Category: Discipleship

Posted on

Matthew 10:5-8 Jesus sends out the disciples

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Phase II

At this point in Jesus’ ministry he had been teaching and healing publicly for some time, and was known by the public at large and was certainly also on the radar of the religious leaders. His disciples had been with him long enough to have learned some things about the way of the kingdom, and now Jesus was inaugurating phase II of his strategy.

In the preceding passage (Mt 9:35-38), we learn that Jesus although working very hard (Mt 9:35) was not able to meet all the needs he would have liked (Mt 9:36). Time for intern assignments for his disciples!

At that point in time they were to proclaim the message of the kingdom to the Jews only. Nothing against Samaritans and Gentiles mind you, (Jesus ministered to them as well), but just at this juncture, the disciples were still new at this, and probably best off sticking with the culture they can most naturally relate to, and perhaps were less likely to be hostile to (Mt Lk 9:51-56) at that point in their spiritual lives. Also, the beachhead among the Jews was still being established. Ministry to the Samaritans and Gentiles would come in time (Acts 1:8).

The Message

And their message? “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Twenty-first century Christians need to pause and engage with that. Note how different it is to the typical evangelical message of “Jesus will save you from your sins”. It’s a completely different approach. Contemplate what the “kingdom of heaven” is all about and investigate that, rather than heading down a sin/salvation rabbit hole on the first day in spiritual kindergarten.

This is the same message that Jesus (and John) had already been preaching. The very first words out of Jesus’ mouth in his public ministry were “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Mt 4:17).” Not “Repent, so that you don’t go to hell when you die.” See the difference?

Posted on

Rethinking Evangelism

 


The Message

There was this guy who appeared one day who started preaching a message he called “the good news”. A lot of people heard, some became followers, and then he got killed by the Romans.

The message lived on through His followers over the next several decades, and spread throughout the whole Mediterranean world, despite significant opposition at times.

Today, Christians still preach a message. But is it the same one that the first guy taught? Or has it become hopelessly syncretised with culture and politics? Or has it been systematised and simplified (ie dumbed down) for efficient consumption and replication? So, the question is, how is evangelism going in the twenty-first century and does it need a rethink?

Growth Parables, Growth Paradigms

There are two short parables in Matthew’s gospel that show Jesus’ thinking about how the kingdom of heaven grows.

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” (Mt 13:32-33).

 So how does the kingdom of heaven grow exactly? How can we evangelise in the most effective way in our churches? What are the best programs, resources and techniques? Answer: none of the above.

There is some seed. It gets planted. And then we wait. Or you can use yeast!

That’s it. We plant the seed. The good news of the gospel, the way of God’s kingdom. And we let it do its work. We don’t coerce. Or manipulate. Or trap. Or scare people. It’s good news, remember? Things like “blessed are the poor in spirit”, or “the meek shall inherit the earth”. That’s the way Jesus started out.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Lk 4:18-19)

There it is again, that “good news”. Freedom sounds good. Getting your sight back sounds good. Freedom from oppression sounds good – certainly a lot better than “you’re lost and you’re going to hell” which has become the essential locus of evangelism in the evangelical world.

Worth knowing that the “eu” part in the εὐαγγελίζω (euangelizo) means “good” (think eulogy, euphemism, even euphonium etc). So, if you want to share the good news make sure it’s actually good.

Fun fact, in Roman times, the euangelion was a political announcement. The king, or the emperor is coming to your town, or has ascended to the throne. Jesus employed this device as he brought the message of a new king, a new kingdom and a new way of life.

The problem for many of us though is that we just can’t get out of a “lost/saved/we have to convert you to our church” paradigm when we think about the euangelion. Yes, this is why Jesus died, and sin is a massive problem, but this formulation of the gospel misses key parts of the overall story.


Conversion Engineering

The enemy of Jesus-style evangelism is industrialised big-church evangelism, engineered to garner those “decisions”. From the sawdust trails of the Great Awakenings, to the Billy Sundays, to the Billy Grahams, to the Bill Brights, packaged, decision-oriented programs, meetings, tracts, TV shows and so forth have all revolved around creating sufficient angst for the individual that can only be resolved by whatever analgesic act the “evangelist” is touting – a walk down that trail, a seat on that bench, a coming forward, a prayer, even a baptism. The long-term stats on these conversions really aren’t that impressive, but is it any wonder? You would never make a life-long marriage commitment after a one-hour date, so why should a life-long commitment to following Jesus, possibly involving the enduring of persecution be thought to be possible after a one-hour sermon? Jesus just didn’t seem to operate that way.

