Hebrews 10: Missing the Point

After the writer of Hebrews concludes the central section of the book (chapters 7-10:18), a fourth exhortation is given. (Generally, five exhortations are identified: 2:1-4; 3:7ff; 5:11ff; 10:19ff; 12:14.) The fourth exhortation includes five first person plural imperatives: let us draw near to God, let us profess our faith, let us consider one another, let us not quit assembling, let us encourage one another. We have focused primarily on one of these (“forsake not the assembling”) and have missed the overall point of the text.

One reason the Hebrew Christians were in danger of turning back was their failure to share the faith journey–to encourage and to be encouraged. While it is true that we can draw near to God, profess faith, consider and interact with others, and encourage each the other outside the assembly, the primary point of the writer is that these occur in assembly. Reciprocity is possible outside the assembly, but the best version of mutuality and reciprocity occurs face-to-face. To encourage each the other means you encourage me and I encourage you. In Christian worship we draw near to God. In the Supper, we profess anew our shared faith. In song, Scripture, and study we spur one another on and encourage one another.

The writer then continues (v. 26): for if we continue in deliberate sin, rejecting the grace and goodness of God and the blood of Jesus, there remains no other plan or sacrifice for sin. The point of the first half of Hebrews 10 is that Jesus provided an perfect sacrifice for eternal salvation.

We have not held one another enough accountable concerning vv. 19-26. Someone says, “I am not an assembly forsaker–I am present 51 times out of 52. I just need my fill in the blank [vacation, family time, hunting time….].” I respond by observing that such is surely assembly forsaking. Such persons attend 51 out of 52 times because they want to, not because God wants it. What is clear is that when they want to miss, they do. Such action is deliberate and contradicts vv. 19-25. Such action places one outside the will of God. Let us make it clear, beginning with church leaders. God has not made room (even temporarily) for putting anything above our allegiance to him. Let us draw near to God, never fail to profess our faith “until he comes” in the Supper, seize every opportunity for fellowship, encouragement, and mutual admonition. Let us make certain that our absence from the assemblies is absolutely unavoidable. “Providentially hindered” is not a bad phrase (although it is not in the Bible). It means I have done nothing, made no decision, have no part or role in the events that have prohibited my attendance. In fact, providentially hindered is a high standard. Perhaps we should use the phrase more often.

Let the church become more serious about fully responding to the love of God demonstrated in the blood of the covenant and the grace of God’s sacrificial gift.

[More to come: perhaps another blog, and I hope soon to complete an essay on which I am working about the book of Hebrews.]

Retirement–Doing What We Always Hoped to Do

The dream is not new to us. It has been our dream for a long time—more than 35 years. In fact, it is a fairly old dream when measured in terms of the length of the typical life—to preach the gospel without burdening churches, ministries, or missions. After a few years in ministry, we had seen the need repeatedly. We traveled to plant and encourage small, struggling congregations. We saw the places where no minister would go. We saw the immense possibilities in the mission fields of the northern U.S. and in Canada. We saw a world without Jesus—mission fields in every part of the world. Seeing these needs, we said to one another, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one day we could help the countless smaller churches and mission efforts that most need attention in ministry and missions without having to have a paycheck?”

Next Sunday, the church is hosting a “retirement party” for us. Recently someone asked us, “What does it mean that you are retired?” We explained that we are no longer serving in a full-time ministry role; we are no longer receiving a paycheck. The questioner followed up, “Well, I didn’t think you could ever retire!” We heard a similar comment at the 2010 Pan-American Lectureship in Tegucigalpa, “I didn’t think you would ever retire!”

We confess. It is true! We do not anticipate slowing down much in the near future. Our “retirement” is not a sitting down and quitting. It is not a time for self-indulgence. We prefer the term “reinvestment.” We are reinventing our lives. In one sense, we will do “what we want to do,” but in another sense we will always be asking, “What does God want us to do?” What doors is he opening? What opportunities is God presenting to us?

