SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #30 ---- 7/10/98
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight"
TITLE: "A Big-Time Shake-Up!"
My Dear Co-Laborer in the Fields:
I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, assuring you again of
just how much I am blessed by the honor of writing you each week. When I
first began writing these letters eight months ago, I had no idea of
whether or not people would appreciate getting these often-far-too-long
epistles. After all, nobody asked to be placed on the initial list I
turned in to my mailing list server ---- they were all my idea.
To my astonishment, however, from all the hundreds of names I initially
turned in, as of Saturday, there has been a net loss of only 35 names. I
find that to be phenomenal. Because I do not know the heart of either
the individual or God Himself in many matters, I could only submit those
names ---- by faith, if you please ---- and trust that God would do His
thing.
Apparently He has been, because notes and comments continue coming in
every single week, and I know of several people who forward the letter on
to not just six or eight other people, but often to literally scores. I
know of one guy who forwards them to nearly 100 of his own names.
So ---- thank you, my friend, for graciously receiving these encourager
letters. I take no personal pride in them, but I sure do feel fulfilled!
It's such a blessing to know that each week God is touching somebody
---- through me ---- me! Amazing! I'm reminded of a great quote from
Miss Bertha Smith, missionary to China during the great Shantung Revival
just before communism invaded the land ---- "God strikes some awfully
straight licks with some awfully crooked sticks!"
Amen to that, Miss Bertha!
A SENSE OF HEAVINESS:
While this has been a wonderful week, I have been carrying a heaviness
---- a sadness ---- even an inner grieving ---- for several weeks.
It's not despair, depression, or discouragement ---- not at all. In
fact, I feel I have a pretty fair understanding about the different kinds
of heaviness, what brings them on, and how to detect them and use them
for good.
For example, a heaviness that comes from . . .
1) Guilt
2) Failure
3) Disappointment
4) Grief
5) Burden
6) Vision
7) Too much to do
All these bring on a unique and distinct type of heaviness.
The heaviness I feel, owever, has come from a number of factors that
probably relate to #5 and that can be summarized in four basic areas:
1. Heaviness over tragedy in the human life.
How can we not be moved by the five little children who suffocated in the
trunk (boot for you Brits, Kiwi's, and Aussies) of a car this past week?
How can we not be moved by the tragedy of the thousands who have drowned
recently in China and South Korea? How can we not be moved by the scenes
of bloody faces, mutilated bodies, and weeping loved ones over the
heinous murdering terrorism in Kenya and Tanzania?
How can we not be moved by such things? Plus a thousand other personal,
local, national, and international tragedies? To dwell on it even for a
little while creates a heaviness in me.
Like a friend once said, "Life wouldn't be so bad if it weren't so
daily."
2. Heaviness over the deteriorating rot of the moral fiber.
It shows everywhere. The moral fiber of humanity is rotting away, and,
in many cases, is almost through the final strand. What else should we
expect, though, when we have permitted it to happen? When the light
refuses to shine and the salt refuses to leave the shaker, we have only
ourselves to blame.
In fact, I wonder if the heaviness I feel comes more because of our
toleration and inactivity toward it than from the immorality itself. We
are seeing in the United States itself the epitome of rotten moral fiber
---- when the majority of people polled (and I often wonder just how
representative those polls really are) would rather put up with a
leadership that is morally bankrupt, politically blighted, and ethically
perverted than to clean house and possibly lose the momentum of economic
growth and materialistic security. To many, the good outweighs the bad,
when in fact, in God's order of things, their bad far outweighs the good,
and even makes to good to be bad.
I have news for those who would rather keep the fox in the henhouse.
It's already too late! That which you are trying to preserve and
maintain (material security and economic momentum) will sooner or later
(and I believe sooner than later) begin sifting through your fingers and
drifting from your palm like dry ash.
To those of you who live in other countries, take a look around ----
you'll find that same rottenness in your country.
3. Heaviness over insensitivity of the Church to human need.
I am heartbroken every time I hear of a church that would rather install
new carpet than feed the hungry; that would rather build a new building
than start a new congregation; that would rather build a new gymnasium
than commission a new missionary; that would rather try a new program
than seek the face of a holy God.
Don't misunderstand: ---- there are genuine needs for carpet, new
buildings, new strategies. But I tell you, my friend, I suspect that
many such endeavors are a lot like hysterectomies ---- according to many
in the profession, as much as 80% of them are unnecessary.
