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.”
Following the open COT meeting on September 15th, we realized that it would be helpful for us to give some context and perspective as to why we have responded to Mike’s announcement the way we have, i.e. by asking the church to pray for a month and coming together on the 27th to continue to pray and listen corporately, and to help to frame what we expect to come out of this time.
Our heart
We feel that it is important for there to be a measure of spiritual consensus and unity as a community as we decide what to do in light of the Kims’ departure. So, in thinking about how to go about the decision making process, we thought that it would be appropriate to invite the whole church into the listening and seeking process. The easy thing would have been to start brainstorming ideas and then discuss the pros and cons of the different options, but we want to be a community that actively lives out seeking the Lord first, having Jesus as our Head and responding to His directives. Every situation of uncertainty or change is an opportunity to know and seek God. When we are forced out of our comfort zones, we have an opportunity to turn to God first, to follow His directives, and to see what He does as a result, and that is how we want to respond and help BayLight to respond.
One thing that we have been seeing and hearing as we process in our LTGs and with folks around us is that this time of seeking the Lord is bigger than just Mike and Leslie’s departure and the next steps that we are going to take as a church. It’s really about God guiding us all – individually, as G3s and LTGs, and of course BayLight as a whole. It’s very possible that you might feel like you are hearing something completely unrelated to the current situation, but that it is connected with things that other people are hearing or sensing. It might be personal to you, it might even be about someone else – God has a way of speaking in concert through different people and different ways. Be bold and share with people in your LTGs and the COT and anyone else – we’re in this journey together.
The 27th
One question that came up was what to expect when we gather on the 27th. While it’s hard to answer that question exactly, we can give some guidelines to help frame the time. One thing that we’re not expecting is for there to be any definitive decisions made. Based on what we’ve sensed so far, it seems like the 27th will be more of a launching point, and will set the tone for how we go about deciding next steps. Hopefully, we’ll have a better sense, as I mentioned above, of consensus and unity in where God is taking us. As Elbert has emailed out already, we want to encourage people who feel like they’ve heard something to share on the 27th, and to let us know. Even if you don’t feel comfortable sharing, we’d love to hear to help round out our view and understanding of how God is speaking to us. Depending on what is shared, there will be time to pray and meditate, and yes, we will worship too. We will spend time praying for our own hearts to be tilled and purified before Him, confessing if we need to, laying things down or grabbing hold of the things that God desires for us.
As you continue to pray and spend time with the Lord, some of these thoughts may be helpful:
1.) Form and Function — the conversation has primarily been about form — what structure should we be? should we replace Mike or not? etc. These kinds of questions can be hard to pray about because they are more of a binary answer of yes or no. Praying about function rather than form may be helpful. What unique role is BayLight supposed to be playing here and in this season? What are we to be about?
2.) The whole and how “I”(you) fit into the whole — God may be speaking to you about the church as a whole, but he may also be speaking to you about what YOU yourselves are supposed to be doing in this season. What is God asking of you? What is God wanting to give you in this season? How can God move BayLight closer to its natural design through you?
3.) Near future and Far future — Right now we’ve asked primarily for the near future steps. But God could also be giving you snapshots and pictures of the future of what BayLight is supposed to be and will eventually be. It may be so far ahead though that you may feel like it’s not the time or irrelevant. We want to encourage you to have the freedom to speak into both.
The last thought segues us into…..
The future
We’re not sure what the future holds, but we are committed to being a church that follows God’s heart, that seeks to know and love Him and seeks to be His ambassadors in this world. We feel like this is an important season for our church, that it’s a time to invest in. This is why we approved a budget that is in deficit – we know that this is not financially sustainable if this is the rule, but we feel a strong conviction that God has given us the surplus that we have for such a time as this.
We hope that though there is some uncertainty and perhaps trepidation during this time, that there is also a sense of hope in what God has been doing and will continue to do in our midst. There are great things happening all around us – if anything, I think we need to do a better job of sharing with each other what God is doing in our lives. He is alive and He is working in our midst.
with great love and affection,
the COT
Here are some notes on what I shared today. If any of you would like to explore further what this means and how to do it, let’s talk.
- “Teaching” in the biblical sense of the word (as it is explained and modeled) is not what we’ve made it into: long, doctrinal, monological preaching on a Sunday morning.
Titus 2 is a great example of “teaching what is in accord with sound doctrine.” It involves life-application (knowledge that leads to love), life-on-life, modeling, encouraging, and instruction.