I can tell after only a few months that it is wonderfully freeing to do what we are doing because we want to do it. Ministers struggle to distinguish faith and job. How does one separate responsibility to and love for God from responsibility to family when they are so closely intertwined? How does one measure faithfulness when one “has to” be present?

As we begin a new stage in life’s journey, we remember the churches, friends, and Christian organizations that have helped us on our way to this point. Our early ministry included several two-year ministry stints as we found our ministry legs. Then we spent twenty-five years in three churches, another dozen years in Christian higher education. Along the way we have encountered countless friends and encouragers. Today is not possible without yesterday and those who were part of our yesterday we remember with gratitude. Today is the power for tomorrow. Our yesterdays are remembered fondly—times of growing, times of getting ready, times of building foundations. Today is a delight. Tomorrow is in God’s hands. Pray for us as we are doing what we have dreamed of doing. Pray for us as we do what God places before us.

Discipleship: Following Jesus

I reflected and remembered former days as Ken Short described his childhood experiences—trying to follow his father through the drifted snow, carefully trying to walk in the exact footsteps, but sometimes failing because his legs were too short and his father’s strides were too long.

It is not easy to follow exactly in another’s footsteps. When we lived in Michigan, our sons helped with chores. Sometimes we would go together, and if there had been a deep snow, my boys would ask me to take shorter steps so they could step in the exact place I had walked. Often their request came because the snow was so deep that it would be over the tops of their boots if they could not walk in my steps. In fact, we have some paths that we cleared with a shovel were the snow on each side is higher than the boys were tall. As they got older, we made paths in the snow by dragging our feet—a path to the doghouse, a path to the trash barrel, a path to the mailbox, a path to the woodpile.

In the spiritual life, we need someone to blaze the trail for us, someone to go ahead of us. This concept is used by the writer of Hebrews to describe Jesus (2:10). He is the “pre-cutter”, the trailblazer. A trailblazer leaves us a path and removes the obstacles. Just as my boys needed someone to clear a path in the deep snow so they could get through, we are blessed to have someone who has traveled the path before us so we can get through.

Peter reminds us that Jesus left us a path to follow (2 Pet. 2:21), but we often have difficulty walking in his footsteps. Jesus says, “Follow me.” But it is not easy to follow Jesus, and some days I do not feel like following Jesus. Why follow Jesus?—because only Jesus knows the way to the Father! Only Jesus knows how to get where we are trying to go. Only Jesus has been down the path before.

Jesus wants to establish a relationship with us so he can help us get to the Father. He wants what is best for us, he wants us to grow so we can walk in his steps; he wants us to mature. He wants us to have a relationship of trust and dependence on him, so that we do not question his leading when the way is not clear. He wants us to have faith in him so we will not falter when the way is hard. He left us a path. Discipleship includes following Jesus. Discipleship is learners imitating the master teacher.

It’s Sunday Again: Home

As I write this morning, I am amazed again at our shrinking world. In our global village, travel is easier than ever and communication is instantaneous in many places on this globe. It is hard to believe that yesterday morning we were eating breakfast in Central America and visiting with Maribel, our waitress at the restaurant. An afternoon depature from Honduras put us home by bedtime.

Today we will worship with that portion of the family of God we identify as our “home church”–other Christians we know and love. Some would say we have multiple “home churches”. It is true that we know and love (and are known and loved) by dozens of congregations around the world. But it is also true that some place is home.

Home is the place where we find refreshment and renewal, where there is comfort and encouragement. Home is not tension filled–it is a place for finding the strength to enter the marketplace again tomorrow. Home is a place of silence and reflection–connections with God and strength derived from others. It is not always easy to sabbath in the hustle and bustle of ministry and mission activity, but at home is the opportunity to escape frenetic activity and find God in the faces of others. At home is the opportunity to escape “doing” and to reflect deeply on the challenge of “being”–or more accurately, the importance of “becoming”.

