Hot Pursuit

As I’ve been reading through Proverbs lately, I’ve noticed how frequently the author advises to “pursue wisdom.” That is not an insignificant command. There seems to be an unwritten assumption in the church that people who have been Christians for a long time are automatically wise. Surely those who have been to seminary or in ministry for years are wise, aren’t they? I don’t think those are valid assumptions. Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with education or tenure. Someone can be a Christian for a lifetime and still make foolish decisions or speak as a fool. Even Solomon made foolish decisions after being commended for seeking God’s wisdom. (At least I assume having hundreds of wives and concubines and following their gods is pretty foolish!) The Pharisees were highly educated, but they missed the Messiah.

Wisdom is something that needs to be pursued, but it is given by God, not by professors and books. James says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5 ESV). Paul said, “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God… And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5, 13).

It is tempting to rely on human sources of knowledge rather than pursuing divine wisdom. Bookstores and websites are full of resources to learn anything you want to learn. Christian conferences promote the latest and greatest teachers. But apart from God’s direction it is meaningless. The pursuit of wisdom should also be ongoing. A person doesn’t get one infusion of wisdom and then never have to seek it again. It’s not like winning the lottery and then never working again. It is to be a daily and diligent pursuit. We can’t be like the ant for one year (or even once a week) and then be sluggards the rest of the time (Proverbs 6:6).

This is kind of a convicting realization for me, because I love to read, learn, and research topics related to church management and leadership, and I try to find ways to implement the best policies and practices that I uncover. And although that is a good thing, it has to be accompanied by seeking God’s wisdom in these matters. It is fairly easy to determine what is right from a legal standpoint, but not so easy to know what is best. For the Christian, that should come from God first and foremost.

I can think of many examples of times that people have great resources right in front of them and may even have policy manuals that tell them how to handle situations, and yet they misspeak or they take actions that are contrary to God’s Word and wisdom. Some choose to follow the wisdom of the world in ways that cause dissension in the Body of Christ and hinder God’s ministry through His Church.

We need God’s wisdom more than we often realize. Let’s get accustomed to seeking Him frequently and earnestly.

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity” (Proverbs 2:6-7).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Worth It All

I keep a list of possible writing ideas, and I had noted a verse that I’d intended to comment on around Christmas. However, another verse came up recently and I don’t feel like waiting 10 months. Besides which, Christmas and Easter are intimately related and are relevant to every day.

In Luke 2:14 the angels announce, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (ESV). This about nine months after Gabriel told Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Did you ever think about what it means to find favor with God or to be pleasing to Him? I remember vividly a conversation I had in college when I told someone I thought I had disappointed God. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a good answer for me, but I later learned that I can’t disappoint God when He knows me better than I know myself.

The Apostle Paul brought this to light in Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life,” and Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked… But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us… made us alive together with Christ.” Not only were we enemies of God, but we were sinful corpses. That certainly doesn’t present any great case for us to be “those with whom He is pleased,” particularly when that angelic announcement came years before Christ’s reconciling death on the cross. And yet—He came, He died, He rose again out of His great mercy and love for a bunch of deadbeats.

John Ortberg comments in Love Beyond Reason, “As Lewis Smedes put it, it may be a very bad thing that I needed God to die for me, but it is a wonderful thing that God thinks I’m worth dying for. We may be ragged, but we must never confuse raggedness with worthlessness” (23). Our worth is not measured by what we do or fail to do, but by the fact that God has claimed us as His own. On those days when shame says, “You can’t do anything right,” we are still worth the cross of Christ. And on those days when pride says, “You scored big this time,” our worth to God hasn’t changed a bit.

Richard Foster, in his book Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home, shares the story of a man who meets with a spiritual advisor. Day after day he was told to meditate on Luke 1:26-38. After several frustrating days, “Though Jim could barely believe it, the angel’s word to Mary seemed to be a word for him as well: ‘You have found favor with God.’ Mary’s perplexed query was also Jim’s question: ‘How can this be?’ And yet it was so, and Jim wept in the arms of a God of grace and mercy” (145).

I’m sure I’m not the only one who needs frequent reminders of the immeasurable, unchangeable love of God for me. I can’t disappoint God, but I can sure disappoint myself, and my disappointment colors the way I see everything else. I imagine that at times I’m so busy rehearsing my failures that I don’t even hear God repeating, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” It’s one thing to remember that following God is worth it all, but He’s also reminding us “Child, you are worth it all.” God is never watching us and thinking, “Why did I give up My Son for these dumb people?!” No, He just keeps on giving grace and mercy, drawing us back into His loving arms, investing Himself in us for eternity. From our perspective that may seem like a pretty poor investment, but somehow He will make it all pay off in the end.

A college friend introduced me to an unpublished second verse to the chorus “More Precious Than Silver” from God’s perspective:

Child, you are more precious than silver,
Child, you are more costly than gold,
Child, you are more beautiful than diamonds,
And nothing I desire compares with you.

“Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows… Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!” (Luke 12:7, 24).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan. 

Who's in Charge?

