Yesterday we began thinking about why generational movements are difficult to sustain. We like to sit under teaching, but when it comes time to become teachers ourselves, some are reticent. Is the way we do church the problem?

I’m haunted by something I read in the business book The Starfish and The Spider: the Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations. The metaphor is that if you cut an arm off a starfish, it just grows another arm. Some species are such that if you cut them in two, you end up with two starfish. On the other hand, you cut the head off of a spider, and it dies. The book opens with the story of Cortez raiding ancient Mexico. He kills Montezuma and conquers the Aztecs. However, when Cortez advances into New Mexico, he encounters the Apaches who have a distributed leadership organization. You kill an ad hoc Apache leader, and the Apaches keep going.

But as I’m reading this, I thought, “There are no Apaches in New Mexico today. What happened?” Answer: in the 1800s the U.S. Government located Apache leaders and…gave them cows. Cows? Yes. A resource that the leader could distribute or withhold at his discretion, thus giving the leader more power. The Apaches stopped reproducing new leaders, and eventually the U.S. government eliminated the Apaches.

Suppose you’re Satan, and you’re trying to stop the growing early church. You kill a few apostles and persecute others. The ordinary people just scatter “preaching the word” (see Acts 8). You destroy Jerusalem in 70 A.D., but no matter, the church has by that time spread out, and one of the main sending churches in Antioch. You kill most of the rest of the apostles. No matter, the word continues to spread. What to do?

You find existing church leaders and give them buildings.

With a building, the mode of ministry changes. One guy is the teacher. The building becomes the focal point of activity, most of it for the members. The Jesus movement loses momentum. This didn’t happen just in the 300s with Constantine.

The Navigators, an organization built on spiritual reproduction and multiplication, experienced the same phenomenon. On Navy ships during WW2, there were many groups of men gathering to study the bible together. When the group got too big, they would just divide since everyone knew how to do bible study. In some groups, however, there might be someone like me who seemed to know a lot about the Bible. “Bob, why don’t you teach us? You really know this stuff!” So the group changed from a participation activity to a spectator sport, and that branch of the movement stopped growing.

Something to think about. Paul certainly expected the Philippian believers to be active participants in the mission:

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. (Philippians 1.27 – 30)

And Paul expected a growing cadre of teachers:

You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2.1, 2, ESV)

Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2.3 – 5, ESV)

P.S. I don’t mean to imply that churches and their buildings aren’t doing a lot of good. They are. A large part of my ministry is helping church leaders build the generational piece back in.

Yesterday I reminded us, yet again, that we ought to be about equipping ordinary believers for real ministry. Besides Ephesians 4.11, 12, here’s the clear word from Paul to Timothy:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

Paul -> Timothy -> Reliable people -> Others

Four “generations” in one verse. The early church had generational ministry going on. Ordinary believers, scattered as reported in Acts 8, founded the church in Antioch as reported in Acts 11.

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. (Acts 11.19 – 21, NIV)

What happened? We were discussing this problem in Fort Payne, Alabama, a couple of weeks ago, when the pastor suggested, “Maybe church happened.” He might be on to something. Let’s pursue it a bit more tomorrow.

But let me clarify, we’ve always had church. After all, Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Paul founded and wrote letters to churches. The Revelation was written to seven churches. But Jesus didn’t come to build a church building. In fact, he said his church would be successfully assaulting the gates of hell:

…I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16.18, ESV)

What’s the difference between Jesus’ Church, the other New Testament churches, and our churches today? And in what sense are our churches the problem? Stay tuned.

There’s so much in Ephesians that we can’t come close to getting it all, but we certainly don’t want to miss our marching orders – by “our” I mean church leaders:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4.11 – 16, ESV, emphasis mine)

Last Tuesday we introduced a little template: A, B, C, D, E.

• A: Apathetic
• B: Beginning to seek
• C: Confessing Christian
• D: Developing disciple
• E: Excelling reproducer

Our goal is not merely to “get ’em saved and baptized” – helping them move from A to C. It’s not even enough to see all of them in small group Bible studies – helping them move to D. It’s to “equip them for the work of ministry” – an A -> E ministry. I started our year together by writing three blogs on this important topic, beginning January 9, 2022. I commend them to you. One of the main lessons is that while moving from A to E takes time and training, part of the training involves being on mission immediately.

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. The lesson from the demon-possessed guy of Mark 5, Matthew the tax collector in Mark 2, and the woman at the well in John 4 is clear. New believers can start missional (“E”) right away. As motivational speaker Tony Robbins says:

When would now be a good time?

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke. So confused and aimless they were, like sheep with no shepherd. “What a huge harvest!” he said to his disciples. “How few workers! On your knees and pray for harvest hands!” The prayer was no sooner prayed than it was answered. Jesus called twelve of his followers and sent them into the ripe fields. (Matthew 9.35 – 10.1, MSG)

I’m beginning to think that “one body” is one of the main themes of Ephesians. We talked about lost insiders (Jews) and lost outsiders (Gentiles) coming together in “one new man” in chapter 2. Then Paul makes it clear in chapter 3 that we’re all in this together. The despised outsiders are…

…fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3.6, ESV)

And look how he starts chapter 4:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body… (Ephesians 4.1 – 4, ESV)

There is one body. There is no:

• Black versus white
• Republican versus Democrat
• Rich versus poor
• Liberals versus conservatives

We are called to treat each other

• with all humility and gentleness,
• with patience,
• bearing with one another in love,
• eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Can we keep the desired behaviors in mind as we interact with those different from us? Those we disagree with? (I don’t write this stuff…I just report it! Especially when God draws it to my attention.)

