Category: Teachings

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Call of Pastoral Vocation & Spiritual Leadership

Today (1 April 2016) I was supposed to be in Cape Town addressing the Vineyard pastors and leaders of the Western Cape, South Africa. I injured my back on Wednesday and had to cancel my trip. But I had written my teaching earlier in the week, so I thought I should upload and share it. For all who read this, especially pastors and spiritual leaders, what do you think of the following?

What is the essential call (vocation) and work (leadership) of the local church pastor?

It’s a vast subject, but scripture teaches that pastoral leadership is a life-calling and gift-ministry from the Ascended Christ (Eph 4:7-11, the ‘pastoring-teacher’). In the OT the king and leaders were (supposed to be) the servant of YHWH as the shepherd of Israel. Jesus fulfilled that calling as The Good Shepherd of God’s flock, YHWH’s Suffering Servant. This Chief Shepherd and Ultimate Servant is the model to be emulated by his ‘under shepherd-servants’. He’s also the means, by his Spirit, by which we fulfil this vocation to which we are called – continuing HIS vocation by HIS Spirit. And yes, this means suffering and rejection… true pastors enter into and exercise the love of God in Christ, by the Spirit, suffering people’s sin and brokenness. There is nothing like pastoral leadership to bring out one’s insecurities, our deepest unresolved ‘stuff’! So, to be a pastor, a spiritual leader, is not something you do, it’s who you are and are becoming. It’s not a role or job per se, it’s a way of life – Jesus’ way!

The nature of this “perplexing profession” (Eugene Peterson) has been analysed and explained in various ways.[1] Over the years, through theology (study) and praxis (my personal experience), I have come to my own summary of the pastoral vocation: The sevenfold nature or key responsibilities of pastor-leaders. I assume the definition of pastor as the leader of a faith community, whether it’s 15 people in a house church, or a congregation of 80, or of a large church with multiple staff, where the team of pastors each specialise in one or more of the responsibilities below. However, the lead-pastor in whatever size church is overall responsible to see that these seven key roles are faithfully fulfilled. There is a progressive order – they build on each other. And like any good preacher, I’ve used alliteration hoping it might just stick in our brains!

  1. Prayer: To be a person of The Presence, bringing God’s presence to people and bringing them into God’s presence. If you are first a full-on follower (disciple… a disciplined learner) of Jesus for yourself, then those around you will naturally be led and pastored into following Jesus. Prayer is your primary spiritual formation, the fuel that fires – and keeps fanning into flame – your passion and love for God and his people. On a recent visit to Mexico Pope Francis said to the bishops and priests, “Pastors are not God’s employees to dispense and administrate the Divine. Our identity is prayer: we work with God – pray living and live praying.” It’s what Jesus said, in effect, regarding his life principle: “Though I am the Son of God I do nothing on my own initiative; I only do what I see the Father doing, I only speak what I hear the Father saying” (John 5:17-21). Prayer is co-working with God in what he’s doing, leading his people in true worship and community, ministry and mission. This is (your) spiritual formation. It is the foundational cornerstone of the vocation of the pastor and leader, on which all that follows is built.
  2. Purity: To grow in purity before God. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God” (Matt 5:8). The heart is the essence – the core and the whole – of who we are, out of which all of life flows (Prov 4:23). Danish theologian-philosopher Soren Kierkegaard said, “Purity of heart is to will one thing.” Our divided and disparate, fragmented and over-stimulated focus on many demands, is the impurity of idolatry. David prayed, “give me an undivided heart to fear your name” (Ps 86:11). Life, leadership and ministry, depends on our cultivation of integrity of being, purity of heart, integration of focus – the simplicity of the unhurried life doing the “one thing (that) is needed” (Luke 10:42). The one thing is moral character, formed by gazing on God’s beauty (Ps 27:4) in the face of Jesus Christ, as Mary did. Then we see God ever more clearly each day, in all things, in every person, circumstance, happening – learning to work with him in the sacrament of the present moment. This is what makes us pastors and leaders. We require this purity of heart because God entrusts us with HIS Word, Purposes, People, and World. Whether we know it or not, we all live, lead and pastor, in real terms from “the weight of glory” (C.S. Lewis) on/in us, or lack thereof. To the degree we lack in Christ’s glory – his pure character – we depend on other idolatrous dynamics and resources to live, lead and pastor.
  3. Preaching: To proclaim God’s Word to his people and world is a most awesome privilege and responsibility.[2] We are called to faithfully study, teach and proclaim the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) without fear or favour, forming God’s people “under the authority of The Word” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer), teaching them how “to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19-20; Wimber’s “the meat is in the street”). The Apostles stated their priorities: “We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). Don’t ever underestimate the privilege, priority and power of preaching God’s Word as a pastor and leader.
  4. Purpose: To lead God’s people into their inheritance: God’s Kingdom purposes. I.e. to give a clear vision of the Kingdom, keeping it before the people, with the spiritual direction needed to achieve it. We are called to lead by example, by vision and proclamation, by discipling and implementation. Pastors must lead the church into God’s purposes – break new ground – or it will meander in maintenance mode.
  5. Pastoring: To care for God’s We are called to love, to be tender, merciful, compassionate, as Jesus was. Prayer & purity will keep us from burnout, from becoming cynical with people and their pain. Pastors gather, heal and grow God’s people to wholeness, by patient and persistent love in the discipline and governance of the Lord. Shepherds naturally smell of sheep, they get involved in people’s pain.
  6. Personnel: To train God’s people in their callings and gifts. Proclaiming God’s purpose gathers people to be cared for, AND to be equipped to do ministry and mission (Eph 4:12). Pastors grow and equip people, forming teams and leaders, by the Vineyard mantra: “IRTDM” – identify, recruit, train, deploy, and monitor.
  7. Program: To organise God’s people into a cohesive community of worship and witness, creating programs and structures of ministry (in the church) and mission (in the broader community, and to the nations). Minimal organising and administrating ability is required for a pastor-leader to be effective – it’s a discipline of character! 

