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Category: Leadership

Remember A Guy Called Justus?

Remember a guy called Justus? His name was actually Joseph but he was called Justus. And he was also called Barsabbas. Let me give you a hint: he’s a Bible character. If you don’t recall much about him, don’t worry. I’m guessing most people read right past him. I did!

In Acts 1, Peter and the rest of the apostles discuss what to do about replacing Judas. Judas had left the group (and world) quiet violently as he hanged himself in remorse for betraying Jesus. And according to Acts, he “burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out” (Acts 1:18). To replace Judas, therefore, as the Apostles understood it, was to take initiative in restoring the kingdom. Twelve apostles were needed to coincide with the Twelve tribes of Israel.

So as the apostles deliberated, it was decided that the one who would replace Judas must be “one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John tunnel the day when he was taken from us” (Acts 1:31-22). Two men qualified. One was named Matthias, and the other, as you might have guessed by now, was called Justus.

The disciples cast lots and it was determined that Matthias would now be numbered with the apostles. So what about Justus? Nothing more is written of him though he had obviously been a follower of Jesus for quite some time. But then again, nothing more is written of Matthias either. Here is Matthias, one of the apostles now, and he gets no other mention.

We can project that both these men, as they continued to follow Jesus in the days of the birth of the church, served faithfully to the end. It can be assumed that Matthias was praying in the upper room when the Spirit of God came upon all present; filling them (Acts 2:1-4) and empowering them to take the gospel to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Most likely, Justus was there as well. Also, when persecution in Jerusalem became heavy, Matthias probably stayed in Jerusalem while Justus left with the others who scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. (Acts 8:1).

The truth however, is that there is no certainty of whatever became of either Matthias or Justus. Neither one of them, even though Matthias was given the role of apostle, became headliners in Acts. Those roles belonged to Peter, Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, James and Paul. But being a major character in Luke’s story of the dawn of the early church is not the crux of the matter. Consider the words of N.T. Wright:

Part of Christian obedience, right from the beginning, was the call to play (apparently) great parts without pride and (apparently) small parts without shame. There are, of course, no passengers in the kingdom of God, and actually no ‘great’ and ‘small’ parts either. The different tasks and roles to which God assigns us are his business, not ours.

Acts For Everyone (Vol. 1) by N.T. Wright, p. 19.

It’s hard sometimes, not to want to be a Peter or Paul. They get the front page. But what if we are to be a Justus? What if we don’t get picked for a certain ministry or to serve in which we feel we are much qualified? What if our role is one that gets no press? How do we handle it?

I think first and foremost, as Wright points out, we must understand that there are no “small” roles in the Kingdom of God. It is true that there are different roles, but none are insignificant. And each are vital to what God is doing in the world. To serve the person in your neighborhood in whom no one notices is no small thing. To share the gospel and your life with a co-worker whom annoys the rest of the staff is crucial to Kingdom work. To be a welcoming and warm soul to new people who attend your church on Sundays makes an impact.

I pray we serve where God places us! I pray we love those around us as ourselves! These are not small things. In fact, in the economy of God, they are just as important as Peter preaching to a huge crowd in Acts 2. So let’s be faithful where God has placed us!! It’s an important work!

Photo by Brad Helmink on Unsplash

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New Goals? New Habits? Making Progress?

It’s 2019! Happy New Year! I hope it’s not too late to wish such merriment. So as this year has been morphing into full-bloom, I made a discovery. I did not post anything on this site in 2018. It’s not that I didn’t have goals or desires to do so. In fact, if you dust off my last post, I admitted that I was trying to find some type of rhythm to my blogging/writing life. My goal? To obviously get into some type of schedule. My results? I’d rather not talk about them.

Now don’t judge me too quickly. I’m sure most of you have set goals and not completed them. Or must I remind you of your own past resolutions to exercise, eat healthy, read your Bible daily, etc…. I’m not saying you didn’t do these things, I hope you did. But it’s not easy! I feel the pain of those who struggle in reaching a goal, but want to encourage you to think about goals a bit differently. So what am I trying to say in the first post So what am I getting at with this first post in over 18 months?

During my renewed fervor to begin writing on this site again, I began reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s a book in which he not only relies upon research, but upon his personal experience as well. He conclude the following in regards to reaching goals…

  • If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead
  • You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Clear is not saying we shouldn’t have goals. They are crucial in helping determine the direction we need to head. But if you want to make progress, for him, it’s all about daily habits. For example, if I want to read 10 books this year, that won’t happen unless I develop a habit of reading a certain amount of minutes each day. Clear gives quite a bit more info in his book about the value of habits and how to develop them. I suggest you pick up a copy of his book.

