Category: Exploring Church Ministry Blog

Following Jesus

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
            

 

 
           When he was on this earth, Jesus made it clear to the large crowds of people following him that a life of being a disciple is to be of highest importance to us – it is why the church exists.  People are to discover what this kind of life entails, and are to come to a decision to follow Jesus in every area of life with everything they have.
 
            Discipleship, following Jesus, requires radical obedience.  Love of family must not stand in the way.  Jesus said we are to ‘hate’ family and even self (Luke 14:25-27).  In Western culture we typically use the terms ‘hate’ and ‘love’ as descriptions of our emotions or feelings.  But in the Bible, love and hate are primarily terms of allegiance or priority.  In other words Jesus was saying that our primary loyalty must clearly lie with following him over every earthly relationship.  To follow Jesus means that we will not use family responsibilities to avoid obeying Christ, or use other loyalties and commitments to work or school as a reason to put our cross down.  Recently, I saw a 2007 study by the Barna Group which found that seven out of ten adult Christians in America chose their earthly family over their heavenly Father when asked to choose the most important relationship to them.
 
            Here’s the deal:  What is demanded by Jesus is that in this life with all its competing loyalties, the call of Jesus to discipleship not only takes precedence, but re-defines all the other loyalties we have.  This call involves some level of detachment and turning away from things in order to pursue following Jesus.  All of life is to be infused with being a disciple of Jesus.  If we insist on making other commitments and loyalties as high a priority as following Jesus, we will find ourselves in a pickle.  Several years ago I took a trip with some other church leaders into the Canadian wilderness.  We were so far out in the boonies that we needed special first aid training because if someone got hurt it would be hours before help could come.  We canoed the lakes, and carried our backpacks and canoes between lakes for an entire week.  Whatever we took with us, we had to carry.  Some people thought they needed all kinds of clothes and other accessories.  Not far into the week, they quickly began to leave things along the trail and learned, over time, to see that what they thought was important in their life wasn’t really important to what they were doing.
 
            We must get back to basics and do what is essential as Christians and churches.  And what is of most importance is following Jesus.  An un-salty disciple is worthless.  Making a profession of Christ without counting the cost is foolish.  Discipleship was never designed to be easy; it was intended to be a public display that Jesus is my Savior and Lord in every area of my life.  What this means is that we will struggle with such questions as:  How do I be a faithful follower of Jesus in my family?  How do I be a disciple, and do the work of discipleship at my job?  How do I practice following Jesus in my neighborhood, and everywhere I go?
 
            If we do not plan to follow Jesus at home and in the world, we won’t, because all kinds of competing loyalties will take over if we are not intentional about being disciples, and making disciples.  Everything and everyone is to take a back seat to Jesus, who is to be our primary loyalty.  Jesus used two examples to illustrate that we need to count the cost of discipleship (Luke 14:28-33).  In the first, a builder makes a plan and should ensure that he has enough money and materials to complete the entire structure.  Jesus was saying that we must take stock to finish what we have started; if we started well with Christ, we need to do whatever it takes to finish well as a disciple of Jesus. 
 
What will we do when the going is difficult?  Thomas a Kempis, in his classic work, The Imitation of Christ, said this:  “Jesus has many who love his kingdom in heaven, but few who bear his cross.  He has many who desire comfort, but few who desire suffering.  He finds many to share his feast, but few his fasting.  All desire to rejoice with him, but few are willing to suffer for his sake.  Many follow Jesus to the breaking of bread, but few to the drinking of the cup of his passion.  Many admire his miracles, but few follow him in the humiliation of the cross.”  Jesus said:  “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:27).
 
 
 
            We will never know real joy until we give up pursuing happiness; until we discover that to live is to die, we will tend to be frustrated with our circumstances and other people.  Jesus’ second illustration is of a king and war.  The king makes a battle plan, and if he thinks he cannot defeat the opposing army, he wisely seeks a peace treaty.  What we must understand is that no one is going to oppose God and win, so it is best to make peace with him.  Rather than trying to fit Jesus into our calendar, we are to let our calendar fill out around the center of following Jesus.  If we insist we are too busy for prayer; do not have time for daily reading of the Scriptures; for loving one another; for making disciples (which requires much time and effort), then we have lost our way and must listen to this call of Jesus to be his disciple.
 