We lead by being led – in these seven dimensions – by the Spirit, in the sacrament of the present moment. So, be teachable, accountable, honest, humble, hungry for God…

[1] The classic by Seward Hiltner, Preface to Pastoral Theology (Abingdon, 1958). Also Henri Nouwen, Creative Ministry (1978) and The Living Reminder (1982). See Eugene Peterson’s four books on pastoral ministry, all by Eerdmans, Working the Angles (1987), Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work (1992), Under the Unpredictable Plant (1992), and The Contemplative Pastor (1993).  

[2] See the chapter, “Pastors as Teachers of the Nations”, in Dallas Willard’s Knowing Christ Today.

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Living Resurrection Now

“Live Resurrection Now”

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do YOU believe this?”
(John 11:25-26)

On Thursday night we celebrated the Passover with Jesus and his disciples, and relived his Gethsemane agony in the garden. On Friday morning we re-membered ourselves to the crucified Christ, meditating on his seven sayings from the cross. Now Easter Sunday! We celebrate his bodily resurrection. If Jesus had not physically risen from the dead, our faith would be in vain. And his amazing words above, that he spoke before he raised his good friend, Lazarus, back to life (was dead for four days), would mean nothing. Jesus’ bodily resurrection vindicates him in all his claims, in all he did, and especially in his sacrificial death on the cross for our sin and death. He was indeed the Son of God! God in Jesus defeated death, the grave, sin, sickness and all evil. In fact, Jesus’ resurrection was the ‘Big Bang’ of God’s new creation, in the midst of the old creation! If you are in Christ, you are not only a new creation, but you participate in it’s exponential expansion to the ends of all (created) reality, to rule & reign with him over his new (and old) creation.

The story of Jesus defeating death in his ministry by raising Lazarus back to life was only possible – in retrospect – due to Jesus’ later bodily resurrection. The story of Lazarus’ raising and of Jesus’ resurrection is the message of LIVE RESURRECTION NOW!

The Text: Jesus The Resurrection

“I AM…” John records seven times Jesus using God’s holy name, “I AM”, from Ex 3:14-15. “I am the bread of life… the light of the world, etc” (John 6:35, 8:12,58, 10:7-8, 11, 11:25, 14:6, 15:1,5). Jesus is God in human skin. He is all who and what we need in every way!

“I AM the resurrection and the life… you will live, though you die… you will never die.” The Hebrew understanding of eternal life is embodied life; i.e. not an immortal disembodied spirit/soul set free from the body through death (Greek idea); rather a resurrected bodily person filled with God’s eternal kind of life, to rule and reign with him forever. To receive and to trust Jesus is to receive his resurrection, his eternal kind of life. Though we will physically die, we already have eternal life – we live resurrection now – with the guarantee that our bodies will rise again to enjoy consummated eternal life.

“The one who believes in me… by believing in me… do you believe this?” The key to ‘living resurrection now’ is faith in Jesus. To believe him is to trust, rely, depend on him. As we place our confidence in him in full trust, we discover that what he says he does, he is!