So I do have a goal for writing and sharing content this coming year. But more importantly, I am working on developing some daily habits. I hope those who read some of the content on this site will benefit from them. And if you wish, feel free to ask me how it’s going!

Before I wrap up this confessional-like post, I would be amiss if I didn’t ask you about your goals or resolutions for the coming year? If you are already struggling with them, that’s ok! However, I suggest you begin to think about making some daily habits. It’s one thing to say you’re going to begin praying for your co-workers this year, and quite another to make it a habit of praying for them each day before you turn your car off and enter the office.

I pray you press on! And like I’m doing with this blog, don’t think too grandiose. Think simply! Start small. For me and this blog, this means two posts a week. One will be something I’ve composed (not too long) and another will be a quote from something I’m reading.

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Quote Of The Week

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The hero of mythology descends from the sky, gaining fame and glory through courage, violence, and power. He then dies, His grave becoming a sight of hero worship. Christ defies this cycle. He emerges from the tomb, remaking the world with resurrection power, ascending to heaven because of His humility, His servant leadership. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the world would never be the same. Those who bow their knee at the foot of the cross admitting the absurdity of their own efforts to be godlike, who confess the chaos and sin within them, now enter into a new way of being–one not driven by striving, agenda, or applause. For these followers of Jesus would be taught to follow this new way of living…service!

(taken from Facing Leviathan by Mark Sayers, location 2235 in Kindle)

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From Worry To Prayer

Here’s a good and challenging word from Paul Miller in his book A Praying Life

When you pray continuously, moments when you are prone to anxiety can become invitations to drift into prayer. A traffic jam, a slight from a friend, a pressured deadline can serve as a door to God. You’ll find yourself turning off the car radio to be with your Father. You’ll wake up at night and discover yourself praying. It will be like breathing.

When you stop trying to control your life and instead allow your anxieties and problems to bring you to God in prayer, you shift from worry to watching. You watch God weave his patterns in the story of your life. Instead of trying to be out front, designing your life, you realize you are inside God’s drama. As you wait, you begin to see him work, and your life begins to sparkle with wonder. You are learning to trust again.

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Resolved…

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Jonathan Edwards, during the years 1722 to 1723, while a young man, composed a set of resolutions for himself. For Edwards, these resolutions were a way for him to gauge his relationship to Christ as well as to provide a set of goals for his life.

Throughout his life, these resolutions were his constant companion as he resolved “to read over these resolutions once a week.” Stephen  Nichols thinks we might benefit from doing the same. He writes that the Resolutions are as relevant today as they were when [Edwards] first penned them so long ago. Reading though them on a regular basis may very well help us also to live with all of our might to the glory and praise of God.

While each of Edwards’ seventy resolutions are valid and worthy of reciting, there are a few that personally seemed to rise above the rest.

5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.

7. Resolved, never to do anything that I should be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life.

14. Resolved, never to do anything out of revenge.

15. Resolved, never to suffer the least motions of anger to irrational beings.

17. Resolved, that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

25. Resolved, to examine carefully an constantly what that one thing in me is that causes me in the least to doubt the love of God; and so direct all my forces against it.

28. Resolved, to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently that I may find, and plainly perceive myself to grow in the knowledge of them.

55. Resolved, to endeavor to my utmost to act as I can think I should do if I had already seen the happiness of heaven and the torments of hell.

56. Resolved, never to give over, nor in the least to slacken my fifth with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

65. Resolved, very much to exercise myself in this all my life ling, that is, with the greatest openness I am capably of, to declare my ways to God, and lay open my should to him: all my sins, temptations, difficulties, sorrows, fears, hopes, desires, and everything, and every circumstance.

70. Let there be something of benevolence in all that I speak.

As you can see, though written almost 300 years ago, these resolutions continue to challenge and speak to the heart. Though Edwards did not write these resolutions to be published, we benefit greatly because they were.

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The Millennials: Are We Reaching Them?

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Do we have a problem in reaching millennials? 

This is a question that continues to be asked and researched. And it’s one that has risen to the top once again as LifeWay Christian Resources recently announced that for the seventh straight year, the Southern Baptist Convention’s overall membership declined.