            So, what shall we do?  Imagine that in our heart is a big conference room: a big table, leather chairs, coffee, bottled water, and a whiteboard. A committee sits around the table in your heart. There is the social self, the private self, the work self, the sexual self, the recreational self, the religious self, and others. The committee is arguing and debating and voting, constantly agitated and upset. Rarely can they come to a unanimous, wholehearted decision. We tell ourselves we’re this way because we’re so busy with many responsibilities. But the truth is that we’re just divided, unfocused, hesitant, and not free.  One way to deal with this situation is to invite Jesus onto the committee. Give him a vote, too. But then he becomes just one more complication. But a better way is to say to Jesus, “My life isn’t working. Please come in and fire my committee, every last one of them. I hand myself over to you. I am your responsibility now. Please run my whole life for me.”  Being a disciple of Christ is not just adding Jesus; it is also subtracting the idols that are in my heart. 
 

 

            Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart; yet it is for those who humbly acknowledge that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.  Making disciples is the church’s mission.  Let’s give Jesus his due:  our very lives.

Good Grief

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
           

 

 
            It is a terrible reality that by living in a fallen world we will all be faced at various times with grief and bereavement.  One of the most significant ministries that a church can engage in is a ministry of comforting those experiencing loss.  The words and actions of people make a difference, for either good or ill, when faced with traumatic times.
 
            When my wife’s brother died in the early ‘90s due to complications from AIDS, we heard some comforting words, and we heard calloused words that simply did not help.  Phrases such as, “Well, you know he just reaped what he sowed!” and, “You should move on and forget him,” were not only unhelpful but downright hurtful.  On the other hand, there were people who offered a genuine and heartfelt “I’m sorry,” or hugs with no words attached.
 
In the first chapter of the New Testament book of 2 Corinthians, the word “comfort” is used ten times in five verses (2 Corinthians 1:3-7).  It is a beautiful word; one for which the Apostle Paul knew all too well for the many times he faced his own set of trials and tribulations.  He understood God’s design that those who have seen the face of evil and overcame are in the best position to give grace to those who need it most.
 
Grief attaches itself to any significant change or loss.  Whether it is the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job, or health, or the empty nest syndrome, or any of a number of losses, it is both natural and necessary to grieve.  Most people are familiar with the five stages of grief, observed by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross:
  1. Denial – “I’m ok” or “this can’t be happening”
  2. Anger
  3. Bargaining – “if only…”
  4. Depression
  5. Acceptance
We are to come alongside and walk with another through grief, offering helpful words and actions, until the person can accept the new situation and move on.  With any change or loss, there becomes a new normal that we must adjust to.  Everyone’s grief is personal; each individual moves through their own stages of grief, and each one moves on their own timetable.  Sometimes people get “stuck” in one stage and need help getting out.
 
The way people get unstuck, and the way they come to resolution and acceptance is through telling their story.  So, our role is to listen well.  Our place is neither to give advice, nor to quote a lot of scripture about how everything will be okay.  Our place is to let the grieving person grieve, and come out the other end having grieved well.  Grieving well can only happen if we listen well to those in grief.  We will not listen well if we do not respect the reality that we all must grieve. 
 

 

What is more, God always has a listening ear.  He knows grief and bereavement better than all of us, because he experienced seeing the agonizing death of his one and only Son.  And it is through Jesus that genuine acceptance is realized.  Because Christ died and rose again, there is a future resurrection awaiting us and our loved ones.  May you, by faith, enter into life that is truly life by embracing Jesus Christ.  May your grief be turned to joy, and may your comfort overflow.

Difficult Funerals

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
I do my fair share of funerals.  Many of them are a ministry to families who truly celebrate an aged parent or grandparent, having lived a full and blessed life.  But then there are those occasions when a death is nothing less than a sad and tragic event.  Last week I had one of those funerals.  I officiated a service of a young woman who left three small children and lots of questions from friends, parents, and siblings.  Addiction was at the center of her passing from this life into the next.  The following is the biblical substance of what I said at that funeral, based in a Scripture passage from Isaiah 65:17-25.
 
This Scripture passage from the prophet Isaiah portrays a vision of hope – a hope for better days when the brokenness of this world will be mended, when that which is lost will be found, and a time when what is incomplete will be made whole.  There is a confident expectation for the believer that our troubles, our sufferings, and our failings are not the last word; instead, the promises of God will have the final say, and those promises will all be realized.
 
