relationships

It’s yours to share. Authentic Stewardship, Part 1.

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Four Relationships - Gospel Shaped View

1 The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, 2for he has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.

3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Psalm 24:1-6

The Stuff of Earth and Conflict
The piercing cries of pain and dismay where the first sign that something was wrong. Then the kids came spilling around the corner into the kitchen. “He won’t share.” “She is grabbing.” “I want a turn.” “It’s mine.”

“It’s yours to share.”

How do you teach children to share or to respect the boundaries of another person without simultaneously crushing their spirit and sense of personal responsibility? My wife and I landed on these words. “It’s yours to share.” This simple phrase opened up the conversation with our children when they ran into the conflict of sharing and wanting. They were empowered to decide with a Gospel-shaped axiom and without our dictatorial intervention. Sometimes it worked!

Authentic stewardship must not ultimately be concerned with rights. The concern for the follower of Jesus is a matter of “to whom does it all belong?”

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness therein.”  Psalm 24:1

It all belongs to God.
Christian stewardship casts the stuff of earth into the realm of responsibility: It all belongs to God; We are stewards. The Cross brings us forward into a redemptive work and enjoyment: The Father above has given all good things; we can enjoy and care for others in the distribution of these gifts. But, when it comes to the stuff of earth our sense of security and status have become snared in the thorns and thistles of identity; It too a Saviour on the Cross with a crown of thorns to bring freedom to our hearts.

A blessing for the generation that seeks the God of Jacob.
Jacob (Genesis 25 -33) was blessed with the stuff of earth, rights, and responsibilities. But his maturity lagged behind his accumulation of power. I believe its important that we smile with knowing amazement at the grace of God when the Scripture references the “God of Jacob.” (Psalm 24:6) Don’t just glide past those words.

Jacob the trickster finally become a mature person moving beyond the anxiety that controlled him and his relationships. He eventually became less motivated by an obsession to secure his life and stuff through manuevering and manipulations. It took a vision of heaven. It took being tricked by a trickster as conniving as him. It took a looming crisis of confrontation with his brother. It took a night of wrestling with God! It took time and struggle! But God, God was graceful toward him.

Discipleship and the Stuff of Earth
Authentic Stewardship has to answer the question of WHO? All this is from God. God has ultimate right and authority for it all. The stuff of earth—air, water, land, resources, wealth, wisdom, knowledge and the technology developed from it—is not mine first. It’s God’s. A Gospel-shaped vision of you and me and the stuff of earth will embrace the discipleship journey of learning to be a faithful steward who honours God and people in the way we handle what has been entrusted to us.

Summary thought: your church’s discipleship culture must engage leaders, parents, and employers in a thoughtful obedience to Jesus that includes both the stewardship of people as image-bearers of the Creator and the stuff of earth as that which is ultimately His.  For a time He has seen fit to gift you: It’s yours… to share.

Refreshing, mind-blowing, heart-lifting service always does this! Authentic Ministry, Part 3

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12When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16Truly, truly, I say to you, a servantis not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:12-17

There’s nothing like the frustration and exasperation that fills the soul when you know you are living in a customer service nightmare. I hate it when I know I have become just one more beast in the line-up. The company refuses to meet me.

But you and I can do the same thing to people we actually love. Everyday we are tasked with the regular and mundane events of serving people in our homes, schools, and workplaces. How can that moment become something refreshing? How can those regular moments be turned into something Jesus would call a blessing?

Meet the person. Don’t just fill the need. Meet the person. We are in danger of creating our own dignity stripping hell when we just meet the need. Don’t meet needs. Meet the person.

Foot washing is personal. Feet are sensitive. Jesus has given us an example in which we can take the usual tasks of our day and humbly look up to a person and meet them as a precious treasure. In those moments we are positioning them as fantastic people worthy of Jesus’ very life and our interest.

No matter what you do next, refreshing, mind-blowing, heart-lifting service always begins by meeting the person.

Daily refreshment under the mighty hand of God. Authentic Ministry, Part 2

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3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet,but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”  John 13:3-11

Peter was watching Jesus. He saw him get up, take off his outer garments, prepare the water, and then begin washing feet. If it had been at the door. If it had been the lowliest servant. Peter probably would not have minded. He would have welcomed the moment his feet were cleansed. But now to receive this service from his Rabbi, his master, his Lord was too humiliating. Peter refused Jesus.

But Jesus makes it clear. “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Its a harsh answer that clearly pains Peter. So Peter goes all in, “Then, give me a bath!”

Jesus raises the conversation from feet to hearts. The person who has  received Jesus as Lord for the forgiveness of sin is cleansed; such a person only requires refreshment and relief from the daily press of life in a broken world. Yet, it is essential. Summoned into the communion of God, followers of Jesus  need daily refreshment from Him. We need the Holy Spirit to renew us daily for the life and work of Jesus’ kingdom. Peter had to humble himself in order to receive from Jesus.

Later Peter would express what its like to humble yourself under the hand of God as a person in a ministry community. Peter wanted the church to know what’s required in our hearts in order to receive from God. “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:5-7

Will you reframe what’s its like to be “under the mighty hand of God?” Can  you imagine being still, being quiet, being real, being honest before Jesus Christ our Lord as He washes your feet?”

Tripped up by what we know. Authentic Ministry, Part 1

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1Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.  John 13:1-5

When it comes to meeting people and responding to their needs we are too often tripped up by what we know… or what we think we know.

But really Jesus knew.
He knew His hour had come.
He knew which of His friends would betray Him.
He knew the Father had given all things into His hands.
He knew He was returning to the Father from whom He had come.
And knowing what He knew, Jesus loved them to the end.

How often have I been hindered from loving people and giving refreshing  service to others because of what I knew? I can be wrapped up in the knowledge of my crisis, my distress, my judgments, my position, my rights.

But Jesus truly knows the Father. So He does what He has been doing from the beginning. He takes off His outer garments of power, privilege, and position, sets them aside and serves at the feet of His disciples.

Knowing the Heavenly Father makes all the difference.

Do you know the temptation that accompanies trouble? Authentic Fellowship, Part 3

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1Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, 3that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. 5For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.

6But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you— 7for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. 8For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord.   1 Thessalonians 3:1-8

Paul was concerned, The Thessalonian church had experienced trouble from the very beginning. He was afflicted with thoughts that they may have drifted away from the faith and each other. He was concerned:

1. that their troubles would knock them off their faith and off Christian fellowship.

2. that their troubles would open them up to the Tempter’s work of emptying out their faith in Jesus.
What a relief when Timothy came back and shared the good news! The church still exists. People still remember Paul affectionately. The believers are still trusting Jesus even in their troubles.

Troubles and Temptations
Paul knows how isolating troubles can be. Its tempting to keep it all to yourself, to feel forgotten and of no value to God and others. However, authentic fellowship is the place where we can let others know of our troubles and experience the comfort and courage of the Holy Spirit together. During change and pain a circle of brothers and sisters in Christ can make the difference for our faith. But there is a vulnerability during these times. Will it knock us off our faith?

Other Apostles and Christian leaders know of this vulnerability too. James wrote of mature communal faith this way: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call 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 rise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” James  5:13-16

Praise and Prayer
Praise and prayer are experienced in authentic fellowship. Participation in each other’s good times and difficult times is part of authentic fellowship. The amazing part of authentic fellowship is that the focus both in trouble and in good times does not get fixated on the individual and his or her pain, but instead turns toward God and our graceful communion with Him—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.