One of the reasons for such decline is apparently due to the lack of growth among the millennials.

It has been reported that 46,000 churches of the Southern Baptist Convention are baptizing fewer people this year, and most of our churches are not baptizing any millennials (which means, depending on generational calculations, people between the ages of 14-34, or, teenagers through early thirties).

So why is this happening? 

According to a recent task force of pastors, evangelists, and other leaders, there are 5 reasons for the problem of low baptisms

Spiritual: We need a sense of brokenness and repentance over the spiritual climate of our churches and our nation.

Leadership: Many pastors have confessed to being overwhelmed in the operation and ministries of the church to the neglect of being involved in regular personal evangelism.

Discipleship: Many pastors have confessed to focusing on attendance while giving little attention to reproducing fruit-bearing disciples who are involved in intentional evangelism.

The Next Generation: Although our churches have increasingly provided programs for children, students and young adults, we are not being effective in winning and discipling the next generation to follow Christ.

Celebration: Many of our churches have chosen to celebrate other things as a measure of their success rather than new believers following Christ in baptism. We have drifted into a loss of expectation.

So what is to be done?

Should we go into crisis mode? Maybe. Maybe not. I still trust in the power of the gospel and know personally that God is working and calling people unto Himself. And He is doing so among the millennials as well.

However, these reports are cause for reflection. They should lead us to think beyond our methods to what we are actually trusting in to reach today’s young people.

First and foremost, we need to ensure that we are preaching, teaching, and conversing about what Paul saw as “first importance” which is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…was buried, and was raised on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

Thomas Kidd writes that if we are going to reach the next generation, we must “offer the transcendent, compelling message of the gospel.” He adds that “people have to see why church is so compelling that they would bother to get out of bed on Sunday morning. Moralistic pabulum and vague niceties don’t cut it. Pastors and teachers need to constantly trumpet the shocking claims of the gospel.

Ensuring the gospel is proclaimed does include a reexamination of our methods however. We want to speak in a way to be understood. We need to be able to relate to those around us.

Once again, Kidd offers a good word. He writes that though “getting a Twitter account and providing free wi-fi at your church is not going to win the adherence battle for you alone, neither will refusing to adjust methods and style be of any help. Churches should adopt a generous, outward-focused attitude toward young people who are making faith and church decisions, and ‘cater’ to the forms of communication that speak to them.”

I want to mention one final thought concerning reaching the millennials. It comes from Trevin Wax.  He writes that “Southern Baptists have a millennial problem because Southern Baptist millennials have an evangelism problem.”

Wax, therefore, urges his fellow millennials “to repent of [their] evangelistic apathy, step up [their] efforts at personal evangelism, and get [their] hands dirty serving people in Jesus’ name.”

Such words from Wax however, cause me to think about why millennials have an “evangelism problem?” Is it because evangelism hasn’t been modeled for them? Have they seen evangelism as more of a program than a way of life? Or could it be that their abandonment of evangelism is a reaction to past methods they deem as non-personal and obtrusive?

Regardless, we as the church, in this day and age, need to allow this SBC report to push us to pray and encourage each other in reaching future generations. We have much we can learn from each other.

 

 

 

 

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5 Things To Learn From The San Antonio Spurs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcEYrjU_3sM

Even if you are not a Spurs fan, or even a fan of basketball, there are some things we can appreciate and learn from the way they play basketball.

1. Team comes first.

So many times we promote the individual and we leave out what’s important…TEAM. The Spurs are not seeking a lot glamour. They have gotten over themselves.

Their attitude is: I have a shot, you have a better shot.

2. Character is critical.

The Spurs don’t get knuckleheads, they don’t get clowns, they don’t get guys with huge egos, they get guys that do what they are told to do.

3. There are times to lead and times to follow.

The Spurs know how to execute a game plan. They do what they are told and they do it with class. Players believe in their coaches and the coaches believe in their players. They each give credit to each other.

Each person on the team has a role and they accept it. Each knows when he needs to lead and when he needs to follow.

4. Commitment is vital.

The Spurs understand what they want and are committed to it. Everybody is in the same circle and they believe in it. They are all in it together.

5. It’s not always about the glitz.

If you are a purist about the game of basketball, you watch the Spurs play. If you want the glitz and glamour, you may watch another team.

How can we miss what the Spurs do night in and night out? The Spurs play basic fundamental basketball and we need to appreciate what they are doing. They do all the little things well. How is it that we don’t appreciate what they do?

 

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