The Reality of Death

We know from the Hebrew scriptures that death is the enemy of humankind. Also from experience: we all instinctively fear death. It was a foreign intrusion into God’s pristine creation due to Adam & Eve’s sinful rebellion against God – trusting evil (the serpent’s word) over God (against God’s word). “Death” in Hebrew & Greek means “to separate”. Physical death separates us from our bodies, from our family and friends, causing great grief and pain, as seen in Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus died. Spiritual death separates us from God. We go through various psycho-emotional deaths from time to time. There is the extreme pain of marriage sickness and eventual death – called divorce. And dysfunctional and broken family relationships leading to ‘family death’.

The cause(s) of death, in scripture, is sin and consequent sickness. Sickness is a foretaste of death: the mortality and corruption of our bodies. We all struggle with it till death, to await resurrection. Healing is a foretaste of resurrection: a power-surge of our future bodily resurrection made real here and now, a grace from God. But human nature – as with Martha (v. 21) and Mary (v. 32) – is to blame it on God: “if only YOU had been here he would not have died”. Our many “if onlys…” against God. Satan always seeks to separate us from God by blaming him, questioning his integrity. John says Lazarus died because of sickness, not because Jesus was not there! BUT Jesus DOES come to us in our death. He came to Lazarus after he had been dead for four days – the body stank with decay – showing that it’s NEVER too late for God to do the miracle of resurrection!

The Reality of Resurrection… Now!

In Martha’s hopelessness and blaming Jesus for the reality of Lazarus’ death, Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again” (vv.23f). She responded, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Then Jesus replied, “I AM that Last Day, I AM the Resurrection standing here in front of you! Do you believe this?” Jesus raised Lazarus there and then. But specifically how did he do it? And therefore, how do we receive and ‘live resurrection now’ in the death we are currently experiencing, and entombed in? Jesus went to where they laid Lazarus to take his stand before death…

 

  1. By Jesus’ compassion: He was moved by Mary’s weeping, and those who had come to comfort her and Martha… then “Jesus wept” (v.35, the shortest verse in the Bible!) His compassion on them in their loss, mixed with anger at death taking their beloved brother, moved him to action, to confront death. Jesus weeps with YOU in your death.
  2. By Jesus’ communion: He was in communion with his Father throughout Lazarus’ sickness and then death (vv.41-42). Jesus prayed for him. He prays and intercedes for us continually at the Father’s side (Heb 7:25). Jesus is praying for you right now!
  3. By Jesus’ command: He first asked for the stone in front of the tomb to be removed (v.39). We must remove any obstacle that prevents us from receiving resurrection now. Then he commanded: “Lazarus, come out!” This rebuked death and spoke life. Jesus stands before you in your sickness and death, and calls you by name, “…. come out” from the particular darkness, despair and death, that you’re going through, that entombs you. If you hear his voice (John 5:24-25) respond in faith: step out in trust. Act on his call, his command, as if it is true, and discover it to be so. Memorize Jesus’ words of healing and they will give life to your mortal body (Prov 4:20-22)
  4. By Jesus’ community: When Lazarus came out of the tomb, ALIVE, he was bound in his body and face by the strips of burial linen. Jesus told those present, including Mary and Martha, “take off the grave clothes and set him free” (v.44). Receiving resurrection now is a gift-miracle from Jesus, but living resurrection now involves community to complete the process of wholeness. I.e. you must (further) trust Jesus in and through his people, the local church to which you commit and belong, to complete your journey to healing and freedom. Some of our brothers and sisters, of course, try to take off our bandages rather roughly and insensitively, while others are tender and sensitive, exercising Jesus’ compassion. Either way, our coming out of death into life, and growing wholeness and freedom, involves yielding ourselves to Jesus’ community, trusting him as Head of his Church for his best.
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Meditation on Christ’s Crucifixion

The Seven Sayings of Jesus from the Cross

 

Jesus was nailed to the cross at nine on the Friday morning. For the first three hours he endured people’s wrath – threats, spitting, insults, mocking, jeering, etc. Then at noon the sun was darkened. It remained dark, as in a total solar eclipse, till three in the afternoon. In these second dark three hours Jesus endured God’s wrath – drinking God’s cup of judgement to its dregs… on our behalf, in our place, for our sin and rebellion, sickness and death. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him” (2Cor 5:21). The Gospels record that while hanging on the cross for six hours, till his death, Jesus spoke seven times. We do not know the exact order in which each of his ‘sayings’ took place. But reading the context of each of them, I have put them in a possible/probable order from nine till his death at three in the afternoon.

