Speaking of accomplishing God-sized goals in God’s power, that’s something the disciples appeared to have forgotten:

One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son so you could heal him. He is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground. Then he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.” …Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” (Mark 9.17, 18, 28, 29, NLT)

“This kind can be cast out only by prayer.” I think the disciples had started to believe their own press reports. They had returned not that long ago from a successful ministry assignment:

So the disciples went out, telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to God. And they cast out many demons and healed many sick people, anointing them with olive oil…The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. (Mark 6.12, 13…30, NLT)

I believe they forgot by whose power they were working! “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?” The answer could have been, “What gave you the idea that you ought to be able to cast out an evil spirit?”

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. (Ephesians 6.10, ESV)

P.S. My son David, also following our 5x5x5 reading plan had a different take on this passage. Why is there no record of Jesus praying in this story? We’ll look at David’s observation tomorrow.

It’s Martin Luther King Day, and it almost slipped past me…

We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools. – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Good words, and believers should be leading the way.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1.5 – 8, ESV, emphasis mine)

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12.10, ESV)

Let brotherly love continue. (Hebrews 13.1, ESV)

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. (Revelation 5.9, ESV)

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands… (Revelation 7.9, ESV)

Let’s think about “playing to win” – illustrated both by the Las Vegas Raiders in last Sunday night’s game AND, in a more important venue, the British divers bolstered by the U.S. Air Force operations officers in their daring and successful rescue of all 12 boys and their coach trapped 2.5 miles from the opening of a water-filled cave. The cave divers’ goal was, essentially, way beyond reach, and my friend John Ed Mathison suggested in his weekly blog of January 5 that a beyond-reach goal is precisely what we should have. Here’s the way it begins:

HOW BIG IS YOUR VISION?

When you think you might see God’s vision for you for 2022, you can test it with two choices. The first choice is to see the vision opportunity as something that would be a “piece of cake.” You can assume that you have everything necessary to accomplish it. You know how well you have been trained and educated, and doing this would not be a problem. If you see it as an easy vision and one you can handle–it’s probably not God’s vision for you.

The other choice is to see the vision and immediately think that you are inadequate to accomplish it. That vision appears to be so big. You are eager to follow God’s will, but it just seems too big. That means that it is probably what God is calling you to do! – John Ed Mathison, January 5, 2022.

Jesus sent the first disciples on a VERY big mission – one clearly out of their reach:

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1.8, NIV)

Most, if not all, of those Jewish boys had never been outside the borders of Israel and Samaria, and Jesus is talking about “the ends of the earth.” And tradition tells us that they took their commission seriously. We think Thomas went to India, for example.

But the commission in Acts 1 also contains the secret to its success: “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” It’s his power, not ours. What does God want you (and me) to do this year? I’m still working on writing some goals, and I want to be sure to include some that are “unattainable.”

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… (Ephesians 3.20, NIV)

We watched The Rescue, a National Geographic documentary about the “against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.” Most people followed the story day-to-day as it unfolded over the 18 days the boys were trapped. In addition, I’ve read a book about it. Nothing matches the drama of this documentary, shot within the cave itself and featuring the brave, expert cave divers and thousands of others who assisted in getting the boys and their coach out. (We accessed the movie on Disney+. I don’t know where else it’s available.)

Here are some highlights of what we observed having watched the documentary twice!

