SHOULDER TO SHOULDER #34 ---- 9/7/98
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>
Encouraging One Another as we "Fight the Good Fight"
TITLE: "Emptying the In-Box"
Dear Partner in Ministry:
I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the believers of
the First Century clasped hands and drew the sign of the Fish with one
another and spoke those immortal words, "He is risen, indeed!", I, too,
greet you.
This has been another momentous week ---- the tragic loss of 229 lives in
the Swissair plane crash off the coast of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia,
another roller coaster ride in world economics, the growing instability
of the nation of Russia, so many things happening in God's world.
A LITTLE CHRISTIAN PATRIOTISM:
With today being a purely American holiday, Labor Day (always the Monday
immediately after the first Sunday of September each year), and with the
somewhat stunning rise of commentary on Christian values and morality
finally being heralded from many members of Congress, and with the Ken
Starr report to momentarily be presented to Congress, and with Irishman
Mark McGwire and Dominican Republican Sammy Sosa making baseball history,
I thought it might be an appropriate time to hear from some more great
Americans concerning our heritage of Judeo-Christian values and
principles.
"The First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and
state. That wall is a one-dimensional wall. It keeps government from
running the church but it makes sure that Christian principles will
always stay in government." (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to a Baptist
Congregation in Dayton,Connecticut in 1802 written some 25 years after
the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were ratified.)
"It is impossible to rightly govern . . . without God and the Bible."
(George Washington)
"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation
was founded . . . on the gospel of Jesus Christ." (Patrick Henry)
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (John Adams)
"From the day of the Declaration . . . the American people were bound by
the laws of God and by the laws of the Gospel." (John Quincy Adams)
"The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see to this truth ----
that God governs in the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to
the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise
without His aid?" (Benjamin Franklin)
YOUR IN-BOX IS NEVER EMPTY:
Several weeks ago I learned of a book entitled, "The In-Box Is Never
Empty". I thought, "how true that is for those of us in vocational
ministry!"
In spite of my father's admonition when I was a college sophomore taking
my first church staff position that I'll never be "caught up" in the
ministry, and I should never take my work home with me, I can never
remember a day in my 42+ years of ministry when I felt my In-Box was less
than piled up and running over.
And, ---- it showed, especially in my family. I was one of these guys
who was so tied to work and schedule that I knew how much time it would
take me to fill the car with gas (which was certainly enough time for Jo
Ann and our four little girls to make their needed potty stops), and I
could tell you within ten minutes of when we would arrive at the city of
our next gas stop.
I also was so controlled by my "work" that my two-week vacation would
give me, at best, perhaps seven days of enjoyment. It would take me four
days to unwind and learn to relax, and then I would begin dreading the
return to work about three or four days prior to our return home.
Such bondage to work and schedule led me to several conclusions: First,
I was either a bad manager of time and resources; Second, I was a lousy
discipler who knew how to delegate; Third, I was doing a lot of things
that really didn't have much value to the outcome of my ministry; or
Fourth, I was filling my life with lots of work in order to avoid
responsibilities at home or in order to avoid rejection from others by
trying to look busy or successful.
None of the above are acceptable reasons for a person in ministry to be
that busy.
NARROWING THINGS DOWN:
Yesterday morning I was watching several television programs of Christian
ministries: One in particularly both thrilled me and chilled me. John
Hagee is a brilliant, articulate, skilled, pentecostal preacher with a
bold, prophetic, and confrontive cutting message.
Jo Ann and I have had the privilege of hearing him in person a few years
ago. He has become one of the premier television and conference
preachers in America today. He reminds me of one of my former pastors
under whom I served years ago, Dr. Jimmy Baldwin. Dr. Baldwin's hero was
William Jennings Bryant, and before he became a Baptist preacher, he
wanted to be a lawyer of Bryant's caliber.
Both John Hagee and Dr. Baldwin remind me of bantam roosters. Dr.
Baldwin, about 5'7" tall, crowed out his message with polish ---- every
feather preened and in place. John Hagee, about 5'5" tall and just about
as wide, crows out his message in the middle of the fighting ring with
feathers preened but slightly ruffled, saying, "C'mon! Wanna rumble?
C'mon, c'mon! You think I'm short? You oughta' see my God!"
Dr. Hagee's guest speaker was a man I have known for more than 30 years,
having met him while he was a student in a little Christian college in
southwest Missouri ---- David Ring. If you have never heard David, you
have missed one of the greatest blessings life could ever give you.
