Saturate Your Minds!

A couple weeks ago I started a new sermon series at church through the book of Colossians. If you are interested, you can find the sermons here.   This past Sunday we spent some time looking carefully at 1:9-14, which is the second part of Paul's prayer for the believers in the church at Colossae. His prayer request for them is clear: "to be filled with the knowledge of His will..." In the context, Paul thinks of God's will not in an individualistic sense, like some sort of personal itinerary for our lives, but in a redemptive sense. God's will is that sinners will come to Christ, that through Christ God will reconcile all things to Himself (1:20). In other words, you can substitute the phrase "God's will" for the word "gospel" to get the sense of the verse.

Paul is praying that believers will be filled will knowledge concerning the gospel, concerning God's redemptive work in the world. This knowledge is not just fact; it is a personal encounter with truth. It is something you know and feel, something that informs you and moves you.

The word "filled" can mean "to saturate," so I take Paul's request to mean that we are to saturate our minds in the truth of the gospel. We are to constantly be meditating on, studying, pondering and considering the good news of Jesus Christ. We will never get to the bottom of the well of gospel truth. The gospel is like a multi-faceted jewel; the more you turn it and study it, the more you realize there is so much more to know.

I challenged our folks to saturate their minds in the gospel. But how does that happen? The answer is rather simple--by exposing our minds to the gospel. We do that by reading and studying the Bible rightly, not by looking for life principles to make life work better, not by making the characters of the Bible heroes for us to emulate, and not by searching for secret mysteries that take us to deeper levels of spirituality. The Bible has one overarching story that it tells from Genesis to Revelation, and that story is about how the God of the Bible redeems sinners through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ. In other words, the Bible is all about the person and work of Jesus, or the gospel.

So, if we are going to saturate our minds in the gospel then we are going to have to give ourselves to the reading and studying of Scripture. This should happen both individually and communally. We need to cultivate the discipline of personal Bible study, but we also need to make sure that we are reading and studying the Bible in the context of our faith community. This means we should sit under the preaching of the Word when the saints gather to worship, and we should be connected to a small group where the Bible is studied.

But we also need to give ourselves to reading good books that encourage us in the gospel. For a couple thousand years now, Christians have been writing books to help their brothers and sisters enjoy and savor the richness of the gospel. All of us can make time to read and study good gospel books for our edification and sanctification. We live among a thousand distractions, and we waste a lot of time watching TV, surfing the internet, or searching through social media. If we are going to saturate our  minds in the gospel, then we are going to have to make time to read gospel rich books, and thankfully there are many to choose from. In a future blog post I will list some that I recommend.

Sadly, the Christian community has also produced some really terrible books that actually twist the gospel, minimize it, ignore it, or flat out deny it. Let me end this blog post by pointing you to another blog that will be helpful to you as you think about reading good gospel books. Here is the video:

Unity doesn't mean Uniformity and Disagreement doesn't mean Division

One of the greatest blessings in my life over the last 10 years has been the close, encouraging relationships that God has given me with other pastors in my town. The past few days I have had the opportunity to enjoy several conversations and interactions with many of my pastor friends, and it has been very refreshing for me.

Sadly, years ago, before I began my ministry in my current church, I was influenced to see other churches and pastors as competitors instead of co-laborers in the Kingdom. I thought I was to celebrate when people joined my church from other local churches, as if I was better or had won some sort of victory over my enemy. If a church in town was struggling, I was encouraged to see that as an opportunity to get some of those folks in my church, instead of praying for that church to heal and be revived. We were taught to "smell blood in the water" and to act accordingly. After all, the bigger the church the more proof that God is at work, right? At least, that is what I thought.

But that was a long time ago, and by God’s grace I no longer think that way. Today my best friends are many of those who pastor other churches in my town, and even are a part of different denominations and have different doctrinal beliefs about secondary issues. We pray together, laugh together, and serve together. We have cried together, shared our burdens and struggles, and walked with each other through the highs and the lows of life and ministry. We even argue and have theological debates from time to time. I have turned to them for advice when I was stuck or confused. I have entrusted the burdens of my heart to them when I was in a crisis, and the only way I could do that was because I trusted them, and I knew that they loved me and would not use my struggle for their gain. And likewise, my brothers have shared those things with me. There is a sweet unity among most of my pastor brothers and among the churches of my town that I have not experienced in any other place that I have served. 

That's why a couple of Sundays ago it was a genuine joy for us as a congregation to fervently pray for the gospel success of not only our local church family, but for the other churches in our town as well. It's why in a couple of weeks over 15 different churches will partner together to reach out to our community with the gospel of Christ in a community-wide outreach event, as well as something called Unite Tonight, which is a youth outreach event with multiple different churches partnering to pull it off. It's why we are able to share resources, hold each other accountable, and enjoy meals together for no other reason than we love one another and truly want THE Church, not only our church, to saturate our town with the gospel of Jesus.

