He Calls Us To Be Equipped

“It will all come together because our hearts are in it.” That statement always makes me cringe just a bit. I mean it is absolutely crucial that we bring our servant’s heart to everything we do for God, but we also need to bring a fair amount of ability. None of us would expect to get hired for a job that we were woefully unqualified, or even under-qualified to have. Employers want to hire someone with education and experience. The church should be no different. Make no mistake, however, the church can (and I believe should) serve as a safe place to get an education and/or experience. The trouble is we often give people too much responsibility too soon. When we do this, we set them and those they serve up for failure. That’s not okay.

I’ve met the truck driver who was “called” to be a Junior High Pastor, the just-out-of-college Youth Minister with little or no leadership skills, and the young man with a guitar who was given the overwhelming job of running the church music department. These men were effectively set up for failure. They were put in positions of leadership without a support structure or mentor. They were given far more responsibility than they were equipped to handle, and sadly their inexperience caused brokenness and damage to the cause of Christ.

There are definitely examples of God doing supernatural work using the humblest of people. I think of Bible heroes like David who killed the giant Goliath; Moses who led the Israelites and received and delivered the Ten Commandments despite his lack of faith and leadership skills; the woman at the well who was a prostitute, yet Jesus sent her out to tell her story without ever having taken a public speaking course, and I’m betting she led many people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I believe these are fabulous examples of God’s miraculous power, but these stories are the exception and not the rule.

Samuel was called to do a great work for God, and to prepare him for that work he spent years and years under the tutelage of Eli the priest. In Exodus 35 we read about the building of the tabernacle as overseen by Moses. He wasn’t interested in only men who had the “heart” for the job—he was looking for men that God had gifted with both talent AND education. We read this is verses 30-33: Then Moses said to the Israelites, "See, the LORD has chosen Beazley son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts- to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. Moses wanted the Israelites to see that the Lord had chosen men with both heart AND skill. That should be our qualification model as well.

Many people hold up the disciples as examples of unqualified men chosen by Jesus to do extraordinary work. They were (among other things) fishermen, tax collectors, and a tent maker who moonlighted as a persecutor of Christians! But, Jesus didn’t pluck them out of their professions and say, “Go lead a church.” No! He taught and mentored them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for 3 years! That’s a lot of training! When you consider the hours of training those men received from Jesus, we can see that the vast majority of our pastors today don’t even come close to having had that kind of intense education. Speaking of pastors, they would (for the most part) never get up on the platform and preach without hours and hours of prep time going into each and every sermon, and yet they often call on volunteers to pull off a mammoth task with little notice because they “had a vision”. Church bodies don’t want to hire under-qualified men to lead their congregation, yet pastors call on hapless do-gooders “with heart” to be ministry leaders. It’s a strange dichotomy, isn’t it!

So, you think you’ve been “called” by God into a specific ministry? You probably have, but you’ve got to get out of the pew and get educated. That might mean going back to school, becoming a volunteer, or seeking out a mentor who is an expert in the area of work you feel you’ve been called into. As we saw in the passage in Exodus, God chooses people who are both filled with the “Spirit of God” AND have “skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts.” In other words, people with both the heart AND the ability! When God calls you, get off the pew and bone up on your knowledge and polish your craft. Get off the pew!

Prosperity Gospel - The Lie

"While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn" Luke 2:6&7

I've attended, written, directed, acted in, sang in, and/or a combination of the aforementioned in dozens of Church Christmas Pageants over the years. Every one has been different, and yet strikingly similar in that the birth of the Christ child is ultimately the central focus of the pageant - the "reason for the season", if you please. It seems to me, however, that the focus turns away from Jesus and onto self so quickly and easily throughout the remainder of the year. Many clergy will take serious umbrage to that claim, and I get that. I know that the INTENT is to always keep Christ as the focal point in church, and that it would be politically incorrect to profess otherwise. But the truth remains, that "Christ" has been removed from "Christianity" in many of the mega-churches. Jesus was born in a no-frills environment, to parents who had very little. He didn't even have a cute little "going home from the hospital" outfit. Yet getting Jesus, along with "the frills", seems to be what a lot of the churches are selling these days.

Just before Jesus was crucified, He told his disciples to go from town and town and tell people what they had seen and that Jesus had died for their sins. He wanted as many as possible to know that He would come back for them. He went on and told his disciples they should have no personal belongings, but rather they should depend on the kindness of believers in each of the places they went. You can read Jesus’ instructions to his disciples in Matthew 10, Mark 6, and also in Luke 10.

Jesus does NOT say that having money or belongings is sinful. He does instruct us to refrain from flaunting our wealth, and to never draw attention to our giving. Matthew 6:1-4 instructs: "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." The Bible does tell us that the LOVE of money, not money itself is evil (1 Timothy 6:10), but there is certainly nothing wrong with HAVING money. We should never ever, however, let anyone tell us that following Jesus will LEAD to prosperity, as that is NOT what the Bible teaches.

The "Prosperity Gospel" as taught by Kenneth Copeland, Benny Hinn, and Joel Osteen does not have its foundation in Biblical truth. Jesus came to earth in the humble surroundings of what was most likely a cave. His mommy didn't even have a receiving blanket to wrap around her newborn son. She was sent home without benefit of a pacifier or a hospital gift pack filled with diapers. His mother didn't get bouquets of roses, or colorful latex balloons that pronounced for the world, "It's A Boy!"

On this Christmas day, I remind you that Jesus came to offer us the free gift of eternal life - of salvation from sin and decay! He didn't come to promise us fat bank accounts, fancy cars, and castles on a hill. He does guarantee us a mansion located on a street of gold built just for us in God's kingdom. Get off the pew and hold one another accountable to the truth. The "prosperity gospel" is NOT truth. Period. Get off the pew and make sure the weak do not fall victim to this lie. Put on the belt of truth and march out with the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit. You've got the armor - wear it! Get off the pew!