More valuable and needed, however, are churches with attitudes like a
church I know of in Tucson that, every time they enter a building program
for their own facilities will also finance a building project for a small
church somewhere, or a church I know of in Tulsa that, every time they
added a staff member, they also budget a full two-years of salary and
support for two ministry families from their church to go out and start a
new work in an unchurched area. Or another church I know of that ,
whatever it cost to operate their local ministry, matches it dollar for
dollar in missions giving.
Those churches were not insensitive to human need, and they found a way
to put their money where their mouths were. They knew what it meant to
be "Doers" of the Word, and NOT just hearers ---- or just believers.
4. Heaviness over the demonic burden placed on ministry leadership.
This one creates the greatest heaviness of all ---- because I believe
this actually contributes significantly to the other three. Therefore, I
elaborate.
SOME HEARTBREAKING STATISTICS:
Many preachers have significantly influenced or blessed my life ----
about twenty in special ways. Five of those are extremely special. One
is Jim Hylton with whom my family and I walked for over two years in wave
after wave of perpetual revival in the 1960's. The most significant one
is my father, of whom I have written in previous letters. Two others are
my sons-in-law ---- one a missionary in Bogota, Colombia, in South
America, the other a pastor of a small church that was on the verge of
dying after the Mississippi River swept away many of the businesses and
most of the hope in the Flood of 1993.
That son-in-law, Jim, gave me some very interesting statistics day before
yesterday ---- information he received from a good friend Gary Taylor,
one of the speakers at a Bible Conference Jim attended last week.
I want to share these statistics which Gary gleaned from a number of
surveys taken by Focus on the Family, Southern Baptist Convention
personnel, and other sources. I wish I knew more specifically which was
which. I will identify specifically what I can.
1. Ministry ---- An Endangered Vocation:
1) One survey indicated that 29% of those surveyed had been forced
to resign.
2) One survey representing all denominations indicated that 1300
pastors were either fired or forced to resign Each Month!
3) Southern Baptist Churches fire 245 pastors a month. President
of the BSSB, Dr. Jimmy Draper said that at that rate "in 13 years we'll
fire every pastor in the Convention."
4) More than 50 calls a day come into a little publicized pastoral
"hot line".
5) One third of all SBC ministers and staff felt the "Need" to call
an SBC agency for some kind of help in 1997.
6) Depending on which survey you read, from 29% to 49% of those in
vocational ministry are looking for either a change in ministry or
location, or are considering leaving vocational ministry altogether.
7) In one year $64 million was paid to SBC clergy for stress
related claims.
8) 70% of ministers surveyed felt they had lower self-esteem now
than when they entered ministry.
9) 80% said that in the past six months they have been or felt
discouraged.
10) 40% said that in the past six months they have been or felt
burned out.
11) 25% said they have been depressed.
12) Divorce rate for pastors is up 65% in the past 25 years.
13) Depending on which survey you read, from 28% to 80% of pastors
felt their ministry had a negative impact on their home.
14) A Focus on the Family survey included a pastor/spouse comparison:
Pastors Spouses
Discouraged 80% 84%
Depressed 25% 56%
Burned Out 40% 47%
15) Marriage problems pastors face:
80% listed insufficient time together
70% indicated inadequate income
53% indicated difficulties in raising children
41% indicated pastor's anger toward spouse
35% indicated differences over ministry career
25% indicated differences over spouse's career
2. Why is Ministry So Tough Today? (Seven Reasons Given)
1) Suffocating Expectations (see my letter #24 written June 28th
for my thoughts)
2) Media influence -- everything out there is so slick and well
polished that we can't compete.
3) Ministry scandals
4) Situation Ethics ---- relativism in morality and truth vs
opinion
5) Dysfunctional people you have to deal with
6) Leadership crises ---- battle over who's in control
7) Spiritual Warfare
HELLO? Is anybody Out There? Is Anybody Listening?
Wow! What an eye-opener.
Having listed all that, I think we'd better recognize right up front that
life in general is tough, and that, if you're going to be in the Master's
service, you're going to face the Master's adversaries and critics, as
well as human quirks and preferences. So, I am not proposing that your
life in the ministry should be free from problems.
A CHALLENGING QUESTION:
While I'm not here to defend, criticize, or validate the above, I'd like
to ask you a question:
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be able to minister
totally from a calling and position that was subject to, directed by, and
accountable to Holy God alone? What would it be like to do ministry
based on what you knew in your heart rather than some man made criteria
that, though unintentional, probably crams you into a slot that doesn't
fit your calling nor your style?
Think about that! I have ---- lots of times, especially as a pastor.
Just imagine! ---- getting your orders directly from God, and ---- and
---- without cloudiness of issues because of human interpretation or
attempts to control!
What a thought! What a breath of fresh air!