 

In your time of meditation, picture the entire scene. See yourself standing there before the cross with John the beloved disciple, and Mary, Jesus’ mother. Relive what happened during those six hours. Listen carefully… hear what Jesus says. Receive his words from the cross… what do they mean to you? What is he saying to you… personally? What is your response to him? Do you need to do anything? Use your imagination by the Spirit to be with Jesus, hanging on the cross… how you can be with him in his suffering.

 

(Whichever saying ‘speaks’ to you, or grabs your attention, etc, stay with it, meditate on it. Answer Jesus… dialogue with him… do what you must to do to respond to him. If you need to, read the particular text and its context in your Bible so as to personalize it more)

 

 

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”
(Luke 23:34)

 

“I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise”
(Luke 23:43)

 

“Dear woman, here is your son… and… here is your mother”
(John 19:26-27)

 

“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34, Matthew 27:46)

 

“I am thirsty”
(John 19:28)

 

“It is finished”
(John 19:30)

 

“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit”
(Luke 23:46)

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Messianic Passover Seder with Jesus

Introduction

As followers of Jesus, God’s (Jewish) Messiah, we relive the Passover meal (Pesach) with Rebbe Y’shua HaMoshiach and his disciples (see Mark 14:12-26, Matt 26:17-30, Luke 22:7-23, 1 Cor 10:15-17 cf. 11:23-26) – when he enacted the prophesied new covenant (Jer 31:31-34, Ezek 36:24-27), which he made with YHWH for all who believe through him.

This oldest of Jewish feasts, observed every year for over 35 centuries, is based on YHWH’s command to remember their deliverance (Exodus) from Egypt through blood sacrifice (Ex 13:3-10) – when the angel of death “passed over” the houses that had the blood of the lamb on the door lintels. The Pesach service was to tell the story (Haggadah, “telling”) of Israel’s miraculous deliverance by her Warrior-King YHWH. The Seder (order of service) was simple right through to Jesus’ time (27-31 ACE). It was adapted and expanded, after the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 ACE, with the development of Rabbinical Judaism via the synagogue system (no more sacrificial system). To reconstruct/relive how Jesus celebrated that last Pesach is a matter of historical probability, not certainty! I will keep it simple as Y’shua and his talmudim probably did it – while mentioning post 70 ACE elements.

Biblical historical scholars say there were originally probably only four elements:

1) Passover lamb symbolized redemption – the paschal/unblemished lamb sacrificed to save us (John 1:29, 1Pet 1:19-20). It was roasted with fire, symbolizing God’s judgement.
2) Unleavened bread (matzos) symbolized the “bread of affliction” in Egypt when they left in a hurry (Deut 16:1-4). Yeast (“leaven”) was forbidden during 8 days of Pesach, symbolizing the cleansing and removal of sin (1Cor 5:6-8). Post 70 ACE the matzoh took on added meaning as the Rabbis decreed it to be a memorial of the Passover lamb.
3) Bitter herbs (maror) symbolized the hardships the Hebrews endured under Pharaoh.
4) Glasses of wine – how many is not clear – certainly the cup of sanctification and cup of redemption (also called cup of thanksgiving or blessing). The wine symbolized God’s setting them apart (sanctifying, making holy) by the blood of the lamb for their redemption/salvation.

Post 70 ACE elements that the Rabbis added to the Seder:

1) Roasted shank bone (z’roah) represents the sacrificial Passover lamb.
2) Sweet fruit mixture (charoset) made of apple, cinnamon, nuts, honey & wine, used to offset the sharpness of the bitter herbs – God’s sweet redemption is near in our bitter oppression. It also represents the mortar used by the Hebrew slaves in building Pharaoh’s cities.
3) Roasted egg (beitzah) and salt water: the brown egg traditionally symbolized mourning for Jews, reminding them of the Temple sacrifice (chagigah) for sin, which was lost – so they dip the egg in salt water (the tears of sadness) and eat it. Y’shuah’s death was “the once and for all” sacrifice for sin, which put an end to the sacrificial system, so we now shed tears of joy! And the egg in this context represents new life, new creation: the Lamb of God’s resurrection!
4) Green vegetables (karpas) as in parsley, was to recall the hyssop used by the Hebrews to mark the doorposts with the blood of the lamb (Ex 12:22). It is also dipped into the bowl of salt water (the tears of Israel) in their trust of God for the promise of new life (green).
5) Bitter root (chazeret) as in romaine lettuce, reinforced the bitter herbs, a reminder of the enslavement in Egypt – bitter to the root of one’s being – which God delivers us from.
6) Four wine glasses: 1st Sanctification, 2nd Rejoicing, 3rd Redemption, 4th Praise. A possible 5th Cup of Elijah – still debated! The Rabbi’s say Elijah will settle it when he comes!

