Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Activate God’s Blessing

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
In a world of fear, in the darkness of the earth after the Fall of humanity, people tend to settle for not listening, or when they do, listening to the voice of political ideas, or propaganda as their hope.  We, as the Church, must not settle for less powerful words.  The speech of God is for his people to abandon, renounce, and let go – to depart from previous ways.  God’s Word, for example, to Abraham was to “leave” and “go” (Genesis 12:1-3).  For Abraham and his wife Sarah to stay in Ur of the Chaldees (a pagan land), afraid to move, and settling for retirement living, would result in barrenness and no hope.  To leave was to experience blessing. 
 
 
 
Jesus once said to his disciples: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it (Mark 8:34-35).  Blessing from God happens when we give up everything to leave and follow Jesus.  God is still holding out this promise of blessing that can be realized through leaving and going. 
 
In order to experience marital blessing, God said in the beginning that a man must “leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife” (Genesis 2:24).  The writer of Proverbs has told us if we want to see blessing, to experience God’s presence and approval, you must “leave your simple ways” (Proverbs 9:6).   Jesus said that if you have relational problems and are getting ready to worship you must “leave your gift at the altar.” Then, we are to “first go and be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:23-24).   Jesus himself has said that he, as the Great Shepherd, will leave the ninety-nine sheep to go after one lost one (Luke 15:4).  And he turns right around and commissions us to do the business of leaving:  “Go, and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19).  Jesus further has said, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven (Matthew 19:21).  To those who are too afraid or complacent to step out in faith and leave for God’s banquet of blessing, the invitation has gone out:  “Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find” (Matthew 22:9).  Not going ends in no blessing.  God said to Jonah “go” (Jonah 1:2), but Jonah said “no” to God and did not go because of his prejudice.  Leaving and blessing go together.  We must step out in faith as the people of God and leave behind our old ways and embrace the journey ahead that God has for us.  Where are we going?  God knows.  Leave, go, and trust. 
 
 
 
Let me “leave” you with some thoughts on stepping out of our friendly and familiar environment to know the blessing of God:
  1. Hang around with committed Christians who want the blessing of God.  Spend time with those who are eager to do God’s will.  I had the wonderful blessing of being around many people in the formative years of my Christian life with a passion for God.  One of those people was a man named Howard Bixby.  Pastor Bixby had a saying for me anytime I came to him contemplating whether I should step out and follow through with an idea I had or a person to talk to.  He always, without fail, would say to me:  “Go for the jugular!”  And I did.  And every time I knew the blessing of God on my life which kept me going back for more.  That advice has served me well.  So, I say to you:  “go for the jugular!”  If you spend most of your time hanging out with toothless Christians who have no spiritual bite, then you will be one yourself.  Light each other’s fire, and let the Holy Spirit kindle a fresh flame in your heart by being around passionate Christian people.  Abraham went to the Promised Land with Sarah, his wife.  Don’t be a lone-ranger.  Bring your family along the blessing trail by having bible readings together and talking about spiritual issues.
  2. Walk across the room.  God may not be calling all of us to leave this country and go to an unreached people-group, but he is calling us all to leave our seats and walk across the room to encourage another person in his/her faith; across the street to strike up a spiritual conversation with a lost neighbor; across town to a lonely or hurting elderly person; or down the street to hang out at the laundry mat to meet new people who need Jesus.  By all means we are to walk across the pages of Scripture to follow Jesus in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.
  3. You don’t have to be a super-Christian who feels blessed to leave and step out in faith.  We might all consider Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, to be a super-Christian.  She said:  “By blood, I am Albanian. By citizenship, an Indian. By faith, I am a Catholic nun. As to my calling, I belong to the world. As to my heart, I belong entirely to the Heart of Jesus.  God still loves the world and He sends you and me to be His love and His compassion to the poor to quench His thirst for love and for souls.”   Yet, at the same time, Teresa struggled in her faith for most of her life and often felt like her own soul was desolate.  She once confessed: “In my soul, I feel just the terrible pain of loss, of God not wanting me, of God not being God, of God not really existing.”  Yet, her dark night of the soul was still the salvation for thousands.
  4. Don’t talk it to death!  There is always more research and information and counsel to obtain.  At some point you need to act.  We really have no need to create a sub-committee to investigate the findings of that other committee in order to make a decision.  Frederick Buechner has said “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  Where does your passion and the world’s great need meet?  Leave, and go there. 