Many groups set growth goals and make various plans to try to achieve those goals. This approach can be quite deeply ingrained in our personal and corporate church cultures. On the surface this looks OK – vision and planning are good things, right? However, there are traps that get armed in this process.

Trap #1: Ministry Imbalance

In the time of Ezekiel, God made it clear to the shepherds of Israel how He would go about looking after his sheep:

I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice. (Ezk. 34:16).

 Yes, God is concerned for the lost, it’s the first group on his list. But not the only group. There are strays to find, the injured to bind up, the weak to be strengthened.

Jesus, at the beginning of his ministry unrolled the Isaiah scroll and picked out the passage we mentioned earlier:

The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Lk 4:18, Isa 61:1,2).

 Good news + freedom for prisoners + healing + recovery + freedom of the oppressed = Jesus’ ministry.

If Jesus preached that today, he would be accused by some of having a “woke” agenda! Point is that the gospel is for people both inside and outside the group. However, when evangelism is highly prioritised then those inside sheep get neglected.

Now what about what happens after happy conversion day… Are we as organised, intentional and serious about the ongoing spiritual formation and growth and needs of the new babe-in-Christ as we are in the initial acquisition process? Maturing takes time, nurturing, encouragement, intentionality, love and effort. To ignore this is shameful. To prioritise conversion over retention is the heart of Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:18-23).

Trap #2: Unhealthy numerical focus

There is something that is just so alluring about numbers. Be it a bank account savings balance, social media follower count, or church growth statistics. We can draw graphs, make projections, and can feel that little glow of satisfaction as the numbers creep up. We like to know the numbers. King David fell into this trap.

So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” (2 Sam 24:2-3)

 Joab felt something was off, and he was the general of the army they were counting – you’d think he’d want to know! David got his census done anyway and received the report. But then we are told that:

David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.” (2 Sam 24:10).

That episode cost 70,000 lives (2 Sam 24:15). David saw his error saying:

I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family. (2 Sam 24:17).

 Finally, David remembered his roots, and what the heart of a true shepherd should really look like. It was wrong for David to count the people because they were not his to count  (cf Ex 30:12).

Numbers have always had a depersonalising way about them, be it an actuarial statistic or a concentration camp tattoo. We give names to our children, not numbers. Jesus only worked with a few. Paul didn’t same to care that much either about the size of the crowd (1 Cor 1:16), but what they had in common was a simple desire to simply preach the message of the kingdom.

Trap #3: Measurement Pride

Apart from a few verses in the beginning of Acts there are no hard numbers in the New Testament about church growth. Three thousand on the day of Pentecost is a remarkable figure (Acts 2:41), so remarkable that the glory can really only go to God. The Lord really was adding to their number (Acts 2:47), and the Jerusalem church grew to a size of 5000 men, plus presumably a lot of women as well (Acts 4:4). But then the reporting of numbers stop. The point has been made – God was with them spectacularly. No more reports on congregation size, just accounts of the amazing things happening as the Holy Spirit conducted proceedings. If Paul boasted at all it was in his weaknesses. He refuse to boast the way the world boasts (2 Cor 11:18). “You want numbers – I’ll give you numbers… 39 lashes 5 times, 3 times beaten with rods, stoned once, 3 shipwrecks, 24 hours in the open sea” (2 Cor 11:24-25). Paul goes to great lengths to make this point in 2 Corinthians, he is not going to do business the way the world does, or the way the false apostles do. No, he lived the way of suffering, of service, of distress, of weakness. No measurement pride here.

Perhaps we are incapable of resisting the lure of the counting of souls to our account? We can say that “God added” x people to our group, but why are we saying it?

Trap #4: Stifling of Creativity

Finally, one problem with programmatic evangelistic methods is that they tend to stifle and quench creativity. Are we still doing the same old things evangelistically we did twenty or thirty years ago? Is everybody in the group doing the exact same evangelistic tasks? Well, the culture has driven right past us in the fast lane. They aren’t listening to the same old approaches anymore. What are they listening to? What are they attracted to? What do they need? Are we listening? Do we even know? Do we think about it? Paul was good at this. He had to be – three different audiences in Acts 17 alone. The Thessalonians were not the Bereans. He preached Messiah to the Jews (Acts 17:3) and an unknown God to the Athenians (Acts 17:22-25). He did his research too (Acts 17:23).

