Most of us are not....

J. S. Bach could compose complex counterpoint on after only hearing the melody one time;
...His “Musical Offering” was just that and a masterpiece of just some of his genius.

Most of us aren’t like Bach.

Mozart was touring as a young child and had composed his first opera at 12;
...He “copied” the music he heard in his mind directly on to the paper.

Most of us aren’t like Mozart. 

Isaac Watts was writing poetry and knew Latin, Hebrew, and Greek by the age of 13;
...Many of his most famous hymns were written while still a teenager.

Most of us aren’t like Watts. 

Fanny Crosby, blinded just a few weeks old memorized many entire books of the Bible and composed more than 6000 hymn texts.   Charles Wesley wrote over 9000.

Most of us aren’t like Crosby or Wesley. 

Most of us aren’t like those almost miraculous number of prodigies who seem to defy the laws of nature with their talents and abilities.  In fact, if everyone could do these things they would become so common that they would be no more noticeable than someone opening or closing a door. These “special” ones need the rest of us who are not so gifted so that their gifts are highlighted. This is not a “sour grapes” attitude, but a statement of fact.

What matters is our attitude and response to being “ordinary.” C. S. Lewis stated that there is no such thing as an “ordinary” human being. Something that will help us to re-focus and see things more from a biblical viewpoint.  Here are some thoughts toward that journey:

1. We are made in the image of God; there are no “ordinary” people.  At the same time, we are all sinners in need of and dependent on the grace and mercy of Almighty God.
2. Our purpose in life is to bring glory to God, not ourselves. When the artist notices that more people comment about the frame than the picture, he changes the frame.
3. Our worth comes from what God has done in us. Christ gives us true worth.
4. Any great thing we might accomplish will probably be forgotten soon after we are gone, if not before, so we must focus on those things that have everlasting value.
5. The greatest investment we can make is to allow God to remake us into the image of His Son in our thoughts, words, deeds, and all we are and focus our lives in making disciples by the power of the Holy Spirit for God’s glory.

Paul's admonition in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 is helpful here:  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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

I thank God for the Bachs, Mozarts, Crosbys, Wesleys, and others He has given through time and I thank Him for allowing me to be “ordinary.”  I just want to be obedient to what He has called me to do and be. So, I can be content in being a single little flower put on a lone hillside by God’s grace to bring beauty by being what God had created it to be that only He can see.

What I desire my students learn this year...

1. God loves them. God is in control. God has a plan for their lives. They can trust God.
-“for we live by faith, not by sight”   2 Cor. 5:7

2. Their worth comes from what Christ has done in their lives, not by how “good” they perform.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith...” Eph. 2:8-10

3. God’s approval is based on faith and obedience not how many “likes” one receives. 
“...Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed..” 2 Tim. 2:15

4. Mastery of the skills needed in their calling is not an option. 
“Along with their relatives—all of them trained and skilled in music for the Lord—they numbered 288.” 1 Chron. 28:7

5. Knowing and deepening their relationship with God is a vital part of their everyday life.
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings...” Phil. 3:10

6. To learn to embrace the difficulties and suffering as a normal part of life this side of heaven.
 “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” 1 Peter 1:7

7. Don’t give up; it is and will be worth it.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Rom. 8:18

Ten Expectations that Can Ruin Your Ministry

When God called us into ministry, few would say that problems weren’t anticipated. The truth is, we don’t have to go around like Sherlock Holmes to find them. However, many times the difference between the problems we expected and what the realities are become overwhelming. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but should at least help give a reality check.  This list  is not to be interpreted to discourage anyone from responding to God’s call, rather it should be more understood as “counting the cost” of discipleship.

1. Just because God has called you, you must be right.  One of the things that is often overlooked is the fact that even Solomon had advisers. The less experience we have the more we need input from those who have already walked that trail. “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.” Proverbs 12:15

2. Not everyone that opposes you is an enemy.  Walking into a ministry position with a “them vs us” attitude will only become a self-fulfilling prophecy. This is closely related to #1.

3. I shouldn’t be having these problems if this were God’s will.  It is true that some problems are a result of our own fault. In that case, we need to repent, seek reconciliation, and correct the issue. However, not all problems have that as a root cause.  Look at what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:3-10:
     “3 We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. 4 Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; 5 in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; 6 in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 7 in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; 9 known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; 10 sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."

Problems are one of the things that God uses to form our character. How we respond under the pressure and stress of problems is more important than the problem itself.

4. All Pastors, staff, etc., are godly people. This is by no means a criticism of those in the pastorate or in other staff positions, but the recognition that we all have clay feet. We all face temptation and are in the process of God making us into His own image. Do not expect perfection; you are not perfect either.