 

Activate the blessing of God in your life by leaving and going where the Spirit leads.  May we have the courage and the faith, despite our feelings, to respond to God’s sending.

Thinking About Outreach

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
Lost people matter to God.  They matter so much to him that one lost soul whom is found is the grounds for a big celestial party (Luke 15:7, 10, 32).  Jesus told three stories in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, that all teach the same thing, so that we would be absolutely sure to get it:  a loving God has unbounded joy over lost people being found.  These parables of Jesus are meant primarily to give us a glimpse of God’s own heart.  He would do anything to find a lost person, to restore and reconcile a person back to himself.  God would go dumpster diving and wade through the stinky nasty garbage of this world to find one lost valuable person.
 
            Why should every church make reaching others for Jesus Christ a high priority?  Because restoring lost people is a high priority to God.  Lost people matter so much to him that he sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to this earth.  Jesus paid the ultimate price of a cruel death on a cross in order to reconcile a broken lost relationship between people and God.
 
            I still remember what it felt like to be separated from God, and estranged from the church – it was lonely and awful.  My life before Christ felt like I was walking through a cemetery at night and fell into an open grave, with no way out and no one to hear my screams.  But God, in his great mercy, sent people into my life to share the message of salvation from my prodigal way of life of sin and misery.  When I turned from the path of destruction I was on and embraced Jesus Christ there was a big party in heaven!
 
            In the story of the prodigal lost son, that son hit rock bottom and rehearsed a speech he would give to his father when he came back.  He never got to finish that speech, because the father interrupted his confession of sin and got the celebration going!  (Luke 15:17-24).  We celebrate the things that are important to us.  Lost people matter so much to God that it is a cause for a great celebration.  God’s grace steps in and takes over, erasing past sin and bringing radical forgiveness and reconciliation.
 
            It needs to be asked:  Where do we find ourselves in these parables?  These three stories were offensive to Christ’s original hearers.  Those listening to Jesus were so inwardly focused that they believed ministry ought to revolve around them and their needs.  What is more, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were offended because they thought all this fuss about sinners would just highlight their sin!  There should be no party for them because of how they lived.
 
            We must understand that preaching grace is always offensive to people who work for their salvation.  The elder son in the story of the prodigal was inwardly obsessed instead of outwardly compassionate like his father.  It is scandalous to such persons to hear that Jesus did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Matthew 9:13).  If we hear such verses and listen to all this talk about outreach and being concerned for sinners who don’t know Jesus and say:  “Well, all this talk about outreach is well and good, but what about us?  What about me?”  Then, we must locate ourselves as the person who is lost and in need of being found by God’s grace.
 
            We need the father’s heart when it comes to others.  We need a heart of grace.  Think of the worst sinner you can think of – a person for whom you would label as being like the devil.  Now picture if that person were to be found by God and become a Christian.  Would you attend the party to celebrate that person’s repentance, reconciliation, and recovery?  If any one of us feels justified in our hate, then we are the lost ones in need of turning from sin.
 
            In the first story of Luke 15, a shepherd left the ninety-nine sheep and went after the one lost sheep. The shepherd, who represents God, gave preferential attention to the lost one.  Can you live with that?  What do these parables mean for our church programs, budgets, and committees?  Today in America only one-in-five lost people even knows one Christian.  Statistics like that are what keep me up at night; it bothers me and makes me sad.  It drives me to prayer, and causes me to follow my compassionate wife’s example of going after lost people.  My wife, Mary, has never met a person that she didn’t think needed to hear the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ.  If we have no relationships with lost people, then we need to ask ourselves if we are willing to follow Jesus in his mission to find sinners and call them home.  We need to ask ourselves if we have the father’s heart.
 
