BLOGGING THROUGH COLOSSIANS V THE JESUS FOLLOWER

“All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing…”

Last night at Elevation, I was asked to meet a young couple that are working in China. A couple of Americano coffees, a tour of the Gallery and a quiet corner and we were away dreaming, updating, stirring and challenging. Their passion for the un-reached communities of China and her billion plus people was contagious and empowering. God just will not let us get away from His call to the nations. The deep-rooted seed to see the non-Jesus followers all over the world fall in love with our Jesus lies deep in our foundation. From the 70’s, God has spoken prophetically about this mandate on this church to see leaders raised up and churches planted around the world. The moment we forget that. The moment we get overly enamored by the here, the now, the us… the Father very graciously sends us someone who draws our attention back to these last of the last days and the fact that this gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations then the end will come.

This has been one of the most exciting texts, which has been very difficult to move off. Paul’s apo affection for this fledging church is palatable. Although he had never been there, nor, it seems ever went there, his disciple Epaphras kept him current with their spiritual journey. It seems like Epaphras was from this city, was a minister / deacon / servant there. He gets hold of an imprisoned Paul with real concern about the false teaching that was threatening the purity of the plant. Paul’s response is not firstly an attack on the teaching; he, in fact, never fully communicates the threat. This has had theologians through the ages speculate what it was. Rather, it seems Paul’s preoccupation is to create an understanding of the real truth, the real currency of heaven, so that when the counterfeit comes it is easily identified and can be dismissed with due diligence.

The framework of this conversation starts out with Paul explain what a true Jesus follower looks like. For the sake of simplicity I am going to use a bullet point lay out and hereby threaten the liquid God life with such a bland visual format:

· According to Paul, a healthy church into which the Jesus follower finds God-life, is where “faith… love… and hope” find true and ongoing expression. No matter what other factors may be evident [size, power, gifts, theology…] if these foundations are absent, the church does not gain full apostolic applause,

· Grace must be operating “in all its truth”. The wonder of grace never ceases to be the sweet perfume that keeps the Jesus follower free and in God’s favor. I do find it interesting that he only speaks of grace once but being “in Christ” appears about fifteen times. It seems like he reminds these fragile believers that grace is not a destination but a journey. The true destination is our revelation of what it means to be “in Christ” – both now and then.

· The aspects of the gospel that he highlights in this key passage (1:3 – 14), are:

o Rescued us from the dominion of darkness – a great positional declaration of freedom.

o Brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves – a new king and line of liberty.

o Redemption-the choice of an economic metaphor for the gospel’s work in us is profound as he says to these young believers that they have been bought with a price and they are no longer their own – they are there for the use of the king.

o Forgiveness of sin – is that perpetual cry that keeps us free in the wonder of expiation – Jesus has forgiven us of all our sins [past, present and future, as well as the sins that others have committed against us, and he cleanses us of all our guilt- simply wow!]

· The Paul lists the ingredients of this kind of Jesus Follower that this story sees ‘bearing fruit and growing’:

o Filled with the knowledge of his will – both general as well as personal,

o All spiritual wisdom and knowledge – beyond that which we accumulate over time but that which comes by revelation from his word,

o Walk in a manner worthy of him…fully pleasing to him – both in morality and holiness but he adds the biggest lesson of it all that seek to please Jesus more than any other person,

o Bearing fruit in every good work – one of Paul’s great themes is for every Jesus person to know the good works that God has prepared for them before time began, and complete them. In fact he ends the epistle with a call to Archippus “see to it that you complete the work you have received from the Lord” 4:17

o Growing in the knowledge of God – this requires perpetual humility to seek increased revelation of that higher view of God,

o Strengthened with all power – the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in his indwelling, in filling, empowering,

o Great endurance and patience – not to be nice people but to be a robust, gutsy Christ follower who is not vulnerable to every wind of doctrine in order to chase the new thing – Alan Frow speaks of ‘radical normalcy’ which is what we need to seek,

o Joy and thanks – oh how the cynicism and need to critique has captured the western church. So many experts on what should be done, so few actually doing anything significant for the kingdom. The joy that brings strength and the thanks that brings freedom – these are the true tools to fight false teaching.