You see, David had Cerebral Palsy as a child. As a child he drooled, he
could hardly walk, and his speech was almost unintelligible except for
those who knew him best ---- his family. As a college student, he was
more of an circus "freak show" than anything else. But, God called him
into ---- of all things ---- vocational evangelism.
Who would ever dream that God could use such a person with so many
liabilities and what we would call disabilities? Yet, He did.
To be quite honest, I never expected David to amount to much. Oh, I knew
some pastors would invite him to speak just for the oddity of it. But, I
figured he'd spend most of his ministry in, his love for the Lord not
withstanding, smaller churches, mostly rural, mostly in the "conservative
and under educated" South (my assessment at that time, you understand.).
Yet, I tell you today that David, a man who loves God as totally and
humbly as any person I have ever known, speaks to more people in a single
service than most of us would expect to speak to in a lifetime. Today,
for example, he spoke to an audience of at least 5,000 in the church
building and who knows how many millions over television and radio. He
has appeared on the Old Time Gospel Hour dozens of times, and each time,
addresses millions by way of television.
As I sat and listened to David speak in his simplicity and belabored
speech, and then heard him sing that great old song, "Victory In Jesus",
God showed me again the necessities of ministry, the complexities of our
systems which often hinder us or distract us, and the simplicity required
of our focus ---- and the tension that often exists between the three.
As I watched the professionalism of a beautifully designed building, an
immaculately decorated set, a brilliantly televised program, and a
fervently promoted series of tapes to purchase, I was again grievously
struck by the contrast between production and servant hood, between
productivity and fruitfulness. I am not implying that what I saw in that
service was done for wrong motives ---- not at all! I think that God
just used it to remind me again of the enormous tension which exists and
the temptations we face in finding our proper balance and simplicity in
ministry.
I openly agree that there are many things necessary for ministry in our
culture that really take too much of our time, energy, and resources. I
must add, however, that there are not nearly so many things as we think
there are.
I also acknowledge that the settings and systems in which most of us find
ourselves have become very complex. Each day that I am around pastors
and denominational leaders, I am more convinced than ever that we are a
truly "Romanized" Church caught up in an institutional maze that has
created a functional malaise. It's no wonder that most pastor's wives
wish their husbands did something else. (Review letters #30 and #32 for
those and other troubling statistics.)
However, the thing of which I am more convinced today than ever in my
life is that there is an enormous need to recover the practicality of
ministry around us and return to the simplicity of Christ that is in us.
I dearly love the book of Philippians ---- I have taught it numerous
times. In chapter three, after Paul strongly warns us of putting Any
confidence in the flesh at all, and after using his own personal
testimony as an example of its futility, he makes an absolutely profound
statement, ---- fully pregnant with sky-splitting truth:
"Whatever things were gain to me, Those Things I have counted as loss
(KJV says "Dung") ---- for the sake of Christ. More Than That ---- I
count ALL THINGS as loss ("Dung") in view of the surpassing value of
Knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord . . ."
That statement then launches Paul into a transparent heart-exposing cry
into the heavens ---- "That I may Know Him, and the power of His
resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to
His death: . . ."
Then, out of that insatiable drive toward intimacy and identity with
Christ, Paul says, "I press on! ---- I press on! ---- I press on!"
Finally, in verse thirteen, after admitting that even after more than 25
years of serving the Lord, he has not yet attained where he wants to be
with Christ, He says, . . .
"This One Thing I Do . . ."
My friend, you and I need to be able to say the same thing.
Most of us are doing Too Many Things in Too Many Areas of interest with
Too Many Influences affecting us and Too Many Obligations draining us.
If you want the deepest intimacy with Christ you can have, and the most
effective ministry you can muster, you need to get back to ---- "This ONE
Thing I Do."
THIS ONE THING I DO:
Consider these thoughts ----
1. Forgetting the Things BEHIND Me: We are greatly affected by the
past. In fact, we carry out our actions of the present and make our
plans for the future, influenced primarily by our experiences of the
past.
Paul, on the other hand, rehearses his past, but only to make a point,
and never to glory in it or wallow in it. His comment has a very strong
"matter of fact" sense to it.
You would be amazed ---- or maybe you wouldn't ---- with how many people
assess and attempt to control their lives and those around them on the
basis of what took place in "the last town", or "my previous ministry",
or "the last guy who said that".
