Spiritual Traffickers!

 

Christendom has seen unprecedented changes since the pandemic and has thrown each individual Christian totally out of gear. The guilt quotient varied depending on the importance one gave, going to Church. For those who only went on special occasions the guilt was on the extreme end of the scale as the Churches were shut, for whom Church going was a weekly exercise to please God became disoriented and for those who considered themselves as the temple of God it made no difference.

The clever idea to use technology to one’s advantage worked well in this crisis with Churches using every given platform to keep their flock safe from scattering. Well they just hoped so. But with varied platforms came the bane of choice for the flock to choose which service they wanted to attend. And then came in the influx of various ministries trying to invite believers to hear sermons and expositions on various topics through these online platforms.

Being an observer and also a participant in few of these I realized that these have just become activities to fulfill one’s agenda and almost the same group of people are invited time and again in these various platforms. Somehow the organizers feel that if the topic is dealt with, they have achieved their goal and there is no follow-up of outcomes laid down for these sessions. We have somehow got entangled in the mess that information needs to get dumped with outcomes becoming irrelevant. It all seems that one’s sustenance depends on conducting these meetings and word of God has become a commodity. Because its free, people flock to all the online meetings as possible. Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 2:17 very clearly states, "For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many....". But time and time again either as an individual, a Church or an organization we subtly do this very thing under the banner of ministry.

By doing this we seem to be doing two things unconsciously - 1. We keep sharing the Gospel to Christians and 2. Everything is about money. Yes, I do agree 1 Cor 9:14 says "...those who preach the gospel should earn their living by the gospel.". But we need to take 1 Cor 9:18 also into consideration "....to preach the gospel and offer it free of charge...". Jesus said in Mark 16:15, "....Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.". Unfortunately, we just got stuck with the Christians. Somehow, we are unintentionally trafficking the word of God, just shifting hands from one group to another.

Wake up Christendom! we are treading a destructive path. Persecution is around the corner and there are still thousands perishing without knowing the Gospel. The world needs a God of morality and justice and that can only be found in Jesus. The world also needs a God of hope, love and peace and only Jesus Christ can provide that. The world is thirsty and hungry for righteousness but we are still wallowing with our own contemplating various methods on how we can earn a living out of God's word. We are no different from a temple priest and Imam. Equip and send Christians out boldly to spread the gospel and let all your programs focus on making a difference in the field where the rubber meets the road.

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Was 2020 a year of instability for Churches?

 

The ups and downs of Churches in the recent times have disturbed many Christians, leaders and pastors. I am sure we have never once expected that a pandemic like this could affect Churches. People would have expected other religious shrines or places of worship to be shut at some point, but definitely not the Churches along with other religious places. We Christians made so much of claims in the past inviting people from different faiths facing various challenges to visit the Churches promising miracles and deliverances. I recollect my non-Christian friends alleging Christians invite them to Churches in order to experience a miracle and then with the lockdown they were surprised that Churches were no different because it had to be shut too. How do we rectify this misrepresentation?

It is important that we consciously communicate the right message to the world. Somewhere as Christian leaders, we have misrepresented Church to a building and amplified the sanctity of the place than the person Jesus. It is time to remind the people including us that buildings were closed but not the Church. The Church is the people who use the buildings. We don’t need a building to be the Church. Having this understanding every individual who is a follower and disciple of Christ needs to remind oneself that he/she is the temple of the Lord. Every Individuals should function like a Church. I guess God in His sovereign way wanted to teach all of us the true meaning of a Church during this pandemic season.

The moment the Church is downsized to a building people struggle to maintain stability. Let us be reminded, the more the Church strives for stability, recognition, power and money, the more its spiritual potency will diminish. When the Church is limited to a place it strives to become a shrine and then people are attracted to the holy site where a mere visit will make all problems disappear. The world is perishing. 90% of our people in India are unreached yet we are longing to be cared, to be loved to find importance. Can we remind members of our congregation to be a Church? It is high time we equip every single member in our congregation to be a Church where they would need to fill empty pews with people who do not know Christ.

It is sad to see average Churches lukewarm, boring, uninspiring functioning like a social club. And we know according to Jesus, such fake faith just makes God spew! (Revelation 3:16). It is time to seriously ask God to transform us and make us a revolutionary for Christ. Our job is to preach the cross and Christ crucified. The voice of God is as clear today as it was on the day when Jesus spoke to the eleven and said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)

It is time that we seriously remind our fellow believers and friends the urgency of the Gospel. Somebody once said that most people live as if this life was a permanent arrangement. The Bible message is that our days are numbered. Dr. Mason puts it beautifully, "I fear the Church has become salt & light to itself and not to the world as it was called to- which left to itself becomes artificial light and self-preservation.".