• A British cave explorer who lived in the area had mapped that cave in detail. (How’s that for God’s providence?)
• The government sent in the Thai Navy Seals, brave, fit men who had only one problem. They didn’t know anything about cave diving, and the equipment they had was completely unsuitable.
• The local Brit was very firm with the government: “Here is a list of the world’s greatest cave divers. You need to bring them here.”
• John and Rick from England were the first on the scene. The Thai Seals were offended that these two middle-aged Brits might be better for the job than themselves. It took a few days for John and Rick to even get permission to go into the cave. (“The water is too high; if you die in there, we’re not going in after your bodies.”)
• When John and Rick arrived, they found, as they described it, absolute chaos. Fortunately a nearby U.S. Air Force unit came in and put order and structure into the operation.
• The first time John and Rick went in, they found four Thai pump workers who had gotten stranded. No one even knew they were there! And John and Rick learned something “diving them out.” The pump workers panicked during the rescue. John and Rick had to fight with them. That told them that they wouldn’t be able to dive the boys out (the boys hadn’t even been found yet).
• Rick and John found the boys on Day 10, 2.5 miles from the mouth of the cave. All 13 alive and reasonably well, all things considered.
• But how to get them out? Here’s where the blog title, “Playing not to lose” comes in. The Thai culture is a “save face” culture. They don’t like to fail. Therefore, they don’t like to do risky things.
• The divers, Rick and John, theorized that the boys could be dived out IF they were sedated. So they called a fellow cave diver, Richard, a doctor in Australia, and asked if he could come and sedate the boys. “Absolutely not. It will never work.” But he came, and after several days they had a plan. No one thought it would work, especially not for all 13, but it was the only way.
• The Thai government was reluctant to do it. Remember? It might not work, and we would lose face. Finally, someone convinced the government with this argument: “If you don’t let us do this, all 13 will die. Of that there is no question. If we do try, some might die. It’s not much of a choice, but it’s the only choice you have.”
• And you know the finish: all 13 came out alive on Days 16, 17, and 18.

Sometimes we have to take risks. When we do, it’s best to have the very best people on board. The desire and bravery of the Thai Navy Seals were not enough. The operation required expertise. In this case, expertise developed because these divers, by their own admission, took up cave diving because they were terrible at team sports. “Doesn’t play well with others.” They were largely loners. But the rescue was very much a team effort, with everyone doing what they could do.

We have a very important mission. It too requires diverse expertise AND a team effort. The same kinds of people that make good pastors, for example, are generally not suited for pioneering mission work. (I’ve written about this before.) Our mission is urgent. As I wrote earlier this week, we can engage everyone on the mission now. The cave rescue used the people they had, doing what they could do. Only a few of them were highly skilled cave divers.

And, we have to play to win, just like the Raiders did Sunday night. Playing not to lose is not a suitable strategy.

Sorry this blog is longer than usual. If you have a chance, watch The Rescue. It’s worth your time.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (1 Corinthians 12.4 – 6, ESV)

He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher. (Ephesians 4.11, MSG)

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4.4, ESV)

And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (Revelation 12.11, ESV)

One more thing: over the closing credits was an original song: “Never give up; never give in.” That will preach, too!

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. (Luke 18.1, NIV)

This may fall into the category of my blog a month ago: a story in search of an application. But the unique close to the NFL regular season between the Los Angeles Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders deserves looking at. If you missed it, here’s how ESPN writer Bill Barnwell set up the scenario:

Both the Chargers and Raiders knew they would make it into the postseason with a win, but the third scenario made this endgame unique in recent NFL history: A tie would have pushed each into the postseason at the expense of the Steelers, who won earlier in the afternoon. The chances of both teams taking a knee were always nil, but it was fair to wonder whether they would be upset about settling for a tie if they got into a sticky situation late in overtime. – Bill Barnwell, ESPN

For a while it looked like the Raiders, with a 15-point lead would win. But the Chargers came back and tied it in regulation. So they play a 10-minute, sudden-death overtime. In their first possessions, both teams did as well as they could, but each ended up with a field goal. Still tied with about 4 minutes left. The Raiders played a little more conservatively but still drove the ball down the field, close enough for a 47-yard field goal attempt. At that point, they could have taken a knee, game over, both the Chargers and the Raiders advance. Instead, they kicked the field goal and won the game, Chargers go home, Raiders and Steelers advance. Unlike the college championship game I wrote about yesterday, the coaches did NOT have a long handshake and congratulations after the game. It was about the most perfunctory post-game greeting I’ve ever seen. Lessons?

