Here to Lead

We all have dreams, but every now and then, God plants a vision form something in our hearts.  After four months of waiting on the Lord, fasting, and praying for an opportunity, Nehemiah asks permission of the King to travel more than 750 miles from Susa to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city, walls that had been broken down for more than 140 years.

When he arrives, he inspects the damage. Jim Collins says that leaders have to confront the brutal facts.  If you want your marriage to get better, then you need to be honest about how bad things really are.  If you want your kids to be better, then be honest and don’t make excuses for their behavior.  Many people swimming in debt don’t even know how much they really owe.  If we don’t understand the depths of our own sin, then we will not fully appreciate the grace of God.

Next, he inspires the people. “Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem,” he says to people who had been living amid the rubble for the last several years.  He tells the people that he hand of God was upon Him, and they respond.  This wasn’t just a good idea, it was a God idea.

Finally, He organizes the work. Chapter 3 is a long list of names, a fairly boring list of people and where they worked on the wall.  Might even make you really wonder if all the Bible is the inspired Word of God.  I’m reminded of several things.

• GOD USES PEOPLE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSE. The creator of the universe could have easily spoken these walls into existence.  But instead, God chose to raise up a leader named Nehemiah and a bunch of people to do the work.I don’t have to serve…I get to serve.  God has granted us an incredible OPPORTUNITY to be a part of His work.  Stop acting like you’re doing God a favor and start being grateful that He is willing to used a jacked up person like you.
• GOD WANTS YOU TO USE YOUR GIFTS. Goldsmiths, blacksmiths, woodworkers are put to work in areas that match their gifts.   The same things that make someone successful in teaching, business, etc. can make a difference in advancing the Kingdom of God. I Corinthians 12 says that the Holy Sprit gives every Christian a gift “for the common good.”  Ephesians 4:12 says that people have gifts “for the building up of the body of Christ.”
• PEOPLE WORKED ON THE PART OF THE WALL CLOSEST TO THEIR HOUSE. What do you care about?  Or what frustrates you?  Parents of teenagers ought to get involved with student ministry.  Parents of preschoolers should contribute to family ministry programming.  If you care about something deeply, then don’t just complain…get involved.
• LEADING MEANS SERVING. D.L. Moody said, “There are many who are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things.”  If you want to play in the band, try serving on the production.  If you want to teach on a big stage, try leading a small group.  If you want to be on an important team, set up chairs on the weekend.
• THERE IS NO MENIAL WORK WHEN YOU ARE WORKING FOR THE LORD. Doors, gates, rocks doesn’t sound like ministry, it sounds like construction.  I know you’re tempted to think that some work is spiritual and other work isn’t, but that’s not what the Bible teaches. Colossians 3:23 says “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men…” When we do things “unto the Lord,” then it’s sacred work.  Don’t ever say you’re “just” a volunteer, and don’t give into the notion that your “secular” job isn’t ministry.

In 687 BC, the Babylonians destroyed the city of Jerusalem, knocking down the walls, burning the gates and flattening the temple. Over a hundred years later, God birthed a vision the heart of Nehemiah to return to the city and rebuild those walls. Nehemiah didn’t just have a dream, he had a vision. A dream is about the things that could happen; a vision is what should happen. A dream says “somebody should do something;” a vision says, “I will do something.”

Though the walls had been destroyed for more than 100 years and though Nehemiah lived 750 miles away and though he had a job, Nehemiah petitioned the king for permission to return and supplies for the job. But before any of this happened, Nehemiah did three things:

1. He waited. It’s interesting to me that after hearing the news (again), He doesn’t launch a blog, build a core team, raise money or go through 40 Days of Wall Building. He simply waits on the Lord. There’s a big difference between waiting because you’re scared and waiting on the Lord. He’s allowing God to work in Him. In my own live, I’ve learned that visions get stronger with time, while random ideas are replaced with other ideas.

