Rejection by those you hope to disciple is hard to experience and makes it difficult to move forward in the Lord’s work. Jesus knew this firsthand when He began teaching the disciples about making Him their first priority in John 6:53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” Because they missed the spiritual import of this statement, “many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him” (6:66). Paul knew the same rejection. “Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me” (2 Timothy 4:10). Both of these cases were very personal, which inflicted a deeper hurt. This was different from a whole nation turning their back on the gospel because there had not been the personal investment. I want to issue a warning against holding expectations too tightly and not leaving your work in the Lord’s hands. Our anchor must be in the Lord and the truth of His Word, not in people. Peter compares our lives with “All flesh is like grass and its glory like the flower of grass, the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:24). Hold firmly to God’s Word, irrespective of what people may or may not do.
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Ministry is not an easy pursuit, especially when you seek to remain faithful to the Word of God. There will be a multitude of ways Satan will launch his arrows and roar against faithfulness. “Resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Peter 5:9). How do I follow Peter’s exhortation? Consider the points listed below as some of the ways we overcome attacks:
As most of you who follow this ministry and blog know, we are committed to faithfully presenting Paul’s method of ministry (evangelizing, establishing, equipping, and expansion). In seeking to hold to and teach biblical principles, it may seem that we are confronting old traditions and forms that you and others have held to for generations. It is not us who confront, but the Word of truth. Paul was in the same position as we find ourselves today. Even in his first letter where he confronts those who were teaching a different gospel, he says, “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” (Galatians 4:16). Just before this verse, Paul testifies that they received him “as an angel” and “would have gouged out [their] eyes” for him. What caused this difference? As Paul points out in verse 17, there were influences (people) that put pressure on these believers to follow a man-made gospel that puffed up man rather than a gospel that exalted the Lord Jesus. This danger will not be recognized unless we are spiritually in tune with the Spirit, because He is always working to glorify Christ (John 16:14). If it seems that we are adamant about RETURNING TO THE SCRIPTURE as the only means of success for the church, it is because we too are deeply committed to glorifying our Head, Jesus Christ and holding to the pure gospel. Please tune in tomorrow. There is another aspect of this I want to present from Galatians 4. By God’s grace, we seek to draw leaders of the church into a biblical understanding of their role and the character qualities that are essential for effective leadership. Part of this training is learning to follow Paul’s model. Since I mentioned prayer yesterday, I want to point out one of the ways Paul modeled prayer. He spent time with the Ephesian elders; living with them, “serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials” (Acts 20:19). There were many other critical teaching points in this chapter, but I want to draw your attention to the way he left them. “And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all” (20:36). I can assure you that this was not just a farewell prayer, but Paul was setting an example for them to follow – becoming praying men! He would have expressed deep concern for their spiritual progress and protection. There is a severe misunderstanding today of the importance and centrality of prayer in the life of a leader. As Leonard Ravenhill points out, we often select leaders based on their “standing” in the community or among members in the church. “In the New Testament church, they were “men of kneeling” – praying men.” What are you promoting among leaders by your example? Leonard Ravenhill, Revival God’s Way, A Message for the Church, Bethany House, 2006, page 24. I am deeply challenged by what I am writing in this blog. One of the four devotions the Early Church committed themselves to was prayer (Acts 2:42). This devotion started in Chapter 1 before the Holy Spirit came. After he came, there was a manifestation of power the disciples and apostles had never seen before because they were asking for things they had never asked before in prayer. In the face of opposition and persecution, they asked; “Lord…grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness…And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (4:29, 31). Notice that their request was not for personal needs, but for the spread of God’s Word. When we start putting our emphasis on what matters more to God with eternal consequences, we will also