Excellence - Part 2

The Bible calls Christians to live in pursuit of excellence.   Notice these familiar passages:

• 1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Or

• Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.

And this does not just mean in our work and around the home, the Bible does call for us to attend to our ministry with excellence.   Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain."   That word "abounding" is important.  A.H. Strong identifies the word from the Greek περισσεύω [perisseuo /per·is·syoo·o/].^[1]  He explains it as:

• to exceed a fixed number of measure, to be left over and above a certain number or measure.
•  to excel … excel more than, exceed.
•  to make abundant or excellent.

Our lives including our ministries ought to show evidence of excelling … going over the top!    When Paul was giving instruction to us protégé, Timothy, he counseled him this way: “Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15, ESV) .  The verb form of the word that Paul uses here (προκοπή [prokope /prok·op·ay/]) means to hammer out.   It was used as a metal worker would heat metal and hammer it out increasing and shaping its size.   Paul told Timothy that as he attended to his ministry that it should be obvious that he was growing and progressing. 

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^[1] Strong, J. (2001). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

Excellence - Part 1

Perhaps when a church introduces things like standards, training, expectations or evaluations it reminds people of jobs or families where results were preeminent and people didn't matter.   That is a valid concern.  Let me clarify, then, what I mean.  When I suggest that we as members of Christ's church should pursue excellence, I am suggesting that:

#1.  Excellence is not something that is competitive.  In other words my desire to be a better at  ________ is not to make you look bad.

#2.  Excellence is not simply related to so-called important things.  In other words to be a person of excellence is not saying I get to be excellent in this and the rest doesn't matter.  Excellence and integrity go hand in hand. 

#3.  Excellence is not simply a legal thing.   What do I mean by that?   It not enough that we make choices of right or wrong.  Even within right choices there are choices that are more excellent than others. 

#4. Excellence is not simply a mechanical thing.  In other words you could be skilled in something and not be excellent.  

#5.  Excellence is not a cleverness thing.  To be excellent is far more than being talented, gifted or successful.

#6.  Excellence is not perfection.  Edwin Bliss once said, "The pursuit of excellence is gratifying and healthy. The pursuit of perfection is frustrating, neurotic, and a terrible waste of time."  I'm not sure I agree with him totally, but this I know: seeking to do better is possible in this world;  seeking to do it perfectly is not.

So let's define excellence.   To be excellent means to "go over the top".     The words excel, surpass, exceed, transcend, outdo, outstrip all suggest the concept of going beyond a limit or standard.   

But it's more than that ......

I Can't Fall! Can I?

One of the favorite sports of Christian writers is to beat up on the disciples of Jesus.  They were untaught.  They were rude.  They were self-centered.  This is all true.  I don't mean to precipitate further abuse, but there is an occasion when I am captivated by their attitude.  They were celebrating Passover.  And in Matthew 26:21 (ESV) we read: "And as they were eating, he [Jesus] said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 

To a man, each one asked the Lord, "ἐγώ εἰμι, κύριε (Is it I)?"   Now that is an unfortunate rendering in our English Bibles.  In the original language, the question Lord, is it I? suggests that a negative answer was cautiously expected by each one, “It is not I, is it?” [1].  

There is something in us as humans that thinks better of ourselves than we ought.  “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12, ESV).  I am still riddled by arrogance and self-centeredness (just like the Twelve); and there is a weakness in me that often thinks, "That can't happen to me."   The years of marriage and parenting along with the journey as a follower of Christ are slowing showing me that it can happen to me.  I can fall.  I can act disloyal to my Savior.  I can, at least for a moment, betray Him.   Yet I'm still surprised.  "Not me!?!?"

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1.  KJV Bible Commentary. 1994 (E. E. Hindson & W. M. Kroll, Ed.) (1953). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

 

Should you pick the dead heads off the petunia?

My wife has left me.  No, not permanently.  While she is reminiscing with extended family I have the formidable task of removing dead heads.  Now the question is why?  The main reason to deadhead is to make the plant flower again. Plants will continue to flower if the flowers are removed before they create seeds. Then again, if you want more plants then you should leave the deadheads on.  So in the immortal words of Hamlet: "To deadhead or not deadhead, that is the question?"

To frame the question in another way: "Is the goal of the plant to reproduce, or is the goal to look pretty?"   I would argue from Scripture the former.  No, I'm not going to hit my wife over the head with the Good Book in support of my delinquent deadheading.  She likes pretty.  I like pretty.  But as a Christian pastor I am struck by this apparent dichotomy. 