2. He prayed. Nehemiah didn’t plan and scheme for months and then ask God to bless his plans. Prayers were central to the entire process. He prayed for favor with his boss and opportunity to ask for permission. That opportunity presents itself in chapter two. The punchline of the story is that the wall is going to be finished in 52 days, but in this phase, Nehemiah prays for 4 months. That’s three times more praying than working! Don’t set out to build your own wall…make sure you pray so that you end up building God’s wall.

3. He planned. When the king asks Nehemiah what he wants, Nehemiah responds with details. He can do this because while he was praying, He was also planning. He believed God would give him the opportunity, so he got to work on the plan. Planning is a spiritual thing. I’m praying that someone connected to our church would give us a house, and when that happens (yes, I said “when”), we have the plan for church planting interns living there ready to go. We’re praying, but we’re also planning.

During this vision phase, Nehemiah doesn’t have people or money…two things we think are central. Nehemiah just has a vision from the Lord, and this is enough for Him. Throughout the entire process, He will “remember the Lord.”

In the Old Testament, God’s glory was on display in Eden, at Mt. Sinai, in the tabernacle and later the temple.  In the New Testament, God’s glory is manifest in the person Jesus.  But where is God’s glory on display now? Ephesians 3:7-11 answers the question.  God’s glory is now on display in the church.  No matter what George Barna thinks.

There’s a nonchalant attitude towards the church today.  Some people consider their Bible study, prayer group, moms group, food pantry, or mens group a church.  But three guys at Starbucks isn’t a church…it’s three guys at Starbucks.  Where two are three are gathered, Jesus is present, but that’s not a church.  A church is much more that a group of Christians hanging out.

Mark Driscoll defines a church like this:  A community of believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord, organized under qualified leadership, gathering regularly for preaching worship, observing the biblical sacraments of baptism and communion, unified by the spirit and scattered to fulfill the great commission.

Here’s what the Bible says about the local church.

• “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” – Matthew 16:18
• “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with his own blood.” – Acts 20:28
• “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” – Hebrews 10:25

Many people have lost their vision for the church because they don’t understand what the Bible says.  it’s not a collection of human programs or a set of ministries; it’s the means by which God has chosen to accomplish his purpose for us and for the world.  I love this quote from John Stott.

“If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely also be central to our lives.  How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously?  How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the center.”

Growing as a Christian is not something you can do on your own…it requires relationship and community…and church.  I think if we understood this, we’d take more vacations during the week when we missed work, than on the weekend when we’d miss church.

Jesus didn’t say that he would build his worship band, 501(c) organization, mission trip or social ministry…He said He would build His church.  Don’t tack the church on to your weekly schedule; make what is important to God important to you and your family.

Paul writes the letter to Romans to the Christians living in Romans, and presents gives some of the greatest teaching on the subject of salvation in the Bible.  In this chapter specifically, Paul talks about the importance of knowing the Gospel.

He talks about confessing with your mouth.  From my experience, it’s easy to confess with your mouth what truly lives in your heart.  This is why NASCAR people have no trouble discussing why Dale Earnhardt Junior gets by on his family name and not his driving ability.

Paul reminds us that saving faith is more than intellectual knowledge, that’s a deep-rooted, inward trust in Christ for everything.  He teaches us that salvation is impossible through any self-effort, that’s it’s only by the grace of God given through Christ Jesus that we can be reconciled to God.

In addition to knowing the gospel, we are called to share the Gospel with others.  This is not the job for a professional Christian Swat team.  If you’re a Christian, you’ve been given this mission.  Paul teaches us that people can’t believe in Jesus if they have never heard about Jesus, and that it’s up to us to make that happen.  When we do this, we’re beautiful feet.

Knowing and going are both important, and in my experience, focusing on one to the exclusion of the other will result in something that doesn’t totally honor God.  Many Christians focus on knowing, and become a break in the chain.  And many focus on sharing, but never have a full-understanding of what they are sharing.

At Oak Leaf Church, we can share the gospel by loving people, serving people, inviting people and telling people.  My prayer is that we’d say what the disciples said when they were brought in for questioning:  “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

That boldness can only come from a confidence in knowing the Gospel personally and commitment to share it with everyone.

