Monday, January 31, 2011

A Lesson in True Integrity

by Bruce Mills
In the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance” released in 2000, Matt Damon plays Rannulph Junuh, a former golfing great. One of the final scenes of the movie demonstrates personal character and integrity in a way rarely seen in today’s secular films.
golf-scoring-handicappingJunuh, who has been greatly impacted by his experiences in World War I, is living as an alcoholic bum until Bagger Vance becomes his caddy and helps him regain his golf swing as well as teaching him several important life lessons. Once Bagger sees that Junuh has learned those lessons, he disappears from the scene and a young boy named Hardy takes his place as Junuh’s caddy.
At the end of the movie, Junuh is playing in a two-day tournament against Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen, two of the greatest golfers to ever pick up a club. On the final hole of the match, the three golfing rivals are all neck and neck. Junuh is preparing to chip onto the green when he reaches down to remove a twig from beside his ball. As he picks up the twig his ball moves slightly. The young caddy Hardy was the only one to witness the ball move.
Junuh reveals tremendous courage as he admits, “The ball moved.”
Hardy immediately begs him not to say anything, as he is sure it would mean defeat. Hardy tells him, “No one saw it move but me and you. I promise I will never tell. No one will ever know.”
Junuh displays even more resolve and courage as he instructs Hardy, “I’ll know and you will know.”
Naturally, the movie ends happier than we can always expect in real life, but the message is clear that our response should be the same regardless of the outcome. Many times in life—whether at work, school, home, or in the marketplaces of our society—we have opportunities to cut corners or get ahead because our actions go unnoticed, but to live a life of integrity requires faithfulness in the small things. If we don’t practice our integrity when alone, we will be less likely to do the right thing when someone else is watching.
Jesus said it best in Luke 16:10, “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.” What about in your workplace, classroom, or home? Have you had any balls move lately that you haven’t told anyone about? Do what is right even when no one else is doing it, and never do wrong, even when everyone else is doing it.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

An Open Letter to Brian McLaren

Posted by Bruce Mills

This link is to a post of an open letter by Frank Turk over at Pyromaniacs to Brian McLaren, one of the founders and primary protagonists of the Emergent Church movement.  It is lengthy, but it hits the spot so perfectly, I just had to link to it for others to read.  Thanks, Frank, for calling things as they truly are.

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-letter-to-brian-mclaren.html

