Epistle for November 21, 2007
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E-pistle
Dr. Curt Scarborough, President FreeWay Foundation November 21, 2007
It Seemed Good To The Holy Spirit And To Us
(Acts 15:28)
Dr. Curt Scarborough – July 1995
A few years ago, the St. Louis Football Cardinals flew south to Phoenix.
Millions of dollars later, the Rams have trekked over the Rocky Mountains to fill
the void in our football fans' hearts . . . and in our empty, new stadium.
Football, perhaps as much as any other sport, illustrates the Biblical
principle of submission. The word, of course, comes from Latin words combining
the ideas "to put" and "under". However, I'd like to suggest that submission also
implies accepting an assignment which is a small part of the larger mission . . .
a "submission."
Football players illustrate this idea of sub-mission. Each man has an
assignment for every offensive play. Often the coach on the sideline calls the
play and the quarterback relays it to the team in the huddle. When they break
to go to the line of scrimmage, the center knows whether he's pass-blocking or
opening a hole for the running back. The guards and tackles also know their
assignments.
The tight end and wide receivers know whether they're blocking,
decoying, or running a pattern to catch a pass. The quarterback barks the snap
count, knowing whether he's scrambling, handing off, or passing. And the
running back carries out his assignment (his sub-mission) of running the ball,
decoying, blocking, receiving, or even sometimes passing.
The point is: every man is submitted to carry out his assignment,
according to the play called by the coach and/or quarterback. Those linemen,
receivers, and running backs are not sissy wimps being bossed around by some
guy who thinks he's Napoleon! They are functioning as a team, according to
their abilities and training . . . in the proper place, at the time, doing the proper
task.
If each man carries out his assignment correctly, the play results in a
touchdown, or at least in gained yardage. Each submits to authority within the
over-all structure of the head coach's game plan. Some tasks are more glamorous
than others. But it is essential that each of the eleven men on the team does his
part according to the coach's X's and O's. Any Lone Ranger who runs around
doing his own thing soon finds himself cut from the squad, carrying his suitcase
toward the nearest bus station.
Christian ministers and churches could
learn some vital lessons form this
football team analogy.
Consider my text, Acts 15:28. "It seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us."
Pastors and churches, the order of submission is absolutely essential. First, it seemed
Good to the Holy Spirit. Second it seemed good to us.
The history of the churches at Jerusalem and Antioch, and of their ministers –
Barnabas, Saul, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and even John Mark, clearly illustrates the
Biblical principle of submission.
Barnabas is named as one of the original leaders of the Jerusalem church.
Alone, he had trusted and sponsored into the church fellowship their former deadly
enemy, Saul.
In Acts 11, believers were scattered throughout the world following
Stephen's martyrdom and subsequent persecution. Some Christians fled to Antioch,
where their evangelistic outreach produced a great number of new converts to the
gospel.
News of the Antioch church's existence came to the Jerusalem church.
Barnabas was sent to investigate. He saw God's grace at work there, and he encouraged
them to continue. Many more people were added, so Barnabas brought Saul to
from Tarsus to serve as co-pastor of the Antioch church. After a year's ministry, the
Antioch elders sent a special relief offering by – Barnabas and Saul back to the
famine-ravaged church at Jerusalem. Following their mission, they returned to
Antioch, bringing with them John Mark, nephew of Barnabas.
The Antioch church continued to grow. See (Acts 13:1-5) the congregation
was led and served by a team of five prophets and teachers, in addition to the
"intern" John Mark. This pastoral team included Barnabas (apparently still the
senior pastor), Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul.
"As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'now
separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'
then, having fasted and prayed, and laid their hand on them, they sent them
away." Acts 13:4, 5.
So it was that Barnabas and Saul launched their first missionary journey,
accompanied by John Mark, Acts 13:4, 5. Note that they were "called out" and
"sent out" by the Holy Spirit. The initiative was entirely God's; not the minister's
and not the church's. Barnabas and Saul . . . and all the other Antioch Christians . . .
were under submission to the Holy Spirit. They responded immediately and
graciously to the Spirit's call to His "sub-mission."
Contrast the reaction of the Antioch church with some fairly typical
reactions we hear today when a minister announces his resignation to accept
another place of service. Things haven't changed much since 20 years ago
when I resigned my position on a local church staff to come to the Christian Civic
Foundation (now FreeWay Foundation). I heard these four attitudes expressed:
Three are improper and unworthy and the last one is proper and worthy.
1. "You don't love us anymore!" Some folks feel as rejected as an unloved
spouse, deserted for a younger more attractive person. Their response
is: since you don't love us anymore, we hate you too! Barnabas and
Saul's leaving didn't mean their love for the Antioch Christians had
died. In fact, I'm sure they loved them more than ever before. Humanly
speaking, they hated leaving their friends in Antioch, but they were
submissive to God.
2. "Why are you leaving the ministry?" Some folks think God-called ministry
includes only senior pastors and foreign missionaries. Their idea of a
legitimate "call" stops where they draw the line . . . "our kind of ministry
activity; our little boxed-in vision." So, when a minister leaves their small-
minded definition of God-called ministry, that "deserter" is judged to be a
backslider, out of God's will. Barnabas and Saul no longer functioned as
settled pastors of a local congregation; rather they worked as itinerant
evangelists and church planters. But they hadn't "left the ministry" . . . just
submitted to the Holy Spirit's prompting to minister in a different way in a
different place.
3. "Everyone needs to better himself and his family; how much more money will
you be making?" Some folks operate entirely with a human mind-set making
decisions strictly on the basis of worldly wisdom. They read into the actions
of others those motives which would prompt themselves. Or, they judge a
minister's move as a step up the ladder of success, a promotion . . . proving
that he's "materialistic."
4. "The Holy Spirit is leading you; we rejoice!" Folks with this attitude are a
blessing and a joy. Barnabas and Saul were blessed by the Antioch Christians
who, with prayer and fasting, laid hands on them and commissioned them
to go out into new fields of service. That early church recognized Barnabas
and Saul's sub-mission to the Holy Spirit, and the church also submitted to
God's will with graciousness and love.
My prayer is that we ministers will take time to teach from God's word and by
example the great principle of submission. Someday, each of us will be called to leave
our present place of service for the Lord . . . either by Jesus' return, by death, by retirement,
or by a call to another assignment. May we always be submissive, and may we carefully
teach our people the true joy of "sub-mission."
All of the staff at FreeWay Foundation and
Pillsbury College & Seminary wish you and
your family a blessed Thanksgiving.
Remember to thank God for all the blessings
he has given you.
Trivia: The event we now recognize as the first US Thanksgiving
occurred in 1621 when the Pilgrims celebrated a bountiful crop with
Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe. George Washington
called for the first national Thanksgiving Day on November 26, 1789.
In the mid 19th century, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey's Ladies
Book, led a movement to establish Thanksgiving as a national holiday.
In 1863, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation setting aside the last
Thursday in November as a national Thanksgiving Day.
(source: Panatl Charles, 1987 Panatls Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things
New York: Harper & Row.)
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