            If it were left up to us, to fallen and fallible humanity, there would be no hope because it is our sin that has made such a mess of things.  But, thanks be to God, that hope is built on what Godsays and his promises to his people.  And every promise finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and formed man and woman as his greatest creation.  To human beings alone God created them in his own image and likeness.  But tragedy happened when the people God formed for himself and for his glory decided to rebel and go their own way.  That act of disobedience plunged the entire world into darkness.  To this day we feel and experience the effects of that original Fall into sin and separation from God.  Yet, the story of the Holy Bible does not end there because God, in his grace, did not abandon his creatures but promised to redeem them.  The ultimate act of this grace was God the Father sending God the Son to this earth.  It is the life and teaching of Jesus, his death on a cross, his resurrection from the dead, and his ascension to heaven that has taken care of the sin issue and the brokenness of the world once for all.  God’s Holy Spirit is at work, even now, bringing the effects of Christ’s finished work to the lives of people so that they may live new lives.  And this is where hope is kindled – that there is coming a time when all things will be made new and the world will be made right because of Jesus Christ.
 
            Sin, death, and hell do not have the last word.  Everything in this world that is unfair, unjust, twisted, and broken will be healed.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of a vision that is ahead, which is coming.  This is a vision of the future that helps give us some sense and a bit of meaning to our present questions and grief.
 
            The ancient Israelites, for whom this prophecy was directed, did not always live as they ought to have lived.  The history of the Israelites is a complicated picture of sincere worship of God punctuated with sad times of rebellion and disobedience.  It is true of us all that we are at many times a convoluted mix of both good and bad, capable of both wise decisions and foolish actions.  The reality is that we all bear the marks of being in the image of God, but also of a sinful nature that resembles the Fall of our original ancestors. 
 
 
 
There are times in life when we exemplify the image of God within us – times when we have sincere spiritual excitement and a desire for prayer – times when we can freely share Scripture with family or friends to help them in their hour of need.  Our giftedness and abilities can go far when used for good.  Yet, tragically, we also carry within us the burden of our fallen natures and we are, at times, carried away by that which enslaves.  We are by no means alone in that struggle.  The Apostle Paul, by whom much of the New Testament was written, captured this tension and difficulty.  He said to the Church at Rome:  I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.  Paul went on to say:  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.  He concluded his thought with this:  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!  Men and women, but for the grace of God, but for the cross of Jesus Christ, we would all be given completely over to trouble!
 
The prophet Isaiah has given us a glimpse that God’s plans and purposes move toward a climax – that life as we know it right now is not how it will be forever.  Death sometimes cuts off life before it has had a chance to begin well.  Sometimes when that happens, we ponder our own failings and wonder if things could have been different if we had acted a certain way or said a certain thing.  But what transcends all of our human words and earthly actions is the promise of God to make all things new, restore all things, and bring a new era of righteousness into the world.  The hope the Christian has because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that the power of death itself has been destroyed.  A whole new order of things is coming, and it will be so new that the past will be forgiven and forgotten in Jesus’ name.
 

 

So, today we have a choice:  to place our faith and hope in Christ, or to go our own way.  God gives us everything we need.  Yet, being human, we, at times, fail to use that which God has given.  But God always has the last word, and his last word to us is salvation and deliverance from the power of sin and death in Jesus’ name.

Christian Hospitality

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry Blog2 Comments
 
 
            Because the end of all things is near, we must have our wits about us and have a determined focus on prayer, love, and hospitality (1 Peter 4:7-11).  The word “hospitality” is literally “love of the stranger.”  In other words, we invite another into our home that we do not know very well, and befriend them.  This is what Jesus did for us.  Through sin and disobedience, humanity became estranged from God – we were on the outside.  But because of God’s great love, he sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to come a dwell among us.  Jesus invited us into the life of God.  He is now standing at the door and knocking, and we are to invite Jesus in (Revelation 3:20).  Jesus has so closely identified with his people that when we invite others into our homes and lives, we are inviting Jesus in. 
 
