Hey everybody,
Just a reminder that we won’t be gathering together this coming Sunday. And though we won’t be coming together, we can still be the church, worshiping Him by collectively taking the time to listen to and obey Him.
Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
Do we live in such a way that reflects that the Lord’s opinion of us is all that matters? Will it be enough to here those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master’s happiness”? Or do we want more than that? Do we also need the approval of others as well? Or will we play only to the audience of One?
Personally, I’ve found the the most accurate test for this, to see if we play only to the audience of One, is when we’re falsely accused. I’ve been going to church long enough to know that in difficult times, I’m supposed to pray. And most often I do. I’ll usually switch between praying the abject “why is this happening to me?” prayer and the “protect me, save me” prayer.
But my action rarely stops there. I don’t just take it up to God in prayer. I take it up to other people too. I want God and a bunch of someone elses to understand. And so, I try to get other people on my side. I scramble around, trying to get anybody to listen to my side of the story. Often I’ll paint a picture where my accusers look like the bad guys with the hope that I’d look like the good guy.
Now, contrast that with what David did in our reading last week when he was also falsely accused in 1 Samuel 24:1-9. David falls from favor because Saul sees him as a threat to his throne. In response, Saul chases after David with several thousand men. All the while, Saul’s told that David is “bent on harming” him. An outright lie. David then has the opportunity to kill Saul in a cave. But he only cuts a piece of Saul’s robe and spares Saul’s life.
If we simply look at the story in 1 Samuel we’d know the facts, the events in history that occurred but we wouldn’t know what David was thinking, what he was feeling at the time. And that’s where the Psalms come in. It’s believed that David wrote songs, Psalms during this time. I’ll highlight a couple.
In Psalm 140, up to the first three Selahs from verse 1 to 8, it sounds familiar to us. They’re “protect me, save me” prayers. But starting from verse 9, the tone shifts significantly. Suddenly, David wields prayer less like a shield and more like a sword. He goes on the offensive in his prayer. And while this doesn’t sound all that great character-wise, let me put this in perspective. When I go on the offensive, I try to right the wrongs done to me myself. I go around trying to set the record straight. I make the rounds bad mouthing my accusers. When David goes on the offensive, he goes to the Lord to right the wrongs on his behalf. It’s not that time healed all wounds for David. It’s not that David came to the place where we didn’t care if Saul got his in the end. It’s that David trusted that the Lord would act as the judge and dole out the consequences for the wrong done.
And that goes into the other Psalm, Psalm 56. We see a lot of the same themes that we saw in Psalm 140, but what we see even more clearly in Psalm 56 is that theme of trusting in the Lord. In this particular Psalm we see that the opinion that the Lord has of David is sufficient for him. David lives for the audience of only One. While word spreads that David is guilty of treason, seeking after the king’s life, David doesn’t feel the compulsion to go around the country on a campaign setting the record straight. “In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” David only has eyes for the Lord. David came to the place where all that mattered was what the Lord thought of him and he carried that with him for the rest of his life.
Is what He thinks of you all that matters? Because it’s true, He is more than enough. As David later wrote, “Taste and see that the Lord is good” and “Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”
Last Sunday, April 19th, the COT shared about where we see BayLight headed by looking at where we’ve been, what has been our consistent values, and questions we can ask ourselves to help guide us in the right direction for the future.
We want to continue this conversation in our LTGs and with each other going forward, because the vision and direction of the church will only be as powerful as the commitment we have to pray and follow what God calls us to do and to be. With that in mind, I am posting both an mp3 of the talk, as well as the slides from Sunday’s presentation. Please keep in mind under the “vision” section that these were ideas brainstormed by the COT, and we don’t view the specific examples as an end all or be all. These were things that we see are beginning to happen in our midst, and things that we ourselves long for. But together as a church, as BayLight – what does it mean for God’s kingdom come and His will be done in our lives, in our church, in the world around us? It is time for us to seek God’s face together and ask Him to fill our hearts with the things that are on His heart.
Looking forward to journeying with all of you,
Minho
Hey bcc.
I wanted to let you know that tomorrow we’re going to keep pressing forward in together discovering what life looks like as an apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd or teacher. To help facilitate that to happen, we’re going to have fellow A-gifted people sharing with A’s, P-gifted people with P’s, and so on.
I see this time as WAY more valuable than hearing from just one person’s perspective b/c it’s collective intelligence and wisdom from others who are like you.
So I’d like for you to come prepared, having thought of three things:
1.) What insights has God been teaching you about being apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, a shepherd or teacher — insights that God may have intended for others outside of you to hear?
2.) What questions have you been asking God about being apostolic, prophetic, evangelistic, a shepherd or teacher — questions that God may have intended for others outside of you to also explore?
3.) In addition, it would be good for you to ask the Lord which one of the five giftings you might:
a. most value in your heart (e.g., if reaching the lost, you most likely are an E; if caring for people, an S; if staying close to God’s word, a T; if the advancement of the Kingdom in new areas, an A; if hearing from God, a P),
b. have seen God bless in others through you, or
c. have heard the Holy Spirit tell you is latent inside you (even if the other two are not in place yet!).
Whichever one is PRIMARY is the group we’d like you to go to. We will be breaking up into five groups — one for every gifting. So bring your insights and questions with you.
Following that, we will be spending some time praying for one another — especially those of us who are fairly new in the giftings or may have no clue what they are. This is a biblical practice that we expect God to show up for. So please pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit tomorrow among us.
Thank you in advance for all being part of what God is going to do tomorrow. You ARE the CHURCH.
Dreaming of what Eph.4:11-16 can look like among us,
Mike
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