For a while now I’ve been thinking about that controversial word “submission.” It is often considered a dirty word by anyone who has ever felt downtrodden. I’ve wrestled with it myself at times, but I can’t avoid what Scripture commands:

• “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality” (Colossians 3:23-25 ESV).
• “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Hebrew 13:17).
• “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands” (Ephesians 5:24).
• “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God” (Romans 13:1).

Wives submitting to husbands is only one example out of many. In a recent sermon on James 4, Alistair Begg stated that failure to submit to one another is failure to submit to God. Sam Andreades wrote in enGendered (a book I would recommend):

 “Obeying or submitting ‘as to the Lord’ is really about trusting the One who tells you to do this… [Y]ou are doing it because you are trusting God, trusting that God is in this picture, that He will take care of you and your own…” (117).

Sometimes it is hard enough just to trust that God is in control, much less to trust those He has placed in authority in any particular situation. But it seems apparent from Scripture that submission is expected. As an employee, a citizen, a church member, [and spouse if I were married] my responsibility is to submit to my leaders, knowing that they will be held accountable for their use or abuse of authority. That’s not to say that there are never occasions for civil disobedience or removal of authority, but that should be the exception to the rule.

As I’ve thought through the conflicting emotions related to submission, it seems that most of the power struggle is rooted in fear. How am I going to be hurt or what am I going to miss out on if I’m not the one in control of this decision? Andreades wrote: “People submitting in relationship are vulnerable, dependent upon the careful and righteous stewardship of the one in authority” (102). 

I’ll be the first to admit that the vulnerability that comes with submission can lead to painful interactions. Trust is built slowly as a relationship deepens, but it can be lost in an instant. None of us really want to be vulnerable and dependent, and yet that is a big part of God’s will for us. We are inherently dependent on Him for life, breath, daily provision, and salvation (among other things). Our relationships on earth are a mirror of that fundamental relationship, to remind us that we are designed to live in community and dependence on one another. It is also a reflection of the mutual dependence and fellowship within the Godhead.

I could raise all sorts of questions as to what submission should look like in various contexts, but I think we each need to wrestle through Scripture for ourselves. The conclusion that I have come to is that I need to trust God more fully and to ask Him for clear guidance for all the relationships in my life.

“Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is… Be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:17-21).

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.

Missional Meanderings

The thought process started when I read this article on the missional church: http://www.vergenetwork.org/2011/09/14/mike-breen-why-the-missional-movement-will-fail/ I confess that although I’ve heard the term before, I had no idea what it meant. According to Wikipedia:

“The movement seeks to rethink and redefine the nature of the church and create a new paradigm in which churches are seen as missional in nature, instead of attractional in nature. Leaders in the movement argue that instead of churches attempting to attract people to churches through church programs, churches should instead take the gospel outside of the church and engage society with the gospel, often by being involved not only in missions and evangelism but also in social justice movements.”

Coincidentally, I then picked up Jen Hatmaker’s book Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity, which shares her journey into the missional movement. I fully support Christians getting motivated to look beyond the walls of their church and living out their faith in every part of life. However, I think there are some problems with the way missional living is often communicated. (I had similar concerns when reading books by Hugh Halter.) Here is one example from Hatmaker.

In talking about the parables in Matthew 25 and Jesus’ judgment “Depart from me, you cursed… for I was hungry and you gave Me no food…” (ESV) she states:

“Be like the wise, watchful servant, not the wicked, abusive one. Emulate the five wise virgins, not the foolish, sleepy ones… Act like the servant with five invested talents, not the scaredy servant with one buried talent. And as Jesus built His case and the disciples began to gauge what counted and what wouldn’t, He hit them with the grand finale: It will matter only if you’re a sheep or a goat. The blessed and the lost will be separated based on one principle: the care of the oppressed. The end” (103).

Wait a minute—that’s the one principle?! Before jumping to that conclusion, it would be good to go back a few chapters to Jesus’ terrifying words in Matthew 7:22-23: “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not… do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’” He said in verse 20, “Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” Outward actions are not the factor that determines our salvation, but they are evidence of it. Paul makes this clear in Ephesians 2:8-10:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Not by works, but for good works… Yes, we should feed and clothe those in need and share the Gospel with them, but not so we can feel assured that we are sheep and not goats. I have no doubt there will be many good, socially active people who find out their works did not put their names in the Book of Life.

The other difficulty I have with many in the missional church movement is the implication that it is an either/or choice—either missional or attractional. I see no reason why both cannot exist within the universal Church and within local churches. The Christian mission and calling is not a one-size-fits-all outfit. God’s Kingdom has room for big churches, small churches, house churches, parachurch organizations, high church, low church, cross cultural missionaries, indigenous missionaries, street evangelists, homeless shelters, AIDS orphanages, and a myriad of other shapes and sizes. God uses all kinds of people, methods, and activities to reach the lost.

“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7).

(By the way, although “missional” is a new word it is not a new idea. The Salvation Army is just one example from history. http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/about)

© 2016 Dawn Rutan.