I Must Decrease

One of my favorite areas of ministry is mentoring young believers and young leaders. I enjoy seeing new believers discover more and more about Jesus, His grace and His call to reach others. I enjoy seeing young leaders take more responsibility and come up with ideas better than my own. I am also a little selfish here because if the young leaders will do more then I will have to do less.

LESS. Now that is not a popular word. As in fashion where “Green is the new Red” we now find that “Less is the new More.” I am hopelessly colorblind, green really is red for me, so I probably ruined that last example. The problem with this new – actually ancient – spiritual fashion is that some leaders just can’t get enough of “more”.

I often hear of leaders still trying to hold the reigns on peoples’ lives, on the creativity of their leaders and lastly on the pulpit. In its extreme it is both sad and tragic as a whole generation is stunted in their growth because of one person.

John the Baptist set the bar when he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Jn 3:30 I think that this frightens many leaders because they simply cannot see the Holy Spirit moving in anyone except themselves. Other leaders think that the most talented has to be the one up front, and some are more simple-minded in their approach. They think that they are Moses incarnate.

“Less” and “Decrease” do not mean a decrease in the kingdom of God. This actually means increase in the right context. A kingdom that depends on one man being the conduit of the power of God will surely blow a fuse. The fuse is often the pastor. However, the increase comes from the enormous magnitude of effectiveness when God’s power, creativity and purpose are manifested in all His people. We want the lordship of Jesus to increase in the lives of all people, not our lordship.

There are several areas where this principle causes more growth:

• The more I come to Jesus on a daily basis and rely less on my natural strength, the more His kingdom will be manifested in my life. Still working on this!
• My daughters are at the age where I am mentoring them to make their own decisions. I often ask them what they think God would lead them to do in a specific situation. This sharpens their discernment, and this is necessary now because in a few years they might have their own families. They will still probably call me though to babysit.
• Young believers have to be carried at times, but we need to help them stand on God’s word, and we have to instill a personal faith in them that does not rely on the people or things around them. They need to be weaned from us so they can feed themselves.
• Young leaders need to be able to express their own creativity, and we need to give them reasonable latitude to make important decisions even if we might disagree. Letting people skin their knees a little with some not-so-so-well-thought-out-plans can be a valuable lesson. We can’t insulate them from pain and failure, but we can help them grow in wisdom to make mature decisions.
• We can also simplify the vision so that our personal gifting is not projected over them. Let them be creative. They hear from God as much as we do. Let them take the wheel sometimes.
• Let them take the wheel more.
• Then give them the wheel.

When we hold on to the wheel we will eventually lose it, and God’s kingdom invariably suffers a setback. When we decrease and let Jesus increase in the lives of others we actually lose nothing. People grow, God’s kingdom grows and the leaders whom we helped only invite us back in as wise counsel and eventually peers.

Even Jesus wanted His disciples to do more miracles than He.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. Jn 14:12

Great World Religions or How to Give Yourself CPR

Salvation by works has often been compared to saving yourself from drowning. Many religions essentially teach that they can give proper swimming techniques in the midst of a vast ocean of personal depravity. Of course, they move you closer to the shore and decrease the depth of the water. In other words, they teach that you are not really that lost, and if you are not that lost then you do not need a savior. You just need a guide or a teacher.

Those who call themselves Christians often fall into a similar trap in their understanding of keeping God’s laws. They imply that these laws are also instructions to at least “keep us saved”. However, swimming instructions written on stone tablets are not the best thing to throw someone who is still in deep water. The deep water I speak of is the propensity of the flesh to steer left like a grocery cart with a bent wheel. It does this when God’s law steers right. Rom 7:7-25 Denying this is like trying to hold a beach ball under water in a pool. It will come up somewhere.

The religions of man have it all wrong; we are not drowning at all! We are actually already dead, spiritually dead that is. Scripture teaches us that we are all dead in our sins and that none of us seeks after God. Eph 2:1-10; Rom 3:9-20 The absurdity of saving oneself in this predicament is the same as thinking a drowned man can administer CPR to himself. He is utterly helpless. Yes, we do have a responsibility to hear and repent, and “NO” this is not a Calvinist argument about total depravity. We are dead in our sins, but a totally depraved person grazes naked in the field with cows. Sorry for that tangent.

Jesus had an interesting way of bringing religious people to an understanding that they needed salvation. He did not bring in grace at first unless people were humble. He brought in the law. He reinforced the fact that the tablets of the law were weightier that the Pharisees thought. He pressed this until the hearer exclaimed, “Who then can be saved?” This is when He introduced grace and mercy because it was only then that it could be appreciated.