This is the kind of Jesus follower Paul was aspiring to produce. They look a little different to what is often taught – hence the vulnerability to false teaching. However, whether we study past or present churches, the body of believers in Colosae or the body of believers in our home communities, we like Paul should continue to encourage and foster a people “in Christ” who actively pursue a greater knowledge of

I LOVE SUNDAY MORNINGS

I love early Sunday mornings. Love the quiet of a sleeping city, periodically interrupted by the Sunday papers finding home from a speedy car that sends their message missiles onto sidewalks. A strong coffee married to a brief glance at the news and sports scores as well as the twitters of friends sends me diving into the biblical texts.

I love Sunday mornings. When M and I started leading our first church in 1983 I had recently come out of college, then the military, then school teaching. My natural propensity had been late to bed, late to rise. Then one morning, some years into that journey, I felt like the Lord arrest me. The rough and tumble of the turbulent South Africa had me in prayer for our community. Drawn to the text of John 10 where the shepherd opens the gates for the sheep, first thing in the morning, the Lord seemed to call me to a major change of metabolism. He wanted me to wake up early in the morning. He wanted me to open the gate to the city in the morning, for our businessmen and women as they entered into their place of work , praying for favor, blessing, opportunities. He wanted me to usher them, in prayer, into their daily world.

If that was the case, then I asked the Father not for it to be a war with the alarm clock, nor a legalistic checklist addition that would seek to beat me up to show me what a really bad pastor I was when I erred. Grace... that is what I asked for. That supernatural empowerment that would enable me to do the very thing that is so counter my natural bent. Grace, that remarkable balm of Gilead that would stir me into His presence in the mornings with joy and anticipation. Grace, that liquid fire that would find me loving leading His people into that catapulted missionary day, seeking to speak Jesus to a limping world. Grace, that God factor that would be our sufficiency for those places, people and positions that just don't seem to go away. Grace, that God presence that enables us to be administrators of divine wisdom and facilitators of supernatural power even in the corridors of their corporate calling.

I love Sunday mornings. What does the Father have for us today? What seemingly side God- word will catch a hurting ear and caress it to wholeness? What song will draw vulnerable disobeyers into his presence for such is this irresistible grace? Whose life will be changed? What gifts will operate to let someone know that He is there and He is not silent? What love will our "compelling community" give, that will offer hope to a devastated leader?

I love Sunday mornings. For me and my house-well, we will do as we have done for some twenty six years, we will take our place of leadership and usher the bride of the king into his presence with joy, honor, respect and affection. The Word will be celebrated. The worship will be loaded with majesty. The bride will be loved and led and we will sense His wonderful delight over it all.

I love Sunday mornings.

HAITI HELL

Oh the pain. The glaring trauma of a nation under the shadow of the dead, dying, destitute has flooded the TV screens around the world. Few of those who have ever walked through the dumbstruck, soul numbing pain of an event like this, can fully comprehend a nation flattened in an act as devastating as this. Our heart breaks for you.

The sheer danger, destruction, deluge has us reeling from the TV images. The fact that bodies are strewn across the streets alongside crumpled buildings stirs our deeply tender hearts. We cannot but silently ask "Why Lord?" As we wrestle with our own theology, we read of the cruel Christianity offered by some, that this is clearly an act of an angry God against a rebellious nation. Their brash, cold, unbroken hearted prophecies speaks of a God that I do not know.

I am not an authority on these matters. My bible speaks of these being the signs of the last of the last days. Christ clearly warned of the days to come. A friend from the UK speaks of "God weather, Demonic weather, and Weather weather..." We have to be so careful before we can assume to know which of these three a given moment may reflect. Furthermore, we have to be even more careful to believe we can speak on behalf of God to provide a divine summation of a situation as painful as this. So often those who do, do so out of a very fragile eschatology [end time theology], who are principle driven rather than truly Holy Spirit led and who speak without tears of trauma in their eyes. Their lack of compassion wearies me. When Jesus spoke over what was to come to Jerusalem, he wept. These are not light weighted matters and cannot be spoken of as such.