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
In earlier letters I have referred to the beginning of our current
ministry, Life Unlimited Ministries. However, I have not shared much
about the circumstances surrounding it.
I had been pastoring a large church of just under 700 members in the
'70's when God called us to another state and a little congregation just
thirteen years old. You could have put three of their buildings in the
sanctuary of the previous church. I'll never forget the two transitional
Sundays ---- on the one I preached to about 400, and on the next I
preached to 22, including my family of six. (By the way, No, I didn't
have to leave the big church. Come to think of it, I guess I did ----
God drove me to do it.)
However, the people were loving, excited, responsive ---- and God gave us
six wonderfully enjoyable years during the seven I served as pastor ----
the first four and the last two. I could not have asked for a more
exciting and thoroughly fulfilling time.
Year number five, however, was another story.
A man and his wife who had been gone for a couple years for post graduate
doctorate schooling returned. Everyone was excited. They pretty much
kept in the background ---- until one night he was elected as chairman of
the Finance Committee. I knew then that trouble was inevitable. Looking
back, I should have anticipated it more quickly. After all, I was the
ninth pastor in the church's twenty-year history, my immediate
predecessor had stayed only nine months, and with the pastor before him
staying four years and my staying seven, that meant they had seven other
pastors in nine years.
Because the church was small and always struggling financially, that
condition was a perfect breeding ground for "malaria carrying mosquitos".
It wasn't long until three other of our fourteen active church families
were infected.
Recommendations for spending priorities were presented. They read like
this:
1. Missions
2. Building Payment
3. Utilities
4. Insurance
5. Sunday School
6. Women's missionary work
7. Youth work
8. Pastor's Salary
9. Pastor's Insurance
10. Pastor's retirement
Invisible tape "seals" were placed on my office door to see if I came to
the church office during the week. Letters were written. Reports of all
the "families who have left our church" were presented with totally
distorted figures and reasons. Special "leadership report" inserts were
secretly placed in Sunday bulletins ----all except mine. Offerings were
either held back or designated. Recommendations to "remedy the problem"
usually focused on "the pastor getting to work like he was 'hired' to
do", "getting an outside job", or "resigning so we can call a pastor who
can do the job".
I was miserable. My family was miserable. We were More than miserable
---- we were in agonizing trauma, and bleeding profusely. I wanted to
resign. I tried to resign. I looked for jobs. I wanted out ---- at
least a sabbatical. I took occupational skills and temperament tests
---- I even learned to answer the questions the "right way" in order to
score the highest possible.
But, I tell you, my friend ---- God either had a really perverted sense
of humor, or He had something special in mind for me. I tried every way
I knew to get out, but I couldn't have gotten out of town in a coffin.
My friend, there was never a time in my life when I was so discouraged
---- so beaten ---- so depressed ---- so despairing. For eight months my
daily routine read like this:
Drag myself out of bed, get dressed, eat breakfast.
Take the girls to school.
Take Jo Ann to work.
Go by the post office and get the mail.
Call Don and/or Darryl on the phone and go have "moaning" coffee (we
sympathetically compared notes).
Drive around until lunch.
Have lunch with one of my supporters or grab a quickie at home.
Take my Bible, tape player, and book to the lake to hide.
Leave them all in the car, go sit on a picnic table ---- and stare at
the lake.
Go home, get the girls from school, go pick Jo Ann up at work.
Let the girls be on their own for supper and evening activities.
Go by the deli and pick up supper for Jo Ann and me.
Run by the house for a thermos of coffee, blanket and lawn chairs.
Head back to the lake to hide, talk, and cry together.
Come home in time for the news, take a shower, and go to bed ---- and
cry some more.
I felt as if I had been shaken like a rag doll clamped in the jaws of a
giant bull dog. And I wasn't sure if he was angry with destruction in
his eyes or if he was just playing. Whichever, ---- it was the ride of
my life.
Now the real point of my story is not to describe one of my times of
misery, or even to tell you the outcome, but rather to tell you what God
did for me that set me free ---- really set me free like I had not been
in a very long time.
One day, while sitting on that picnic table at the lake, God asked me a
question in my inner man as clearly as if He had been sitting across from
me face to face.
"Bob, ---- if you could do anything in the world you wanted to do in
serving Me, and money was no object, what would you do?"
That question brought more freedom and joy to me than I had known in many
months. Why? Because, first of all, I understood God's principle of
Psalm 37:4 ---- "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He will give you the
desires of your heart."
All of a sudden I knew ---- I knew! God wanted my serving Him not only
to be part of His plan, but also to flow out of my desires! And, if I
delighted in Him and not in systems, circumstances, or people, then He
would assume the responsibility of making sure that My Desires and His
Plan matched up!