One of the evangelistic mistakes that we often make in communicating the gospel to people of other religions is trying to explain the person & ministry of Jesus before they see their need for salvation. Even though our postmodern world rejects moral absolutes many world religious still accept them. In these cases we can establish a degree of righteousness using their own standards that brings in self doubt. We can then bring in the gospel that brings a correct fear of God. The terror of an inescapable judgment is actually desirable. It is not popular, but facing the Dark Night of the Soul puts a person in the best position of understanding the hope of trusting in the finished work of Christ.

As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" And he got up and followed Him.

And it happened that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many of them, and they were following Him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, "Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?" And hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:14-17

Preaching: The Greatest Show on Earth?

When I was young Ringling Brothers Circus would come through town and advertise “The Greatest Show on Earth”. But I liked the State fair better than the circus because I liked to see the stuntman and daredevil shows. The announcer would always remind us adventurous boys, “These men are trained professionals, so don’t try this at home.” The shows were truly great, and as “boys will be boys” we would always attempt in the backyard a version of what we had seen the professionals do. I still have a limp.

There is a current three-ring debate in the church concerning using preachers via video from other churches, so I thought I would add a few comments of my own. The issue is really not about technology because using technology is unavoidable. The real question concerns using “trained professionals” too much. The result of this is that no one tries the same stunts in their home church, speaking of preaching that is.

I am in Kiev, and we have visited Hillsong Church several times. Some may criticize them for being upbeat, but I will not do that. I saw something there that I really liked. I was there twice when the main pastor was not speaking. Instead, one of the home group leaders preached, and another time a youth leader preached. Those guys were pretty good, but better than that I saw that the congregation was satisfied with not having super preacher up there every time. (the pastor is also a great guy)

Some congregations are wowed into virtual spectatorship by the super preacher. They become connoisseurs of preachers and messages like a parody of Ratatouille. The chef and the food must be just right, or they will make their own review of the quality. They constantly speak of how well they were fed..or not fed. My suggestion is that if they want to get fed then they need to work more in the kitchen. This means learning how to feed themselves and then feeding others. This will keep you quite full.

When a young man or woman without much experience ministers publicly it communicates several things:

• It is not about having the super messenger. It is about reproducing as many messengers as possible.
• It shows the congregation that they are expected to and can grow into all roles.
• It drives the critical spectators to action, to grow or go. No food critics allowed!
• Like the movie I have mentioned: Everyone might not be able to preach, but a preacher can come from anywhere.

Finally, the main issue that concerns me about video preachers does not concern the lack of preachers in the church. The main lack is actually in the area of reaching the lost. It is not about preaching. It is about reaching.

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Tim 2:2

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Rom 10:14

The Minimum for Salvation

It was one of the most eclectic groups of pastors I have ever been in, and we were all navigating our way through a class on Systematic Theology 101. The teacher had a Reformed background, but the pastors ranged from Arminian to Calvinist in their experience. They all agreed that they were at least saved, but they could not agree if they were saved before or after they repented. You might not be familiar with the debate on this, but it is humorous at times. Another thing they could not agree on was “how they stay saved”.

How to stay saved. It is also not a new debate, but I will state my belief here and now. Trying to stay saved is like concentrating on keeping my heart beating. The thing will beat whether I think about it or not, and thinking about it too much will probably shorten my life due to stress. Striving to “stay saved” will also wreck our walk with God. He keeps my heart beating in the same way He keeps me in His hand. Jn 10:28-29

Anyway, the teacher was talking about grace that day, and those of a legalistic persuasion were getting nervous because all their “works” and energy to stay saved were being rendered null and void with each consecutive verse from the teacher. Then one pastor knew he had the question that would stump the teacher.

“So then, what is the minimum someone has to do to be saved?”

The teacher paused just long enough to inhale enough air to answer. He neither planned to hear such a question that day nor did he plan the answer that he gave. It just popped out to the astonishment of all the listeners.

“The minimum to be saved is the same as the maximum to be saved.” No one expected such an answer, and most of the class had that expression on their faces that puppies have when people try to talk to them, just a slight tilt of the head to one side and a tightening of the brow. It was a wonderful moment that I have never forgotten.

