Monday, January 16, 2017
Saturday, January 7, 2017
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
One of the greatest deterrents to revival and awakening by Henry Blackaby
"I talk with so many pastors and leaders who describe their churches as rebellious and apathetic toward God. A question I always ask them is this: 'How long have you been there?' Many reply, 'Ten, twenty, and thirty years.'
I reply, " Then the people in your church are the product of your walk with God. You ought not to have been with a people for so long and the holiness of God not absolutely come over the people. The holiness of God should be so real in your own heart that when you get up to speak, there is a sense of holy awe that you have been in the presence of God."
Do you hold yourself accountable as a servant of God? Do you minister week after week- yet none of God's people come under strong conviction leading to radical heart felt repentance? One of the greatest deterrents to revival and awakening is that pastors and leaders do not hold themselves accountable!"
-Henry Blackaby
Hong Kong Pop Star Vivian Chow Wai-Man Explains Meaning Of Christmas, Performs Publicly for First Time at Church Worship Service
By ERIC CHEN
Hong Kong Pop Star Vivian Chow Wai-Man Explains Meaning Of Christmas, Performs Publicly for First Time at Church Worship Service.
Hong Kong's queen of pop Vivian Chow Wai-Man performed publicly for the first time at a church worship service. Only after a year of coming to faith in Jesus Christ, the Chinese Christian pop star stepped out to share her reflection on the reason for the Christmas season and her faith.
In the past, Chow said that she would get excited because of the holy yet romantic feelings from Christmas, spurred on by the holiday breaks, Christmas lights, Christmas shopping, family gatherings, and gift exchanges. After becoming a Christian, she said all of that changed.
Last year, Chow posted her testimony of faith, explaining her conversion to Christianity, on her social media page. This year, she explained the core meaning of Christmas and urged her fans who are tired of shopping and partying to search for a different kind of activity - attend a church worship service and experience a different kind of Christmas.
"The word 'Christmas' is formed by the words 'Christ' and 'Mass,' meaning worship gathering. With these two words combined, Jesus Christ and worshiping Christ form the core of Christmas," said Chow. Although the Bible did not specifically state that Christ was born on December 25th, most churches celebrate the Savior's birth on this day, she said.
For Chow, the most significant meaning of Christmas is remembering Christ's love, "His coming gave us a grace that cannot be compared with any gifts from this world." She said this day reminds her to be thankful and of her responsibility to share the Gospel and love. "As I wish everyone a peaceful and joy Christmas, I hope everyone will not forget the meaning behind Christmas."
On Christmas Eve, Chow performed a song titled "A Love Like This," which she wrote about God's grace and love, and how God has changed her life. The church worship service was titled "Christmas Eve Celebration: Heaven and Nature Sings."
"I hope everyone can experience this love, hope and peace from this song," she wrote on Facebook. "I wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Jesus loves you!"
Here is the song's full lyrics:
《A Love Like This》
Composed by Vivian Chow
Lyrics by Krystal Diaz
In my open arms I feel you
My very soul in your eyes I see
And when I lose my way
You bring me back and say
I'm with you every step in every way
And in the darkest hours of my life
When faith in who I am starts to fade
The only one I call
My true heart's song
You would never let me fall
I never thought that a love like this
Would find a way to me
Oceans may rise and the mountains may fall, I don't mind
You're all that I'll ever need
I give my all for a love like this
Till the end of time
I know the miracle of your love set me free
For I have you on my side
(Bridge) When time stands still
And days turn to dust
your love will see me through
If the rivers all run dry
I know the answer's in you
Oceans may rise and the mountains may fall, I don't mind
As long as you're by my side
Hong Kong Pop Star Vivian Chow Wai-Man: 'Salvation Comes from Jesus, Not Self-Development'
Long-time Hong Kong pop star Vivian Chow Wai-Man released for the first time a touching letter witnessing her conversion experience from self-reliance to faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and savior. As a token of appreciation to her fans and friends' support and love, she wishes that her witness would become a blessing to them.
As a celebrity in Hong Kong entertainment industry for over 25 years, Chow is well-liked and known, which means her testimony would be a powerful tool to help educate and persuade those in Hong Kong and Asia to get to know the love and mercy of God; her words "salvation comes from Jesus and not self-development" captures the essence of the gospel. She has been an active World Vision ambassador to the third world countries.
As a celebrity in Hong Kong entertainment industry for over 25 years, Chow is well-liked and known, which means her testimony would be a powerful tool to help educate and persuade those in Hong Kong and Asia to get to know the love and mercy of God; her words "salvation comes from Jesus and not self-development" captures the essence of the gospel. She has been an active World Vision ambassador to the third world countries.
Jesus Speaks to Islamist Militants Hunting Down Christians: ‘Why Do You Persecute Me?’
By SUZETTE GUTIERREZ-CACHILA ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) Dec 23, 2016 12:37 PM ES
A group of Arab Muslims who were chasing after Christians said a dust storm suddenly formed on the road, forcing them to stop the chase, when Jesus appeared to them and spoke with a “mighty voice.”
Haroon (not his real name) said he and 19 other Islamist militants were informed that a group of Christians would be holding a baptism service. They boarded their vehicles and rushed to the site with the intention of killing everyone there.
Their purpose, said Haroon, was to instill fear among Christians around the world and to make them stop sharing the good news to the Muslims in their country, according to Bibles For Mideast.
However, when they arrived, they saw that the Christians were leaving. They were already on the bus and on their way back to the church.
Instead of giving up the pursuit, the militants chased after the bus and began shooting at it.
Rizwan, who was among those baptized that day at the Arabian Sea, recounted how everyone on the bus thought they would die that day.
“Maybe it was the militants plan to kill us in the sea during the baptism service. But somehow we finished our service earlier and tried to return back,” he said.
When their bus driver increased speed, the militants also drove faster and continued to shoot at them, Rizwan said.
Then, without warning, a dust storm formed “within seconds” and concealed the bus from the militants’ view.
Rizwan said they felt as if Jesus himself appeared in the dust storm to block the road and protect them from the militants, who eventually stopped chasing and shooting at them. They all praised God and made it back to the church safely.
What they didn’t know was that Jesus appeared to the militants.
Haroon said as the dust storm raged on, the militants had to stop their vehicles because they couldn’t see a thing.
“We were unable to move forward,” he said. “We all got down from our cars and continue shooting through the dust storm.”
Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the dust storm. Haroon said he looked “angry” and his eyes “were like blazing fire.”
“Why are you persecuting me; it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks,” Jesus said to them in a mighty voice.
His voice was so powerful that when he spoke, a strong wind literally swept the militants off their feet and blew their guns away. Haroon said the whole thing was a “terrible experience.”
As they struggled to get up, they realized they couldn’t talk. They felt afraid, yet they felt peace at the same time, an experience that was totally new to all of them.
Haroon said Jesus told them that he “came to the world not to destroy anyone; but to save,” and he told them to “Go in peace.” Then he disappeared, and the dust storm also disappeared.
All of them, save for two, praised God, but they argued among themselves about whether what they saw was from God or not.
