I love the sensitivity that Paul had for his audience.  He took the time to carefully understand the unigue dynamics of that culture and then he shared about God in a way that they could relate to and understantd.  When he was with those who had a religious background he used the scriptures to reason with them.  When he spoke to those who had no spiritual worldview he reasoned with them in a different way. 

Before we share the life giving, life changing message of Jesus, we need to first carefully understand our audience and the culture that they live in.  Too often we use a “one size fits all” approach to sharing the good news of God’s word.  Then we wonder why we have little or no impact. 

Paul takes about this approach in 1 Corinthians 9:22 , “To the weak I became weak to win the weak.  I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”  To those who had a strong spiritual foundation Paul reasoned with them from the scriptures.  To those who had little or no spiritual worldview, he reasoned another way.  I think wisdom and insight tells us that we should do the same.

Sitting at my desk I began reading Acts 16.  Paul and Silas faced a storm – not of snow or rain or wind.  But a storm of opposition to the preaching of the gospel.   The storm included being arrested, being flogged severely, being thrown into a cold, dark and damp prison cell, chained together to prevent any possibility of escape.  How did they ride out the storm?  We are told at midnight, after being beaten and thrown into prison, they started to pray and to sing hymns of praise to God.  They rode out this storm by worshipping God.  Would that be my response?   Would I worship and praise God or would I be ticked off at him?  After all, these men had served God faithfully and sacrificially, shouldn’t they be spared from this storm?  So often that is our line of thinking and then we are disappointed with God when the storm comes.  But not Paul and Silas.  They worship God in the middle of a severe circumstantial storm.  The important questions is, “how were they able to ride out the storm with this kind of response?”  It had everything to do with how they had prepared for the storm.  They had a continual abiding relationship with Jesus.  They constantly worshipped God through prayer and singing and solitude long before the storm ever came.  They had developed a depth of relationship that gave them confidence in God’s power and presence long before the storm happened.  Without this kind of preparation, they would have never been able to ride out the storm.  They would have given into the temptation to question God, given into their doubts about God and his ways and given into complaining about the way he let the storm come into their lives.  The would have ended up being disappointed and disillusioned with God.  It was all about preparing prior to the coming of the storm.  Jesus told us that storms would come into our lives (John 16:33).  How are you preparing your heart and mind and soul for those impending storms?   How you prepare determines how you will ride out the storm.  If it seems calm now, are you preparing for a storm that might come.  When there calmness, it is easy to not even think about preparing for a storm and that is where most people get caught off guard.  Then a circumstantial storm comes and little or no spiritual preparation has been made.  The storm overwhelms them.  It all comes down to preparation.

The flurries are starting to fall as I look out my window.  The news said the storm is approaching and gaining in intensity.  I have filled up the washer fluid and made sure I have lots of gas.  My snowblower is ready.  Shovels are in a strategic spot.  I feel I am well prepared.  Bring on the storm.

“The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private time of fellowship and oneness with Him.”  

  Too often those of us who are teachers and leaders are guilty of measuring the value of our public ministry by so many other metrics – the number of people, the size of our buildings, how big our budget is, the number of email we receive after a message, etc.  I wonder if at the end of my ministry – maybe the end of my life – if the words in my private devotional journals will have been near as many as the words I spoke as a leader and teacher.  Would there be depth in those private words?  Would they reveal a deep intimate relationship with Jesus?  Would they reflect a oneness?  A sense of fellowship?   Jesus said that if we “abide with him and he abides with us that we would bear much fruit – apart from that kind of intimacy, we really do nothing of value.”   Maybe it is time to add a new metric to our ministry life – how much time did I spend and how deep were those times I spent in private, alone, with Jesus.

The first key aspect of making and keeping a resolution has everything to do with perseverence and persistance. It is creating a simple system that reminds you on a daily (even hourly) basis of the desire for change that you have and it is a system that tracks your progress and allows you to make any corrections that need to be made. 

The second key in making and keeping a resolution is to have a team of people who hold you accountable regarding the changes that you want to make.  It is difficult to make changes all by yourself.  It takes a little team of people who care for you and want the best for you who will both encourage and exhort you along the journey.

The final key in making and keeping a resolution is to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to help you make the changes you desire a reality.  The writer in Hebrews tells us that drawing near to God and his promises, gathering around us a little team of those who will spur us on to love and good deeds and making regular connection with a faith community are essential to perservering and persisting and enduring including the resolutional changes that we want to make.