            God’s unconditional amazing grace makes a difference.  If we lose that sense of awe and appreciation for what God has done for us in Christ, then there will be no outreach.  Reaching out and finding a lost person is not dependent on completing a class on evangelism or getting training in how to answer every question.  Outreach is fueled by passion and desire.  Healthy Christians reproduce themselves.  I am guessing that, if you have children, you probably did not take a class on how to procreate – you just had the desire and the willingness; and, you celebrated when there was a birth of new life.
 

 

            God’s heart is one that longs for the lost people of this world to be reconciled and brought back into relationship with him.  Thus, reaching out to the lost people of this world is to be of the utmost importance to the church.  That will only happen if we share the same heart of the Father.  

Confessions of a Perfectionist

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
            

 

 
            Hello, my name is Tim and I am a recovering perfectionist.  There was a time in my life when perfectionism ruled all areas of my life.  The need for consistent daily routines with no ability to deal with anything outside that terrain of the familiar caused me to have the illusion that I was in control, competent, and, well, perfect.  To fail at anything meant I was a worthless person, which made me unacceptable to myself and fed a constant stream of beating myself up emotionally for my imperfections.
 
            A wise professor once said to me:  “Tim, can you be a good enough pastor?”  He was asking me if I could be responsible and do what needed to be done without being an obsessive-compulsive mess about it.  He was pointing out to me that to do my best was good enough, period.  That was solid stuff for me.  The pastoral vocation is one in which, even doing something to the height of perfection, may lead a parishioner to complain about what you did wrong or fault you for some perceived deficiency.  If a church leader is not secure in the love and grace of Jesus Christ, it is a prescription for burn-out, strained relationships with family, and depression.  Perfectionism is not something to embrace as a virtue; it is the sin of working for approval and acceptance, instead of relying in the identity of being hidden in Christ.
 
            The pathology of my perfectionism was a bent toward all-or-nothing thinking – having complete control or no control at all.  If I could not do something perfect, I did not do it at all.  I have since been learning to live in the in-between world of little-by-little, day-by-day change, where most of life is actually lived.  Most of our daily existence is lived in the mundane, in the constant rhythm of a three-steps-forward, two-steps-backward kind of life.  It is simply unrealistic to think that the Christian life can be some sort of unending progressive path of perfection.  It would be like a baseball player thinking he should be able to bat 1.000 without ever striking out.
 
            Becoming holy along the road of spiritual sanctification means we will, little by little, day by day, one step at a time, have our sinful desires exposed, our wrong thinking and feeling patterns revealed, our self-protective styles of relating, our avoidance of conflict and pain, all seen for what they are.  Without seeing our sin for what it is, we will never see God’s grace for what it is.  To slowly and deliberately learn to live in the faith and grace of Jesus is our greatest task, and our highest joy.  Living in this space of grace is what helps us to recognize the whispers of Satan:  “You’ll never be good enough,” and “You should never make mistakes.”  The devil is into trying to make us feel ashamed for whom we are; God is trying to help us confess our idolatry and turn to Jesus.
 

 

            Can you think the thought that God delights over you?  Can you believe that you have been created in God’s image and likeness, and are, therefore, precious to him apart from what you do or don’t do?  Can you accept that you are loved by God?  Can you live with yourself?  Grace is the key that unlocks the door of salvation.  Use it.

The Necessity of Community

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
What stands out to me about the very earliest believers in Jesus was their amazing transformation (Acts 2:38-47).  Only 53 days earlier these same people had applauded the murder of the Son of God.  But they realized their terrible error, changed their mind, and turned from their sin and embraced the grace of God in Christ.  They became a group of Christians committed to learning more and more about Jesus; sharing their burdens and blessings together; enjoying communion and eating together; praying with and for each other, confessing sin and seeing new life and fresh spiritual health come right in front of their faces.
 