After the incident, Haroon’s group was no longer assigned to “militant activities.”
Although the experience made him curious about Jesus, Haroon did not put his faith in Christ until a few days later when their family was around a bonfire in the desert. A deadly snake bit his sister Hajira. When she was rushed to the hospital, doctors said she would die.
While Hajira was asleep, an angel appeared to her and told her about Jesus, “the Savior and the Healer.” She shared the story to Haroon when she woke up, and they prayed and asked Jesus to save them.
They were both surprised when Pastor Paul of Bibles for Mideast, who was among the group of Christians Haroon and the other militants wanted to kill, walked into the room. He said an angel told him to visit them and even gave him their names.
Pastor Paul shared the gospel to them, and Haroon and his sister confessed their sins and gave their lives to Christ. Pastor Paul also prayed for Hajira, who was completely healed from the snake bite.
When their father learned about what happened to Hajira, he also surrendered his life to Jesus. Not only did Haroon’s entire family get saved; 17 of the militants in their group also got saved.
They are now praying for the other two to know Christ.
A group of Arab Muslims who were chasing after Christians said a dust storm suddenly formed on the road, forcing them to stop the chase, when Jesus appeared to them and spoke with a “mighty voice.”
Haroon (not his real name) said he and 19 other Islamist militants were informed that a group of Christians would be holding a baptism service. They boarded their vehicles and rushed to the site with the intention of killing everyone there.
Their purpose, said Haroon, was to instill fear among Christians around the world and to make them stop sharing the good news to the Muslims in their country, according to Bibles For Mideast.
However, when they arrived, they saw that the Christians were leaving. They were already on the bus and on their way back to the church.
Instead of giving up the pursuit, the militants chased after the bus and began shooting at it.
Rizwan, who was among those baptized that day at the Arabian Sea, recounted how everyone on the bus thought they would die that day.
“Maybe it was the militants plan to kill us in the sea during the baptism service. But somehow we finished our service earlier and tried to return back,” he said.
When their bus driver increased speed, the militants also drove faster and continued to shoot at them, Rizwan said.
Then, without warning, a dust storm formed “within seconds” and concealed the bus from the militants’ view.
Rizwan said they felt as if Jesus himself appeared in the dust storm to block the road and protect them from the militants, who eventually stopped chasing and shooting at them. They all praised God and made it back to the church safely.
What they didn’t know was that Jesus appeared to the militants.
Haroon said as the dust storm raged on, the militants had to stop their vehicles because they couldn’t see a thing.
“We were unable to move forward,” he said. “We all got down from our cars and continue shooting through the dust storm.”
Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the dust storm. Haroon said he looked “angry” and his eyes “were like blazing fire.”
“Why are you persecuting me; it’s hard for you to kick against the pricks,” Jesus said to them in a mighty voice.
His voice was so powerful that when he spoke, a strong wind literally swept the militants off their feet and blew their guns away. Haroon said the whole thing was a “terrible experience.”
As they struggled to get up, they realized they couldn’t talk. They felt afraid, yet they felt peace at the same time, an experience that was totally new to all of them.
Haroon said Jesus told them that he “came to the world not to destroy anyone; but to save,” and he told them to “Go in peace.” Then he disappeared, and the dust storm also disappeared.
All of them, save for two, praised God, but they argued among themselves about whether what they saw was from God or not.
After the incident, Haroon’s group was no longer assigned to “militant activities.”
Although the experience made him curious about Jesus, Haroon did not put his faith in Christ until a few days later when their family was around a bonfire in the desert. A deadly snake bit his sister Hajira. When she was rushed to the hospital, doctors said she would die.
While Hajira was asleep, an angel appeared to her and told her about Jesus, “the Savior and the Healer.” She shared the story to Haroon when she woke up, and they prayed and asked Jesus to save them.
They were both surprised when Pastor Paul of Bibles for Mideast, who was among the group of Christians Haroon and the other militants wanted to kill, walked into the room. He said an angel told him to visit them and even gave him their names.
Pastor Paul shared the gospel to them, and Haroon and his sister confessed their sins and gave their lives to Christ. Pastor Paul also prayed for Hajira, who was completely healed from the snake bite.
When their father learned about what happened to Hajira, he also surrendered his life to Jesus. Not only did Haroon’s entire family get saved; 17 of the militants in their group also got saved.
They are now praying for the other two to know Christ.
German Protestants Pass Resolution to Stop Converting Jews to Christianity: 'We Leave Up to God'
By SUZETTE GUTIERREZ-CACHILA ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) Nov 22, 2016 10:03 AM EST
Protestant churches in Germany have decided to stop any attempt to convert the Jews to the Christian faith and abandon their “Mission to the Jews.”
In a resolution passed Nov. 9, the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany has formally renounced any effort to convert the Jews to Christianity, saying Christians “are not called to show Israel the path to God and his salvation,” Religion News Service reported.
The resolution stated that since God has not renounced his covenant with the Jews, the Jews don’t have to become Christians in order to be saved.
“All efforts to convert Jews contradict our commitment to the faithfulness of God and the election of Israel,” the resolution said. It adds that Christians seeing Jesus as their Savior and the Jews not sharing the same perspective is “a fact we leave up to God.”
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a group up of 20 Lutheran, United and Reformed churches and makes up about a third of the German population. Traditionally, the EKD has distanced itself from efforts to convert Jews to Christianity after the holocaust, but this is the first time it has done so officially.
“The historical argument that a Jewish mission is forbidden anyway after the Holocaust is addressed in one sentence: the confession of 'Christian responsibility' in the national socialist genocide and the associated rethinking also have consequences for a Christian testimony against Jews,” the EKD wrote.
Irmgard Schwaetzer, president of the EKD synod, said the decision is a “further step on the path of contemplation and reorientation in our relationship with Jews,” according to Fox News.
The EKD appears to be distancing itself from the anti-Semitic statements of Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation, and announced its rejection of the “undisguised hatred to the Jews” last year. Luther wrote a treatise called ‘On the Jews and Their Lies’ and encouraged people to attack Jewish homes and synagogues.
However, the resolution brings to question some theological contradictions. Small evangelical groups have long opposed abandoning the Mission to the Jews. The Bible commands in the book of Matthew that believers should “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.”
The Central Council of Jews in Germany expressed approval over the new resolution.
“This clear renunciation of the Mission to the Jews means very much for the Jewish community. With it, the EKD recognizes the suffering that the forced conversion of many Jews over the centuries has caused,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said.
Aside from the EKD, the Vatican has also renounced its anti-Semitic theology, announcing on December 2015 that it “neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.”
Protestant churches in Germany have decided to stop any attempt to convert the Jews to the Christian faith and abandon their “Mission to the Jews.”
In a resolution passed Nov. 9, the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany has formally renounced any effort to convert the Jews to Christianity, saying Christians “are not called to show Israel the path to God and his salvation,” Religion News Service reported.
The resolution stated that since God has not renounced his covenant with the Jews, the Jews don’t have to become Christians in order to be saved.