To the people of Haiti, we mourn with you in this national tragedy. We pray with you and for you. With gratitude, we see ships steaming to your aid and tons of survival essentials are being flown to your doorstep. Thank you to the doctors, relief workers, government agencies and all who are seeking to lift the bewilderment of your overwhelming trauma. May God empower you with grace, faith and strong leadership to rebuild your limping, hurting community . May the Father heal the deep brokenness so evident in the eyes of the survivors. May the power of the gospel gain fresh traction to "bind up the broken hearted, set at liberty those held captive..." May not politics but love, drive the major voices in your restoration. May the church offer hope to the lostness that overshadows these shattered lives. In His precious name...

PASTORS WIFE IV - Husbanding her...

The jet lag is a bummer. I have been lying here for over an hour trying to convince this stirring body and mind of mine that it is time to sleep. However, my thoughts got going on this wonderful convo and here I am typing away.

I have loved being married. There is a true mystery in the marvel of marriage that is quite difficult to describe. From the dream that a little boy / girl has of who the true one will be, to the mystique of the moment love bites and our world becomes preoccupied by 'the one'. In our case, I was 18 and M was 15. Three years of courting was raced to closure as a two year military stint was expected of me and we decided to let this defining moment be our call to the day.

I have loved being married. M has remained a mystery to me. She has intoxicated me by her femininity. She has delighted me in her many gifitngs. She has amazed me in her perceptions and insights. And so I can go on,,, but how do we husband "the Father's daughter" in this partnership of ministry? Here are some thoughts as I ponder on my mistakes of 29 years and as I have watched so many others over the years:

1. Never forget... "just the two of us, we can make it if we tried..." in the end the kids will leave home, and the church will follow others - and we will have each other,

2. Marriage is like a basket of fruit, one cannot just keep taking from it will run empty- we must top it up daily,

3. Ministry cannot be a mistress - she is a very difficult one for a wife to compete with - our wife deserves our first affection and our identity must certainly not come from a very flirty one who will never marry us.

4. Brothers our identity cannot come from the ministry. A bad Sunday [whatever that means] cannot be brought home and so the family suffers from the grizzly bear

5. Weekly dates are not an option. For years I hated the notion that we had to artificially enforce a day for affection and priority - not clever!

6. The family does deserve you to be fully home, to down tools, to turn off the phone, to close the emails... guys we cannot preach against absent fathers but in truth, be that our selves,

7. The day off has never been an optional extra. God took one off per week - so why don't we?

8. What inspires, refreshes, rejuvenates your lady? Is it the beach, the outdoors, the theater, galleries, romantic picnics, shopping for creative ideas... splash your calenders with those priorities and watch the wonder of it all,

9. Lead well, clearly and strongly - it does amaze me how many wives are so frustrated by poor communication in the home - for M and me, we love to talk together daily. The updates, the sharing of ideas, the dreaming, the how are the kids doing convos... are a daily delight - when we begin to miss those times, we find we are not walking hand in hand, in step with each other and the Spirit,

10. Pray for and with her. A wife who knows her mind has her on the top of his pray passion feel very safe and secure,

11. Be accountable. I cannot tell how often this has come up over the years- either "I can submit so easily to my man because he submits himself to others" or "I feel so vulnerable because my man just does his own thing and no one gets it right by themselves all the time"

12. When she looks at your to do list, how high are the home priorities - yeah, I know, it hurts.

13. Love her. Daily- with romantic words, in hugs and kisses, in thoughts, winks, with flowers, surprise gifts, unexpected phone calls, surprise times away... tell her just how wonderful she is, what a gift she is, reiterating all the incredible abilities she has.

Brothers our wives have to share us on so many fronts. Look at her. Speak to her, Engage her. Strengthen her with the word. Make her laugh, Take her to girly movies. Take her shopping. Take the kids so she can have her nails done, Ensure she has time with her friends. Honor her...

When God spoke to one time many years ago and rebuked me for doing a bad job, he reminded me that she was his girl that he loaned to me. When I was to give her back to him, she was to be a radiant bride...

PASTORS WIFE III - Worship

Don't you love the first two chapters of Genesis? I love soaking myself in the pre-fall wonder of the first creation. The beauty, simplicity, evolving creative reality bears many repeated visits. And I love the affection of perfect worship as seen in those mysterious days.

What must it have been like to have walked with the Father at the cool of the day? Three of them walking, running, skipping, laughing, dancing to the tunes of glorious songs of the angels and the animal world in endless harmony. Lost in a world of wonder must have been their musical demeanor. Adam, Eve and the Father.

