Pray For Your Church: 31 Day Challenge—Day Seventeen

Mike Leake

Day 17: That we wouldn’t be satisfied with shadows

Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. (Colossians 2:16-19 ESV)

What would you think of me if I took my wife on a date and while eating pizza I only talked to her shadow and ignored her? Or if while watching a movie I tried cuddling up to her shadow? Or when we went out dancing I started slow dancing with her shadow? You’d think I was a nut, and rightly so. You don’t dance with shadows when the substance is right there. And yet so many Christians and churches are satisfied with shadows. We spend our time focusing on food, drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbath’s and miss the gospel. Let us not think that what we need is asceticism, or visions, or anything of the sort. Instead may we as churches realize that we have been given the substance—Jesus Christ. No more dancing with shadows.

Father, we thank you for the gift of Your Son. In Him is Your fullness. We have everything we need in Jesus. And, yet, we confess our propensity to dance with shadows. Perhaps, given our finitude, shadows are more comfortable. Rescue us from this foolishness. Help us to not be satisfied with shadows but to actively pursue lasting enjoyment of You—our substance.

The soda Machine Pastor

Mike Leake

There are some books which when reading them hit a root which is a bit too deep for the present time. One book that has done that on more than one occasion for me is Ed Welch’s book When People Are Big and God Is Small. I finally picked it up again the other day and I’m trying to work my way through it again. Perhaps I’m ready.

There was one little statement I read the other day which really opened up something in my heart. Speaking of Jesus, Welch says, “His teaching was not done by first taking a poll of what was popular; instead he spoke truth that was often unpopular but could penetrate the heart.” (40-41)

I’m not sure why I connected these dots but I started thinking about how Baptist polity can be hi-jacked by the cowardly among us. I’m not intending to speak on the way we do things in Baptist churches, that’s not my point. My point here is to look at my heart and to challenge other leaders to look in their own hearts and see if this coy cowardice might be present.

I’m convinced that if I’m merely giving the people what they want I’m not being a very good leader. That’s a soda machine. Put in a little money, push the right buttons, and get what you had hoped for.

But there are days when it’d be nice to be a soda machine. After all, if pastors are soda machines, then when you stand before Almighty God you can’t expected to be held responsible for dispensing what the folks asked you to dispense. They pushed the watery-teaching button. You just gave them what they wanted. They pushed the “let’s not really bother reaching the broken in our community” button, and so as a good machine you acquiesced and gave them what they wanted.

And lets be honest, if your people have a soda machine theology of pastoral ministry things are going to be a bit rough. You know what its like when you put in your hard earned quarters in the hopes of getting a Coke only to be disappointed by an abominable Fresca. You start kicking and cursing the machine for dispensing the wrong thing. Well, guess what that means for you pastor?

Biblical shepherds aren’t driven by opinion polls. Don’t get me wrong we care about what the people want—because it reveals something about the hearts. But at the end of the day we are responsible for preaching the Word of God in season and out of season. We are responsible for leading the church and equipping the saints for the work of ministry. We’ll stand before God and be judged not by whether or not we did what they wanted but by whether or not we are faithful to what God wanted. Thankfully, there are many sweet times when those two things are not in opposition.

A majority of church folk really do love God and want to hear His Word. They want to be led and equipped for the work of ministry. They don’t want a soda machine, they want a living and breathing pastor who makes mistakes but really truly loves God and them.

So even though this is true I don’t think we Baptists can hide behind, “we the people”. If they want something that is going to kill them it would be cowardice to hide behind polity and let them eat poison. There is a fine line between being a people-pleaser and being a good Southern Baptist. I think the apostle Paul is also a great model for us. I’ll let Ed Welch close us out:

Paul was not a people-pleaser. He was a people-lover, and because of that he did not change his message according to what others might think. Only people-lovers are able to confront. Only people-lovers are not controlled by other people. (41)

But please, truly love your people. Lovingly tell them the truth with grace and patience. You can be a loud coward just as easily as a quiet one.

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Photo source: here

Today in Blogworld 11.24.15

Mike Leake

If Paul Were Persecuted Like an American

I appreciate what Barnabas has done here.

5 Words That Weaken Every Sermon

I feel like I’ve linked to this before. Oh well, it’s worth a reminder if I have.

10 Diagnostic Questions For Your Marriage

These are helpful.

Help for Hurting Churches Dealing With Apostasy

This is one of those articles you hope you never have to use. I appreciate David’s counsel to not just put up a “business as usual” sign.

For some reason our attendance has been down the past few Sunday’s, this might be why:

Pray For Your church: 31 Day Challenge—Day Sixteen

Mike Leake

Day 16: That we would be filled with the Spirit

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18 ESV)

If the Holy Spirit decided to abandon your church what programs and ministries would be shut down? I can’t remember where I first heard that question but it has stuck with me. I’d like to say that we’d have to shut down everything—but truth be told, there might be some things we do as a church which could go on mostly unchanged. This should not be so.

There is much which could be said about Ephesians 5:18 and the concept of being filled with the Spirit, I simply want to draw your attention to two things from this verse. First, you do not get drunk on wine by merely having a sip or dabbling in wine. You get drunk by drinking a few glasses. In the same way churches should not be content with merely sipping on the Spirit. We should not be content until he has the whole of us.

Secondly, to be filled with the Spirit essentially means to be pressured, permeated, and dominated by the Spirit (from here). For a church to be filled with (or by) the Spirit we’d absolutely know the answer to the question I opened with. If we are to do anything of lasting value as a church it will be through the work of the Spirit.

Father, we thank you for the gift of your Spirit. We thank you that you’ve taken up residence in our lives and that you are absolutely dedicated to seeing us fully redeemed. We pray Lord that you’d create in us a hunger which can only be satisfied by You. Fill us with your Spirit. May the peace of Christ rule every sector of our hearts. This is your church. Fill it up with Yourself. Amen.