“All efforts to convert Jews contradict our commitment to the faithfulness of God and the election of Israel,” the resolution said. It adds that Christians seeing Jesus as their Savior and the Jews not sharing the same perspective is “a fact we leave up to God.”
The Evangelical Church in Germany is a group up of 20 Lutheran, United and Reformed churches and makes up about a third of the German population. Traditionally, the EKD has distanced itself from efforts to convert Jews to Christianity after the holocaust, but this is the first time it has done so officially.
“The historical argument that a Jewish mission is forbidden anyway after the Holocaust is addressed in one sentence: the confession of 'Christian responsibility' in the national socialist genocide and the associated rethinking also have consequences for a Christian testimony against Jews,” the EKD wrote.
Irmgard Schwaetzer, president of the EKD synod, said the decision is a “further step on the path of contemplation and reorientation in our relationship with Jews,” according to Fox News.
The EKD appears to be distancing itself from the anti-Semitic statements of Martin Luther, who began the Protestant Reformation, and announced its rejection of the “undisguised hatred to the Jews” last year. Luther wrote a treatise called ‘On the Jews and Their Lies’ and encouraged people to attack Jewish homes and synagogues.
However, the resolution brings to question some theological contradictions. Small evangelical groups have long opposed abandoning the Mission to the Jews. The Bible commands in the book of Matthew that believers should “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations.”
The Central Council of Jews in Germany expressed approval over the new resolution.
“This clear renunciation of the Mission to the Jews means very much for the Jewish community. With it, the EKD recognizes the suffering that the forced conversion of many Jews over the centuries has caused,” Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said.
Aside from the EKD, the Vatican has also renounced its anti-Semitic theology, announcing on December 2015 that it “neither conducts nor supports any specific institutional mission work directed towards Jews.”
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Friday, September 23, 2016
THE MISTRESS OF MINISTRY by Mike Robinson
I had anticipated this moment with an emotional mixture of intimidation and challenge. The intimidation was generated by the fact that I was standing before a large group of my fellow pastors and I was to deliver the opening address at our annual Pastors' Conference. The element of challenge found its focus in the question, "How can I outflank their professional communication skills and their ability to anticipate what they think I'm about to say? How can I arrest their attention long enough to make my point?"
I decided to take a risk and begin with a confession that would need more than a little explanation!
"I begin tonight with a very difficult confession before you, my fellow Pastors. There is no simple or easy way to say this; so I will just say it: I have been guilty of having an affair."
The tension level took a quantum leap upward! Some of those sitting in front of me were my peers. I had trained with these men for Ministry. I noted some looks of stunned disbelief. Others showed their disbelief in smiles that indicated that they knew I had to have an angle here of some kind!
I continued... "In one sense, I can think of no better place to make such a confession than in the presence of other Pastors because most of you will have long since recognised your own vulnerability. In another sense, I can think of no worse place to acknowledge my failure because the judgment of my peers has the potential to be the worst kind of condemnation.
Now I can almost hear your ask the question, 'How can one who is supposedly committed to the Lord Jesus and to his own wife ever allow another relationship to develop to the point where those two holy relationships are endangered?'
As best I can determine, it began with a flaw or weakness in my own character that was (and is) wide open to exploitation. Like many of you, I have a need to be needed and to be affirmed. sometimes I think that need is above and beyond what might be considered healthy. I further acknowledge that I am at my most vulnerable when there is an absence of encouragement and affirmation in my emotional diet".
Well, so far my explanation was not doing very much to lessen the tension level. I pressed on....
"My mistress was very subtle. She knew my emotional need for praise and affirmation in my life and she was quick to meet that need. Time and again she was ready to speak warmly of my qualities as a person and my endeavours as a Pastor. In return, she seemed to require so little - initially, at least. She repeatedly assured me that our developing relationship need not negatively effect my relationship with Bev, my wife, or with the Lord. At first she had told me she would be satisfied if I only offered her the time that was left after my prior relational responsibilities. It seemed that I could have my cake and eat it, too! It all seemed so legitimate...so rational...so inviting.....so fulfilling....just too good to be true!
But as time passed, this seemingly free liaison became increasingly demanding. I began to realise that I was becoming both enmeshed and addicted to the relationship.
My mistress was demanding more and more of my time. She began to begrudge the time I gave to Bev and my family. She also began to make demands on the time I had initially reserved for the Lord".
It was at this point that I became aware that a number of my listeners were becoming restless in their chairs while others sat like statues as though any movement might betray an inner response. of guilt. I was beginning to wonder if my approach was a bad choice. Too late now. I continued:
"As I tried to meet those demands, the intensity of my guilt began to increase. My priority commitments to my Lord and my wife came under enormous pressure. I found myself making excuses for the decreasing amount of time I was spending with Bev. I kept telling her that my lack of time with her and the family was part of the sacrifice we had to make for the sake of the Lord's work. I seemed to be forever asking forgiveness from God because of what I was allowing to happen in my relationship with Him".
"Another complicating and destructive factor in all this mess was that my mistress was now claiming that she, too, had needs that only I could meet. I found myself in the terrible situation of becoming indispensable to her and that just added to the feelings of fragmentation. The whole dynamic had become like a spiritual "Fatal Attraction". It sounds stupid even as I say it but, as demanding as she became, even that price was worth paying when I lost sight of where my needs were supposed to be met and tried to meet them with her. The paradox is that I have both warmly welcomed her and deeply resented her. I have sought consolation with her and yet I have despised the cost of that comfort".
I now began to note some further changes in the facial expressions of my listeners. Some, at least, were beginning to suspect that this was not what it first appeared to be! Some mental gears were beginning to turn in another direction as they tried to pre-empt just where I was going with this 'confession'? It seems that even pastors don't want to be the last to get it!
"I began by confessing to you that I had a mistress. I deliberately made that statement in the past tense. I did so partly as a statement of fact and partly as a statement of hope. It is a statement of fact inasmuch as, at this point of time, I do not have a mistress. That destructive relationship is now broken and is part of my history. I have owned it and I have been forgiven".
"It is a statement of hope inasmuch as I fully realise that I am capable of re-commencing that liaison at any time; particularly during those periods of emotional weakness when others seem insensitive to my needs. I know that she is always there ready to meet that need.
And now, as part of my confession, I have determined to complete my confessional atonement before you by actually naming my mistress to you".
The tension that had started to ease with some was quickly restored with this last remark! In fact, I was to find out later that two or three had determined by this time to get out of their seats and leave the room.
"I name her in your presence because, as I have listened to fellow pastors talk over the years, I believe some of you also know her and you may want to join me in my confession and atonement.
Her name is 'MINISTRY'".
The tension level, which had varied quite noticeably to this point, now relaxed very noticeably!
Ah, yes! I can see from the looks on some faces that there are those of you who are acquainted with her. That being the case, perhaps you might like to journey with me a little further as I try to explain the process of recovery and restoration to my wife and to my God that has happened for me.
Before I ask you to walk further with me in this expose, I need first to make another confession and, perhaps, an apology.