Thank You, Lord!!!
Well ---- you may ask, "what was your answer?" And, "what happened at
the church?"
After about two weeks of praying and thinking about what I would really
like to do in serving the Lord if there were no human restrictions or
limitations, I gave Him my answer ---- which He had given to me first.
"Lord, if I could do anything in the world in serving You, and money was
no object, I'd have a ministry of encouraging pastors and equipping
churches around America in things of holiness, commitment, spiritual
awakening, revival, discipleship, and evangelism ---- And, ---- I'd be
out from under anybody's financial thumb!"
And God said ---- (in my inner man, of course) ---- "GREAT! I'll let you
know when the time is right. In the meantime, get things in order."
There is a principle of life we often forget ---- Psalm 4:1 says, "In my
distress, He enlarged me." God uses difficult times to stretch,
strengthen, correct, or redirect. I have gone through four major times
like that. Each time, God shifted and redirected my ministry, as well as
deepened my walk with Him.
Immediately the despair was gone. New joy filled my heart. A sense of
value and purpose returned. My preaching and teaching took on new energy
and power. Boldness to face the adversarial attitudes became strong.
At the same time, the remaining ten families rallied, came to our aid,
put an end to the attempted insurrection, and God brought a new level of
unity and love for each other. To this day some of those people remain
dear friends.
The four families, all of whom had already ended their financial support
and had begun dropping out in attendance, ultimately left the church.
While they were loved ---- and forgiven ---- they were never missed.
Neither was their money. In fact, attendance grew, new joy and freedom
was released in the services, some awesome things happened in those
services as God set people free, and the church became more financially
sound than it had been in its history to that time.
We set about the process of "getting things in order". God directed us
into a "business relationship" that not only provided needed income but
also the opportunity to learn some very important truths about leadership
skills and related topics. We could see the light at the end of the
tunnel, and we knew it wasn't the proverbial freight train.
Just one year later, as Jo Ann and I were enjoying one of the "perks"
God provided through that business, walking along the beach at 3:00 a.m.
in Honolulu, He seemed to speak to my heart ---- "It's time, Bob!"
Immediately I knew what He meant.
We came home thrilled ---- excited ---- expectant ---- wondering.
A few weeks later my parents came to our home and my father preached a
conference in the church. We told them of our decision. They were
elated. We talked, prayed, and decided ---- Life Unlimited Ministries is
the name!
They went home the day after Thanksgiving. They had not been gone more
than ten minutes when a friend I had not seen for years drove up in our
driveway. We went to coffee ---- I could hardly wait to get there. As
we sat there with the two men with him from his church, I shared the
story. One of his men turned and said, "Pastor, this is the real reason
we're on this trip. We need Bob for a conference as soon as possible."
Two months later I was doing a ten day conference on "Biblical Patterns
of New Testament Church Life". God showed up!
Upon returning from that January trip to Michigan's UP, I shared the
results and our vision with our church leadership.
They were thrilled!
For the next two years, at their insistence, I continued pastoring as I
traveled more and more across America ministering to pastors, their
families, and churches.
THE SHAKING THAT IS HERE:
Some years later, God opened to my heart a wonderful passage of scripture
that has blessed me so thoroughly that I'd preach from it every chance I
got. That was a momentous day when I understood some of the shaking God
had taken me through, not only in the instance noted above, but at other
times as well.
The passage is found in Hebrews 12:18-29. In verses 18-24 the writer
contrasts something that on the surface is sometimes not understood in
its fullest sense.
Digging a little deeper you find that he is contrasting two mountains
---- or more accurately, two systems. Mount Sinai represents
righteousness attained by the performance of the law, and is described in
frightening words ---- untouchable mountain, blazing fire, darkness, erie
gloom, tornadoes, pealing trumpets, terrifying supernatural words of
demand and condemnation ---- "Meet The Standard ---- OR ELSE!"
Mount Zion, however, is described as the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, innumerable angels, the assembly of believers in
Jesus Christ who's names are written in heaven, to God the righteous
judge, and the spirits of perfect righteous believers, and Jesus Himself
the mediator of a new covenant, and to His shed blood sprinkled upon us
for righteousness. The words there are "ACCEPTED! ---- IN THE BELOVED!"
The contrast is glaring. More so, it is awesome ---- not only because it
reveals the stark difference between performance and grace, between works
and faith, but because it clearly reveals that it is "not by works of
righteousness that we have done", but by the absolute and undiluted grace
of God.
However, that's just the backdrop cloth against which the following
section is being explained in verses 25-29.