In case we have missed it, “church” is kind-of “on the nose”in many quarters these days, so invitations to come along there may not work that well any more. But perhaps ears prick up when you talk about a radical “equality” rather than a hierarchy. That has currency in the culture. Or show regard for the marginalised and get involved in a community project. Concern about justice issues, human rights and so forth. These sorts of things are totally consistent with the gospel and could be a path-way worth exploring evangelistically. Not to mention that people don’t need too much convincing that the world is in a bit of a mess and are ready for some good news. Go on! Shape that message! Love is always good. The meekness and gentleness of Christ as an antidote to a “muscular’’, “strongman”, “toxic” style of leadership. Oh, and don’t be all judgy (Rom 2:1-3, Mt 7:1-5). There are many possibilities.

The Slow Way

What if we were to simply and intentionally live out what we read in the Sermon on the Mount in our interactions with others. To actually love people, serve them, be compassionate, be there. And then one day the opportunity will arise for some deeper discussion. And if the person doesn’t respond, well you just keep on loving, serving and being compassionate, and maybe things will be different in a couple of years. There will be opportunities to open the Scriptures with people to meet  needs as they arise. Living life with people means there will be needs that can be ministered to. That does seem to be the way Jesus did it. There are probably a lot more  “living water” conversations (Jn 4:1-24) than “warn and plead opportunities”.  (Acts 2:40).

Paul gets the idea also:

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Cor 3:5-9)

Paul seems to be genuinely comfortable with the idea that he is just a simple co-worker. A seed-planter. A God-partner who is happy to pass the ball. He is convinced that it is God who makes those seeds grow. The thing about seeds is that there is no quick pay-off. You put them in the ground, and you have nothing to show for it but dirt under your fingernails for quite a while. One day there is a sprout, but you better keep on watering it because full-grown mustard trees can take quite a few years (Mt 13:32).

What if you were able to come up with a setting in which you could share and discuss in your day the things Jesus taught that revolutionised the religion of his day? And you did it for a year, with absolutely no “conversion agenda”, but instead just focussed on teaching the good news and allowing the Holy Spirit to do his work? What would that look like a year down the track? Chances are a lot of the poor, imprisoned and blind people would stop by. History tells us that Jesus’ way draws people. They get to listen. They get to figure out in community with others how this all applies to them. They get to engage, to think, to wrestle. That is going to lead to a deeper engagement with the Scriptures and changes in the heart. Then one day, “So what do I need to do?” moments can arise. People do think about these things (Lk 13:23, Acts 8:26-39, Acts 16:30).

This may all seem terribly inefficient and oh-so-slow. But isn’t that how seeds grow? Much better to start slowly, plant those seeds and allow God to cause the growth. Build relationships and intentionally nurture, than to have a “big push” with boast-able numbers only to lose many of those “converts’’ a few months later.

Now don’t get me wrong. I believe we have wonderful news to share and that we need to share it. But I believe our real goal is to creatively make the gospel attractive (Tit 2:10) and form Christ in people (Gal 4:19), understanding that it is God who makes the seeds grow. Constantly reevaluating, rethinking, reshaping our presentation of the gospel for our particular cultural moment.

Posted on

What is Worship?


What is worship, actually?

We might respond by saying something like “it’s what we do when we go to church”. “We sing worship songs don’t we? It’s our praising of God when we pray and sing… It’s the band.” For many Christians, the exact definition of what worship actually is may be elusive. We’ve got no temple to go to. No altars any more. So I just bow my head, and you know, be… worshipful!

For modern-day Christians, the category of “worship” is pretty strongly linked with “worship services.” It’s what we do at church. But has it always been this way? The New Testament actually has precious little to say about “worship services”. It’s curious that the NIV inserts a few headings such as “On Covering the Head in Worship” (before 1 Cor 11:2), or “Intelligibility in Worship” (before 1 Cor 14:1), or “Instructions on Worship” (before 1 Tim 2:1) etc. The passages beneath the headings don’t mention the word at all.  So it reveals a way of thinking that “worship” is associated with the activities of the gathered Church in their “worship services”, a term that is itself absent from the New Testament. There seems to be a felt need to find support in the New Testament for our modern day practice and understanding.

So what is “worship” then?

Working Definition

Here is a working definition: Worship is an orientation of the heart that is willingly giving over its desires in order to be aligned with God’s desires. And as such, is not simply confined to times of assembly with other Christians. Rather, it is a base-line allegiance to the idea of becoming like Jesus Christ in thought, word and deed.

We may have to wrestle furiously with our sinful nature to get there. For example, let’s say something happens to you that makes you angry or fearful. It’s real. You felt these things.

Consider Psalm 4:

Know that the Lord has set apart the faithful for Himself; the Lord will hear when I call to Him. Be angry  and do not sin; on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still.  Offer sacrifices in righteousness and trust in the Lord. 

