On Oak Trees, Acorns, and the Missouri Baptist Convention

Mike Leake

pexels-photo-14214243“Have you ever seen an oak tree grow?”

This was a question asked of us on our Sexual Abuse Response Team. We were discussing how our goal is to cultivate a sustainable movement in regards to healthy and Christ-honoring responses to our sexual abuse crisis. This involves training, survivor care, institutional change, and much more.

The idea behind the question is that you really don’t see oak trees grow—you don’t even notice it, but through a long season they significantly shape the landscape. We think here of those like William Wilberforce who labored for decades to get the slave-trade abolished in England. What is needed here isn’t a heated and flash in the pan response but one that is sustainable for the long term.

I agree….but….

I also believe there is something else necessary for oak trees to grow—brave little rodents. I made solid B’s in my college science classes—so, I could be wrong on this, but from what I’ve heard an acorn would never blossom into a mighty oak tree unless a courageous little squirrel or field mouse picks it up and packs it off to a different location.

The squirrel is necessary because if the acorn is not moved it will never come out of the shadow of the tree from which it fell, it would never have the room to grow. Likewise, a sustainable movement needs not only a long-obedience in the same direction (to borrow Eugene Peterson’s term) but we also need brave little rodents who move acorns.

Where would we be today in matters of racial reconciliation without the acorn moving work of a Rosa Parks who wouldn’t move to the back of the bus? Where would we be without the bravery of Dr. King’s dream? Where would we be without the brave men and women who marched in Selma?

But it was not only these big moments that created a movement that is still enduring today. It was also the little acts of bravery by all the unknown people who carried the acorns of tough conversations, hard fought minor battles, pressed with difficult questions, etc. Yes, it is both time and bravery.

If we don’t move acorns then we will continue with business as usual.

The MBC Annual Meeting

Last week I was at the Missouri Baptist Convention Annual Meeting. Last year I was on the floor making an appeal for a task force. This year I was on the stage working with the Sexual Abuse Response Team that was developed by our executive board. I am both encouraged and discouraged, let me explain.

I am encouraged because I am thankful that we have a Sexual Abuse Response Team. And it’s a good team. Our chair is a good man who is truly working to help survivors and prevent sexual abuse in our churches. We also have survivors on our team who provide tremendous insight. It’s a good team.

I am also encouraged because I believe we’ve seen the needle move some within our convention. I am happy that many heard Greg Love, from Ministry Safe, give a presentation about the need to be familiar with the grooming process. It’s great material and I think might have opened the eyes of some in attendance.

But I’m also somewhat discouraged. I’m not sure that we “get it” yet across our state. While I’m appreciative of the work that we did do, I also believe that everyone on our team is discouraged by some of the work we didn’t get to do. We would all love to move more quickly and more profoundly. We believe God is calling us to be “acorn” movers. I don’t think we moved many acorns this year.

We’ve also only been a team since May. So, I do want to be patient. This next year, if given the opportunity to continue to serve, I’m hoping we will see more things put in place. And I’m hoping we hear more from survivors.

Speaking of, hearing from survivors…

That was one of the things that really bothered me with Greg Love’s talk. He said something to the effect of, “I could talk to you about survivors, and share their stories, but that wouldn’t move you to change.” It’s not that he is wrong, necessarily. It’s that he’s painfully right.

He knows from experience that the pain of a survivor doesn’t necessarily cause a church to change. Protecting the vulnerable doesn’t motivate us nearly as much as protecting our own assets. And until that changes we have much work to be done.

I would love to see us partner with an organization like GRACE to do a cultural assessment. I think it’s important for us to ask these hard questions. It’s important for us to truly know where we stand on these things.

  • Are we safe?
  • Are we trustworthy and transparent?
  • Do survivors have peer support?
  • Do our churches work with survivors or against them?
  • Are survivors empowered? Are they given a voice and a choice?
  • What does our history tell us? How have we historically treated minorities or the vulnerable?