            They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship.  This is a picture of a group of Christian disciples who were hungry for instruction.  They were so hungry for teaching and fellowship that they met every day.  They met in the temple (large group), and in homes (small groups).  Both large group meetings and small group gatherings are necessary for healthy spiritual growth and development.  In other words, this is no superficial once-in-a-while get together; this is a deep devotion and commitment to learning Scripture together, and sharing life together in fellowship.
 
            A simple observation of the text of Acts chapter 2 is that all the pronouns are plural; those pronouns include everyone – not just a select few.  This is why throughout the New Testament the images used to describe the church emphasize its communal nature.  Church as the Body of Christ, the temple of God (building), and as the army of the Lord are all images that require the community of the redeemed working and worshiping and reaching out together in order to glorify God.  True Christian discipleship does not happen apart from life together.
 
            Therefore, we need to be aware of church images that emphasize only the individual and not the community.  For example, seeing the church as a gas station where you fill up your spiritual gas tank when you’re running low ignores the community. Get a good sermon and some energizing worship and hopefully you will make it through the week to another service without running out of gas.  For other people, the church may be more like a movie theatre, a place that offers an hour of escape, and leaving your problems at the door, with the goal of coming out of church feeling better than when you went in.  Or maybe some might view the church as a kind of drug store – a place where you can fill the prescription that will deal with your pain.  Yet others might opt for seeing the church as a big box retailer – a place that offers the best products in a clean and safe environment for you and your family. The church should offer great service and programs at a low price.
 
            Certainly, the church ought to serve and meet individual needs.  The problem arises when we only function as autonomous persons who don’t really need others in order to live the Christian life.  The early church was committed to learning the Word of God together; they committed themselves to fellowship, to practicing hospitality with each other and praying with each other every day.
 
            The results of those two primary communal commitments of learning and fellowshipping on a daily basis was that:  everyone was filled with awe (the fear of the Lord); everyone saw and experienced signs and wonders (miracles); everyone had everything in common (they met one another’s needs – the fact that they sold things implies personal property, not communism); everyone was glad and content with their simplicity of life (“sincere hearts” means they lived simply, and were not encumbered with a lot of stuff and their schedules and calendars overflowing); everyone praised God; everyone enjoyed the favor of the non-Christians around them; and, the result of all this behavior was that people were being saved left and right from their sinful, empty ways of life apart from God.
 
            If any of us today want to have that kind of community dynamic then we must be willing to devote ourselves to biblical teaching and Christian fellowship every day!  No church can become or remain healthy apart from Christian community; it requires doggedly embracing the commitments of learning Scripture, and eating and praying together through being yoked in fellowship.  Being part of a small group that meets once a week, for the purpose of learning more about the Bible and developing community is not really optional equipment for the follower of Jesus.  It is a small thing when you put it in the perspective of the early church meeting every day. 
 
            That early community had such a curiously learning and deeply loving dynamic that the poor among them knew no shame, and the rich knew no pride.  It was a community where the uneducated felt free to drink in knowing more about Jesus, and the leadership graciously gave instruction that they had gained from being with Christ.
 
            In her book Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott shares a story she once heard from her minister that illustrates the necessary presence of others in our journey of faith:  “When my pastor was about seven, her best friend got lost one day. The little girl ran up and down the streets of the big town where they lived, but she couldn’t find a single landmark. She was very frightened. Finally a policeman stopped to help her. He put her in the passenger seat of his car, and they drove around until she finally saw her church. She pointed it out to the policeman, and then she told him firmly, ‘You could let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from here.’”  Lamott further writes:  “And that is why I have stayed so close to my church—because no matter how bad I am feeling, how lost or lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, and hear their voices, I can always find my way home.”
 

 

            The church, the Body of Christ, needs you.  The community of the redeemed needs your gifts and abilities, your presence and wisdom.  Disciples are made, formed, and forged in the context of community.  The sharing of your experiences and insights, as well as your hands and feet, are necessary for being spiritually developed in Christ.  Confidence is only gained through practice, and the spiritual practice of community is what is needed.  May the results of that early congregation be our collective experience, as well, as we devote ourselves to the teaching and to the fellowship.