Stop Loving the Nations
Katherine P., a Restoration Church member, reflects on her time in Haiti:
I have a heart for the nations. It's Christian-ese for "I love the whole wide world, especially the lost people."
But it's hard to have feelings for something so abstract. The nations. What does that mean? The whole world - you love all 7 billion people on this planet? All the countries, all people-groups, all languages and tribes and tongues? All of them - every single one?
Loving the nations is easy. I used to love the nations.
But loving a place – one specific country, one people-group, one community - is hard. It's messy, and dirty. There are a lot of tears, some laughter, some frustration. Love is more about action and interaction than about a feeling. Loving a spouse is hard, loving family is hard, why should "loving the nations" be easy?
I'm learning how to love a people, instead of the nations.
Loving the nations is easy because it requires no real investment. It requires no true devotion or labor.
Loving Haiti is messy. It's dirty. It's hard. It would be easier to walk away. The disabled child who is left to his own devices, the woman who will not believe in Jesus even if God moves heaven and earth to reveal Himself, the pastors who neglect their flock, the men who drink and do not work and hit their wives and children, the elderly who will not be cared for, the communities built around perversions of the Gospel, the circumstance of those who live there... it is all there. It becomes easy to wonder - How do you love that? Why would you ever even want to love that?
Because amidst all that, there are men and women who love Jesus with a depth and ferocity and devotion I pray I have one day. There are pastors who want to be trained. There are families who have made sacrifices to put food on the table, to keep all their children in school. There are people who want to know Jesus. There are community leaders who have sacrificed their whole lives to build a better community. There are young men and women who desire to partner together in ministry and in life.
It is hard not to fall in love with the majesty of God, and all that He is doing there. Despite the dirt and the tears and the sweat and the poverty, I love Haiti. Ask anyone who went with us, they will tell you the same. I love the people we have met. And that is hard. Loving people (any people) is a difficult, and sometimes excruciating thing to do. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ there - they challenge me and edify me and love me so well. But I also love the people we met who abhor the Gospel. I love the people we met who are resistant to what we have to say. I labor over all of them with tears and time in prayer. I ache when I think of them, the way I ache when I remember that there are members of my family who do not know, and may never know Jesus. I miss my brothers and sisters of Haiti the way I miss my brothers and sisters who are currently in California, Minnesota, and the Persian Gulf. I long for the day we will all sit at the throne of God together and worship, the day we will sit together and share endless stories about God's mighty provision and holiness.
Loving them is not easy. It would be easier to just turn it off, and to choose to go back to my life, forgetting that I met them. To let their stories fade back into the mosaic of my life - we were only there for one week. To forget them would be simple. To love them is hard. But it is also a joy and a privilege! I want to stop being shallow in my love for “the nations” and start to be deep in my love for a few places, that the name of Jesus might be known, no matter how hard or messy.
An Unplanned Life
Megan T., a Restoration Church member, reflects on her time in Haiti:
Busyness - filling up my schedule, taking on too many tasks , and constantly adding on more responsibilities - would without a doubt be something that I struggle with. During my spring break, for the first time I can remember, I spent a week without a plan, without a schedule and as a consequence really saw God’s providence and the fruit that occurs when we give our lives and thus our schedules fully to the Lord.
Before going to Haiti, we were provided with a vague idea of a schedule - a couple of days in Cangrejo, a couple of days in Phaeton teaching discipleship and just working with the communities. That was all we had to work on, not something easy for the girl who has most of her days planned out by the hour. As it would turn out though, we not only didn’t know what we were doing each day but we also didn’t know where we would sleep or where/when we would eat. In any circumstance that would be a bit worrisome, but in a developing country where I don’t speak the language - it could have been terrifying.
Instead of being terrifying, however, it was a week where I began to understand the absolute power of a God not constrained (by me) though meetings, appointments, and to do lists. It was a week of being truly dependent on God and following where he led. I think what affected me the most about this trip was seeing how faithful he was and the fruit that came out of the trip. We didn’t need schedules and details for God to work, in fact, I would say we see his hand more in our lives when our day is given completely to him.
One of the very common patterns of our trip was going into a community and asking a pastor or community leader if they knew of people we could pray for. Without fail they would take us to people that we really saw God work through such as Moe, Jhetta, Jacqueline and so many others.
I learned so much while on this trip, and I think it will take me weeks to really process everything that occurred. One thing though that became apparent to me last week when I went from an unplanned week to having meeting upon meeting in between classes and work was that I’m not meant to have my life planned out by the minute. That limits the trust that I place in God and my effectiveness in working for his glory. The best use of my time is not in planning out every minute but in trusting every minute to the will of God.
