God never wastes anything in our biography. That is grace

I love the stories of Biblical characters because in them we find God’s grace in action. They are real, often gritty, have issues, failures and questions but God uses them in amazing ways. One such story is that of Moses, one of the towering figures in the Old Testament and one of the most ordinary of human beings to ever live. That his ordinariness could be used in extraordinary ways is all grace! The kind of grace that God extends to every one of us.

You remember the setting well. Pharaoh is fearful that the Israelites are becoming too numerous so he subjugates them to a life of slavery. In addition, he tells the midwives to kill all the male babies that are born to keep the population down. Their response is to claim that the babies are born before they can get there and refuse to carry out his order. So Moses is born, put in a reed basket and just happens to be found by Pharaoh’s daughter and just happens to become an adopted member of their family. The child born to be a slave is instead raised in a Palace.

Now that may sound like a good deal to us but it caused all kinds of issues for Moses. He knew who he actually was. He knew he did not deserve the palace. He knew he was now living in a family that was keeping his own people in subjugation. He knew that he should do something but didn't know what or how until one day when he was forty he took matters into his own hands, killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and had to run for his life.

Think about Moses situation. He had identity issues. He had anger issues. He was a felon on the run from the law. His life should have been one of slavery but it was the palace instead. Now he has lost everything and is a homeless guy. He had a deep sense of righteousness and justice but it all went wrong. If there was Prozac back in the day, Moses would have been on it. If there was anger management class back in the day Moses would be in it. This was not how life was meant to turn out.

Have you ever felt that way? Life didn't turn out the way it was supposed to? Life isn't fair? Did you ever think when you were young that you would still be struggling with the stuff you struggle with today? I thought when I grew up, that stuff would be gone but like Moses, we still carry a lot of issues around. Like him, we are profoundly human and profoundly flawed by sin. Like him our desire for justice and righteousness is often disappointed.  We know we are on God’s side of many issues but we still end up with the short straw like Moses did. And like him we wonder why.

Moses had every right to wonder where God was in this equation, just as we do. What he could not see and what we often don’t see is that God is not limited by our failures, sin or situation. In fact, he is the only one who can take every failure, setback, and situation and redeem it for his purposes. That is grace. That is God.

Life is not the series of random events that it often seems to be. In each of our lives there is an unseen hand that is weaving a tapestry that on the back side which we see is jumbled and messy and hard to figure out but on the front side which we will see in eternity is beautiful and exquisitely woven, the colors perfect, the lines impeccable. We see the back side in all of its chaos but God sees the front in all of its beauty. That was what God was doing in Moses’s life and that is what he is doing in our lives.

Think about Moses biography: It was the very biography that would enable him to carry out his greatest assignment, the deliverance of his people from Egypt. His palace experience gave him insight into how to deal with the Pharaoh. His experience with injustice gave him empathy for his people. His failures made him rely on God rather than on himself.  In every way, his biography became the foundation for what God eventually called him to do.

What Moses did not realize was that God was going to take his whole biography, his birth that should have been death, his palace experience and training, his sense of injustice at the Egyptians and even his profound sense of inadequacy and use it for his purposes to bring the people out of Egypt.

Consider your journey and your biography. I am sure it did not go as you thought. I am sure that like me you have regrets. I am sure we have all experienced pain. But remember this. It is the grace of God that none of our biography is ever wasted. God takes it all and redeems it all for his purposes. That is grace. That is our God.

Would you come back to this church?

Lots of strange things happen in church. Check this out. It is not the way to win friends and influence people!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSJt-LHMNRY&feature=youtu.be

We will handle the beatings! Persecution in Khartoum

Guest Blogger

Kevin Kompelien

ReachGlobal Africa International Leader

In my role as ReachGlobal Africa International Leader I have been privileged to meet some amazing indigenous leaders and to see God do extraordinary things in the face of very difficult opposition to the Gospel. Many of these leaders are unknown to the world, but are heroes of the faith to me. In the following article from the ALARM August newsletter, Celestin Musekura, President & CEO of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM), shares a powerful story of some of these modern day heroes of the faith.

In July I spent three days in Khartoum, and one afternoon I sat in the home of a fellow pastor who’d been tortured and persecuted for training and empowering the Christian community to preach the message of forgiveness and reconciliation. “How are you doing?” I asked him. “I am healing well,” he said, while lifting his shirt and showing me fresh scars on his back and chest. “My chest still gives me pain in the night, but I am at peace and thank God for the privilege of serving him.”

“How is your family?” I asked, trying to hide my tears but unable to disguise the emotion in my voice. “My wife and boy are scared, but we are committed to staying here.” 

That evening I met a dozen pastors and church leaders, some of whom have endured humiliation and persecution and yet are still asking for more training so they can be effective in their ministries. As one of them said, “The more we are persecuted and tortured, the more our torturers hear the Gospel. If this is the only way for them to hear and see the Gospel in us, then let us get our bodies strong and our minds equipped with biblical truths.” When I asked how ALARM partners and the American Church can help, one of the leaders said with a big smile, “Feed our bodies, feed our minds, and encourage our hearts. We will handle the beatings.”

How do we respond to stories like this? Do we feel bad, shed a tear, and then go on with our lives or do we commit ourselves to pray and seek ways that we can come alongside these brothers and sisters as they stand on the front line for the Gospel? Complacency is not an option for us! These are our brothers and sisters. We must honor them, cry out to the Lord on their behalf, and ask Jesus how we can come alongside them.

Is your church introverted or extroverted?