I love the story of Wikepedia, the free encyclopedia written by everybody.  This volunteer-run program basically put the poweful Microsoft Encarta (remember that?) out of business.  It shows us that the power of everybody is stronger than the influence of a few highly-educated, highly-paid professionals.

Clay Shirky, in Cognitive Surplus, estimates that people have spent more than 100 Million hours creating and updating and correcting the pages of Wikepedia.  That’s a lot of hours.  You might wonder what would compel a person to volunteer their time to write for free.  You might think that these “authors” might not have a life.  You might think that you don’t have that much time.

Then Mr. Shirky points out that Americans watch more than 200 Billion hours of TV each and every year.  Clearly, we collectively more time than we think we have – we just use it on other things.

This reminded me once again that we will always find time and money to do what is important to us.  It’s about our heart, not about our finances or our schedule.

If you’ve been following or listening for a while, you may know that I’m pretty fired up about church planting.  That’s because I believe that the church was established by Jesus and is God’s only plan for taking the Gospel to the world.  And because I believe that starting new churches is the most effective way to grow the kingdom here on earth.  If we want to grow the universal church, then we need to start thousands of local churches.

And I am absolutely convinced that the overwhelming majority of those churches need to be in major cities.  Large urban areas are obviously centers of population.  Take a look at the studies and you’ll see that more people are living in the cities than in the suburbs, small towns and rural areas in our country.  And look at the projections and you’ll learn that trend will increase.  Cities are where the people live, and cities are where the influence lies.  Not to mention cultural diversity.  If we want to reach the world, we need to adopt Paul’s strategy in the book of Acts, planting churches in major metropolitan areas.

Above my desk, I hung up a map of the United States.  I put pins in the fifty largest cities.  My dream is to build a coalition of churches passionate about this and directly plant churches in those cities.  I don’t know exactly how it’s all going to work, but I believe it’s going to happen.  It’s a thirty year plan and I’m dreaming now.  Through coaching and internships and funding and training and sending, I want to empower and equip teams to go to these cities to start reproducing churches.

Just like churches need to place a disproportional amount of emphasis on evangelism because our natural desire is to go inward, I believe church planters need to disproportionately focus on urban areas.  We need to go to New York, DC, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Baltimore.  We need to run into the city, where it’s more expensive and where the crime is higher but the opportunities are greater.  We need to leave the comforts of the suburbs filled with people who look like us and speak our language.

I am absolutely sold out to the local church.  I am absolutely convinced that church planting needs to be our focus.  And I believe that we must focus on the cities.

The book of Philippians is Paul’s letter to the church and leaders in Philippi, the first church established in Europe.  This church was generous to Paul and had sent someone to check on him. Paul wrote to update, teach and encourage this church.

In chapter one, Paul says that everything that had happened to him, specifically his imprisonment in Rome, happened to bring glory to God and advance the gospel.  Glory and Gospel are the reasons we’re here.  Paul doesn’t focus on his circumstances and hardships – He realizes that his prison is an opportunity.  As a result, the whole Roman guard heard about Jesus Christ.

In addition to bringing glory to God, we’re here to advance the Gospel, to forge new trails and take the message of Christ where it’s never been. This means that everyone who claims to be a Christian is in full-time ministry.  There’s no such thing as a part-time Christian, and if you’re a Christ-follower, you are an employee of Jesus.

As a church, we must get back to the business at hand.  Four years ago, our original team had a sense of holy desperation that has worn off.  WWe’ve got AC units to fix and big church problems.  But if we don’t refocus on advancing the gospel, then we will level out in mediocrity and stop making an impact.  I don’t want to settle in and be comfortable…I want to ADVANCE the gospel, not settle down.  Everybody connected to our church needs to be all about giving glory to Jesus and advancing the gospel.

Paul arranged his life around the gospel, not the other way around.  He didn’t try to tack on faith to an already busy schedule.  His calling was fused to his life, so much so that he said, “For me to live is Christ.”  If Christians would put Christ as the center of their lives instead of relegating Him to an hour on Sunday, then the world would be changed.

