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Friends of mine, Navigators in Colorado Springs, have accepted a call to be on church staff at a small town in Nebraska. Does it make sense to leave Colorado Springs, a city of nearly 500,000, to move to a town of 3,500? The short answer is, yes, of course, if that’s where God is sending you!

Jesus lived and ministered in a small country (six “Israels” will fit into the state of Alabama). And most of the time he was in Galilee, away from the power center of Jerusalem. After the resurrection, he told the disciples:

This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24.46-48, NIV, emphasis mine)

Lorne Sanny, second president of The Navigators, said, “Why did Jesus say, ‘beginning at Jerusalem’? Because that’s where they were! You certainly cannot reach the world starting from where you are not!”

That’s a perspective changer! No matter where I am, my mission is to reach the world from there. When we were in Alabama in the early 2000s, someone who had been in our ministry retired from the Air Force and was moving to Houston. When he told me, I said, “Great! I’ve been to Houston and have no desire to go back. But you will be there.” My mission was not to reach our church or even the city of Montgomery or the state of Alabama. My mission was to reach the world, starting from Montgomery.”

It goes on. Today we happen to be in Monument, Colorado. Our friends, in whom we invested when they were part of our Navigator team, are going to Nebraska. Others are in Nigeria, Haiti, India, Nepal, other countries, and many states. Some of those places we’ve been to, and some we haven’t.

So I’m excited for my friends’ new opportunity to reach the world from a small town in Nebraska, and I’m excited that God allows us to invest in people who then move!

…repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24.47, NIV)

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Years ago, a Christian leader challenged a group of us to pursue discipleship hard–practice the spiritual disciplines, be on mission, make disciples, etc.–you know, the kind of things I write about in this blog! I asked him afterward what the role of the Holy Spirit was, especially in making disciples. His answer shocked me: “I don’t know.”

I’m still working on that question, but I got some insight today. A priest, reflecting on a mass he bungled through in Spanish but which resulted in a powerful experience for all who were there, wrote:

As I stepped back and soaked it all in, I realized how the Mass was so much greater than me getting the words right. The Holy Spirit was stirring. (From The Ignatian Adventure by Kevin O’Brien.)

Ministry is more than our getting the words right. Maybe that’s where the Holy Spirit comes in.

When I was about 11 years old, a friend of my dad’s gave me a paint-by-number. Remember those? Well, I carefully filled in all the areas with the prescribed oil paints, and it came out looking something like the collie on the left. Then my mother, an artist, showed up. And when she finished blending the paints at all the borders, it looked more like the one on the right!

Maybe that’s the role of the Holy Spirit. He takes our crude efforts at using discipleship materials or teaching someone according to a template we were taught and turns it into something beautiful.

And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us. When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. (1 Corinthians 2.12, 13, NLT)

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It’s no secret that some of us prefer some styles of church music over others. I was raised with hymns accompanied by a particular type of improvisational piano we called “evangelistic style.” I admired Tedd Smith who used to play for the Billy Graham Crusades. My CD, Impromptu Piano Praise, captures some of that. Now I like to say that I have a skill for which there is no demand. “Contemporary worship” or “praise music” has taken over.

I know people who won’t attend a church that doesn’t play “traditional” music–whatever their tradition is. I could have fallen into that mode or at least attended reluctantly until I heard a wonderful story from Randy Pope, pastor of Perimeter Presbyterian in Atlanta. As I recall, the story went like this. Randy said,

During the music portion of one of our services, the band was leading a song that I thought was the absolute worst song I’ve ever heard. In fact, it’s the only time in my ministry that I almost went up on stage and stopped the song before it was finished. I didn’t stop the song, and right after it was over, someone standing next to me said, “That’s why I come to this church: because the music is so good!”

Randy went on to say,

So I have an idea: when you’re singing in a worship service, instead of asking yourself whether you like a song or not, why don’t you look around and see if anyone else likes the song. Then you can be glad that they’re singing songs that people like, even if you’re not one of them.

That is fabulous advice! I’ve been in an auditorium with 7,000 of my closest friends and 6,999 of them were really into the music. I was the only one I could see who wasn’t. But it’s OK! It doesn’t have to be about me.

In humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Philippians 2.3, 4, NIV)

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If you’ve read these blogs, you know I went to Clemson and was very excited about their winning the National Championship in football. My doctorate is from Auburn so I was following their basketball team as it went to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four for the first time in school history. Unfortunately, they lost to Virginia in the last seconds, helped, apparently, by a double-dribble what wasn’t called.

Just as Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney gave glory to God when Clemson won, Auburn Head Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl gave glory to God when Auburn lost. When asked about the missed double-dribble call, this is what he said:

The biggest point I want to make is…there is human error involved in the game. Kids make mistakes, coaches make mistakes. Yes, officials will make mistakes. That’s part of the game. Get over it. Sometimes they’re going to go your way, sometimes they’re not going to go your way. Are we going to give God less glory because we lost, and it’s only when we win we give him the glory? Stop. Grow up, this is part of the game. These kids taught us, I think, in many, many ways how to handle defeat. And that’s a difficult thing to do for these young kids. And I’m proud of them.

We don’t always win. Things don’t always go our way. There are disappointments in life. Then what? Coach Pearl has given us valuable insight. Things didn’t always go well for the Apostles Paul or Peter:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12.9, 10, ESV)

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4.12, 13, NIV)

This [Jesus] said to show by what kind of death [Peter] was to glorify God. And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” (John 21.19, ESV)

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My weight spiked upward after a nice dinner out with June, but the next day I started a better routine: a decent workout first thing in the morning and sensible eating all day. The first day went really well, and I really assumed my weight spike would go away, but guess what? Same weight the next morning. “It” doesn’t work! NO! Diet and exercise work fine…if we stay with it.

Sometimes, we resolve to be more faithful with our spiritual disciplines. “Train yourself for godliness.” And the first day of memorizing and reviewing scripture and having a decent time with God is the worst day ever! Traffic causes us to be late for work; we lose our temper with a colleague; there’s a blowup at home. “It” doesn’t work! Again, we need to stay the course.

Spiritual growth (and weight loss!) take time…but they do occur over time if we stay with the process.

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)

So no wonder we don’t give up. For even though our outer person gradually wears out, our inner being is renewed every single day. (2 Corinthians 4.16, Passion Translation)

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I love Biblical accounts of people who took critical actions, often without a lot of press, turning the tide of God’s story. Examples include the young man who saved the Apostle Paul from ambush (Acts 23.11 – 22), Joseph of Nazareth who protected the infant Jesus (Matthew 1 and 2), and Barnabas, who led the acceptance of Paul (Saul of Taurus) (Acts 9.26 – 28) and later recalled Paul into active ministry (Acts 11.19 – 26).

This time of year it’s easy to overlook another Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea:

⁵⁰ Now behold, there was a man named Joseph, a council member, a good and just man. ⁵¹ He had not consented to their decision and deed. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who himself was also waiting for the kingdom of God. ⁵² This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock, where no one had ever lain before. (Luke 23.50 – 53, NKJV)

Recalling yesterday’s blog on not following a crowd to do evil, that’s precisely what Joseph had done–not going along with the council. I understand that most crucifixion victims were just thrown into a common grave. That aside, a person of Jesus’ means would not have been buried in a tomb hewn out of a rock. But Joseph provided Jesus a rich man’s burial, fulfilling Isaiah 53.9: “And they made His grave with the wicked– But with the rich at His death.” And Jesus’ burial in a real, identifiable tomb made possible the discovery of the empty tomb and the resurrection.

¹  Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” ³ Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. ⁴ So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. (John 20.1 – 8, NKVJ, emphasis mine)

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It seems we have a plethora of protests against one person or another for one reason or another. Students, especially, seem to quick to voice outrage in mass, and, what’s sadder, university presidents seem to give into them.

But in rereading events of Passion Week, I learn that such behavior isn’t new. Manipulated crowds make demands of the authority figure who gives in.

¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. ¹² And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴ And Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. (Mark 15.11 – 15, ESV)

Jesus’ crucifixion, humanly speaking, came from the same kinds of forces at play in our society today.

