.  Yet Jesus says, no more excuses, I have given you the Holy Spirit to empower your ministry, to help you do things in ways that you alone could have never done, do you trust me?  Do you trust that I can do all things through my people?  God will use you for his purposes, to invite a neighbor, to teach a Sunday school class, to sing in the choir, to welcome visitors on Sunday.  But are we willing to be used, do we trust that God really work through us?

Bill

Be the Center

Right now I am working on my first major do-it yourself project at home.  One the key things I am learning is the key to how you begin your work.  You cannot just start building or demolishing without preparing the work site, getting key tools, and thinking your work through.  Now this may sound simple and straight forward, I mean how someone could not think carefully about the first steps, or the foundations that a project will be based around. Yet I think that sometimes we at church can be the worst culprits of doing this very thing.

I believe that too often God is not the center, the beginning, and the foundation of the work of Christians and churches.  Often discussions around church begin with logic and reasoning that has little to do with God, but instead preferences or strategic goals.  As we look to scripture we see a very different example laid out.  In this passage of Acts 15 the disciples are coming together for a first church council meeting to make some decisions on a number of heated topics, “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them”. (Acts 15:4 TNIV)  Long before they began to get into the “business” of the church their conversation started with God.  What has God done?  How do we sense God moving and working around us?  By hearing and seeing how God is already at work they knew it would help them make better decisions.

In Psalm 78 we read about the importance of story.  The Psalm is about passing along your story and faith to your children so that they may continue to pass it along saying, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.“ (Psalm 78:4, TNIV)  The focus of their story is not about great leaders or people, but about God.

As we seek to be God’s people, and do his work in this community is that where our center is?  If God is our center, we will be able to better discern his leading, and know where He is calling us.  What would our ministry team meetings look like if we began with sharing how God is at work?  It is so encouraging to hear about God’s work, and I believe we need to take more time to share about the work of God we see all around us.  I leave you with a few words from this song, “Jesus Be the Center”

Jesus Be the fire in my heart
Be the wind in my sails
Be the reason that I live

Jesus be my vision
Be my help
Be my guide Jesus

Back to Basics

Last week it was a joy and privilege to celebrate with this church the 50^th anniversary of its founding.  As I left Sunday I was thinking, where do we go from here, and what does it look like?   In life, as we age and mature, there is an underlying assumption that maturity leads to an increased level of depth and complexity.  If you have been in a job for along time you may be expected to learn to do more complex tasks, the longer you have been in relationships, the deeper and more complex your interactions get with one another.

If you ask an athlete, a CEO, a dancer, a singer, and more their keys to success and growth, they would each tell you a firm foundation in the fundamentals of their trade.  Baseball players spend hours each spring on drills that 10 year old players use in little leagues all over the country.  CEOs go to conferences; work with coaches and read books about very basic business principles, to make sure their fundamentals are sound.  They are not focused entirely on learning the most complex process; in fact many businesses have learned that they have gotten so complex they lost focus on why they even started the company.  Basic does not mean simple, boring, or suggest a lack of depth.  Instead looking to the basic and fundamentals can mean a great focus and also a clarity about ones identity and values.

This week we are beginning a sermon series, “Back to Basics” that will focus on some of the fundamentals of Christian faith, what is at the core of all that we do?  What are some keys to Spiritual Growth both as a church but also as individuals?  What is it that drives our ministry and our lives?  We will take time in this series to focus and talk about some of the core elements of who we are as Christians, and who we are as the body of Christ in Brown Deer.

Take some time each week before worship to read and pray over these texts.  You also can listen each week to the message from previous weeks on our website.  Feel free to download, listen and share them.

May 23rd- Pentecost- Back to Basics- Acts 2 “A New Day”

Fundamental element for faith communities: Teaching, fellowship, caring for needs

May 30th Back to Basics- Acts 15:1-11, “What Really Matters”

Fundamental for faith communities: A believer confesses Christ, and reflects their faith in all that they do, not just with their words.

June 6th Back to Basics: Evangelism and Predestination- Ephesians 1:3-14

Fundamental: We are saved by Jesus deeds, not our own

June 13th Back to Basics: 1 Corinthians 9:19-29

Fundamental: Called to communicate the gospel relevantly