We cannot answer these questions on our own. And even if we tried, will our words actually mean anything if survivors do not view us as safe? I would love to see Missouri Baptists leading the charge in trauma-informed care. In taking hard steps and asking hard questions. Even if costly.

I want to make sure that survivors in Missouri Baptist life have a voice. Not simply that they are allowed to speak, but that their voice carries weight, that they are heard.

I’m not sure if I’ll be on the team still in the future. But I will continue, as long as I am able, to move these acorns so we can see a beautiful forest of precious survivors who are seen, heard, loved, welcomed, and valued. Their voice should move us.

—

Photo source: here

One Way Spiritual Abuse Happens

Mike Leake

pexels-anete-lusina-5723260

“But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.” –Mark 12:42

Jesus goes on to tell us that she gave “out of her poverty”. She put in her last two cents. Yes, he commends her. But Mark also wants us to know that Jesus “sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put”. Mark places Jesus in opposition to this whole racket.

This text is not only a commendation of the widow’s offering. It’s perhaps even more an condemnation of the temple system. We should be asking, “why is this widow down to her last two cents?”

This is another one of those places in Scripture where the subheadings distract us from meaning. We’re supposed to read Mark 12:40 with this text: They devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers…” As one of the most vulnerable members within what was supposed to be a God-reflecting society, she should have been flourishing and not down to her last couple pennies.

I imagine this widow to be a sweet and devoted woman. We have several of these women in our church. They are often the backbone of our ministries. Often they are bound by duty and dedication. It’s no surprise that Jesus commends this widow’s offering.

If we were to interview her about this gift she’d likely say something like, “it was my duty to do this. The leaders have told us that this is a way in which we can honor God. So I give because I love God. This offering is a gift to my LORD, and a reminder that He will take care of us.” As she says this she points to one of the religious leaders—adorned in gold, flowing robes, sitting at important seats and places of honor—“they help us know how to obey God”.

What is Spiritual Abuse?

What I’ve just described to you is spiritual abuse. Here are a few of the better definitions (source):

“Spiritual abuse happens when a leader with spiritual authority uses that authority to coerce, control or exploit a follower, thus causing spiritual wounds.” (Ken Blue, Healing Spiritual Abuse, 1993)

“Spiritual abuse is when a Christian leader causes injury to others by acting in a self-centred manner in order to benefit themselves.” (Nelson, Spiritual Abuse: Unspoken Crisis, 2015)

“Spiritual abuse happens when people use God, or their supposed relationship with God, to control behaviour for their benefit.” (Diederich, Broken Trust, 2017)

You can see each of these definitions at play in the story of the widow giving her final two cents and Jesus’ words of condemnation for the Pharisees who are devouring widows’ houses. They used their spiritual authority for their benefit and not for hers.

Spiritual abuse is one of those things that happens not only at the hands of one particular person but it can happen through multiple hands within an unhealthy church culture. And often it is subtle. It can, at times, be hardly recognizable.

There are many ways in which spiritual abuse can happen, but today I will share with you one way in which it subtly happens within churches and communities of faith.

How does spiritual abuse happen?

We are on the road to spiritual abuse whenever we equate our ideas with the Bible’s imperatives. Let me explain.

Hebrews 10:25 tells us that we are to “not neglect to meet together” but instead we should be “encouraging one another”. From, this text you are safe to give this general principle: gathering with other believers is a vital component to being encouraged in the faith. Or to put it more bluntly, we are commanded by Scripture to encourage one another.

Biblical imperative: encourage one another through gathering together.

That is a non-negotiable. But watch what happens…

As a pastor I come along and take that biblical imperative and match it to a ministry idea:we should meet in weekly small groups for the purpose of encouraging one another in Christ.

Ministry idea: Small groups help us encourage one another through gathering together.

I might say something like, “at Calvary we believe God calls us to gather together to encourage one another, we obey this through weekly small groups.”

That sounds good, right?