Ephesians 5:15-17 “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”
7 Scripture Texts About Evangelism
As we've been working through the book of Acts, each of us has been confronted with the necessity of living a lifestyle that incorporates sharing the gospel with those in our lives. Below are 7 texts that speak to evangelism?
1. There is work to be done
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:37-38
2. Jesus has commanded you to do it
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20
3. Success is guaranteed
“And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” John 10:16
4. Jesus is the only salvation
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
5. You were given the Holy Spirit for this purpose
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
6. People won’t be saved without hearing
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” Romans 10:11-15
7. Evangelism is necessary for your own growth in Christ
“And I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ.” Philemon 6
HT: Tim Challies
Discipleship is not Sexy...
Eight members of our church just returned from our second trip to Haiti. In the coming weeks, we'll post several entries on each person's experience and how it affected them. One thing that we experienced over and over was the need from discipleship. A simple yet profound concept. The post below is from Noah Joyner @ HaitiLove and he explains the need for discipleship as the main missionary motivation:
A dear friend and fellow pastor at my church often says “Haiti is sexy”. Anyone who has been there knows that Haiti is anything but sexy. What my friend means is that Haiti is very attractive when it comes to short term mission work. It’s close, fairly cheap to travel to, and it’s poor. All of these elements make it very alluring to the mission minded Christian. It is especially sexy, if you will, to the emerging generation of justice and mercy minded believers. I have seen over and over again the instant willingness of young men and women to sacrifice time and resources to minister to the beautiful people of Haiti.
I believe this willingness is rooted in the growing understanding that we have a responsibility to serve and assist the poor and afflicted of our communities and the world. Gospel feet run to those in need.
Poverty and affliction are the bookends that hold up the volumes of Haiti’s tattered history. This being the case many people want to go and want to help. The question that we keep coming back to is, “What is help?”. Does is it help to bring clothing? Sometimes yes, sometimes, no. Does it help to provide food? Sometimes. The question we have to answer is, “What is the greatest need of the people of Haiti?” I have learned in the past 18 months, that what is needed most, is for Haitian men and women who call Jesus Lord, to begin leading their communities out of the pit of poverty, dependency, immaturity and fear. There is a lot of God talk in Haiti, but little genuine walking day to day as a follower of Christ. There are many churches, but little transformation of people and communities. There is a lot of “preaching” but little discipleship.
Discipleship is the greatest need that Haiti has, and the good news is that that is why Jesus died. He bled and suffered and died to make holy the unholy. To make people who would live like him. To make righteous the unrighteous. And when he left is own disciples he commanded them to make disciples of all nations teaching them to obey the Savior.
In recent years we have seen the rise of clothing and shoe manufactures who will shoe children when you buy a pair of there shoes. T-shirt companies who refuse to buy material from companies who use child labor. Or international organizations who will send goats and chickens to impoverished families for Christmas on your behalf. This has all become very trendy or sexy some might say. I think this trend points to a growing sense of responsibility and sensitivity on the part of the Christian consumer. And rightly so.
Our heart is to see disciple-making added to the list of trendy and sexy. Maybe an organization that will invest in disciple-making for every hat you buy. Or a Christmas catalog that helps you fund a men’s mentorship program. Or a college fund where half of the money goes to educate poor children in the gospel. Even as I write these ideas, they all seem very unsexy.
The truth is this, discipleship is not sexy. It’s hard to define. It is anything but instant. And it is hard to measure. It takes time, commitment, and perseverance.
With that being said, it is the task that Jesus promised to be present in every step of the way. Matthew says it like this,
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
It is his command that motivates and his promise that sustains the work of disciple making at home and abroad.
We see that Jesus model of discipleship is one of multiplication, meaning that he is sending out a group of people that he discipled, that they might make disciples who will do all that he commanded, including the command to make disciples. Therefore Jesus is making disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, and so on.
It must be pointed out then that though discipleship is not sexy, it is surly reproductive. Any discipleship initiative that does not reproduce itself into other believers, stops short of our Lord’s expectation, model and command.
In two cultures that have traded true intimacy for sexy, and hard work for instant gratification, it is no wonder that both American and Haitian churches find themselves filled with un-discipled Christians. No wonder our evangelistic methods produce illegitimate children un-fathered in the Gospel.
May we be those who fulfill the command to be fruitful and multiply by making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all we have been commanded. And behold King Jesus is with us in every moment, until he and his kingdom fully come!
Remembering Why We Want Depth
Well, I hope these posts have been helpful in some way. They were never intended to be exhaustive on the subject. I really had a couple goals:
(1) Expose us to the breadth and depth of our thinness. I am convinced I haven’t even begun to realize how screwed up and cluttered my heart and mind are, but I have really been helped to simply notice it all, and as Duke used to say on the GI Joe commercials when I was a kid: “Knowing is half the battle.” So hopefully you are more aware of your heart and mind, as well as the things that are causing this struggle
(2) BEGIN the conversation towards fruitfulness. From encouraging specific repentance to suggesting some practical ways to create some gaps of peace & reflection, I hope this can begin a conversation with ourselves and others that can grow into more healthy thinking and living.