Psalm 4:3–5 (HCSB)

Offering Sacrifices

The Psalmist mentions anger, but does not simply say “don’t be angry”. Rather, when anger comes, do not sin, process it. Reflect. Be still – don’t ride into war. After the reflection, go forward in trust with God. “Offering the sacrifices” should not be taken as performing some kind of penance, but rather an invitation to conduct your overall life righteously, and if you do come to offer a sacrifice, may your heart be already stilled in right relationship with God and with others. Jesus provides a practical example of this in Mt 5:23-24:

So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 5:23–24 (HCSB)

 The overall thrust of this passage is about dealing with anger at the heart level  (Mt 5:21-26), and the specific illustration Jesus chooses is someone in the very act of “worship”. True worship is to align with God’s commands to love one another, and prioritise reconciliation with your brothers and sisters. 

The conventional understanding of worship simply as activities around gifts and altars is completely secondary to the main game of living a life in connection with God that can bring his blessing to others.

Paul quotes this Psalm in Eph 4:26 as he reminds the Ephesian Christians about how they had left their old ways and were in the middle of a renewal process.

Since you put away  lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor,  because we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin.   Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil an opportunity. The thief must no longer steal. Instead, he must do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share  with anyone in need. No foul language is to come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need,  so that it gives grace to those who hear. And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit.  You were sealed by Him  for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind  and compassionate  to one another, forgiving  one another, just as God also forgave you  in Christ.

Ephesians 4:22–32 (HCSB)

Renewing your mind

There it is again – Be angry and do not sin. (V26). This needs to  be an observable and material life change. Your kids need to be able to say “Dad doesn’t get angry any more like he used to”. Instead, the old bitter, shouty, slanderous talk is now forgiving, kind and compassionate (v31-32). The swearing is gone (v29). The kids are happily wondering “how did this all happen?”

Well, Dad got renewed in his mind (v32). Thinking differently, believing differently. Yes, that’s great but how? Paul explains:

Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you  to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed  to this age,  but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,  so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will  of God.

Romans 12:1–2 (HCSB)

Transformation

And so we are back to worship. There is a definite connection between “worship” and “transformation” being discussed here. The true worshipper has been intentionally seeking out the good, pleasing and perfect Will of God with a view to implementing it in their life. So who does that? Who resists the culture of their society (v2) and actively seeks out God’s will? The worshipper does.

Jesus had thoughts on this too. When talking with the Samaritan woman, he was not interested in artefacts of worship such as finding the right mountain to go to, he was looking for true worship.

Jesus told her, “Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans  worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here,  when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit,  and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:21–24 (HCSB)

It’s non-physical, this true worship. It’s spiritual. It’s about what is inside you, how your heart is oriented, what is the core thing that drives you? What basis are you making your decisions on? What’s your code? Jesus is saying that if it is not based on God’s revealed truth, it’s not worship at all, no matter what you believe about anything.

Then there are things we can learn from the antithesis of God-worship – idol worship.

Idol Worship

He makes a god or his idol with the rest of it. He bows down to it and worships; He prays to it,  “Save me, for you are my god.” Such people  do not comprehend and cannot understand, for He has shut their eyes  so they cannot see, and their minds so they cannot understand. No one reflects, no one has the perception or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, I also baked bread on its coals, I roasted meat and ate. I will make something detestable  with the rest of it, and I will bow down to a block of wood.” He feeds on  ashes. His deceived mind has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself, or say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?” 

Isaiah 44:17–20 (HCSB)

Isaiah clearly is not up to speed on concepts such as “don’t make fun of people’s religious practices!” What he is saying is:

A closed mind + no reflection = no worship.

The idol worshippers Isaiah are remarking on have a belief system, but it is a false belief system, a lie in fact. A belief system so ridiculous it is worthy of prophetic satire. Jesus says true worshippers worship in truth. Not in lies.

Israel’s continual coupling with the idols of the people living around them is a massive theme in the Hebrew Bible. Before even setting foot into the promised land, God warned them “you must purge the land of all this stuff because it is going to entrap you” (Deut 7:1-6, 16). True worshippers do whatever it takes to purge the idols from their land.

If they don’t then this is what can happen:

The idols of the nations are of silver and gold, made by human hands. They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. They have ears but cannot hear; indeed, there is no breath in their mouths. Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them. 

Psalm 135:15–18 (HCSB)

The new you

If you make an idol, you will end up being just like the idol. You become like the object of your worship. In the case of a mute and deaf physical idol, all shiny on the outside, you lose your voice, your ability to listen, and ultimately life animation itself, the poet says. 

