Peter has just declared that Jesus is the Christ. After much time and instruction and demonstration, Jesus has finally managed to open the eyes of the disciples to His identity. But there is still more work to be done. Jesus now begins to tell them what this means – what it means to be the Messiah.
And His message is radically different from their expectations. His message is one of suffering, rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection. What’s the deal with this?
We can imagine that having identified Jesus as Messiah and then having Him so mess with their definitions that it is likely they began to doubt if they were correct. Perhaps we messed up. Maybe he isn’t the Messiah. To cut off these doubts Jesus takes three witnesses up the mountain and grants them a glimpse of the origin of His authority. You weren’t wrong – I really am the Messiah.
This talk is the first of three delivered at the Leadership Training Course 2009 sponsored by Trinity Church, Christ Church in Spokane, and Holy Trinity Church in Colville.
One of the passages that has always intrigued me is Ecclesiastes 7:28: “One man among a thousand I have found,But a woman among all these I have not found.” While Solomon’s observation may have been precipitated by the women which Solomon associated with, it seems that there was more to his observation than this. Solomon was shrewd and as he looked on the landscape in his day he observed that righteous men were more common than women.
But would we describe Western Christendom this way?Would we not be tempted to conclude the opposite? To say that one woman among a thousand we have found but a trustworthy man, who can find? Why is this? Why this deficiency? It is not as though men are irreligious. After all, in Islam and Orthodox Judaism men outnumber women.
So why are men in Western Christendom, especially in evangelical circles, disconnected? It is this question that I wish to address this morning by talking about three key issues that revolve around worship.
Why are men disconnected? The first factor, discussed in this talk, is that men have been given a truncated vision of worship by the Church which has separated them from their labor, from the work of their hands. Consequently men have viewed worship as one dimension of their lives rather than the characteristic of their whole life. If we are to raise up leaders for our churches, this mentality must be destroyed.
In our first talk, we established that while the Church is in need of godly men, men by and large are disconnected. Why is this? First, we have a truncated view of worship. We view worship as one activity during the week rather than understanding that worship is the basic orientation of all of one’s life. Consequently, we have separated men from their labor.
But there are other reasons men are disconnected. One of these is that we do not understand corporate worship. Consequently, we have separated men from the Church.
We have established that all of life is worship, service offered up to the service of one god or another. There are two potential errors that could proceed from this observation. First, because all life is worship, we might reason that corporate (public) worship unnecessary or unimportant. So some men retreat from Church life and focus entirely on self or on their family. A second error, is that we could understand this worship in the wrong way, view it through feminized metaphor that empties the observation of all its power. It is to these two potential errors that we speak in this talk.
In the first two talks we have established that we need godly men but that men by and large are disconnected in the modern Western church. Why? So far we’ve explored two reasons that have separated men from their labor and from the church. The third reason men are disconnected is because there is a crisis of identity in the home. Men do not understand what their calling is or what God expects of them as husbands and fathers. Consequently, we have separated men from their families. So let us take up this last matter briefly. What is our calling as men – in particular as husbands and fathers?
Communication is a funny thing. We often find ourselves telling our spouse, our sibling, or our friend something and they nod their head in agreement, “Oh, yes – I get it, I understand, I hear you.” But then later we discover, sometimes humorously and sometimes tragically, the message just didn’t get through. One perhaps thinks of the famous Abbot and Costello skit, “Who’s on first?” Abbot declares that “Who is on first” and Costello resonates and asks, “That’s just what I’ve been wanting to know, who’s on first?” To which Abbot replies – “That’s right, who is on first.” And so the miscommunication goes back and forth with Abbot using “Who” as a name and Costello in frustration using it as a questioning pronoun. “Who is on first?” he demands. “Yeah,” comes the confused reply.
It is some such phenomenon, though on the more serious end of the spectrum, that characterizes the entire section of the Gospel of Mark into which we are entering. Jesus speaks; but from the response of the disciples it is clear that though they are hearing they just aren’t understanding what Jesus is saying and what it means for them.