The teacher went on to explain several simple truths, and a few of these are from me:

• It is not what we do to be saved, but it is what Jesus did to save us. He did the work. Rom 11:6
• The Holy Spirit reveals to us that we are lost, no hope, no exit, just very lost. Jn 16:5-15
• The Holy Spirit brings to life whatever we have read, seen or even thought about concerning the gospel and our lives.
• The Holy Spirit reveals to us the person and ministry of Jesus through whatever we have read, seen or even thought about.
• Something happens in us, a breaking, a softening. We can sit quietly, we can wail in terror or we can laugh. It makes no difference how we respond with our emotions.
• In the end we yield; we give way to Another. He takes control ever so gently and turns everything to a new direction. This is repentance.

So then, where is the work? Sorry I left out our contribution, but it comes in various forms:

• We work hard to resist the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives before we are saved…and sometimes even afterwards.
• We work hard to convince people they are lost. Sorry, it is not our job. The Holy Spirit does the convicting.We are to be living witnesses who share our hope.
• We work hard to punish ourselves even after God has forgiven us.
• We try to clean our spiritual house with bulldozer techniques instead of letting God gently remove the baggage.
• We run so far ahead of God in His plan to the point of exhaustion. He then walks by as we are straining at the oars – He is usually walking on water – and He instantly brings us to our destination. Mark 6:45-52; Jn 6:16-21

Yes, we do a lot of unnecessary work trying to help Jesus finish what He has already done and accomplish in our strength what He plans to do through us by His strength.

Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. Heb 10:14

Pastor – Candidate Endorsements

My name is Mike Watkins, and I endorse everything that I say…most of the time. However, there may come a later time when I run for public office, and I will have to disassociate myself from me so that I will not be impugned by my past words. “I had no idea that I held those views!”

Such is the drama and dark comedy of this election season. Candidates have always gotten election-year religion, and this year is no different. However, the spectacle of this year’s US presidential election is unique because the candidates in question are not particularly careful with whom they rub shoulders in the religious community. They are also not that spiritual themselves, and the two-way relationship of endorsements is shaky at best.

Much can be said about the candidates, but less has been said about the pastors who court them. Yes, I said “court”. I do believe that a Christian has the right to voice his or her support for a particular candidate, but when a pastor or major Christian leader makes official endorsements they are stepping outside of their biblical authority. There are many pitfalls:

• By courting favor we lose the ability to speak objective truth as the prophets of old.
• A pastoral endorsement actually says, “As a Christian leader I am saying that this is the man/woman who is best suited for the job based on biblical standards.” This is slippery even when the pastor and the leader are friends.
• One would be a fool to think that there is no temptation for a Christian leader to want to be in the inner circle of the president.
• Pastors are usually not experts as to who would be best at foreign, domestic and economic policy.

Even though there are dangers, this does not mean that Christians and Christian leaders do not have a voice in the democratic process:

• A Christian leader can vouch for the integrity of someone – a personal friend - running for office as well as their stand on specific issues that are important to Christians. Again, the leader needs to know what he is talking about and whom he is talking about.
• A Christian leader can use his God-given authority to speak objective biblical truth into every issue.
• A Christian leader can advise a candidate on matters where the leader is an expert: moral truths, family issues, societal problems, human rights, etc.
• A Christian leader can be called upon by a sitting president for advice. A leader’s stature in the Christian community will make way for him before rulers. This is post-election, and the leader still needs to make it clear Whom he is really representing.
• A Christian leader can call on a public official to simply repent.

Ultimately the best thing that leaders can do is what they were actually called to do, to make disciples who will go into all the world and make more disciples. This is the best way to change society and assure a future for the next generation. We will then have a better crop of candidates and citizens who have good foundations for making daily decisions.

When you sit down to dine with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you, and put a knife to your throat if you are a man of great appetite. Do not desire his delicacies, for it is deceptive food. Pr 23:1-2

Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin. 1 Tim 5:22

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Eph 4:11-13

Gossip Part 2: Appeasement, Correction or Rebuke?

Most gossip can be stopped by preemptive positive comments. We can’t anticipate what others will say, but if we are in a group we can sometimes sense the direction conversations might lead. Gossip – our untamed tongues - is a part of our old baggage that God is still working on, and for most it is an occasional lapse that we regret.

However, for some it is a very bad habit that is based in bitterness, insecurity or it is the only way they can make themselves look good - by lowering others. The gossiper often fishes for a response to see if others will volley. You know the guy. He makes a joke or a verbal slight, then looks around for approval and then he ventures further out on thin ice. Each time he goes through this routine he gets more and more comfortable with the wagging of his tongue. It just flaps in the wind.