The biblical writers assumed that many were involved in the teaching process; this was a sign of great health. More teachers is > than one “great” teacher.
Paul, as a pioneer missionary and church planter, usually spent several months on average in a city, during which he would evangelize, build up and leave a church. If teaching was the 21st century Western evangelical understanding of it, then those churches would be in some huge trouble. What did Paul know that we don’t? He had a more organic understanding of teaching in the context of making disciples and he expected everyone to be involved in disciple-making ministry.
- Who is to teach according to the bible? All of us.
1.) Every parent is according to Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (esp. vv.2, 7).
2.) Every older woman and man [inferentially] is according to Titus 2:1-8.
3.) Every Christian responsible for the Great Commission (i.e., all of us) is according to Matthew 28:18-20.
4.) Every person gifted to the church as a “teacher” according to Ephesians 4:11-16.
- Who do we teach?
1.) if a parent, our children and their biological and spiritual children (Deut. 6:1-9).
2.) if and older woman or man, “younger” men and women than us (Titus 2:1-8).
3.) if a follower of Jesus, not-yet Christians that God has placed all around us of every nation (Matt. 28:18-20) or Christians who will disciple others to reach the nations (2 Tim. 2:2)
4.) if a person with the gift of teaching, the church and other younger “teachers” in the church (Eph. 4:11-16).
When we put these together, biblical teaching in a broader, disciple-making sense becomes transmission of Jesus’ commands and obedience to them that is:
1.) trans-generational – Deuteronomy 6 and 2 Timothy 2:2 (four generations implicit)
2.) international – Matt. 28:18-20′s “nations” as the minimum unit being influenced
*** If this transmission of the way of Jesus is not carried out, the church is dead in the water.
On top of this, biblical teaching is also multi-layered:
- What do we teach? 3 layers Scripture speaks of:
1.) Layer 1 – content – truth, “doctrine,” values, relationships/causalities, spiritual realities, character and commands of God. Teacher here = “instructor.” Instructors share.
a. deductively – e.g., Paul’s epistles
b. inductively – e.g.., Jesus’ question asking in the gospels (“Why do you call me ‘good?’” “Which man was a neighbor to him?”)
2.) Layer 2 – implementation of content – skills, how-to, processes, patterns that help the disciple ingest and apply content. Most of this is modeled and coached and doesn’t happen in the classroom but in the midst of real life. Teacher here = “coach.” Coaches show/facilitate.
a. life example – little league baseball – how do kids learn which base is 1st, 2nd, 3rd and home? How do you help kids ride bikes? How do you teach them to swim? How do we learn about how to be a man? How to have a budget? How to date? How to parent? How to cook?
b. biblical example – Luke 11′s Lord’s Prayer is Jesus showing his disciples how they ought to pray. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11:1 – “Follow me as I follow Christ.”
3.) Layer 3 – encouragement towards implementing content – This is all relationship and little content. But the teacher here = “mentor.” Mentors impart.
a. Verbal – encouragement direct or indirect, perspective-offering, highlighting/focusing on right things.
– example – if your son is being bullied at school, you call out what you see in him as a loving person who listens to God and cares for people; you believe in him, bless him and pray for him out loud.
b. Non-verbal – presence, prayer, friendships
– son-being-bullied example - show surprise and joy when he takes small steps, openly model forgiveness and love to others yourself in front of him every chance you have, walk with him and support him with your presence in this delicate time.
*** A disciple-making teacher will engage another person in all three layers. As we take seriously our God-given design and commands to teach, let’s ask God to help us grow in these three areas.
One last bit that I didn’t say directly but is an extension of what I shared earlier. The health of a church is found more in the strength of its members ability to “teach” (and their commitment to always be doing it!) more than in its figure-head’s (i.e., the senior pastor) ability to teach/preach. All of you who have grown immensely in the last year or two probably have to thank not the Sunday preacher so much as those friends you “do life” with who have modeled godliness and love to you on a regular basis and walked with you in the highs and lows. What I believe bcc needs the most in this season is not more and better professional Sunday morning teaching; we need more and godlier instructors, coaches and mentors in our lives. It is the principle of multiplication at the core; the more contagion flying around, the greater the chance of an epidemic. YOU all hold the key to the disciple-making strength of the church — not the “professionals.”
So go for it! Take your growth and transformation seriously, and seize your God-given destiny as one who will impact nations and generations.
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