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Man Named Elisha

by Bruce Mills
After almost three years, I finally finished teaching through the book of Romans in my adult Sunday School class.  It was a massive undertaking which I thoroughly enjoyed.  Before I jump into my next major undertaking (the Gospel of John), I am taking out a few weeks to study the life and ministry of Elisha, one of the Old Testament’s great prophets.  As I’ve been studying this week, I found that there is much about Elisha’s call to ministry that is important for all believers to understand. 
Elisha’s call to the prophetic ministry is found in 1 Kings 19:15-21.  The text reads as follows:
The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.
Now notice that here, as always, God takes the initiative. Elisha was not seeking Him, but the Lord through Elijah sought out him. It wasn’t because Elisha was already prepared to be a prophet, but because God in His sovereignty chose him and called him. God would take care of the preparation after he called him. But once again, we see the doctrine of the sovereignty of God coming into play here. God is the one who selected Elisha and set him apart for ministry. And He continues to do the same thing today. He selects men and sets them apart to do his work.
In this passage, we see two misconceptions which overtake many people in ministry: (1) the feeling that they are the only person who is standing for the truth and (2) that they are indispensible. Elijah was no different. Earlier in this chapter, he had fled from Jezebel who was out to kill him, and he lays down under a juniper tree and pleads with God to take his life (19:4). But instead God provides an angel to cook him some food and Elijah goes on for 40 days on the strength that the food provided him. But when God questions him as to why he is hiding out in the mountains, Elijah says in verse 10, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” He had concluded that he was the only person who was still faithful to God. But God reveals Himself to Elijah in a gentle breeze and basically says, “Elijah, it’s time to get to work. You’re not the only one left—there are 7,000 people who haven’t bowed the knee to Baal. And another thing, Elijah, you’re not indispensible. In fact, I’m going to have you appoint your replacement.”  So many times men in ministry begin to listen to and believe all the accolades that come their way as they preach and teach. And when they see all the moral failures and false teachers that are assaulting the church around them, they begin to think that they are the only people who are standing for the truth.
Another problem many pastors experience is never planning for their replacement. By that, I don’t mean that they need to handpick their successor. But I do mean that they need to be discipling men and teaching men what to look for in a pastor, so that if they suddenly die or become gravely ill, there are other men who are able to step in and take over the teaching and leadership responsibilities. But many pastors believe they are indispensible and that the church simply can’t get along without them. Well, that may be true of their specific church, if they haven’t trained and developed other leaders who are capable of teaching the Word. But in terms of the church universal, Jesus said that such will never be the case. No one person is so crucial to God’s work that the church will collapse if they are not there. The church, the body of Christ, will continue and even the gates of hell cannot overwhelm it.
But this does raise the point that every local church ought to be developing leaders for the future. Men who meet the biblical qualifications for elder should be identified and then trained. Training does not have to include Bible college or seminary, although those are beneficial. But a man who has a heart and passion to learn and teach the Word should be taught and exposed to the ministry in such a way that he learns what is involved and what is expected of a pastor as a teacher and shepherd of the flock. He needs to be placed in a position of exposure to the ministry in which he spends time learning how to respond biblically to crisis situations so that the elders can observe whether his approach to problems is biblical or not.  He should be given teaching opportunities so the elders can listen and confirm whether or not he is sound in the faith and able to communicate truth clearly.  He should be required to write and defend his doctrinal position in every major area of theology. This process is so crucial because the protection of the flock is at stake. Pick a man who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and the church can be divided and destroyed.
Well, that’s just a little bit of what I will be teaching this next Sunday on the calling of Elisha.  As I dig into the Old Testament narrative about him, I am amazed at how much our great God communicates to us through Elisha’s life.  I’m looking forward to what God has to teach me over the next several weeks.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Unworthy Slaves

by Bruce Mills
It’s been quite a while since I last posted anything, but I’ve been tied up with some other projects and the busy-ness of the Christmas season made it impossible to find the time to sit down and write something worth reading.  But I hope to get back into the swing of things and hopefully challenge your thinking about biblical and theological issues and how they impact our daily Christian walk.
It is the matter of our Christian walk that I want to write about today.  In my daily quiet time, I recently came across Luke 17:10 and it challenged my own thoughts about how I serve the Lord.  Jesus had just finished teaching His disciples about forgiveness, faith, and having a slave’s mentality, and He concludes the passage with these words: “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’ ”
As I thought about that verse, I was struck by how many times I have often found myself focusing on how busy I am for the Lord, and I start defining and evaluating my ministry, faithfulness, and even who I am by how much I am doing.  After all, it feels good to have my hard work recognized.  It’s nice to see my “to do” list getting shorter and shorter. I’ve even been known to think to myself, “Just look at how much I am doing for the Lord and the church.”
But this verse puts a new twist on my service for the Lord and others.  Do I consider that I am actually undeserving of any recognition and honor, even though I’m so busy and do so much at my church?  Do I see myself as an unworthy slave who is only doing what I ought to do for my Master, and not someone who deserves any special treatment?  Do I see my service and faithfulness to the Lord as my expected duty as His slave?
Truth is a hard pill to swallow and no one else can take it for us.  Be courageous, swallow hard, and let God’s Word begin to do its work on your heart disease called “self.”  See yourself as an undeserving, unworthy slave who is only doing what you ought to do for your Lord.  So chew on this verse and call on the Great Physician in the morning.