I recognise that, in using the analogy of an affair to make a point, I have run the very serious risk of piercing the hearts of those who may be struggling with a more literal affair or relationship than what I have described. If I have unwittingly and unhelpfully wounded you, I do ask for your forgiveness and understanding. On the other hand, if my analogy has pierced your heart with conviction, I do not apologise for that.
The reason I have been prepared to take the risk in describing the dynamics of this unhealthy relationship with "ministry" in terms of an affair is that I really believe that "ministry" can become a destructive "affair of the heart" that has the capacity to estrange us from our families. I, for one, have felt times of enormous pressure and conflict of interest as I have sought to be both a loving husband and a faithful Pastor. In retrospect, I can see that those pressures have been largely of my own making and have emerged in my life because of my failure to understand the true relationship that I was to have with "ministry".
Let me explain first how the Lord Jesus moved to expose and correct what had become an idol in my life. Even now it sounds strange to refer to "ministry" as an idol. But if an idol is something to which one devotes the major portion of one's time, energy and effort....if an idol is that for which I am willing to sacrifice just about everything in my life...if an idol is anything that comes between me and my God and competes for that devotion, loyalty and commitment that ought to belong only to Him.....then "Ministry " had become such an idol.....such a mistress.
As I think back now, one of the factors that led to the emergence of this form of idolatry was the confusion that developed when I lost sight of the fact that God had called me to Himself before ever he called me to "the ministry".
I have been challenged again by the call of the early disciples recorded in Mark 3 where the purpose for which Jesus called His disciples was "...that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach..."
That sequence has now become so important to me. God has called us first of all to Himself. He first says, "Come to me....." before He says, "Go into all the world...." All ministry must flow out of that reality. Of course, if you had asked me at any point in my 30 years of pastoral ministry if I believed that, truth I would have answered with a prompt "Yes!" But that answer would have come from my head, not my heart. The truth is that there is a lot that I affirm with my head which, if my actions are any indication, I do not really believe in my heart.
There is a key passage in Luke 10 that has helped me regain a perspective that my former mistress took from me. When the seventy-two disciples returned from their ministry assignment, they were ecstatic that even the demons were subject to the authority that Christ had given them. They had experienced a good time with "ministry"!! I hear in their words feelings of fulfilment, excitement and anticipation for what the future might hold by way of further ministry.
However, Jesus firmly added a corrective to their understandable enthusiasm. He said to them: "I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven". (Luke 10:20)
Jesus was identifying for them - and for us - the only source and basis of joy and rejoicing and it was not be in the "ministry". Sure, we may be grateful for those times of blessing that result from what we do for Him but the only appropriate, unchanging and dependable source of joy is in our relationship with Jesus....the fact that our names are written down in heaven and we are secure in that fact!
Like some of you, I have often made the mistake of finding my joy elsewhere... especially with "ministry" ....and she has a way of becoming a mistress....an idol. Too often my perspective and mood swings are directly effected by "ministry"! My source of joy becomes confused and I find myself on an emotional roller-coaster. I have also discovered that it is so easy, as a pastor, to develop a "professional" relationship with Jesus. In that kind of relationship, He is the "employer" and I am the "employee".
By contrast, I was challenged by the basis of Jesus' joy identified in the same passage: "At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth...Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure". (Luke 10:21). Here is the heartbeat of Jesus in terms of His relationship with His Father. His source of joy was in the other two members of the Godhead - the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Maybe that is why we never see Jesus centred upon the results of His ministry as though that was the beginning and end of everything. He never allowed "ministry" to become His mistress. He knew how to say "No" without feeling guilty. He knew how and when to serve and how and when to retreat...even in the midst of the demands and expectations of those about Him. Luke records these simple but telling words in chapter 5:16: "The news about Him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed".
Prayer retreats in the midst of human need! What kind of Pastor is this?
I hear echoes of that same demanding insistence in the words of the disciples when Jesus had gone out early in the morning to pray. In Mark 1:37, we are told that they came to him and said, "Everyone is looking for you!" Roughly translated that seems to me to mean, "You are indispensable! They can't do without you! Prayer is nice in its right place but you don't have time for that luxury right now! We are surrounded by need!"
Jesus response is both startling and instructive: "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come".(Mark 1:38)
What kind of Pastor indeed! The answer is simple and disturbing. Jesus was a Shepherd/Pastor who knew what His Father wanted Him to do and He did it - nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. He was the kind of Pastor who, at the end of His earthly ministry could say, "I have completed the work that you gave me to do"! (John 17:4). He fulfilled God's agenda for Him, not the expectations of countless other people. He was the kind of Pastor who found his joy in His relationship with God; not in what He did for God!
While I am grateful for what God does through "ministry", I am nowhere called to rejoice in the ministry or to rejoice in who I am or what I am doing. I am to be with Jesus and to rejoice in Him and in the relationship He has established with me as expressed in the fact that my name is written in heaven.
Part of my restoration process has been to set aside every Wednesday afternoon for a personal retreat time when I go away from my office and my home and I spend time with Jesus - not Jesus, my employer but Jesus, the lover of my soul. That's our time. I try not to talk "business" with Him in that setting. ....if you understand what I mean.
Knowing my own initial response to God's call for that time to be set aside, I am fairly certain that there are those of you who are now assuring yourselves that there is no way you can afford to be so extravagant with your use of time. In your priorities, such time allocation, while perhaps desirable, is not possible. You are busy telling yourself that the demands on your time are such that they exclude any possibility of 3 or 4 hours spent with the Lord in a block like that each week. Brothers and sisters, those words are being seductively whispered in your heart by the mistress....."ministry". I know because she has seduced me time and again with the same rationale. There is so much to be done, isn't there?
All that brings me to another biblical address that I have often had to visit. It is again in Luke 10. This time it is the domestic scene recorded in vs. 38-42.
The Lord has repeatedly drawn my attention to the difference between Martha and Mary.......Martha, the activist, and Mary, the listener. The question with which God has often challenged me is, "Who most clearly reflects your priorities - Martha or Mary?"
The answer is usually Martha. Now, you and I are hardly in a position to question her heart and her motives. They may well have been of the highest calibre. But what we are told is what was happening to her on the inside as she gave herself to 'ministry'. The three words used of her emotional condition are "distracted", "worried" and "upset".
Please don't get me wrong here. Someone had to prepare the meal. Someone had to be out in the kitchen. But the challenge to me is what was happening to Martha in terms of her attitude. Did you pick up on the resentment that was fermenting towards her sister? The water on the stove wasn't the only thing boiling out in the kitchen that day! "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" (Luke 10:40)
She was becoming resentful towards her sister and dictatorial towards her Lord! She presumed to direct Jesus as to what He should do to get her immobile sister mobile!! How often I have done that over the years! Jesus was again gracious but firm in His evaluation of the condition of Martha's heart.
He corrected Martha and commended Mary. Martha was committed to the urgent whereas Mary was committed to the important. Martha opened her home whereas Mary opened her heart. Martha gave her service whereas Mary gave herself.