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Quick Fix or Lasting Impact?

 

We would all agree that the pandemic has left an immense impact on medical giants, nations, individuals and Churches too. Every entity has been shaken and still grappling for stability. The worldview of people is disrupted tremendously. The ones who thought they were doing great are struggling to find their ground in the society.

Church, the body of Christ is considered as one of the largest voluntary institutions who has the capacity to influence and impact every spectrum of the society. But the big question is how effective and sustainable is the approach of Church today? As Churches, are we event based or outcome based? It is time to think why all the efforts of the Churches put together is still insignificant. If significant, then the statistics of our country in terms of Christian population would have grown remarkably. Somehow Churches fail to create a sustainable impact. It is good to assess whether we are like the sea forming a giant wave and thereafter sustaining with random waves or our interventions are like ripples on a lake constantly creating waves?

Albert Einstein states, “If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”. Let me add here, as Churches we are supposed to add our goals to our mission statement and align our intervention to the Biblical mandate of Christ. We cannot have a mission statement devoid of the essence of the Biblical mandate. Biblical mandate is the integration of Great Commission and Great Commandment. You cannot have one without the other. It always goes hand in hand. As Churches and individuals, we are all responsible to take the Great Commission and the Great Commandment seriously.

When as a Church or Organization we fail to clearly articulate the goal and mission statement, we would end up doing anything that grabs our attention and be all over the page. This gives Church or individuals a pseudo satisfaction of doing various events, but in essence the genuine impact and transformation will be questionable, as it can never be measured. Think about this verse which says in Habakkuk 2:2, “Write down the vision; inscribe it clearly on tablets, so that one who reads it may run.”.  

There are many who are running so fast today like Ahimaaz without a proper news that can bring a reward. Let me quote this verse to you, Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”. But Joab replied, “My son why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.” 2 Samuel 18:22. It is time to stop and ask why we are doing what we are doing? And how is it going to impact lives? If our activities are confined and active only with fund flow then at some point when the fund dries up, we will struggle for identity.  When you are outcome based with your vision and mission properly aligned, it creates impact in the community. You may click my previous article to know more on Vision- A blindsided reality!

Be holistic in approach but do not forget to be outcome based. Holistic approach is not doing what is easy or convenient. It is the call to make disciples and addressing physical and social needs at the same time. Churches, stop "Quick Fix" interventions and avoid being victim of emergencies.

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Your heart and feet matters!

 

As Christians, our thinking is the world we live is deteriorating in terms of culture, ethics, morality and basic humanness. We expect God should do something about it in order to make things better so that our living is more comfortable. In this connection the response of the Churches and Christians are varied, ambiguous and at times erroneous too. There is a large group that uses “Fortress approach” as their focal approach, where the world is viewed as being bad and evil and suggests that one should by all means protect oneself from it. People hardly relate with the people outside the Church. The other daunting challenge is that majority of Christendom believe that their responsibility ends with prayer. Therefore, they settle with prayers organized by Churches/favorite organizers and give some offerings to Churches and Christian organizations as and when it is required.

When it comes to influencing the nations with the Gospel and healing the nations, Jesus adopted a strategy. It comprises of choosing people, allowing them to observe Him demonstrate the Gospel and send them out to preach the Gospel. This was done in order to restore the brokenness of the people and influence the entire humanity. But unfortunately today, this is not the model most Churches and Christian organizations are following. The new converts who make it to Churches are ensured they stay with them forever, become faithful in their giving and adding number to the crowd either for credibility or for the sustenance of the Church in most cases. The Churches want them to grow in the Lord all their life without equipping them to go or sensitizing the congregation and warning them about the failure to obey Christ's Mandate. This is an alarming and a serious matter.

All their life people are taught that God watches the heart only, but fail to teach them God is interested in their feet too. Paul Rightly points the prophecy in Romans 10:9 “…How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.”. The outcome of the commitment one makes to Christ is the effective usage of his/her feet in carrying the Gospel to the dying world. The success of the ministry is unfortunately determined by the number of activities conducted, big budgets utilized and a big number that made it as participants. God is interested to see you going out as a carrier of His good news than to be like the lazy servant who preserved his one talent and did nothing about it (Matthew 25:24-25). Many are thinking they are preserving themselves for Christ, without being useful nor being part of Christ's mission. Some leaders misunderstand and hold on to what Paul said in Colossians, that his goal is to present each one holy faultless and blameless before God (Colossians1:22), which was one of the many goals Paul had and stick to it only.