Sooner or later the tongue will start a great fire, so as Christians it would serve us all if we did some fire prevention. The first rule is: Don’t volley! Just don’t answer. Don’t smile. Don’t laugh. This is kind of hard when everyone else is laughing.

Appeasement
I am from North Carolina where everyone is very polite. We just ignore stupidity and let people make an ass of themselves. Then we talk later about how they made an ass of themselves. However, appeasing the bigmouth violates community. It weakens our discernment and strengthens the root of evil because evil gets more comfortable and brazen with practice. As a young Christian and leader my common response to gossips was, “Hmm, that’s interesting.” I just did not like confrontation.

Correction
The best and easiest way to stop gossip is to inoculate the situation. For example, a new acquaintance who has a loose tongue says, “Did you hear about what ______ did?” We can say, “I know him. He helped me in the past. Is he ok?” This immediately lessens what this guy is willing to say at the risk of offending you.

Sometimes, we have to be a little more direct in a group when the snowball gets rolling. “Listen, I know this seems important, but I know this guy and his family. It might be appropriate to discuss this issue, but it is not here and not in this fashion.” If we do this humbly we will only gain respect and set a standard.

Rebuke
Some people still don’t get it, so we have to take them to the side. “Friend, I don’t know if someone has offended you, but what you are saying is really hurtful. Can we talk about this? Maybe I can help?”

Some have crossed the line so many times that they are brazen in their public tongue wagging. I have encountered this only a few times in 15 years of pastoring. Someone, usually a guest with an axe to grind, tries to dominate a meeting with bitterness and accusation. First I would say, “Sir, this is not the appropriate place for this. We can talk elsewhere.”

If they don’t heed this then I say, “We care for you, and you are welcome but what you are doing is not welcome. Let God touch your heart and heal you.”

Finally, I might have to say. “Sorry, you have to leave. No discussion.” This was done to maintain order and protect the fellowship. I have only done it twice.

Appeasement is a cancer, but constant gentle correction as well as setting positive standards will stop the snowball before it gets too big.

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! James 3:5

Ice "Fishing for Men"

When I began a series on “Fishing for Men” a year ago I was in the warm tropical climate of the Philippines. There were many examples of fishing all around including net fishing, a fishing village on the water and even fishing with explosives. On a side note, some interesting Google search results have led people to this site “Simple Truths” and to the post “Fishing with Explosives”, namely people googling for “simple explosives”. Therefore, I feel a responsibility to tell all you would-be terrorists out there to “find a new line of work!”

Back to fishing. The one example of fishing that you will never find in the tropics is ice fishing, but you can find it in Ukraine. I see people every day setting up chairs, drilling holes in the ice – not so thick ice I might add – and defying all barriers just to get a fish or two. I liken this to the must stubborn types of evangelism. It is not fishing/outreach season, the fish are lethargic, the climate is not welcoming, the ground is cold and as hard as concrete and the catch is small. Nonetheless, the fisherman goes out.

Church planting or simple outreach is sometimes like this. It takes stubbornness, patience and resilience. Some countries are like the frozen lake. They are cold both spiritually and physically. They are even deadly like real ice fishing. They can swallow the missionary without a trace. Nonetheless, we are called to go. He calls us to go. Jesus does so because He did so Himself. He came to the coldest place, the hardest ground, uninvited and unwelcomed. The place was not just geographical. It was our own hearts.

I have friends in far-away places doing things for God that might never be heard of. They are heroes. They are not more gifted as you might think. Neither are they less gifted. They are just stubborn. Most of all they are obedient. In an age of grandiose strategies for what is popularly called “planting churches” these people have the heartbeat of the Lord. They will not take “no” for an answer. Neither are they dissuaded by rejection from those whom they seek nor are they disheartened by those who should encourage them but don’t. Well, I might be wrong about the discouragement.

In order to fully obey the commandment that Jesus gave to disciple the nations we must have the same stubbornness, patience and resilience as the ice fisherman. It is not a sport. It is the heartbeat of God.

How to Get People Lost

No, I am not doctrinally dyslexic, and yes, we do need to get people lost…before they can be saved that is. It was a common method among 19th century evangelists to do “preliminary legal work” with the listeners before they presented the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. This basically meant that they had to prove to people in a religious society that they were legally under judgment before they would recognize their true need for salvation.

Jesus did the same thing as He preached not only the letter of the law, but the heart of the law. The biggest crowd on the receiving end of this aspect of His message was the religious Pharisees who were the supposed keepers of the law. Jesus backed them into a corner where the only way out was repentance. However, Jesus did not have to be as intense with the reprobates of society: tax gatherers, prostitutes, drunkards, etc. Different standard? No. The reason was that they often knew that they were lost, and Jesus was a welcomed guest with the gospel of grace.