Several days ago I was chatting with a fellow pastor and I shared with him that I was thankful for his church and ministry, which is much different than the one I’m a part of. He asked me if I really meant that. Of course! Not only that, our town needs 50 more churches if we are going to reach our community with the gospel. And if 50 guys moved to town to plant churches, we would pray for them as well, that they would have great gospel fruit in our town, and we would thank God for expanding the gospel witness in our little corner of the world.

Now, don’t misunderstand me. Theology, doctrine, and biblical interpretation are important, and there are some significant differences among us. I happen to think that some of those difference matter a lot, and I also think it is healthy and helpful to talk about them. Sometimes those differences are going to be sharp among believers. But—and this is the thing that I’ve learned—unity doesn't mean uniformity and disagreement doesn't mean division.

I praise the Lord for putting some strong, loving, gospel brothers and fellow pastors in my life as a reminder of the power of the gospel to unify us in the mission. In spite of our differences, I don’t know a single pastor who has made denominational affiliation a test of fellowship. Or a worship style. Or a secondary doctrinal issue. I praise God for this, and I believe this is a much more powerful witness to the gospel in our community than some might believe.

Let me encourage you to pray for your local church, that they would be a gospel-preaching and gospel-going people. Pray that your pastor would long to be a co-laborer instead of a competitor, and that he would have encouraging relationships with the other pastors in his town. And while you are at it, as you drive around your town, every time you pass a church pray for them. Pray for the pastor and the people, and ask the Lord to use that flock to advance the gospel in your town. When you meet a new or old friend for lunch, and the subject of church comes up, don’t say, “You really need to come to my church…we love it!” Instead say, “I’m thankful you are being used of the Lord to advance the Kingdom through your local church. Isn’t it awesome that even though we are different, we are unified in the mission?”

How good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity (Psalm 133:1). Yes, it is.

How to "Rescue" Your Church

I am in the process of cleaning out a ton of junk that I have horded in my office for the past 10 years. There are two file cabinets full of folders that are full of paper that I haven't looked at for a decade, so I'm sorting through it all and throwing away most of it. But, there are a few things I'm interested in keeping, so I have been scanning a lot of these things/articles/sermons into my Evernote account.

Anyway, I came across a blog post that I printed out and kept from 2012. It was entitled "How to rescue your church in three weeks," and was written by a pastor from Nashville, TN. There are times in the church, whether you are a pastor or a member, that things may seem different or difficult in how the church functions, communicates, or makes decisions. The more people that are connected means the more opportunity there is ministry and mission, but also for misunderstanding. Sadly, there are a lot of churches that go through a season of conflict or discontent--not over gospel proclamation, doctrine, or doing more in the mission, but over personal preferences. There are times when we interpret our desire to see our personal preferences met as a "rescue mission." Some might actually believe that the church is going to die or be greatly hurt if things are not handled the way they would like them to be handled.

I thought I would share the article with you in it's entirety. These are not my own words (although I added a few here and there), but there is some wisdom here for all of us:

So, how does one go about "rescuing" their church in three weeks?

Week One:

Walk into your church this Sunday and think about how long you've been a member, how much you've sacrificed, and how under-appreciated you are. Take note of every way you are dissatisfied with your church now--from the music, the sermon, the way decisions are made and communicated, and any other thing that bothers you. Take note of every person, especially any of the leadership, who displeases you in some way. Take note of all the new people whose presence is changing your church. Especially note how things have changed from "the way it used to be."

Meet for coffee next week with another member and "share your heart." Discuss how much the church has changed, and how you (and you are certain that others) are feeling left out and disconnected. Ask your friend if they resonate with this, and if they or other members might have the same "concerns." Agree together that you must "pray about it."

Week Two:

Send an email to a few other "concerned" members that you have identified. Inform them that a growing sense of unhappiness and grievance seems to be occurring among many members in the church. It appears that many problems have either been ignored or unaddressed for too long. Ask them to keep the matter to themselves for "the sake of the body."

As complaints come in, form them into a petition to demand an accounting from the leaders of the church. Circulate the petition quietly. Gathering support will be easy. Even happy members can be used if you appeal to their sense of unfairness--that your side at least deserves a hearing. Be sure to proceed in a way that is affirmed by the governing documents of the church so that you will be procedurally correct.

Week Three:

When the growing concern reaches critical mass, confront the pastor(s)/leaders with your demands. Inform them of the woundedness in the church, which leaves you no choice but to put your petition forward. Inform them that, for the sake of reconciliation, the concerns of the body must be satisfied. Be sure to indicate that too much is at stake for this to be ignored. A subtle, kind threat will usually get their attention to your concerns.

Whatever happens from this point on, you have won. You have changed the subject in your church from gospel advance to your own negativity and personal preference. To some degree, you will get your way. Your church will need some measure of time to recover--it could take months or years. But at any future time, you can do it again and keep your church exactly where you want it. It only takes three weeks.