Paul’s other goal was to preach good news where Christ is not named (Romans 15:20), to remember the poor and meet the needs of them (Galatians 2:10), to gladly spend and be spent for people (2 Corinthians 12:15), to be poured as drink offering (Philippians 2:17). The purpose of every Christians is not only to be pure and blameless but to attract others to Christ with the Gospel.

So, what is God’s direction? If humans are the focus of God’s redemptive work, we might find ourselves asking, “how does God move to restore humanity?  There are two possibilities as we consider the direction in which God moves to restore us humans as narrated by J. Warner 1. Inside – Out movement (“Evangelical Gospel”). People are inherently fallen and our own personal sinfulness must be addressed before the larger society can be impacted. 2. Outside -In movement (“Social Gospel”). People are basically good but are corrupted by the fallen society. The ills of the society be addressed before individual can be impacted. 

The second approach simply doesn’t work when it comes to impacting the transformation of lives. It has to be the first approach and we need every follower of Christ in his/her sphere of influence to present Christ correctly in response to the great Commission.

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The sending of "12" & "72"! - Part 2

In my previous BLOG the sending of ‘12’ and the ‘72’ I had emphasized on Christ's mission and mandate. As I continue to explore a bit more in this blog, I want to reemphasize on His mandate and throw additional light on discipling and sending, which the Bible underscores. Before we can explore a little more, let me quote the Great Commission from Mark 16:15-17 which reads like this, then He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes; if they should drink anything deadly, it will not harm them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”

It is sad to see today that to a larger extent people have diluted the Great Commission and customized it to their convenience. If you read the Great Commission carefully, it starts by saying “go to the world and preach the gospel”, and all the signs will accompany those who believe. Today in order to sustain popularity, signs, wonders and healing are the ones over emphasized. This has resulted in deteriorating of the Gospel. The second part of the Great Commission looks promising for many, which grabs all the attention.

Let me quote an incident in the Bible where Jesus was in a house and the crowd was thronging the place. A paralytic man was brought in by his four friends, was lowered in the house by dismantling the roof. The Bible records,  when Jesus saw him He addressed the core issue, the sin problem saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”. Jesus while starting His ministry echoed the message John preached in Mat 3:2, “Repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near” in Matthew 4:17. No doubt He did many miracles but the emphasis of the Gospel and the kingdom of God was never once left out. His encounter with people always empowered the person to be a disciple and a witness.

Let us understand the sending of His 12 disciples and also the sending of the bigger group of 72 people. In Mathew 10 we find Jesus empowering His disciples who were part of His core team with the gift of healing and power to drive out demons, but the important part of the story is that He chose them to send so that they can continue the mission that He was soon preparing to entrust them. If you notice verse 7 and 8, Jesus commissioned them to go and proclaim about the kingdom of God and then heal the sick and perform signs where it is necessary. The leadership team; His disciples were not meant to stay and enjoy the goodness for themselves exclusively. Being with Him was the primary goal but it was accompanied by going out (Mark 3:14).

And then in Luke 10, Jesus appoints the 72 (bigger group) and sends them too in pairs and to every town and places where He Himself was about to go (Luke 10:1). Jesus defined the problem statement when He sent the larger group. The harvest is abundant (Luke 10:2) and they may have to encounter wolves in sheep clothing (Luke 10:3), which says they had the responsibility to tear the deception of the people who wore a form of godliness.

Today, all are interested to gather people to their flock and ensure not one is missing. But is the Church seriously following Jesus' model by equipping the small circle (leadership team) and as well as the bigger circle of 72 (Congregation) to go out and share the gospel? Jesus included, rather added, people to send and He did so by sending them to towns and villages. Today, it is easy. You don’t have to look for a mission field because your very work place and community is filled with Non-Christians, which becomes a mission field. Every individual of your church becomes a Church (1 Cor 3:16) who has ample of space to accommodate new people who needs Christ. Are you prepared to send the “12’s and the 72’s?

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The sending of ‘12’ and ‘72’ - Part 1

 

I have witnessed in my long years of experience in ministry that Christ's mission and mandate have been diluted and customized. They have been made to appear like one of the activities that promise satisfaction, edification and promote "feel-good" factor. I still wonder where Churches and Christians have learnt that the mandate of Christ is a choice we can adopt, reject or substitute. I invite you to follow me in this line of thought.