Eve was created to be a worshipper, a lover. Weightedly in her wondrous psyche, is a trigger of responding worship that can drive her ever deeper into his presence. I have had the greatest honor in the world to have watched my wife for 29 years worship the Jesus she loves. I am not sure if there is anything sweeter or more wonderful in the world. My daughters have amazed me as they found their own faith in their Jesus, and filled our home in ceaseless worship in wonderful harmony. As my eldest is now leading a church with her man, I have loved her passion to see a church throbbing and thriving in worship. Lovers, worship, affection intimacy... it is all in there.

Biblically there is no gift, calling, ministry, job description called "pastor's wife". Therefore one cannot teach it as an entity. I am not even sure there are model's to be imitated or styles to be duplicated. This invariably will lead to bondage and destructive checklists that will, in turn, lead to condemnation. Oh the tragedy of how many of these precious daughters of the Father who have lost their joy and wonder, for they have been reduced to a bundle of unfulfilled expectations and unmet aspirations. Shutters of survival have come up to protect broken, lonely hearts from more pain and damage. Failures have wickedly whispered their criticisms daily, with the dark of the night being the cruelest times.

But when women worship, the throne room of heaven lights up. Those who partner their man in salaried pastoral ministry, can rediscover the sense of guilt-free wonder when they find their place in worship. At the cross there is no crown but his, no condemnation, for he has already made propitiation on our behalf and restored us to favor. The wonder of our unique individuality is rediscovered as lips are filled with praise.

Ladies you were born to be lovers-you were born to be beautiful, affectionate, intimate and born to sing. That is where you true self is discovered. Forget the role of pastor's wife and find you affection once again. When a wife worships, her husband is inspired, her children will find their faith and a congregation will join in holy affection. Even if she has no other task in the life of the church, this is the most noblest of all good works. May heaven hear your voice in worship and the earth will sense the spiritual climate change in your heart, in your home, in your community- and that will empower your man to go to war!

BLOGGING THROUGH COLOSSIANS IV. APOSTOLICITY OR IMPERIALISM

“… The gospel which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world, is bearing fruit and growing…” 1:5 + 6

The red eye flight from Perth to Brisbane slipped by without much rest. The 5:30am exit from the plane jolted us awake as the humidity reminded us of a January summer with rain in the air. Coffee. Had to find a long … very long black coffee to create the impression to my son that I really was very good at this and that my attitude was simply marvelous.

We stumbled into a bookshop to bide the time away, when my eye caught the classic Penguin book section, this title jumping out at me: “EMPIRE: How Britain made the modern world” written by Niall Ferguson. Coming from the colonies, the book had potential interest for me but the note that this was a ‘most successful and controversial history book’, had me reading more. Opening it to browse at the contents, I was immediately intrigued by the section given to the missionary movement that opened the way for colonialism and imperialism.

“The Victorians had more elevated aspirations. They dreamt not just of ruling the world but of redeeming it”[1] The purpose of this blog is not to enter into a debate around the British Empire [although that would be a most noble conversation]. Rather, I wish to link this assessment to the modern apostolic movements and their solid preoccupation with “discipling all nations”.

As we have read, this gospel will get to all the corners of the globe and bear fruit there. However, how imperialistic are these movements? As much as I despise a message that shrinks God to my myopic world, there are some repeated mistakes that seem to be creeping into a call to all nations. Allow me to ponder around the Pauline apostolic model for just a moment.

1. His love for Israel never ceased, in fact he said to the Romans that he would forfeit his own salvation for the Jews to know their messiah – Rom 9:3; 10:1,

2. He was called to be an apostle to the Gentiles Gal 2:9. The notion of one man being an apostle to all nations is not seen in scripture outside of Jesus who is the great apostle to all – Heb 3:1,

3. Jesus did not had over his authority to one man but gave this ascension gift to all 11 in Matt 28 – there was no apostolic succession to one man… then Jesus added Paul and others to ensure that there was no one model, pattern or person. He did not even require the apostles to remain in touch with each other,

4. Paul never started an organization, denomination or ministry. His preoccupation was with Jesus and his gospel of the Kingdom. There can be no imperialism if there is no organization to colonize the world with, [of course I know that organization is needed],

5. Churches were planted but not as part of an apo organization. They were to be autonomous, elder governed communities that desired partnership with these apostles – and then never with just one ‘guy’,

6. The true role of the apostles was to bring these churches to maturity by equipping them to do the works of the ministry – not to become life members of an organization,

Our 26 intoxicating years of exploring this apo journey has been an exhilarating adventure. We were daily in the unchartered waters of uncertainty that found us thrusting ourselves onto God and his Word in desperation. These thoughts are from watching our journey closely as well as that of others who are wrestling with the very same challenges.