I don't think it is coincidental that I hear in that inter-change an echo of what God has often said to my heart. Have you not had times when, in your genuine desire to serve the Lord, you have become distracted by all the things that had to be done? You have become worried and upset over the many things. You have become resentful towards your brothers and sisters in Christ because they seem to have been immobile when they should have been up and working. You have become resentful and guilty about the time your wife and family seemed to expect.
You have even presumed to complain to the Lord of the Church in such a way as to suggest that, if He paid some attention to your plight, He might just begin to do things the way you think they should be done. When those dynamics begin to emerge, we can be sure that "ministry" has successfully seduced us and become our mistress.
But what about that other prior relationship in all this...my relationship with my wife, Bev? We have just celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We have three great kids, two delightful daughters-in-law and 5 wonderful grand-daughters!! As I look back over the almost 40 years that I have been a Pastor, I can say that my wife has been very understanding about many, many aspects of what it means for me to be a pastor and her place as my wife.
She has been less than understanding about my mistress!!
I recall how, when we were in our sixth year of pastoral ministry back in the early seventies, Bev first tried to speak to me about how "ministry" was coming between us. I couldn't understand why she felt as she did because, after all, we were doing the Lord's work! From time to time she tried to explain how she felt and why but it was to no avail. I was blind to the fact that the dynamics of the "eternal triangle" were appearing in our relationship. Only it was not another woman. But it was a mistress, sure enough.
Bev was teaching school at the time and, because I had relatively little time for her, she began to apply herself in her work to the point where, on one day of rare enlightenment for me, I found myself thinking that she seemed to care more for her work than she did for me!
And suddenly my eyes were opened! Within 24 hours of that revelation, I was down at the travel agent trying to organise a holiday just for the two of us. It proved to be a smart move! We had a great time away together and a new start in our relationship when we came home.
You would think that I would have learned from that experience, wouldn't you? The truth is that my mistress was waiting to seduce me as soon as we came back. I have had to learn that the commitment of giving my wife the priority she deserves as my God-given partner in life is never static. It is always dynamic in the sense that it is a daily choice.
Over the years since that first realisation, I have sought to give to Bev the time commitment she deserves as my wife but it has been with varying degrees of success and failure.
From time to time, she has suggested that I should take time out from pastoral ministry so that we could have extended time as a family without those unique demands and expectations that constitute pastoral ministry. The very idea was anathema! Didn't she realise I was needed...even indispensable?!
Somehow I had become so involved again with my mistress that to even think of extended leave was tantamount to a betrayal of some kind! I look back now and I can see that what Bev was suggesting, in effect, was a sabbatical....a God-ordained principle.....a period of refreshment and renewal of our spiritual and emotional lives and our relationship together.
It was still some time before I began realising something else that was obvious to Bev long before it dawned on me. I was loosing my cutting edge. The vision of the Lord and a right understanding of my relationship to ministry had again become fuzzy. I was getting tired in the ministry....not physically tired but emotionally and spiritually weary. Although I took holidays and long service leave, the benefits seemed very short-lived.
It was towards the end of the 1980's that these realisations began to dawn and I can recall sharing with the Church Leadership what Bev had been saying for quite some time: namely, a growing sense that I was finding little fulfilment and a lot of tiredness and that I needed to take extended leave. So clearly did the Lord seem to say, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest". (Mark 6:31)
We resigned from that Church at the end of 1989 and we spent the next 14 months obeying and enjoying the biblical principle of the Sabbath. The level of renewal and refreshment that came to us is beyond my ability to describe and we both returned ready to embrace the Lord's call to service in a new and enthusiastic way.
We went to a new Church at the beginning of 1991 And guess what? The mistress called "Ministry" had moved to the new Church!! But there is now some understanding of how she operates and the way she seduces.
I feel free of her at the moment but I know that I need to daily monitor her attempts to seduce me and my response to her. I have come to accept that I will live with this tension for the rest of my pastoral life. It will involve daily choices for me. Somehow, I feel at peace about that prospect now that the "enemy" has been identified and her tactics are out in the open. I am also encouraged by the fact that the antidote to her poison has also been identified - a daily yielding of my life to my Lord and to my wife.
I decided to take a risk and begin with a confession that would need more than a little explanation!
"I begin tonight with a very difficult confession before you, my fellow Pastors. There is no simple or easy way to say this; so I will just say it: I have been guilty of having an affair."
The tension level took a quantum leap upward! Some of those sitting in front of me were my peers. I had trained with these men for Ministry. I noted some looks of stunned disbelief. Others showed their disbelief in smiles that indicated that they knew I had to have an angle here of some kind!
I continued... "In one sense, I can think of no better place to make such a confession than in the presence of other Pastors because most of you will have long since recognised your own vulnerability. In another sense, I can think of no worse place to acknowledge my failure because the judgment of my peers has the potential to be the worst kind of condemnation.
Now I can almost hear your ask the question, 'How can one who is supposedly committed to the Lord Jesus and to his own wife ever allow another relationship to develop to the point where those two holy relationships are endangered?'
As best I can determine, it began with a flaw or weakness in my own character that was (and is) wide open to exploitation. Like many of you, I have a need to be needed and to be affirmed. sometimes I think that need is above and beyond what might be considered healthy. I further acknowledge that I am at my most vulnerable when there is an absence of encouragement and affirmation in my emotional diet".
Well, so far my explanation was not doing very much to lessen the tension level. I pressed on....
"My mistress was very subtle. She knew my emotional need for praise and affirmation in my life and she was quick to meet that need. Time and again she was ready to speak warmly of my qualities as a person and my endeavours as a Pastor. In return, she seemed to require so little - initially, at least. She repeatedly assured me that our developing relationship need not negatively effect my relationship with Bev, my wife, or with the Lord. At first she had told me she would be satisfied if I only offered her the time that was left after my prior relational responsibilities. It seemed that I could have my cake and eat it, too! It all seemed so legitimate...so rational...so inviting.....so fulfilling....just too good to be true!
But as time passed, this seemingly free liaison became increasingly demanding. I began to realise that I was becoming both enmeshed and addicted to the relationship.
My mistress was demanding more and more of my time. She began to begrudge the time I gave to Bev and my family. She also began to make demands on the time I had initially reserved for the Lord".
It was at this point that I became aware that a number of my listeners were becoming restless in their chairs while others sat like statues as though any movement might betray an inner response. of guilt. I was beginning to wonder if my approach was a bad choice. Too late now. I continued:
"As I tried to meet those demands, the intensity of my guilt began to increase. My priority commitments to my Lord and my wife came under enormous pressure. I found myself making excuses for the decreasing amount of time I was spending with Bev. I kept telling her that my lack of time with her and the family was part of the sacrifice we had to make for the sake of the Lord's work. I seemed to be forever asking forgiveness from God because of what I was allowing to happen in my relationship with Him".