It is good to be home–for the familiar surroundings that bring us comfort and memories and life’s rhythms this morning. It is good to be home–to anticipate the love and hugs and “welcome home” we will receive after being absent as we attended a week-long mission conference. It is good to be home–to process what we have learned and seen, and to think about where God is sending his people to be his presence. It is good to be home and to remind others that God calls his priesthood to intercede on behalf of the world.

Travel Day: A Full Day

Pan American Lectureship Day 1

A travel day means up early–as I write it is 4 a.m.  The coffee is making and we will leave for the airport soon.  We are looking forward to meeting up with the rest of the group in Houston.  Our shrinking world makes it possible for us to be on the ground in Honduras by 11 a.m. local time.

The afternoon includes a tour of Baxter Institute and the JMA Clinic, followed by a few introductory matters and dinner.  I have been asked to serve as a guide for a portion of the tour, and will be thrilled to share part of the Baxter story with those attending this year’s PAL.  One big news item (and something different, even for those who have previously visited Baxter), is the near completion of the President’s Home.  For the most recent update and some pictures, you can go to the Baxter Home Page and follow the link to the update.

Pan American Lectureship #47

Next week marks the 47th annual Pan American Lectureship. This year’s lectureship will be held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The lectureship has been described as a “movable spiritual feast” due to the fact that it moves each year from one location to another across Latin America. Its purpose is to call attention to the opportunities and challenges in Latin American mission work.

Yours truly is privileged to participate in this year’s lectureship with the assignment of guiding a textual study of Galatians each day. In my preparation, have gained a new appreciation of the book of Galatians as a “missions manual.” Galatians was the first book written about Christian mission work. It deals with a major concern of the early church: how does one communicate the gospel in a different world and culture? What does it mean to “change religions”? These and other questions cannot be handled effectively without inquiring about and understanding the essence (essentials) of the gospel.

Galatians deals with missions from a “Goldilocks perspective.” Paul writes in Galatians about the problem of a “too hard” gospel. He describes what one may call a “no gospel” gospel. He says there is a version of the gospel which is no gospel at all. At the other end of the spectrum is a “too soft” gospel which makes no demands at all. Paul holds out for the “just right” gospel that balances liberty and license.

[Additional notes which expand this subject are available on my Bible Index Page under the New Testament section.]

It’s Sunday Again: The Best Is Yet To Be

Each Lord’s Day, the church assembles to partake of the bread and to drink the fruit of the vine. We do this because of what Jesus taught his disciples just prior to his death. We do it because Jesus participates in the feast in his kingdom. We do this because the early church did it. We do this because the Bible speaks of it.
A favorite passage concerning the communion or Lord’s Supper is 1 Cor. 11:23ff. Based on this text, from a practical viewpoint, we participate in this communion feast to remember, to be strengthened, to connect with one another, to declare our faith, and to anticipate his coming. We remember his death; we demonstrate his life. We anticipate the time our living Lord will return. The church celebrates in the phrase, “until he comes.” The Supper is the weekly reminder that Jesus is coming again. He will return to claim his church.

This idea, that the church celebrates his absence “until he comes” calls to my mind the “Parable of the Fork.”
A woman was on her death bed; she spoke to her family and minister and asked that she be buried with a fork in her hand. They asked her why, and she recounted the background of her idea, something she had thought about from the time she was a little girl. The family honored her wish, and when people went to the funeral home and viewed the body, they noticed the fork in her hand.
The minister saved any reference to the fork until the end of the funeral service. Then he observed that many were probably wondering about the fork. The woman had told her family this story: “When I was a little girl, they sometimes said as the meal was finished and the dishes were being cleared, ‘Keep your fork.’ I liked those times, because when they said, ‘Keep your fork,’ I knew something better was coming. I want to ‘keep my fork’ because I know something better is coming.”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians to say that the Supper is a declaration of the Lord’s death “until he comes.” Indeed, the Supper looks forward to the time Jesus returns to claim us and take us to him eternally. The Supper looks forward to something better. You won’t need a fork to eat at the Table this morning, but I want you to remember–“keep your fork.” Something better is coming.