It's time to forget the things behind you! Both the bad experiences, the
failures, ---- and the successes and the great memories. How many times
have you said, "If I had only . . ."? Or ---- "If THEY had only . . ."?
Or perhaps, "Maybe I could have . . . "
I have fed on those thoughts, my friend. Yes, even more so, I have
wallowed on them ---- agonized over them, ---- have been accused by them,
---- haunted by them, ---- hounded by them, ---- beaten down by them.
Whatever they are, whatever their kind, and whatever their outcome ----
If you're going to focus on "This One Thing I Do", you must ----
absolutely must! ---- "forget the things behind you".
2. Forgetting the Things AROUND Me: Paul doesn't address this issue
explicitly in this passage, but it is certainly inherent in the principle
he is addressing.
Many time we are attacked Not from the past, but from the "here and now"
circumstances and conditions around us ---- people who are uncommitted,
cultural conditions that seem to be both overwhelming and unchangeable,
pressures that threaten to crush us . . .
Listen to his comments in II Corinthians 4:7-18. Better yet, read it
contemplatively for yourself.
"We have this Treasure in earthen vessels ("Clay Pots"), that the
surpassing Greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves;"
(That ought to tell us something right up front!)
"Afflicted in Every way! ---- but Not crushed!"
"Perplexed! ---- but Not despairing!"
"Persecuted! ---- but Not forsaken!"
"Struck Down! ---- but Not destroyed!"
"For we who live ---- are Constantly ---- Constantly! ---- being
delivered over to death ---- for Jesus' sake! ---- that the Life of Jesus
Also may be manifested in Our mortal flesh!"
Oh, listen, my friend! That's what it's all about! We cannot give in to
the "Things" around us! We must forget them ---- forget them! Move on
---- to Know Him ---- really Know (Epignosis ---- Full revealed
knowledge) Him.
3. Forgetting the Things ABOVE Me: If you haven't discovered it yet,
you certainly will eventually ---- there are "things" above you. Paul
makes it clear that we "wrestle not with flesh and blood". The
principalities, the powers, the dominions, and all the other demonic
emissaries are satanically assigned and diabolically committed to keep
you from doing what God has called you to do.
And they will use any tactic necessary to do so. But, they seem to best
use things that distract us from our focus, divert us from our calling,
and delude us of our resources.
Remember the parable of the sower in Mark 4? I want to write on this at
a later time, but consider this ---- the sower's job was simple ---- "sow
seed." However, when you read the story, you see that he had five other
options ---- pick up "wasted" seed in the ditch, chase birds, throw
stones, evaluate soil types, or pull weeds and thorns.
Yet, he understood the "This one thing I do" principle ---- he just kept
on sowing seed. You and I can learn a good lesson. It doesn't mean that
we are not aware of the things above us, but the word "forgetting" is
"epilanthanomai" which means to "lose out of mind" or to "neglect" or "be
forgetful of". In other words, "Don't pay undue attention", "make it
your plan to lose it out of your mind", "deliberately neglect", or
"forget about it" ---- or "don't sweat it!"
It's time to "Forget" the things above you, my friend. Why? Because
"Greater is He Who is in you, than he that is in the world!" And He
remembers! Quite well!
4. Forgetting the Things WITHIN Me: My dear friend, perhaps our
greatest enemy is often that which is within us. As Pogo said years ago,
"We have found the enemy, and the enemy is us!"
The Psalmist declares, "Bless the Lord, O, my soul! And All that is
Within me, bless His holy Name!" That's what we are to do with whatever
is within us.
However, we tend to let those things within us either dominate us into
inactivity or even bondage, or demand our attention through pride.
Forget the things within you!
What things?
Well, let's see ---- how about painful memories? Or unresolved
conflicts? Or maybe past failures? Or even previous accolades? Earlier
accomplishments?
My friend, there is nothing you can do about things behind you, around
you, or above you. Let go of the things behind you; turn away from the
things around you; trust God with the things above you.
You Can, however, do something about that which is Within you. And, if
you ever intend to be a "This One thing I do" minister, you must.
How? Simply ---- Recognize, Repent, and Rebuild.
Recognize that which is within you which is not in sync with the nature
and purposes of Christ. Recognize those you may have hurt either by
word, deed, or neglect.