"Another complicating and destructive factor in all this mess was that my mistress was now claiming that she, too, had needs that only I could meet. I found myself in the terrible situation of becoming indispensable to her and that just added to the feelings of fragmentation. The whole dynamic had become like a spiritual "Fatal Attraction". It sounds stupid even as I say it but, as demanding as she became, even that price was worth paying when I lost sight of where my needs were supposed to be met and tried to meet them with her. The paradox is that I have both warmly welcomed her and deeply resented her. I have sought consolation with her and yet I have despised the cost of that comfort".
I now began to note some further changes in the facial expressions of my listeners. Some, at least, were beginning to suspect that this was not what it first appeared to be! Some mental gears were beginning to turn in another direction as they tried to pre-empt just where I was going with this 'confession'? It seems that even pastors don't want to be the last to get it!
"I began by confessing to you that I had a mistress. I deliberately made that statement in the past tense. I did so partly as a statement of fact and partly as a statement of hope. It is a statement of fact inasmuch as, at this point of time, I do not have a mistress. That destructive relationship is now broken and is part of my history. I have owned it and I have been forgiven".
"It is a statement of hope inasmuch as I fully realise that I am capable of re-commencing that liaison at any time; particularly during those periods of emotional weakness when others seem insensitive to my needs. I know that she is always there ready to meet that need.
And now, as part of my confession, I have determined to complete my confessional atonement before you by actually naming my mistress to you".
The tension that had started to ease with some was quickly restored with this last remark! In fact, I was to find out later that two or three had determined by this time to get out of their seats and leave the room.
"I name her in your presence because, as I have listened to fellow pastors talk over the years, I believe some of you also know her and you may want to join me in my confession and atonement.
Her name is 'MINISTRY'".
The tension level, which had varied quite noticeably to this point, now relaxed very noticeably!
Ah, yes! I can see from the looks on some faces that there are those of you who are acquainted with her. That being the case, perhaps you might like to journey with me a little further as I try to explain the process of recovery and restoration to my wife and to my God that has happened for me.
Before I ask you to walk further with me in this expose, I need first to make another confession and, perhaps, an apology.
I recognise that, in using the analogy of an affair to make a point, I have run the very serious risk of piercing the hearts of those who may be struggling with a more literal affair or relationship than what I have described. If I have unwittingly and unhelpfully wounded you, I do ask for your forgiveness and understanding. On the other hand, if my analogy has pierced your heart with conviction, I do not apologise for that.
The reason I have been prepared to take the risk in describing the dynamics of this unhealthy relationship with "ministry" in terms of an affair is that I really believe that "ministry" can become a destructive "affair of the heart" that has the capacity to estrange us from our families. I, for one, have felt times of enormous pressure and conflict of interest as I have sought to be both a loving husband and a faithful Pastor. In retrospect, I can see that those pressures have been largely of my own making and have emerged in my life because of my failure to understand the true relationship that I was to have with "ministry".
Let me explain first how the Lord Jesus moved to expose and correct what had become an idol in my life. Even now it sounds strange to refer to "ministry" as an idol. But if an idol is something to which one devotes the major portion of one's time, energy and effort....if an idol is that for which I am willing to sacrifice just about everything in my life...if an idol is anything that comes between me and my God and competes for that devotion, loyalty and commitment that ought to belong only to Him.....then "Ministry " had become such an idol.....such a mistress.
As I think back now, one of the factors that led to the emergence of this form of idolatry was the confusion that developed when I lost sight of the fact that God had called me to Himself before ever he called me to "the ministry".
I have been challenged again by the call of the early disciples recorded in Mark 3 where the purpose for which Jesus called His disciples was "...that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach..."
That sequence has now become so important to me. God has called us first of all to Himself. He first says, "Come to me....." before He says, "Go into all the world...." All ministry must flow out of that reality. Of course, if you had asked me at any point in my 30 years of pastoral ministry if I believed that, truth I would have answered with a prompt "Yes!" But that answer would have come from my head, not my heart. The truth is that there is a lot that I affirm with my head which, if my actions are any indication, I do not really believe in my heart.
There is a key passage in Luke 10 that has helped me regain a perspective that my former mistress took from me. When the seventy-two disciples returned from their ministry assignment, they were ecstatic that even the demons were subject to the authority that Christ had given them. They had experienced a good time with "ministry"!! I hear in their words feelings of fulfilment, excitement and anticipation for what the future might hold by way of further ministry.
However, Jesus firmly added a corrective to their understandable enthusiasm. He said to them: "I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven". (Luke 10:20)
Jesus was identifying for them - and for us - the only source and basis of joy and rejoicing and it was not be in the "ministry". Sure, we may be grateful for those times of blessing that result from what we do for Him but the only appropriate, unchanging and dependable source of joy is in our relationship with Jesus....the fact that our names are written down in heaven and we are secure in that fact!
Like some of you, I have often made the mistake of finding my joy elsewhere... especially with "ministry" ....and she has a way of becoming a mistress....an idol. Too often my perspective and mood swings are directly effected by "ministry"! My source of joy becomes confused and I find myself on an emotional roller-coaster. I have also discovered that it is so easy, as a pastor, to develop a "professional" relationship with Jesus. In that kind of relationship, He is the "employer" and I am the "employee".
By contrast, I was challenged by the basis of Jesus' joy identified in the same passage: "At that time, Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth...Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure". (Luke 10:21). Here is the heartbeat of Jesus in terms of His relationship with His Father. His source of joy was in the other two members of the Godhead - the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Maybe that is why we never see Jesus centred upon the results of His ministry as though that was the beginning and end of everything. He never allowed "ministry" to become His mistress. He knew how to say "No" without feeling guilty. He knew how and when to serve and how and when to retreat...even in the midst of the demands and expectations of those about Him. Luke records these simple but telling words in chapter 5:16: "The news about Him spread all the more so that crowds of people came to hear him and be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed".
Prayer retreats in the midst of human need! What kind of Pastor is this?
I hear echoes of that same demanding insistence in the words of the disciples when Jesus had gone out early in the morning to pray. In Mark 1:37, we are told that they came to him and said, "Everyone is looking for you!" Roughly translated that seems to me to mean, "You are indispensable! They can't do without you! Prayer is nice in its right place but you don't have time for that luxury right now! We are surrounded by need!"
Jesus response is both startling and instructive: "Let us go somewhere else - to the nearby villages - so I can preach there also. That is why I have come".(Mark 1:38)
What kind of Pastor indeed! The answer is simple and disturbing. Jesus was a Shepherd/Pastor who knew what His Father wanted Him to do and He did it - nothing more, nothing less and nothing else. He was the kind of Pastor who, at the end of His earthly ministry could say, "I have completed the work that you gave me to do"! (John 17:4). He fulfilled God's agenda for Him, not the expectations of countless other people. He was the kind of Pastor who found his joy in His relationship with God; not in what He did for God!
While I am grateful for what God does through "ministry", I am nowhere called to rejoice in the ministry or to rejoice in who I am or what I am doing. I am to be with Jesus and to rejoice in Him and in the relationship He has established with me as expressed in the fact that my name is written in heaven.
Part of my restoration process has been to set aside every Wednesday afternoon for a personal retreat time when I go away from my office and my home and I spend time with Jesus - not Jesus, my employer but Jesus, the lover of my soul. That's our time. I try not to talk "business" with Him in that setting. ....if you understand what I mean.