            Inviting another person into our lives, into our homes and our hearts will cost us time and effort.  So, we must practice it without grumbling.  In an ideal world we always receive something back for our work of hospitality – an invitation from the other person, or, at least, a simple thank you.  But that does not always happen, and it cannot be the driving reason why we practice hospitality.  Hospitality must be a work of love that comes from a heart that has been touched by the hospitality of God.  Our earthly hospitality is to be a form of saying “thank you” to God for his great grace to us.  Complaining comes when we expect to receive and don’t get it.  If you receive another person as though he were Christ himself, you will not complain but will rejoice in your service.  But if we do not receive another into our lives as if he/she were Christ, we will not receive Christ either because Jesus said “whoever receives you, receives me” (Matthew 10:40).
 
            In ancient Christianity, a concrete expression of love to other believers in Jesus was providing food and shelter for Christians traveling throughout the Roman Empire.  Many times the traveling strangers were itinerant evangelists spreading the message of the gospel from place to place (3 John).  At other times, believers were deprived of some of their basic necessities due to the occasional waves of persecution that broke out. They were often poor and needy because of their situation of being different; the townspeople were not typically hospitable.  So, Christians had to rely on the love and hospitality of those believers they could connect with who had the means to help.
 
            Hospitality, then, was an important means of providing love to fellow Christians.  Paul made it clear to the Roman Christians:  Share with God’s people who are in need.  Practice hospitality (Romans 12:13).  One of the qualifications for church leadership is that they are hospitable (1 Timothy 3:2).  Our default mode as Christians is to invite each other into our lives.  It is to happen by opening both our homes and opening our hearts to one another.
 
 
 
            There is a great need for hospitality in our world.  Many Americans’ circle of friends is shrinking.  According to one study the number of people who said they had no one to talk to about important matters has more than doubled in the past 10 years.  32 million Americans now live alone (which is 28% of all households).  Hospitality cuts both ways for us.  We are to invite the lonely into our hearts and homes; and, the lonely are to invite others into their hearts and homes, instead of waiting for somebody to just show up.
 
            Food is to hospitality what weightlifting is to bodybuilders; you really need food, meals, and the sharing that goes with it in order to experience genuine hospitality that makes a difference in another’s life.  In biblical times, eating a meal together was a sacred affair.  To have another person in your house, sitting around your table, communicated much more than simply providing food.  It communicated acceptance, care, and friendship.  This is why the Pharisees and teachers of the law had such difficulty with Jesus eating with ‘sinners;’ by eating with outsiders Jesus was clearly communicating his love and acceptance of such persons.
 
            I want us to think the thought that our dining room tables are little mission stations.  When my wife and I were new believers, there was a Christian couple who often had us into their home.  Both of us had grown up in families where we had experienced some unhealthy ways of relating.  Here we were, not really knowing what a Christian family should look like.  Through hospitality, eating together and sharing around the table, we began to learn how a family dedicated to Christ lives.  We learned life lessons that we probably could not have learned in any other way.
 
            When we think about our world, it can be a sad place.  Can people of different races live in peace?  Can Democrats find common ground with Republicans?  Can a Christian family carry on a civil friendship with a gay or lesbian couple down the street?  Can people who are very different from each other get along?  The early church did.  And they did it without all the stuff we have – sanctuaries, church buildings, programs.  Those early believers did it through the message of the cross, and the simplest tool of the home.  Not everyone can serve on the foreign mission field, or serve in a professional ministry position; but each one of us can be hospitable.  Something happens at a dinner table that does not happen in a church sanctuary.  In church we see the backs of heads – around the table you see faces.  In church you hear the preacher – around the table everyone has a voice.  A church service is on the clock – around the table we have time to talk.  Hospitality, inviting others into our hearts and homes, opens the door to true community.
 

 

            Jesus, on the night that he enjoying a meal with his disciples, said: “Take and eat.  This is my body given for you.”  One of the things Jesus meant by that statement is that eating and ingesting the elements of bread and wine, serve as a very tangible way of understanding what life is to be like.  We are to take Jesus into the depths of our lives; we are to ingest him, that is, to engage in a very close and intimate relationship with him to the degree that the two of us cannot ever be separated.  The same is to be true of our relationship with one another in the Body of Christ, the Church.  We are to do life together.  We are to enjoy eating and drinking together.  We are to share with each other not only our resources, but our hearts. Let your heart and your home be open today.