• The first lesson is very important: both played to win. There was no “under-the-table deal” to play for a tie. Sure, at the end, Chargers would have loved a tie, and the Raiders could have given it to them, but the Raiders played to win. At a minimum, this speaks to the integrity of the game.
• It feels like the “Christian” thing to do would be, given a simple choice at the end, just take the tie, then everybody (on that field) is happy. But that’s not a victimless crime: one of the three teams – Raiders, Chargers, Steelers – have to not go to the playoffs.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.24, ESV, emphasis mine)

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way… (Philippians 3.13 – 15, ESV)

On Monday night, the universities of Georgia and Alabama played for the national championship in college football. If you watched the game, you know it was a defensive struggle until the last 17 or 18 minutes, going from a score of 9 – 6, favor of Alabama, to 35 – 18, favor of Georgia, who scored three offensive and one defensive touchdown in that time. Georgia had not won a national championship since the 1980 season and hadn’t beaten Alabama in their last seven games, including a loss in early December.

My school, Clemson, beat Alabama for the national championship in the 2016 and 2018 seasons. But Dabo Swinney, Clemson’s coach, had never been an assistant under Nick Sabin, Alabama’s coach. Only one of Sabin’s assistant coaches had ever defeated Sabin, and that was earlier this season. I wrote about Texas A&M’s kicker’s mother praying for that winning field goal. Georgia’s coach, Kirby Smart worked with Sabin for 11 seasons at four different schools.

No one is more intense than Nick Sabin, so I was pleasantly surprised to see the warm exchange between Sabin and Smart after the game. It included a rare look at Sabin smiling, and if I can read lips well, he said to Smart, “God bless you.”

“I love Kirby,” Saban said. “I think Kirby has a lot of respect for us. He did a great job for us for a long time. If we had to lose a national championship, I’d rather lose one to one of the former assistants who certainly did a great job for us and has done a great job for his program and his team. “I’m really proud of him. And I’m proud of the way he’s been able to coach his team and the consistency that they’ve played with all year.” – From ESPN.com.

A hard-fought game, which ended with players and coaches greeting each other warmly. In sport, this is as it should be. This was not the case at the NFL’s Raiders – Chargers game Sunday night. I’ll write about that tomorrow.

¹  Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!
² It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments.
³ It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing– Life forevermore. (Psalm 133, NKJV)

In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. (Galatians 2.9, NLT)

If you knew Jesus was coming into first-century Israel and knew that after a three-year public ministry he would be killed, could you have predicted by whom? Who were his enemies? The occupying, godless Romans seem like a good choice. Or how about Jewish people who collaborated with Rome, the tax collectors, and their riff-raff friends? Nope. Wrong on both counts. Mark wastes no time telling us who Jesus’ mortal enemies are. It comes up at the beginning of chapter 3.

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And [the Pharisees] watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. (Mark 3.1 – 6, ESV)

“The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him…”

The Pharisees: the most religious, meticulously law-observing people around – they were the ones who wanted to destroy Jesus. Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul, tells what his life was like as a Pharisee. Jesus wasn’t around so he persecuted his followers:

For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. (Galatians 1.13, 14, ESV)

Paul calls it “zealous.” Zealous for the traditions. Governor Pilate, on the other hand, calls them envious.

So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?” For he knew that it was out of envy that they had delivered him up. (Matthew 27.17, 18, ESV)

It’s we religious people who can be so zealous for the wrong thing that we miss what God is doing. We can get hung up on our theology, our denomination, or worship style, or any number of things. Or we can be jealous of another ministry that seems to be more effective than ours.

And the common people heard Him gladly. (Mark 12.37, NKJV)

Now it happened, as He was dining in Levi’s house, that many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him. (Mark 2.15, NKJV, emphasis mine)

“When would now be a good time?” has been attributed to many people, but I first heard it from my son who got it from Tony Robbins, the motivational speaker. Here’s what David Meerman Scott wrote in 2018:

Last week, I enjoyed presenting … at the Tony Robbins Business Mastery event in Las Vegas. The energy in the room was remarkable! While everything shared from the stage by Tony and me and the other great speakers … has potential for massive business change, the key is execution. You must start. Now.

“When would now be a good time?” asks Tony Robbins.

…

No change happens without action.

“Execution trumps knowledge every day of the week,” Tony says. 