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3.26 – 28, ESV)

Bob, today is June 20, is it not? Yes, it is, but this year, Father’s Day and Juneteenth coincide AND today is the official observance of our newest federal holiday. So let’s do Juneteenth today.

Here’s what I wrote last year, and it still holds:

When we consider that June 19th (“Juneteenth”), 1865, marks the officially celebrated end of slavery in the United States, it’s a day that should be remembered. Two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after General Lee surrendered at Appomattox, union forces landed at Galveston, Texas, to announce the end of slavery. (For more detail see this blog and its references, as well as this post from Breakpoint.)

We often forget that the God we claim to worship is on the side of the poor and oppressed. Recall what I wrote a couple of days ago: we’re all in this together. Look what Jesus said:

He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written, God’s Spirit is on me; he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor, Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, To set the burdened and battered free, to announce, “This is God’s year to act!” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.” Luke 4.16 – 21, MSG, emphasis mine)

John, meanwhile, had been locked up in prison. When he got wind of what Jesus was doing, he sent his own disciples to ask, “Are you the One we’ve been expecting, or are we still waiting?” Jesus told them, “Go back and tell John what’s going on: The blind see, The lame walk, Lepers are cleansed, The deaf hear, The dead are raised, The wretched of the earth learn that God is on their side.” (Matthew 11.2 – 5, MSG, emphasis mine)

I remember vaguely a story about how someone organized a drive to provide Mother’s Day cards to men in a local prison. It was a huge success: most of the incarcerated men showed up to claim a card and write something to their mothers. It went so well, that the group decided to do a similar promotion for Father’s Day. The day came for distributing the cards and NOT ONE PRISONER showed up to claim one.

It seems that fathers are important, and the lack of good fathers can have disastrous results.

Dr. Daniel Huerta, Vice President of Parenting and Youth for Focus on the Family, has posted a nice piece on the Importance of Fathers. Here’s part of it:

Here are a few ways that God designed dads to have a unique influence on their families: 

• A father’s strength can be powerful
• A dad’s words can be fueling and inspirational
• Hugs from a dad can be deeply comforting
• A dad’s smiles can instill joy and confidence
• Time with a dad can be fun and productive
• A dad’s physicality can be challenging 
• A dad’s guidance can be life-changing and foundational
• A father’s correction can be life-saving and life-giving
• Adventures with a dad can be exciting and memorable

From Fathers Matter: The Importance of Fathers by Daniel Huerta

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6.4, ESV)

Some of you may be wondering how my “interrupted” COVID-invaded week went. The short answer is that by Wednesday I was symptom-free, and I did make my lunch appointment Friday! Praise the Lord.

The longer answer, a nice segue from our two blogs on prayer, is that we were called out of the blue on Tuesday by our friend Wale from Nigeria. (Wale is pronounced like the movie cartoon character Wall-EE.) Wale and June connected at a women’s retreat at Glen Eyrie a few years ago, and June led her through the 2:7 series by phone. Wale is a woman of great faith and prayer, and when she heard that I had COVID she insisted on praying for me. June put her on speaker, and Wale asked us to agree together that I should be healed. She claimed:

Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18.19, ESV)

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up... (James 5.14, 15, ESV)

Look at the June 13 blog comments: others of you prayed as well, including some I heard from directly who didn’t leave a blog comment. Thank you all, and thank you, Jesus.

Continuing our reminder of Paul’s example in prayer, we look today at the Ephesians 3 prayer.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

• that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
• so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—
• that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
• may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and
• to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3.14 – 21, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

We shouldn’t leave Ephesians chapters 1 – 3 without a reminder of Paul’s prayers. I’ve written about these before, but as a friend said, “Just because I’ve heard something before doesn’t mean I’m thinking about it now!”

If someone wants you to pray for them, these prayers are a bit more specific and “big picture” than “Lord, bless ________.” I offer the Ephesians 1 prayer today and the Ephesians 3 prayer tomorrow.

For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,

• that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,
• having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,
• that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you,
• what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and
• what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1.15 – 23, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

I’ve always had trouble with parts of Ephesians 3, especially:

…so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 3.10, ESV)

What’s the manifold wisdom of God and how is it communicated “through the church…to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places”? But I think the answer is in plain sight, and it has to do with the second half of Ephesians 2 that we wrote about yesterday. Here’s how Paul describes the “one new man” composed of Jews and Gentiles in chapter 3:

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Ephesians 3.4 – 6, ESV, emphasis mine)

If our churches are reflecting this reality, individually and collectively, we are making a statement to the world and to the “rulers and authorities.” Alas, we are often plagued by the same racial unrest as everyone else. And if someone or a group of folks try to do something about it, they’re perceived by others to be on the wrong side of one political agenda or another. I refer you to Tony Evans’ plea for us to be reconcilers, not combatants.

If Jews and Gentiles can get along, so can the rest of us.

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, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Revelation 7.9 – 12, ESV)