Recognizing not only means seeing it, but it also means admitting it ----
acknowledging it. Therefore, agree with God ---- "say the same thing as"
---- confess it.
Repentance is essential ---- an intellectual change of mind accompanied
by an emotional desire to change that drives you to a willful turning
around in your conduct. It's time to turn around ---- not just turn
aside or turn away. Turn around!
Rebuilding is a long and often painful process, but where damage or
destruction has taken place, rebuilding is necessary. Far too many
ministers load up the van and relocate rather than rebuild. If you ever
do that, I can guarantee you one thing ---- history will repeat itself!
5. Absorbed by the Thing BEFORE Me: Oh, my friend! This is the
exciting "Thing" ---- to be absorbed by the thing Before you! But until
the things behind you, the things around you, the things above you, and
the things within you are taken care of, you'll be distracted from the
Thing (singular) before you. You'll never be able to say with a clear
conscience and a determined discipline, "THIS . . .ONE . . .THING . . . I
. . . DO!"
1) THIS one thing. No other thing. It is THIS thing that I do!
2) This ONE thing. Not many things, not all things. This ONE thing!
3) This one thing I do. Not others, Not "nobody". I do it. It's me!
(That's bad grammar, but a strongly determined commitment.)
4) This one thing I DO. Not hope. Not think about. Not dream about.
Not fear. Not hold back. I DO it! I am a "DOER" ---- not just a
"hearer".
Are you ABSORBED by the "one thing" before you? Are you compelled by it?
Do you live it, breathe it, sleep it, dream it? Friend, in your
ministry, is there just One Thing that really drives you, constrains you,
pushes you on, no matter what the obstacles or limitations?
Every believer needs to have One Thing. Jo Ann and I do. It is a single
word ---- a simple word ---- a significant word ---- 'ENCOURAGEMENT!"
Now, it has its application in various arenas ---- Croatia, Bosnia, my
"Shoulder To Shoulder" letters, pastors, troubled churches, the unsaved
---- but it is One Thing. Just Call Me "Barnabas!" Just call Jo Ann
"Barnabetsy!"
I PRESS ON:
Paul says two times in that passage ---- "I press on!" That's the One
Thing he does ---- he presses on! So must we!
No matter what lies behind, around, above, or within ---- we must press
on! Today is no day for shirking, for side stepping, for slacking. We
must press on!
However, in order to do the "This One Thing", we must first do some
"Forgetting" of the things behind, the things around, the things above,
and the things within which dry us up, drag us down, or otherwise
negatively affect us in our personal lives and our public ministries.
IN CONCLUSION:
Dear Friend, I cannot adequately express to you just how important this
letter is in my heart, and how I desire it to bless you! I pray it be so
with all my heart!
Frankly, it was just Sunday morning that the idea of the five areas I
have mentioned began to unfold in my mind. I rushed to my computer and
wrote them down before we went to church. And, now, as I conclude my
letter to you at about 10:45 Sunday night, I am thoroughly captured about
the need the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has to be led by men and
women who are compelled by just One Thing instead of many.
Oh, how I pray that somehow God will relieve you of the "many things"
that contaminate and dilute your ministry. I pray that you will no
longer make the mistake that the caring servant Martha made which Jesus
had to address with these words in Luke 10 ---- "Martha, Martha (Bill,
Bill! James, James! Susan, Susan!)! You are worried and bothered about
So Many things; but only a few things are necessary, Really Only ONE, for
Mary has chosen THE good part ---- which shall NOT be taken away from
her."
What truth! What power! What a promise! That "One Thing" shall NOT be
taken away!
That may explain why so many of our efforts, plans, and projects are
"taken away" from us by various means. However, I promise you, my
friend, that the "One Thing" God has burned into your heart will NOT be
taken away ---- if ---- IF ---- forgetting the things behind, around,
above, and within, you Press On!
Press On, my friend! Press on!
Be Blessed today.
In Christ's Bond,
Bob Tolliver ---- Rom 1:11-12
Copyright September, 1998. All Rights Reserved.
__
/ |
(_/____)
/ ^ ^
{ (O) (O) }
------oOOOo--------U-------oOOOo------
Hang in there! I'm with you!
-------.oooo0--------------- Ooooo--------
( ) /
| | /
(_) (_)
Life Unlimited Ministries
E-mail: lifeunlimited@juno.com
Ph: 417-275-4854
Fax: 417-275-4855