And so it is back to the idea of “worship” and “transformation”. Idol-worshippers can be transformed too – they become like their lifeless worship object. On the other hand, faithful God-worshippers transform because they are ridding their heart-land from the ensnaring idols that have replaced God in that part of their lives. And so pride becomes humility, greed becomes generosity, hatred becomes love, harshness becomes gentleness and so on. You become Christ-like. Your life dispenses God’s grace to others around you. You are bringing God’s kingdom saltiness, light and love to those who live, work and play near you and with you.

Meetings


So what is the place and function of meetings of the body then? Paul tells the Corinthians to at least be organised about it! And the purpose is to build up the church:

What then is the conclusion, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one  has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, another language, or an interpretation.  All things must be done for edification.

1 Corinthians 14:26 (HCSB)

Mentioned here are the reciting of a psalm (possibly a hymn (NIV)), and various types of instruction. They prayed (1 Cor 11;4, Acts 1:14, 2:42, 4:31). The early church met together every day in the temple courts (Acts 2:46), but broke bread back at home (Acts 2:46). They praised God (Acts 2:47). There was a lot of apostolic teaching happening as they assembled in the temple courts (Acts 4:33, 5:25-28). In fact, the primary activity we can observe in the meetings of the church in the New Testament is instruction (eg Acts 11:36, 13:15). This makes sense as it was the only way a predominantly illiterate church that did not possess personal copies of Scripture could ever be taught.

In parallel with that, the early Christians were thought of as being worshippers of God. For example: 

While Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul and brought him to the judge’s bench.  “This man,” they said, “persuades people to worship God contrary to the law!” 

Acts 18:12–13 (HCSB)

Conclusion

Worship then is not so much what you do in a meeting, but it’s how you live. It’s more like breathing than participating in any set-piece activity. It’s a constant heart orientation. A true and positive, bi-directional partnership between man and God. Initiated by God and responded to transformationally by man. This…. Is your true and proper worship.

Posted on

The Image of God and Human Rights

Ethics in Christian Discipling

The Biblical concept of humans being created in the image of God and that this fact should be governing our relationships has significant practical overlap with what we today call human rights. The UN universal declaration of human rights and the standards of ethics in caring professions can often stand in stark contrast to behaviours and cultures found in many churches. This dissonance should give Christians and their churches great pause.

It seems that in many ways, the world is actually way ahead on this and doing a better job of teaching us to treat one another according to God’s design and nature, at least in the formulation of ideas and policies around human rights (if not always in practice – we live in a fallen world after all).

Anybody entering a counselling profession for example will be trained in what is ethical, what proper boundaries look like, what the client’s rights are etc. This training covers confidentiality, cultural sensitivity, emotional safety issues and so on. Compare this to a church situation. Many Christians in churches find themselves in counselling type situations in discipleship settings for example. Yet what training is ever given in these matters?

There is an unfortunate arrogance that can emerge from being the deployer of the sword of the Spirit that gives an unspoken licence to unethical practices in discipleship counselling. Someone might say: “I don’t need to worry about all this namby-pamby and worldly “human rights” stuff. This brother just needs to repent or I am telling my discipler about it!”

Human Rights and Evangelism

Secondly, could this be a locus for evangelism? The teaching of the Bible affirms the dignity of the individual as the image of God. This is a significant contact point with a world that is actually quite interested in the progress of human rights, fair treatment and healthy therapeutic boundaries.

The creative Christian could point out the connection between the contemporary cultural interest in human rights and what God teaches us about His design for inter-personal relationships based on the concept of humans being his image-bearers. (Gen. 1:26-27, 9:6, Col 3:10).

Posted on

Unburdened

This is an article I wrote several years ago. It has been available also on Douglas Jacoby’s website.

Perhaps the key differentiator Christianity has in the field of world religions is the unique concept of grace. In a world driven by competitiveness, performance measurement and the relentless march for increased return on investment and corporate profits, God’s grace and everything it affects is not well valued, simply ignored or even despised. Yet it is at the very core of our religion. If we have no other virtue as Christians, we must at the very least explain grace to the world in our actions, our words, and in our very thoughts. Yet we are far from this being the case. It is my contention that we have fostered a culture long on performance benchmarks but short on promulgating grace. In the quest for fast growth in our churches, the message of God’s grace has often been distorted, ignored or even hijacked.