THE SEDER AS JESUS might have celebrated it as per historical evidence:

  1. Lighting of two Candles (safely assumed… light of creation, light of Torah)

  2. Cup of Sanctification: Luke 22:17-18

  3. Washing of hands (or later, 6.): was it here that Jesus washed their feet? John 13:2f

  4. Sing the Hallel: Psalms 113 & 114 (Psalms 113-118 were sung at Passover, Mark 14:26)
  5. Second Cup of Rejoicing at which the Exodus story was retold by asking questions as to why that night was different, recalling the 10 plagues/miracles and pass-over deliverance (there’s no New Testament record of all this, but we can safely assume it)
  6. Washing of hands for the meal being served: did Jesus now wash their feet? John 13
  7. The Blessing for the unleavened bread, breaking and sharing it: Mark 14:22. Jesus dramatically said it was his body given/broken for us – in his life (John 6:35) and more so in his death on the cross. Imagine the impact this had on his disciples?
  8. Eating the meal: the paschal lamb, matzoh and bitter herbs (“sop”? see John 13:26)

  9. Third cup of Redemption (Thanksgiving): Mark 14:23-25, Luke 22:20, Matt 26:27-29, 1 Cor 10:16. Jesus said this cup, this “fruit of the vine”, was his blood of the new covenant (the B’rit Hadasah) poured out for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, giving us his (eternal) life, his Spirit. This was powerful and dramatic – Messianic! It brought to the minds of the disciples texts like Jer 31:31-34, Ezek 36:24-27, Lev 17:11, “the life of the flesh is in the blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sin” (see Heb 9:22)
  10. Sing the Hallel, then they departed: Mark 14:26, Singing Psalm 115-118
  11. (Fourth Cup of Praise: no record of Jesus doing this, but it is traditionally blessed and taken after the final Hallel and then it’s followed with…

  12. (The Final blessing: no record of this but assumed, probably the Aaronic Blessing?)
  13. They went to the Garden of Gethsemane as they sang and walked deep in thought…
     

THE POST 70 ACE SEDER as it has developed over the centuries to our present time

  1. Lighting of Candles (Hadlakat Ha-Ner): the mother of the home (or father)
  2. First Cup of Sanctification (Kiddush): the father/leader prays the prayer & all drink
  3. Washing of hands (Urchatz): for cleansing to begin the ceremony meal

  4. The Hallel: Sing Psalms 113 and 114
  5. First Serving – eating of Karpas: green vegetable dipped in salt water
  6. Breaking the Middle Matzoh (Yachatz): The three-part matzoh tash (pouch) with three sheets of matzoh is lifted up, also called echad (unity). It symbolizes Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or unity of worship in ancient Israel: Priests, Levites and Congregation. Yeshuah’s talmudim say it represents God as Father, Son, and Spirit. The middle piece (Son) is broken in half. One half is replaced and the other half (called the afikomen) is hidden while the children close their eyes – later to be found by them. This is “the bread of affliction”
  7. The Four Questions (Ma Nishtanah) and the Passover Story (Maggid & Haggadah):
    A child asks “    the why” is this night different to all other nights:
    Why on all other nights do we eat bread with leaven, but on this night we eat only unleavened bread?
    Why on all other nights do we eat of all kinds of herbs, but on this night we eat bitter herbs?
    Why on all other nights do we not dip herbs at all, but on this night we dip them twice? Why on all other nights do we eat in the normal way, but on this night we eat with special ceremony?
    The leader     then explains each of the answers and the story (haggadah) of the Exodus.

  8. Second Cup of Rejoicing: remembering the 10 plagues that came upon Egypt, each with a drip of wine on a plate – the cup of God’s wrath and of our rejoicing! This cup is not drunk.
  9. The Seder Meal and it’s symbolism:
    • The paschal lamb and it’s meaning:
    • The matzoh and its blessing:
    • The bitter herbs and its blessing:
    • The ‘Hillel sandwich’: combine the matzoh and bitter herbs and eat it – together with the lamb and the charoset (sweet mixture). See John 13:26.
    • Eat egg dipped in salt water: it’s customary to begin the meal with this

  10. The Grace after the meal: Prayer of Thanksgiving

  11. Finding and eating the Afikomen: it means “that which comes after” or “that which makes complete.” The Rabbis say it the substitute for the actual Passover lamb not sacrificed because there’s no Temple. Everyone eats a bit of it. Some say this is the bread that Jesus gave to his disciples calling it his body given for them, but there’s no historical evidence for this – probably a post 70 ACE Rabbinical development.