Except nowhere in Scripture does it say, “obey this through weekly small groups”. It’s a great idea. I think it does help you obey this imperative. But the ministry idea itself does not have the authority of Scripture.

It turns into spiritual abuse whenever we use our authority (whether it be pastoral authority or the church’s cultural authority) to force obedience of a biblical imperative through our ministry idea. And people are wounded by this type of thing all the time. They experience loads of false guilt.

These things are subtle too. It is incredibly easy to merge a biblical imperative with a ministry idea, so that over time the ministry idea become synonymous with the biblical imperative. It happened to the Pharisees. And it happens within so many of our churches.

Conclusion

There are, I believe, two main solutions.

First, it would be good for leaders to slow our roles. We are not to be faith handlers. We must have the humility to acknowledge that our suggestions for how to obey an imperative do not carry the same weight as Scripture. We can be firm on what the imperatives are, but we must be humble in the specific way these are carried out.

Secondly, it is good for all of us to stop and ask questions of every thing we assume is an imperative. What exactly did God say? Part of the deception for the first couple was when they added, “we shall not touch”. God never said that.

As we begin to melt away some of the dross it is important for us to remember that imperatives really do matter. We should have a heart to obey what Christ has commanded us. But also the humility to let ourselves and others relationally work out what obedience actually looks like.

I am His.

So are you.

—

Photo source: here

When Yellow and Blue Make Brown

Mike Leake

pure-julia-OIPrng4Vt-g-unsplashIf you combine yellow and blue, you get green. Almost immediately. And though there are varying shades pending on the amount of yellow and blue, those two colors combined always make green.

Psalm 1 says that when you mix not sitting with scoffers with meditating on God’s law, you get bountiful fruit. Thriving. Mix those colors and you get beauty and blessing.

Enter Jeremiah.

Jeremiah, through much pain, tells God that he did not sit in the “company of revelers” (15:18) but instead God’s words became “the delight of my heart” (15:16). Jeremiah combined the yellow of good company with the blue of delighting in God’s law.

He circles back around to this sentiment in Jeremiah 17. Many scholars think that this chapter is the prophet’s miscellaneous file with a few random thoughts combined around the theme of “the heart”. I disagree. I think it’s all driving to Jeremiah’s prayer in 17:14-18.

17:5-6 is Jeremiah painting his canvas with a bit of yellow. Cursed are those who trust in man instead of Yahweh. Jeremiah 17:9-10 is Jeremiah painting with a bit of blue. The heart is deceitful but our anchor is the word of God. Delight in God, don’t delight in man. That’s the theme. And in the middle of that sandwich is Jeremiah’s version of Psalm 1 (17:7-8).

When you combine yellow and blue. You get green. That is what verses 5-13 are telling us. Now listen to Jeremiah’s prayer…

When Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green

In verses 14-15 Jeremiah is positioning himself under God’s mercy. He knows that if healing is to happen it will come from the Lord. But in verse 15 he shares his ache. His words haven’t come true, yet. And as a result everybody is mocking him.

Now listen to verse 16. It’s Jeremiah saying I’ve painted with blue and yellow because you told me it would make green. But it hasn’t.

Think about Jeremiah’s life at this point. He is miserable and lonely. If you were to lay Psalm 1 over the life of Jeremiah and the wicked king you’d have to conclude that Jeremiah must be the one living in disobedience. Look at his life. He’s drowning in barrenness. He’s choking on sand. The king is surrounded by prosperity and ample vegetation. His yield would lead you to believe from Psalm 1 that the king must be living the obedient life.

This is why Jeremiah says in verse 17, “Be not a terror to me…” That might be better translated “Don’t be so confusing to me, don’t be the source of my dismay”.

Be consistent!!

That is what Jeremiah is crying out to the Lord. And it’s what he is meaning in verse 18 as well. We he speaks of his opponents being dismayed it means that they should be the ones who are confused about the direction of their life—not Jeremiah. Jeremiah should be getting green and not brown.