The stage of world history is littered with the corpses of men and women who have been trampled in the quest for world domination of an ideology. Christianity, Islam, Communism, Imperialism, Nazism and so forth have all sought worldwide influence and impact. The leaders of these movements in their respective day were driven by the deep belief of the superiority and excellence of their cause. But of course the excellence or purity of a cause in the minds of its leaders is not a sufficient measure of its excellence overall. The human costs of spreading social, political or religious doctrine has been enormous. A curious paradox has emerged’in the pursuit of something so “high” as the pervasiveness of a guiding ideology, the results have been so “low”. The collateral damage of untold millions of wrecked lives did not appear to enter into the calculations. After all, the world was being won…

The word of God however seeks to protect mankind from all of this. Yes, the stakes are high -eternal salvation, but the central tenet that provides this salvation in the first place must not be betrayed in the achievement of it. Paul expresses it succinctly “If I have the faith to move mountains but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor 13:1-3). World evangelism at the expense of love for the individual has proved to be a costly error. However apparently noble the mission may be, if it is one without true love and grace, it is in the final analysis and potential effects, no different to the worldwide spread of any other manmade ideology.

Many Christians in our churches today subscribe to a mindset of “burdened-ness”. They have been taught to equate a sense of spiritual acceptability or maturity with a notion of “feeling the burden” sufficiently. One’s burdened-ness can be measured by a blanket evaluation of one’s preparedness to “go anywhere, do anything, give up everything”. Any residual desire to place emphasis on other facets of life could be interpreted as not having an adequate love for the mission or the lost, or even as being ‘worldly’ in outlook. This dynamic is well recognised. The purpose of this article is to provide some Biblical help to embrace what I believe to be a state of heart and mind that God wants his children to have:’a state of being unburdened.

There is a pattern throughout both the Old and New Testaments, about the way God interacts with his people. What we find is a theme of God being all about being a lifter of burdens, not a placer of them.

GOD LIFTS BURDENS
(Num 11:11-17 NIV) He asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? {12} Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you promised on oath to their forefathers? {13} Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ {14} I cannot carry all these people by myself the burden is too heavy for me. {15} If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now–if I have found favor in your eyes–and do not let me face my own ruin.” {16} The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. {17} I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Here we get an insight into how Moses was feeling as the leader of an ungrateful nation and people of God. He complains of the heavy burden he feels leading all those people. How does God respond to Moses? Does God admonish him to stop his whining? “Be more faithful Moses!” No! Rather God acts to lift the burden. It was a burden. No wonder Moses was feeling it’he was understaffed by a factor of 70!

Let us now examine a key passage in the New Testament. In Mt 11:1-30. Jesus had send out the twelve, and was now on a preaching and teaching tour of Galilee. John sends his disciples with some questions to Jesus. Jesus talks about John, and goes on to address his audience. There seems to be confusion reigning in this passage: John is confused about Jesus, the people are confused about John, and about the nature of the Kingdom of God. Cities that saw miracles are cursed. Worldly seaports and the byword of Sodom itself are lifted up. Religion has blinded the people, and God wants that turned upside down.

There is a common thread running through these incidents. Jesus is challenging the concepts and ideas people have about their religion. John wasn’t sure about Jesus it seems. Healing the sick, curing the lepers, opening the eyes of the blind was perhaps not what John was anticipating. Jesus corrected that notion with a Scripture. Then Jesus addresses the people. “What were you expecting with John? A weak and insipid religious guy? Or a wealthy tele-evangelist type? You got more than you bargained for didn’t you!’ It’s always easier to complain about the messenger than to embrace the message and change.

Jesus goes on to denounce the Jewish cities of Korazin, Betsaida and Capernaum. The Bible belt of the Holy land perhaps. Sodom would be better off? What was Sodom known for? Sodomy. Imagine the furore in conservative religious circles today if Jesus came preaching this!

Jesus thanks God for hiding the truth from the “wise”, and revealing it to the child-like. Soft hearts are needed for this message, not hardened religiosity.

As the true explanation of God (v27), we are encouraged to listen again to Jesus’ message rather than continue to stumble along blindly with deeply held traditional but off-centre religious beliefs. Grace? Are you really sure that’s what the gospel is all about?…

Then there is the key passage of all:

(Mat 11:28-30 NLT) Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle, and you will find rest for your souls. {30} For my yoke fits perfectly, and the burden I give you is light.”

What are the burdens Jesus is talking about? Many people would quickly apply this passage to difficulties in their own lives: their busy job or difficult relationship perhaps. This might be possible, but the context of the passage as discussed above seems to demand that the application of these verses lies in the realm of one’s faith and relationship with God.

Consider also Psalm 146, referred to by Jesus:

(Psa 146:6-9 NLT) He is the one who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He is the one who keeps every promise forever, {7} who gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD frees the prisoners. {8} The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts the burdens of those bent beneath their loads. The LORD loves the righteous. {9} The LORD protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

Jesus appealed to this Psalm when answering John’s questions. It portrays God as a keeper of promises, a freer of prisoners, and a lifter of burdens.