  12. Third Cup of Redemption: remembering the blood of the lamb put on the doorposts of the houses that bought them redemption. This is the cup that Jesus used when he said it was his blood of the new covenant (B’rit Hadasah) for our redemption.
  13. (Pour the Cup of Elijah – and the door is opened): not to drink the cup, but to see if he comes! I have this in brackets as some Jewish traditions do this, but others not.
  14. The Hallel: Sing Psalms 114 to 118

  15. Fourth Cup of Praise to end the service and the final blessing:

  16. The Conclusion – the Nirtzah – and “Next Year in Jerusalem”
    L’shanah Ha-Ba-ah b’Y’rushalayim
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Finding Sanctuary Talk 3

To listen to the audio teaching of these notes click on this link

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/finding-sanctuary-talk-3/

I’ve taught “Finding Sanctuary” from David’s amazing Psalm 27: Praying our Sanctuary. English “sanctuary” comes from Latin sanctus, meaning holy: a sacred space (our heart) set aside for God, to encounter him in safety and sanctity. Sanctuary is essentially escaping into God’s presence (his heart), to be with him.

David’s instruction is simple (v.4): Wrestle down your life and lifestyle to do one thing above all others, “One thing have I desired: that I may dwell in the Lord’s sanctuary all the days of my life, to gaze upon his beauty, to seek him in his sanctuary.” To build your heart/life into a sanctuary for God, where HE is our sanctuary, is THE most important thing in life! Carve out a time and place for personal sanctuary in your daily life. Jesus said of Mary, “Only one thing is needed; she has chosen it – it will not be taken from her” (Luke 10:42).

This theme is inspired by Abbot Christopher Jamison’s book “Finding Sanctuary”, on how St Benedict’s Rule of Community (6th century) helps us to build sanctuary in our hearts, from which all of life flows (Prov 4:23).

How do we do this? We build/find sanctuary via 7 steps. Before we begin step one we have to slow down to make a decision to build sanctuary in our busy lives. Then we find and enter the Door of Virtue – the door to our hearts – which doesn’t mean becoming morally pure. Rather, Jamison says, “if we see virtue as simply the right way to live, no matter what the cost, then virtue is sacred. Virtue is recognising the sacred in daily life”, seeing God in all things (Matt 5:8). Enter the door of virtue to build sanctuary by doing these steps… Continue reading Finding Sanctuary Talk 3

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Christmas: A Revolution of Mercy and Tenderness

The essence of Christmas is GOD’s coming into the world – the greatest gift known to humanity – the hope of planet earth!

God who is so great, the Creator of our ever-expanding universe, became so small, to be one of us, so that we who are so small can know him, and become so great in him. Christmas is the mystery of God’s coming into this harsh and cruel world, not to add to human pain by killing others to set up his Kingdom; but he came as humble love and tender mercy in a vulnerable baby, to save the world.

In keeping with Pope Francis’ declaration of an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy (begun 8 December 2015), God’s coming into our world in the little baby of Bethlehem was the Jubilee of all Jubilees, “The Year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4:18), The Day of Salvation, The Moment of Mercy that changed history forever. Francis said, in light of the harsh realities of our cruel world – the Syrian civil war with 300 000 killed and millions of migrants on the march, the horrendous massacres by Jihadist terrorists, and the many other sources and forms of human pain and tragedy – we need mercy! We need to show mercy, to receive mercy. We need a revolution of tenderness, to be kind and gentle with others. There is no more tender and merciful story than Christmas: God’s coming into our world as a little baby, to begin a revolution of tenderness – that we must join!

Read Luke 1:26-38. Gabriel announced to the teenage Mary that God’s coming into the world would be through her – her young body. Paul “spiritualizes” that same reality: God comes into this world again and again in and through every believer, as “Christ is formed in you” (Gal 4:19). The early church fathers used Mary as model for all believers in Christ. As Messiah was physically born in her, so he is spiritually born in us who believe. Just as Mary’s life, body and relationships took the shape of the Christ formed within her, so our lives, bodies and relationships, take the shape of Christ being formed in us. And the purpose is to literally save the world around us!