It is an interesting question but one that goes to the heart of whether a congregation is friendly to outsiders or not. 

Introverted churches are inward focused and people find it hard to break into the close knit "family." To outsiders they can feel very unfriendly. Usually they are full of programs for their own people and often keep their congregation busy through that programming. They also have few conversions and tend to be wary of too much relationship with the "world."

Extroverted churches on the other hand are easy for new people to break into. In fact they are immediately welcomed and embraced. Their programming is aimed at both current attenders and the community. They are intentional at encouraging friendships with unbelievers in the community and welcoming them into groups of believers in the church. They tend to see a high level of conversions.

As members of a congregation we are so comfortable with our church family that we don't even think about how outsiders experience our congregation. It is worth asking folks who are new how they felt as they visited. I don't know if Jesus was an introvert or extrovert but I do know that almost everyone felt comfortable in His presence. What about your church?

The irony of influence and the three necessary ingredients

Many of us desire to influence others and many of us do. But there is an irony wrapped up in the influence equation. The harder one works to influence others the less influence one often has. The more we simply become the people God wants us to be the more influence we often have. Greater influence comes out of a spirit of humility than a spirit of pride and arrogance.

Over the years I have watched Christian leaders who thought they were something and conveyed their sense of wisdom, answers and vision - crash and burn and leave little behind. I have watched others who served and spoke with humility and focused on Christ deeply impact others around them. While the first group wanted influence their self focus and pride robbed them of it in the end. The second group didn't crave the spotlight but their lives ended up impacting many around them.

To have a life of real influence three things are necessary. First, a spirit of humility that understands that life is not about us but about Jesus. The more we focus on him rather than on us, the more influence we will have.

Second, those with influence are deep thinkers who align their thinking, lives and relationships with Jesus. The more they become like Him, the more that likeness rubs off on others around them inadvertently in a quiet but profound way.

Third, those with influence live generous lives. They actively help others in whatever way they can and give themselves away like Jesus did. As people experience that kind of relationship they cannot go away the same.

These three marks of people of influence are the opposite of how the world would define influence which is usually power and pride. But then, Jesus didn't buy into the world's system but taught and modeled a radically different way of life.

Why the need to know everything becomes a barrier to growth

Many leaders believe that they need to know everything that is happening in their organization or on their team. It is usually a mistake! Why? Because it normally means that the leader is not empowering others to lead. In addition as a ministry grows there is no way that leaders will know everything that is happening.

While knowing everything works in a small ministry it becomes a bottleneck in a large ministry. In addition, those who need to know everything also need to control everything which means that they have not empowered others and that the more they know the more they meddle. 

I know pastors who operate this way in churchs of 1,000+ and it is deeply demotivating to staff who are unempowered every time they need permission to move forward or when their work is reworked by the senior leader. His goal may be to protect the ministry but it is the wrong way to accomplish that. You protect the ministry by having great clarity and the right leaders. 

My own rule is that I need to know what it is necessary for me to know, not all that I could know. I expect leaders in the organization (in my case at senior leadership levels) to tell me what I need to know. This includes major initiatives, where we are seeing significant results, significant challenges they are encountering and when things go wrong, a heads up.

What I really need to know is that I have the right leaders in place and that they have great clarity as to what the organization is about. If that is true, I can trust those leaders to lead well, deal with situations wisely and drive the missional agenda in a disciplined way. Knowing I have the right people is far more important than knowing everything that is happening. If I need to know the latter it is because I don't have the right people. If I know the former I don't need to know the latter.

Just because something sounds spiritual does not mean that it is or that it is wise

I am always amused or bemused by folks who parse Scripture so closely to come up with non-negotiables that sound deeply spiritual but are in fact deeply counter productive.

Take a church board I have been watching recently where every decision must be made unanimously because that is what God would want. Really? First off, the New Testament calls to unity have nothing to do with how boards make decisions. Second, even the leaders in the New Testament did not always agree. Third, such a practice means that one individual can hold up an entire board and church because unanimity is required.

However spiritual it sounds, it makes for dysfunctional boards and decision making. And in practice, the board I have been watching has made some terrible decisions and has been unable to get its act together precisely because everything must be unanimous. What you end up with are decisions at the lowest denominator that can be negotiated or a board with a few dominant voices with the rest being “yes” people. It is actually one of the most unhealthy ways to make decisions because it puts tremendous pressure on those who might disagree to come to agreement. After all unless they do, there is no way forward.

Or take the practice where all pastors must be on the board because they are elders. It sounds spiritual but in practice it makes it nearly impossible for the senior leader to exercise leadership and authority over his staff - who by virtue of being board members - are also his bosses.  Periodically I receive calls from senior pastors who wonder how to get at issues with a staff member who is also a member of his board. Good question! This practice also confuses management (what staff do) with governance (what boards do). This spiritual sounding practice almost never works in the long run.

Then there are those churches who have a policy that they will never borrow money because of a rigid reading of one verse in the New Testament that does not speak to that issue clearly anyway. For some reason it is OK to borrow money to purchase a house but not build a church. Now a congregation may choose to build debt free but that is a choice not a requirement dictated by Scripture.

The next time you hear something that sounds spiritual but which causes complications ask yourself the question: Is it really a biblical mandate or it is someone’s personal preference that they have couched in spiritual language and with Biblical texts that do not in fact require a certain practice. Usually it has to do with someone wanting their own way and exercising control. The opposite of what is truly spiritual which is a willingness to abide by the decisions of the group.