A true relationship with God is not about heavy burdens. Jesus makes this point clearly in his famous “woe to you Pharisees’ discourse:

(Mat 23:4 NIV) They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

(Mat 23:4 NLT) They crush you with impossible religious demands and never lift a finger to help ease the burden.

The religious world imposes burdens. Jesus states explicitly that he will lighten the burden.

A doctor working with leprosy sufferers in India wrote of burdens, stress and yokes:

Too much stress on ones body is detrimental. Conversely, too little stress also affects living tissue. Cells need exercise. Without it, they will atrophy’a condition common to anyone who has worn a plaster cast. I once treated an Indian fakir who had held his hand over his head uselessly for twenty years, as a religious act. The muscles had shrunk to nothing, and all the joints had fused together so that his hand was like a stiff paddle. Healthy tissue needs stress, but appropriate stress that is distributed among many cells.

Those principles apply directly to the stress caused by a joke on the neck of an ox. In the hospital carpentry shop in India, I helped fashion such yokes.

If I put a flat, uncarved piece of wood on an ox’s neck and use it to pull a cart, very quickly pressure sores will break out on that animal’s neck, and he will be useless. A good yoke must be formed to the shape of an ox’s neck. It should cover a large area of skin to distribute the stresses widely. It should also be smooth, rounded, and polished with no sharp edges, so that no one point will endure unduly high stress. If I succeed in my workshop, the yoke I make will fit snugly around the ox’s neck and cause him no discomfort. He can haul heavy loads every day for years, and his skin will remain perfectly healthy, with no pressure sores.

And now, I think I understand the strange juxtaposition of phrases in (Matthew 11:28-29). Jesus offers each of us a well-fitted yoke, of custom design. He does not call us to the kind of rest that means inactivity or laziness’that would lead to spiritual atrophy. Instead, he promises a burden designed to fit my frame, my individual needs, strengths, and capabilities. I come to him weary and heavy-laden. He removes those crushing burdens that would destroy any human being, and replaces them with a yoke of appropriate stress designed specifically for me. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” he says, “for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

We are to take Jesus’ yoke upon us. The promise is that the burden will be light. This flows from the yoke being one of custom design, tailored to fit the needs and situation of the individual Christian. Managing such an inventory of one-off yokes does not fit with any man-made system, but it is typical of the glorious variability we see throughout God’s creation.

We however have sought to standardize Christianity and have taught or implied that everyone needs to perform to the same single standard in God’s kingdom. This teaching seems to be at odds with what Jesus is saying here. Jesus’ yoke is a snug fit, not an impossible fit.

If we take an area of spiritual activity such as evangelism for example, what we must acknowledge is that different individuals will have different evangelistic impacts throughout their lives. Some will influence many directly to become Christians. Others will influence only a few. Some may influence no one. The constant admonition to bear fruit evangelistically that has been a feature in many of our churches has produced an ill-fitting yoke on the necks of many disciples. Thy feel burdened, unable to measure up to this demand. Such burdens are not of God, they are of man and his programs. No wonder people feel burdened! They are not carrying Jesus’ load, but somebody else’s!

To add to this notion that God is a lifter of burdens, consider the following:

– (Psa 55:22 NLT) Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

– (Psa 145:14 NLT) The LORD helps the fallen and lifts up those bent beneath their loads.

– (1 John 5:3 NIV) This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.

– (1 John 5:3 NLT) Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult.

LEADERS LIFT BURDENS
What then does God expect of his leaders? There are many examples of both good and bad leadership to be found in the Bible. Let us look at two of the good ones: Nehemiah and Paul.

(Neh 5:14-19 NIV) Moreover, from the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, until his thirty-second year–twelve years–neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. {15} But the earlier governors–those preceding me–placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. {16} Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled there for the work we did not acquire any land. {17} Furthermore, a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations. {18} Each day one ox, six choice sheep and some poultry were prepared for me, and every ten days an abundant supply of wine of all kinds. In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people. {19} Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.

Nehemiah’s actions were in stark contrast to the worldly leaders that preceded him. He willingly forsook certain privileges available to him out of his reverence for God and for the sake of his people. The earlier leaders placed a heavy burden on the people, in the form of taxes. Encouraged no doubt by their superior’s attitudes, the assistants too lorded it over the people. Nehemiah however refused to be like that. Instead, he set a personal example by devoting himself to the work. Instead of dining off the backs of his countrymen, he fed 150 of them every night. He never made use if his rights.