Reflections: Holmes Road

Note: I was recently asked to write a “reference” for inclusion on the website of the Holmes Road Church in Lansing. Jan and I worked with this church for almost a dozen years. It is hard to believe that over 23 years have passed since we left that ministry.

How can I describe the Holmes Road church? Where should I begin? I can share facts—Holmes Road was our home and ministry for almost a dozen years, the church where our boys grew up, the church where our ministry matured. But facts do not tell the story.
Holmes Road is our family; it will always be part of us. When we think about Holmes Road, we think about people. We think about love and relationships, students, life-long friendships, unique experiences, faithful people, acceptance and belonging. Together we learned to depend on God, and God richly blessed our ministry with the church.
Holmes Road is unique, the potential for the future limitless, the church culture one-of-a-kind, the possibilities endless. It is not often that one still has so many special relationships and friends two decades later. Every time we visit, Holmes Road reminds us that “you can go home.”

It’s a New World

I have been reviewing my blogs for 2010–close to 150 in almost 300 days. Along the way, I have done some recategorizing to make searches easier and more consistent.

My conclusion after rereading this year’s writings is that we live in a new world! The church faces challenges the magnitude of which it has never faced in recent history. The changing world has confused those who have not noticed the change. The church is not exempt. The adage most thought you could depend on is no longer accurate: “Doing the same old things will yield the same old results” is no longer true. In this new world, doing the same old things yields nothing.

The U.S. population is little inclined to religious change. Bible illiteracy is rampant–we know very little about the Bible. Worse, most don’t care since the objective truth of Scripture has become obsolete in a world of relative, individualized truth. The way the gospel spreads must be rethought in a new world. The good news is shared in different ways.
Religion is out, spirituality is in. Churches that operate in the capitalistic, resource-driven realm often fail; churches that operate in the hearts of humans with little concern for appearances often succeed.
In the area of missions, it seems increasingly apparent that mission work that depends on the perpetual flow of U.S. dollars may not be taking into account the economic realities of the new world. Mission work and leadership, church identity, church expectations, ministry, and most of our favorite subjects are not the same in this new world.

Has anyone noticed?

Crystal Cathedral Bankruptcy: Will anyone learn anything?

The news earlier this week that the Crystal Cathedral has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy again raises the question about what it means to be a church, and how churches ought to live out their ministries. The Crystal Cathedral, established over 50 years ago by Robert Schuller, is $43 million dollars in debt with over $7.5 million of the debt unsecured.

Such news is especially troubling in view of the fact that churches can register as charities, accept tax-deductable donations to support their ministries, and have certain legal protections as non-profit corporations. Unfortunately, more and more churches (and para-church organizations) are creating administrative structures and activities that require significant funding to support the organization even before any ministry is done. Such activities often extend beyond Christian ministry and bring the organizations to the brink of insolvency.

You may recall that earlier this year, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback church, asked his church to come up with $900,000 to keep the church from going into bankruptcy. How is it possible that churches which receive millions of dollars each year and have millionaire preachers can reach such a point? Unfortunately the answer is seldom that they have overextended their finances by faith to fund ministry, or that they have met an emergency need and failed to receive the necessary resources. The simple answer is that riches and wealth are enticing—and impressive in our culture. Most of those who live in this culture prefer to attend that church with the upscale, recently constructed building and all the trappings of worldly success. Churches hungry (greedy?) for more and more parishioners to fund more and more projects may spend as much or more on public relations and outreach as they do on real ministry. Those who teach trust in God often appear to trust in something or someone else.

If we are not technically still in an economic recession, it feels like it to many unemployed, underemployed, and those with decreasing incomes. It is not clear that the old way of doing church (and missions) is the way of the future. It is not clear that the dependency on more and more contribution dollars is the key to successful church planning. In fact, the church may have to face the prospect of doing more with less, becoming more frugal, seeking the most economic methods for ministry, and cutting the cycle that says successful ministry and missions demands the perpetual and increasing flow of dollars.

Note: A PDF version of this blog is available as an article: Crystal Cathedral Bankruptcy.