sense a unity in the Spirit and immediate answers that transform lives into powerful messengers of the gospel. NOTHING WILL BE ABLE TO STOP THE POWER OF GOD IN SUCH PERSONS! NO PRAYER – NO POWER LITTLE PRAYER – LITTLE POWER MUCH PRAYER – MUCH POWER As the Lord brings challenges into my life and ministry, I am saddened with what seems to be “perpetual babyhood”. As I wrestled with the Lord over why we don’t see more maturity in the church, I turned to several Scriptures and Leonard Ravenhill’s book on revival. At first, I felt that my attitude was too critical – until I read Paul’s blunt words to Corinth. “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?” (1 Corinthians 3:1–3) In the words of Ravenhill, Paul “deplores the baby state of the Christians in Corinth.” Paul’s solution was to work toward “the building up of the body of Christ…to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-15). So many conflicts and weaknesses would be resolved immediately if we took Paul’s burden for the church seriously. Will you? Leonard Ravenhill, Revival God’s Way, A Message for the Church, Bethany House, 2006, page 23. Continuation on John 15:4. “The remarks that have been made (in previous blogs) are intended as general hints, but the only teacher of the true life of faith is Christ. Go to Him and ask Him to direct you. Christ is willing to make you just as meek, just as patient, and just as lovely as He is. If you desire it earnestly, if you desire it more than everything else, if you are willing to give up all beside for it, He will explain to you practically what is meant by “abiding in Him” and by His coming to make His abode with you. Then your Christian race will be full of love and joy; more like the free flight of a bird than the struggle of a captive. You will run with patience the race that is set before you, and know by blessed experience that “the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Hebrews 12:1; Nehemiah. 8:10).” Harriet Beecher Stowe (Edited by Sherman Driver) Continuation on John 15:4. “Remember, nothing that has the slightest bearing on your improvement and spiritual progress is insignificant to Christ. It is a fact that Christians are more impeded in their progress by little things than by great ones, because for great things they seek the strength of Christ and for little ones act on their own.
But if the little accidents of every day’s occurrence, the petty annoyances to which everyone is subjected, be sufficient to ruffle the temper and excite an unchristian spirit, they are to you matters of very serious moment and as such you must regard them. You cannot fully abide in Christ without attaching to such things the proper importance which shall lead you to bring them to Him with the same freedom that you feel in what you commonly call serious affairs. If you are conscious of peculiar and besetting faults [sins], remind yourself of those times in the life of Jesus which directly bearing on them. If you are irritable, examine all those occasions when He showed untiring patience; if you are proud, remember His humility; if you are worldly, reflect on His spirituality [or devotion[; if you are negligent and careless in duty, examine His incessant zeal and activity. Study them, understand them, keep them in memory, and pray to Him to infuse into you the same spirit.” There is nothing we face in by way of temptation in life that Jesus knows intimately (see Hebrews 4:15-16). Harriet Beecher Stowe (Edited by Sherman Driver) Continuation on John 15:4. “Some may say: “Truly this is a very delightful state of feeling, but how can we obtain it? How shall we begin?” We answer, just in the same way that a sinner begins the Christian life – by coming to the Savior and making a full, free, and hearty surrender of his body, soul, and spirit; fully resolved in the future to resign the whole to the Redeemer’s direction. And having made this general surrender, make it also in particular…to every circumstance of every day. Let us imagine a day spent on this principle. You awake in the morning, and commend yourself to Christ’s care for the day. The first temptation that besets you may lead you to a waste of time. Say immediately: “Lord, assist me in this temptation.” The next may be a temptation to be irritated. Cast yourself again on Christ for this. A few hours after, you may be tempted to censorious remarks on some neighbor. Cast yourself upon Jesus. A while after you may perhaps forget yourself and give utterance to some hasty or ill-judged expression. Turn instantly to Christ, confess your fault, and ask further help. If you find yourself beset with uncommon difficulties and temptations, and in danger of forgetting what manner of spirit you are of, steal from your occupation…for a few moments, and ask help of Jesus. A direction of great importance to one who would live this life, is this: in your sins, troubles and temptations, make no distinction between great and little things.” Harriet Beecher Stowe (Edited by Sherman Driver) |
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