There simply is no magic bullet to this problem, and it IS a problem folks. I say often that I pastor in one of the most Brilliant Stupid cities in the world. What I mean by that is so many people in this city have amazing degrees, titles, and by and large are highly intelligent people. Yet I am so amazed at how incredibly thin and silly they are when it comes to actually thinking through the deep questions of life and why they do what they do. I believe this is the case because one of the Evil One’s great games in this life is getting us to pay attention to the Ordinary, and not consider the EXTRAordinary that hovers below the pavement of every step you take.
It has taken you a million tiny decisions to get you to the distracted heart and mind that you currently suggest, and save a miracle from the Lord, it will take a million tiny decisions to get you out of the hole your in. So, don’t give up, and don’t be discouraged, keep fighting. Ask someone to fight with you, but whatever you do, commit yourself to fight this enemy. Keep laboring to see how this enemy attacks, and become an expert in defeating him. In the end, your life as a follower of Christ will be better because of it.
Above all, don’t ever forget why you are in this fight in the first place. God must be, and deserves to be worshiped with ALL of our HEARTS and ALL of our MINDS and ALL of our STRENGTH. He is a good God who sent His Son who first loved we distracted sinful people, by offering up His life for our sin, that by the power of His Spirit we might learn to DELIGHT in His Supremacy of our lives, for His glory and our good.
**For a .pdf version of all these blogs posts, click here.**
More Suggestions to Cultivate Depth...
(Continued suggestions of de-cluttering your mind and creating space for the great)
9. Actively Listen: I know you all think you do this really well, and some of you do, but a lot of you don’t. When you listen to the sermon on Sunday, ENGAGE with it. Think through it as the words come across you, ask questions, take notes, etc. When you are sitting in a meeting try and focus on the person and what they are saying. Be aware of your weakness to flutter away, and actively work against it.
10. Evaluate your technologies: I have been so helped by doing a few very small things with technology. For instance, I don’t have any video games on my iPhone, that’s an intentional decision, I don’t want any temptation to waste some times of silence or reading or whatever by creating some mind numbing activity.
I try and be aware of the amount of TV I watch and make certain and hold it in check realizing it is affecting me more than I realize. I think about all the conversations I could have with my wife instead of watching another episode of The Office (which I LOVE).
Here is a big one…when you are on your laptop try and keep the applications you have “up” to a minimum. Keep your Desktop wallpaper simple or inspiring in some way. If you watch a Youtube Video bring it up to a full screen, don’t leave it minimized so you have the 15 other things staring at you like the comment section, suggested videos, “likes” etc.
More than anything else in this area, grow a cautious eye towards technology…make it convince you that this something that will help you grow as a disciple of Christ, not a disciple of the world…when you listen to the advertisers try and disagree with them at points and evaluate how this will cause more distraction as well as the places it will help you.
Concluding thoughts tomorrow…
More Suggestions to Cultivate Depth...
(Continuing making suggestions for cultivating quieter, more disciplined, and reflective hearts and minds)
7. Journal: When you write you are forced to be focused on what you are saying, and it doesn’t really leave it open for you to have your mind darting all over the place. So, if you have trouble praying and not having your mind wander, write your prayers, etc.
Journaling is good because it helps you process what you are thinking. Typically our minds are darting all over the place, so we don’t ever really process. Journaling helps in this department.
I typically will read a passage of the Bible in the morning with my journal next to me and after reading I will write down in a paragraph or so my thoughts of what I just read, then I will write another paragraph of things I am wrestling with at the time.
This has the added benefit of going back years later, reading these journals and seeing how the Lord moved. I have journals way back into 1996 till today…its fun reading those today.
8. Have a Consistent Devotional Time in a Quiet Place: I’ve spoken to some of you about this and I know some of you have trouble finding a good place to have your devotional time, but work hard at finding a spot. It makes a difference, a big difference. The Knight household isn’t easy to do this in with two little rug rats, but my wife does a good time at seizing moments – be it getting up before they arise or spending time in the word and prayer during naps.
I’m not saying you HAVE to be in the word every day, but I think it dangerous if you don’t as you leave your heart and mind susceptible to being influenced by things of the world. Even if its just reading a single sentence of Scripture and contemplating it, praying it, etc throughout the day, this is better than nothing.
Bottom line, stay in the word and prayer as this will force you to be driven to more meaningful things of depth and it will expose your heart and bring you to the Cross and an empty tomb.
Suggestions 9 & 10 tomorrow…