Jesus and the early American evangelists had one thing to help them that we do not often have today, and that thing is an acceptance of moral absolutes. The basis of these absolutes was the Word of God, which was even accepted by the worst among the lost. However, on the mission field and in post-Christian societies we have to rebuild the idea of absolutes before we can even begin to get to the salvation message. Otherwise it would be like rushing into a room, throwing a life preserver to a group of people and saying, “hold on to this for your life.” We would be perceived as idiots, but the value of that life preserver would become priceless if they saw a tsunami approaching through the window. Life boats on the Titanic were not valued that much either until the ship was going down.

Telling someone that their ship is going down is not fun, and it definitely will not make you popular. People like their ships, and they will defend their ships. Like Jesus with the Pharisees we have to even attack their ships, and some people will attack back.

There are many shortcuts for getting people into the “church”, but there is no shortcut to getting people into heaven. You have to get them lost to get them saved, no exceptions. I salute all my friends who are very creative in getting people in a post-modern culture quite lost and then getting them very saved. It is not easy when there are no accepted absolutes.

The First Foreign Missionary

I was preaching in Lviv recently when I remembered an example of missions that I had not thought of for 40 years. What jarred the deep archives of my brain is a mystery, but the example was apt as we were expounding Isaiah 54 where God was telling Israel to enlarge their tents. Of course, we were using this example for evangelism.

As a child our family still gathered around the TV for shows like “Ed Sullivan”, “Jack Benny” and “Truth or Consequences”. It was a golden age of low technology, but clever, family-oriented humor. On this particular evening the host of “Truth or Consequences”, Bob Barker, invited a “random” person from the audience to try her luck at winning an all expenses paid trip to any place on the planet that she chose. Let me add here that the host and the woman’s family had planned this all in advance. She was not randomly chosen, and neither was her destination.

In order to win the trip the woman only needed to throw a dart at a giant world map, and wherever the dart landed she could go. Did I mention that she would be blindfolded? They rolled out the giant map, she threw her dart – it never hit the map but landed on the floor – and to her amazement when she took off the blindfold the dart was stuck on North America. Well, there goes the trip to Europe. She still might get to New York.

Another map was rolled out, and it was a detailed map of North America. I will let you know now that this woman was from a small, unglamorous town in northern California. The woman repeated the dart throw again while managing to this time hit the map, and once again when she removed the blindfold she was surprised to see the dart stuck in California. She still had hope that she might get another trip to Hollywood, but her countenance was dropping.

The next map to roll out was of course…California. The process was repeated, and when the blindfold was removed the dart was right in the middle of Smallville, California, her hometown. Meanwhile, the audience was having a corporate hernia holding in the laughter because they too were actors in this ruse. Our sad subject was now using all the inner strength that she had to display thankfulness that she had won a trip to her own hometown, but the joke was soon revealed, and she was given a real trip to Europe with her husband. The ending was good.

So, what in the world does this have to do with the church and the first foreign missionary? Glad you asked! First, let me reveal to you who the first foreign missionary was/is. He is the Holy Spirit. Despite whether or not you are Baptist or Charismatic you have to agree that the very first utterance of the Holy Spirit through the church in Acts 2 was to proclaim the mighty acts of God in all the languages of the foreigners in Jerusalem. God wanted the nations to hear the gospel from the first divine breath of the creation of the church. Next, God had to practically drive the church out of Jerusalem so that they would go to the nations. Nonetheless, they still stayed within their comfort zone, and they only finally realized what God wanted to do when God gave both Peter and the gentile centurion, Cornelius, direct visions to meet each other. It was only complete when the Holy Spirit made the same proclamations through the mouth of Cornelius.

In the modern church, God is like the woman throwing the dart hoping to get us to reach the nations. However, the church being the host of the show continues to move the dart closer to home with the sad result that we can no longer recognize the nations that God has brought to us. Isaiah is used by God to exhort the people of Israel to broaden their influence, and he is actually talking about doing so on the level of the individual.

We need to open our eyes and to be aware that God has called us to reap a mighty harvest, but we cannot do so unless we aim for the nations. In the end, we should stop repositioning the dart.

Administrative Note

I will be copying a few posts from my Multiply site to this site. No one really reads that other site anyway. Actually, I am not sure if anyone reads this site.