You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. (Exodus 23.2, ESV)

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I love it when people better known than I are saying the same things I said! I stumbled onto an article “No More One Night Stands,” by Allen White, whom I don’t know. It’s not about illicit dalliances; it’s about churches and Christian organizations putting their faith in big events. 

He writes: 

A classic example is the Promise Keepers movement in the 1990’s. The dynamic of bringing tens of thousands of men together in a stadium was truly inspiring. Every man pledged to be a better husband, father, brother, and son…and they really wanted to. I really wanted to. Before long, Promise Keepers inevitably became promise breakers. There were some exceptions. The issue centered around the lack of a plan. There was no next step for the men to take in order to keep those promises. This isn’t just my observation. This is the conclusion Randy Phillips, the former president of Promise Keepers, reached.

I wrote two blogs on this:

• “Effectiveness of the spectacular,” which should have been titled “The ineffectiveness of the spectacular.” Jesus fed 5,000+, raised a widow’s son from the dead in front of A LOT of people, and there were only 120 believers in the upper room before Pentecost. 
• “Spectacular events:” Passover, the Red Sea crossing, and Sinai were not enough to keep the Israelites following God. 
  

We put too much weight on the event, even the Sunday morning sermon. We preach a sermon on, say, anger, quoting all the appropriate scripture. Some of those who have an anger problem think, “Yes! I need to do something about my anger.” But that’s the end of it. It is, as Allen White says, a “one-night stand.” (Or “one-day stand!”) Instead, the pastor should refer people to a course particularly for anger or to existing men’s or women’s small groups where through accountability relationships over time, God could have a chance to work.

By contrast, I once heard a pastor preach on money, and he followed his sermon with three possible action points, including a course, another event, and meetings with a Christian financial planner. That’s doing it the right way!

Allen writes:

For every event a church plans, you must ask the question: What’s the next step? Decisions without steps and support lead to discouragement and failure… If you are responsible for these events, then you can insist on a next step. If you’re not, then you could certainly recommend one, and even offer to run it.

I couldn’t agree more.

Paul’s challenge to Pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.7 – 16 assumes that learning to live as a disciple of Jesus is a process. It includes teaching to be sure. But there are also the daily disciplines, not only for the pastor but also for the people:

Train yourself for godliness…command and teach these things…set the believers an example…practice these things, immerse yourself in them…keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.

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Work is a great thing! I’m at the Colorado Springs Subaru dealer this morning having a recalled air bag sensor replaced, and I’m always in awe. There are hundreds of workers here selling cars, fixing cars, stocking parts, tracking all of it, etc., etc. The nice young man who checked me in called it an “organized circus.”

The fellow customer I sat next to is studying to be in the computer field. Another great line of work. He wants to go into cybersecurity. How critical that is! He seemed a little embarrassed when he told me his former job was garbage collection. But I told him that is a VERY important job! I’ve been in countries that didn’t have it.

Let’s give thanks for all the workers that make our lives possible. And let’s give thanks for our own privilege of work. Our work matters.

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. (Exodus 20.9, ESV)

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. (Colossians 3.23, 24)

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I was talking at church the other day with a friend I hadn’t seen for a while. A Patriot fan, it didn’t take him long to say, “I’m still basking in the glow of the Super Bowl.” Not a Patriot fan, I responded, “Well, I graduated from Clemson,” referring, of course, to the national football championship. He said, “Well, don’t tell my wife since she’s an Alabama fan.” Then I said, thinking of the Clemson game, “It was really ugly” (to beat Alabama 44-16). And he said, “Yes, it was. Who thought we could hold them to three points?”

We were talking about two different games! Two one-way conversations.

But we often do the same thing with our prayer times. We read the Bible, then put it down while we pray over our prayer list, rather than responding to what we just read in scripture. That’s why we teach time with God as Read, Reflect, RESPOND, Record.

Try it if you haven’t already. Read a short passage, and when something jumps out at you (God speaking!), take some time to pray that back to God. Make it a two-way conversation!

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. (Exodus 33.11, ESV)