5. The people within my church should understand that I know what I am doing. It may be that you even have a college or seminary degree in music, worship, etc. You may have many years of experience, but trust and confidence doesn’t come in a resume, but in relationships. You will earn the right to be heard, and sometimes it may take years. Be patient. Be loving.

6. My family shouldn’t have problems because I am serving God. The truth is some of the most Godly men and women I know have faced devastating problems of life and death. God’s call is not a shield from problems, but a mandate to obedience that results in a changed life. Go back and look at Paul’s list in #3.

7. My training in school should have prepared me for this.  As rigorous as schooling is, no one knows what the future holds. A large percentage of the professors teaching now began their studies before cell phones were even in existence, and even more before the internet was around. No one could have foreseen all the implications and changes. Besides the basics, one of the marks of a good education is training in the ability to discern and synthesize. If all you do in school is regurgitate a memorized content, then you probably are going to have issues in the near future. Learning how and when to ask “Why?”,  “What was the cause?” and  “What are the implications?” can go a long way to help prepare you for what is yet to come.

8. My wife, children, family, should understand that what I do is important.  I really don’t have time or space to unpack all the implications of that statement here, but rather than be a competition of time in your ministry, your spouse, children, and family are critical to the biblical success of your ministry. I would encourage you to read Peter Scazzero’s The Emotionally Healthy Church. It should be required reading for every staff member of every church.

9. My value comes from how effective a worship leader and director I am. The truth is or worth comes from what Christ did for us, not what we might be able to do or not do. This is liberating. The person trapped by a self-worth dependent on output will eventually crash into disappointment and disillusionment. I am free to love others because Christ loved me and can ask Him to love them through me for His glory. Because it is He that is working through me, it is He that should get all the glory. It is very easy to fall into this trap of building one’s self-worth from accomplishments. It is a black hole; run from it as fast as you can.

10. I don’t have to be careful about my personal devotional time. We might as well say we don’t have to worry about breathing, that we will do it when we feel like it.  Your ability to lead others is dependent on the level of intimacy with the Father. You can not take others where you have not been, where you have only read about. What we do on Sunday is overflow from where we have been during the week.  We can become defensive and lower our moral defenses when we separate us from a regular, intimate time with the Father each day.

I trust these have been a kick-start to some thought and reflection.

Jesus Knew Who He Was...

Dr. Norris Grubbs, Associate Dean over our Extension Centers for NOBTS as well as Greek professor for Leavell College, shared some insights during Faculty Devotions this week that helped crystalize some ideas that had been swirling around my head. Referencing Jesus washing the disciples’ feet in John 13, Norris shares the following:

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come form God and was returning to God; so he got up ...” John puts this at the start of this story, and I think it helps us understand a little bit of how Jesus was able and willing to perform this lowly duty of servanthood that night. He understood who he was.

So often, I think we define ourselves by what we do. The problem with that approach is that we will never serve others especially something degrading like Jesus does here because we will be afraid others will think that is who we really are. But the Bible clearly shows that we are not defined that way. Jesus knew what the Father had given him and that he had come from God and was going back there. I wonder if sometimes I fail to serve as I should because I have forgotten all that God has given to me and that I am his no matter what I do.

Good words, Norris, good insight.

Jesus was not concerned with the loss of image or the opinion of the disciples. His overarching purpose of living out the nature and character of God for them in that moment was more important than the passing judgements of those who might base their opinions on what others think or define themselves by what they do. Go back and mediate on the phrase, “He understood who he was.” We need to stop and unpack that a little more.

Too often we allow ourselves to be defined by others, whether these “others” are voices from the past that told us that pronounced words of failure {“You’ll never amount to anything}, defeat {You never do anything right!}, or even praise {You’re so good at that...}. The problem with those statements is that those statements fail to adequately describe who we are, because we are more than what we do. It is dangerous to attempt to live trying to disprove words of failure and defeat or live up to words of praise, since they depend on the approval of others. In the long run, we will be defining ourselves by a measurement that is sure to collapse and fail.

The biblical truth is our identity comes from what God in Christ has done for us, not from what others might say or think. If we are in Christ, we are CHILDREN OF GOD! There is no higher or more honorable name that might describe who we are. God gives me my worth, not because of who I am or what I’ve done, but because of whose I am and what He has done!

Jesus knew who He was. We need to realize whose we are and not pay attention to those who would attempt to redefine who we are by their own standards. The longer I am in the ministry, the more I realize how easy it is to forget this basic truth and fall back in trying to define my worth according to the pleasures and displeasures of others. I am a child of God, not worthy of anything, but by the grace of God granted favor to be called His child. In Christ, I can know who and whose I am! Thanks, Norris, for the reminder; I know I needed it.