In those following verses the writer quotes God Himself as saying that He
is going to shake some stuff and remove a whole bunch of it. And, he's
not only going to shake the terrestrial, but also the celestial. It's
going to be a really big deal!
What stuff?
Anything and everything that can be shaken. Well, what is it that can be
shaken?
Created things ---- man made things.
Why?
Because man made things cannot stand the test of time ---- or eternity.
Because man made things are neither spiritual nor eternal ---- they are
temporal and temporary. Therefore, they clutter, they get in the way,
and they distract from the real thing.
So ---- Mount Sinai has got to go! Only Mount Zion must, can, and will
remain.
Consider the following questions:
1. WHAT is God shaking? Nations, institutions, education, religion,
economics, governments, pleasure, you name it ---- God is shaking it. In
a nutshell, though, you can boil it down into three areas. God is
shaking EVERYTHING in order to grind to fine powder . . .
1) Every Society built on Godless values.
2) Every System set toward Godless purposes.
3) Every Structure depending on Godless resources.
The wood, hay, and stubble have to go. The gold, silver, and precious
stone must be refined. And, friend, He loves you so much that He is
including you in that shaking. If there remains a part of your psyche
that is built on Godless values, if there is a motivation or desire in
you set toward Godless purposes, or a system you are a part of that
depends on Godless resources, then don't get mad at God when He grabs you
like a bull dog grabs a rag doll and shakes the tar out of you.
2. HOW is God doing the shaking? Through financial crises and collapse,
political and social upheavals, military threats, family conflicts, moral
decay, convulsions of nature, uncertainty of the future, the pressures
and cares of life. All of it is used as God's winnowing mill to separate
away from us anything and everything that even hints of the flesh so that
only things of the Spirit remain intact and strong.
3. WHY is God doing the shaking?
1) To teach the Church the futility of our traditions (Mk 7:13).
2) To show us the narrowness of our theological beliefs (Acts 8)
3) To expose the restrictiveness of our systems (I Cor)
4) To reveal the ignorance of our intelligence ---- We "know" too
much, and believe too little.
5) To purify His people and eradicate from our very beings things
like injustice, immorality, inconsistency, perversion, softness toward
sin, shallowness, prayerlessness, lack of compassion, lack of hunger for
His Word, disinterest in intimacy with Him, and a host of other things.
6) To prepare us for persecution.
7) To demolish and eradicate proud and foolish humanistic
philosophies from our theology and approach to the Christian life ----
such as relativism, socialism, secularianism, humanism, agnosticism,
materialism, doctrinal exclusiveness, sectarian isolationism, etc.
8) To destroy the wicked and bring down the mighty.
9) To intensify man's hunger for God and His supernatural power,
exposing the futility of the flesh and eradicating the shallowness of the
superficial.
10) To destroy the spirit of religiosity in the church with its
accompanying traditions, systems, programs, piosity, superiority, and
soulishness.
11) To crack open and remove the hearts of stone in the lives of
believers and the churches and open our eyes to the needs and the
suffering of our world.
12) To prepare us as a holy, spotless, pure bride for the arrival of
our husband and King of the ages.
WELCOME, WELCOME, OH SHAKING!
If your heart beats as mine does, you no longer fear, dread, or resist
the shaking. Now that we know its purpose and its necessity, the cost is
well worth the results to come.
So, dear friend, if you are part of the statistics I listed above,
REJOICE! God finds in you something worth redeeming! Something worth
purifying and refining! Something worth using!
If you are suffering a spirit of heaviness that won't go away, LOOK UP!
Your redemption draweth nigh!
Embrace the shaking! Embrace it with all your might! Celebrate its
coming! Glory in it! Joy over it!
Forget the failures. Ignore the nay sayers. Disregard the critics.
Look only to Him. Cling only to the Cross. Look to the finished product
about to come off the production line ---- a renewed vision, a healed
relationship, a new door of opportunity, a more tightly knit family, an
intensified surge of energy, a calming sense of confidence.
Painful? Yes! "No pain? No gain!"
Humiliating? Certainly! Like Jesus was humiliated on the cross (Phil
2:5-11).
Life changing? Beyond any doubt!
Friend, don't just endure the shaking ---- Embrace it! ---- knowing the
wonderful promise that "He that hath begun a good work in you will
perfect it until the day of Christ (Phil 1:6)
May our Great God, Creator, Captain, Sustainer ---- Father ---- manifest
Himself faithful and sufficient in these awesome days of shakings.
In Christ's Bond,
Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Copyright August, 1998. All rights reserved.
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: [email protected]
Ph: 417-275-4854
Fax: 417-275-4855