In the Luke text we find four characteristics in Mary that facilitated God’s tender and merciful coming into the world as the baby of Bethlehem. Continue reading Christmas: A Revolution of Mercy and Tenderness

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Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation & Transformation (continued)

For the audio teaching click on the following link:

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/implications-of-the-gospel-mandate-of-reconciliation-part-6/

Last week I taught on The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation. The key is transformed identity through faith in Jesus and water baptism. We’re God’s Beloved Child in his ‘one new humanity’. This is found in the Early Church baptismal liturgy/confession of Gal 3:28 – what we call The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation through transformed identity:

  • “Neither Jew nor Gentile” – Racial/Cultural mandate: healing racism
  • “Neither slave nor free” – Social/Economic mandate: healing classism
  • “Neither male nor female – Gender/Sexual mandate: healing sexism

Jesus’ followers chose this confession to confront, reverse and transform, the dominant mindset of the day, seen in the daily prayer of Greek men: “Thanks God that I was born a human being and not a beast, a man and not a woman, a Greek and not a barbarian”, and the daily Berakot prayed by Jewish men: “Blessed be the Lord God that he did not make me a Gentile (dog), nor a boor (a slave/peasant), nor a woman.” Faith in Jesus transforms our identity, healing us of racist/class/sexist prejudice, making us reconcilers in society.

Both Personal and Structural

Prejudice is the power behind every societal barrier. Prejudice is emotional-based, closed-minded, false-fixed beliefs and attitudes (“don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up”). This leads to pain-filled words and actions against ‘the other’ who is different to us. Our perceptions about ‘the other’ (race, culture, class, age, gender, sexual orientation, education-level, political party, religion, denomination) are often unreasoned, irrational, untested half-truths and misbeliefs. We subconsciously imbibe them from birth via our parents. And from our peers and teachers, those like us, as we grow up. Unresolved hurt, painful life experiences, also leads to prejudicial beliefs and actions: we ‘blindly’ act out pain on others. Generalizations (“all women are…” “the poor are…”,”whites are…” “Gays are…”) reinforce social stereotypes and labels, damaging ‘the other’ and ourselves. Prejudice blinds us to new information, screening out objective truth. How blind are those who refuse to see… read John 9:13-34, 40-41. Continue reading Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation & Transformation (continued)

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Act 6 continued: The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation

To listen to the audio teaching of these notes click on the link

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/act-6-continued-the-gospel-mandate-of-reconciliation-part-5/

Last week I taught on Act 6 in God’s Drama: The Holy Spirit in & through the Reconciled & Reconciling Church – described in the Book of Acts. Paul called this “the message and ministry of reconciliation” given to us in Messiah (2 Cor 5:18-20), to reconcile people to God, and thus to oneself, others, & creation. This was made real in the Early Church by water baptism. The key to reconciliation and baptism is transformed identity.

Jesus’ Baptism in water

The Early Church got their understanding and practice of water baptism – by Messiah’s Co-Mission in Matt 28:18-20 – from Jesus’ own baptism. The key issue in both baptisms was identity. By choosing to be baptised Jesus identified himself with ALL sinners. As he stood in the water of John’s ‘baptism of repentance’ (Matt 3:13-17) he had no sins of his own to confess – as the only sinless One he confessed our sin on our behalf. Immersed into the waters, he symbolised he would willingly die our death in our place to wash away and bury our life of sin. His coming up out of water symbolised he would rise again. It was Jesus’ public act of obedience of his discipleship to God – that he willingly gave his life in faith to the Father, for HIS purpose. The Father then ‘tore’ the heavens open (Mk 1:10 cf. 15:38) and sent the empowering Spirit of Love on him, and publicly affirmed his identity: “YOU are my Son, my Beloved (Greek Agapetos), with whom I am well pleased” (Mk 1:11). This was Jesus’ identity, Beloved Son of God, from which he lived his life, did his ministry, fulfilling the Father’s call of reconciliation in the world.

Believers Baptism and change of identity

Early Christian baptism was not a ‘baptism of repentance’, but a ‘baptism confirming repentance and faith in Jesus’. When people put their faith in Jesus, saying ‘yes’ to following him, they were asked to express that publicly – to witness to Jesus – by being baptised in water for all to see. Thus baptism is our first act of obedience as a disciple of Christ. Standing in the water, we identify with Messiah (the only Righteous Saviour of the world), symbolising our death in/with him on the cross – we die to our sin (Rom 6:3-14). Immersed beneath the waters, we symbolise our burial with Christ. Or past life of sin is buried, together with whatever identity that defined us in THAT life. Raised up out of the water, we symbolise our resurrection in/with Christ to a new life in God, to a new identity in Messiah. The early Christians then laid hands on the baptised believer to impart the empowering Spirit of Love, affirming them in the new identity, conferred on them by the Father in the open heavens. I’m sure they looked up expecting the heavens to open, a dove to come down, a voice to speak, saying, “Gilli, YOU are my daughter… Alexander, YOU are my son… My Beloved, in whom I am well pleased.” Our new identity is Beloved Child of God, from which we live our new life in Christ, do our ministry with and for him, and fulfil his plan of reconciliation in the world. Continue reading Act 6 continued: The Gospel Mandate of Reconciliation