What Does Worship Cost?

“But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.” [2 Samuel 24:24]

The story of David’s sacrifice to appease the hand of the angel of death in 2 Samuel 24 is captivating on several accounts. David is not a young man here, but an older king, maybe even going through a crisis of evaluating his life and trying to add up his accomplishments. His request was one to fuel his pride and ego: “How big is my kingdom?” Even Joab tried to mediate and deter this foolish action, but to no avail. Scripture simply says that the word of the king prevailed. When the act was all but done, David’s conscience was struck with the guilt and he confessed and asked for forgiveness for what he had done. The prophet Gad delivered to him the three choices God offered: 7 years of famine, flee 3 months from enemies, or 3 days of a plague. David threw himself upon the mercy of God, and the plague started. Some 70,000 people died because of the foolishness of David’s ego trip.

In 2 Samuel 24, David had sinned, had confessed it as sin, had asked for forgiveness, but the consequences of his sin remained. Much like disobedient little boy whose mother had run out of things to try to help her son learn obedience, told him that from then on, every time he disobeyed she would put a nail in a door. The child paid no attention and continued in his disobedience. One day, however, he was overcome when he passed by the door and saw it covered with nails. Realizing the gravity of his actions, he told his mother he was sorry, that he would not disobey anymore, and to please take out the nails. The mother agreed, and some time later the little boy came crying up to his mother saying, “but, mother, the holes are still there...” When we sin the consequences remain. For David, he died with the blood of thousands of his fellow Israelites on his hands. He confessed, and in obedience went to offer a sacrifice for this sin, following the commands of the prophet.

The place of the sacrifice was the threshing floor of Araunah. When David encountered him and explained the situation, Araunah offered to give him the oxen and wood for the sacrifice, but David responded, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” He paid him and made his offering and the plague stopped. However, that really isn’t the point on which I want to focus.

David’s sin was more than just pride, he failed to realize that his legacy was not to be found in his great actions, but in his character. Yes, he killed Goliath, and defeated his enemies and made the preparations for the Temple, but what God considered as the greatest heritage was that he was “a man after God’s own heart.” [Acts 13:22] It is easy to try to evaluate a ministry, a life in terms of the “great things done,” but miss the most important: that of integrity and godly character. When Luke was summarizing David’s life in the book of Acts, he did not pull from all his mighty acts, but from the very thing that made David favored in the eyes of God.

But the question remains, “What does worship cost?” For David, it was much more than the 30 pieces of silver to buy the threshing floor and oxen. David had to come to the point of surrendering his legacy to God. True worship costs giving up one’s reputation to God. We cannot rightly worship if we try to hold on to our attempts to create our own kingdoms, and define who we are in terms of what we do and not whose we are. In worship we must trust God to bring about a legacy and a heritage that is lasting and glorifying to Him alone. All of David’s victories could be misinterpreted as great acts of a great man or warrior, but a heart that seeks after God, a heart that longs to be obedient to God brings glory to God and is unmistakable. Worship costs the right to define our own reputation by our accomplishments. Worship also costs personal sacrifice. There are no short cuts to sacrifice. It is always painful, or would not be considered a “sacrifice.” Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we might not face eternal death, but have eternal life and a relationship with Him. Out of gratitude and awe of His grace and love, we worship Him. In that sense, there is no “sacrifice” that we could offer as great at the one offered already for us. But there will always be a cost.

The temptation of measuring the ministry by the numbers is constantly present. Growth can be an indicator of how healthy an organism is, but not always. Cancer cells have an enormous capacity for multiplication, but by no means can be called “healthy.” Churches whose growth is principally from other churches do not always represent a healthy church, if there is not at the same time regular conversions from non-churched people. Healthy ministries provide both for continued outreach and discipleship or mentoring ministries that help bring new Christians to spiritual maturity. The danger of basing self worth on the externals of numerical growth should be obvious from David’s example, not to mention that God is the one who “brings the increase,” not us. As we focus on a loving obedient response, God may or may not choose to extend the numbers, but regardless the fruit will be an obvious result of God’s increase, not human manipulation.

David’s example for us is to not try to define our lives in terms of our own accomplishments, but in terms of our loving obedience to God, and loving obedience always has a price. The reality is that failing in the area of worship has an even greater cost, one of lost opportunity, lost relationship, lost purpose, lost joy, and lost fulfillment. We can willingly surrender our “sacrifice” and receive the joy of identifying with Christ, or choose to hold on to those things that can never give the lasting peace or pleasure we thought they would bring. The question is “Are we willing to pay the price for what worship costs?”