We’ve noticed the past two days that Jesus sent people out on mission way sooner than we tend to do. I don’t know why churches are so slow to pick up on this. There are the Biblical examples we looked at: the demon-possessed guy of Mark 5, Matthew the tax collector in Mark 2, and the woman at the well in John 4. There are other examples as well. I’ve told this story from Alcoholics Anonymous before, but it’s worth repeating:

Two AA members went to call on a first-time visitor. The new guy asked one of the members, “How long have you been sober?” He replied, “23 years.” Then he asked the other one the same question: “two weeks.” The new guy turned to the 2-week guy and said, “Tell me how you did it.”

The story haunts me because we in the church would almost never send out a 2-week guy!

Back in the 70s, there was a profound book making the rounds, written by a former Communist, now a Christian: Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde. While decrying the message of Communism and the way it works out in real life, Hyde said there were lessons to be learned in their training methods. The only one I remember (from nearly 50 years ago) was that they would take new members and immediately put them on the street selling Communist literature. The idea was that as they were insulted and asked questions they couldn’t answer, they would become more committed to the movement, and they’d pay attention to instruction on how to answer those questions. Being sent out on mission was a vital part of their training.

It’s not as hard as we make it out to be. Recall the story I shared a few days ago about the hockey fan who noticed a cancerous mole and warned the person. That story beautifully illustrates the simple implementable strategy I wrote about in Join the Adventure:

• Be there
• Pay attention
• Do what you can
• Tell the truth

But the story also illustrates “go before you’re trained.” The young lady intends to become a medical doctor. But she’s not one yet. She could have thought, “I shouldn’t say anything. After all, I’m not a doctor. I haven’t been trained.”

Let’s make 2022 our year to be God’s agent wherever we are. When would now be a good time to start?

Maybe Jesus’ word to the disciples about the Samaritan woman’s village applies:

As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time! (John 4.34 – 35, MSG – in other words, Pay attention! When would now be a good time?)

Yesterday, we looked at the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5, whom Jesus sent off on mission before he had been trained. This is not an isolated incident. In the very next chapter, Jesus sends the twelve off on their mission, and they hadn’t had much training either.

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics. And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. (Mark 6.7 – 13, ESV)

My experience is that most church people in this country are ready for mission after they’ve taken “one more course.” But of course, they’re not ready then, either. I’ve written about this before. I first started thinking about this when I was teaching some seminary students in Haiti. I had presented Regi Campbell’s progression of one’s spiritual journey from his book About My Father’s Business.

• Apathetic (I would add that some are even Antagonistic)
• Beginning to seek (A simple application so far is that we might invite a “B” to church. An “A” we would invite to a backyard barbecue.)
• Confessing Christian (at some point we hope they cross the line to faith, but we hope their journey doesn’t end there)
• Developing disciple
• Excelling reproducer

My Haitian seminary students asked me, “How long does it take to go from A to E?” In The Navigators, we used to say that if you had a convert (a “C”), that person could become a disciple (“D”) in 18 months and in another 6 months, a disciple-maker (“E”). And there’s truth in that. But what do the gospels tell us? As I thought about it, the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5 came to mind. He went from A to E (missional activity) immediately. So did Matthew the tax collector who hosted a dinner party for his “sinner” friends. And the woman at the well in John 4 reached a whole village.

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him…Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” (John 4.28 – 30, 39, ESV)

None of these three – the demon-possessed guy, Matthew the tax collector, and the woman at the well – were exemplary people. My Haitian students got it, “These were all bad people, and God used them right away. We wouldn’t do that!” I want to write more about that tomorrow.

If you’re following the 5x5x5 New Testament reading plan, you’re at least through Mark chapter 5 by now, which contains one of my favorite stories: the demon-possessed man Jesus frees. It ends this way:

As [Jesus] was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. (Mark 5.18 – 20, ESV)

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a huge believer in equipping and training. I think it’s the central mission of the church:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry… (Ephesians 4.11, 12, ESV)

I also believe in growth over time, a lesson you might have seen in Mark chapter 4:

And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. (Mark 4.26 – 28, ESV)

That said, what do we learn from the story of the demon-possessed guy in Mark 5? He begged Jesus to let him go with Jesus for training. Instead, Jesus sent him off on a mission…without training! Let’s explore this a little more tomorrow.