Yes, sometimes we followers of Jesus can become obsessed with looking pretty instead of reproducing.  If my experience counts for anything, reproducing isn't pretty. Sometimes its hard work.  Sometimes its discouraging.  Sometimes its oppositional.  But when it happens; now that's pretty.  The reason it is hard is because we are called to do something (reproduce) what only God can do (regenerate).  I find that difficult sometimes because God seems to be on a very different timetable than I'm on. 

Now please don't mention patience 'cause that reminds me of flowers; and flowers remind me of petunias.  Excuse me I have to go back to deadheading.

Give Me A Sign

There are some topics that really frustrate me.  One that nearly tops the list is "knowing God's will."  After 30 years of following Christ I have to confess that I am somewhat like that proverbial ship tossed to and fro.  However I think I can say that the ship isn't nearly as topsy turvy as it used to be.   This week I was reading the biographies of George Muller.  Although I think there is better advice out there, I do think that Muller's approach deserves consideration.
Note the comments of this biographer [1]:

"Many asked Mr. Muller how he sought to know the will of God, in that nothing was undertaken, not even the smallest expenditure, without feeling certain he was in God’s will. In the following words he gave his answer:

1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord’s will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impressions. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through or in connection with the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great
delusions also.

4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These plainly indicate God’s will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5. 1 ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

6. Thus through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is thus at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters and in transactions involving most important issues, I have found this method always effective.”

By the way, do you want to know my opinion who nails this topic?  Glad you asked!  Check out Dr. John MacArthur's message HERE.   Just a thought !!!!

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1. Miller, Basil, George Muller, A Man of Faith and Miracles, Zondervan Pub., 1941

We Cannot Lose God's Presence : We Can Lose God's Presence

The story of Jonah and the so-called whale is a Sunday School legend.  No I don't mean it's not true, I mean that almost every kid who ever went to church has heard the story.  It is a great story of sovereignty and mercy.   We of course remember that the account starts off with God calling his prophet, Jonah, to go and preach to that wicked city of Nineveh.  Then early in the story the stage is set for the real drama.  It's found in verse 3 of the first chapter:

“But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.” (Jonah 1:3, ESV) 

I suspect that I'm being a little particular, but did you notice the storyline that is established for us.  Jonah did not flee from Nineveh.  He did not flee from the calling, per se.  Jonah was fleeing from God -- from the "presence of God"  The same idea is conveyed in verse 10:

“Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.” (Jonah 1:10, ESV)

What astounded me in this story is that when Jonah got on the boat he found a nice place to have a nap.  He was asleep.  Untroubled, undisturbed and asleep!  Having left the "presence of God" he went to sleep.  I immediately thought of another Old Testament character: Samson.  In his rebellion we note that the inspired writer says in Judges 16:20 (ESV) 

²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him."

 He too was asleep in the arms of "rebellion" yet was unaware that God had left him.  It is certainly true that God is everywhere.  Because God is present even “in the uttermost parts of the sea” (Ps. 139:9), escape is impossible from His "universal" presence.   For the Christian, God's presence is even more intimate than that for by His Spirit He is forever with us (e.g. John 14:17).  But there is a "manifest" presence of God.  It is a presence of empowerment.  It is a presence of blessing.  When Joseph was in Egypt we read that “His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands.” (Genesis 39:3, ESV).   There is a favor and honor that the Lord gives and takes away, even from His servants.  Thus David could cry: “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.” (Psalm 51:11, ESV).

Sadly when we are living in sin and rebellion, even as God's children, we cannot lose God's omnipresence; nor will we lose His merciful presence; but we can lose His manifest presence.  We can lose His empowerment, favor and blessing.  Sadly, biblical evidence shows that it can happen so subtly that we are not aware of it. 

God intentionally uses the weak and the ill-equipped

I don't think Christ has read the current manuals on church growth.  Dr. John Maxwell, one of the modern gurus of the Church Growth Movement quotes Peter Drucker who said, "The great mystery isn’t that people do things badly but that they occasionally do a few things well. They only thing that is universal is incompetence. Strength is always specific! Nobody ever commented, for example, that the great violinist Jascha Heifetz probably couldn’t play the trumpet well."  Maxwell goes on and comments: "The more specific you can get about your strengths, the better the chance you can find your 'sweet spot." This is totally antithetical to the teaching of Christ and His Apostles. 

 
      When Christ told the disciples to feed the crowd in Mark 6: 30ff; and they obviously said we don't have enough, He simply asked, "What do you have?  How many loaves do you have?"  Now Christ could have fed the crowd apart from these loaves.  He did that for years with Israel in the dessert.  But Christ often chooses the weak and small over the successful and dominant.  Notice this: 

• 1Corinthians 1:27 (ESV) ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 
•  2 Corinthians 12:8–9 (ESV) ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
•  2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV) ⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.