We are all so familiar with the Great Commission and I am sure we have heard it from different platforms where people have asked us to pray for the souls, support a missionary or a missionary family financially or support mission work. There ends our contribution. But is that all? Let's analyze the scriptures to get the right understanding of Christ's mandate; the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.

In order to understand our mission on earth, we need to first understand Christ's mission completely. The ultimate purpose of Christ coming to this earth is “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10), and to give eternal life to those who believe in Him (John 3:15; 6:47; 3:36). I do not wish to skip and go forward without stating the mission statement of Jesus which is written in Luke 4:18-19 “to preach the good news to the poor, He has sent me, to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”. The mission statement for Jesus was the integration of Great Commission to preach the Gospel and Great Commandment to demonstrate the love by meeting the need of the poor and vulnerable. If this was the purpose and mission of Jesus our Savior, how close are we following the mission Christ was doing?

Many have learnt to stay comfortable in the Churches engaging in Church activities, praying for the souls, giving tithes and offerings and go back, doing nothing about the Great Commission. Anytime our spirituality and our Church comprises of a set of do’s and don’ts, filled solely with activities and schedules, then God has a problem.  He graciously disrupts the whole thing as a wake up call and reminds us all of His mission and His mandate. I love the way Catherine Booth, the gentle co-founder of the Salvation Army, regarding church buildings said, "A barracks is meant to be a place where real soldiers were to be fed and equipped for war, not a place to settle down in or as a comfortable snuggery in which to enjoy ourselves. I hope that if ever they, our soldiers, do settle down God will burn their barracks over their heads!”

I urge you to read my article written on 28^th December-2018 on this topic God's Audit- Get prepared!  to get a better understanding of what I am trying to reiterate -  In Malachi 1:10 it says, “I wish one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fire on my altar! I am not pleased with you,” says the Lord of armies and I will accept no offering from your hand.”. If we fail to understand the purpose and mission of God, we will be heading to a greater danger.

Let me remind you that God appointed twelve disciples to be with Him, to send them out to preach (Mark 3:14). He also chose the seventy-two only to send. I would like to explore this with you in my upcoming article.

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What are we still missing?

Every single day, moves us closer to meeting our Lord God. Soon we will all face the King of kings to give an account of our lives and account of our obedience to the Great Commission. God is not intimidating us when He is talking about the Judgement day. But It is fair enough to understand on our part that when we are entrusted with resources, privileges and responsibilities, we are required to be accountable too. R.G. Lee coined this short Caption, “Pay-Day – Someday”. We cannot escape giving account of ourselves. The Bible says in Romans 14:12 “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

Times such as this are difficult and unpredictable for all of us. Every believer including many Pastors and leaders who are contemplating to irk a living in this period of time are struggling to find an answer from God. Most of us struggle to handle the silence from Him. We get disoriented when things do not happen just the way we expected and prayed about. This was the case of disciples too. After Jesus was resurrected, He was appearing to the disciples and many others in His terms. He was no more present with them physically as He used to be with the disciples in the short time of His ministry. This was raising lots of apprehensions among the disciples and the silence disturbed them.

We find the incident where Simon Peter said “I am going fishing” in (John 21:8-14), immediately other disciples also consented to accompany him and said, “We are coming with you.”. The Bible records they caught no fish nevertheless as you follow the story, you will notice the disciples encountered Jesus and the miracle happened. These were the same disciples who followed Jesus leaving their livelihood, profession and families (Mat 4:19-22 Mark 1:20). Peter at one point on behalf of the other disciples remarked, “See we have left everything and followed you.”. Matthew 19:27. Do you realize, these were the same disciples who were revolutionaries and never again contemplated for their survival but went to the remotest part of the nation with the Gospel and died as a martyr?

Jesus remarked, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.”. There is a misunderstanding we have developed that we save our lives by our own capacities probably because the varied catastrophes are hitting the human race and it raises too many questions in the minds of the people. Christ is in full control over you. Do not panic nor be intimated.

He never became powerless, but maybe we are struggling to trust Him because our resources are running out. God’s work can still effectively grow devoid of finances or for that matter any resources. We have been given a mandate and most disappointingly it is not carried out by every Christian believer.

During crisis our focus on Christ's mandate, the Great Commission and Great Commandment is becoming optional or abandoned by many. For believers maintaining spiritual schedule by itself is a proud moment and a satisfying factor. Sadly, it’s not true. Your salvation isn’t complete till you share the Good news, the Gospel to the Non-believers. If you are still struggling to share your testimony and lead someone to Christ, then probably you are missing out on your responsibility. Do not confuse your Church engagements and activities as mission work. Go and Preach the Gospel! There are no alternatives.

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