Christ-follower, Husband, Dad, Pastor

service

September 30, 2014

Do Something Extraordinary

God wants ordinary people like you and me to do extraordinary things for His glory. Extraordinary incidents testify God is working through us. Our steps of faith show the people around us how great HE is. It really is not about us. Our attitude needs to match John the Baptist who declared about Christ, “He must increase; I must decrease.” Stay humble and let God do His thing.

“The people who KNOW THEIR GOD shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].” (Daniel 11:32b AMP)

Relationship with God opens the door for exploits – not in your own might, but in His power. When you know your God, you display great STRENGTH. When you know your God, you take quick ACTION. When you know your God, you act valiantly. When you know your God, you STAND FIRM. When you know your God, you prosper. When you know your God, you battle against kingdom of darkness. When you know your God, you DO EXPLOITS.

If you are thinking “I can’t do that”, you are the exact one to whom God is calling today. God works through ordinary people. God doesn’t quit on His projects until the job is completed, and He isn’t finished making you into what He wants. The worst thing you could do is disqualify yourself by giving up.

You are qualified to do something – simply because you are a believer. God has a plan and purpose for you. The enemy desires to stop or steal what God wants to give to you. Don’t let the devil steal it! Accept the reality Christ’s forgiveness. You blew it in the past, okay, but the blood of Jesus cleanses. God forgives. You can do exploits, not because you are perfect, but because you are in Christ. Don’t worry if its messy, you can do something significant.

God saved you to serve. Saved people serve people. Find a need and fill it; find a hurt and heal it. The bigger the need you fill the bigger the glory God receives. Do something extraordinary for the Lord. Serve Him by serving others at work, at home, at church.

God works through ordinary people. Let Him work through you. Do something extraordinary for His glory.

April 3, 2013

“HAVE TO” or “GET TO”

How do respond to God’s call to serve and to shoulder kingdom responsibilities at your local church?

Do you view the chance to serve as an opportunity or an obligation? “I have to do . . .” OR “I get to do . . .”? What does your choice of words reveal about your heart?

God’s Word commands, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” (Psalm 100:2a NASB) In the Old Testament, God wanted to prosper His people but their attitudes brought His judgement: “Because you didn’t serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly above all else.” (Deuteronomy 28:47 CEV) Check your attitude. Do you need to inform your face or your tongue?

Can you sense the thankful attitude of the descendants of Korah who originally penned Psalm 84? “A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God, than live the good life in the homes of the wicked.” (Psalm 84:10 NLT) Their heart to serve was quite different than their self-serving, self-promoting ancestor Korah (Numbers 16). Serving in God’s house wasn’t something they had to do. It was something that flowed from their grateful hearts. Their response to God’s call was joyful service. They demonstrated an “I get to do this” attitude about the work of the ministry, not an “I have to do this” mentality.

The Psalmist David also displayed a heart for God’s house. Consider his prayer, “Teach me, Lord, what you want me to do, and I will obey you faithfully; teach me to serve you with complete devotion.” (Psalm 86:11 GNT) David’s desire was to be totally devoted to the Lord’s service. He had an “I want to do this” mindset.

Ultimately, Jesus Christ is the best example of the service mentality that honors the Lord. “Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be. For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man.” (Philippians 2:5-7 PHILLIPS)

Maintain an appreciative attitude  in all things, but especially towards the privilege of serving God’s house.

March 28, 2013

Audience of One

Are you living before One Audience – the Lord Jesus Christ? To what audience are you playing? You will either play to an Audience of One or to an audience of many. Do you desire to please God or impress people?

When you aren’t seeking to be noticed or publicized or praised, you are released to accomplish great things for God’s Kingdom. Perhaps that is reason  Valley Fellowship Church has made such a significant impact – we want to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ in the Tennessee Valley and around the world. We don’t do what we do to get praise for ourselves. We want to see Jesus exalted!

Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth, but His essential audience was not people who surrounded Him. Jesus said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him [Heavenly Father].” (John 8:29b NASB) Jesus wasn’t interested in crowd approval (John 5:44) and He rebuked His listeners, “How could you possibly believe? You like to have your friends praise you, and you don’t care about praise that the only God can give!” (John 5:44 CEV)

“Most of us, whether we are aware of it or not, do things with an eye to the approval of some audience or other. The question is not whether we have an audience but which audience we have. . . . A life lived listening to the decisive call of God is a life lived before one audience that trumps all others – the Audience of One.” (Os Guinness, The Call, p. 70)

Paul was a God-pleaser, not a man-pleaser. I agree with Kent Hughes assessment that “Paul would have loved Eric Liddell—the runner who placed spiritual conviction and loyalty to Christ above Olympic or national glory!” (Acts: The Church Afire, p. 289) Paul lived his life before an Audience of One. Consider his words:

  • “We do not aim to please men, but to please God who knows us through and through.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4 PHILLIPS)
  •  “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.” (Galatians 1:10 NLT)
  • “Be assured that when we speak to you we’re not after crowd approval—only God approval.” (1 Thessalonians 2:4 MSG)

The Gospel of John criticizes the leaders of Jesus’ day who “were more concerned about what people thought of them than about what God thought of them.” (John 12:43 GW) Are you playing your life before an Audience of One, or playing before many: your peers, your neighbors, your mentors, your family? Who you choose as your audience has a tremendous impact upon your life.

People adjust their lifestyle based upon the people around them. Children attune their own tastes, pursuing parental praise. Employees perform for a boss, or will be fired. Students adjust to the wishes of a teacher. Writers heed their readers, putting pen to what sells. Basketball players respond to fans, drawing energy, heart to play. Teenagers play to their peers, claiming to be an individual, yet listening to what others listen, dressing comparably to their friends, even styling their hair like their cliché. Have you noticed how your audience shapes your life?

The Puritans lived as if they had swallowed gyroscopes; we modern Christians live as if we have swallowed Gallup polls. Or as Martin Luther King wrote in his Letter from Birmingham Jail, “in those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.” Leaders or panderers? Gyroscope or Gallup poll? Thermostat or thermometer? Only those who practice the presence of the Audience of One can hope to attain the former and escape the latter. (The Call, p. 73)

To live before an Audience of One is to consider what He thinks as what counts the most. Satisfying life results from pleasing God, not pouring out your energy for temporal praise. Seeking to live for an Audience of One — the Lord Jesus Christ —liberates you from operating out of a response to what others say about you. Make the decision now to surrender your life and your lifestyle to the Lord. Ultimate success is not fame, fortune, or power, but hearing God’s commendation, “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

March 25, 2013

How to Exercise Authority Without Being Authoritarian

Authority can be found but not the way most of the world goes after it. You don’t push others  down for the Lord to lift you up. Jesus Christ models servant leadership; He turns worldly power systems and values upside-down. Christ-followers are not to adopt the “king-of-the-mountain” mentality of worldly leadership.

You have witnessed a boss, a coach, a politician, a policeman, or a parent “throw their weight around” and  you understand the reality “when people get a little power how quickly it goes to their heads” (Mark 10:42 MSG). Perhaps, your heart cried out like the writer of Ecclesiastes 4:1 (NIRV), “I looked and saw how much people were suffering on this earth. I saw the tears of those who are suffering . . . Power is on the side of those who beat them down. Those who are suffering don’t have anyone to comfort them.”

But Christ’s call to leadership is counter-cultural. You ARE to be a leader – one who exercises authority without becoming authoritarian.

You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.  (Mark 10:42-45 NLT)

God’s Word warns, “Among leaders who lack insight, abuse abounds.” (Proverbs 28:16a MSG) God expects His delegated authority to be exercised with wisdom, not abuse. In 10 Choices: A Proven Plan to Change Your Life Forever, Chicago pastor James MacDonald offers tips for evaluating how we are handling the authority entrusted to us:

I know I’m abusing my authority when I keep reminding people of my title and my position.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I expect or demand privilege.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I become comfortable with personal praise.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I resent, react, or am threatened by challenges to my authority.
I know I’m abusing my authority when I’m unmoved by an individual. (p. 227-230)

Cherish the nature of the authority entrusted to you. As you esteem God’s leadership and respect your co-laborers in God’s House, a dimension of authority is entrusted to you. You must exercise this empowerment with Godly wisdom. With recognition of God’s call, you seriously and humbly undertake service with appreciation of Christ as the head of the body.

How do you exercise authority without becoming authoritarian?

#1  Serve – Don’t Decree.

You aren’t called to dominate and dictate.“If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all.” (Mark 9:35 NIV)

Leadership is not getting above others in prestige and power.  It is servantship – getting down under the load of human need to bear it sacrificially and redemptively.  According to this standard, the measure of greatness is not prominence but humility, not excellence but faithfulness, not authority but obedience, not being served but service… leadership is servantship.  (Gaines S. Dobbins, Learning to Lead, 1968, p. 31)

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Don’t look down on others.“Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3 NIV)

Even though we had some standing as Christ’s apostles, we never threw our weight around or tried to come across as important, with you or anyone else. We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. (1 Thessalonians 2:6-7 MSG)

#3  Model – Don’t Dominate.

“Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your own good example.” (1 Peter 5:3 NLT) Great leadership is not lording-over or striving for superiority, for leadership involves sacrifice and service. Paul lived this, “Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.” (Philippians 3:17 NIV)

#4  Associate – Don’t Strut.

Don’t be stuck-up or toffee-nosed. “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (Romans 12:10 NLT) We are equal in Christ. One is not superior to another. Male, female, young, old, whatever race or background – we share communion and fellowship in ONE Body.

#5  Mutually Submit – Don’t Intimidate.

“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” (Ephesians 5:21 NIV) Coercive bullying is not a spiritual gift, even if at times it looks as if something is accomplished. Strong-arming does not pay heavenly dividends and intimidation will not yield lasting results.

Living under authority necessitates accountability to those who have placed you in your position – your leaders and your Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord! Respect the distinction between Lordship and leadership!

Are you leading and influencing others in a direction which furthers God’s Kingdom purposes?

February 4, 2013

Service Is Love In Work Clothes

Words expressing servanthood are used more than 300 times in the New Testament but the Biblical idea of service contradicts the ME-generation with its emphasis on self and being all I can be.

Being a servant doesn’t mean that I let other people walk over me. Service doesn’t mean, “I’ll do whatever YOU want to do.” Actually, to be a good servant I must have a clear sense of mission, of purpose, of calling. I need to respond to the God call of service. How is God asking you to serve others? I am not asking what other people think you should do, but what is God calling you to do?

The Apostle Peter urges us to “use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Peter 4:10 NIV). Are you utilizing your gifts and abilities to faithfully fulfill kingdom responsibilities? Are you yielding your gifts and abilities to allow God’s Word to be communicated? Are you empowering your gifts and abilities by drawing from the ready-supply of God’s strength? Are you directing your gifts and abilities to bring praise and glory to Jesus Christ? As we join together, we accomplish great things.

In world’s eyes, greatness is being in charge, being the best, being a celebrity. But you could be lead engineer at NASA, the president of a fortune 500 company, a professor at UAH, an Alabama or Auburn football player, or even the pastor of a large church and still not be great in God’s eyes. Our Heavenly Father prizes service. Faithful service is valued and is honored by God.

Do I go out of my way to serve guests who come into the doors of the sanctuary of Valley? Do newcomers feel love and care? Am I willing to get my hands dirty? Can I find an area of ministry that offers no glamour or prestige, and might even be physically demanding? How much skill does it take to clean up excrement from an elderly body? How much time does it take share a handshake or a hug? How much effort does it take to smile? You know, every Valley Fellowship short-term mission trip reminds me – even small actions display God’s love.  Patti’s willingness to paint a face in Leticia, Colombia (2010) opened the door for great things in the Amazon.

Are we ready to do something significant for the kingdom of God? Real ministry takes place when I get my hands dirty and practically serve people where they live. Oswald Chambers, the author of the classic devotional My Utmost for His Highest, advises “Never allow the thought, ‘I am of no use where I am,’ because you certainly can be of no use where you are not.” You can make an impact.

The opportunities to serve the Lord at Valley Fellowship are endless – parking-lot security, table setup, construction labor, video production, yard work, fence-row clearing, greeting, food distribution, diaper changing, children’s church cleanup, hotdog grilling, window washing – more than I can list! So, what are you going to do? American industrialist Henry Ford wisely quipped, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

What makes you say, “Why doesn’t someone do something about this?” Ask God what He wants you to do about it. Get into service. Perform random daily acts of kindness and service. Shoulder ongoing, structured, organized kingdom responsibilities – weekly or at least monthly. Tackle a big project at least once a year – a mission trip, Christmas feeding, or kids camp.

Some people are difficult to serve. Oswald Chambers divulges “If I love Jesus Christ, I will serve humanity, though men and women treat me like a doormat.” Ultimately, I must keep in mind that I’m not serving my spouse or my kids; I’m not serving the elders; I’m not serving that cranky church member; I’m not serving that troublesome person at the office.

As I serve my children – I am serving Jesus Christ. As I serve my spouse – I am serving Jesus Christ. As I serve my employer – I am serving Jesus Christ. As I serve my church – I am serving Jesus Christ. I am serving Jesus Christ . . . how about you?

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”  Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

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