Should Christians Pray This Way?

I believe Jeremiah’s prayer is very much consistent with the New Testament. In fact I think this is part of what Jesus is meaning when he says, “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

In heaven every single time you paint with yellow and blue you get green. But that doesn’t always happen on earth. This side of the new heaven and new earth, Psalm 1 isn’t like a painting formula. It’s a general principle. It’s an echo of heaven. It’s the way that things are supposed to be. But things are broken a bit. And so sometimes on earth we paint with the colors we are supposed to and end up with a sloppy mess.

That is why Jesus told us to pray this way. We are praying for consistency. We are praying that the beautiful consistency of heaven is matched on earth.

And this is a great prayer to consider when you find yourself in a situation like Jeremiah. Don’t move from God as being your refuge, but also don’t assume that it’s okay that blue and yellow are making brown. Tell God. Cry out for consistency.

On earth, as it is in heaven…

Give us consistency, Lord. We ache.

—

Photo source: here

Running With Watermelon Shoes

Mike Leake

2663358332_27264f64bdThere is a phrase from the comedy, Mystery Men, that I think perfectly describes my relationship with the Lord. In the scene Ben Stiller, who plays Mr. Furious, is frustrated with the new leader of his ragtag band of superheroes, The Sphinx. The Sphinx majors in formulaic phrases like, “when you care what is outside, what is inside cares for you.” Or “He who questions training only trains himself at asking questions”.

In one particular scene Mr. Furious, balancing a tack hammer on his head, questions The Sphinx’s methods. The Sphinx responds with another formulaic saying: “When you can balance a tack hammer on your head, you will head off your foes with a balanced attack.”

The camera then pans to Mr. Furious questioning why he is wearing watermelon on his feet. To this the Sphinx says, “I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

And there it is.

“I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

Wearing Watermelon Shoes

I wear watermelon shoes.

How many times have I set for myself an imaginary standard, failed to meet that standard, and then end up feeling guilty before a holy God for not accomplishing the goal that I set?

This is why a true understanding of the sufficiency of Scripture can be so helpful. I say “true understanding” because there is much being paraded around these days on the doctrine of sufficiency that is foreign to it’s historical meaning. I digress. One aspect of the doctrine of sufficiency is that we do not have the right to call something a sin which is not forbidden by Scripture either explicitly or by strong implication. And we are not required to do something unless Scripture requires this of us.

I want to finish 100 books this year. I believe reading good books helps me to grow as a person. I don’t know if I’ll make my goal, though. So, what happens if I don’t? Track the logic here:

A. Reading good books helps you grow as a person.
B. God desires for you to grow
Therefore: God desires you to read good books

Okay, maybe.

A. The more you read the more you’ll grow
B. Reading 100 books is a good goal
C. God wants me to be faithful and have integrity in accomplishing my goals.
Therefore: God wants me to read 100 books this year.

That’s simply horrible logic. 100 is an arbitrary number. There is nothing in Scripture that defines these parameters. God wants us have integrity in our person and to be consistent in obeying his law, and not the ones we make up for ourselves.

I can picture it now. I take my reading list to God at the end of the year and say, “I’m sorry that I didn’t get to 100. Please forgive me.”

And God responds, “I don’t remember telling you to do that.”

Freedom

It’d be helpful to kick off those watermelon shoes. What areas in your life do you feel a weight of guilt? Is that because of something which God has explicitly stated and you are falling short in this area? If so, repent and believe the gospel. Trust in Jesus for healing, change, and forgiveness.

What if you are breaking rules that you’ve made up? What if the shame and guilt that you feel is not imposed by God but instead by either your own standards or that placed upon you by the world? It wouldn’t be uncommon for you to be carrying this weight. Consider these words of Jesus:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

If his yoke is easy and his burden is light and yet we are weary and burdened it has to mean that we’re loaded down by things that we aren’t supposed to be. We’re trying to run the race with watermelon shoes.

So, kick those off today and rest in His finished work.