My desire is not to for this to be as much a critique, as much as it is an appeal. There must be conversations about our journey but that is not this blog’s objective. When do we shift from becoming apostolic to drift into imperialism? May I suggest a few items and then I would love to hear from you:

We slip into ‘imperialism’ when:

· Our message becomes anything other than the pure and wonderful gospel – 1 Cor 15 is most helpful in this regard;

· We preach a singular model as if there is only one way in scripture and that is the way we do ‘it’;

· Ecclesiology [seen as the way we do church] gains the ascendancy over Christology;

· The ‘culture’ / ‘context’ conversation is not entered into as that implies that the way we do things may need to change but how can that be if we are ‘biblical’;

· If one culture dominates for too long, the ‘whole world’ quotient of the text has been quietened by this imperialism – notice the role of Epaphras in the Colossians church;

· We plant our flag in as many countries as we can rather than be preoccupied with seeing local churches grow to maturity, base churches being established and local Eph 4 leaders emerge with the nation discipled – in other words, building away from ourselves;

· Subtly the expansion and defense of the organization becomes more important than the multiplication of the gospel in honoring, celebrating and loving every local church as well as that of every culture where this gospel is taken…

· Organizational pride begins to overcome kingdom humility,

· Like David, counting the army becomes a priority rather than a quest to create many apostolic households,

· Planting the name and the flag becomes more important than being prepared to let the church be called something else and even working with others also…

There is so much more to this conversation but I wanted to put these thoughts down on paper as Ferguson’s book stirred me …

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[1] Empire pg 113

GOING HOME to 2010

The long flights home awaits T and me today. It has been a most outstanding vacation here in OZ. The double flight from Perth to LA, keeps us in the travel zone as we anticipate the joy of the seeing the crew at the Gallery soon. T has his first rugby game of the season on Saturday and I am back in the pulpit on Sunday.

2010 promises to be a huge year, I was told that Tony Fitzgerald said; "2009 would be a year of repositioning whilst 2010 would be a year of harvest and great fruitfulness". I am not really into the 'theme for a year' thing. However if there is prophetic truth in that announcement, then my faith certainly engages with it.

For many 2009 was a very tough year. The spiritual journey seemed to be loaded with challenges and warfare rather than celebration and victory. Of course, the scripture encourages us to walk through the valley of Baca and make it a place of springs. There are no shortcuts on that spiritual journey but to go through it. As a father, I have had to learn not to take challenges from my children, The tearlessness of heaven awaits us there, but down here we will find our Jesus in our pilgrimage. We will find the richness of our God in the shadowlands of life's pain. There, to the scripture's fathers, he was their comfort, their strength, their healing, their grace, their empowerment, their friend, their partner. This is so often a lonely road. Our wonderful saviour will not let any relationship be 'God' in our lives. In the "valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me". We all have those God only stories. Tell them to your children.

So 2010 is here. At a most elementary level there will be much growth in grace, faith and the gospel understanding. I keep hearing the Holy Spirit call us to deepen our relationships but keep our hearts open to the new friendships, alliances and partnerships he is bringing our way. Retain and grow in His joy. There is a deep victory cry that slaps the enemy when we find a joy that speaks of what Jesus has done, is doing and will do in our lives. If it is true that the providence of God is where his sovereignty and goodness meets, then may we drink deeply from the wonder of this understanding. There is also a call to simplicity. I wonder sometimes if complexity is not just a kernel of truth overloaded with a ton of our humanity. Not all bad, but not all helpful.

Fascinating faith is what stirs in my heart. I know there is so much more he is doing in me. I am not maverick- I find no value in walking alone. The notion of a 'partnership of peers' as well as a 'fellowship of apostles' continues to intrigue me. The 2010 journey will sharpen our friendships whilst defining our callings for this new chapter with greater clarity. Hope to see you all soon...