It won’t matter what is on your list.  Unless you can keep them, they are only ink on a piece of paper that will leave you frustrated unless you  find a system of reminder and review, unless you find a team of people to help you keep them and unless you rely on God’s power to change.

So what’s on your list?  Will you take the steps needed to giving you a better chance of keeping the resolutions that you have made this year.

Have a happy and blessed and joyous New Year.

I was reading Luke 5 the other day.  The story of the great catch of fish.  When Jesus asked Peter to take out the boats and drop the nets Peter responded that they had used those same boats, those same nets, the same bait, fishing in the same spot the previous night and they caught nothing.  But because Jesus the rabbi asked, Peter obliged.  They caught so many fish that the nets began to break and then they filled two boats to overflowing. 

This story that I have read over and over before seem to speak to me in a new way.  Our responsibility as church leaders is to continue use the same nets, the same boats, the same bait and the same fishing spots that we have up to this point.  When Jesus is ready – he will fill the nets with fish.  Too often church leaders continue to look for a “silver bullet” to help fill the nets with fisth.  New bait or new boats or new fishing spots.  If they don’t produce the results they are looking for they get disillusioned and wonder why.  If they do work, then they often take the credit for the great catch of fish.  The problem is that Jesus wants the credit because he is the one who make it happen. 

I am not saying the we shouldn’t continually check the nets and the boats and the bait and the fishing spots but we do need to free ourselves from the responsibility for how many fish we catch.  That is Jesus’ responsibility.  If he says so – then the nets will be filled.  But maybe right now – the nets are going to remain empty so that we first prove our faithfulness to fishing instead of our constant craving for full nets.   If we faithfully fish – Jesus in his time – when he says so – he will fill our nets.  Let’s set sail.

Our discussions yesterday centered around the whole complexity of doing ministry in a large church context.  Lead a large and growing ministry is very complex.  We looked at the whole issue of staffing and how we need to know the different temperaments and gifts and love languages and general make-up of our staff in order to lead them effectively.  Although we were able to categorize our staff members into three groups, it still requires us to lead these groups in different ways, which makes leading the staff a complicated challenge.

Then we talked about why our churches seem to be growing overall but that less and less people are attending weekend services, are joining small groups, are signing up to serve and participating in community life.  We looked at the cultural factors that have led to this.  We examined how technology has played a part in this as many of us were using videocasts and podcasts of our services.  We talk about how the church has to take responsibility in some of this and own their part.  We asked lots of questions but we didn’t come up with many answers.  The issue is very complex.

At the beginning of the day, we went around the circle and leader after leader talked about the many joys that were happening in their communities but we also shared about some of the stresses and struggles and challenges we face.  If we were to make a list of it all, most of us share the same struggles.  Again, there were lots of questions but not as many answers. 

As I sat there, listening to all of this, the struggles, the challenges and the complexities, I thought to myself that if there had been young seminary students sitting in the room who are contemplating pastoral ministry that they would have decided on a new career path in a heartbeat.

Not that it was a disheartening day but it did remind me of what it takes to lead this thing called the church, especially large and growing churches.  The good news that we need to remind ourselves is that although it is complex, God is the builder of the church, not us, and he has way more wisdom than all the minds in that room put together.  So we must continue to ask the hard questions, work through the difficult days of reflection and contemplation but we must also continue to turn it over to God.

I have my own list of concerns for the church these days.   Thoughts that roll around in my head when I am day dreaming but often just before I fall asleep it night.  Thoughts that sometimes even keep me awake.  I could probably rattle off a long list of concerns.  Some of them would be somewhat trivial but a few of them would be quite significant, at least from my point of view.

Let me share a few of them.  First, would be the word “consumerism”.  Instead of seeing the church as a body or a family as described in the bible, people are treating the church community like a store they would shop in or a restaurant they would eat it.  If they don’t like the product or the service or the atmosphere or if it doesn’t meet some selfish need, then they bail and find a new one.   We have groups of genuine followers of Jesus who are constantly on the move from one church community to another.  Sometimes they return to a previous church they attended because they realize they liked it better than the one they are at.  This is not the church that Jesus died for.  That is why the Bible uses words like family and body.  Amputation hurts.  People disconnecting from family is painful.  I know there are always legitimate reasons for leaving – a lack of vision – disfunctional leadership – a lack of family ministries.  But so often the reasons are so much more superficial than that.   I was at a conference last week and one speaker defined Christian love (the foundation for community) this way, “Christian love is not affection or passion but the unconditional commitment to the wellbeing of others in community”.   He then asked a couple of questions.  First, “Am I a member, sharing  joys and sorrow and would I stay even it it didn’t meet all my needs?’  Secondly, “Is my first priority the community rather than some personal external agenda I have for the community?”  In other words, “if all jy needs don’t get met and if I don’t get my own way, will I still make being part of the community a priority?”  Great questions. 