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Reconciliation & Transformation Act 6: Holy Spirit & Church

This listen to the audio teaching of these teaching notes, click

http://followingjesus.org.za/sermons/act-6-holy-spirit-in-jesus-reconciled-and-reconciling-church-part-4/

This mini-series of Reconciliation & Transformation is part of ‘fishing the world’ to turn our church outward to engage in social transformation. We shared personal stories of racism and reconciliation. Then I taught God’s Greater Story in which our personal stories find meaning – God’s Seven Act Drama of Reconciliation & Transformation:

Act One: CREATION – God’s Garden of Delight
Act Two: HUMANITY – The Rebellious Fall
Act Three: RESTART – Noah, Babel and The Nations
Act Four: ISRAEL – God’s Instrument of Reconciliation
Act Seven: THE END – Shalom!
Act Five: JESUS – God’s Reconciler
Act Six: HOLY SPIRIT – Through The Church

The weird numbering is theologically important: from Israel (4), the failed instrument of reconciliation, to her prophetic hope of the The End as seen in Isaiah, and then in John’s Revelation when all things are made new (7). But THAT future END broke into our world 2000 years ago in Jesus, dissecting history (5). Act 5 is the gift of God’s Son (Jn 3:16) who accomplishes reconciliation in his own body on the cross, where all barriers and walls of division were destroyed, the principalities and powers defeated, and Jews and Gentiles reconciled into “one new humanity” (see Eph 2:14-18 & Col 2:15).

Act 6 is the gift of God’s Spirit who comes at Pentecost to effect (apply and make real) Jesus’ work of reconciliation & transformation. Act 6 goes all the way through to Christ’s Second Coming – The End of God’s drama, The Beginning of the Eternal Ages. Do you realise that we’re playing our particular part LIVE in Act 6, on the world’s stage right now as witness to world to bring the drama to The End (Act 7)? See the diagram Continue reading Reconciliation & Transformation Act 6: Holy Spirit & Church

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Spirituality of Leadership versus Technology of Leadership

I was asked to speak at our Vineyard pastors and leaders meeting today… here are my teaching notes.

The key questions in life are the who? and why?… not the what? and how?

Who are you? Who are you becoming? Who are you following? Who forms you? It’s way more important that what you do/achieve and how you do it. God is more interested in you than in what you can do for him – he doesn’t ‘use’ us! Dallas Willard said, “The only thing we will get out of our lives and take into eternity, when we breathe our last breath and stand before God with everything stripped away, is the person we will have become. Therefore, WHO are you and WHO are you becoming?” And WHY are you becoming, or want to become, that kind of person? The WHAT and HOW flow naturally from this.

The need for leadership as spirituality… not as technology

Spirituality, as in the formation of character toward Christlikeness, essentially has to do with the who and why questions, whereas technology of leadership has to do with the ‘what is leadership?’ and ‘how do we do it?’… as in ‘Five Easy Steps to Leading’, or ‘The 20 Laws of Leadership’! Eugene Peterson, in his five books to leaders & pastors and five books on Spiritual Theology, has been a prophet crying out in the wilderness of the Evangelical/Charismatic/Pentecostal church lost in the technology of leadership that’s been taken in and copied from the business world. We urgently need a return to the biblical theology (understandings & models) of leadership… then the what and how of leadership (also taught in scripture) find their proper basis and place of operation. I.e. our doing then comes from our being and becoming, and NOT the other way round. Many leaders have their identity in their doing, their activism, the what and how of success – leadership as achievement, position, power, title, turf – ‘push and pull’, ‘get the show on the road’, ‘hire and fire’ type leadership, the technology of getting things done! Our identity, meaning and purpose in life, as people, as leaders, is found in God and his love for us. Then we can freely give our lives away in love and service of God and others – our doing is then a natural/healthy overflow of our being/becoming, with eternal results. Continue reading Spirituality of Leadership versus Technology of Leadership