What do we learn from the example of Nehemiah? Great leaders sacrifice for their people. Worldly leaders burden their people.

Let us turn to the example of Paul, perhaps best illustrated in his relationship with the Thessalonian Christians.

(1 Th 2:6-12 NIV) We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, {7} but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. {8} We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us. {9} Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you. {10} You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. {11} For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, {12} encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

(2 Th 3:8-9 NIV) …nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. {9} We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.

Paul writing to the Thessalonians, asserts that ‘as apostles they could have been a burden to them”. He means, they could have supported him financially while he was with them. But he chose to work night and day so as not to burden this fledgling church. Rather, he was determined to encourage, comfort and urge them as a father does his children. As it turned out, the Macedonian churches did end up supporting Paul financially as we see in 2 Corinthians 11:9.

(2 Cor 11:9 NIV) And when I was with you and needed something, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I needed. I have kept myself from being a burden to you in any way, and will continue to do so.

Such example teaches powerful lessons. Paul didn’t want to be a burden to those he was preaching to. His example taught The Macedonian churches (of which Thessalonica was one) well. We learn that after Paul had moved on from there, they were spectacularly generous despite their severe poverty (2 Cor 8:1-2). There seems to be a strong link between people’s willingness to give financially and the leaders willingness to not take advantage of it.

Time and time again we see godly leaders determined NOT to burden their people, but to serve them.

WE ALL LIFT BURDENS

Serving and burden-bearing leaders are not sufficient for a healthy church however. What is required is that we all become burden lifters in our relationships with one another. This will be a major cultural shift for some, but a Biblically mandated one.

One of the greatest burdens we routinely face in our spiritual lives can be in dealing with our sin.

(Psa 38:4-5 NLT) My guilt overwhelms me’it is a burden too heavy to bear. {5} My wounds fester and stink because of my foolish sins.

Paul talks of vulnerable women, burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by many desires (2 Tim 3:6), a spiritual condition not limited to women necessarily.

Sin can be a big deal to people. We are all familiar with the power of sin and guilt. It stops people from coming to church or reading the Bible. This is Satan’s home turf. When people need the succour of spiritual encouragement, they feel more driven to avoid it. It is like saying “I am too sick to go to hospital”.

Sin in our lives is certainly a burden. Some however, are over-burdened with “imagined sin”. Every act or thought is put under the microscope and examined for the slightest trace of sin. ‘You’re not submissive enough, faithful enough, bold enough, humble enough, committed enough. Sin, sin ,sin ,sin, sin, sin!’ This type of thinking has also been a feature of our church culture unfortunately, and needs to be reversed.

As Christians, we need to take sin seriously, but not neurotically. Mark 9:42-45 shows that we must deal decisively with the causes of sin, yet we do not see a continual scrutiny on the sin in people’s lives in the pages of the New Testament.

As an example of this, the apostles had a great opportunity to spell out moral requirements to the Gentile churches when they circulated the letter that bore the landmark outcomes of the Jerusalem Council in the mid first-Century. What we see however is just four sins mentioned!

(Acts 15:28-29 NIV) It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: {29} You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

The focus was not on burdening people, but on freeing them. The name the sins to avoid and then encourage them by saying ‘You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell!’ They didn’t berate the point. The apostles did not want to burden the people turning to God. We shouldn’t either.

Finally, the Bible has some advice for us in our relationships with one another, in dealing with sin in each other’s lives.

(Gal 6:1-2 NIV) Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. {2} Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.

The first lesson here is that if you are not spiritual, perhaps don’t get personally involved. But more importantly, we are taught to restore your brother gently. Some of us are more likely to burden people down than to effectively restore. We draw ourselves up to our full height: “Brother, that’s a disgusting sin. How could you. You need to go away and repent. You make me sick.” Such words spring from a false notion of God’s attitude toward the sinner. The ‘go away and don’t come back until you repent’ school of theology is not of God. It does not reflect God’s graciousness and it carves out a deeper foothold for Satan.

We are to restore our brothers gently. Draw him in. Build him up. Point him to God. Carry his burden.

CONCLUSION
The message of the gospel is good news. It is unburdening news. God is a lifter of burdens, not a placer of burdens. Our teaching and our example need to reflect this strongly. We have some work to do in our churches to reverse an ingrained mindset that is the opposite to this. It starts with our individual relationship with God and view of God as a burden lifter. It requires leaders who are prepared to be burden-bearers and it ultimately devolves to how we interact with one another on an individual level as channels of God’s grace, mercy, love and peace.

(Mat 11:28-30 NIV) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. {29} Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. {30} For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Blog Proudly powered by WordPress