Knowing my own initial response to God's call for that time to be set aside, I am fairly certain that there are those of you who are now assuring yourselves that there is no way you can afford to be so extravagant with your use of time. In your priorities, such time allocation, while perhaps desirable, is not possible. You are busy telling yourself that the demands on your time are such that they exclude any possibility of 3 or 4 hours spent with the Lord in a block like that each week. Brothers and sisters, those words are being seductively whispered in your heart by the mistress....."ministry". I know because she has seduced me time and again with the same rationale. There is so much to be done, isn't there?
All that brings me to another biblical address that I have often had to visit. It is again in Luke 10. This time it is the domestic scene recorded in vs. 38-42.
The Lord has repeatedly drawn my attention to the difference between Martha and Mary.......Martha, the activist, and Mary, the listener. The question with which God has often challenged me is, "Who most clearly reflects your priorities - Martha or Mary?"
The answer is usually Martha. Now, you and I are hardly in a position to question her heart and her motives. They may well have been of the highest calibre. But what we are told is what was happening to her on the inside as she gave herself to 'ministry'. The three words used of her emotional condition are "distracted", "worried" and "upset".
Please don't get me wrong here. Someone had to prepare the meal. Someone had to be out in the kitchen. But the challenge to me is what was happening to Martha in terms of her attitude. Did you pick up on the resentment that was fermenting towards her sister? The water on the stove wasn't the only thing boiling out in the kitchen that day! "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" (Luke 10:40)
She was becoming resentful towards her sister and dictatorial towards her Lord! She presumed to direct Jesus as to what He should do to get her immobile sister mobile!! How often I have done that over the years! Jesus was again gracious but firm in His evaluation of the condition of Martha's heart.
He corrected Martha and commended Mary. Martha was committed to the urgent whereas Mary was committed to the important. Martha opened her home whereas Mary opened her heart. Martha gave her service whereas Mary gave herself.
I don't think it is coincidental that I hear in that inter-change an echo of what God has often said to my heart. Have you not had times when, in your genuine desire to serve the Lord, you have become distracted by all the things that had to be done? You have become worried and upset over the many things. You have become resentful towards your brothers and sisters in Christ because they seem to have been immobile when they should have been up and working. You have become resentful and guilty about the time your wife and family seemed to expect.
You have even presumed to complain to the Lord of the Church in such a way as to suggest that, if He paid some attention to your plight, He might just begin to do things the way you think they should be done. When those dynamics begin to emerge, we can be sure that "ministry" has successfully seduced us and become our mistress.
But what about that other prior relationship in all this...my relationship with my wife, Bev? We have just celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary. We have three great kids, two delightful daughters-in-law and 5 wonderful grand-daughters!! As I look back over the almost 40 years that I have been a Pastor, I can say that my wife has been very understanding about many, many aspects of what it means for me to be a pastor and her place as my wife.
She has been less than understanding about my mistress!!
I recall how, when we were in our sixth year of pastoral ministry back in the early seventies, Bev first tried to speak to me about how "ministry" was coming between us. I couldn't understand why she felt as she did because, after all, we were doing the Lord's work! From time to time she tried to explain how she felt and why but it was to no avail. I was blind to the fact that the dynamics of the "eternal triangle" were appearing in our relationship. Only it was not another woman. But it was a mistress, sure enough.
Bev was teaching school at the time and, because I had relatively little time for her, she began to apply herself in her work to the point where, on one day of rare enlightenment for me, I found myself thinking that she seemed to care more for her work than she did for me!
And suddenly my eyes were opened! Within 24 hours of that revelation, I was down at the travel agent trying to organise a holiday just for the two of us. It proved to be a smart move! We had a great time away together and a new start in our relationship when we came home.
You would think that I would have learned from that experience, wouldn't you? The truth is that my mistress was waiting to seduce me as soon as we came back. I have had to learn that the commitment of giving my wife the priority she deserves as my God-given partner in life is never static. It is always dynamic in the sense that it is a daily choice.
Over the years since that first realisation, I have sought to give to Bev the time commitment she deserves as my wife but it has been with varying degrees of success and failure.
From time to time, she has suggested that I should take time out from pastoral ministry so that we could have extended time as a family without those unique demands and expectations that constitute pastoral ministry. The very idea was anathema! Didn't she realise I was needed...even indispensable?!
Somehow I had become so involved again with my mistress that to even think of extended leave was tantamount to a betrayal of some kind! I look back now and I can see that what Bev was suggesting, in effect, was a sabbatical....a God-ordained principle.....a period of refreshment and renewal of our spiritual and emotional lives and our relationship together.
It was still some time before I began realising something else that was obvious to Bev long before it dawned on me. I was loosing my cutting edge. The vision of the Lord and a right understanding of my relationship to ministry had again become fuzzy. I was getting tired in the ministry....not physically tired but emotionally and spiritually weary. Although I took holidays and long service leave, the benefits seemed very short-lived.
It was towards the end of the 1980's that these realisations began to dawn and I can recall sharing with the Church Leadership what Bev had been saying for quite some time: namely, a growing sense that I was finding little fulfilment and a lot of tiredness and that I needed to take extended leave. So clearly did the Lord seem to say, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest". (Mark 6:31)
We resigned from that Church at the end of 1989 and we spent the next 14 months obeying and enjoying the biblical principle of the Sabbath. The level of renewal and refreshment that came to us is beyond my ability to describe and we both returned ready to embrace the Lord's call to service in a new and enthusiastic way.
We went to a new Church at the beginning of 1991 And guess what? The mistress called "Ministry" had moved to the new Church!! But there is now some understanding of how she operates and the way she seduces.
I feel free of her at the moment but I know that I need to daily monitor her attempts to seduce me and my response to her. I have come to accept that I will live with this tension for the rest of my pastoral life. It will involve daily choices for me. Somehow, I feel at peace about that prospect now that the "enemy" has been identified and her tactics are out in the open. I am also encouraged by the fact that the antidote to her poison has also been identified - a daily yielding of my life to my Lord and to my wife.
When Ministry Becomes a Mistress (by Dave Kraft)
Ministry idolatry is becoming increasingly widespread, reaching epidemic proportions. It is showcased at network and denominational gatherings, where the focus and conversation is often not about Jesus, but about us and what we are accomplishing and achieving. Leaders discuss the latest poster children for ministry success and their methods so we can all emulate them, buy their books, and attend their “how we did it” seminars and conferences.
“Idolatry creep” sneaks up on you because you can easily and quickly justify it by saying that everything you do is for the Lord, believing your motives are pure. We recognize this in businessmen who work obscene hours while insisting they do it all to benefit the family, when in reality it’s all about them.
Leaders must guard against ministry becoming a mistress. A mistress is someone who takes the place that only your wife should occupy. Ministry must never take the place of Jesus himself in your heart and in your values. As 1 John 5:21 says, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” The New Living Translation says, “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” Our hearts are idol factories, and ministry, for many leaders, is the king of idols.