My second concern could be summed up in one word, “busyness”.  For all sorts of reasons we have become a very busy society.  I hear the words overwhelmed and stressed and too busy far too often.  This busyness is keeping us from connecting in community. from being part of weekly worship gatherings, from serving others and from spending time alone with God each day.  These things are the very things that keep us on track in our relationship with Jesus.  Yet, busyness seems to be keeping us from these things.  But maybe it the right word isn’t busyness.  The right word would be priorities.  It seems we do have the time that we think are the most important.  Shouldn’t building a growing friendship with God be at the top of the list and shouldn’t things that make that a reality be part of our schedule?

My third concern would be the word “empathy”.  We seem to care more for ourselves and less for others.  I hear the words Paul on Phillipians 2 echoing over this lack of concern for others and a primary concern for ourselves.  Listen to the echo, “do nothing out of selfish ambition and vain concept, but in humility consider others better (or before) yourself.”  Brokenness is dominant in our world.  Poverty is off the charts.  Jesus wants us to be his hands and feet.  N0t flowing from any obligation or “have too’ but flowing from a heart that really cares.  We need to let the things that break the very heart of God break our heart and from this heart care for others in our world.

Finally, it would be the word “apathy”.  It seems that we just don’t care about our spiritual health and being an active part of a faith community.  Maybe this one word might be the summary of all the rest.  Paul talks about passion and zeal and straining and pressing on which seems to be the antithesis of apathy.

How did we get this way and where are we headed?  Maybe instead of being a spiritual light in the darkness of our society, we have become less illuminating because of the influence of the darkness on the light.  We have let societal patterns and attitudes to invade our thinking and we have become conformed to them.  Maybe it is time to be transformed by the “renewing of our minds” because right thinking always leads to right attitudes which always leads to right behaviours.

Let me end with a sobering question, “Would Jesus be proud of the church that he died for and would he be proud of the followers he gave his life for?”  But these are great concerns because there are no simply solutions to them.  Like Paul, I have concern for the church and I am willing to give all I have until the day I die to help the church be the church that Jesus would be proud of and died for.

I got thinking about something as I went about a dozen laps around the track.  Life is like turn two.  There are many blind turns in life where you can’t see what is beyond the bend in the road or the changes in elevation.  If you are traveling too fast or you don’t pay attention to the warnings of others you can end up having a wreck with the ramifications having significant impact on your life.

Too many people today are traveling too fast today and they are paying a price.  Yet with all the competition on the track of life, how do you slow down without being passed or lapped?  There are no easy answers.  But more and more people I am talking to are looking for ways to slow down and are not worrying about being lapped anymore.  Their personal health, the relationship with God and their relationship with their family are more important than winning some marketplace or cultural race.   Will they pay a price?  For sure.  But it is a price they are willing to pay because the payoff is the ability to grab ahold of the things in life that really matter.

Listen to what he says about temptation – let it soak in…

“In our members there is a slumbering inclination towards desire which is both sudden and fierce.  With irresistable power, desires seize mastery of the flesh.  All at once a secret, smoldering fire is kindled.  The flesh burns and is in flames.  It makes no difference whether it is a sexual desire, or ambition, or vanity or desire for revenge, or love of fame and power, or greed for money…  At this moment God is quite unreal to us.  He loses all reality and only desire for the creature is real.  The only reality is the devil.  Satan does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God… The lust thus aroused envelopes the mind and will of man in deepest darkness. The powers of clear discrimination and of decision are taken from us.  The questions present themselves as, “Is what the flesh desires really sin in this case?”.  And, Is it really not permitted to me, yes, expected of me now, here in my particular situation to appease desire?” 

I found this to be a great summation of the struggle we all face with temptation.  At the end of this listen what he says, “The Bible teaches us in time of temptation in the flesh, there is one command: Flee!  Flee fornication.  Flee idolatry.  Flee youthful lusts.  Flee the lusts of the world.  Every struggle against lust in one’s own strength is doomed to failure”.     What a great solution.  If David had of run away from the edge of that roof top, imagine what painful consequences might he have avoided.  Is there an area in your life where you need to run?