Thus far in our survey of the Gospel of Mark we have seen that the Gospel is divisible into two basic sections. The first section leads us up to Peter’s great confession in chapter 8 – You are the Christ! Throughout this first section, everyone is asking the question, “Who is this Man?” Who is Jesus? Is he a prophet? Is he John the Baptist raised from the dead? Is he a madman? A demon possessed man? Who exactly is Jesus?
At the turning point in the Gospel we witness the disciples finally penetrating through the various barriers preventing their grasp of Jesus’ identity. Peter confesses, “You are the Christ!” But like the blindman whom Jesus has just healed, the disciples aren’t fully healed yet. They know that Jesus is the Christ but it becomes evident that they don’t know what this means. And so what follows in the rest of the Gospel is first instruction and then exhibition of what it means for Jesus to be the Christ. Jesus teaches the disciples again and again – this is what it means that I am Messiah. Then his teaching comes to fruition, he lives out the very things that he has been telling his disciples.
There are a number of insidious ideas within the Church today which are causing no small amount of discomfort and confusion for the people of God. One of the most tangible of these ideas is the notion of “finding the will of God.” We are told that we must sort through the various life decisions that are in front of us and choose just the right one lest we miss the “will of God.” This morning I want to address this notion by asking and answering two related questions: First, how do we go about making decisions in such a way that it honors God? Second, how does this enable us to thrive when the consequences of our decisions are not as we anticipated?
My purpose in addressing these questions is to follow up on our discussion on the weapons of our warfare last week. I want to train us to use these weapons more effectively so that our lives are free of the anxiety, regret, and frustration that characterize so much of the world and even Christendom. In particular, I want to show how using the Word of God and the Psalms of God enables us to make decisions with joy and gladness and to live with no regrets, entrusting our joys, fears, and anxieties to God.
Last week we uncovered various principles of warfare from the life of Jehoshaphat. When the enemy rises up against us, what do we do? We saw three things. First, we are to seek the Lord in prayer and fasting, taking our troubles directly to His throne. Second, we are to listen to His Voice as He speaks in His Word. Third, we are to worship the Lord with prayer and psalms and, thus, go to war against His enemies.
In the story of Jehoshaphat we learn somewhat of the weapons that have been entrusted to us as the people of God. We see the weapons of fasting, prayer, the Word of God, and the Psalms being employed as Jehoshaphat goes forth against the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites. If we were to survey the rest of the Word of God, we would discover other weapons that God has given to us, things such as reason and the keys of the kingdom (church discipline).
This morning I want us to learn more about the nature of these weapons and then focus particularly on one of them – psalm singing. The goal is that we would come to love the weapons that God has placed in our hands and that we would become even more skilled in their use, that we might be good soldiers of Christ Jesus and fight the good fight.
When Ezra and Nehemiah returned the the land of Israel from exile in Persia, what they found was enough to discourage the most stalwart saint. Jerusalem was largely in ruins; the population was compromising their allegiance to Yahweh by intermarrying with their neighbors; enemies thwarted their labor. As Ezra considered how he could provide these folks who had returned from exile with spiritual direction, he decided to write a history text, a text which we call First and Second Chronicles.
One of the lessons that Ezra teaches his audience conerns warfare. How are we as the people of God to thwart the attacks of the enemy? How are we to advance His kingdom? To teach this lesson to His audience, Ezra records an incident from the life of Jehoshaphat. The story contains numerous principles of spiritual warfare and enables us to get a grasp of the significance of our worship every Lord’s Day. So what are these lessons and why are they important?
This talk was delivered on February 9, 2008 at Christ Church in Spokane at our Leadership Training Course.
Not just anyone will do as a leader of the Church of God. The New Testament and common experience dictate that leaders must meet certain parameters, parameters which both benefit and protect the Church. The current talk identifies the type of people called to serve as officers in the Church. But more than this, it sets out the necessity for all Christian men to be men of character, men who are prepared to lead. Whether this leadership is in the home, the church, business, or even so fundamental as a young man over himself; all men are called to lead.