Why Do You Want to Lead?
We can start to rely on ministry instead of Jesus to meet deep needs in our own lives. I am convinced that many people move into leadership roles because of people needing them or because being in control satisfies something missing in their own sense of value or worth. I remember John Maxwell once saying, “If you need people you can lead people.” One leader told me that the motivation for “his call” to ministry was the opportunity to resolve the problem of his own insecurities and feel better about himself. The devil is out to snare Christian leaders, rendering them “ineffective or unfruitful” (2 Pet.1:8), and if he can’t achieve his purposes through obvious sin, he will achieve it by taking something that is admirable and good and turning it on its ear to cause us to stumble.
The apostle Peter, in his insightful chapter to leaders, says, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Our enemy can devour us through ministry by letting the ministry itself replace Jesus in our affections. Unfortunately, we are often quicker to recognize this happening in others than in our own lives.
What Now?
There is no “four easy steps to deal with ministry idolatry.” But I do want to share some things I am learning about dealing with each of the mistakes leaders make. Let me state again that I have made all these mistakes myself, and I have seen people in ministries, organizations, groups, and churches that I have been associated with make them.
So, how have I dealt with ministry idolatry?
For me the first step is realizing that this is a problem for me. I deeply desire to want to confess and repent when this sin comes to my attention, as opposed to making excuses and rationalizing. It should grieve my soul that I am allowing something to take the place of Jesus in my heart and affections. Like King David, I want to pray, “Against you, you only, have I sinned” (Ps. 51:4). My primary sin here is against God!
Most every day I make the issue of ministry idolatry a matter of prayer, asking for the power of Jesus through the Holy Spirit to occupy center stage in my life. For me, I find that ministry idolatry is an attitude, a mindset, as opposed to an action. It begins with the way I look at things, the way I think.
Colossians 3:4 is helpful to me: “When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.” Jesus is my life—not ministry, success, converts, disciples, developing leaders, being respected by my peers, etc. I need to keep being reminded of this truth. Paul says in Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” For me to live is Christ, not someone else or something else. I have several passages of Scripture memorized (in addition to those just mentioned) on ministry idolatry, including 1 John 5:21 and Revelation 2:4.
When the Lord makes it clear that I am starting to drift, I want to immediately own it, repent, confess, and ask for his help in agreeing with him that he is central. I want to be especially sensitive to others in my family or on the teams I am a part of when they bring this sin to my attention. One of my life values is to immediately respond to God’s revealed truth, whether that truth comes directly to me through Scripture or through the rebuke of a family or team member. Pity the Christian leader with no friends or coworkers who care enough to confront him, especially in the area of ministry idolatry.
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
City Harvest trial: Church leaders weave web of lies to deceive church members, auditors, lawyers, says DPP
SINGAPORE - The six City Harvest Church (CHC) leaders deceived church members, auditors and lawyers, and weaved a web of deceit to subvert the church's internal governance bodies.
That was what Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong told the court on Tuesday (Sept 20) morning. He was responding to the arguments against conviction put forth by the six CHC leaders at the centre of a multi-million dollar financial scandal.
In October last year, the six CHC leaders were convicted of misappropriating millions in church funds to fuel the pop music career of CHC senior pastor Kong Hee's wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun, in a church mission known as the Crossover Project.
The court found that they had invested $24 million from CHC's building fund in bogus bonds from music production company Xtron and glass-maker Firna, but this money was, in fact, used to fund the Crossover Project.
Later, another $26 million was used to cover up the initial misdeed.
The six, including Kong, are appealing against their convictions and sentences, while the prosecution is also appealing - for longer sentences.
DPP Ong said the CHC leaders knew the bond instruments were not investments but were in fact "excuses to expend building fund money on Sun Ho's music career".
Addressing the arguments by the CHC leaders that there was a need for secrecy in carrying out the Crossover Project in order to avoid uncomfortable public scrutiny, DPP Ong said it was "strange" that the only thing that needed to be "secret" was the fact that Ms Ho was funded by the church's building fund - which was "buried so deep that even the auditors don't know about it".
He told the court that it was public knowledge that Ms Ho was the "famous pastor Kong Hee's wife" and that Kong would come out to preach at the end of her concerts.
"Where is the secrecy in this?" asked DPP Ong.
The prosecution had initially asked for much harsher sentences - jail terms of 11 to 12 years jail for Kong, CHC deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, former CHC fund manager Chew Eng Han and former CHC finance manager Serina Wee; eight to nine years for former CHC finance committee member John Lam; and five to six years for former CHC finance manager Sharon Tan.
Instead, the court handed out much lower terms in part because it found that the six had not been motivated by personal gain, and the church had not suffered any wrongful loss.
The six were given jail terms of between 21 months and eight years, with Kong facing the longest term.
The appeal is being heard by Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, and Justices Woo Bih Li and Chan Seng Onn.
Arguments for the appeal will continue on Wednesday.
That was what Deputy Public Prosecutor Christopher Ong told the court on Tuesday (Sept 20) morning. He was responding to the arguments against conviction put forth by the six CHC leaders at the centre of a multi-million dollar financial scandal.
In October last year, the six CHC leaders were convicted of misappropriating millions in church funds to fuel the pop music career of CHC senior pastor Kong Hee's wife, Ms Ho Yeow Sun, in a church mission known as the Crossover Project.
The court found that they had invested $24 million from CHC's building fund in bogus bonds from music production company Xtron and glass-maker Firna, but this money was, in fact, used to fund the Crossover Project.
Later, another $26 million was used to cover up the initial misdeed.
The six, including Kong, are appealing against their convictions and sentences, while the prosecution is also appealing - for longer sentences.
DPP Ong said the CHC leaders knew the bond instruments were not investments but were in fact "excuses to expend building fund money on Sun Ho's music career".
Addressing the arguments by the CHC leaders that there was a need for secrecy in carrying out the Crossover Project in order to avoid uncomfortable public scrutiny, DPP Ong said it was "strange" that the only thing that needed to be "secret" was the fact that Ms Ho was funded by the church's building fund - which was "buried so deep that even the auditors don't know about it".
He told the court that it was public knowledge that Ms Ho was the "famous pastor Kong Hee's wife" and that Kong would come out to preach at the end of her concerts.
"Where is the secrecy in this?" asked DPP Ong.
The prosecution had initially asked for much harsher sentences - jail terms of 11 to 12 years jail for Kong, CHC deputy senior pastor Tan Ye Peng, former CHC fund manager Chew Eng Han and former CHC finance manager Serina Wee; eight to nine years for former CHC finance committee member John Lam; and five to six years for former CHC finance manager Sharon Tan.
Instead, the court handed out much lower terms in part because it found that the six had not been motivated by personal gain, and the church had not suffered any wrongful loss.
The six were given jail terms of between 21 months and eight years, with Kong facing the longest term.
The appeal is being heard by Judge of Appeal Chao Hick Tin, and Justices Woo Bih Li and Chan Seng Onn.
Arguments for the appeal will continue on Wednesday.
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