Tomorrow, I’ll blog about some ways that we can do this on a practical level.

A couple of days ago, I wrote something on twitter that went something like this.  “I’m over begging people to serve.  The church is important.  Jump in or get out the way.”  A few people asked what made me angry, so I thought I would clarify.  I’m not angry at all…just fired up about our mission and what is ahead.

When we were on staff advance (our entire staff spends a few days together in the summer planning the upcoming year), we talked through the volunteer leaders in each ministry.  We talked about what new people needed to get involved.  It was sad when we identified an amazing leader, gifted to serve, but we knew they wouldn’t get involved because they won’t commit to the church.  Keep in mind that it has nothing to do with them helping us, but everything to do with them making a difference for Christ.  I am fired up about the future of Oak Leaf Church.

I sometimes here statements like, “Jill would be amazing at this, but she’s really committed at the gym and doesn’t have time.”  Or maybe, “John is perfect, but he works so much and then he’s got dirt bikes.”  Please understand that I am not minimizing work or hobbies, but I am saying that we need to move the church ahead of our hobbies.  I’m saying that these things are sad excuses for a life not lived to advance the Gospel.  Church should not be the thing that we “fit in.” Church is not a side-project or a weekend time-filler; it’s God’s plan for spreading the Gospel.  If you’re a Christian, you have a duty and a privilege to get involved.  I’m not going to cajole you into volunteering, or coddle you when you get there.  I’m not the chief babysitter or hand-holder.  We are an army with a mission, and we’ve got a job to do that’s more important than mowing the grass or getting the kids to football camp.

I promise you that 500 years from now it’s not going to matter what kind of motorcycle you had or how much you could bench press or whether you grew beans in your garden.  It’s not going to mattter how much freebird you played on your guitar down at the local pub or how cool your new shoes are.  You don’t have to serve.  Just please leave the lame “too busy” excuses away.  Be honest and tell me that the other stuff is more important.

A few months ago, I taught about the importance of church and the value of church membership. If you missed that sermon, you can watch it right here. In that message, I talked about the way we would do membership in our church, built on the belief that the local church is more important than may of us may realize.

In Matthew 16, Jesus told Peter that He would build His church. Jesus didn’t say he would build a non-profit organization, or a worship band, or a publishing company, or a social ministry…He set out to build the church. And in the book of Acts, we watch that happen. Jesus so closely identified with the church that when Saul was persecuting Christians, Jesus said said he was persecuting Him. The book of Ephesians describes Jesus as the head of the church as us as the members of the body.

In the Old Testament, God’s glory was displayed through the Tabernacle and later the temple. In the New Testament, it was displayed through the person and work of Jesus Christ. The book of Ephesians tells us that God’s glory is now on display in the local church!

In other words, church is important. Church participation is important. The church living and being on mission is important. And church membership is important.

I know that church membership can be confusing, but at it’s core, it’s about identifying with God’s people and being a visible part of God’s mission. That’s why membership is important at Oak Leaf Church.

If you have previously attended a partnership event but haven’t gone through the new membership process, I want to invite you to do that. You can start the entire process online. There are a series of videos and a few things to read, as well as a membership application. After you fill that out, one of our pastors will get in tough with you. The final step is a covenant, which formalizes what already should be happening.

If you’ve got any questions, leave me a comment or get it touch with Jody. We are excited and honored to be on mission for God in Cartersville and Canton, and we believe that God has a unique and divine purpose for our church.

from The Church and the Surprising Offense of God’s Love, by Jonathan Leeman

[Many] song lyrics present an opportunity to mediate on God’s love for sinners (“when I survey the wondrous cross, on which the prince of glory died”) but on repeated expressions of the sinner’s love for God (“I could sing of Your love forever…”). Both kinds of expressions are biblical, but the latter must always be a response to the former.

What do you think? Does the contemporary church focus too much on our expression of love to God in worship to the neglect of God’s nature and deeds?